One Accord Mutual Respect (Romans 14)

Overview

Today's topic is one accord mutual respect, and it's really sort of a survey of Romans chapter 14. So, he meanders over to the guy, and the guy sitting there, you know, kind of with a dazed look on his face, and Covey speaks to him, and, you know, he said, hey, you know, I see your children are kind of running wild here, and I think maybe you could get them under control, or something, and he said the man looked up at him, you know, still like waking into consciousness, and he said, you know, we've just been to the hospital, and their mother died, and honestly, we don't know quite how to act, We're all God's children, and we're just at different places in our journey.

Transcript

Romans Chapter 14: The Teaching in Context

Today's topic is one accord mutual respect, and it's really sort of a survey of Romans chapter 14. You know, I was thinking about, there's a story that Stephen Covey told in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, but he told the story about being on a New York subway, and people were sitting on the, you know, sitting on the subway, and were calm and reading their papers, and it was pretty peaceful time, and then all of a sudden a man got on the subway with his children, and the children were sort of running wild, you know, they were jumping up and down, and making noise, and grabbing people's newspapers, and this continued for a while, and you know, he started to feel angry with the man for all of this stuff that was going on, and you know, he's looking at the guy like, you know, you really need to get your kids under control, they're disturbing people. So, he was getting more annoyed, and the people were getting more annoyed, and then finally he thought, you know what, I'm gonna go approach this guy, and tell him something.

So, he meanders over to the guy, and the guy sitting there, you know, kind of with a dazed look on his face, and Covey speaks to him, and, you know, he said, hey, you know, I see your children are kind of running wild here, and I think maybe you could get them under control, or something, and he said the man looked up at him, you know, still like waking into consciousness, and he said, you know, we've just been to the hospital, and their mother died, and honestly, we don't know quite how to act, or what to do, and then Covey said, suddenly he experienced a complete shift and change in his thinking from anger and annoyance, to compassion and love for the man, because of what he must be going through, and he described that, what happened to him, as being a paradigm shift, and a paradigm shift is a fundamental change in approach or understanding based on underlying assumptions, you know. So, I was thinking, when we judge one another, it's based on really making the wrong assumptions about each other, due to external factors, like in other words, we're not seeing the Christ in each other, and we're not recognizing that we all have the faith of Jesus Christ. So, really, mutual respect comes as we shift our thinking and understanding to the reality that we all have the faith of Jesus Christ.

We're all God's children, and we're just at different places in our journey. So, if you'll turn to Romans chapter 14, please. As you know, Romans 14 is on the practical side of the book of Romans doctrine, and in Romans chapter 14, verse 1, it says, Damn, that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

And weak in the faith here, it doesn't mean that the person's weak. It means that they're weak in the faith of Jesus Christ. They're lacking in their understanding of what Jesus Christ did for us and what we really have as a result of that.

And there where it says, doubtful disputations, doubtful means criticizing, and disputations is referring to the person's thoughts, or in other words, without presuming to judge that person's thoughts. So, they're only weak in the sense that they don't yet fully realize what Jesus Christ ended for them. You know, when Jesus Christ said, it is finished, what he ended was their need to do works any longer.

And so, then it goes on to say, for one, believeth that he may eat all things. Another who is weak, again, weak in the faith, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise, or make nothing of, him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him.

Then in verse 4, it says, Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? Which I think is a great question. To his own master, he standeth or fallen. Yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand.

The Biblical Principle in Practice

So, in other words, when we judge other people, who are we to judge them? You know, we're not their master. Each of us has our own master, which is God and, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, who are we to judge them? And then at the end of the day, God is able to hold them up.

God meets us where we are. You know, we're at some place in this journey with God through life, and that you know, and I know, that God's able to lift us up at times and help us to stand. Then it goes on to say, in verse 5, one man esteemeth, or judgeth, one day above another, another, esteemeth every day alike.

Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. And really, this is the key to success for us, is to be fully persuaded in our own mind. The adversary constantly tries to engender doubt in us.

He wants us, cause us to doubt, and even to doubt what Jesus Christ accomplished for us. So, we are to be fully persuaded in our own mind. And then it says in verse 6, he that regardeth today, regardeth it unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not today, to the Lord does he 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. Verse 7, for none of us liveth to himself, and no man diet 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 Lords. For to this end, Christ died and revived, I think Rose is not in the text, that he might be the Lord, both of the dead and the living. So, we all belong to the Lord.

We're all coming from the same place. We're children of God. Then it says in verse 10, why does thou judge thy brother? And I love the fact right there that it says thy brother.

1 Corinthians Chapter 4: The Teaching in Context

That's a reminder for us, right? We're talking about our brothers and sisters in Christ. Why does thou judge thy brother? Or why does thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, or stand before it could be healed before the judgment seat of Christ. So, you know, and I know that the judgment seat of Christ, or the judgment seat of God, I think, is actually the text, refers to the Bema.

And the Bema is the award stand. We're all on the plus side of the ledger with God. You know, none of us are deficient because if Jesus Christ paid for everything that was ever wrong with you or I, then there's not going to be some future day where we're going to account for our sin.

Our sin has been completely wiped out. So, this refers to the award stand, where we're going to be rewarded on the plus side of the ledger for the things that we have done. That's the reality of it.

So, for it is written, as I live, said 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. So, again, this just means, you know, give an expression of ourselves.

But we're not accounting in the negative sense because there's no more sin. Right? There's no more sin. You're not going to be at the Bema accounting for the things that you did wrong and that would nullify what Jesus Christ did for us.

And so, you know, as I thought about this, I thought, why do we judge one another? Why do we set it not one another? And I think a lot of times what happens is we judge ourselves, right? We judge ourselves and because we're maybe constantly judging ourselves, that leads to being critical and judgmental concerning other people. If you could take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 4, I want to show you something I thought was interesting, then we'll come back to this. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, get there, and then in verse 3, and I think this is pretty amazing, but it says, and this is the apostle Paul talking, and he says in verse 3, but with me, it's a very small thing that I should be judged of you.

And it literally means matters very little, which I thought is a great approach to take, right? That I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yay, I judge not mine own self. And as I think about it, that's God's will for our lives.

Romans 14: The Teaching in Context

God doesn't want us to judge ourselves. God isn't constantly judging us. You know, that voice that you hear sometimes in your own head that's pointing out where you're doing wrong, it isn't God, even though sometimes we might think it is, right? Because God doesn't judge us.

So then it goes on to say, verse 4, for I know nothing by myself, or that literally means I'm conscious of nothing, right? I know nothing by myself, yet I'm not hereby justified, but he that judges me is the Lord. So Paul here is saying that he's conscious of nothing to be judged for, right? But then I think, you know, the same apostle Paul is somebody that was having believers murdered, right? He was having killed because he was on the wrong side of things. Yet that same guy said, I'm conscious of nothing to judge myself for.

So I thought that's really a beautiful attitude to have, right? Forget the past, forget the mistakes that you've made. God's not judging you. Jesus Christ paid the price.

So there's no need to continue in those things. Now back to Romans 14. And in verse 13, let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or occasion to fall in his brother's way.

That's the reality. Don't judge them any longer. A stumbling block is an obstacle that causes somebody to fall, right? And an occasion to fall is like a snare or a trap.

In other words, you and I can do things and say things that cause our brother to stumble or cause our brother or sister to feel condemned and not feel like they are who God says they are. So, so the advice that God gives us is do this instead, right? It's going to judge something. Think about what you're saying and doing, you know, so we don't cause our brother to stumble.

Verse 14, I know and I'm persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there's nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteem us anything or reckons anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. And I love the simplicity of that. Nothing's unclean of itself.

The Example Set Before Us

You know, there are a number of years ago in our country, if you drank alcohol, it was considered a sin, right? Still some churches are considered a sin, yet God's the one who invented wine, right? So it's just these things in our heads that, you know, get to us and get to other people and cause us to stumble. And it's not God's will that we stumble. Then it goes on to say in verse 15, but or four, if thy brother be grieved with thy lead, now walk us thou not charitably.

It's not loving, right? So in other words, there's nothing wrong with the meat if I want to eat meat. But, you know, if it's going to cause you to trip up, then, you know, maybe I don't do it for your sake. I think of that Romans being a living sacrifice, I think this would be an example of it.

Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Destroyed there means literally the loosen or pull away from or cut him off, right? Verse 16, let not then your good be evil spoken of, for the kingdom of God is not in meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men, right? So that's the, again, that's that living sacrifice.

Let us therefore follow after or pursue the things which make for peace and things wherewith we may edify one another. And, you know, mutual edification leads to mutual respect. You know, we were just at the one accord conference in Florida, and we actively sought out believers to edify and bless them.

And then the environment's sweet and pure and people are blessed and people are growing. And, you know, that's what God wants from us to edify and build one another up. So now in verse 20, it says, for meat destroy not the work of God, all things indeed are pure, but it is evil or destructive evil for the man who eat us with offense.

Right? That's the reality. It's, you know, and you remember I said earlier that the adversary is constantly trying to chip away at us and get us to doubt and get us to feel like we're offending God or feel like we're not pleasing God. And it's just often it's just not true, but it becomes true for us if that's where our head is at.

Right? Verse 21, it is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby their brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak. You can see that's the family of God, the household of God in operation, taking care of people. You know, in other words, we look out for one another and we're kind to one another.

Applying the Word With Faith

You know, we're not always so quick to correct. There are times when we need correction and, you know, helps us and we have to have it in order to grow. But sometimes, you know, we have to let people be where they are in the journey, you know, and I know where we started in this journey and all the wonderful things that God has taught us and shown us over the years.

So we do that for other people also. Let them be where they are, and then just point them back to God's wonderful grace that covers everything, and they're going to be that much better as a result of it. Just love God, love your fellow man, and do as you dang fool, please.

But sometimes, sometimes in loving your fellow man, it means maybe you're just, you know, going to choose not to see something, you know, you could choose not to go there with the person because you want to help them grow and learn the same opportunity that we had. Verse 22, has thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth.

And I've always loved that verse. Happy is he. You want to be happy, right? Then don't condemn.

Don't condemn yourself. Has thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the thing which he alloweth.

But he that doubteth is damned or condemned if he eat, because he that not of faith for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. So in other words, it's that doubt and hesitation that that surfaces in our minds that holds us back. So God's saying, just be happy and live your life.

Do what you want to do. Do, you know, enjoy what you want to enjoy. Don't condemn yourself.

Romans 14: The Teaching in Context

God's not judging you and Jesus Christ has paid the price for everything. You'll be immeasurably happier as a result of it. And so I love this section from Romans 14.

It's so beautiful, so practical. This is loving your fellow man. This is a mutual respect in the household, in the family.

And once you really start seeing your brother or sister as the one for whom Christ died and the one who has the same faith of Jesus Christ that you do, you're going to have a tremendous paradigm shift in your own heart and then be able to give that person the love and compassion that God gives them and that God would have us to give them. So God bless all of you and thank you.

Key Takeaways

• Today's topic is one accord mutual respect, and it's really sort of a survey of Romans chapter 14.
• And the Bema is the award stand.
• Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
• And once you really start seeing your brother or sister as the one for whom Christ died and the one who has the same faith of Jesus Christ that you do, you're going to have a tremendous paradigm shift in your own heart and then be able to give that person the love and compassion that God gives them and that God would have us to give them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the central message of One Accord Mutual Respect (Romans 14)?

Today's topic is one accord mutual respect, and it's really sort of a survey of Romans chapter 14. So, he meanders over to the guy, and the guy sitting there, you know, kind of with a dazed look on his face, and Covey speaks to him, and, you know, he said, hey, you know, I see your children are kind of running wild here, and I think maybe you could get them under control, or something, and he said the man looked up at him, you know, still like waking into consciousness, and he said, you know, we've just been to the hospital, and their mother died, and honestly, we don't know quite how to act,

Which biblical passages are emphasized in One Accord Mutual Respect (Romans 14)?

The teaching references Romans chapter 14, Romans 14, 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

How can this teaching be applied in daily life?

It's so beautiful, so practical. And once you really start seeing your brother or sister as the one for whom Christ died and the one who has the same faith of Jesus Christ that you do, you're going to have a tremendous paradigm shift in your own heart and then be able to give that person the love and compassion that God gives them and that God would have us to give them.

Scripture References

• Romans chapter 14
• Romans 14
• 1 Corinthians chapter 4

Verification note: Scripture references were extracted from the transcript and should be checked against the audio and the preferred Bible translation before publication.