Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Are you a stumbling block? Before you answer that, listen in to today's Sound Doctrine. What would you be willing to sacrifice in order to love somebody? It's a probing question and it's one only you can answer. Hello and welcome to Sound Doctrine.

In Romans chapter 14, we're given some valuable instruction on the things God may have us let go of in order to show love. Some examples might be alcohol, listening to certain music, the watching of particular TV shows. The world encourages us to indulge in these things, but in the end, they can interfere with God's desire for us to serve him and to serve and love others. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: We're in Romans chapter 14 this morning. We're taking our time going through Romans and getting really into chapter 14. It is family stuff that we're talking about but needed. This morning, hopefully, we're going to answer the question, me, a stumbling block? We'll see about that. Hopefully, you'll be able to leave here and say, "No, I'm not a stumbling block."

We were out at the field at the stadium for freedom celebration and one of the things that the new believers that came forward see as far as fireworks is that lit-up message: Welcome to the family of God. It is awesome. And then we have the fireworks celebration. But that welcome to the family. I think most families, when you're a part of a family, you have responsibilities.

This is a new family, you're just joining this new family. There are certain responsibilities given to every family member. There are duties given to us and there's a certain conduct that is expected if you're a Christian, if you're a man or woman of God. This is the way that you should be. Jesus is taking us by the power of his Holy Spirit and conforming us into his image. We're becoming more like him in every way, which is incredible.

Romans 14 is about resolving conflict and problems. We're not to be judging one another or criticizing one another over, especially, non-essential issues. We've talked about that and those non-essential things are not doctrine, they're not foundational truths. They're not black and white in the scriptures, they're the gray areas. Those areas that there's no real answer to. These are what we are calling the non-essential issues.

A critical spirit affects very many. When you are very critical and you're to the point that this is the way it's got to be, he shares with us how to stay away from that. He says in verse 13, "Therefore." Notice Romans 14:13. "Let us not therefore judge one another anymore." The "therefore" is because of what came before it. What came before it is just the whole thing about how bad judging one another is. It doesn't get anywhere. It's for nothing.

It maybe makes you feel a little bit holier than the other person and makes you feel good because you're one of those judges with one finger out and three back at you when you shouldn't be. But we talked about that. Therefore, he says that we would not judge one another anymore. Put an end to it. But he says judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

This is to the stronger and to the weaker brother. He's giving this out to every single one of us in here. There's those that are weaker Christians and yet you might feel like you're stronger than the stronger brother that has a liberty and you might say, "Yeah, but I'm a vegetarian. So there. I'm way better than you. You eat meat? Wow, I'll pray for you, brother." That happens in reality. They're the weaker one because we're free to eat prime rib.

So he's talking to both. Don't judge. This is a positive exhortation here in verse 13. Notice he says if you must judge, judge this, that you're not a stumbling block. If you're going to judge, judge this, don't stumble anybody. Over in First Corinthians 11:31, he says, "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." We were talking about different judgments last week and we saw that one of them is we judge ourselves.

We need to judge ourselves on the liberty that you have. Just check yourself out. Are you a stumbling block to your brother or sister? Webster says it this way in his dictionary. A stumbling block is any cause of stumbling to impede steady progress. So we're not to hinder each other's growth because we're all growing as Christians. We're all learning. We're all growing up.

Paul, who I believe wrote Hebrews, said this in Hebrews 12:1. He says, "Wherefore, seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, that sets us back." If you're running a race, you're going to want to let go of your luggage. You're not going to want to take your luggage down the track. Let go of the weight. Let go of the sin that is pulling you down and that could be pulling your brother or sister down.

So that's just an exhortation. Be careful. Don't stumble. Especially in leadership when you're there and you're a leader in Sunday school, you're a leader in the church, you're a deacon, you're an elder, whatever. But you actually have people that are listening to your Bible studies and you're in that leader position. It's so dangerous to stumble because here they're all looking at you and then all of a sudden you stumble the whole group.

David was held accountable way back in Second Samuel in chapter 12 when Nathan confronted David for his sins. It says in verse 14, "Howbeit, David, listen, because by this deed that you have done, thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." You've given them the go-ahead, the green light to blaspheme God because of what you've done. You've stumbled a whole lot of people, David, because of your sin. He couldn't get away from that. He blew it and he became a huge stumbling block for so many people.

Our conviction can cause another to fall. In other words, you have a conviction that you are free to do this or that. But wait a minute. You need to judge your liberty. You might feel free to do this and do that, but you need to judge that. You need to curtail that. You need to be careful with that because it can stumble someone. That's what Paul's bringing our minds up to.

For sure knowledge puffs up. The Bible says that. When you think you know something, you know nothing at all. But sometimes the stronger brother thinks he knows everything and he's got a handle on everything. You need to be careful. Knowledge gives you a big head. But the truth is, the Bible says love edifies. Knowledge will stumble you and could stumble somebody else. But love, God's love, will build you up and build those around you up. So it edifies.

We're to walk in love and I wrote down some examples like a picture. A picture on a wall. To some they'll say, "Wow, that's a piece of art." And to others they'll look at it and say, "No, that's R-rated or X-rated. That's pornography, man." It's weird how people look at things. How about a conversation? To some, the conversation was very interesting. But to others they're saying, "No, that conversation was heresy. What you were talking about is heresy." And you're all shook up about it. Just a conversation.

Or how about an amusement? You're saying, "Hey, let's go to the beach." "What? Where everybody's wearing bikinis? I mean, the women are." The men haven't got the word yet. "Yeah, we're going to the beach." "No, I can't go to the beach. I don't go there." "What, and then we'll get a movie after?" "No, a movie? No, I don't go to movies." See, everybody takes things in a different way. It's interesting.

Some people say, "This is fun." And others say, "No, that is prohibited." Over in Matthew 18 it says offenses will come, but woe to the offender. Offenses are going to happen, but woe to him that offends. Jesus said that. We need to be sensitive. We need to love the Lord for sure, but then we need to be able to edify each other because we love the Lord. I love the Lord and because I love the Lord, I don't want to hurt anybody. I don't want to stumble anybody.

Verse 14 now. Romans 14:14. "I know," Paul says, "and I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteems anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." Notice Paul's broad ethic here. This is a brother that is experiencing liberty in his life. He is saying, "I can eat any food I want. I can worship on Sunday, Saturday." Paul would say, "I worship God on every day because I believe every day is the Lord's day." He was a strong brother. He wasn't hung up with days. He wasn't hung up with food.

I wonder what it was like when he first got his hands on a McRib sandwich and bit into that thing. Whoa. Can you imagine? And here he is a Jew, it's pork. And he's going, "Yeah, this is what I've been missing." He's chewing away. Paul's persuaded, he says. So he's definitely the stronger brother, but he's also sensitive. He's free from the flesh to live after the spirit, to have a love for the weaker brother. He is strong and can do anything, but chooses not to do some things because he has a love for the weaker ones.

The Bible says it's not what goes into a man that defiles the man. It's what goes out of him. The issues of life come from the heart, out of his mouth. That's why God always gets a hold of our hearts. If you've got a heart of stone, then he wants to give you a heart of flesh. He wants to take and swap you out hearts. He'll give you a new heart. That means that when you start speaking, you're going to be speaking the things of the Lord because he gave you a new heart.

His spirit came in and gave you a new nature. Because you now have this new nature, you have these issues that are coming out of life, true life, what life's all about. You never had that before. But it's not what goes in a man that defiles him. It's not about food. Remember Peter's experience with unclean foods in Acts chapter 10? That is a story in itself when the sheet comes down from heaven. God sends it down and it's full of unclean animals. Nice, big, succulent lobster and just all kinds of unclean things that Jews aren't supposed to eat.

The Lord says, "Eat, Peter." And Peter goes, "No, Lord." How do you say no, Lord, out of the same mouth? If he's your Lord and you're going to go, "No, Lord"? But he did it. He actually did it three times. He said, "No, Lord. I'm a good kosher Jew. I don't eat that stuff." God finally came to him and said, "Listen, Peter, what I call clean, don't you call unclean." So he went, "Okay." He was preparing his heart for the Gentiles coming to know the Lord. He did it this way just to share with him so he wouldn't be blown away that what God calls clean, don't you call unclean.

In First Timothy 4:4, Paul talking to young Timothy says, "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." Every creature is good. God says, "Go for it. Eat it. It's all right." But if unclean to a weaker brother, that's what Paul's talking about. If he really feels that what you're about to partake of is unclean, don't stumble that brother. Back off. His conscience is not where yours is at. He's not a stronger brother yet.

It's almost like when there's a child in the dark and you're the dad. You come walking by and the child's going, "Dad, there's something in the closet, man. I mean it. I saw it. There's something in there." "Hey, son, man up. Goodnight." Poor kid is going to be freaked out. "Okay, goodnight, Dad." And he's got to look into that closet again. No, you with the knowledge and the love, you come in and you give him a nightlight so that the kid can sleep. That's the stronger dealing with the weaker. You have the knowledge. Help him out. Give him a break.

Watch your liberty, that it doesn't become someone's chains to bind someone else up. Watch what you do. Spurgeon had a problem with cigars and we talked about it last week. He liked cigars and at that time, it really didn't come out in the medical arena that it was really bad for you. They were finding out some things, but it didn't really talk about lip cancer. So he smoked his cigars.

One day he read an article and it said, "And these are the very cigars that Charles Spurgeon smokes." He looked at that and he went, "That's it. I'm quitting." And he quit smoking cigars because he didn't want to stumble anybody. He didn't want to advertise so everybody's got a stogie coming out of their mouth. He goes, "I don't want to go there." So he quit totally.

For conscience's sake, don't ask, "Where'd you get this meat?" You go to somebody's house, here you are, you're a Christian, you're born again, maybe a Messianic Jew, and there's other Jews at the table. You are the one serving the meat. When somebody asks you where you bought the meat, just say, "I don't know. I got it somewhere where it's really good." Don't tell them it was bought at that market that was sacrificed to idols. Because you're going to bum some people out. Just say, "Hey, just put some horseradish on it, it's good stuff. Go for it."

So for conscience's sake, don't go there. To one, they can't drink alcohol and be a Christian. That if you drink alcohol, you're not even saved. There's something wrong with you. But that's interesting because another person in Europe, which it becomes a way of life when they drink wine with their meals, would say after the meal, "Hey, do you have any coffee?" And they'd go, "Coffee? You mean you drink coffee? Are you a Christian?" To some, that is a sin above sins. Coffee is a horrible, drug-addicting thing. And yet look at us over here. We're into coffee, right? They couldn't live over here. We got such liberty. But then you look at the other side of it.

It's really interesting. Same with smoking. I think it's a very unclean, a very filthy habit. But some want to go to heaven sooner. So go ahead, toke it, if that's what you want to do. Bottom line is this: heaven is not about these things. Heaven is not about "you mean you have a tattoo?" It's not about if you have a tattoo or you don't have a tattoo. Has nothing to do with tattoos. But people make it that way. It's wrong. And that's what Paul's trying to get us to think about.

We're saved by grace. Think about grace. Think about his grace. Think about his mercy. Think about who you are. Think about how he saved you. Think about how he overlooked everything and brought you out of the miry pit. God's love is that he took me as I was and he loved me too much to leave me the way I was. He changed me. And those things that weren't of him just fell off. You turn on a light and the darkness begins to flee. That's what happens. That's what he does with everybody who he brings into this incredible relationship.

But Jeff, I've got a problem. "What's that?" When I come home from work, I love my cold one. I love to get an ice-cold beer out of the refrigerator and just sit back and relax. I can't be a Christian. What? No, I love my beer too much. The Lord says this: you come as you are, beer and all. He will free you from any habits that will hurt you or that will hinder your walk with him. He will free you from that. It doesn't happen overnight. But you're not free when you're under control of something. When that's what you have to do, you've got to think about that.

First Corinthians 6:12. Paul says, "All things are lawful unto me, but not all things are expedient." In other words, I can do anything I want as a Christian. All things are lawful. But not all things are good for me to do. "All things are lawful for me," he says, "but I will not be brought under the power of any, under the bondage of anything." All things are good for me to do, but if it's going to be a habit thing and I'm going to get strung out on it, I'll choose not to do it because any substance that takes me under its hold is not good.

I'll go beyond that. Any sport that grabs hold of you that begins to drive you to do this, that, and the other where it's taking your time and your energy, that's not a healthy thing either. I've learned how to watch basketball. I watch the last two minutes. It's greatest that way. The football I get into it, but I quit yelling at the TV. "What are you doing?" We get into it, right? But it gets sometimes so much where we're spending all kinds of money, we're into the pools at work, we're betting on this and betting on that. We're freaked out about it. That's all we think about. It's got a hold of you.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to a study in the book of Romans here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. We pray you've been blessed by what you heard today. Romans is one of the greatest books in the Bible. And if you'd like to hear the study again, go to sounddoctrineradio.org or listen through the Sound Doctrine podcast app.

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