The Law of Liberty (Romans 14:1–13) — A Sermon by R.C. Sproul

0:00 This evening as we continue our study of Paul's letter to the church at Rome, we're going to begin a whole new chapter, chapter 14, and we will begin it at verse 1, and I will read through verse 12 or 13. I ask the congregation to stand for the reading of the Word of God. Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

0:40 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike. And let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it to the Lord. 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. He who does not eat to the Lord, he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 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 Lord's.

1:44 And 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 show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For as it is written, as I live, says the Lord, 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. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way. This is the Word of the Lord that comes from the mind of the Lord and is for the people of the Lord. Please be seated.

2:40 Let us pray. Father, again we turn to Your Word that we might find the mind of Christ, and that our natural minds of flesh may be transformed and conformed to His mind, that we might love what He loves and hate what He hates. Give us now this mind in Christ Jesus. Amen. It was about forty years ago I was visiting in the home of the Old Testament scholar Meredith Klein, north of Boston, Massachusetts. And after dinner, it was time for me to go home, and Dr. Klein was going to drive me in his car to my home, which was less than a mile away, and was in the same general development did not require that we go on to major highways or anything of that sort.

3:54 But there was at that moment a torrential downpour, and the car was about a hundred yards from the house. I didn't have an umbrella, neither did he. And so we dashed through the rain to the car and were drenched by the pouring rain. Meredith sat in the driver's seat, and he turned on the ignition, and then he looked at me, and he said, Oh, see, just a moment. He said, I'll be right back. He let the car idle and neutral. He opened the door, dashed back the hundred yards through the torrential downpour, and a moment later reappeared at the front door, came back again, and by this time he was like a drowned rack. Then he sat back at the steering wheel, and I said, what was that? He said, I forgot my driver's license. I said, what? I said, you ran through that rain just to get your driver's license?

4:51 We're only going down the street. He said, well, it's a small thing. But the Lord said, if we can't be faithful in little things, how can He trust us with the big things? And so, as a matter of conscience, in an effort to be scrupulous, to submit Himself to the civil magistrates, and the law of the land was that He was required to have His driver's license on His person when He occupied that vehicle. And so, without any great fanfare or demonstration of piety. He ran for his driver's license and didn't reveal to me why he went in until I interrogated him. You look at that and you say, well, here's a man that was caught in the bonds of legalism. Here's a man that was majoring in minors, committing himself to the minutia of righteousness. But I don't think that was the case. Obedience to God in small matters is never a matter of legalism. And legalism, dear friends, is one of the most destructive distortions of Christianity that there is. In fact, the two major distortions that block our sanctification, is on the one hand that spirit of anonymism that says that we are so free in Christ that I don't have to have any concern about obeying the law of God whatsoever.

6:29 Grace has delivered me from God's law so I can do as I please with impunity. The other side of that heretical coin is legalism that seeks to bind us where God has left us free, or which seeks to impose minor matters as the test of true spirituality. You've all encountered Christian groups that say that the essence of Christian spirituality and righteousness is refraining from dancing and lipstick and going to movies and so on. The creed becomes touch not, taste not, handle not, and substituting these minor matters and make them the test of righteousness instead of the fruit of the Spirit that God enjoins upon us in the Bible. Either one of these distortions can be very destructive to the Christian life. Indeed, there is a royal liberty that Christ gives to His people when He has set them free from the curse of the law.

7:51 And there is a freedom, as there was in the Garden of Eden, to eat freely from all of the trees of the garden except those where God has clearly determined we ought not to touch. But then we encounter the problem in the church and in the Christian life where we don't all have the same scruples. There are some people who believe that dancing is a sin. There are others who don't believe that it's a sin. I had a friend where I worked in the faculty of a college who came to be convinced that playing ping-pong was a sin because he became so caught up in it and so addicted to it that he began to neglect his work and to neglect his family to look for a ping-pong game virtually every hour of the day. And for him, ping-pong became a sin. But that did not mean that we were to elevate to the whole campus or to the whole world a prohibition against playing ping-pong because ping-pong is somehow inherently evil. No, there are things in the Word of God where God says no, or God says yes. But between those matters of law, there are a host of things that the New Testament describes as being matters audiophorous. Now, that may be a strange word to you. Before I say it again, I'm going to take a drink of this ginger ale, diet ginger ale.

9:27 Ah. The word audiophores means that which has no inherent ethical bearing. It refers to things that are morally neutral, like ping-pong, like eating meat. And yet, in the early Christian church, some people began to have scruples about matters that in fact in and of themselves were audiophorous. We read in Paul's letter to the Corinthians that a scandal emerged among the Christians there about the issue of eating meat offered to idols. In the pagan idolatry of Corinth, people offered pieces of meat to their idols, and then after the religious observation was over, that meat was then sold in the marketplace for human consumption. There were those among the Christians that wanted to distance themselves in every conceivable way from any conceivable act of idolatry, and they said as a matter of conscience, they would never purchase that meat that had been used in a pagan environment, they would never consume that meat that had been so consumed. And now those who had this matter of scruple and conscience began to look down on their brothers who purchased the meat and consumed it freely, saying, hey, this meat is meat. The idols don't exist. That's false religion. Now that they're all done and the meat's in the marketplace, there's nothing inherently wrong with this meat. Let's eat the meat. So they bought the meat on sale, and they consumed it without any pangs of conscience. So now all of a sudden a rift develops in the church between those who refuse to eat meat offered to

11:37 idols, and those who freely ate meat that were offered to idols. And Paul had to mediate in that internal dispute, which was similar to what was going on here in the Roman community. And so Paul had to teach the people a lesson of their use of Christian liberty. And even though he had to teach it to the Romans, and he had to teach it to the Corinthians. It seems that there's not a generation that goes by in Christian history where that same lesson is not needed to be learned afresh. Now let's look here at the beginning of chapter 14 that addresses this issue of Christian liberty with respect to the weaker brother. Notice that again chapter 14 cannot be seen in isolation from what went before it, and the general context now of the instructions that Paul sets forth here in chapter 14 are a continuation of his exposition of what it means to love your neighbor, what it means to have a fellowship that is marked by agape, by spiritual love.

13:03 And so chapter 14 begins with this command, receive one who is weak in the faith and not be involved in disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Now here is a biblical evaluation of vegetarianism. This is the philosophy of the weaker brother, I want you to notice. And yet those in the early church who were vegetarians became convinced that that was the only route to follow, that that was the spiritual measure of a person, that they refrained not only from meat offers to idols, but from meat altogether.

13:59 Thank you. and they thought that by that restraint, they were moving to a higher level of spirituality. They believed that they, in fact, had a faith that was more devout and deeper than their brothers who just went ahead and ate meat. Well, the first thing we have to understand here is that Paul describes these people who have this particular scruple as being the weaker brother because they did not understand the fullness of the biblical concept of Christian liberty. They were still held captive to elemental principles of taste not, touch not, handle not.

14:57 They thought they were being devout when in fact they were being infantile and immature in their reasoning. So Paul said, what do you do with the weaker brethren? Well, some people would say we should ridicule the weaker brethren, we should mock the weaker brethren, we should have nothing to do with the weaker brethren who get caught up in all of these weird scruples. No, no, no. Paul says to the church, receive one who is weak in the faith. Somebody believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat. Let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. And you see what the point that Paul is making is, we are to receive each other when we differ on these matters of Adiaphora.

16:03 This is not that Paul is saying that we should be cavalier about our brothers and sisters who have fallen into gross and heinous sin. Here the apostle is not saying, receive with open arms those who live in defiance to the commandments of Christ. This is about issues that are indifferent, where people have come to a conviction that something is wrong when inherently it is not wrong, but they have a misinformed understanding of what God allows or what God forbids. And the spirit here is we're to accept each other, receive each other with this principle. Look, your weaker brother is still your brother.

16:56 and your weaker brother has been received by God. He has been welcomed into the family of God. So now these disputes become family matters. And just as God receives you by grace, you ought to receive your brother. Remember that there is a love that covers a multitude of sin, and not only a multitude of sins, but a multitude of weaknesses, a multitude of misunderstandings, weak theology, weak understandings of this. And that one who is weak ought not to despise the one who manifests liberty. The one who manifests liberty ought not to despise the one who has this scruple of conscience. Paul asked this question rhetorically, who are you to judge another's servant? You see the analogy from the marketplace?

17:59 If you have a servant working in your house, and your neighbor has a servant working in his house, and you give certain responsibilities to your servant that you want to make sure are taken care of, whereas your neighbor next door has a different agenda, has a different concern for their servant, doesn't care about some of the things that you care about, who are you to stand in judgment on your neighbor's servant? Your neighbor's servant is to serve your neighbor, and your servant is to serve you. And the point, of course, is that we're all servants of Christ. and who am I to despise one of Christ's servants? If that servant is acceptable to Jesus, how can He not be acceptable to me? So the analogy is simple.

19:03 To His own Master He stands or falls. Indeed, it would be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it to the Lord. He does not observe the day. To the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats eats to the Lord, gives thanks. He does not eat does it to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or we die, we do it for the Lord. The weak brother has his scruple unto the Lord. The strong brother has his freedom unto the Lord. One person esteems one day over another. Paul's obviously talking here not about the Sabbath, but about certain holy days that were observed among the Jews, and when Jewish people were converted to the Christian faith, some of them still hung on to the old traditions and the old observations, even though they were no longer enjoined upon the Christian community.

20:01 some of them, as a matter of conscience, continued those practices. Paul said, if they observe that day to the Lord, fine, let them observe the day of the Lord. Another person observes it to the Lord, let them a person to that. Now, this is simple stuff until something else happens. This past week I was in a meeting with a man who was on the board of trustees of a Christian institution. He explained to me that as a member of that board of the Christian institution. He was not allowed to imbibe in the drinking of wine. And I thought, well, if he comes to St. Andrew's on Sunday morning during the Lord's Supper, he'd be very happy that we have that outer ring of grape juice for somebody who's bound by this particular scruple. And he said to me, what do you think about that? I said, I think it's ghastly. He said, why? I said, because what that Christian institution has done now is elevated a preference that they have and made it a rule, made it a law.

21:12 They've legislated where God has left men free. Well, yeah, but they're concerned that we differ from the culture that we not be involved in drunkenness and all that stuff. I said, do you realize that Jesus could not serve on the board of this institution? that not one of the apostles would qualify for that institution. I said, I appreciate their concern. They want to keep that institution unspotted from the world.

21:46 But their position is one of weakness, and now they've made it law. Now, here's the principle, and I'll expound this later, God willing, next week and in the days to come. The classical understanding of Christian liberty is this, that I am not to use my liberty to rub my weaker brother's nose in it. I'm not to try to force somebody who has a scruple against something, as uninformed as that scruple may be, I'm not trying to force them or seduce them into violating their own conscience. So that the basic principle that unfolds here is one of loving sensitivity. If my brother believes that drinking a glass of wine is sin, I ought not to try to coax him into drinking a glass of wine, because I would be trying to entice him to violate his own conscience. And the violation of one's conscience, even if it's a misinformed conscience, is a serious matter which God willing will look at next week.

23:04 So what does that mean then? If the weaker brother has this scruple, shall we stand back and allow this weaker brother to make this the law of the church? No, no, no, no. That's not what Paul is teaching here. Paul makes it clear in his teaching that though we are to be sensitive, loving, and kind to the weaker brother, we ought never to allow the weaker brother to exercise a tyranny over the church. And how do we see it? We see it in the Judaizing conflict that Paul had to deal with every day of his ministry. We talk about the question of circumcision. When Paul tried to be all things to all men at the beginning before the Judaizers raised their power as a matter of indifference, Paul circumcised Timothy. But then when the Judaizers came along and said, circumcision is not only optional for the Christian, but it is necessary, and everyone who is truly a Christian must be circumcised.

24:14 then Paul resisted them with the full force of his apostleship and refused to circumcise those even who demanded it. Do you see the difference? It was a matter of indifference. But when the weaker brother, in this case the Judaizers, tried to make their weakness the law of the church, Paul said, don't you dare, and put an end to Christian tolerance at that point. And so it's a very thin line, isn't it, that we walk. The weaker brother is not to destroy the freedom of all in the church, but even in the midst of freedom, if we have this one or that one who is still stumbling, we can forego our freedom for a time out of consideration for them, out of sensitivity to their weakness. The spirit that Paul is opposing here is the spirit of arrogance says, I'm free and I'm going to exercise my freedom no matter what. No, no.

25:25 The stronger brother has to be willing to forego his strength for the sake of the weaker. And yet, the church must never allow the weaker brother to establish the law for the whole Christian community. That's the basic essence of what the apostle is setting forth here in chapter 14 of Romans and then chapter 8 of Corinthians.

25:54 Because we are to do what we do to the Lord. No one lives to himself. no one dies to himself if we live we live to the lord if we die we die to the lord therefore whether we live or die we are the lords and they are the lords to this end that christ died rose and lived again that he might be lord of both the dead and the living so why do you judge your brother why do you show contempt for your brother for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of christ as it is written as i live says the lord every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Then each of us will give account of himself to God. Therefore, let's not judge one another, but rather not to put a stumbling block or cause the weaker brother to fall." It's simple human kindness, simple human consideration that has to go both ways. But again, this has to do with things that have no inherent goodness or evil associated with them. This is not saying, well, if you want to be the weaker brethren and be involved in adultery, you do your adultery under the Lord, and I'll do my piety to the Lord and chastity. No, no, no, no. There's no occasion when it's okay for the weaker brethren to be involved in adultery or in violation of the law of God. I remind you, these precepts have to do with that which is adiophorus, those things that in and of themselves, such as the eating of meat, the drinking of wine, the observing of days, that some people make a mountain out of, which inherently have nothing to do with the kingdom of God. The great danger is to allow these adiophorous matters to become requirements for Christian spirituality,

28:07 and even worse, the test for what is spiritual and what is righteous. And that's what happens again and again and again. I'll just give you this closure with this illustration. I went out with a group of people for a dinner many, many years ago, and this woman who was the hostess was very gracious. She was picking up the check. I mentioned this in another occasion. The waitress came into the room where we all were, and she said, may I take your drink orders? Would anybody like a cocktail? And this woman interrupted her and said, no, no, no, no, we're Christians, and embarrass this poor waitress to death. I wanted to stand up and say, I'll have a scotch on the rocks, thank you very much, which I think probably is what Paul would have done in that situation, because what that woman did in her smug self-righteousness not only embarrassed that poor waitress who was simply doing her job, But if that waitress were not a Christian, she just got a message of what Christianity was, which was false. Christianity is not about eating and drinking. We're not allowed to be drunk.

29:27 We're not allowed to be gluttons. But in danger of gluttony, we don't say don't eat, and in danger of drunkenness, we don't say don't drink, and this becomes such an issue that people have fallen all over themselves to try to argue that Jesus never drank wine. And when the Pharisees called Him a wine-bibber, they were just distorted. And when the Bible said He made the best of wine, it really wasn't. It was really unfermented. This is hopeless, torturous treatment of the biblical text, where we come to the text with a cultural bias, where we're convinced that total abstinence is the only Christian spiritual way, and we learn that not from the Scriptures, not from the Old Testament, not from the celebration of the Passover. And I challenge anybody to do a half an hour of word studies of the word wine in the Bible, and you will see that it was the real thing that God sanctified and warned the people not to drink too much of, because to drink too much of it would get them drunk, and getting drunk was a sin.

30:44 He didn't give that warning against drunkenness to people drinking grape juice. Now that's for another discussion, and even what I've just said to you I know is offensive to many people, but I only ask you to search the Scriptures. And if you remain convinced that Jesus didn't make real wine, and you can never drink real wine, then for heaven's sakes, don't you ever let wine touch your lips. Because for you, it's a sin. But for your brother, it's not. And your brother ought not to judge you, and you ought not to judge your brother. This is one area where we can all just get along. Let's pray, shall we? Father in our God, it's so hard for us not to exalt our own scruples to be the touchstone of true righteousness. Where we are weak, teach us to be mature.

31:50 where we are strong. Teach us to be forbearing and gracious that we might not judge another man's servant. For we ask it in Jesus' name.