Epistles of Paul 86

Well, good evening, brethren. Paul has been explaining in the book of Romans God's plan of salvation, God's faithfulness, His mercy, and especially His love.

He then, later in the book from chapter 12, he proceeded in discussing important Christian living principles based on Godly love. And then in chapter 13, he talked about our proper conduct with the world respecting authorities. At the same time, he re-emphasized our need to own nothing to anyone and also own nothing to people in the world except, again, to show them Godly love. And therefore, this focus of becoming like God, putting on Christ, live in a life that like Christ lived so that we can become like God in love. And in that greater context, now on chapter 14, he approaches a subject how we should deal with those in the church that are weak in the faith, or putting it another way, how to deal with people in the church as far as the topic of judging others. And this is a particularly important chapter because it's one of those chapters that people have used in the past, and particularly in the world, but have used in different situations to justify that the Sabbath is done away and that we can eat unclean foods. And so it is a very important chapter from that point of view because we need to understand it in the context. So let's start then in verse one of Romans 14. Here we read, receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. And so those that are weak in the faith, we could interpret that easily as including those that are newly-converted, those that don't fully understand the doctrines of the church, and therefore they are young in the faith, they are weak in the faith, and we are not to judge them because they are new in the faith and they might not understand things the same way. Those that are, let's call it, more mature in the faith may understand, but particularly it focuses here, it says, but not to disputes over doubtful things.

So it's not talking about disputes about God's law. It's more about disputes related to opinions and quarrels about opinions which are not necessarily doctrinal.

For instance, the mature or the more long-experienced believer in the church should not set in judgment of the sincerity of those that are younger or weaker in the faith.

They might just be still learning. Their thinking, their thoughts, and their ideas may have not matured or developed, and therefore those thoughts or ideas that have not matured in the Christian way or that they are weak, those thoughts or ideas govern that person's behavior, that weaker person's behavior. For instance, let me just cite a few examples. For instance, a person for religious reasons, I'm talking about for religious reasons, I'm not talking about for health reasons, believes that the person should be a vegetarian. Again, for religious reasons, the person believes that he or she should not drink or he or she should not dance. Those are just some specific examples that I have encountered in the past.

But, and so he says, don't get into disputes about these things that are opinions of different people.

For in based on those opinions, one may believe that he may eat all things.

Ah, you may eat all things, you see. So some may interpret this as says, well, you can eat pork, you can eat shrimp, you can eat all things, you see, because one who believes he may eat all things.

But understand that this is in the context because it's contrasting a person about eating meat versus a person that is vegetarian. And so one that eats all things is the one that eats both meat and vegetables. For religious reasons, they specifically are in that context. For one, believes that he may eat all things, but he was weak. He eats only vegetables. So you can see it's a contrast for religious reasons that one feels that he can only eat something which is a vegetarian.

So therefore, he's not talking about even eating unclean meats. No, the reason is that some Christians were vegetarians. Why were they vegetarians? It's not stated yet.

It's not stated yet. We can discuss one possible reason in a moment.

But in this verse, in this chapter, is not stated why. And therefore, those that are weak in the faith once again means that a person that lacks understanding or maturity of doctrine or belief and so is a vegetarian. Now, note that in the Old Testament, there is no prescription against eating meat. However, in the Old Testament, describes which meat to eat, which is good for you and which is not good for you. In other words, which is good for me, which is good for us, and what's not good for us.

And so I continue reading in verse 3, let him who eats despise, let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him, judge him who eats, for God has received him. And so the question is, why should we judge someone that comes into the church and is weak?

You see, we're going to give them time to grow in knowledge and understanding. We should not force them to eat quote unquote meat and offend them. Therefore, he says let him who eats or by the part of the word, let not him who eats despise him who does not eat. So, so you eat meat or a person eats meat and the other one does not eat meat. Don't despise him.

In other words, don't look down on them. Or in other words, don't judge them. Don't reject them with contempt. Don't treat him or her as worthless. And then it goes on, and let not him who does not eat judge him. Now the word judge is the word Greek 2019 krino, which means decide, conclude, or condemn.

So the judging can go both ways because one is despising in the sense he's looking down and judging them, and the other one could also judge. So the judgment can go both ways. He says he will eat, he does not eat, despise him who eats, and let not him who does not eat, judging who eats. So it could go both ways. So, so the question again is why not eat meat? As I mentioned, it's not stated here, but there's one possibility is that the meat could be offered to idols. If we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, 1 Corinthians chapter 8, we see a situation here about having a concern by some about meat that was offered to idols. You read that in verse 1, our concerning things offered to idols. And then in verse 4, it says, therefore, concerning the eating of things offered to idols. We know that the idol is nothing in the world and that there is no other God but one. And so really it's talking about in this context, in 1 Corinthians 8, talking about that some people had concern about eating meat that had been offered to idols. And in verse 7 through 9 of 1 Corinthians 8 says, however, there is not in everyone that knowledge, for some with consciousness of the idol, until now, eat it as a thing offered to an idol.

And therefore, their conscience being weak is defiled. And so we can see again a connection to weakness, the weak, their conscience being weak. And for them, their conscience therefore being weak is defiled because in their conscience they're going against their conscience. Verse 8, But food does not condemn us to God. For neither if we eat, we are the better, or if we do not eat, are we the worse. Now it is important for us to understand that the meat offered to idols was clean food. You see, the meat offered to idols was clean food. Look at Acts 14 as an example.

Verse 13. Acts 14 verse 13. Yeah, it's one example. Acts 14 verse 13.

And it says, Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen. And so that's clean food and gauntlets to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. So the idols, they offered to them clean meat, clean food. And so it was not a question about clean or unclean, but as we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, and now I'm going to read verse 9. But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those that are weak. So we don't want to cause offense. We don't want to give the Creator trap for them for them to get hurt or fall. And so the point was, yeah, was if the people are weak, in this example of 1 Corinthians 8, that could be, in this example of 1 Corinthians 8, was about meat offered to idols. But in Romans, in Romans 14, it could be that. But it could be unclean in some other way. Could be unclean in other ways. For instance, not bled properly. Could be any other number of reasons that could be unclean. It doesn't specify in Romans 14 why that that meat should not be eaten according to those people's conscience. So in verse 4, we're going to read now verse 4, who are you to judge and an immense servant?

Now, yajaj is again the word used krino. That's also used for judgment. But in other words, condemning in a sense could mean that. And it says another man's servant. Now the word servant here is not doylos, which means slave, but it's the Greek word 3610, oiketai, which is a domestic servant. And so, who are you to judge another man's servant? To his own master, he stands of force. In other words, we are God's servants. You and I stand before God. And it says, indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. So God is able to decide our attitude, whether our attitude is right. We need to respond in a correct way.

Our attitude must be right. God is our master. God gives us an opportunity to grow over time.

So we ought to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. But the problem is, sometimes those that have been in the church longer, let's call it stronger, they'll put a stumbling block, an offense, by the way they act, and then people get offended. Could be, for instance, that you had situations where people were working in a place that you felt they shouldn't work.

And then you go to them and say, hey, you shouldn't be working there. And they've just come to the church on the very first day. And it's kind of the first thing you confront them, or things like that, because maybe you live in a city where there's a lot of military personnel, and you could confront them just the first day or so. And we have to be careful, allow people to grow, and to learn God's way over time. Now let's look at verse five and six, because up to YHWH we're talking about eating.

But interesting, verse five and six, look at that, let's read the two together.

One person is steamed one day above another, and another is steamed every day alike.

Let each be fully convinced his own mind. He who observes the day, observes to the Lord.

He who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe.

Aha! You see, people will say, you don't have to keep the Sabbath.

You don't have to keep the Sabbath. But what is the context? The context is eating.

The context is eating. And so, steams one day, again, is the word krino, 2919, which is makes a decision, judges, separates or prefers.

But he steams one day over another for what purpose? For what purpose?

For eating or not eating. In other words, because the theme or the topic is about eating.

They abstain. People would abstain some days certain foods.

Maybe could be a partial fast, a semi-fast. You know, Jews say as they fasted twice a week.

So that would have been a 12-hour fast. There are people who are not eating.

There are people today that have like a partial fast for 12 hours.

Some maybe would have, you know, count to 12 hours for instance, from a certain time to another time.

Others maybe would have breakfast very early in the morning and then 12 hours fast during the day portion.

And then at night they will have another meal. You see that that's when he says Jews fasted twice twice a week. That's what it's meant. They did twice a week partial fast.

Others, even the Romans, could very well, some of the Roman people could abstain certain foods for some days.

Because there were Roman members there in Rome, some could, some of those Roman members, may be observed for some partial fasts for one reason. Some days or even full days others would not.

And so, and therefore it says another esteem every day.

And so some would esteem one day and the others would observe the day and would esteem it above the other day, would consider it or a better day to fast. The word is related to choosing to make a choice or because it's more convenient for them.

For instance, I'm giving an example.

We could have a church fast on a specific day, or on a specific week, but some people, because maybe that day, maybe it's their wedding anniversary or whatever it is, they want to choose to fast the next day or the day before. So, you know, because of personal reasons.

So that's why it says one esteems one day above another.

That above is is besides another. It's more convenient for them.

But let each be fully conversed in their minds. So he says, look, I will fast this day, not that day.

Obviously, he's not talking about the day of a time. Obviously, he's not talking about that, because that's a commanded day. He's talking about other fasts, right? Days that you decide to eat or not eat on a day. Like in verse 6, he observes the day, observes it to the Lord.

Observes is the Greek 5,426, which is his own way of thinking. In his own opinion, he prefers, he guards it, because he has an opinion or a decision about when to do it.

That's the word, the Greek word, therefore, observing. He's more related to one's individual opinion. And so, because of his opinion, he decides to fast on a specific day. For what reason?

For what reason? For the Lord. Why do you fast or why do we fast? One of the reasons, main reasons, is to get closer to God. It's for the Lord. And so, the context here is related to eating or not eating. And therefore, it says in verse 6, and he observes not the day, and he does not observe the day to the Lord. He does not observe it. He eats to the Lord, and he gives God thanks. And he does not eat to the Lord, he does not eat and gives God thanks.

So, it is a day of deciding to eat or not eating, and whether he eats, when he eats, he gives God thanks, he gives God thanks for the meal. We pray for the meal, we give God thanks for the meal. If we're not eating, if we're fasting, we're also thanking God and thanking God for for his calling and for various spiritual blessings. Now, if Paul was referring to the Sabbath, wouldn't he at least mention the Sabbath or a holy day? How could Paul reduce the Sabbath to a personal choice without any explanation? Imagine if he was telling the brethren at that time that they do not have to keep the Sabbath. There would have been a riot by the Jews.

And we can see in the New Testament that the question never came up. You see, when he said, well, you don't have to circumcise, that became a big issue. It led to a big conferencing, Acts 15.

But the New Testament never hints about a dispute about the Sabbath. Well, the reality is, you and I know very well, the Catholic Church did change the Sabbath to Sunday. They themselves admit it. They've changed it. And they rub it in the Protestant's face, saying, hey, Protestants are falling as, quote, the Catholics. Then what Protestants do? Well, they have to find some scriptures to justify their position that they're not following the Catholics. And this, Romans 14, is one such scripture. Why? Because they don't want to acknowledge the authority of the Catholic Church that they indeed are following the Catholic Church. Because they split off the Catholic Church. And therefore, for them to say, we keep Sunday because the Catholic Church keeps it, or would put them in a very awkward position as far as the reason why they split.

And so the Catholics say, then why did you split off? And so they have to come up with some scriptural rationale or excuses. So, and this is one of them, verses five and six.

Now, let's move on to verse seven and eight. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us, 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 Lords.

The moral of the lesson is our life should be an example to others.

As we live, we should be an example to God, and to other people are to be godly people.

If we die, that means that when we die, we should die as servants of God, as faithful servants.

But the eye is an expression that that is lives to himself. In verse six, for none of us lives to himself. Now, this expression lives to himself according to Adam Clarke's commentary.

The commentary reads, the Greek writers use the phrase, and then Adam Clarke quotes this phrase, lives to himself in Greek. It says, to signify acting according to one's judgment, following one's own opinion. And so, Paul is now taking up this Greek expression, lives to himself, and he says, hey, we, none of us, are just following our own opinion. And then Adam Clarke's commentary continues by saying, Christians must act in all things according to the mind and will of God, and not follow their own wills.

The apostle Paul seems to intimate that in all the above cases, each person must then never to please God, for he, that person, is accounting to God alone for his conduct in these different things, different situations. You see, God is our master. God is our ruler.

God is our ruler. We must live to him. We've got to live under his authority, and and therefore, we've got to always live with the ultimate goal in mind that we want to please God.

So that's why it says, none of us lives to himself using a Greek expression. In other words, we don't live to follow our own opinion. We live to please God. That's why it says, we live, we live to the Lord. If we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. And so, because of that, we must not judge others. We've got to act in faith, but we are under God's jurisdiction. And so, in verse 9, to prove his point while Paul is explaining here, let's read, for to this end, Christ died and rose and lived again, that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. And so, that's why Christ died for us and resurrected. And God gave Christ the authority to resurrect us. And Christ is our master now and forever. And he says, for this end, Christ died and rose because he's our master. And so, we live to the Lord, we die to the Lord, and that's, as he said in verse 8, we are not living to ourselves for our own opinions, but we are subject to Christ as the Lord. He has the authority given to him by God. He will resurrect us.

He is our Lord. So, we live to Christ for Christ, obviously for God and for the Lord. And then, continuing then from verse 10 to 13, he says, we're not, therefore, we're not to condemn one another.

We must make sure we don't cause others to fall. And so, we live to God, but in our conduct, our dealing with others, we're not judging others, we're not judging those that are weaker in the faith, we don't judge them, we don't condemn them. We don't give them a cause to trip and fall. In other words, to leave the church. We've got to be very, very careful. Just today, I heard somebody came to church recently, and they felt sensitive, and they would prefer not to come again, because they felt, well, when they came the first time, we were very caring. But when they came a second time, they just felt neglected and cold. So, whether that was justifiable or not, I think we need to be very careful how we come across with other people. And when new people come to church, it's not just the first day that we might welcome them. We must continue to make them welcome as, and we're going to make everyone welcome and have a positive, encouraging spirit so that people are uplifted and build a loving relationship. Coming to church should be upbeat for everybody. Sure, we come to listen to a message which is not our, you know, just another, which the ministers have put effort, and the speakers that are speaking, and they've worked hard to prepare, and they have, and are very pleased with the content of the message that we have.

And we've seen young adults, young families, young men giving outstanding messages.

But part of the upbeat of church is also the Christian fellowship that we have with one another.

And it is important that we spend time and encourage one another, and if we see somebody by themselves, we gotta quote-unquote break the little clique that we in and go out and welcome that person and make them feel welcome. Really, as congregations get bigger and bigger, we've got to be careful that we don't become, we don't create cliques. We've got to go out and serve everybody.

Now, let's then now read verse 10. But why do you judge your brother? Why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. You see, this chapter is about judging, as I mentioned earlier on. Yes, how we treat those that are weaker in the faith, those that are new, how we treat it, but in the end, are we judging them? Because they're still learning. In John chapter 5 verse 22 and 23, John chapter 5 verse 22 and 23, we read, For the Father judges no one, but he has committed all judgment. It was God the Father has delegated all judgment to the Son. Just as they honor the Father, He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. You know, I've seen sometimes people say, oh well, we must not honor Christ because then it is as if we're turning our back on the Father. No, if people respect our children, I feel honored. If we honor Christ, the Father is honored. That's what it says. And also, and again, all judgment has been given to the Son. It's Christ that is going to do the judgment. And look at 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4 and 5.

1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4 and 5.

Therefore judge nothing before the time unto the Lord.

Verse 4 comes starting in verse 4. For I know of nothing against myself, yet I'm not justified by this, that he who judges me is the Lord. Christ is the one that judges us.

Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Christ will reveal through motives. You know, sometimes we see things happening in this world and in different situations. And we hear that people do this and do that. And and a lot of people in society, because they do this or do that, are hurt. And then you hear that that was by the liberty intent. And I say, how can people have such evil intent if that is true?

Now the point is, he says, yeah, Christ will bring both the hidden to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. I think we're going to be quite amazed when Christ comes back and reveals some people's motives of what they've done. And we're just going to say, wow, how could people be or have such dark motives? Well, it just boggles my mind. But anyway, let's continue reading in verse 11 of Romans 14 verse 11.

To just fit it in with what we finish reading, he says, the judgment seat of Christ for it is written, As I love, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me.

Now, note that the word Lord is in caps, because it's a quote from Isaiah 45 verse 23.

Very interesting, because you look at Isaiah 45, it's talking about Christ.

You go and study that very significantly. He says, As I love, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, to Christ, and every tongue shall confess to God. You know, people will bow down to God, to Christ, or Christ will break their knees. They will bow down. So, continue now in verse 12, So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. We all give account to God. Therefore, let us not judge another anymore. Let's not condemn others anymore, but rather resolve.

In other words, make a judgment decision, resolve. The word judge and the word resolve is the same word, cleaner. Let us make that judgment decision, resolve this, not to put a stumbling block.

A stumbling block is the Greek word for thousand three hundred forty eight, proskoma, which is an offense. Create a cause for people to fall. Put an object in a way that will cause people to stumble.

And what would be a stumbling block? A weak brother that does not want to eat meat, and forcing or embarrassing to eat meat and any, he would eat meat against his captions.

You putting a stumbling block in front of that person. Another example, some people, for religious reasons, may, or for health reasons, may not want to drink wine, but particularly for religious reasons because of their conscience. They uncover about it. I found that in Angola, quite a lot.

People don't want to drink wine. The reason being because wine is a big problem in the country.

And therefore, people come to the church. They are encouraged not to drink wine because it's a big problem. It's like a country of alcoholics, let's call it that way. And so, it is wiser to take an approach of saying, if you are an alcoholic, don't touch it at all.

Now, some people would say, oh, you're going to drink wine. Now, if you do that, you're causing that person, triggering something in that person, to have that weakness being brought up again.

So, that's from a health point of view. But from a religious point of view, if the person feels that they should not drink wine, don't know when you invite them around, kind of force them to drink wine. It's better not to have any wine, just have, for instance, some juice or some things. I know, for instance, when we had ABC students at our home, some ABC students were under age and some were over age, which in that area, in Cincinnati, there was an age, there is an age, where they're countering wine. So, some ABC students were under that age or above that age. So, whenever we had ABC students at home, we would not offer wine to all of them. We would not. We'd have some juices, etc., because we don't want to create pressure on those that could not eat because of the law of the country and create a stumbling block on them. And so, whether it's religious or whatever reason is, we must not create offense with other people. That's what it says. Not to put a stumbling block. What are we talking about here? We talk about outgoing concern for other people. Really, we're talking about love, really outgoing concern. And then it says, all cause or a cause to fall, or an occasion to fall. The Greek word is skandalon, which is a trap, which is like create a trap, so that, well, you would think, well, I'm not doing it because I'm deliberately creating a trap, but intentionally you could be doing that, creating a cause for your brothers to fall. Why? Because it's going against his conscience, for her conscience. So we've got to be very careful.

Now, therefore, verse 10 to 13, as I mentioned a little earlier, it is God who will judge.

We all give account to God. So whether we eat meat or not, it's a decision that some may feel because of their conscience or lack of information or because they're weak in the faith, whatever reason. They're going to give account to God, and if we offend them, we've got to give account to God.

So we've got to be very careful how we handle it. Now let's read verse 14.

I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus there is nothing unclean of itself. Aha! You see, pork is not unclean because nothing is unclean of itself.

You see, if I don't think pork is unclean, I can eat it. Brethren, that's not what it's talking about.

Nothing unclean, and the word unclean is used one, two, three times. This word is the same word, and is the word koinos, Greek 2839, which should be translated as common. Common. For instance, do you remember the situation about Peter's vision with unclean animals in Acts chapter 10, starting from verse 9? Okay, so let's go to Acts chapter 10. That's chapter 10 when Peter was given the vision that God would be working as well with Gentiles. So it was the first time that Peter comprehended that God will be working with Gentiles, and so he had this vision starting in verse 9.

And you know what this vision is that that he and and he says verse 11, he saw heaven open up an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners descending on him down to earth and in it there were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth wild beasts creeping things and birds of the air and the voice said to him rise Peter kill and eat and you know as you read the story that Peter never ate and he realized that that was incorrect but what he had to to understand is what was the intent of that vision because the intent of that vision is to give him a lesson and the answer is is is interesting because in verse 14 Peter said not so Lord for I've never eaten anything common or unclean now and then later on it says in verse 28 but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean you see now we always see the word common and unclean two different words used in the same verses so common is coinos right so it's something that is defiled in which we must not some call it defiled but then it also uses the word unclean which is the Greek 169 a cathartos which means unclean either according to the Levitical law in a words it was unclean food or it could be morally unclean in thought and in our lives so the word common coinos Greek 2838 means any meat defiled by external contact or pollution what could cause some meat that maybe is clean food become common well maybe it was not killed properly i'll give an example maybe an animal was killed by another animal and has been lying in the field for a couple of days that you should need because you don't know what what killed the animal and what's more it wasn't the blood was not properly drained and things like that you see so that has become defiled even though the animal maybe was a deer and maybe was a clean animal it's been lying there for days so there could be dirt or pollution affecting that that animal for instance it could be full of flies all over and worms starting to creep upon it now thinking about that as you go through certain countries sometimes you see little meat markets on the street on the side corners if you have been to Africa in some of those poorer African countries you will see food meat chicken fish just lie in the sun in temperatures of what they call in the upper 30 degrees celsius or approaching the upper 90s or 100s fermite which are full of flies and warps creeping over them and people are buying them and eating them that is the type of food that you and I should not eat because that meat has been defiled by external contact with other things or whatever is or pollution so we gotta be careful with that so let's go back to Romans 14 Romans 14 and read verse 14 I know and I'm convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing common of itself but to him who considers anything to be common to him it is common if you reckon something is common it is common because it's according to conscience you see and so another example I think could be common is you have touched a dead corpse a person has touched a dead corpse and then touches the meat and that would make that meat common or in other words not proper for eating because you could have transferred certain bugs or microbes or whatever it is from the dead corpse to the meat you see so these laws are there for a reason so but anyway now continue reading verse 15 yet if your brother is grieved because of your food you are no longer walking in love you see gets back to the point that I mentioned these principles are about outgoing concern for your brother if we are causing grief the stress to our brothers and sisters and because maybe I'm stronger in the faith and and I am believing that I could eat this but the other one feels uncountable and it's against his ease or her conscience to do that so we're causing the stress that he says or causing grief to him because of food we are no longer walking in love look at first Corinthians chapter 8 first Corinthians chapter 8 verse 11 through 13 first Corinthians chapter 8 verse 11 through 13 it says here and because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died but when you thus sin against your brother and wound their weak conscience you see you sin against your brother you sin against Christ therefore if food makes my brother stumble I'll never eat again I'll never eat meat again lest I make my brother stumble now fordia is the word brahma which sometimes is translated as meat but in a greater context refers to food and yeah in verse 15 of Romans 14 Romans 14 verse 15 it says if your brother is grieved because of your food some versions might translate it as meat because it's the word brahma which can be translated as meat but generally refers to any type of food let's go on reading now verse 16 and 17 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 you see the big issues of life the big issues of life the big issues of us being in god's kingdom is righteousness peace and joy and you know righteousness is obeying god's law and god's law is love and so think about Galatians 5 verse 22 and it says the fruit of god's holy spirit is love joy and peace it seems to parallel with righteousness peace and joy and so those are the big issues of life it says here in the holy spirit so we got to look at the big things verse 18 for he who serves christ in these things is acceptable to god and approved by man you see it's god that accepts us but if we are acceptable to god and if we're doing what is right you generally will be considered favorable by other people in society in the words by man and then verse 19 therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another let's bring peace to the church build the church up we should build up and not destroy verse 20 do not destroy the work of god for the sake of food don't cause other people to stumble and leave the church because of small matters you know food is an example but how we treat others how we speak to others we're going to be careful not to cause them to leave the church so this chapter we can see here verse 20 is about food and affecting or causing other people to stumble affecting those that are weakening the faith by judging them and creating traps and so he says all things indeed are pure but it is evil for the man who eats with offense all things all things are right obviously it's not talking about breaking god's law but it's talking about points of opinion remember in in verse one of this chapter chapter 14 it's talking about over doubtful things things that are kind of a matter of opinion it's not talking about breaking god's law outright so what it's talking about is things that are related to one's opinion and therefore if we look at these scenes that kind of affected by one opinion or another opinion you know all things are pure if they used for the right purpose but it says here in continue reading in verse 20 but it is evil for the man who eats with offense if you eat or you think it's wrong and you go against the conscience then it is evil but verse 21 it is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or made weak again gets back to love if you're gonna offend or hurt him don't do it don't say it verse 22 do you have faith have it yourself before god happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves in the words if you believe that you can allow yourself to do something in these doubtful matters or doubtful things it was that's why it's said it verse one of this chapter do not enter into quarrels about opinions about doubtful things so not talking about doctrinal issues but it's talking about matters of opinion so don't enter into quarrels about these matters of opinion and then he says therefore happy is he that's the was very says he are happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves if you believe what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong don't condemn yourself but remember the context is talking about matters of opinion it's not talking about breaking god's law verse 23 but he would doubt is condemned if he eats because he does not eat from faith you see if you doubt and you do it against your conscience for instance if you invite somebody to eat and that person doesn't feel right to eat meat but he sits and he sits with you and because you're offering and you're kind of pushing him or her to eat and then he eats it but it is against his conscience then that person condemns himself or herself because he or she is going against his or her conscience for instance if you believe drinking is wrong and now you drink so that to please those that are around you and that defiles your conscience then it is sin and so what we see is for whatever is not of faith is sin and so we have here another definition of sin going against your conscience if you or I are going against our conscience you know then don't do it it is sin sure first john 3 verse 4 says whoever commits sin transgresses also the law for sin is a transgression of the law but in addition if it is against your conscience it is also sin