Christians that differ

Could we look at Romans chapter 14, please? Romans chapter 14 and verse 1. Romans 14 and 1. Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him.

Now, God willing, we'll continue in a minute here, but what's on my heart this afternoon is the subject of when Christians differ. What's our response to other believers when they don't think like us, when they don't behave like us? Here in verse 1, the Holy Spirit and Paul writing says, the person that is weak in faith, receive. Now, this isn't to assembly reception.

This is just how we treat one another, those of us that are in assembly fellowship. Do we accept one another's differences, or do we think that God uses some kind of cookie cutter and that we're to be some kind of clone? And if people vary from that, then something's wrong. Now, the Spirit of God does have a qualification.

He says, receive, but not to doubtful disputations. That is, don't quarrel with them about their personal opinions. And this seems to be talking about, we're not talking about the essentials of Christianity, whether it's the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, or salvation by grace through faith, whether there should be a plurality of leadership in an assembly.

This is, and we're going to see as we go down here, this is about things that are of secondary importance. Like what? Well, I'm just going to stick to what we have here, but I hope we'll be able to fill it out, fill in the blanks in our own experience, because I think we all encounter this. We're all different.

None of us think exactly the same. And in verse 2, we read about the person that believes they can eat anything, and somebody else is a vegetarian. Now, this is written to believers in Rome.

Likely, most of the assemblies there would be comprised mainly of Gentiles who were saved, but believers as well. And you could see a situation where, you know, a Gentile believer, he has no trouble having a pork chop. But there's a Jewish person that has gotten saved, and his thinking is, well, you know, my dad didn't eat pork chops.

My grandfather, great grandfather, and I'm not going to step outside of that. But verse 3 now says the person that eats has freedom to eat anything. He says, don't despise, don't look down on the person that doesn't feel free to eat everything, and vice versa.

The person that doesn't feel free to eat everything, don't judge the person that eats. So, it'd be something like this. Julius, in the assembly in Rome there, he could eat pork chops, and he can't understand what's wrong with Levi.

You know, he's thinking, what's wrong with that guy? He's living in the Dark Ages. And, you know, he's going to turn Amish on us. What's his problem? And he looks down on them, thinking, you know, he's a subpar Christian.

But Levi now, he's thinking, if it was good enough for my father, good enough for my grandfather, I'm going to stand for the truth. And maybe there's others with him. And Julius and his friends, these guys are off the rails.

They're going to the dogs. We're going to stand for the truth, no matter what. So, this is just a little scenario of what it could have been like here.

But, do we not have the same kind of scenarios in assemblies today? The Word of God is relevant. That's a tremendous thing, because it's the eternal Word of God. So, the Lord goes on now.

Let's start reading in verse 4. He gives us some reason why we shouldn't be looking down on others who have different opinions on things, different opinions than we do. Verse 4. He says, Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up, for God is able to make him stand.

One man esteemeth one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

He that regardeth or observes the day, regards it unto the Lord. And he that regards not the day to the Lord, he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks.

And he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord.

And whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set it not? Look down on thy brother, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

You know, those of us that have children like our children to get along. Now I know there's such a thing as sibling rivalry, and I guess that's always going to exist to some degree, but basically parents like it when their children get along. Do we think it's any different with our Heavenly Father? Brother, sister, God wants us to get along.

Live peaceably, as much as Liothenius, live peaceably with all men. Now I know, well, I won't go there. Now why shouldn't we judge or look down on other believers that have looked at things differently than us? Well, first of all, the end of verse 3, it says, For God has received him.

God received him at salvation. They belong to him. He loves them, and so should we.

Verse 4, We're not the other person's boss. We're not the boss. He says, Who are you that judges another man's servant? To his own master he stands or falls.

That other believer that we maybe are critical of, they belong to the Lord. They're serving him, and he's the only one that really can properly assess whether it's approval or disapproval. Now verse 5 brings in another possibility, not just, you know, eating pork or not, but, you know, the Jewish believer now might have trouble with the Sabbath.

Julius, now he doesn't mind cutting his lawn on Saturday, but Levi, he has a problem that can't understand what's wrong with Julius. He's off the rails, cutting his lawn on the Sabbath. You know, I was saved a number of years before I came into assembly fellowship, and I'll tell you, I appreciate the teaching I've received since being in assembly fellowship.

I know we're not perfect, but I'm thankful for the teaching that that I've received the least. But I was saved, I don't know how, you know, a number of years. Should have known better, but I thought Saturday was the Sabbath.

And a lot of things I wouldn't do, just didn't understand. But in verse 6, what we see there is that whether you can do, can you cut, whether you can cut your lawn on a Saturday, it doesn't bother you, or whether you don't, or whether you eat pork, or whether you don't. It says these people, whatever they, whatever side they're on, they're doing it as unto the Lord.

They're doing it out of a good conscience as to Him. And really, does it matter if you eat a pork chop or you don't? Or if you cut your lawn on Saturday, you don't? I mean, somebody has said we tend to get hung up on things that don't matter, while we overlook the things that do. Is that true of me? I'm afraid it is.

You know, as I've been looking at chapter 14, this has spoken to me. And I've realized a lot of times my attitude has been wrong toward other believers. You know, the Pharisees had trouble with this.

In Matthew 23, the Lord says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and you've omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment or justice, mercy and faith. These ought you have done, and not to leave the other undone. And I'm afraid sometimes I get all bent out of shape over some of these peripheral things, and I miss out on what's really important to God.

Now, I'm not going to look at every verse here, but in verses 10 to 12, well, verse 10, it says, Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you set it not your brother? For you shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Here we are, maybe judging or looking down our nose at other believers, but we should be judging ourselves, right? Because we're going to stand before the Lord. We were hearing that this morning.

We're going to stand before the Lord. No hiding places. Talk about transparent.

And do you not think that one of the things that we're accountable for is our attitude toward other believers who might not see every jot and tittle just the way we do? Now, I don't know if you have trouble with this, but I do. And it's not right. This is what God has been speaking to me about.

So in verse 13, basically the Lord is saying, Never mind judging other people, judge yourself. And he says in 13, Judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. This is what I should be really concerned about.

Am I being a stumbling block to other believers? Now, Julius could do that to Levi, maybe have him over after meeting and serve him a ham sandwich, saying he should know better. And suppose Julius thinks, well, you know, here I am. I went in Rome, do as the Romans do.

So he eats that ham sandwich, has a guilty conscience and goes into a spiritual tailspin. That's Julius' fault. He had liberty to eat the ham sandwich.

Levi didn't. Now, verse 14, Paul says, I'm persuaded by the Lord Jesus, there is nothing unclean of itself. That is, speaking about food, we know that we're free to eat pork, unlike under the law, the Jews in the Old Testament times.

There's nothing unclean of itself. But to him that esteems anything to be unclean, it is. Like Levi, he ate that ham sandwich.

There was really nothing wrong with it, but because he has a conscience against it, his conscience is violated. So, 15, if your brother is grieved with what you do, you're not walking in love. Strong words in 15, destroy not him with your meat for whom Christ died.

By our attitude, whether one side or the other, our attitude toward other believers with different opinions, we can do a lot of damage. I mean, Levi can start preaching at Julius and saying, you know, you shouldn't be eating that pork. I know that wouldn't fly out here in Iowa, but just for purposes of illustration.

And, you know, he keeps harping and harping and harping. Maybe after a while, Julius says, you know, well, maybe I shouldn't be. And, you know, so he has some ribs that he enjoys and then has a guilty conscience.

He goes into a spiritual tailspin. You know, we affect one another. Verse 16, let not your good be evil spoken of.

We can do the right thing a wrong way. It's okay for Julius to eat pork. But in certain circumstances, it may cause a big problem for Levi.

Are we willing to for give up our liberties to help other believers that maybe don't feel they have that liberty? And then in 17 says, for the kingdom of God isn't meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy and the Holy Ghost. It's not these second, these matters of secondary importance like eating and so on. That's not the big thing.

What is important? Well, the Lord says righteousness. I take that as a practical righteousness, doing right to others, treating others properly, not haranguing them because they don't agree with me. And peace, enjoying peace in my own soul because my conscience isn't violated, but living peaceably with others.

And joy in the Holy Ghost, enjoying the Lord and doing everything I can so that others I'm in contact with can enjoy the Lord as well, instead of just dragging them down by maybe harping or whatever. Now, again, brother, sister, I hope we can fill in the blanks in our own experience because I don't think this issue only occurred back in New Testament times here in Rome. And to me, it's very interesting that in Matthew 18, where you get the first mention of the local church, Paul talks, you know, whether it starts out Matthew 18, where the disciples say to the Lord, who's the greatest, who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God.

And the Lord uses that as a great teaching lesson to show how much he values his people and how much value we should put on one another. And how terrible it is when we do things that are a stumbling block to other believers. How terrible it is when we do things that are a stumbling block, a spiritual hindrance to other believers.

May the Lord preserve us. May this concern us more than trying to be the greatest. May this concern us more than nitpicking and finding fault and harping about these peripheral issues.

Now, verse 18, for he that in these things serves Christ, that is the end of verse 17, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. He that in these things serve Christ is acceptable, is pleasing to God and approved of men and a good testimony in the world. So he says in 19, let us therefore follow or pursue after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify or build up another.

These aren't just empty words as we know. God wants us to live them, put them in practice. And wouldn't it help us all to get along a little better if we did put it into practice? Now again, we're not talking about critical issues here, whether sisters need to have their heads covered when the assembly meets together.

We're not talking about things like that. Verse 20, for meet, destroy, don't tear down the work of God. Verse 19, it ends with edify, build up one another.

But let me just finish by looking at chapter 15 for a few minutes here. Chapter 15, verse 1, we then that are strong, I'm speaking about the strong in faith now as opposed to the weak as we read in chapter 14, verse 1. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good edification.

For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wherefore, receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. What I see here is that God wants us to be considerate of one another, considerate, not just pushing our own agenda. We may be right, but you know the Lord says, let not then your good be evil spoken of.

We can do the right thing the wrong way. If I'm pushing something that maybe somebody else isn't ready for, we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. Galatians 6, you read, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Verse 2, let every one of us please his neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself. Please his neighbor for his good edification to build him up.

You get the example of the Lord Jesus in verse 3. He endured for others, for us. Can I not endure a little bit for my brother and my sisters if they don't agree with me about something that really isn't that big a deal? Oh, I might have made it a big deal in my own mind, but is it a big deal to the Lord? Is it a bigger deal than righteousness and peace and joy? Verse 5, the God of patience and consolation grants you to be like-minded one toward another according to after the example of Christ Jesus. Verse 6, this is what God is looking for, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what God is looking for. So verse 7, wherefore in view of all this, receive ye one another as Christ also received us. What's the purpose of all this? To bring honor and glory to God.

When Christians differ, what's our response? I don't think God has left us in the darkness. He gives us very clear instruction here. It's one thing to know it in our heads, but by the grace of God, may the Lord help us to put it in practice.