Disunity has always been a major problem for
God's people. There are times when the source
of that disunity is satanic, for Satan certainly
is interested in dividing us. And there are times
when that disunity finds its root in our own
carnal natures. In fact, as you look at the New
Testament, it's interesting to note that almost
every church that is mentioned in the New Testament
suffered from disunity. The first church, the
Jerusalem church, had a near split regarding
the relationship of Gentile believers and Jewish
believers. The Corinthian church was divided
over its preachers and leaders. There were certain
movements going on within the congregation which
fought against each other. They were so divided
they even brought lawsuits against one another.
Then the churches of Galatia were guilty of biting
and devouring each other, says the apostle. In
Philippi, there were two women that couldn't
get along. One was Euodius and one was Syntyche.
Somebody has said one was Odius and the other
was Syntyche. And as a result of their problems,
there was a problem in the church. The church
at Laodicea, the church at Colossae, the church
at Ephesus were instructed by Paul in this matter
of unity to preserve it. And then the church
at Rome, which received the epistle we've been
studying together, seems to have had some problems
over the observance of Jewish holy days and special
diets. That brings us to our text today, which
is Romans chapter 14, the first 12 verses. Now
accept the one who is weak in faith, but not
for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.
One man has faith that he may eat all things,
but he who is weak eats vegetables only. No wonder
he's weak, right? Let not him who eats regard
with contempt him who does not eat. And let not
him who does not eat judge him who eats, for
God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the
servant of another? To his own master he stands
or falls, and stand he will, for the Lord is
able to make him stand. One man regards one day
above another, another regards every day alike.
Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind.
He who observes the day observes it for the Lord.
And he who eats does so for the Lord, for he
gives thanks to God. And he who eats not for
the Lord, he does not eat and gives thanks to
God. For not one of us lives for himself, and
not one dies for himself. For if we live, we
live for the Lord. Or if we die, we die for the
Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, We are
the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived
again, that he might be Lord both of the dead
and of the living. But you, why do you judge
your brother? For you again, why do you regard
your brother with contempt? For we shall all
stand before the judgment seat of God. For it
is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee
shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give
praise to God. So then each one of us shall give
account of himself to God. Now if each of the
people in the church had kept his own convictions
to himself, there would have been no problem.
The problem was, though, that they began to criticize
and to judge one another regarding the other's
spirituality on the basis of personal opinion
and standards. Many problems of disunity in local
churches are not problems over fundamental, essential
doctrines of the Word. Rather, those areas of
life or opinion where the Bible is unspecific
are often the areas where there is division and
disagreement. Those areas where there is no clear
revelation or word from God. regarding what is
right or wrong. Now, to be sure, there are vast
areas where the Bible is clear in both directions
on what is right and what is wrong. But there
is that middle ground, that twilight zone, that
gray area where the Bible, in some instances,
is not specific. Where the Bible is clear, there
is no problem because the Bible is our final
authority, not what we think. But where the Bible
is unclear, then there is room for difference
of opinion and possibly division. I think it
was Augustine who first said this, and he said
it well. In essentials, let there be unity. In
non -essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.
My friend, that's a good rule to live by. Now
perhaps we need to explain what the apostle was
talking about when he speaks in this text about
the strong and the weak. The weak were those
who felt they were obligated to live according
to certain non -biblical rules and regulations.
That is, these were rules that the Bible did
not give, but ones which they themselves felt
were important or ones which other people felt
were important. Man -made rules, standards, opinions.
The weak were those who felt they were obligated
to live according to those. On the other hand,
the strong were those who... had an understanding
of the boundary of liberty that God gives us,
and were able, therefore, to enjoy the freedom
that they had in Jesus Christ with a clear conscience.
They understood spiritual truths, and they lived
accordingly. Those were the strong. And today
we still have the weak and the strong within
every local church. On almost every issue, There
are divided opinions. There are at least two
sides, sometimes more. And often these divided
opinions create tension, which result in eventual
division in the church of God. And that is not
the will of God. What we are in need of are principles
which can guide us in these gray areas. where
the Bible does not say yea or nay, right or wrong,
so that we believers can disagree without disunity,
or as someone has said, so that we can disagree
without being disagreeable. We need some principles
which will allow us to give the other the right
to differ on non -essentials without our developing
bad attitudes toward them. That is what this
whole section of Romans, beginning in chapter
14, verse 1, and concluding with chapter 15,
verse 13, deals with, these principles. And we're
going to look at the first one today, in Romans
14, 1 through 12. That principle is that we are
to accept one another. The whole passage that
we will look at over the course of three Sundays
lays down three principles which will preserve
church unity in these areas where there are legitimate
differences of opinion. Today we will look at
the first of the principles. That principle is
accept one another. And he explains to us three
reasons why we should do that. Reason number
one is because we are all accepted by God. That
is, all of us who have trusted the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are accepted by him, therefore we
should accept one another. Notice he begins with
the exhortation in verse 1, accept the one who's
weak in faith. And he concludes in verse 3 in
this first division of the text by saying, God
has accepted him. So the first reason that we
are to accept each other without judging one
another is because God has accepted all of us
with our differences. We are to welcome or to
embrace, is actually the thought here, one another
with the same genuineness, the same freedom,
the same openness, the same understanding patience.
with which God has embraced and received us in
Jesus Christ. I need to understand that God has
accepted my brother who differs with me in these
areas. It amazes me sometimes, but he has. Do
you ever feel that way? Do you look at people
that you disagree with on some of the non -essentials?
And you say, how in the world can God bless them
when they think the way they do about that issue?
And yet God does. God has accepted my brother,
and because he has accepted him, I am to accept
him. I am to do that without a condescending
attitude. I am to do it without a critical spirit.
I am to do it without a judgmental opinion of
his spirituality. because of our difference.
God has received both my brother and myself,
despite our sin, through the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ for us both. And on that same basis, the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us both, I am to
accept my brother. And I'm to do this in spite
of such differences as that of diet, which he
mentions here. You see, there were some who were
weak and who only ate vegetables. They were vegetarians.
And apparently not for health purposes, but primarily
because of a religious conviction. These may
have been some of the Jewish believers in Rome.
They were aware that some of the meat, at least,
which was available in the market, had been offered
to the pagan idols before being taken to the
market. They were also aware that some of the
meat that was sold was the meat of unclean animals,
according to the Jewish law. And furthermore,
there was no way for them to be sure that it
had been properly prepared according to the law
of Moses. Now, they had a weak conscience about
these things. In other words, they were easily
provoked to guilt if they would eat meat with
those uncertainties. And therefore, they said,
we will eat vegetables only. Those are the weak.
And then there were the strong who said, we can
eat the meat. After all, what is an idol? It's
nothing. It's meaningless. So what if it's been
offered to a piece of stone or wood? It hasn't
hurt that T -bone. It hasn't hurt that pork chop.
And I'm going to eat it and enjoy it. And he
knew he had that liberty, and so the strong ate
it. But that was the problem. Over that difference
of diet, that difference of opinion about whether
the meat should be eaten or not, there was division
within the fellowship, apparently. And so the
apostle exhorts them, he exhorts them to accept
one another. Wrong attitudes had developed. You
find those, for example, in verse 3 where he
says, Let not him who eats despise him who does
not eat. Now you can see the fellow who knows
his liberty in Christ. Here's the fellow who
is more restricted in his conscience. And he
looks down his nose at him. And he says, why
don't you grow up? You immature little baby.
Why don't you realize the liberty you have in
Christ? Put away those childish ideas. And so
he treats his brother with contempt. He counts
him as nothing. On the other hand, you've got
the weaker brother, the one who does not eat.
And as he looks over at the table where the brother
with the stronger conscience eats, he says, shame
on you. You should not eat that meat because
that has possibly been dedicated to false gods.
Shame on you for disgracing the Lord Jesus Christ
by the way that you're eating. And so he judged
his brother. And which group is it that Paul
condemns? Both of them. He says the one who discredits
and discounts his brother is wrong and the one
who judges his brother is wrong. He says accept
one another because God has accepted you both
with your differences. And if God can accept
you, surely you should be able to accept each
other. There's a second reason why he exhorts
us to accept one another, and that is because
we serve the same Lord, my brother and I who
differ. In fact, in verses 4 through 8, you will
find the term Lord or kurios used eight times.
The emphasis is on the lordship of Jesus Christ.
He says that we are his servants. He uses that
term in verse 4, servants. The word here is the
word household servant. He pictures God's family
as a family who all live in one house, a household
of people. But he says we are all servants in
this household. God has many servants in his
household. And his servants are not to judge
each other. They don't answer to each other.
They answer to the master of the house is his
argument. He says the Lord is concerned about
his servants. The master of the house will see
that they stand or fall. And then he goes on
to say regarding our master, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he'll see to it that we stand. He'll take care
of us. We answer to him. He cares for us personally.
That is true of each one of us, despite our differences.
We all serve the same Lord, those of us who belong
to him. It is not the place of the servants to
judge one another, but rather each of us, he
says, should be fully convinced, verse 5, in
his own mind regarding his own personal convictions
in these gray areas. in these nonspecific matters
that so often divide us. That is where the Bible
is nonspecific. Servants of the Lord are not
to judge each other. That is the Lord's business,
to do the judging. Whatever the servant concludes
in his own mind regarding whether an issue is
right or wrong for himself, he is to act out
that decision in his life for the sake of the
Lord. You see, that's the motive for our living,
isn't it? It's not to try to impress other people
or to put other people down or to compare ourselves
with others. But he says if we live, we live
for the Lord. If we die, we die for the Lord.
So whether we live or die, we're his. He has
bought us. We belong to him. We are his possession.
We are blood -bought people. Because he is therefore
our possessor, our kurios, our lord, our master
in the household, we give answer to him who owns
us, not to one another. And so on these areas
where there is room for difference of opinion,
we are to allow others to differ with ourselves.
Be fully convinced in our own minds we're not
to be wishy -washy. We're to be fully convinced
in our own minds And then recognize that we give
answer to the Lord, just like my brother will,
who is fully convinced in a different way about
the same issue. The third reason that we are
to accept one another is because we shall stand
at the same judgment seat, verses 10, 11, and
12. Whether one is weak or strong, he will stand
before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. The
judgment seat here is the bema, which was a term
well known to the Romans of that day. It was
the tribunal. Still today there is preserved
in Corinth the bema that was there in ancient
Corinth. The bema was the judgment seat where
the local governing official, whatever he may
be, would give his decisions. It was there that
cases were brought for examination for him to
hear. And so the apostle picks up that term and
that concept in the minds of the people, and
he says, now look, we are going to stand before
the tribunal, the judgment seat, the decision
bench of Jesus Christ, all of us, whether weak
or strong. He even says the Old Testament indicates
this truth. In Isaiah 45, 23, and he quotes,
As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow
to me, and every tongue shall give praise to
God. In this context, it's talking about every
believer. In Philippians 2, it's embracing and
incorporating as well every person who's ever
lived on the face of the earth will someday bow
the knee to Jesus Christ. He says, so then each
one of us shall give account of himself to God.
There is a key parallel passage in 2 Corinthians.
I invite you to turn there with me to look in
the fifth chapter of that book. The apostle is
reminding us early in the chapter that all of
us... will someday stand before the Lord, and
he says that our desire is that right now we
might labor so that then we will be pleasing
to him. He says in verse 10 in summary, For we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that each one may be recompensed for his deeds
in the body, according to what he has done, whether
good or bad. My friend, this judgment seat of
Christ is a future event. Those of us in the
doctrinal class this morning discussed this briefly
as we looked into the future at the events that
are yet to come. This judgment seat of Jesus
Christ will take place rather immediately after
the rapture of the church. As far as you and
I are concerned, it is the second appointment
that we have on our calendars with God. The first
will be when we see the Lord Jesus Christ in
the air and we are caught up to be with him.
And the second appointment that we will have
is when we stand before Jesus at that judgment
seat. Now there are at least five things I want
to say about the judgment seat of Christ as we
look at it. First of all, it is inclusive. By
that I mean all believers will stand before that
judgment seat. All who are a part of the church
of Jesus Christ, save from back at Pentecost
until that day of the rapture when we are caught
up to be with the Lord. It is inclusive. There
is not one of us who can't escape that day. It
is universal. All of us. All of us must appear,
it says. Secondly, It is individual. For while
all of us must be there, it will not be a group
judgment. It will be a personal judgment, an
individual judgment. He says we must all appear
before the judgment seat that what? Each one
may be recompensed. In other words, although
we will all be there, there will be some fashion
in which each of us will personally stand before
the Lord Jesus Christ and be examined for our
lives. He says it is inescapable. We must do
this. That's the third thing. In Romans it says
we shall stand. It says we shall give an account.
There's no possibility that any of us will somehow
get lost in the crowd in that day or keep going
to the back of the line. We will be there at
the front of the line at some point. You say,
wait a minute. What, seven years between the
rapture and the second coming? We've got to squeeze
in a wedding there somewhere for the church and
Christ. I mean, how many millions of believers
have there been, and you're saying that there's
going to be a personal judgment for each one
of us? How is there time for all of that? My
friend, how much time is there in heaven? Once
we step out of this world, we are in eternity.
There is no longer a time reference. So it's
not a matter of time anymore. We will be individually
judged. Now the Apostle Paul found that such
a thought that he calls it in verse 11, the fear
of the Lord, the terror of the Lord, literally.
And if he felt that way with the life he lived,
I wonder how I should feel, how you should feel.
Oh yes, I'm rejoicing in that thought of the
rapture and seeing the Lord face to face and
being changed or resurrected, whichever it shall
be for me, for you. I'm looking forward to that
day, but I recognize this too, that immediately
after that joyous reunion with the Lord and with
those who have gone before us in Christ, But
there will come this time of examination at his
bima. It will be an inquiring judgment. That's
the fourth thing about it. Inclusive, individual,
inescapable inquiring. We will be called to give
an account of the deeds done in the body according
to what we have done, whether good or bad. Now
that does not mean that our sins will be exposed
there. Thank God. Our sins have once and for
all been judged at the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But there will be some measurement of
our lives having been wasted because... of time
that we spent in disobedience with the Lord.
There will be some way that God is going to gauge
the bad deeds done, the worthless, is really
the word there, the worthless deeds done. Not
that they themselves will be exposed, that is
the deeds, but there will be some way it will
be told whether we have been faithful and whether
we have been unfaithful. And we'll be judged.
An inquiring judgment. The word appear in verse
10 means to be made manifest. You and I are going
to be scrutinized. Nothing will be left uncovered.
We are very clever right now at covering our
trails, aren't we? We are able to hide things,
sometimes even in our own minds and memory. We're
able to tuck them away where we forget about
them or we're not embarrassed by them. On the
other hand, there are times when we do good things
and we don't even recognize what we're doing.
God notices it. God takes account of it. We just
didn't realize that that was such an important
thing. So whether it be something that was worthless
or something that was good, all of it will be
brought to the surface and scrutinized by our
Lord. And finally, this judgment will be informative.
As a result of the inquiry, we will be recompensed.
That word means to receive back one's own. To
receive back... your own. The idea seems to be
that we invest ahead of time in heaven, and on
that day, according to our investment, as it
were, we will get our return on our faithful
living. I had a really neat Spanish teacher in
high school. She's still living, although she
seemed very near death. to me when I was in high
school. I'll probably send her a copy of this
tape since I've mentioned her. A really neat
lady. I remember one story she told us in the
Spanish class one day about a man who died and
went to heaven and there were some others in
a line with him. I'm not saying this is biblical,
please understand. But it illustrates the point.
As he was in that line, he watched several others
ahead of him be taken by an angel to their mansion
that had been prepared, and it was so beautiful.
Finally, he was in line to be next, and so the
angel took him by the hand and led him down the
street and back an alley, and there at the end
of the alley was this tar paper shanty. just
made out of sticks and tar paper. And he said,
wait a minute, why am I here in this little tar
paper shanty and all these other people get these
mansions? And the angel turned to him and said,
well, we did the best we could with what you
sent ahead. When you and I stand at the judgment
seat of Jesus Christ, we are going to be recompensed
according to the deeds done in our body. right
now in this life. You say, what has all this
got to do with accepting one another? We'll go
back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and I'll show
you. For here we have another record of the judgment
seat. Now remember, the Corinthians were divided.
Disunity was a real problem to them. The apostle
rebukes them for dividing themselves over their
preachers. He says, In verse 10, according to
the grace of God which was given to me, as a
wise master builder I laid a foundation and another
is building upon it. But let each man be careful
how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation
other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus
Christ. Now if any man builds upon the foundation
with gold, silver, precious stones, or wood,
hay, straw, Each man's work will become evident,
for the day will show it because it is to be
revealed with fire, and the fire itself will
test the quality of each man's work. Now the
apostle seems to be talking here about this judgment
seat of Jesus Christ, and in some specific way
he's talking about the accountability that those
of us who are pastor -teachers will have. Those
of us who build upon the foundation of Jesus
Christ in the lives of other people. And he says
we need to be careful how we build. He says our
work will be exposed by fire. Now that is the
fire of judgment. It's not the fire of hell.
It's not the fire of purgatory. It's symbolic
here. It means that in some way he is going to
judge the works of our lives as they are presented
before him at the judgment seat. He says, if
any man's work which he has built upon it remains,
he shall receive a reward. If any man's work
is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself
shall be saved, yet so as through fire. In other
words, through that judgment, that process of
exposure. Then he says, do you not know that
you are a temple of God, that is, as a local
church, and that the Spirit of God dwells in
you? If any man destroys the temple of God, the
local church, God will destroy him, for the temple
of God is holy, and that is what you are. Now
here is my point in connecting the command in
Romans 14 to accept one another with the judgment
seat of Jesus Christ. We are all going to stand
before the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We will give answer to him. But if we dare begin
to judge each other and to be critical of one
another and create such tension within the fellowship
of the local church that we begin to divide it
and thus destroy it in its unity, we bring ourselves
under the judgment of God and will give answer
for it at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ.
Now you think about that the next time you are
tempted to be critical and judgmental and divisive.
We are the temple of God and the Holy Spirit
lives in us as a church. And we are to leave
judgment to our Lord and to the judgment seat.
We are not to judge each other and be divisive.
If we dare do that, our Lord will judge us for
it. I didn't say cast us into hell, but I tell
you it will be exposed and we will be so ashamed
and embarrassed at that judgment seat. How important
it is then that we obey this first principle,
that even in these areas where there are differences
among us, areas of legitimate difference, that
we accept one another and not condemn one another
or judge one another. Now there are many modern
examples and applications of this. I'm going
to mention a few. One of the ones that is hot
in some churches especially is what scripture
translation you use. There are some people who
are very convinced in their own minds that the
King James Version is the only inspired version
and should be the only one used. I am not among
them, but there are some who are convinced of
that. And if they are, God bless them, fine.
But that should not become a matter of division.
It should not become an issue of controversy
in any local church over what scriptural translation
you use. When a church is divided over that,
there will be some accounting at the judgment
seat of Jesus Christ. Another area will be that
of cultural taboos. Now these kind of changes,
culture changes. Let me just give you an example
or two. Some people are quite convinced that
no Christian should ever go to any movie or attend
any theater. Their conscience is that sensitive
about it. It's wrong for them. They are fully
convinced of it. On the other hand, there are
those who feel that they can attend what they
would consider to be a good movie. Without bringing
condemnation on their own conscience. Who is
right and who is wrong? Let each man be fully
persuaded in his own mind and not judge the other.
Is the principle of God's word. Accept one another.
What about card playing? There are some people
who are deaf about using game cards. They say
they are used in gambling casinos. And to be
seen playing those cards is an abomination to
God. I mean, they are fully convinced about it.
There are other people who see those cards as
paper and ink and nothing more than that. Who's
right and who's wrong? Let each man be fully
persuaded in his own mind and accept the other.
What about music styles? There are some people
who are convinced that there are some styles
of music that are of the devil. And I don't have
too much of a problem with some music agreeing
with that. I think that there is some music literally
of the devil. I think there are some music groups
today that are of the devil literally and worship
him. But that's another subject. But there are
some who are very restrictive in their style
of music. There are others who have a broader
latitude of the music they appreciate. Who's
right and who's wrong? Let each man be fully
persuaded in his own mind and accept one another.
What about some of the non -essential doctrines
or issues that come up? I know a church today
that is at the point of being torn apart over
the issue of divorce and remarriage. My friend,
if you study that issue, you will come up with
some conclusions for yourself. I have, and I'm
convinced I'm right. But I know this, there are
some men that I respect a great deal who have
a different conclusion about that. Am I to break
fellowship with them because of that issue? If
I do, I am sinning against Jesus Christ and his
body. Because that is a secondary, non -essential
issue. And while I may have my own convictions
and preach them, and I will and do, I must give
him that liberty to do the same. Or what about
the pre -tribulational rapture? As I told the
class this morning. There are those who disagree
with us about a pre -tribulational rapture. They
have a right to be wrong. Again, there are people
who are brothers in Christ who differ with us
on those secondary issues. Are we to divide the
body of Christ over those things? No. Now we
should take a position, I think as a church,
we can teach what we believe, but we ought not
to divide ourselves over the issue, nor divide
the body of Christ. We are to accept one another.
I think you get the point in these applications.
So let me just close by asking some questions.
Are you judgmental of other believers in an area
where the Bible allows him liberty? Can you distinguish
between your biblical convictions and your personal
preferences? We all have them. And if you cannot
distinguish between them yet, you need to mature
to that point where you can. Can you allow another
to have a more legalistic position than you without
despising him? Can you allow a person to have
more freedom, more liberty than you personally
have in your conscience without judging him?
Accept one another. What non -essential issue
is spoiling your fellowship with some other Christian
today? What non -essential issue? And that's
something you need to get on your knees about
and ask God. to show you how to bring that fellowship
with that other brother back together and heal
it. My friend, if you had to stand before the
beam of Jesus Christ with only that portion of
your life you've already lived to be examined,
would you be satisfied? Or would you be ashamed?
Would you be embarrassed by the way that you've
lived up till now? What would you want to be
different if you were to be examined at the judgment
seat today? What would you want to change in
your life if you knew today you had to stand
before Jesus Christ? Whatever that is that comes
to your mind, then do it. And do it today. Because
soon we will stand before him. You say, I want
to live my life the way I want to live it. Fine,
do it. But you can only live it that way once.
And then you must give an account. And so must
I. Let's pray. Would you sing with me? He is
Lord. He is Lord. He is risen from the dead,
and he is Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Have thine
own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Thou art the
power. I think we mean that even if it's going
to be painful to bring us into that mold, even
if it means cutting some things out of our lives
that we now think we enjoy or changing an attitude
or going to a brother and making amends. I pray
that you will enforce in our lives what we've
prayed and sung. In Jesus' name, amen.