Romans 14

Chapter 14. Consecration in Relation to Our Duty to the Weak and ErringWe who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. " For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus. (Romans 15:1-5)The glory of practical Christianity is that while it deals with the highest and most sublime principles of truth, yet it applies them to the most practical and commonplace things of human life and holds a perfect balance between the highest and the lowest things, the loftiest devotion and the commonest duty. The natural religions of the world all fail in this respect. Buddhism is purely speculative. Confucianism is purely moral. Christianity combines both, and teaches us at once to “never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11). The earlier chapters of this epistle are devoted to the theory of sanctification, but in these closing chapters it is applied in the most practical way to every possible relationship of life. It has already been presented to us in relation to our social and civil duties, but in these chapters a more delicate phase of practical consecration is worked out with infinite wisdom and heart-searching power, and many of the most difficult questions of duty are settled by great principles which carry a self-evidencing power in their very enunciation. There is no class of persons more difficult for an earnest Christian to deal with than those with whom one is often thrown in contact, who are described in this passage as “weak.” It is much easier to have to deal directly with open enemies and the people of the world than with those who really belong to Christ, but seem to be inconsistent and unworthy of the name. It very often happens that the most earnest souls are thrown into contact with these very uncongenial associates. They are often met with in the same family, in the same Christian work, in the same church, in the same secular calling—compelled to be in constant contact and yet utterly unlike in their character. These are little diamonds, or little bits of diamond dust, genuine, indeed, but of no further use than to polish the larger diamonds. It is often very difficult to see why the strong, the bold, the uncompromising follower of Christ should be hampered and hindered by such associations; but they will be found at last to be God’s most valuable purifying agencies, and we shall find them our greatest blessings. The apostle tells us how we are to deal with them. Fellowship

1. We are to receive them. We are not to reject them and try to get away from them. God has a place for them in His Church. We are not to try to get up an elite company of congenial, pleasant Christian associates, in every way desirable; but we are to accept all the conditions which God has mingled in this world, and to receive them in His name, and count it the highest proof of His confidence in us, that He entrusts them to our spiritual care and fellowship. The most profitable church in which one’s lot can be cast, and the very best school in which our character can be developed, is just such a combination of various elements, and even trying surroundings. The Master’s highest test of Peter’s love was not feeding the lambs or the sheep, but the feeble sheep, and nothing but God’s highest love can qualify and fit us for this trust. Schism
2. We are to receive them without controversy. “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters” (Romans 14:1). There is nothing that so rends the body of Christ and destroys all unity in Christian life as religious controversy, especially about nonessential matters. For half a century the churches of Scotland were divided up into half a score of Presbyterian bodies, on a lot of microscopic points, and nearly a hundred Christian sects testify to the baneful effects of ecclesiastical strife. There is room for an infinite variety of opinion on minor points, but there is no need to flaunt our opinions in the face of our brethren, and provoke them to criticism and controversy. Things which, if allowed to rest, would never be serious difficulties, when agitated grow into an exaggerated importance, and Christian love becomes suspended on a lot of side issues and separated from its true center. There are, it is true, great essential principles that we cannot compromise, respecting the person and work of Christ, the simplicity of the great salvation, the fullness of redemption and the future life; but the platform is broad enough to hold the great body of evangelical Christians and bridge over the hundred little differences that need never have been publicly emphasized. There is a strong power in words to injure and separate. A thought is comparatively harmless, but when you clothe it and express it and send it out for public recognition, it becomes not only a thorn of contention, but a thistle seed to bring a thousand contentions wherever it alights. Liberty
3. Liberty of conscience on the part of every man to act according to his own convictions is one of the strongest principles of all true unity in the body of Christ. “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). “I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean” (Romans 14:14). These simple words carry with them a principle of extreme importance. We need scarcely say that this passage does not refer to the question of moral right or wrong, because there are some things that are essentially and eternally right and wrong. The word “unclean” here is a ceremonial term, the same word used in the vision of Peter (Acts 10:9-16), where he was taught to regard nothing as common or unclean, and the passage refers entirely to things outside the pale of morals. Stealing, slander, lust and murder are essentially wrong, but there are a thousand things outside the pale of right and wrong that are not essential or important. Keeping certain days, matters of dress, eating and drinking—these are the things which he says are not wrong in themselves, but are to be entirely regulated by the instincts of conscience. If you think it wrong to drink tea and coffee, and yet do so, you are committing a sin; if you think it wrong to wear a colored dress, and do so against your conscience, you are committing a sin; if you esteem it wrong to work on Christmas or Good Friday, and go against your conscience, you are committing a sin. If, however, you have no conscience on these subjects, you are free. There is nothing more sacred in the universe than the voice of conscience. Even the heathen devotee, bowing at the shrine of his idol, is entitled to our respect. He may be misguided, but he is obeying what is to him the voice of God. When a man looks me in the face, after I have said all I can say to convince him of some truth, and says he is honestly walking according to the law of God as he understands it, I must accept it and I dare not sit in judgment on him and compel him to accept my conscience instead of his own. But he is bound just as much to accept my conscientious convictions as I am to accept his, and both of us are most solemnly bound to be sure that our conscience is right, and that we have consecrated it in the light of God’s Holy Word and will; for in the day of final judgment, a misguided conscience, even if honestly obeyed, will not save us from the consequences of error. At the same time it is the only rule by which man can act, but God will go deeper and judge man by eternal and immutable truth. But we must judge man according to the law of conscience, except in those matters where God already by His own law has determined the right and the wrong. This principle, then, of respecting the conscience of our brethren in things nonessential, is the true secret of toleration and Christian unity. Judge Not
4. Judging one another in matters of conscience is forbidden: The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stand or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand…. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat…. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. (Romans 14:3-4, Romans 14:10, Romans 14:13) We are not to judge our weak brother in obeying his conscience in something which we cannot see; but our weak brother is not to judge us in acting with liberty in a matter which to him seems so important. The toleration is to be mutual, and each is to leave the other to the judgment of God. It is even implied that when we sit in judgment upon another, we provoke God to reverse our judgment, and even do more for one on whom we pronounce the judgment than He would otherwise have done. “And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Romans 14:4). God is jealous of His own prerogative of judgment. There is a wonderful law of retribution which invariably brings back upon our own heads the judgment we pass upon others. “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way” (Romans 14:13). The Test of Faith
5. The principle of faith with reference to all our own acts is emphasized, and is most important in respect to the whole range of things referred to in this chapter. “So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:22-23). It is a safe rule never to do anything about which we have the slightest doubt, and always to delay our decisions and actions until we are absolutely sure. Then shall we have the happiness of having our conscience on our own side and of carrying with us our own approval. But a shadow of doubt is enough to make us miserable and to involve us in the consciousness of sin and wrong. Next to the approval of God, there is nothing so sublime as the consciousness in your deepest being of meeting your own sense of right and acting according to your highest convictions. Let us, therefore, always take time to make sure of our action, and then act in certainty and “full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22). But along with this is the yet higher principle of love, in sacrificing our own preferences and refraining from what our own conscience would fully approve for ourselves for the sake of another, lest by our act another’s conscience might be wounded and another’s steps might be stumbled. This is one of the finest principles in Christian ethics, and one of the most lofty and beautiful lines of Christian self-denial possible for the disciple of Christ. “Everything is permissible,” said Paul, “but not everything is constructive” (1 Corinthians 10:23). I may be perfectly free myself to do many things, the doing of which might hurt my brother and wound his conscience, and love will gladly surrender the little indulgence so that she may save her brother from temptation. There are many questions which are easily settled by this principle. For example, the use of stimulants, which in the judgment of some is forbidden by Scripture, yet to other intelligent Christians seems to be an open question, and they argue that the Bible does not prohibit the use of wine. Supposing that this were even so (which we only admit for the sake of argument), still the higher law of love would lead them to abandon the use of stimulants because of the harm they do, and the inability of thousands to withstand the temptation. So there are many forms of recreation which in themselves might be harmless and, under certain circumstances, unobjectionable; but they have become associated with worldliness and godlessness and have proved snares and temptations to many a young heart in life; and therefore, the law of love would lead you to avoid them, discountenance them and in no way give encouragement to others to participate in them. It is just in these things that are not required of us by absolute rules, but are the impulses of a thoughtful love, that the highest qualities of Christian character show themselves and the most delicate shades of Christian love are manifested. You are not compelled to do it, but your doing it for Jesus’ sake will add to your crown many a jewel of indescribable glory when the Master shall weigh all acts and recompense all works. Representing Christ
6. The great principle that must regulate all such questions is given us in the opening verses of the 15th chapter, and may be summed up in one sentence—act to every one, and in everything, as if you were the Lord Jesus. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Romans 15:7). This is a sublime principle, and it will give sublimity to life. It is stated elsewhere in similar language—“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). This is our high calling: to represent Christ; to act in His behalf and in His character and Spirit, under all circumstances and toward all men. “What would Jesus do?” is a simple question which will settle every difficulty, and always settle it on the side of love. But we cannot answer this question rightly without having Jesus Himself in our hearts. We cannot act Christ. This is too grave a matter for acting. We must have Christ, and simply be natural and true to the life within us, and that life will act itself out. Oh, how easy it is to love everyone and see nothing but loveliness when our own heart is filled with Christ; and how every difficulty melts away and everyone we meet seems clothed with the Spirit within us when we are filled with the Holy Spirit! I remember a beautiful sunset, the last time I left my father’s house. As we drove along in the evening hour, the western sky became a mass of amber and gold, and the banks of clouds were piled like myriads of many-colored gems. I watched it until my eyes were almost dazed with the sunset glory; and I turned and looked at the people beside me, and they were all amber and gold. I looked at the fields in every direction, and they were all amber and gold. I looked away to the distant horizon, and everything was amber and gold. Everything was colored by the sunset glory. Yes, I thought, and when our eyes are fixed upon Him, everything is God-touched and glorified, and the commonest things of life become divine, the hardest things easy, and the most repulsive things beautiful and attractive.This is the secret of love, of joy, of victory: to be filled with Him, to be one with Him, to abide in Him and to minister Him in the world in which we are called to represent Him. It is the old prayer: Help me to live like Thee, Help me to live like Thee, By Thy wonderful power, By Thy grace every hour, Help me to live like Thee. Only it is transformed and lifted to a higher meaning: Live Thou, Thy life in me, Live Thou, Thyself in me; By Thy wonderful power By Thy grace every hour, Live Thou, Thyself in me.