[Chapter 14] Do Not Judge Each Other
Romans 14:1 states, “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.”
Paul
warned the saints in Rome not to judge or criticize each other’s faith.
At that time, since there were both those who were very faithful and
those not so faithful in the church in Rome, they came to criticize each
other’s faith. If this happens to you, you must respect each other’s
faith and do away with any critical stances against God’s servants. It
is up to God, not us, to raise and build His servants.
Even
within God’s church, many problems arise among the believers. If we
take a look at their faith, we can find all sorts of faith. Some had
been bound to the Law before their redemption, and thus, they still have
the vestige of their old legalistic faith.
Some
Christians take great importance in selective eating. For example, such
people may believe that they must not eat pork. Others may believe that
they must keep the Sabbath under any circumstances. But we must resolve
these differences in our faith in the righteousness of God and not
criticize each other over such small matters. This is the gist of what
Paul was talking about.
Paul
teaches in chapter 14 that we should not criticize our fellow
believers’ weakness if they have faith in the righteousness of God. Why
not? Because although weak, they also believe in God’s righteousness.
The
Bible regards those who have been redeemed of their sins by believing
in God’s righteousness as the precious people of God. While they may
seem insufficient in each other’s eyes, God has nevertheless ordered us
not to criticize other believers’ faith. This is because although they
may be insufficient in the flesh, they still became the children of God
by faith.
Everyone’s faith differs from each other
Verses
2-3 state, “For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak
eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat,
and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has
received him.”
There
can be diversity among the servants of God in believing in His
righteousness and following Him. The faith in salvation is the same, but
the amount of faith in His Word may differ.
If
someone had been a legalist before being born again by the faith in the
gospel of the righteousness of God, he/she would need time to abandon
his/her own righteousness by wholly believing in God’s righteousness.
These people tend to take great importance in observing the Sabbath, but
you should not criticize them because they, too, believe in God’s
righteousness.
God
is pleased by the faith of those who know and believe in His
righteousness. He has taken them as His people. Therefore, those who
truly believe in the righteousness of God should make every effort to
nourish their fellow believers with God’s righteousness, instead of
criticizing the weakness of the faith of them.
We must not judge the servants of God
Verse
4 says, “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he
stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to
make him stand.”
We
must acknowledge God’s servants, whom God has approved, and also their
faiths. Do you criticize and judge God’s servants while living your
Christian life? Then God will rebuke your faith even more. If you
condemn the faith of those whom God approves just because you do not
like them, you are climbing yourself into the judgment seat of God and
judging His servants. This is not right. Rather, you should gratefully
receive even those servants of God whom you dislike and obey their
guidance while lifting up God’s righteousness.
God
must approve our faith. We should have the true faith that merits God’s
commendation and reward. Because God has allowed us to devote our lives
to Jesus Christ, we thank Him for His righteousness. We must approve
those whom God approves and disapprove of those whom God disapproves. I
hope that you would glorify God by having faith in His righteousness,
instead of lifting up your own righteousness. I hope that God would
approve your faith. You will then be lifted up because of your faith in
His righteousness.
If they also believe in God’s Righteousness…
“One
person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike.
Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day,
observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the
Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives
God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and
gives God thanks” (Romans 14:5-6).
Among
the Jews were those who were saved by believing in Christ, our Lord of
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Many of them, though they
believed in Jesus, were still bound by the Law. But they were already
the servants of God’s righteousness because whatever they did to keep
the Law, they did to spread God’s righteousness.
That
is why Paul said, “To those who are under the law, as under the law,
that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without
law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law
toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law” (1
Corinthians 9:20-21).
We
must neither ignore nor reject the faith of those who believe in the
righteousness of God. If they believe in God’s righteousness and serve
Him, we must acknowledge them as the servants of God.
The righteous shall live for the Lord
Verses
7-9 state, “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to
himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to
the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to
this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of
both the dead and the living.”
We
live with Christ and die with Him because we have been saved from all
our sins and received new lives by believing in the righteousness of God
revealed in the gospel. All the old things have passed away in Christ,
and we became new creatures. To truly believe in God’s righteousness
means to know and believe in the truth that you are Christ’s. Thus,
those who believe in the righteousness of God have no more to do with
this world and have become the servants of God instead.
If
you become God’s servant, you will lift Him up high, love Him, live for
His glory, and be thankful to Him for allowing you to live your life in
this way.
Do
you truly belong to Christ? Those who believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit have been crucified with Christ and were brought
back to life again with Him. Whether we live or die, we belong to Christ
by God’s righteousness. The Lord has become the Lord of the saved.
We should not judge our fellow believers
It
is written in verses 10-12, “But why do you judge your brother? Or why
do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: ‘As I live, says the LORD,
Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.’ So
then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”
Because
Christ our God lives, we will one day kneel before Him and confess
everything. We must therefore not seat on the judgment seat and judge
our brothers and sisters but stand before God with modesty. It is much
more important to live for God’s will than to judge and condemn one
another in His church. If we judge and condemn our brothers and sisters’
weaknesses, we will be judged for our own weaknesses before God. This
is why we must realize how good it is to live for God’s will, together
in His church.
True
faith edifies the fellow believers and pursues the righteousness of
God. Remember that a false faith will abandon God’s righteousness and
only build its own righteousness. What about you? Are you pursuing God’s
righteousness with faith? Or are you pursuing the righteousness of your
own flesh?
We must edify the others’ faith
Verses
13-14, “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather
resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our
brother’s way. I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is
nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be
unclean, to him it is unclean.”
Because
there are differences in the amount of faith among those who believe in
the righteousness of God, we should work to build each other’s faith by
edifying one another. This brings growth to the believers of God’s
righteousness. If we truly live for God and His righteousness, we are
all His people.
If
you are a Christian who believes in the righteousness of God, you can
do anything with your faith in the Word of God. If you cannot, it is
because you are pursuing your own righteousness instead of God’s
righteousness. Pursuing your own righteousness in the righteousness of
God is like pursuing the world and having a wrong faith.
Those
who seek their own righteousness, although saved by believing in God’s
righteousness, are living as God’s foes. God wants those who are saved
by believing in His righteousness to keep on following His righteousness
throughout their lives.
Walk in love
Verses
15-18 says, “Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you
are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for
whom Christ died. Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil;
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these
things is acceptable to God and approved by men.”
Those
who have been saved by believing in God’s righteousness and are living
to spread it do not despise His people for the sake of food. We
sometimes bring food to share and have fellowship in love. But Paul is
warning us against excluding the poor brothers and sisters and sharing
only among the wealthy, because that could make our fellow Christians to
stumble.
The
blessings that God has bestowed on those who believe in His
righteousness are allowing us to follow God’s righteousness, our peace
of mind given by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and being able
to serve the Lord together, sharing in each other’s joy that He has
given. Those who are wealthy should therefore realize that all their
riches are from God and share them with others to serve the gospel and
follow God’s righteousness together. God is pleased with and loves those
who live such lives.
Seek to edify others
Verses
19-21 says, “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace
and the things by which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work
of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil
for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor
drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended
or is made weak.”
Long
ago, in such ancient cities as Rome and Corinth, people sold food that
were once offered as sacrifices to idols. Some of the believers in God’s
righteousness used to buy such meat and eat them. Then, some of the
fellow believers who were of weak faith in God’s church thought that
eating such meat was sinful. This is why Paul said, “Do not destroy the
work of God for the sake of food” (verse 20).
The
same applied to wine. There were some believers who did not worry much
about drinking. But Paul admonished that if such behaviors were to
weaken the faith of their fellow believers, it would be good for them to
stop offending their fellow believers with their drinking. This also
happens among us. Therefore, we must live our Christian lives in a way
that edifies others, and seek God’s righteousness. Issues can rise today
concerning the food used as offerings to ancestors, and it is better
not to eat that kind of food for the sake of those who are weak in
faith.
Have faith in God’s Righteousness
Verse
22-23 states, “Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy
is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who
doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for
whatever is not from faith is sin.”
Those
who believe in the righteousness of God are the ones who have the
correct faith. Faith in God’s righteousness is the God-given faith that
cleanses away all our sins. Christians therefore must believe in God’s
righteousness and have the conviction of their faith in His
righteousness.
The
Scripture tells us that following God without believing in His
righteousness is a sin. Anything done without faith is a sin. Knowing
that anything done without faith in God’s righteousness is a sin, we
must have more faith in His righteousness.
The
Bible says, “He who doubts is condemned if he eats.” Everything is
clean if you eat with faith in God’s righteousness, because God created
every plant and animal.
We
must understand just how important it is for us to know and believe in
God’s righteousness. We must also edify our fellow born-again believers
and respect their faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment