In Romans 14 Paul is addressing some of the core issues causing divisions within the church: issues of disputable matters (opinions).  The church was taking matters of opinion, things not clearly outlined in Scripture, and making them moral issues. Dietary restrictions was at the top of the list of disputable matters. 

So Paul addresses the church at Rome by dividing his audience in two groups: the weak and the strong.  This division within the church can also be seen through the lens of two people groups, the Jews and the Gentiles, each having their own weaknesses.  The Gentiles who did not come from life lived under the law had been accustomed to indulging in the flesh. Paul says this indulgence will continue to be the Gentile’s weakness unless they cease giving into it (Rom 13:14).  Then, to the Jew, Pauls says to cease falling into works, as you have been accustomed and will continue to be your weakness but, remember grace (Rom 14:1).  In the Jew and Gentile, we have our two extremes: license and legalism, both being born out of passion of opinion.  In helping the church navigate these passions (aka “raging opinions”!), Paul shares insights based on sound biblical principles, taught within Scripture, to help discern the way forward.

The first principle, the principle of acceptance, which we focused on last week, is found in Romans 14:1.  In this section Paul is speaking to the strong in the faith regarding the weak - to accept them.  This principle is developed by doing three things: giving consideration to the audience; understanding the problem; and, understanding the issue and knowing how to deal with this issue.  In grabbing hold of this principle of acceptance, Paul is telling the strong to welcome the weak, willingly fellowshipping with them, without judging them.

Today, we look at the second principle, the principle of honor, developed in Romans 14:2-4.  One of the great elements of God and His Word is that He gives us object lessons to help us better understand His truth revealed in Scripture.  For instance, as we look at Hebrews 12:5-11, we see that discipline within the family is an object lesson, which God uses to demonstrate that just as a loving parent disciplines his child for the good of the child, so God disciplines believers to produce righteousness and peace.  In John 15:1-8 we find another object lesson as we see Jesus using the imagery of a vine and branches to illustrate the necessity of abiding in Him for spiritual growth and fruitfulness.  The pruning process, though painful, is necessary for greater fruitfulness and represents God’s work in the believer’s life to remove and cultivate spiritual growth.

When it comes to the application of the Gospel, we see marriage serving as the centerpiece for many of God’s object lessons: in Ephesians 5:31-32, marriage is used as an object lesson for Christ and His relationship to the church; in Ephesians 5:25-27, marriage is an object lesson regarding Christ’s sanctification of the church.  The reason for looking at these examples is that marriage is a beautiful illustration of the principle of honor.  You will never have a closer relationship with anyone in the church than you do with your spouse.  As biblical principles are understood and applied within your marriage, you will be enabled to apply them in all other relationships.  Deficiencies in your relationships with others stem from deficiencies in your relationship with your spouse and deficiencies in your relationship with your spouse stem from deficiencies in your worship of God.  Marriage is to be our prime example regarding our relationship with the Lord.   Marriage will also be our object lesson for what the principle of honor should be within the church because how well a person honors his spouse is how well the person will honor others.  Marriage is a prime example where two people must work through divisions of opinion, disputable matters.

Romans 12:10, touches on honor, “Outdo one another in showing honor” or (“prefer one another in honor”).  “Honor” signifies the way in which you value other people, giving your recognition to the worth of another person.  Other than Christ/God, you should have the highest honor for your spouse.  Ephesians 5:22-33 lays out the proper foundation of marital love, sacrificial giving (with no expectation of receiving!), respect and submission to Christ, all elements on which the foundation of every marriage should be built.  Love is exemplified through the principle of honor within the marriage covenant as the husband and wife see and treat each other as having great value and worth.

We carry this principle into all of life: how well you honor your spouse is how well you will honor friends, parents and all others.  That foundation for honor being set, let us add three pillars…valuing and cherishing, sacrifice and mutual submission…to our structure.

1. Principle of Honor  (v2-4)

a. Valuing through Cherishing (v2)

In Ephesians 5:33, husbands are called to cherish their wives and wives are called to respect their husbands.  To cherish carries the idea of fostering with tender care, as if to cover someone cold with a warm blanket.  The wife should always know that the husband has nothing but the best in mind for her.  Husbands are to show this tender care for their wives, not just in physical needs but also for their emotional and spiritual needs.

In the same verse, wives are called to respect their husbands.  To respect is to have a profound measure of reverence for, to be in awe and wonder.  As the wife understands the husband’s role in the family and as he cherishes her, she will develop an awe (not as in worship but, rather a reverence) and wonder for his position, which is God’s design, of the Gospel, of how God is at work in her husband’s life.   

As the husband and wife submit to God and live as each intended, the principle of honor is on display; however, living in this way does not naturally occur but, rather it is achieved through knowledge and instruction…it is informed by (“THE”) faith.  This gets to the heart of the message Paul is striving to communicate in verse 2:  the strong is the one who lives with informed truth, “THE Faith”, knowledge and understanding of it that has been applied to his life.  Because of living with this informed truth, the strong understands he is able to eat all things, that he has no dietary restrictions.

Dietary restrictions were a key component of the ceremonial law which was given to the Jews to set them apart and to point to the need for Christ. The symbolic dimension for the dietary laws was that they led the Israelites to discern between the holy and profane, the clean and unclean, in their daily lives.  Additionally, these dietary laws were designed to show the world the Israelites were a people set apart as a holy people dedicated to God.  “For I am Yahweh your God.  Therefore, set yourselves apart as hold and be holy, for I am holy…. For I am Yahweh who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:-44-45).  Likewise, in Deuteronomy 14:2, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” 

However, the object lesson regarding dietary laws came to an end with the death and resurrection of Christ.  In Acts 10:11-15, in the vision given Peter, God declares that all foods are clean, the dietary laws having been overridden, with the end symbolizing the freedom, the grace the believer has in Christ.  We know that it ended with Christ because, “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and the the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near” (Hebrews 10:1).  The dietary laws and other ceremonial practices in the Old Testament were simply shadows pointing to the reality found in Christ; therefore, with His coming and sacrificial death, they were no longer necessary.

The strong know that these restrictions are no longer necessary - the substance is here the shadow can pass away.  However, this would have been extremely controversial because the strong were primarily the Gentiles who had not grown up and lived under laws regarding dietary restriction and the weak would have been the Jews.  So, as we return to remembering our first pillar of honor, Paul is teaching the strong they have an opportunity to cherish the weak, to place a high value on them, out of care and compassion.

As Christians, both Jew and Gentile, began to fellowship with one another through the breaking together of bread, going house to house (Acts 2:42), these sharp divisions between dietary restrictions and grace came head to head.  The levels of conscience for both groups were thus violated.  While the restrictions were eliminated, God called each group to come together and be unified, to accept each other, to place a high value on each other, to honor each other, through the valuing and cherishing of each other.  The strong should cherish and accept the weak and should leave the weak with a desire for the strong like that of a warm blanket.

Just like in a marriage, the weak and the strong in the faith should defer to each other for the sake of love. Each should look on the other with awe and wonder in regards to the salvation and sanctification by God of the other. We should pray for increased understanding and sensitivity towards the other’s conscience. We should mutually value each other.  This is our first pillar,  valuing through cherishing.  

b. Sacrifice (v3a)

“Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats,....”  Honor involves abstaining from contempt and from judgment, recognizing that each person’s conviction (opinion) is valid before God.  No one is always right.  This recognition, this consideration for others with the objective of living in unity, is to be our offering of sacrifice.

The strong are going to be susceptible to feelings of contempt for the weak and the weak are going to be susceptible to judging the strong.  Contempt is to treat the thoughts, ideas and opinions of others as worthless.  You have no regard for what anyone else has to say.  In the immediate context of verse 3, it is the strong treating the weak’s convictions as if they have no worth.  It is dismissiveness that is rooted in self-righteousness and laced with sarcasm.  To think this way is to give into the flesh, into worldly thinking.  This is how the world treats believers and this is NOT love.  “And the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are” (I Corinthians 1:28).  Here we see that God chose the lowly and despised the things of the world to highlight His character, to shame the wise. With emphasis on matters that are not central to the Gospel, we should not treat each other the way the world treats us!

In Luke 18:9-14, we have another notable example where we find the Pharisee with contempt for and despising as worthless the tax collector who is an image bearer of God.  Jesus confronts this as wrong behavior, both with standing and value before God.  Later Peter, speaking to Jewish leaders, referencing Psalm 118:22, tells them that, “This Jesus is the stone that was despised by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone” (Acts 4:11), highlighting the rejection and contempt shown towards Jesus by them as Christ was crucified.  Why, then, would we treat each other in the body of Christ like the people who crucified our Savior over nonessential matters?

Through sacrifice the strong in the faith honor and battle contempt.  We die to ourselves and invest in someone else, thus eliminating the division with the weak.  This is accomplished through strengthening the weaker’s spiritual growth, through spending time with them, mentoring them, loving them.  In this sacrifice, the church is made stronger and becomes more unified.  The strong must not allow this contempt…this disdain, this desping for the weak in matters of opinion, dietary restrictions being only one example…that can creep into the church.  This is the conflict Paul addresses in this passage.

While the strong are in danger of contempt, the weak are in danger of judgment, to critically condemn.  Only on matters or moral significance, is the believer allowed to judge.  “For what have I do do with judging outsiders?  Do you not judge those who are within the church?  But those who are outside, God will judge.  Remove the wicked man from among yourselves” (I Corinthians 5:12-13).  This is clear instruction to exercise church discipline, making judgments regarding sinful behavior.  Although God remains the ultimate judge, with discernment we can use the truth of Scripture to judge what is right!   In Matthew 7:1-6, 15-16, often taken out of context with regards to judging, Jesus teaches that we are given discernment to tell right from wrong, to demonstrate what is proper judgment.  This form of judgment is not what Paul is addressing.  To act as judge is not appropriate in matters of opinion, and it is the sin tendency of the weak.

We can find a variety of examples as to how the weak judge the strong.  As one example, the weak can begin to question the faithfulness of the strong.  They begin to examine the life of the strong and question whether they can be trusted.  As another example, the weak can begin to assert moral authority.  As the weak establishes these divisions of right and wrong and as they adhere to them, they begin to judge others who do not adhere to the same sense of right and wrong.  The adherence to these divisions gives the weak a false sense of moral superiority.  A third example is in the creation of divisions, in determining with whom in the church the weak is going to associate.  Finally, as a fourth example, the weak may promote legalism, that sin in the life of the strong occurs because they do not have the same understanding of right and wrong (as that of the weak) thus, leading to unnecessary tension in conflict in the realm of the nonessential.

In both the reactions of the strong for the weak and the weak for the strong, we find a self-serving attitude, absent of sacrificial love.  There must be sacrifice!

c. Mutual Submission (v3b-4)

“...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.”  Here, Paul is addressing the weaker brother with a very strong rebuke but, the truth taught is applicable to both groups because the Lord has accepted both into His kingdom and we should willingly submit to each other knowing we each answer to the same Master.  In this rebuke, Pauls is saying that the weaker are stepping into God’s territory in their judgment, effectively asserting they know better than God.

We see that the weaker brother needs help and grace from the stronger brother because the weaker is the most easily offended, the most narrow in their way of thinking and in following after their own opinions.  Both brothers need space (and grace!) because they are both serving the same Master.  The answer lies in mutual submission.  

God will cause each to be able to stand before His throne in eternity.  All believers will stand before God at the judgment seat of Christ, not being judged for their sins but, based on how their lives were lived out in the faith.  In Paul’s mind is eternal glory.

As we interact with each other, remember the judgment that Christ will administer.  We must give great value and consideration to the opportunities we are given, the ministries to which we engage, all our acts of service to the Lord, all the influence we have over others. Think about the words of Jesus as He said, “If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” (John 12:47).  Now is not the time to judge nor are you The Judge.  This is the message coming from Paul in these verses.  Now is the time to be unified (in the eyes of God and in the eyes of the world!) for the sake and mission of the Gospel.  Set aside your opinions.  Know that outside of an atmosphere of love, this cannot be done!  We must willingly give ourselves to others with no expectation of return, we must see and respect each other as a child of God, we must live knowing we are each serving the same Master and we must accept and honor each with no regards to opinion on nonessential matters.

Selah

• As you think about your relationship with other believers, do you find clear evidence of a walk that demonstrates the unconditional love for each, a love that gives without any expectation of return, of valuing through cherishing?

• As Christ willingly and obediently sacrificed His life for you,  are you willingly and obediently setting aside your opinions for the good of others, for the sake and mission of the Gospel, to be a desirable warm blanket?

• As God has welcomed each (still imperfect) believer into His kingdom, have you similarly welcomed each, without any form of standing judgment, to whom you regularly interact? 

• Did the Lord reveal to you any nonessential matter (of opinion) for which you have allowed to cause division with another member of the body of Christ?