READING ROMANS, CHAPTER 14

 

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

 INTRODUCING ROMANS, CHAPTER 14

1) The Weak and the Strong, Part 1 (Verses 1-8), JEANNIE

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. ² One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. ⁵ One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶ Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.⁸ If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

SECTION QUESTIONS:

1. What is God's stance on the different degrees of faith? (V.3)

2. What is your understanding of verse 4?

3. Who do we live or die for? (V.8)

Other Thought Questions: 

1. What do we find happening in the Church today that is the result of the type of judgment described in these verses? 

2)The Weak and the Strong, Part 2 (Verses 9-16), MAMA

⁹ For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. ¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister^[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. ¹¹ It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”^{[b] 12} So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. ¹³ Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. ¹⁴ I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. ¹⁵ If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil.

SECTION QUESTIONS:

1. How did Christ become the Lord of both the living and the dead? (V.9)

2. Should we judge each other? Why or why not?  (V.10-12)

Other Thought Questions:

1. Have you ever experienced a potential "stumbling block" in your Christian walk?

2. How can verse 14 be applied in other areas of our lives besides only clean or unclean foods?

3. What do you think verse 16 means?

3)The Weak and the Strong, Part 3, (Verses 17-23), DESTINY

¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, ¹⁸ because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. ¹⁹ Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. ²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. ²¹ It is better not to eat meat, drink wine, or do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. ²² So 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 has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith, and everything that does not come from faith is sin.^[c]

SECTION QUESTIONS:

1. What does the Kingdom of God consist of? (V.17)

2. How can we destroy God's work for the sake of food? (V.20-21)

3. Explain your understanding of verse 22. 

Other Thought Questions:

1. What is a conviction? Are they good or bad? What are the problems with having or not having convictions? (V.22)

2. How do the following scriptures relate to what we read in chapter 14 today? Mark 7:19, Acts 11:1-10, Mark 9:42, Psalms 133:1

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CONFESSION(S):

 Heavenly Father, how we praise and thank You for the freedom we have in Christ... that we are not under the restrictions of the Law but under the freedom of grace. We pray that we will make the choices in our lives that honor You in all we do. Help us to be mindful of the needs of others who may be weaker in the faith or do not enjoy the breadth of liberty we have in Christ. Give us a sensitive spirit to the needs of others and keep us from any criticism of believers who make different choices in the non-essentials of the Christian faith. Keep us low at the Cross and broken before You for His name's sake. Help us to accept that we can only do those things that please You as we decrease, and You increase in our lives. Loving Father, we pray that in all things, we live to please You. Bring us to the point where we can say without hesitation, "Thy will, be done, not mine." Give us that joy in our hearts that comes from fully submitting our lives into Your hands and being led by the Spirit in everything we do. In Jesus' name, we pray, AMEN. (Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/14)