When Opinions Clash

And turn with me to Romans chapter fourteen. I'll tell

you after the first service had several people come up

to me thanking me for preaching this particular passage of

scripture with an election coming up, and I was.

Like, I didn't write it, I didn't even time it.

We're just working through Romans. But I get it. I

totally get it.

And I think you will too as we take a

look at what God's word has to say about when

opinions clash. Romans fourteen one through fifteen seven. Let me

read this passage for us as for the one who

is weak in faith, welcome him, but not.

To quarrel over opinions.

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak

person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats

despise the one who abstains, And let not the one

who abstains past judgment on the one who eats, For

God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment

on the servant of another. It is before his own

master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld,

for the Lord is able to make him stand. One

person esteems one day is better than another, while another

esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced

in his own mind. The one who observes the day

observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who

eats eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives

thanks to God. While the one who abstains ubstains in

the honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

For none of us lives to himself, and none of

us dies to himself. For if we live, we live

to the Lord, and if we die, we die the Lord.

So then, whether we live or die, we're the lords.

For this end.

Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord,

both of the dead and of the living. Why do

you pass judgment on your brother or you? Why do

you despise your brother? For we will all stand before

the judgment seed of God. For it is written, as

I live, says the Lord. Every knee shall bow to me,

and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each

of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore,

let us not pass judgment on one another any longer,

but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or

hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and

am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean

in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks

it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what

you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By

what you eat. Do not destroy the one for whom

Christ died. So do not let what your regard as

good be spoken of as evil. For the Kingdom of

God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but

of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved

by men. So let us pursue what makes for peace

and mutual upbuilding.

Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work

of God.

Everything is indeed clean, But it is wrong for anyone

who to make another stumble by what he eats. It's

good not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do

anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that

you have keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the

one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself,

for what he approves forever has doubts, is condemned if

he eats, because the e is not from faith. For

whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. We who

are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings

of the week, and not please ourselves. Let each of

us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

For Christ did not please himself. But as it is

written the reproaches of those who you fell on me.

For whatever was written in former days was written for

our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of

the scriptures we.

Might have hope.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to

live in such harmony with one another in accord with

Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify

the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore,

welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the

glory of God.

This is God's word.

Opinions can differ about things. Pastor Charles Spurgeon was known

to enjoy smoking cigars, and not everybody shared that opinion

about how enjoyable or permissible that habit was, And in fact,

a couple of pastors went and visited with Charles Spurgeon

said Hey, Charles, you know like this. We don't think

this is becoming a minister of the Gospel, and Spurgeon said, well,

I know that our opinions differ, but I believe that

this is a blessing to be enjoyed, a blessing from

God to be enjoyed in moderation.

And they said, well that's just it. Charles like in this.

Smoking of cigars, like, how do you know when you've

gone from moderation to excess?

And he said, when I start smoking to at a time.

There are things, there are things about which we're not

always gonna agree. That's not to say that the Bible

doesn't give us guidance about what is right and what

is wrong. In many ways, the Bible knows what it's

talking about when it lays out the life that we

have to live in purity and holiness. The Bible, you know,

God knows what he's talking about when it comes to holiness, right,

we don't have to like supplement him.

And yet, as we.

Piece together what are the prudent ways to walk in

both freedom and holiness, there are going to be things

that we.

Don't agree about. How do we handle that?

The preciing preparation team actually made a list. I put

it up on the white board here's a sample of

things about which Christians disagree when it comes to Christian freedom,

moral prudence, alcohol, tobacco, education choices, right, public school, private school, homeschool, modesty,

How short is too short? Politics? There are a whole

variety of ways that we could choose and reason about

how we want to engage with our government and our

fellow citizens.

Lots of choices to.

Make there, masks Man, I remember when that was a conversation.

When that was a.

Conversation, we literally stopped preaching through the book we were in.

We just stopped for a Sunday, and I preached from

Romans fourteen dating, healthy eating, environmental concerns, entertainment choices. If

I haven't mentioned something that makes you nervous yet, then

I haven't.

Done my job.

And Romans fourteen and fifteen. Here this passage of scripture,

so practical, nuanced, a wise expression of what it looks

like to live in freedom and impurity combined together in

love for one another.

We need it. We need it.

To know how to navigate with others who differ from

us about what is appropriate. So how do we how

do we live together with those with whom we differ

about these kinds of things. How do we do it well?

This passage gives us three ways. It's kind of broken

up into three major sections, giving us three ways for

how we navigate with those with whom we differ about

these moral judgment calls. The third one is quite brief,

so don't worry when we get to number three and

it's like, oh my gosh, we only have five minutes.

It's only five minutes. But these are the three. Number one,

here's our first way, Paul says, We've got to recognize

the real judge. We got to recognize the real judge.

If we're going to live with one another and navigate this,

we have to have the humility to recognize that our

accountability is fundamentally with the Lord.

He says in verse one. As for the one who

is weak in faith, that.

Is to say, sort of more more constrained in their

conscience and unsure about the freedoms that we have in Christ,

he says this.

Welcome him, Welcome him.

Okay, well, we can just stop right there. Paul has

actually given us the basic one word answer to the

question how do we navigate with one another when we differ?

And the basic one word answer is this welcome. Welcome,

we welcome one another. And we know that this is

the fundamental answer and through line for this whole passage.

Because if you go to the end of the passage

fifteen seven, what does it say, therefore, welcome one another

as Christ has welcomed you. That's what he's talking about

through this whole thing.

Welcome.

That's how we navigate with Christians with whom we differ.

Here's what it doesn't say. It doesn't say.

Don't hang out with anybody, isolate yourself. Someone could disagree

with you. Here's what else it doesn't say. It doesn't

say only hang out with those people that agree with you.

That is not presented as an option anywhere in the

New Testament. Rather, the fundamental answer is welcome one another.

So we could just stop right there, except.

For that is hard. How do we do that? Well?

It has to do with recognizing the real judge.

First of all, he says in verses two through four,

one person believes he may eat anything, while the weak

person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats

despise the one who abstains, and let not the one

who abstains past judgment. And the one who eats for

God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment?

I'm serving them another. In other words, those who have

a wider a wider understanding of Christian freedoms and whatever area.

And it differs from area to area. Right, if you

discover that.

Right, those who have a wider view of Christian freedoms

in some area should not despise those who have a

narrower view, And those who have a narrower review should

not judge those who have a wider view. If the

scriptures don't say it's wrong, like scripture.

Knows what it's talking about.

Because our fundamental accountability is to the Lord.

If we.

Have been welcomed by him, and they have been welcomed

by him, then who are we to do anything but.

Welcome them?

And then he shifts in verse five to a different example.

He's been talking about food. Now he shifts today's verse five.

One person is seems one day is better than another. Well,

another esteems all days alike. Each should be fully convinced

in his own mind. So he shifts from shifted from

the question of eating, especially eating meat, which I don't

think is probably a moral concern for most of the

people in this room eating meat were Texans.

But everybody comes from some kind of culture.

Everybody comes from some kind of background, And in regards

today's there are those who would be observing certain sabbath,

certain festivals, and things like that.

He says, be fully convinced in your own mind.

In other words, arrive at your decision through a process

of biblical discernment, like oh, thank you. Don't just arrive

at these moral decisions willy nilly.

Have a reason.

Now, that doesn't mean that that reason can't change your conclusions.

Can't change. This is not be fully closed.

In your own mind right, be convinced how did you

get here?

And then recognize that your.

Decision is your decision, he says, goes on in verses

six and eight sixty tough eight.

Those who observe do so to honor the Lord.

Those who eat do so to honor the Lord as

they give thanks.

Those who abstain they also do so to honor the Lord.

So we should we should arrive at this active attitude

of being able to discern that even though someone has

come to a different decision than you have, in the way,

they're going to honor the Lord.

What we'd mean to do is honor him.

We should appreciate the thanksgiving and the honor that they

give to our Lord, even though they don't do it

the same way.

It's him, we honor his Lord.

And that's what it says in verse nine, like this

is why Christ died, that he would be Lord of all,

both the living and the dead. If we lived, we

lived in the Lord. If we die, we die of

the Lord. If we eat, we do it to the Lord.

If we abstain, we do it to the Lord. So

if Christ died that he would be Lord of all

and someone is honoring him as the Lord in the

way they do it, but they do it differently than you.

Christ died for that person, and Christ died for the

reason of being Lord and being honored in that way.

The fact of the matter is we need to let

the judge be the judge. He goes on, why do

you pass judgment on your brother? Why do you despise

your brother? We'll all stand before the judgment seed to God,

and then he quotes Isaiah forty five. As I live

says the Lord, every knee shall vow to me, and

every tongue shall confess to God.

In Isaiah forty five.

This is God saying I Am going to gather people

from all over to be mine. They're gonna come from

all kinds of different backgrounds, all kinds of different upbringings,

all kinds of different cultures.

Of course they're gonna have differences.

But he says righteousness comes from me alone, and people

will give an account to me. And Paul's using that

to say this, we need to let the judge.

Be the judge.

How ridiculous would it be in the Olympics if they

like the different gymnast teams are just like squabbling amongst

each other in terms of like, Okay, I'm gonna give

you points off for your floor routine and I'm gonna

give oh, I'm gonna give you points off on your

Paulla horse, And You're like, they can have opinions, but

the judge is the judge. Squabble all you want, actually, don't.

You don't have to. The judge will be the judge. Yes, yes,

of course. There's such a thing as discipleship helping people

make these kinds of choices, Biblical counseling that helps people

make these kinds of choices. This doesn't mean that you

know the leadership of some organization like a Christian school,

can't set a dress code just because it's a gray area.

Of course, they have the prerogative to make those decisions

as leaders, but there are areas.

In our life together.

Where we just need to let the judge be the judge.

If you're here this morning and you're like, not a Christian,

I want to help you see that the Christian faith

has a whole framework for how to make decisions and

walk in purity and righteousness and holiness and freedom and liberty,

and to do that in a way with brothers and sisters.

That's an expression of love.

Like the Christian framework is actually robust enough to handle that.

One of the things is just is walking with a

clear conscience and helping other.

People walk with a clear conscience.

So I've got a book here called Conscience, What is it?

How to train it? And loving those who differ.

So if you're here this morning you're like, hey, I'm

interested in that, and you're not a Christian, right out

to the step one table. If you go up there

and say hey, I'm not a Christian, but I'm interested

in that book, they'll give it. If you're the first

one there. I only have one for you. If you're

the first one there, they'll give it to you for free.

If you're a Christian, though, just take a picture and

bite yourself.

But like these are things we need to.

Understand, These are developments that we need to explore. How

do we live with one another? How do we welcome

one another when we differ? Well, the first way is

that recognize the real judge. Here's the second way.

We care for their sensitivities.

We care for one another's sensitivities. We don't put a

stumbling block in front of one another. We do this

out of love, says in verse thirteen. Therefore, therefore don't

pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather.

Letting the judge be the judge.

We also decide not to put a stumbling block in

front of other people, a hindrance in front of our brothers.

In other words, we don't want to make it difficult

even though we disagree about matters of conscience. We don't

want to make it difficult for you to walk with

a clear conscience. If my conscience has a wider view

of Christian freedom and yours has a narrower view of

Christian freedom, not only do I want to let you

your the judge be the judge for you, but I

also don't want to cause you to trip up. He

explains in verse fourteen. I know, and I'm persuaded in

the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but

it's unclean for anyone who thinks it's unclean. That's a

profound thought. Again, probably not a meat thing here, but

there are plenty of us for whom alcohol, for example,

is sort of impossible to separate in your own heart

and mind from immorality, just because if background or family

or abuse, alcohol and immorality just seem like intensely tied together,

so you can't enjoy it without feeling dirty. You can't

even be around it without feeling like I am doing

something wrong. So that is a that that's a dangerous

place to allow your conscience to be.

I'm doing something wrong, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

And that was says, don't do that, don't sin against

your conscience like that. But not only that, others around

you should walk in the kind of love that causes

you not to stumble. Says that in verse fifteen. Therefore,

can love don't cause them to stuble, then you would

no longer be walking in love. Paul writes about this

also in First Corinthians a little differently, and there he says,

I would rather not eat meat for the rest of

my life than cause a brother to stumble.

That's a lot of love, he says.

But when you operate from the view that Christ died

for that brother, Christ died for that sister, then naturally

we would sacrifice that blessing or that enjoyment for this

person for whom Christ died. In that sense, God's people

are more important. God's blessings, says in verse sixteen. So

don't let what you regard as good be spoken of

as evil. In other words, don't by putting a stumbling

block in front of someone cause something wrong to happen

in their conscience and in their choices. And therefore something

that was actually good meat, a glass of wine, whatever,

actually ends up causing something evil.

Don't don't let that happen.

Don't let the story about this blessing be that something

evil is in fact taking place.

Because the kingdom.

Isn't fundamentally about what you enjoy or what you don't enjoy.

It is about righteousness and peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. You serve by caring for others. In this way,

it's right before God, it's right before others.

It is the pursuit of peace and upbuilding.

If you know that these things are fine and legitimate, great,

you're right, You're blessed. But keep that between you and God.

Probably important to say something about the Internet here in

so many ways in which things that we post rupture

what should be private, which should be just between us

and God, and in fact cause damage with others that

we don't even see. Like, let's be careful, don't cause

others to stumble. Paul calls that destroying the work of God.

God's people are more important than God's blessings. If you're

enjoying the blessings of God.

In Bacon or in Burbon over the people of God.

In your brothers and sisters, that's misordered, that's out of balance.

You've misweighed it.

God's people are more important than God's blessings.

And yet.

How often do we live in a way that reverses

those priorities. I want to enjoy God's blessings. God's people

are just in the way.

For some to partake.

Is sin that's what he says in verse twenty three.

For some to partake is sin because it doesn't proceed

from faith. It would proceed from selfishness.

Or disregard.

It wouldn't partake with a God word heart and thanksgiving. Now,

faith and certainty aren't necessarily the same thing. We'll hardly

ever make decisions out of certainty. But is your partaken

from a God word heart with thanksgiving? Because we want

our lives this is romans for crying out loud. We

want our lives to be an expression of faith. Well,

that's the second way we welcome one another, those of

us who differ. We welcome one another by recognizing the

real judge, by caring for one another's sensitivities.

But then you have to ask, well.

If we're going to care for the sensitivities of others,

others who may have a more narrow understanding of Christian freedom, bef.

We're going to care for them.

Doesn't that I can put a lot of constraint on

the things that I can do. And the answer is yes,

it does. And that's why we're called to endure for

their good. That's the third way endure for their good.

It's a sacrifice. It's an ongoing sacrifice. It says in

verse one, we who are wrong have an obligation to bear.

With the failings of the week.

We who have a stronger understanding of freedom and conscience

have an obligation to bear with those who have a

weaker understanding of freedom and conscience.

And that's.

How we operate, because we don't just please ourselves. Let

each of us please his neighbor for his good, to

build him up.

Because verse three four, how did Christ conduct himself?

Christ didn't please himself, But as it is written, And

then Paul quotes Psalm sixty nine for the reproaches of

those who approached you fell on me. What Paul's doing

is saying, Look, this is a pattern amongst the people

of God that those who are strong, those who are

taking the lead regularly forbear and endure on behalf of others.

This is what David is saying in Psalm sixty nine. Lord,

let those who trust in You not be put to

shame because of me. And this is true of Moses

before him. Moses, for forty years, in strength of faith,

led the people of God and was continually under having

to forbear and endure amongst those people, even though he

was strong because they're in it together. And Moses like,

I'll take the heat, and David's like, I'll take the

heat all forbear, and Jesus is like, all forbear on

their behalf. And Paul's saying, now, you strong Christian, mature Christian,

this is the pattern of the people of God. This

is the pattern of Christ, your savior. You forbear, You

endure for the good of others. Paul says, this is

what the Old Testament's there for to instruct us in godliness.

Verse four.

There is much to endure, and we're going to need

to be encouraged that we're walking in the same pattern as.

The people of God always have towards what.

And then he lays out the picture for us Versus

five and six. Towards this picture, that we would be

so unified that our voices wouldn't be used for quarreling

and backbiting, but rather we would be so unified that

we would lift with one voice in harmony. Glory to God,

that that's how we would live. We'd be so unified,

not because we're uniform, but because we endure for one another.

That will take enduring, that will take enduring. Are you

committed to it? Are you committed to enduring and forbearing

for the sake of your brothers and sisters with whom

you disagree? How do we welcome one another? Well, Paul

gives us the most fundamental answer in verse seven. Therefore,

welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the

glory of God. That's how we welcome one another. How

has Christ welcomed you? Has He not taken you as

you are? Hasn't he since the beginning you turned to

Him in repentance and faith. Hasn't he welcomed you with

open arms and kept you close this entire time, even

as you had line spots, even as you overreacted, even

as your your your moral calculations and decisions that you

made through life just sort of swung like from one

end of the pendulunentin to the other. How has He

welcomed you even as you matured? And thank God for maturing.

He did the work by his grace, through his spirit

working in you. As you have matured, and all along

the way he has held you close in the midst

of the work, as sinners saved by grace, saved by

His cross, his love has endured, has it not, and

it has held you close. That's that's how we welcome

everybody else. They are accountable to Him, not us. He

died for them, we didn't. We care for their sensitivities,

and it's an honor to do so, and we endure

for their good because it's not just an honor.

To care for one another once. It's an honor to

care for one another with the kind.

Of forbearance that Christ has been showing you this whole time.

That's the call we've received to welcome one another as

Christ has welcomed you.