Romans 14:5-9

                                                             Romans 14:5-9

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

 

When we have a difference of opinion, preference, or conviction with another brother in Christ, we need to make sure that we check our motives very clearly.  We cannot judge, or even know, the motives of others, but we must evaluate our own.  The unity of the body of Christ is very important so these issues must not be taken lightly.  This passage calls us to evaluate three realities in our hearts.

 

WE MUST BE CONVINCED: Besides the issues of eating certain foods, another area of conflict in the church was the observance of certain days.  In particular, the keeping of the Sabbath.  A principle of setting aside a day of rest for the well-being humanity had turned into a religious ritual that was so highly regulated that it was more work to observe the Sabbath than not.  This was a foreign concept to the Gentiles.  Paul’s point here is not to defend the keeping of the Sabbath or to abolish it.  His point is that these issues are areas of personal conviction and that each person no matter which way be believes must act within his convictions and should seek to establish those convictions firmly in their own hearts and minds.  Whatever we choose to do or not to do, it must be based on faith and not become an issue of a offended conscience.

 

WE MUST BE CONSIDERATE: As important and being convicted of our own conscience is, it is even more important that we take the consciences of others into consideration.  Just because we are convinced of a certain standard in our hearts and minds does not mean that the entire body of Christ must have similar convictions.  We are all from different cultural and traditional backgrounds that have influenced the way we make decisions, the way we view the world, and the way we determine our convictions.  We must learn to consider the convictions of others as being the way they believe they can best honor the Lord.  The desire of both positions is to bring honor to the Lord.  This is the way we must consider differing viewpoints within the body of Christ.

 

WE MUST BE CONSECRATED: What both sides of any position within the body of Christ must understand is that we must be consecrated to the Lord.  The death and resurrection of Christ was to purchase our forgiveness so that we can both live and die for the glory of God.  We have been purchased with the price of the precious blood of Christ.  We have no right to live according to our own pleasures or for our own comfort.  Our lives must be consecrated to His glory and to the growth of His kingdom.  Our earthly lives begin and birth and end at death.  All that happens between those two events must be consecrated to the Lord.  No believer in Christ has the right to live for himself or to die for herself.  We live and die for the glory of God and must order our lives to this end.

 

APPLICATION: Put in the work necessary to establish biblical convictions by which your life will be ordered. Live with a clear conscience according to those convictions.  Learn to practice deference with your brothers and sisters in Christ who have different convictions.  Be faithful to consider them as precious people who are seeking to honor God in the way they live according to their convictions.  Consecrate yourself to live and die for the glory of God.

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