Does Romans 14 Change Church Doctrine?

Today we're going to go through another doctrinal, how sharp is your sword type of sermon? We get challenged from time to time on various doctrines, and can you explain? Can you defend your faith? And so these how sharp are your sword sermons are simply to help us be able to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. And a lot of times, back in the mid-1990s, the church went through a crisis. And we're going to talk about one of the main scriptures used to sort of undo the church back then. Because, you know, back before that time, the church was fairly strict and fairly healthy, I might add.

And there were periods of health and there were periods of not-so-good times, but for the most part, the church did fairly well. They were fairly strict. So in this particular scripture, we're going to go through Romans chapter 14. Now Romans 14 is a minefield, because there's more than one statement that Paul makes that looks like he blows our beliefs out of the water. And people, rational, intelligent people, look at us like we're crazy.

Because it says right there that what you're doing is wrong. You don't need to eat clean and unclean meats, and you don't need to keep the Sabbath. Which is not what Romans 14 is about at all. As a matter of fact, Romans chapter 14 is one of the most important passages for the church of God in this current day and age. Because we can't seem to do anything well except dispute with each other. Everything else, we're kind of medium at.

We excel at mediocrity sometimes. But not at disputing. We're experts in disputes. Oh, can we argue our point of view? And that's what Romans 14 is all about. Drop the arguing. And yet Romans 14 is actually used to say, don't eat pork and don't keep the Sabbath. Which is a pity. Because when you look at it that way, you miss the big picture of what Paul is actually trying to get across with actually the entire letter that he sent to the Roman church.

Now, just some background. It is thought that Paul wrote this letter to the Romans while he was in Corinth. He wasn't in Rome when he wrote the letter. He was actually in Corinth. And he was addressing conflict in the church. And one of the main themes in the Book of Romans was the apparent conflict in the church between Jewish believers and Gentile believers. The first two chapters of the Book of Romans, Paul talks a lot about Jews and Gentiles. And in Romans chapter 10 and verse 12, Paul says, Romans chapter 10 and verse 12, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is over all, rich to all who come upon him.

And is rich to all who come upon him. So chapter 14 in context is about conflict between people and their ethnic background and their cultural differences and their differences of opinion. Okay, that's the background and that's the context. And then when we get to almost the end of the letter in Romans chapter 14, we see Paul sets the theme right at the beginning, plain as the nose on my face. Romans chapter 14 and verse 1, he says, Receive one who is weak in the face, but not to disputes over what? Disputes over doubtful things. Notice that Paul sets the stage right off the bat.

These are not disputes over the law of God. The law of God is not a doubtful thing. It is not doubtful that God gave his law. That's what his law says. There is no doubt about it. The word doubtful is dialogismos, horrible pronunciation in the Greek, because I'm not a Greek scholar, nor do I claim to be. But it means, according to Thayer, the thinking of a man, deliberating with himself, a thought, an inward reasoning. So what was Paul saying the rest of this chapter is going to be about? Disputes over the inward thoughts of a man.

Guess what the law of God is not, brethren? The law of God is not. It does not come from the inward thoughts of a man. The law of God comes from, well, God. So Paul is addressing not the law of God, but disputes over what? Opinions. Opinions. I think that a man should wear a tie. That's my opinion. That's actually not my opinion. That's the opposite of my opinion. Yeah, let's get rid of these ties. I agree with the Filipinos. There's no need for a tie. That's my opinion. We should not dispute over that.

Some people think women shouldn't wear pants. Women just ought not be. There's no scripture that says women shouldn't wear pants. There's a scripture that says women shouldn't wear men's clothing. So women shouldn't wear men's pants. Okay, I'll give you that. But women shouldn't wear pants? Sure, they should. Hey, if Abraham can wear a dress, my wife can wear pants. Okay, those are things that are not scriptural. They're opinion. Just opinion. And then in verse 2, Paul says, and he explains what he's talking about. And this actually seems to be hypothetical.

This is hypothetical. Sometimes Paul, like in Corinthians, was addressing a specific issue. There was a guy who was sleeping with his stepmother. Sick, but Paul was dealing with a specific issue. Here, Paul is actually dealing with more hypothetical situations. Paul understands human nature. Paul hears of this dispute going on in the church in Rome. They're congregating. They're fighting with each other. And Jews and Gentiles are not getting along in the church of God in Rome. So Paul starts to address the issue hypothetically, based on things he knows that go on in his current world in the Roman world. Here's what goes on between Jews and Gentiles in the Roman world.

And in verse 2, he says, one believes that he may eat all things, but he who is weak only eats vegetables. So we might jump to the conclusion that Paul's talking against vegetarianism. And that's not even Paul's point.

That is the context of verse 2. He does say that. So this is a conflict between eating meat and eating only veggies. But it doesn't end there. That's not the whole scope of what Paul's trying to address. So let's go through it. Some diet issues, brethren, are just simply doubtful things. They're not biblical issues. And you know what? That's no different than we are today. We have the same exact debate, literally the same exact debate in the church today. Some people come in and say you shouldn't eat meat, and others say, well, you shouldn't eat much meat.

It's scientifically proven, which means very little, if anything at all. Because science changes its opinion all the time. The word of God never changes. Science almost always changes. Way to decades, they will reverse their opinion. That's science. Because science does not require the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. They can get things wrong and then go, oops, we made a mistake. They can leave out half of the information. Mr. Jeff Lockhart gave an excellent teen Bible study one time on how scientists in the scientific community, they will take a series of tests, and they will get an odd result. But that's the result they want.

And they only get that result one time out of, say, 20 or 30 tests that give the opposite result. Do they go with the majority? No. Those majority tests disappear.

They just go away. And the only one they present is this one test where they got the funny result. And that's what they say. Studies have shown. Whenever I hear, studies have shown. I cringe. I just cringe. Because of the way the scientific community is. They don't tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. They tell the story, and they try to back it up with some facts.

And not all the facts. So, the problem with science isn't science. The scientific method is very sound. You know what the problem with science is? It's people. That's the problem. And people lie. And they lie using science. So, I love to hear those, I'm being sarcastic in case you're wondering, those debates where people go, science shows, you know what, do your homework.

A matter is established with two or three witnesses. Not one. You can't take one study and say, I can no longer eat this or that. And then, what do we do? We go in the congregation and we start telling everybody. We become an evangelist for that science set. And whatever is our favorite thing. Whatever it might be. And we start creating conflict. Because, you know, eating food is kind of a personal thing. And if somebody doesn't ask you to get in their space and tell you what they can and cannot eat, how effective do you think your opinion is going to be?

Now, if they ask you and they're interested in what your opinion is, give it. I mean, that's an open invitation to become an evangelist for what you believe. But that we don't wait for people to ask us, do we? Oh, we're in the food line. You shouldn't eat that. You just offended 10 people.

The person who made it and the other people who were salivating behind you waiting to get it. You know, it's been shown that our grandmothers were right. Our grandmas were right. They used to cook super high cholesterol foods and they would say, don't eat sugar. Watch your sugar. Now, what do we find out? All those studies about eating the high cholesterol wasn't really the major cause of heart disease. The major cause of heart disease has been shown to be eating too much sugar. Wow! It's sugar in the blood that creates the inflammation that causes the body to produce the cholesterol that clogs the artery. Grandma was right!

The entire letter of Romans is framed around the concept of conflict, and this is the main point, between Jews and Gentiles. Not about doing away with God's law, and yet we get hit in the book of Romans quite a bit, and in Chapter 14, three different times, on why we think we should keep the law. Paul wasn't even coming close to doing away with the law. In the very first couple of verses of this chapter, he explains, he's talking about disputes over doubtful things.

God's law is not something that man thought up. It's not a doubtful thing. Doubtful things between Jews and Gentiles of that day. What were they? Well, how about not eating food sacrificed to idols? How about you're supposed to fast more than once a week, twice a week usually, every Tuesday and every Thursday, or whatever day it was. So the Jews are in the congregation saying, well, you know, you Gentiles really need to be fasting. These days are special days that are set aside to fast, and the Gentiles are like, well, meet me at the marketplace, we'll have a burger and talk about it.

Which a Jew would never do, because the marketplace serves food sacrificed to idols. So having a potluck in Rome back in the day was kind of a difficult thing. Nobody would get along. It's very similar to us today. Is that gluten-free? I don't think that's gluten-free. You shouldn't eat that. We do that. We're no different than it was back then.

So let's read chapter 3. I'm sorry, verse 3, not chapter 3. Let him who eats, let not him who eats despise the one who does not eat, and let him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. And so it seems like to many, many reasonable people that Paul is starting to establish a sort of argument that it doesn't really matter what you eat. And is that really what Paul was talking about? Verse 4, who are you to judge another servant?

You know, I've literally had this debate with people that I care about. Who are you to judge somebody else's servant and say I can't eat pork, that I can't eat lobster? Verse 4, continuing on, To his master he stands or follows, indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. Yeah, yeah, God's able to make me stand no matter what I eat. Read the next verse. Challenge number one.

We come to our first very challenging Scripture. Romans 14 and verse 5. One person esteems one day above another. Another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. You see there? It doesn't matter which day you keep as the Sabbath.

Some people think every day is holy. Other people think the Sabbath is holy. Is that what Paul? No. Paul is not talking about things in the law of God. What's he talking about in verse 1? Doubtful things. Things that come from the mind of men. Well, what came from the mind of men about days that are special that happened to be a conflict back in the Roman Empire between Jews and Gentiles? Because that's the context of Romans. What was the conflict between Jews and Gentiles back in the Roman Empire about days?

Well, we remember Jesus already discussed this. A steaming of days in his parables. Do you remember Luke 18? Let's go there. Luke 18 verses 9 through 12. You see, when the Jews went into captivity—just give a backstory here—the Jews were taken captive by the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian Empire fell through the Persian Empire. The Jews were still captive even though the Empire changed. It's now the Persian Empire, but the Jews are still captive. And one day, the Jews are released and sent back to rebuild their temple and worship God once again. And they say to themselves, with all sincerity, we will never allow our people to break the law of God again.

So they built a hedge around the law. And that hedge was a series of human-invented tradition to protect people from breaking the law. It was a law around the law. Jesus condemned this constantly because it actually became a man-made law that caused people to break the law. But in some cases, it was just a sincere attempt to keep people from breaking the law. The thought was, if you don't break through the hedge, you won't touch the law.

So not only are we going to keep the law, we're going to be more, quote, more righteous than the law. We'll create a hedge. So the only day that was commanded in the Bible that you had to fast was the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement, once a year, you're commanded to fast. So they built a hedge around that. And they said, that's not enough. The Jews were going to go further than that. And so they created a system where you were supposed to fast twice a week, every week of the year.

And not only that, you were to show people your solidarity to the temple, and to Judaism, and to God, by showing people that you were fasting. So they would paint their faces white, and be all disheveled, and they would dishevel their clothes. And they would make a big deal out of fasting twice a week. And then they would come into the church. Do you think all of those habits just went away? They would go into the church in Rome. Gentiles would be in that church. Gentiles didn't have the tradition fast twice a week. You can see that would lead to conflict. Let's read now in Luke 18, where we see an example of this.

Literally an example of this. Luke 18 and verse 9. This is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, where they're both praying. And in Luke 18 and verse 9, it says, Also, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves. Not in the law of God. This was never about the law of God. And the message is consistent throughout the New Testament. Who trusted in themselves, and they were righteous and despised others. Quote, This is the words... these are the words of Jesus. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus to himself, God, I thank you that I am not like other men.

Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, even as this tax collector. I... and what does he do? Fast twice a week. There are days set aside that they esteem as special days for fasting. And this is just one example of the conflict that could have happened between the Jews and the Gentiles in the Roman Church. The Pharisee was following Jewish tradition. It wasn't commanded in the Bible. And the only day that was mandatory was the Day of Atonement. So, remember, the Book of Romans is couched in the context of conflict between Jew and Greek, or Jew and Gentile. The Jews believed that you should fast twice a week, and they would esteem fast days.

And this is just one example of what Paul was talking about. You know, that was a big deal in Jewish society. And Jesus condemned it over and over, Matthew 6 and verse 16.

This is the teaching that Paul is jumping off of, using as a springboard for the Book of Romans. Matthew 16, the very words of Jesus Christ.

Moreover, verse 16, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, who with sad countenances, for they'll disfigure their faces, that they may appear to man to be fasting. And that disfigurement was some kind of a white makeup that they would put on, to make it look like, oh, I'm starving, I blow blood sugar, right from the get-go. I mean, I miss breakfast all the time. I'm just not a breakfast kind of guy. I know, most important meal of the day. We can have some conflict over that after services, maybe. But they were from the get-go. They'd paint their face white, and go out and sit in the courtyard, and have ripped-torn clothes, and mess their hair up. Man, I'd call that vacation.

So, Jesus says, and they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to be fasting, as sure as the guys say to you, they have their reward. Whatever people come along, hey, way to go, Bob! Hey, you're fasting today, good on you, man.

That's their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face, in other words, put some product in your hair, and comb it. Wash your face, shave, don't look like you're fasting. So that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your father, who is in the secret place, and your father who sees in secret, will reward you openly. So you can see that if you were a Gentile in the church, and you did not have a Jewish background, there would be plenty of room for conflict. Over, hey, you want to meet me Thursday for lunch? No. Well, that's the fast day. What? There's nothing in the Bible about that. Oh, come on. You're just not as righteous as me. Again, context. This chapter is about dispute over doubtful things, not the law of God. And we're going to go through even more detail about that in just a minute, how Paul was not even coming close to talking about the law of God in Romans 14. And yet this is actually, this chapter has been used to split family members from each other, who once attended church together, and now no longer will. And Romans 14 is their excuse. Can you explain this? Can you understand this enough that when somebody asks you to go in a gentle way, say to them, well, no, it's like this, brother or sister. Okay, you can see in the next verse that Paul is sort of alluding to fasting. Notice in verse 6 now, back to Romans 14, we just read verse 5, where some have seemed one day and some have seemed another. Paul wasn't talking about the Sabbath at all. Notice in verse 6, he talks about whether you eat or not. And this is in context of the day you observe. Verse 6, he who observes the day observes it to the Lord. Paul says, hey, if you want to fast, fast. That's fine.

And he who does not observe the day to the Lord, he does not observe it. He who eats eats to the Lord. If you're not going to fast on that day and you eat, you're thanking God for your food. You're eating to the Lord. This is not a biblical conflict. This is a conflict between people's opinion.

So quit putting your opinion over other people's opinion. That's what Paul is saying. He who eats, he eats to the Lord. And he who does not eat to the Lord, he does not eat. He's fasting!

And he gives thanks to God for all that he has while he's fasting. Both people, the one who's fasting and the one who's not fasting, are thanking God. Where's the conflict, Paul asks? The next verse, Chapter 7 through 12, lead up to the point. So let's just quickly read through. We're not going to go through every Scripture. We just don't have time to go through every Scripture. But... I'm trying to get the time here. There we go. All right. We don't have time to go through every Scripture, but we'll cover the majority of it. And I think you'll have a pretty good... If you can't already answer this, I think you will be able to. So Chapter 14, verse 7. For none of us live to himself, and none 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 Lords. Paul is starting to establish precedence. You... What he's saying here is, God owns every one of us, and you don't have the authority to push your opinion on anybody. That's the point he's making here. Verse 8. No, verse 9. For to this end, Christ died and rose and lived again, that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother on what? The law of God? No, that's not the context of Chapter 14. The context of Chapter 14 is doubtful things. Things that men thought up. Why are you judging somebody else with your opinion? You're not Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. You see what Paul's saying here? It's really clear. But it's also really easy to see how people look at this and trip and fall down.

Or why do you show contempt to your brother, for we all shall stand in judgment seat of Christ? You don't judge me. I don't judge you. Not according to my opinion. My opinion is my opinion. Your opinion is your opinion. God's opinion is God's opinion, and he's Lord. And that's Paul's point. For it is written, verse 11, 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 an account of himself to God. Your opinion does not rule other people. Verse 13, Therefore, this is his point, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this.

Members of the family of God are supposed to become experts at conflict resolution. That is the meaning of Romans chapter 14, and its point doesn't actually end until chapter 15 verse 7. So this point carries all the way through to chapter 15 and verse 7. Christians are supposed to become experts at conflict resolution. That's the whole point. And what's the crux of resolving conflict between you and somebody else? Your opinion is not that big of a deal.

That's Romans 14. Your opinion is not that big of a deal. Husbands and wives, both of you, your opinion, it counts, it matters, but it's not that big of a deal. It's not worth conflict.

Brothers and sisters in the church, we fight over the smallest things, the littlest things. Yet we blow them out of proportion, and then we get other people involved. And then it becomes a group thing, and then it raises to an even higher level. Then rumors start happening, and fingers start getting pointed, and all of a sudden you have a split in the church. Boom!

And then they make it bigger than it ought to be, say things that are falsely accusing. And it all starts because somebody got their feelings hurt. They didn't get their way, their opinion. Not something biblical, their opinion. I'll tell you, if it's something biblical, you know, it's time to raise the war flags. It's time to blow the trumpets. If it's your opinion, it's really time to just sit down and enjoy life. Take it easy.

Your opinion, it matters. It just doesn't matter that much. Then we come to the second very challenging Scripture, right on the heels of Paul making the point. Making his entire point. His point was conflict resolution. Not doing away with clean and unclean meats, or doing away with the Sabbath of the Holy Days.

It wasn't even what Paul was talking about. But, you know, people twist the words of Paul, and it's easy to do so. And in Romans 14 and verse 14, Paul says this. It's another whopper. He says, For I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it's unclean. So Paul is saying, for those people who eat clean and unclean meats, you can pat them on the head, and they're okay, but you can eat lobster and pork all you want, right?

No. That is not what Paul was saying. You have to pull that completely out of context and read that by itself to draw that conclusion. But if you just skim over that, it's easy to see how people can believe. Paul said, Hey, I'm going out tonight to my favorite fish restaurant, and I'm having popcorn shrimp. Unless there's somebody in the church, and I don't want to offend them, but I know I'm free to do so. And they read Romans chapter 14 and verse 14, and believe that.

Let's look at why that's not true. That's not at all what Paul was saying. And this isn't a, well, we're pretty sure it's not true, or from our point of view, it's not true. It's not true! It's not what Paul was saying. It's not even close to what he was saying. This one is actually black and white. This one isn't even close to being doubtful. It's black and white, not what he was saying. So people believe that Paul is talking about the food laws in Leviticus chapter 11, clean and unclean animals.

But they forget the context of the chapter, which is doubtful things, things that come from the mind of men. Leviticus 11 did not come from the thoughts of men. Do a little research. It's easy to see that Paul was not talking about God's food laws. Jews would not eat with Gentiles. They considered them common, ceremonially unclean, had nothing to do with the Bible. Remember when Peter would sit with the Gentiles and eat with them until Jews would show up and then he would get up and separate himself?

And Paul openly rebuked Peter for doing that. And that was an apostle in the church. This was a conflict between Jews and Gentiles. Happened all the time. They wouldn't eat food in the marketplace. Beef or lamb or fish that was clean to eat, they wouldn't eat it, not because of Leviticus 11, but because they thought it was common. Because of the pagan practices.

Pagans would slaughter an animal to an idol, to a pagan god. They would do that with everything. With their meat, with their vegetables, with their wine. If you were Jewish and you had a perspective that that was common, and you needed to be separate from everything common, then you would not eat in a marketplace.

You wouldn't fellowship with the brethren. Like today, you wouldn't go down to Starbucks and have a cup of coffee. You wouldn't do that, because that would be pagan. But I meet you at Starbucks all the time. Because I know that when we drink a cup of coffee, I have a Starbucks cup. You know what that is? It's a cup of coffee. That's all it is. And a comfortable chair, and a quiet place where you and I can have a conversation.

The word for unclean, in Romans 14 and 14, is koinos. Why is that important? Because that's the word that means common. That's the word that the Jews meant when they said something was common. Not unclean. That wasn't the word they used for unclean. They used a different word for unclean. But wait a minute, time out, hold on. How do we know? How do we know they used a different word for unclean?

Because what we call the Old Testament, the law and the prophets, that was written in Hebrew. The New Testament Scriptures right now, we're reading from Greek to different language. Right? So I just quoted you a Greek word, koinos, which means common. How do we know that they didn't translate the word unclean into the Greek word uncommon? The Hebrew word unclean, how do we know it didn't go into the Greek word koinos?

Because guess what the Jews did? They took the law and the prophets, what we call the Old Testament, and they translated it into Greek so that all the other Jews around the world who no longer spoke Hebrew but now spoke the Greek language in the Roman Empire could read the Scriptures. So we actually have a Greek Old Testament called the Septuagint, which means the Seventy. It's often referred to as the Roman letters LXX, which means Seventy, which is all Greek. So we can go back and read Leviticus 11 in Greek, according to what the Jews thought the word. And do you know that the word in Greek in Leviticus 11 was not the word koinos or common, but it was the word achotharmos, which means not cleansed or clean, or unclean, I mean.

In other words, putrified, almost like it's rotten. So the word that the Jews used for unclean was achothamos. And it was... no, there's no tham. It's archothartos. So it's not the word that Paul used in Romans 14. Paul used the word koinos or common. Did the New Testament apostles know the difference between these two words, or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

No! They knew the difference between these two words, and they used the word common for things that weren't biblically required but were just Jewish tradition. And they used the word unclean for the things that were in the law of God. And Paul was not using the word unclean. He was using the word that was a conflict between the Jews and the Gentiles, which was the whole point of the book of Romans.

Let's look at an example of how Peter used both of those words, common and unclean, in one scripture, in one passage. And Peter wasn't a scholar like Paul. Peter was a fisherman. He was a common guy. And if Peter knew the difference between these words, it's a great indication that every single Jew on the planet at that time knew the difference between these two words. And definitely Paul knew the difference because he was a scholar. Okay, Acts 10, verse 14. Acts 10, verse 14. This is Peter's dream, where God reveals that he's going to start opening salvation up to the Gentiles. And he tells Peter to eat things which were unclean. Archithar...the other one, the unclean word. Archithartos. Alright, and in Acts 10, verse 14, Peter says, notice he uses both words. Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common, koinos, or unclean, argathathothathathos. I've never eaten anything that is considered common to the Jews or unclean according to your law. Peter said, both. I've never done either one. I'm not touching what's in that, that you let down. I'm not going to touch that meat. And then God went on to tell him that, no, you will now go to the Gentiles. You will now, because salvation is open to them as well. So, yes, it was very common knowledge back in the day when Paul was writing the book of Romans to know the difference between common and unclean. Unclean was understood to be against God's law. Common was just something the Jews didn't do. It had nothing to do with God's law. And the word that Paul uses in Romans chapter 14 is common. He's talking about a conflict between the Jews and the Gentiles. He's not doing away with the law of God. He's not even treading on that subject. It's not even a topic for discussion. Back in Romans chapter 10 and Romans chapter 12, he says the law is good. He's not treading on the law of God. He's treading on conflict between brethren.

Remember Paul was writing this from Corinth? He said basically the same thing to the Corinthians. The challenge was a little different. The challenge was different, but the conclusion was the same. In 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verses 1 through 7, let's read it really quickly. 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verses 1 through 7, Paul says basically the same thing to a Gentile congregation. Now concerning the things offered to idols, this is what Paul was talking about in Romans 14. And remember, Paul was in Corinth when he was writing the book of Romans.

Now concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge, but knowledge puffs up. Love builds up. Love edifies. And if anyone thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing yet, as he ought to know. I remember my father used to tell me that. He was a great studier of the Bible, and he said he's still learning new things. Anybody thinks he knows anything better put his nose in the Bible, because you don't know what you need to know yet. Verse 3, but if anyone loves God, this one is known by him.

Therefore, concerning the eating of things offered to idols, notice Paul is not addressing the law of God, but rather the opinions of men. We know that an idol is nothing in the world. That Starbucks coffee is just coffee. A lot of people won't eat at Starbucks. It's got that little pagan symbol on the coffee cup.

They won't eat or drink at Starbucks. And I'm okay with that. If that offends you, I'll meet you at gyms. We'll get a cup of coffee at gyms. I don't think anybody is offended by a cowboy hat. Okay, verse 4, Therefore, concerning the things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world. Then there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as many are gods and many lords, and yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things and we are for Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we live.

However, this is not in everyone that knowledge for some with conscience of the idol until now eat a thing and are offended to that idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Now, this isn't conflict between Jew and Gentile. This is actually Gentile to Gentile. This conflict in Corinthians is Gentile to Gentile. Some people come out of paganism and then they go back to the idol and they remember all the bad things they used to do in the pagan religion that they came out of. And if they go back to that particular cafe that is dedicated to that particular pagan god, they get offended then.

That means fall away from God. It doesn't mean it hurt their feelings. And this word actually means they fall away from God. A lot of people say, well, we shouldn't be offended, meaning you shouldn't let that hurt your feelings. That's not actually what the word offended means. Some things are going to hurt your feelings and you're not a bad Christian if it does. Now, you need to forgive, but just because you get your feelings hurt doesn't mean you're a bad Christian.

If you fall away from God, that's a weakness in your faith. And that's what Paul's talking about here. They would go meet somebody at a cafe, but that was the cafe they used to worship at. That was to the idol, to the pagan temple they used to go to. And they would fall away from God. Okay, if that happens. Paul was saying, I will never drink at Starbucks again. That was his point. So back now to Romans chapter 14. We don't have time to do everything. Verse 20 is another one of those really confusing verses.

So we'll just jump down to Romans 14 and verse 20. This is confusing, especially when you read it in the NIV. The NIV I like. It's a very scholarly work. I don't criticize the NIV except for one thing they do really badly. It's very weak on the law. The NIV is slanted against God's law. And almost every time they have an opportunity to make it seem like you don't have to keep God's law, the NIV takes that opportunity.

So when we read in Romans chapter 14 and verse 20, NIV says, All food is clean. There you go. End of story. We're done. All food is clean. People read that, walk away. They won't even have a conversation with us. And that's a pity. Paul isn't even talking about clean. And this is even a different Greek word now. But it's still not the word that means clean according to the law of God, which was commonly known to all Jews of the day.

But it's wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. Very similar to what he said in 1 Corinthians. He's making the same point. He's talking about food, sacrifice, the idols. He is not talking about the clean and unclean laws of Leviticus. How do we know? It's a different word. Again, I'm going to read from the booklet, What Does the Bible Teach About Clean and Unclean? Quote, That all foods are clean, New International Version, the word translated clean is katharos, which means free from impure, admixture, without blemish or spotless.

In other words, again, it's another Jewish tradition, another thing that they say that's common or unclean. This particular word is used many times in the New Testament and almost never about food. Only here is it mentioned about food. This isn't a clean and unclean food's word. It's a common, uncommon word. Ceremonially unclean. Just chop these things down for time's sake. Notice that in Matthew 23 and verse 26, it's referring to dishes that are uncommon or ceremonially unclean.

That was Matthew 23 and 26. In John 13 and verse 10, it's talking about people who are common or ceremonially unclean. In Revelation chapter 15 and verse 6, clothing. In Revelation chapter 19 and verse 8, both 15 and 16 and 19 verses 8 through 14, Revelation 19 verses 8 through 14 and Revelation 15 verse 6, refer to clothing as being ceremonially unclean.

It has nothing to do with the Levitical laws. James uses this word as religion, being pure. It has nothing to do with food. It has nothing to do with Leviticus chapter 11. It has to do with being ceremonially clean. In Revelation chapter 21 and verse 18, the gold or the glass is this pure. Let's get to the main point of Romans chapter 14. How sharp is your sword? Can you explain when someone just comes up to you off the street and says, you know, it says in Romans 14 that it doesn't matter what day you keep and it doesn't matter what food you eat. All food is clean and any day is holy. And you can turn to them and say, well, no, that's actually not what Paul was talking about. Paul was actually talking about human conflict and resolving disputes between people by not putting your opinion over somebody else's opinion. And you know what? We need to understand that so well. We need to be able to get around the arguments of Romans chapter 14 so well. Why? So that we can get the main point. Which is, Christians are supposed to become experts at conflict resolution. First Samuel chapter 16 and verse 7. We are supposed to see things as God sees and not judge what we have no ability to judge. And that's where a lot of our human conflict comes from. Where we're sticking our nose in a place it doesn't belong. A place that only God owns and can control. First Samuel 16 and verse 7. For the Lord does not see as a man sees. Okay, that's an absolute black and white statement. And that means whatever comes next, you do not have the ability to see.

God's not giving it to you. He's not going to give it to you. So don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. First Samuel 16 and verse 7. The Lord does not see as a man you or I sees. For a man, you and me, look at the outward appearance. But the Lord looks at the heart.

Who do you think you are to judge another man's servant? We are fellow servants and we're not to judge each other. God is able to stabilize a weak person.

Let's say you see somebody making a dietary mistake. They're making a mistake, but they didn't ask your opinion. And you know that what they're doing is bad for them. But they didn't ask you. Do you go in and you start teaching everybody? Do you take it upon yourself to be an evangelist for whatever is your favorite idea today? This week? This month? Whatever. And it changes.

It trends. It goes back and forth. Or do you know to keep your mouth shut and wait for them to ask you for advice? Oh, that's a hard thing to do. Because our favorite pet projects, they're just itching to come out, aren't they? They do. Oh, we love it. You know, that's actually been shown scientifically proven to be bad for you. Is that right? Well, I like my fake cheese on my plastic-coated tortilla chips. And I don't want to hear your opinion. Yeah, that'll kill you. You think somebody's going to listen to you? Or the next time they go to the ballpark, they're going to order nachos.

You know they are going to order nachos. And I don't know what they put in those jalapenos. Maybe it's just my age. Those things are getting to me these days. I can eat them fresh, but not out of those jars. I don't know what they're putting in those. All right. We're not so knowledgeable, brethren, that we should take it upon ourselves to be an evangelist for our own opinion. Let God do that. Romans 15. This is simply a continuation in the letter. There were no chapter breaks when Paul wrote it.

He's continuing his thought here, and his thought does not end until, in my opinion, about verse 7. Let's just read verses 1 and 2 of chapter 15. We, then, who are strong. You've been in the church a long time. You've seen a lot of these trends come and go. You're used to dealing with them. They don't rattle your cage anymore. You're a lot stronger in the faith than other people who come in and have to be an evangelist for every, the newest, latest thing.

So Paul is addressing those of us who might be strong. Let me tell you, we are all strong and we are all weak. We all have our strengths and we all have our weaknesses. And you, even who are strong, are still weak. But you who are strong ought to teach those who are weak. Is that what it says? There is a time to teach, but there's a time to keep your mouth shut.

And when you can see discontent, when you can see conflict brewing, and it's not a matter of God's law, it's a doubtful thing. It's a thing that came from men's minds, scientifically proven. It's time to keep your mouth shut. It's time to put the person over the issue. When you who are strong, I'm sorry, we then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak and not to please ourselves. You know, I have an opinion on the whole gluten-free thing. I do. And you all know it, too, because I've told you during the days when I'm bread.

You know I'm not a fan of it. Not a fan of gluten-free. And I don't like it pushed on me. Oh, you shouldn't eat that grain. But you know what? If I have people over at my house, I make sure we have a gluten-free option there that they can eat. Why? Because it's important to them. And they matter far more to me and to you than our opinion on what we should or should not eat or where or...

And I'm not talking about according to the law of God. I'm talking about our opinion, you know, styles and whatnot. That doesn't matter. Paul is making a whole big, long point. Your opinion doesn't matter as much as the people you're hitting over the head. So quit hitting people over the head with your opinion. And if you can explain Romans chapter 14 from that point of view, then you get Romans 14. So you need to get around those three passages that are difficult to explain that seem to do away with God's laws of the Sabbath being holy or God's laws of clean and unclean meats. And you just do a little homework.

And brethren, just get the booklet. A lot of people ask me for my notes. Just get the booklet on clean and unclean meats. And go to the chapter on Romans 14 and review it. Really all you need to do. And you will get those three scriptures down. So let's just wrap it up. Verses 1 and 2 one more time.

And everything else put people above it. Our opinion really doesn't matter that much.