One of my favorite things to do in all the world is to sit around a campfire and just watch the flames. For me, there’s something so enjoyable and relaxing about that activity. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve had three or four campfires at my house.
There’s this thing about a campfire, though . . . when you add three young boys to the mix, it’s not quite as relaxing as it is by yourself. With my boys, I usually don’t sit down by the fire much. Between keeping the fire burning, making sure the boys are not burning, getting s’mores supply ready, and keeping them from poking others’ eyes out, the relaxation seems to be hard to come by.
Now, why would I do a fire with my boys if it takes so much more work and there is so much less relaxation? Because I love my boys. I set aside some of my enjoyment and preferences in order to accommodate their preferences and enjoyment. I also hold out the hope that one day they will grow older and not be so high maintenance.
In today’s passage, Paul is teaching the church in Rome to be concerned with building up our brothers and sisters in Christ and laying aside some of our enjoyment and preferences in order to not cause others to stumble in their walk with God.
Today’s sermon is entitled “Build Up, Don’t Trip Up.”
Before we continue, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to speak to us through His Word.
(prayer)
You may remember that last week’s passage spoke about fellow believers not arguing about certain less important beliefs such as diet and days. Rather than dispute these matters, we should love one another and welcome those who are still developing in their faith.
Today, Paul is going to discuss a very similar issue but from a different angle.
Last week, Paul encouraged us not to argue with those who are still coming to understand the heart of the gospel.
This week, Paul is encouraging us to be careful how we live so as not to spiritually harm those who are still developing in their faith.
Let’s look at the passage, and then we will discover three actions we must take regarding this topic.
Look at Romans 14:13-23:
13 Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean. 15 For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore, do not let your good be slandered, 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and receives human approval.
19 So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another. 20 Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make someone fall by what he eats. 21 It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. 22 Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.
Ok, let us now look at these three actions. First, . . .
I. We should not trip up others.
Paul is very clear about this reality.
Look at verse 13. Paul says, “Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister.”
If you have young kids in the house, you know all about stumbling blocks. If you walk through my house in the dark you are basically taking your life in your hands. There are toys, cars, blocks, food, cups, clothes, everything all over the place. Two minutes after we clean it up, it’s right back how it was.
Paul tells us never to put a stumbling block in the way of another Christian.
Paul’s concern goes back mainly to the issue of what we eat, which he discussed in the previous passage.
He is saying that if what we eat or drink makes someone else struggle in their faith, or think that we are sinning, then we should gladly not eat or drink that thing.
Paul says in verse 15, “For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.”
You may not think eating something or drinking something, or doing something is a sin, but your brother or sister in Christ may think it is a sin. If you do that thing anyways, it may mess with the spiritual health of another Christian.
If we choose to eat something or drink something that harms someone’s spiritual health, then we are potentially bringing spiritual harm to a child of God for whom Jesus gave His life.
Well, how do we know what we should and shouldn’t do?
Listen to what Paul says in verses 20 and 21: “20 Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make someone fall by what he eats. 21 It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.”
Church, it is a good thing not to do anything that makes another Christian stumble.
Listen: in Christ, we are free! Tomorrow is the 505th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther pointed out, among other truths, that we are free in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, celebrate that freedom.
What Paul is talking about is us willingly setting aside our freedom for the sake of our brother and sister in Christ.
People are more important than food and drink. They are more important than our preferences.
Chester is more important than cheeseburgers. Bill is more important than bacon. Vickie is more important than vodka. Cynthia is more important than cigars. Sherry is more important than shrimp. Hershel is more important than Hersey’s chocolate. Reese is more important than Reese’s cups. Wanda is more important than wine. Wilbur is more important than wings. Stacey is more important than steak. Edgar is more important than eggs. Patty is more important than pancakes. Carl is more important than carrot cake. Ormond is more important than Oreos. Melvin is more important than musical preferences. Frank is more important than Facebook. Paul is more important than politics.
Oh, that we would realize that God’s people are more important than something that we consume and enjoy for just a moment, and then it makes us have to run to the restroom to get rid of it!
Oh, that we would realize that our preferences are so less important than the precious ones for whom Jesus laid down His life!
Now, some of you might be thinking, “Come on, Pastor Matt . . . shouldn’t those weak Christians just mature in their faith and understand that Christ has set us free from that nonsense!”
Well, yes, they should. However, we are all still growing in our faith. We are all still becoming more like Jesus, so we must be patient and loving towards our brothers and sisters in Jesus.
We should not trip up others.
Second, . . .
II. We should build up others.
Not only should we not trip others up, we are also not to remain neutral. In other words, we’re not supposed to just sit back and do nothing. Rather, we are to actively build up our brothers and sisters in Jesus.
Paul says in verses 17 and 18: “17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and receives human approval.”
He adds in verse 19, “So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another.”
We are to welcome those who are weak in the faith. We are to take the posture of a humble servant and put others’ needs ahead of our own.
We are not to judge. We are to love others as ourselves. We are to pursue righteousness, peace, and joy. We are to serve God by yielding our personal preferences.
Church, everything about the Christian faith underscores and highlights the fact that life is not about us!
When it comes to how we interact with others in the church, our goal should be to build others up.
When you are mature in your faith, you will find yourself more and more going to this question: “How can I build up others?”
When someone disagrees with you, you should ask, “How can I build up that person?” When someone at church gossips or lies about you, you should ask, “How can I build up that person?” When someone says you are sinning by eating or drinking something, you should ask , “How can I build up that person?” When someone complains about the way you do something, you should ask, “How can I build up that person?” When someone disagrees with your preferences, you should ask, “How can I build up that person?” When you make a phone call, you should ask, “How can I build up others?” When you send a text message, you should ask, “How can I build up others?” When you walk into a small group, worship service, or business meeting, you should ask, “How can I build up others?” When you’re on Facebook, you should ask, “How can I build up others?”
This is the behavior of a follower of Jesus. You can reject this instruction if you would like, but you are rejecting the instruction of Paul, you’re rejecting the instruction of Jesus, you’re rejecting God’s will for your life, and you are rejecting the heart of the gospel.
Don’t reject God’s ways; receive and embrace God’s ways for your life.
Don’t trip up, build up!
We should build up others.
Finally, . . .
III. We should build up ourselves.
Now, pay attention here. We’re not talking about building ourselves up in order to make ourselves look great. Rather, we are talking about building ourselves up in maturity in the faith. We are talking about building ourselves more like Jesus.
Listen again to the last two verses of the passage. Look at verses 22 and 23:
22 Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.
So, Paul goes back again to this idea of having personal convictions over our preferences that we keep between ourselves and God.
We learned last week that we may think it’s ok, because of the freedom of the gospel, to eat pork, drink a glass of wine, or whatever; however, we should not argue with others about it. We should keep it between ourselves and God.
Likewise, if someone else feels convicted about it, even though we know that we are free to do so, we should keep that practice between us and God, while being gentle around those with weaker faith, so as not to make them stumble in their faith.
Paul also goes on to say that we are blessed if we don’t condemn ourselves with every little thing that we eat or drink. We’re blessed if we understand the balance between freedom in the gospel, moderation of certain food and drink, and gentleness around others who are still weak in their faith.
Finally, Paul encourages those who do feel conviction over eating certain things not to do so, because if they feel like something is a sin to them, they should not do that thing.
If we don’t have faith that something is ok to do, we should not do that thing.
If you feel it’s a sin at this moment for you to eat ice cream, then don’t do it. If you feel it’s a sin to drink Coca-Cola, then don’t do it.
Only do that which you feel is acceptable to God until God grows or changes your understanding of how you can best live your life for His glory.
Be obedient. Love those who are weak, build them up, don’t argue with them, and watch out for yourself as well.
In doing these things, you will build up yourself in the faith.
Let’s summarize this passage with this bottom line:
Bottom Line: Let us serve Jesus by building up others.
Don’t trip up others, do build up others, and do build up yourself.
When you take these steps, you are not only blessing your brother or sister in Christ, you are also serving Jesus.
After all, Paul said in verse 18, “Whoever serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and receives human approval.”
So, if you are careful and considerate with your behavior around other Christians, accommodating their convictions even if they are not your convictions, you will not only receive their approval, but you will serve Christ and be acceptable to God.
This behavior is a matter of humility and love, which I promise you is always acceptable to God.
Challenge yourself to live out this passage in the following ways:
Weekly Challenge #1 – Identify something in your life that may be a stumbling block.
Perhaps it’s something that you eat or drink. Perhaps it’s your disdain for certain traditional church practices that are not based in the Bible. Perhaps it’s something else in your life.
What is something that you do that may be a stumbling block to other followers of Jesus, particularly those who are still weak in their faith?
Weekly Challenge #2 – Identify a way that you can build up others.
Not only can we remove stumbling blocks, but we can also intentionally build up others in the faith.
The whole reason that Paul tells us to be careful with what we eat or drink, or whatever we do, is so we can build up others.
So, how can you build up others this week?
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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