Romans 13 & 14 - Subjection to Authority and Treatment of Others

So, it's been a little while since we were in the Book of Romans. In fact, it's been three months, and you've probably been saying, when is he going to get back there? And I'm going to start... There we go. I'm going to start with a quote by William Tyndale. For those of us who happen to be historians, I have no idea to what extent you know by background this Tyndale's 16th century Bible translation impact on the English version of the Old and New Testament. But talk about significant. In fact, I was doing some reading last evening, an article written by Mr. John Ross Schrader online that's posted on UCG's website. And Tyndale is oftentimes noted as his work as one of the best-kept secrets in human history, considering that he had to do so much of the translation and so much it was done in England in secret.

And it's Tyndale's speaking, writing about the Book of Romans who said the following. It is the principal and most excellent part of the New Testament. No man can read it too often or study it too well. For the more it is studied, the easier it is. The more it is chewed, the pleasanter it is. The more it is searched, and this word that I'm not familiar with, but I'll read, the preciouser things are found.

And if you go and look at Tyndale's thoughts here in terms of the appreciation and the importance of the Book of Romans, it certainly is staggering about how he views it and the contribution that Romans provides in terms of a general understanding of God and his truth. You know, we've noted in going through the Book of Romans over a long period of time, progressively in spurts here, the Book generally is a discourse on sin and our reconciliation with God after sin.

And we have broken down the Book a number of different times. I threw this one up here. If you remember last time we were here, if we run a quiz, I'm sure we're going to get all this right. But that said, anyone remember those items on the right? If I click a button, they can move left. If we're on the left and we see section one, because the Book can generally be broken into four sections, if we're looking at Romans 1-8, anyone have an idea what goes there?

I'll click. Here we go. Did it make it? All have gone astray. If you remember, the Book deals specifically with Jews. It starts out with Jews. And then also speaks of Gentiles. But there are a number of key verses here which we're well aware of. Romans 3-23, 6-23, memory verses for all of us. A reminder that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of those verses there all fall under that section. Romans 9-11, which was a little more challenging section of that section of the letter that Paul writes, deals principally with matters concerning the Jews and in particular the Jews specifically and Israel more broadly.

And he talks at length about the Jews' responsibility, the way in which they need to recognize their calling, and a number of different elements there. We spent time on that, and if you haven't had a chance to review that in time, those messages are online. It's in 12-15, 12 we started last time, and it's been a few months, that we see Paul's encouragement then to move forward.

And so through these four chapters, we've seen that theme begin, and I'll review here briefly what appears in Romans 12. And kind of the reverse of oftentimes what we do things in many a times today as we think of the way we write a letter, we tend to do greetings up front. Well, they tended to do them at the end, and that was commonplace and evident in Paul's epistles, and we can see that all the way through. So that breakdown you should be familiar with. No surprise there. Again, I'm providing it just in review. As we dealt with Romans 12 in general, there were really three points that I offered we give attention.

One is that we must, although we live in the world, we must not be a part of it. That's lesson one. Romans 12, 1, and 2 should come to mind there. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The second one, second main thing we should have taken from Romans 12 are those gifts that are referenced by Paul, those spiritual gifts. There are a range of them. They include service, mercy, and encouragement.

I'm offering them as a modern translation in using those terms. But that said, we are given gifts, and then we're told to use them particularly to serve one another. They are gifts that God gives us. And then the third point that's made in Romans 12 is that our conduct matters. Actions matter.

Now, along those lines, and I'm not going to go to Romans 12, though it wouldn't hurt for us if you're there to throw a marker, because I'm getting there inevitably. That latter section of Romans is complimentary to, or fits well, with John 15. And I'm going to ask you to go over to John 15. John 15. And John 15 is routinely a section of Scripture we read around the time of the Passover and on Passover evening. John 15, verses 1 through 5 is what I'm going to ask us to read. This idea that shows up in the latter part of Romans 12, the principle that God inspires Paul to write, is one that we must bear fruit.

Romans 15, verse 1.

So, Jordan's not here today, so I can talk about him freely. Jordan's taken home. He said, when Jordan before camp, he had gone to High Sierra, so I was back on the lawnmower in the pruning business around our home. And the rose bushes in the front, those home run derby bushes, just were looking like monsters to me, so I went in there, no surprise. And I cut them back pretty much as far as I thought they could handle it. And I thought, I'll be interested to see what happens here. And you tell me what happened. You come back here. They're not completely red, but all of that growth that we hadn't had growth on those bushes for a while, all of that growth is back. All those pretty roses, those little red home run, aren't they called roams? Knockout roses. Oh, man. Okay, knockout home runs. They're all the same. I'm a Braves fan. For crying out loud. I'm in the vome. Thank you, sweetie. And what's funny is I went to the back. They're knockout roses. So, I won't tell a joke there.

I went to the back, and our gardenia is in the back. So, here's Philip in all his wisdom. I thought, you know what I'll do is I'll put a row of gardenias below the back window, and then when the gardenia start to bloom, I'll raise the window, and it'll smell like Hawaii to me. This is Hawaii to me. So, I pruned the daylights out of those, and I thought, those are not going to look good when I come back. And all of those pretty white flowers, those aromatic flowers, all come back. And that's what we see here as an example. I use that as an example for what Christ is speaking of. Verse 3, you are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. So, that Word, remember John 17, 17, sanctify them by my truth. My Word, thy Word is truth. That Word sets us apart. It changes us.

Abide in me, verse 4, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. So, even as I see those bushes that are around our house, the nutrients that come in there, Christ must live in us to bear those fruits. Verse 5, I am the vine, you are the branches, and he goes on from there, he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do...

I could underscore that right there. Nothing! And 8, I'll draw your attention to, by this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. That's what we're called to do, to do. So, you will be my disciples. So, we're reminded of that in the latter end of 12. I'm going to ask you to also go, if you've left a marker in Romans 13, you're going to be safe. I'm headed to James 2, and if you're clicking off what's in James 2, you already know what I'm headed for. James 2, the book of James, pins a section here that talks about the importance of faith, how faith works, and as we arrive at verse 14, he tells us that, you know, contrary to public opinion, contrary to our own personal opinion, that faith, it has to be shown.

It doesn't lie dormant in us. It has to be manifest through those same fruits that Christ spoke of. James 2, verse 14, what is it, prophet, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works, can faith save him? Faith alone, no works. You can, he's asking rhetorically. If a brother or sister is naked in destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what is it, prophet?

Thus, also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. It's got to have outward manifestations. But somehow, and it goes further from there, but someone will say, you have faith and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. And that continue, several verses that follow there, then only reinforce, as we see in 20, the importance that we have to have works. There's got to be a manifestation of what God is doing through us. It's short-sighted to act as though that we only have faith and it resides in our heart and mind and doesn't get manifest through outward actions.

And so that's the latter end of what there appears in Romans 12. So today we're going to move into, I'm being, I don't know if this is a little crazy or just being a little eager. We're going to go through Romans 13 and 14 today, because 13 only has 14 verses. It's short, and that's not a sermon to me. And then 14 has 22, so we're going to go all 36 verses and we're going to break it down to a number of sections. And through these two sections, we're going to see a couple of things that I'll preview here.

One is that we need to consider our responsibility to those in government. That's the front end of chapter 13. We also will see the treatment, how we must treat our brothers and sisters in the church with love and concern. And lastly, how we need to deal with those weak in the faith. So we'll see all of those subjects touched upon. So I've entitled this message Romans 13 and 14. That didn't take a lot of creativity.

Colon, subjection to authority and our treatment of other Christians. Subjection to authority and our treatment of other Christians. Specifically, those, our brothers and sisters in the faith. So let's go a quiz here. I did the breakdown. The breakdown was fast. I did the breakdown verbally. You have to bear with me there. So I've got five questions for you. Are you ready?

These are pre-test, post-test questions. So I'll come back at these afterwards. So the aim is not to trick, but obviously this morning I figured out that I might have tricked a few people. That was not the intent. So question one here. True or false, the governments of this world ultimately operate under God's authority. Now when I say that, I need to add a qualifier because this morning I got hooked on this one. I'm not referencing little gee God of this world Ephesians 2.2.

But I am referencing as do the governments of this world. Even when we have someone who is immoral, does it fall under the oversight of how God sees history play out through human beings? True or false? You don't have to answer. You can write it on your own. There's question one. Question two. Once called by God, Christians may choose to obey whichever societal laws they choose. May choose which stuff. In essence, I'm saying the same thing.

In essence, can Christians pick and choose the laws of the land we need to follow? You may say, well, what about Acts 5.29? And Acts 5.29 reminds us that God supersedes any law we have. But in this society, are we to uphold the laws of the land?

Question three. God inspires Paul to use the term love in Romans 13 in a way that allows the reader to reach his or her own definition of the term.

Is there that latitude that Paul offers and or God offers? Question four. We're going to wind up with a question on the boxes. Question four. Paul's admonition is to act properly, given the time is short, is intended to inspire spiritual urgency in those chosen by God.

Is God aiming to get us moving? That's where I'm after this. And the last one on the boxes. We have no idea what Paul means when he uses the term weak in the faith. That's what the bottom says. We have no idea what Paul means when we see the term or phrase weak in the faith. So do we do this? Do we grade this? Okay, here we go. I'll ask for your input.

Question one. The government of this world ultimately operates under God's authority. True or false? So the aim here is I'm after true. Because we know that the God of this world impacts everything. And we'll see this as we go through Romans 13 and 14, especially Romans 13, those first several verses. And they are highly influenced by this world, but does God oversee everything? Is God over everything?

Yeah, you bet He is. Even if we go back into how He dealt with world leaders, and we see this through the Old Testament. Remember some of them? Like Nebuchadnezzar, did God work with him? Sure did. Did God oversee what He did? Sure did. And we see that play out. So are we, again, do we recognize that God is ultimately over everything that happens? Does He oversee and allow Satan to do what Satan does? Yeah, He does.

Second question. Once called by God, Christians may choose which societal laws they obey. So we are held to...that's a false...we are held to the laws of the land. And as we'll talk about as we wade through Romans 13 and 14, we have a responsibility to obey those laws of the land. Unless...you know this, because you can fill in the blank here...unless they come in conflict with God.

And you probably quickly come to mind a number of different examples that fit that. If you go to the Old Testament, which we addressed this morning, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were told to bow down before that giant idol, what did they say? Not gonna do it. Not doing that. Whatever comes of us comes of us. We'll take that risk. And indeed, God was there, wasn't He?

And how did God then respond to their obedience? Remember, even the guys who threw them into the fire got consumed by fire. And yet, as Nebuchadnezzar looked in and said, wait a second, didn't we throw three in there? How many were walking around in there? He saw four. And what was the fourth one like? He said it looked like God. It was in the image of God.

And so we're quickly reminded there, and if you go forward a little bit, in terms of chapters to Daniel, Daniel was given the loss of the lion's den. You can't pray. And what did Daniel do? I'm praying. I'm gonna pray as I always have, even if I go to my death in the lion's den. So we see a conflict there, but we also see that God intervened and protected. And that it's God... Will He always do that? Well, we saw also, if we look in the New Testament, some who were martyred.

We look at Stephen and others. There were those instances. But that's what God... When I say this, God wants us to be 100% committed. He still expects us to be obedient to the loss of the land. That's our responsibility. And likely, as time moves forward and events become more challenging, there will be those tests that, if haven't already come for you, will come.

They'll come for me, too. So it then becomes our responsibility to, again, obey the laws of the land and, at the same time, recognize that we are to obey God beyond those. So, once called by God, Christians can choose which... No, they're not supposed to. We're supposed to hold to those laws. True or false? God inspires Paul to use the term love in a way that allows the reader to reach his or her own definition.

That is a false. God is real specific how he uses a term. And the term love is closely connected with any other thoughts here. The term law. And we'll see this repeatedly as you move through this section of Scripture. We know, if you can go through 1 John and a number of other places, if you go to the book of John, John 14 and 15, which we can get their reference later on, we know that law and love are often times viewed as related. That law helps us define what love is. Now, if you watch your Sunday morning, most of your Sunday morning religious programs, they don't tell you that, do they?

Love often times comes off as kind of some emotional, warm, fuzzy. And yet, we know from Scripture that love is well defined by God. A number of different Scriptures in the New Testament are reminded of this. So, is it up to interpretation? No. 4. Paul's admonition to act properly given the time assured is intended to inspire spiritual urgency? Yes, it is. God spends several times in Scripture. You know this. He dedicates sections to light a fire under us. And as we read and study, God, maybe not like a big lighter under our rear, but He's saying, God, get you moving.

You're not moving. We're acting a little too lukewarm here. We've got to get you fired up. And so, indeed, He uses the phrase with urgency for a reason. The last one, we have no idea what Paul means when he says something in regard to the use of the phrase, weak in the faith. We have a clear idea what that means, and we'll talk about that. So, the answer to that is false.

Okay, we took our quiz, so let's go break down and wander through Romans 13 and 14. Let's deal with, first of all, Romans 13. I put up Charles de Gaulle there for you, just so you know who he is, for our historians in the room. As we deal with Romans 13, the first seven verses, it's going to reference those who happen to be in authority.

If you're with me in Romans 13, let's head through this. And I'll start by reading the first four verses, and then we'll do some backtracking, and I'll interject a couple of comments as we go. Verse 1, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, ultimately, supreme authority. That's what the context renders. And the authorities that exist are appointed by God. So, everything under God, all those who happen to have authority now, current president, past president, leaders of different nations, they're all under God's authority.

Verse 2, therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment onto themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.

For he is God's minister, not a minister in a church sense, but one who is an administrative or leader to you for good, but if you do evil, be afraid. For he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister, leader, administrator, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. So, let's backtrack a little here. We've already touched upon this in terms of the questions we posed, or that I posed at least.

Does God only work with those he calls? The reality is, he certainly works with us, but he also maintains attention, direction, on everything that happens on this earth. And sometimes we can lose sight of that, and yet you can go back and you can read through the Gospels in particular about how God knows everything about us. Hairs on our head, a bird falls to the ground, which the hairs on my head are getting fewer, so God is having to remember less.

But the reality is, he pays attention to everything. He knows everything, and governs all of it, and allows certain things to happen, history to unfold, prophetically, even as time marches on. And that's what we really get here. Paul makes clear that God works with those inside the church, which is what we've seen through the first part of Romans, and those outside the church, particularly those in authority.

God knows what the president of this nation is doing. God knows what any of our leaders around the world, God works with the basest of men, and has. He still works with them, and that's what we should gain from verse 1. Verse 2, Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God.

And those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. There was an interesting point here, because I went back to my Ambassador College notes.

And then I also went forward to see what Ambassador Bible College, which Mr. Cusi may have in his notes referenced here. But the whole idea, one of the discussions that was raised in one of those classes, is why does God allow human beings to have laws? And two things came up to mind, at least for me, is one, God allows lawkeeping to avoid chaos. That was what was offered in the ABC class about 10 years ago.

But I should also interject that really our ordinances today, and by and large, human beings over any period of time, have the ability to mess up anything we start. You give us long enough as human beings, we're going to mess something up. But the laws that we have in place today are generally an outgrowth of the Mosaic law that was codified at Mount Sinai. When I was at the University of Oklahoma, and I mentioned this this morning, my wife knows, because she would oftentimes, well, from time to time, she would come find me. We had this huge old library that was made in the early 1900s, and I'd go sit in this library.

It was one of those ones where archival, where there are books everywhere. You couldn't talk in this room. If you ever talked, you got the, you know, you're going to come with me, and we're leaving. And I would go in there and study when I was at the University of Oklahoma.

And the reason why I mention this is because one of the, on one of the end cap, end caps on one of the shelves there in that library, was an entire book that someone had written on how all of the modern laws were actually rooted. They go back historically to what was given to Moses at Mount Sinai. And, you know, I think back, because I pulled that book off the shelf, as we oftentimes do when you're supposed to do work. Everything looks like a distraction. So I'm going to look for anything to distract myself. And I would oftentimes go and read sections of this book, and they would trace it all the way back to the modern laws in this land, in England, and in, they took any number of nations, because the book actually broke down.

Here's the laws of this nation. How does this trace back to the laws given to Moses? And if I remember right, they also made the extension that those laws, they gave indication, just like Genesis 26.5 talks about there, that those laws were originally discussed and given in the Garden of Eden. And the reason why I note this is because God, though imperfectly, as humans do, God allows laws to be established to avoid chaos, to avoid anarchy.

And what God allows, even as imperfectly as they might be implemented, God allows the laws we have in the land to maintain order, so that things can actually get done.

And that's in part what's referenced here in verse 2. Verse 3, For rulers are not a terror for good works, but to evil. The latter end of 3, Do you want to be unafraid of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. You know, there is a reminder here is that God is greater than any man. We are to indeed serve the leaders that we have in this nation, unless it comes in conflict with God, and then we have to then step out on faith that God will oversee and recognize our obedience, and certainly God does.

And I don't have an answer for the outcome, but we put that in God's hand. That's our faith. Verse 4, For he is a good minister to you for good, but if you do evil, be afraid. For he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister, an adventurer to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Ultimately, God is in charge. And we see that through human history. Now, this morning I kind of opened a can of worms, even as I noted this, because I happen to have a couple of real historians in our group that immediately began to tell me and revisit all the different ways that God intervened in human history and even prior to that time English history all the way through there.

No surprise, maybe who I was talking to over there in Beaufort. But we can see that even in their rank carnality, even as Israel was doing certain things, God intervened with them, didn't he? God chooses to step in as he sees fit whenever it's necessary. God commands certainly us to avoid killing others. He doesn't want us to participate, but he does oversee all things.

And that's what we see there in verse 4. Verse 5, Therefore you must be subject not only because of wrath, but also for your conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers, leaders, administrators, attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due, taxes to whom the taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor.

So this section specifically talks about, again, abiding in the laws of the land. You know, we would like to think of ourselves sometimes as immune to the laws of the land. The reality is we're not. We might, in going to church, driving a little bit fast, we might get pulled over and think to ourselves, Well, I'm going to church. You have to let me off. And he may say, that's not how it works. Here's your Sabbath ticket.

Enjoy it. I mean, inevitably, we still are responsible for following these laws. And as we note this, there's a value to this, obviously the order we already referenced, but also the latter end of verse 5, For conscience' sake, by following laws that are established, Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown, Teases out, or provides feedback here, that by following these laws, we not only have less tension, less angst, But we also show respect, this, I thought this was telling, we also, in abiding by these laws, show respect to God.

By obeying the laws of the land, we inevitably are not only showing respect to those who are in power and those in authority, But we inevitably are showing God that we respect Him, because we're following those laws. I thought that was a telling insight. Verse 6 talks about the importance of paying taxes. We have to do that. It doesn't mean that because we're in the church that we can avoid it. I'm going to ask you to go back with me to Matthew 22, because this was a question posed to Christ.

You may remember this account. There were two accounts that came to mind when I was looking at this section of Scripture here being one. Matthew 22, no surprise here, Pharisees are trying to trip up Christ again. They're going to fall on their faces again. Matthew 22, I'll find if I'm in the right place, Matthew 22, verse 17, we're going to read this section of Scripture. Let's start reading in 15. Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him. I do the fingers here, because that's what it reminds me of in his talk.

And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodian, saying, Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God in truth. Nor do you care about anyone, for you do not regard the person of man. And there's some nuances there that I won't address here. Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? And they probably thought, you're not going to pay. He's going to say, no way. And what does he say? But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, Why do you test me, you hypocrites, you actors? That's the notion of hypocrite there. Show me the tax money. So they brought him a denarius. And He said to them, Whose image and inscription is this? And they said to him, Caesar's. And He said to them, Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God. Now they probably thought, no, what does that mean? Well, they probably got the part about the Caesar and the coinage. They made sense of that. They probably had no sense of spiritually where He was going with that. But what did that mean? Well, I don't know. He just said, we have to pay our taxes. Verse 22, and when they heard these words, they marveled and they left Him and went their way. You know, one of the points that we see then being made by Paul is a reiteration of what we see Christ say, that we are held accountable to the laws of the land. We're held accountable to those taxes. I was reminded, though I don't have this in Scripture, that even in the one instance where Christ was asked about paying the temple tax, remember what He did? He performed a miracle there by having a fish with a coin in His mouth. That's impressive. He went and caught a fish. There were a lot of fish we had at camp, and none of them had coins in their mouth. But He had a fish, and He pulled the coin out, and then He paid the temple tax with that. Again, illustrating well that we are responsible for following those laws.

He says that in verse 6 of Hebrews 13, and He says and reinforces the same thing in verse 7. Render therefore to all that are due, the taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. What we see in this is that God allows a number of freedoms that we oftentimes take for granted in this land.

God allows these governing bodies to establish certain laws that fit and end. Does God oversee this all? Sure He does. God expects us again to comply with those laws. He tells us through these first seven verses of Romans 13 by way of Paul's pen. Romans 13, 8 through 14. You need a new picture? Okay, here's the next one. Romans 13, verse 8. We're going to keep going.

So he transitions here. Paul transitions from our responsibilities to be subject, be in subjection to authority, to our responsibility toward those in the church. And we're going to see here, it's going to fit with, as we get to 14, those stronger in the faith versus weaker in the faith. Verse 8. So he's just talked about money.

Now I'll ask you to leave a marker here. Let's go to John 14. I made reference to John 14. If you've got a marker there, we'll come right back. John 14. By background here, we're going to see what Christ offers here regarding His disciples.

John 14. I'm going to read verses 19 through 24. John 14. I'm going to start reading a little bit earlier. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper, being God's Spirit, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him or knows Him, but you know Him, you know it, for it dwells with you and will be in you, so that we know came on the Feast of Pentecost. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you, which is what He did. A little while longer in the world will see me no more, but you will see me, because I live, you will live also. All that day you know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves me. So if we draw a connection here between love, here's my poor connection symbol. The connection between love and commandments, these things are connected. This world won't tell you this. There is a clear rule set that God expects us to follow, and when we follow that rule set, we are loving. Christ being the culmination of that law, the aim, the focus, He is a manifestation of that law. God's character is law, which is love, and we see that in a number of different places. And if you drop down here, verse 23, I'm going to keep reading.

And the words which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. So again, He's establishing a hierarchy there with God the Father of the helm. But what we need to take from that section of Scripture, and I'm all the way back to Romans 13, verse 8, is a reminder that we are to love one another. And we then see by definition how love for one another happens. Verse 9, for the commandments, you shall not come in adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness, you shall not coven. And if there is any other commandment, all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, I can offer a number of different sections of Scripture, or I could recommend that you go do a law and love study, and start with a number of different places in Scripture, because what that does, what that teases out, is again a reminder of how interdependent love and law are. We understand love by how the law works, and we understand the law, by understanding the law and showing it, we actually manifest love. Now, I've made reference to a couple of places, if you go to John 14, 15, which is what we just read. If you read further, John 15, 10, and I'm just offering these Scriptures as places to go to see the interdependence of law and love, John 5, particularly verses 2 and 3, which say, I'll read this section, because I have this one in my notes, this is how we know that we love the children of God by loving God and carrying out His commands. In fact, this is the love for God, to keep His commands, and His commands are not burdensome. That's a more modern tense or translation. And then certainly, Matthew 22, which we already have referenced, the two great commandments, that then shows up there on the latter end of verse 9.

Verse 10 then reads in continuance of this same idea, Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. When we keep those laws, we are loving. And do this now, not just in a physical sense, because physically we know that Christ said when He came and brought a new covenant, what did He say? You said that if I, you know, kill a person, that's a violation of law. What did He say?

If you hate someone, there's the spiritual sense, which, again, that spiritual understanding is granted to you and me, not by anything we've done, but because God allows that. Spiritually, that insight that God works with you and me in order to understand that. And He offered a separate example there in terms of adultery, you may remember. Verse 11, and do this knowing the time that now is high time to awake out of sleep.

So He's shaking those who happen to be in Rome, those in the Church of God, saying, give this attention, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Are we all getting older? Yeah, we all are getting older. Maybe I'm getting older faster than everyone else. It feels like this. But we're all getting older. And as we mature, 1 Corinthians 13, remember the latter in there, what Paul talks about?

He says, as a young person, I thought as a young person, as an adult, as a mature person, I think as an adult. Becomes our responsibility to mature over time. Does that bring us closer to the return of Jesus Christ? You bet it does. And He's saying, don't dilly-dally, you don't know how much longer you have. None of us know how much longer we have. 13, verse 13, let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.

In essence, what He's saying is, do not revert to spiritual darkness. That's what the night is referenced there. In contrast, strive to follow, adhere to that which is right and good, the light which is God's truth. We are to walk in the light.

We're commanded to be urgent about that calling, to not live a life of secrecy in darkness, but live a life where Christ is in us. So that takes us through, we move through that latter end of Romans 13 a little bit faster. So as we move to Romans 14, we've got two sections of Scripture also here to deal with. And I put up the picture on purpose, because depending on the commentary, they'll minimize this.

And we can't. It's important to recognize what happens in this chapter. And what I offer here, food is a lesson of how to treat the strong and weak. Now, if you move into this section, we're going to see the term food dealt with over and over and over. What Paul is inspired to do is talk about food, because we have to think about what happened in Rome at the time of writing.

The Romans themselves were oftentimes consumed with a range of things. Their own holidays, their own celebrations, their own idolatry. My wife reminded me of some of this, that it was helpful to offer some of this. It was commonplace to offer sacrifices to idols. In doing so, they may or may not have followed the Levitical directions in terms of how that meat, whatever the meat may be, whether it was bled correctly, and or, certainly this is outside of anything given in the Old Testament, the fact that they were just giving it to idols became problematic for those in the church.

This is what Paul is going to do. He's going to talk about this. Now, the reason why I would show you this picture is because the term each shows up 15 times only in this section of Scripture. What we're going to see when we get to verse 5 is some, in fact, for many of us, some many years ago tried to twist this verse and say, this isn't really a problem about abandoning the Sabbath because it's only a matter of conscience. And that's not what this section of Scripture is about. This section of Scripture was an issue that was going on in the church in Rome at the time where some, particularly those new to the faith, felt conflicted about the idea that meat offered to an idol could then be bought at a reduced price and consumed.

Those who'd been around for a while didn't bother them in the same way. They said, you know, it's just meat. As long as it's correctly dealt with, I can buy that for a cheaper rate and consume that. It's not going to bother my conscience. So that's the direction we're going in Romans 14, and that's why I offer what I offer there.

Verse 1 of 14. Receive one who is weak in the faith. The term weak in the faith specifically here, if you go back to the Greek, simply means new to the faith. Someone newer to the church. One with less knowledge. Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to dispute over doubtful things.

There was conflict in the church at the time because, again, some felt frustrated by this. Some felt like, well, if I'm going to be obedient to God, why would I eat something that's been offered to an idol? Those who'd been around it didn't bother them because they knew they were just dumb idols. There was no conflict in their conscience. So this is where Paul is going with this, but not to dispute. Obviously, there were disputations.

There were issues here regarding about dietary things. Verse 2, for one believes he may eat all things. Now, we know this. This is not in any way circumventing or minimizing the responsibilities and the directions in the Old Testament to keep that which is clean. That's not what's offered here. And we know this again by the language that's offered. The original Greek.

Verse 2, for one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. So, you know, here's our scenario. Someone comes into the church for the first time, and we know that there's meat to pick up. We're putting ourselves in Rome for a few minutes. We've got your sandals on and everything else. And we're thinking about things we can buy and consume. For someone new to the church, they said, I'm not going to go buy and eat those things. That was offered to an idol.

It was a conscience issue. And Paul says, for some of us, it's not an issue. But if we've been around longer, we should show love and be caring for those who have this conflict in conscience. Let not him, verse 3, 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.

As we move through here, and I made reference to the number of times that eating is mentioned, you can go through here and see the reference to food and eating multiple times. Verse 3, which is what we just read, 6, 14, 17, 23, over and over. This discussion about eating of meats or not eating meats, maybe it's easy to characterize it today. Because we know that oftentimes there are a number of different diets that we hold to. Vegetarians, vegans, whatever it might be.

It's not a surprise for us to see that. It wasn't a surprise for them to deal with this issue of meat at that time. And so many commentaries make this abundantly clear. Verse 4, who are you to judge another servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. That notion of, just background momentarily, that notion of, let not him who eats despise look down on with contempt.

That beginning of verse 3, despise him who does not eat. Again, the issue here is the eating of this meat. Don't stand in judgment. Verse 4, who are you to judge another servant? So there was this judgment that was going on to his own master. He stands or falls.

Indeed, he will make to stand. He will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. You know, ultimately here, and we're going to see this all the way through this, our aim is not to be condemning of others. We don't. And here's one of the beauties of the Atlanta and Buford congregations that I oftentimes think of when I have people ask me.

If they'll call me and say, hey, what's your church like? It's easy for me to say it's not judgmental. The people there are sincerely desirous of following God. They're warm and receptive. They really strive to be obedient to God.

When I say this with whomever calls me, I'm talking about you all. And I'm reminded of that when I come back to services even after three weeks in Alabama. Because I know this group whenever we come to church here, I know the group over in Buford. They're dedicated to God. It becomes just so blatantly clear about the commitment of everyone in the room. And it's a reminder to me of how blessed I'll speak about me. How blessed I am to be able to attend services with all of you, because I know how committed you are.

I hear you talk about this. I see your emails and hear your phone calls and talk with you directly. And what we see here, even as we move to this section of Scripture, are again, those who happen to be committed, who strive to do what's right, this is who Paul is talking about. And so what we see here about the realization that we'll all be able to stand before God, and we'll see again that idea noted further as we go further, is a reminder that we have a responsibility in loving and caring for one another, indeed to take that information that we've been given and to implement it properly.

Verse 5, one person esteems one day above another, another esteems each day alike, let each be fully convinced in his own mind. So if you go back and you go through a number of different things, you find that even at that time, and I had forgotten this, I had this in my notes, that the Jews oftentimes fasted twice a week. You can go back and see that they had Tuesday and Thursday daylight portion fast, because the aim was for them to be closer to God.

The Jewish people did this. The Romans had separate holidays, holy days of their own. They had certain days that they felt superior to others. There were certainly other days that were less important. Now maybe this is not necessarily such a surprise, because you deal with people like I do in the workplace that will ask you questions, for example, what are you doing on fill in the blank here?

Christmas. That's a superior day for them. What are you doing on St. Patrick's Day? You don't have your green on today. What are you doing on Valentine's Day? People oftentimes make those days higher than what they are. Those in Rome had the same thing. They had days that they prioritized, that they felt superior than other days.

And we see some of this play out. The shortcoming here, they did this, obviously, society in general, with a blind eye to everything that God had established. But the reality is society in general, which follows the God of this world, little gee, God of this world, held certain days in high regard. What he's talking about here, even in verse 5, one person steams one day above another, another steams every day alike, is the idea that we need to understand the days that God provides, and then be fully convinced that we are to be obedient to those days, those Holy Days.

Now, if I backtrack 25 years for some of us, this was one of the key verses that our previous association tried to use to say, we don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore. We don't have to keep those Holy Days, because, after all, as long as I'm convinced in my own mind, that's fine. Nowhere in Scripture is the Sabbath or the Holy Days revoked.

Now, they tried to do that. No one has authority. The Catholic Church does not have authority to change the Sabbath. That's not how it works. So, when people will pull this one out, and sometimes, and I have a marginal reference in my old King James, you can't twist the Scripture into something that it's not. But what we do need to do is be fully convinced in understanding of what God provides and then abide by that.

Verse 6, 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 give God thanks. You know, really, a lot of this talks about thinking about coming up with your own opinion.

That notion of our own opinion really needs to be couched, squelched to the point where, again, we understand what God teaches, and we are to it, adhere to it. Verse 7, 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 Lords. God sees all of it. There was a good Bible study that I was listening to a while back by Mr. Bob Fay, and it probably gave the clearest explanation I'd ever seen on the spirit of man. And he was talking at length about how God records everything. He likened it, he referenced back to Mr. Herbert Armstrong, being reminded that everything we do is similar to being, all of our experiences being recorded on a magnetic tape. Now, a magnetic tape, now that we're in a digital age, is a bit dated. But God takes those spirits, doesn't he? We know in Scripture that he receives those spirits.

What happens to this clothing we call skin when we're done? It goes right back to dirt. There's nothing there. This is just a temporary shell we wear for a while. I kind of wish mine had looked a little more like Brad Pitt, but I can't fix that. But the reality is, this is just skin for a while. We do this for a while. Does God pay attention to all of that spirit? You bet he does.

God recognizes, records all of it. And that's what that section of Scripture in 8 talks about, even as we move into 9. For to this end Christ died, and rose and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Why do you stand in condemnation? Why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Verse 11 is almost like a punctuation point, an exclamation mark. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, quoting from Isaiah 45, 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. What will that line be like? I just saw a couple of eye rolls in the back of the room, like, Oh my! I'm going to have to give account. We all will have to give account.

That transitions to 13, Therefore let us not judge one another any more, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block, something that makes someone fall, or cause a fall in our brother's way. That's not our aim. Our aim is indeed to reflect God and recognize that we have a responsibility to not judge, not condemn others, but love others. And so we see all of that played out. We got one more section.

Verse 14. And here's where we see that contrast of strong and weak, but particularly giving attention, instructions to the strong. Verse 14, 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. There are a number of different words that you may have in Scripture. That first notion of unclean, the term unclean here, simply refers to that which is koinos in the Greek, k-o-i-n-o-s, which means common or polluted. Again, as I've already mentioned here, there are those things that were lividically unclean. This is the exact same term that appears in Acts 10, verse 14. You may remember by background where Peter was talking about the sheet of animals. I've never eaten anything common or unclean, that which is in violation for the lividical priesthood. Well, that's the reference we see here. As we move through here, really what he's talking about here, no surprise, is the idea that certain meats are polluted externally when not treated correctly. For example, if a separate animal has killed an animal, generally you don't eat that meat. If an animal has been killed improperly by a human being, we don't eat that meat. If it's not bled properly, we don't eat that meat. When we see all of this play out, that's what we see referenced here. It's not referencing at all, as we can see a separate term used. Strong's number 169 about the term unclean latter, the latter part here of verse 14. It's not referencing that which is clean and unclean. It's referencing that which is not treated correctly, not dealt with correctly. So, in terms of clarity of the verse, we have a good understanding of what that means. 15. If your brother is viewed as grieved because of your food, we're back to the food issue, you are no longer walking in love. So, your brother has a conscience, an issue, because you're eating this stuff that's been dealt with incorrectly. Do not destroy with your food the one whom Christ died. Therefore, do not let your good be spoken of as evil. If we stop here and we just go over to 1 Corinthians 8, it's important to match this section up with what appears not too far away in 1 Corinthians 8. Also, Paul writing, and again, Paul is also talking about meet offered to idols. So, here's our connection. And you can remember back, if you, we can reread the first several verses of 1 Corinthians 8. Paul's dealing with this exact same topic. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 1. Now, concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but loves edifies. And if anyone thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing. So, he's dealing with the issue of meet offered to idol. Verse 14, we see a continuation. Therefore, concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. So, again, in Corinth, they were dealing with the same issues. If you drop down, verse 11, he's going to revisit the importance of recognizing that as someone who's stronger in the faith, someone mature in the faith, should give conscious effort to how the eating of these things might offend someone new to the church. Verse 11, And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died.

And when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Now, that's an interesting statement, because what he's saying is that if I go forward and I violate someone's conscience, and you can pick anyone's conscience out in the room, if I violate, Ron gets conscience. I'm, in essence, by extension, because that's what the verse is saying. I'm also showing disdain, disrespect for Christ, because in this case, Ron is made in Christ's image. So I should treat him properly. I should show him the love.

Verse 13 then, really drives a nail in the coffin there. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, wow, listen to what he says here. This is heavy. I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. That's how far Paul would go. He said, if what I'm doing is causing someone an issue that prevents them from growing spiritually, I will never do that again. I will never eat meat again.

Certainly provides an example for all of us to be reminded of to what extent we need to go not to offend someone. The Zembeam beat, we wind up apoplectic and crazy about, am I offending you? Am I offending you? Am I offending you? Am I offending you? No, that gets nutty. But the reality is that if we're doing something that violates someone's conscience, I would trust we're going to know this. And if we don't, from time to time, intuition is an amazing thing.

If I offend my wife, sometimes I'll go away and go, hmm, I may need to go ask if I offended her. I may need to go ask. Now sometimes, you know, you just take a hammer to my head because I have no clue and she'll go, oh, by the way, you offended me. And I'm sorry, if I did, give me till tomorrow and I'll say I'm sorry. No, I'll say I'm sorry now. She'll say, well, that took a little while on you. I'm sorry. I'm still human. I'm working on that part too.

But in a case like this, if I've offended someone, it becomes my responsibility to go and give attention to that.

To recognize that an offense occurred and then strive not to cause that person to fall. That's what Paul is after here.

We've been up through 15, 16, we read, Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but the righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And so what we see in 17 is actually a contrast. Where, you know, as good as you're going to get in this life, physical life, you can go back and read Ecclesiastes. One of the things that's fulfilling is just enjoy a meal together. Man, that falls so far short. 1 Corinthians 2, 9, what God has in store for us. There is no comparison. I think we're going to, as I've said before, we're going to wind up at Christ's return and go, wow, this is so much better than I ever thought.

Why in the world did I wait around in the muck and mire not seeing this? This is amazing.

And that's what I think in part he's referencing here. That gift that he's going to give us. Spiritual bodies, never hurt. Man, I hurt getting out of bed in the morning. I'm thinking, I don't even remember having doing anything that got an ache there. How did I get an ache there? Never hurting. Spiritually moving across the universe at the speed of thought. How staggering will that be in terms of development that God will provide instructions and directions and we'll be able to fulfill that.

So what we see here is it's not about this worldly sense of celebrations. It's not about food. It's about an eternal gift that God's giving us to be sons of his and daughters of his and have life forever. Verse 18, for he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable of God and approved by men. Now, I'm going to hit you with one more verse and then we'll come back here and end it. Luke 2, verse 52. We read this scripture a bunch of times. Addison, Madison, and Jasmine can verify at camp. Luke 2, 52. I like saying Addison and Madison because those are complementary names. Luke 2, 52. Remember by background here, Christ was young. He's in the temple.

Feast of Passover. He's 12 years old. You can read this in verse 41, 42, 43. He's young. Obviously, he's the word. So the astonishment that those who were in the temple experience, they were as teachers. They were like, how are you doing this? And we see all of this here about how he shows himself to be knowledgeable, particularly about everything that God originates. And what's shy of that except everything human. In verse 51 and 52, we then see these words, which we read at camp a couple of times. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them, but his mother kept all these things in her heart. So Mary saw them and thought, oh, I'll hold that close and dear. Verse 52, And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature. The latter end of that verse tells us with whom? With God and men. Now, that's really telling here. Because again, I think we can sometimes read over that. When we were at camp, I was reminded of that. Mr. Rick Bean made an excellent point on the Christian living class on Friday saying that following God's laws not only puts you in the right relationship with God, but it also puts you in a proper relationship with all these people who are out here.

And that's what Paul is saying there in verse 18. Verse 19, Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace. He's capping off this section of stronger helping weaker, and the things which by 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 a man who eats with offense. The term pure simply means a right purpose. Verse 21, 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. 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. So we're reminded here, again, about our responsibility to give attention to others, to care for others, to be loving of others. If we're going to do something that's offensive to someone in their presence, I'm not going to do that thing. You know, on my own I might have a burger on my own, but if it's going to offend someone, I'm not going to do that thing. And so we're reflecting Paul's words here. Okay, so we got to go back. We got a quiz to do. You ready for this? We can go pretty fast here. Question one. The governments of this world ultimately operate under God's authority. True or false? I'm going true on this. I got a bunch of truths. We're in agreement. True or false. Once called by God, Christians may choose which societal laws they obey. We are to hold to those laws, no surprise here, until they come in conflict with God. God inspires Paul to use the term love in a way that allows the reader to reach his or her own definition. Nope! God knows how this is defined. It's a manifestation of his character. Verse, listen to me. Question four. Paul's admonition to act properly is intended to inspire us to spiritual urgency. Yeah, it is! God wants us fired up and zealous about his truth. And we have no idea what Paul means when he talks about being weak in the faith. We have a clear idea. It means one who's less mature, one who's newer to the faith. So I have no idea how you did on the quiz. It looked like your face is all, say, 100%. And I'm going to trust that's the case. So I offer this because as we transition from 14 into 15, 15 is a latter part of this section of Scripture. As we've seen in 13 and 15, it's our responsibility to be subject to authority, and then as well to understanding the relationship between spiritually weak and spiritually strong to show love to one another so that we fulfill God's law. When we get to 15, we'll conclude this section of Scripture with Paul's comments to those who are strong in the faith and ones he will ultimately see, because Paul travels to Rome here like our family is going to do I'm scared to death, in eight weeks. This is part of my impetus, desire to go. So that said, we see all of that. So I offer this. Let me see if I can cap it here. Romans 13 and 14 make clear the respect we must have for governing authorities, the importance of showing love to our brothers and sisters. The very bottom says, let's make sure we put this message into action. So we will be at 15 shortly. I ask that you continue to read ahead, and do study ahead, and I'll get there. And otherwise, let's make sure that we follow those principles, those lessons that God inspired Paul to write about in Romans 13 and 14.