Romans 14 -- Diversity of thought

1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.

Christians have all been trained in the articles of the faith, the items that are not disputable. But apart from one God and Father of all, Jesus Christ Lord of all, and the faith that has once for all been delivered to us by the apostles everything else is disputable. Do we vote for Biden or Trump, disputable. Do we build a wall on the border, disputable. Do we join the Paris Accords, disputable. Now what exactly does “disputable” mean? Dispute is to argue about or debate, so disputable means you are able to argue about or debate these. However, the meaning greek here is more along the lines of to “judge his doubtful thoughts” or even “to criticize his scruples”. The Bible is very clear, a “real Christian” believes that Jesus is Lord, however it doesn’t say anything about whether or not a “real Christian” would ban fracking.

2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

For two thousand years we have looked at this verse as being about whether or not to be a vegetarian. But the first verse is about any disputable matter, and this second verse is simply an illustration of what he is talking about. For example, there are people today who will only listen to CNN and MSNBC and don’t dare to listen to any other sources of information. If you are going to debate a “disputable” topic some people will seek out a multitude of sources. However, you can find people on the internet who will say anything, doesn’t make it true. So there are others who will only accept the “approved” sources like CNN and the NY Times. So there are some who will only “eat” what the powers that be tell them is safe and there are others who will “eat” anything.

3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.

This is the issue we have right now, it is splitting the country in half. Some people are “eating everything” and claiming there was election fraud, others who do not “eat” anything that Facebook, Twitter and the powers that be say is true are judging those who are claiming there was election fraud. Do not treat your brother or sister with contempt simply because they don’t listen to Steve Bannon or Dan Bongino. On the other hand do not judge those who do.

4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

This is the key point. When you are making a decision on these issues are you realizing that you are a servant of the Lord and you will be judged for the actions you take. If you vote for Trump then you can be held accountable for the peace treaty he brokered with Israel and the UAE. Likewise if you voted for Biden you are accountable for the decision to pay for abortions worldwide and to make them legal right up until birth. Trump and Biden made it clear where they stood on these issues before you voted.

5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.

This is an issue that has bothered me for my entire christian life. I have heard the case to be made about not celebrating birthdays (every birthday celebration in the New Testament is pretty horrible -- though to be fair the Magi were celebrating Jesus birth if not His birthday). Christmas is not Jesus birthday but rather a pagan celebration to the Sun, etc. So on the one hand I don’t want to treat these days as “more sacred than another”. On the other hand the world has done a good job of guilting you and painting you as a “scrooge” if you don’t. To me some issues are clear cut, like abortion, other issues there are two sides to them and both have merit and they are not clear cut. I have made it very clear to my kids and family what aspects of Christmas I completely reject as a lie from the world (I consider the whole story of Santa Clause flying around the entire world and sneaking into houses like a thief to give you presents to be a corruption and mockery of the gospel where at the end of the age Jesus will rapture the first fruits and this will be like a thief breaking into the house of the “world” and the worldly church and stealing the treasures). On the other hand we do get birthday gifts and Christmas gifts so that my kids don’t think that Christians are miserly.

6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

This is the key thing. Are you giving thanks to God when you celebrate these days? You can have the biggest and best celebration without thanking God and you can also abstain from these parties while giving thanks to God. It is the same with the Paris Accords, I give thanks to God that He is Lord and that all things are under His control. I understand that there are two sides to the issue, but the most important side is that Jesus is Lord.

7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.

Some teach to not talk about politics, that is their solution. But this is a more excellent way. Paul doesn’t say these issues are not disputable, on the contrary they are. All he says is that do not treat your brother or sister who may dispute with you with contempt, do not judge them. In this verse the word judge means to condemn. The word contempt means to deride. To judge, to condemn would be equivalent to censoring them, banning them, making it illegal to dispute the issue. The word contempt indicates that those who are strong in the faith are “puffed up with pride”. This does not indicate a concern for the edification of the weaker brother or sister.

11 It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,

‘every knee will bow before me;

every tongue will acknowledge God.’”[b]

12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

So what do people do when they are disputing back and forth and there seems to be no resolution? They set a trap, or a snare. For example in the gospels when they came to Jesus and asked if it was right to pay tribute to Caesar or not, that was a trap. If you say yes you offend all those who are against the tyranny of the Roman empire, if you say no you give the Roman’s an excuse to arrest you for treason. But notice, Jesus didn’t duck this question, didn’t say that “politics is out of bounds”.

14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

The kingdom of God is not about getting others to listen to Rush Limbaugh or anyone else. When I was first preaching the gospel I was associated with Witness Lee, a coworker of Watchman Nee. He was controversial, some liked him, others were distressed because of him. So, I didn’t reference him at all. The only book we used was the Bible. I didn’t care what people thought about him, it was irrelevant, the kingdom of God is about righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. The Bible is fully sufficient to preach that message.

19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.

The words of Satan, and Judas and Balaam are recorded in the Bible. How can that be? Because “all food is clean”. But what about Satan’s temptations to Eve and to Jesus? How else are we to learn about His devices? So without a doubt you can pick up the words of the Bible to cause someone to stumble, this happens in “cults” all the time. Using the Bible in that way is wrong. But every word in the Bible is clean and that includes some very nasty words that are recorded from the false prophets.

21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

Anyone who spends time in the word has learned to avoid certain portions that tend to cause others to fall. There are many Christians who avoid Revelation altogether. I personally dislike the way in which it is written. It is clearly written in code to hide what is being said. However, if you are living in the midst of intense persecution you need to learn to speak that way. So if you understand that John is speaking in this way to edify you, then you can receive it.

22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.

Oops, my bad, just forget what I just said.

Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

Nice, that is some slick debate tactics. You may think you are so smart, so slick, winning the argument but in winning that argument do you condemn yourself when you appear before the Lord’s judgement seat? If winning the argument requires you to condemn others or treat them disrespectfully or lay a trap for them, sorry, you just condemned yourself.

23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.[c]

If your conscience is telling you to stop when you are reading or watching something on the internet you need to heed that warning.