WWUTT 1371 Everyone Will Give an Account Before God (Romans 14:10-12)

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We're coming back to talking about some non -essential matters today. Matters of conscience discussed in Romans chapter 14, and some of the things

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I'm going to mention today might be a little sensitive for young ears. Just letting you know that when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible teaching podcast that we may be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

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Lord. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of Romans chapter 14, and to start off here,

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I'm going to read verses 10 through 19. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome.

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Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother?

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For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written,

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As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

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So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

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I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.

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For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.

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By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

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So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the

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Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

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So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.

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That seemed pretty straightforward, but there's actually a lot to unpack here. Let's come back to verse 10.

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This kind of summarizes the stuff that we were looking at last week in verses 1 through 9. Why do you pass judgment on your brother?

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Or you, why do you despise your brother? Paul is talking to two different audiences here.

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Because remember, when you go back to the beginning of 14, he begins by addressing the one who is mature.

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He says, as for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinion.

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So who is Paul talking about? He's talking about the one who is mature in faith, whose conscience is not defiled by some of these non -essential things.

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And he goes on to say, one person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

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So regarding non -essential matters, the example that Paul draws upon, because this would have been the actual issue that would have been a source of contention there in the church in Rome, the issue that he draws upon is food.

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And there's a couple of ways, again, to summarize what we had talked about last week. There's a couple of ways to consider the way that food could have defiled somebody's conscience.

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You had the Jew who was still holding to the dietary laws in Leviticus chapter 11.

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So if he sees a Gentile eating food that he believed the law said is bad, and I should not eat, and then this

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Jew, weak in conscience, eats what he sees the Gentile eating, now he's defiled his own conscience, and he believes that he's sinned before God.

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Paul says, I am convinced that nothing's unclean, but it's unclean to the person who thinks it unclean.

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So if he just ate something that he was convinced was sin to consume, now he's sinned before God.

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And you have done wrong to your brother by not being compassionate or considerate about his conscience.

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So the first address is to the mature, but that doesn't mean that the immature, those who are immature in faith are kind of left off the hook here.

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For then he goes on to say in verse three, let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats.

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For God has welcomed him. So you have those who were not eating certain foods. I'm sorry,

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I guess I didn't explain like the couple of ways that a person's conscience could be defiled by food.

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I just explained one. So you've got the Jew who thinks that there are certain foods that they should not eat because of what's written in the

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Levitical law. Then you have the Gentile who came from a pagan lifestyle where meats were sacrificed to false gods in the temple.

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So now they don't think that they can eat meat, the meat that they used to enjoy in their former life, because that was idolatry.

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It was in a pagan temple. It was served up to an idol. So now as a Christian, if I eat the stuff of idols, well, then

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I'm defiling my conscience. And Paul's saying here, an idol is an empty thing. Well, that was what he said to the

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Corinthians. But the same principle applies here because he talked with the Corinthians about this too. So to the

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Romans, an idol is nothing. Nobody is defiled by what it is that he eats. The person who's mature in conscience understands this.

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But the one who has a weaker conscience, their conscience is defiled if they were to partake.

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So therefore, those who are mature need to bear with the failings of the weak, exactly the way that Paul puts it in Romans 15 .1,

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which we'll get to chapter 15 next week. So again, he says, let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains.

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Don't be looking down on the guy who abstains because his conscience is weak. So it's better for him to not eat at all.

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But then he addresses the guy who abstains and he says, let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

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So you got the guy who's weak in conscience. He looks at the person who's more mature in faith, eating things that the weaker man believes would defile a person.

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Well, that's that's a matter of his own conscience. So he needs to consider that with his own conscience.

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When he sees the guy eating stuff that he and his conscience is convinced he cannot eat, don't pass judgment on that guy because God has welcomed him.

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The man has not disqualified himself. He is standing before God because he ate meat either that was forbidden in Leviticus 11 or that had been served to a false god in the pagan temples.

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Nobody is disqualified by what they eat. So you got both groups of people that are being addressed here.

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Oftentimes you think Romans 14 is just addressing the mature. And that's really the way that these principles are applied.

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Like the guy who's mature needs to listen to this stuff, but the weak guy doesn't need to listen to it.

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No, Paul is addressing both groups here. And so you get to verse 10 and you have both groups addressed again.

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Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Who was the one that was passing judgment? It was the guy who's weaker in conscience passing judgment on the guy who eats.

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Why do you pass judgment on your brother or you? Why do you despise your brother?

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Again, that goes back to verse three. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains.

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So the one who's despising is the one who's more mature in the faith. The one who is passing judgment is the one who is weaker in the faith.

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Paul is rebuking them both here. Why do you pass judgment on the one who is eating?

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Why do you despise on the one who is not eating? This is your brother in the

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Lord. There is nothing in scripture that is saying by doing this, they have ceased to be your brother.

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Like they're no longer welcomed by God. We just read earlier from Paul that they are welcomed by God.

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God is the one who is able to make him stand. That's in verse four. So don't pass judgment on your brother and don't despise your brother for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

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That that's a great equalizer right there, right? We all have to answer to God.

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He is the supreme judge, not you, not you. God is the one who is judging the intentions of every man's heart.

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So when you see a guy doing something that you're convinced is wrong, but it's a non essential matter here.

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Do not pass judgment on your brother. Do not despise your brother. We will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

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When it comes to matters of the heart, God is going to God is going to sort all of that out. Now, I mentioned to you that when applying these particular principles, we were going to draw some different examples more than just food.

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I said last week that when it comes to entertainment, movies, television, video games.

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I don't like to talk about what I what entertains me, the games I play with my kids, the shows that I watch with my wife or the movies

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I'll have on in the background while I'm cleaning or something like that, working in the shop, organizing my shelf.

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I'm very careful with what it is that I watch. I know what I'm about to see before I watch it.

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I've got parental guides online that I can look at and make sure that there's nothing in the movie that's going to surprise me that I did not know was there.

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And my wife and I screen all the stuff that my kids watch as well. So I'm careful with my viewing choices, but there still might be some shows or movie movies or even video games that I'm entertained by that is

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OK for me, but might defile somebody of a weaker conscience. So it's just better for me not to talk about that at all.

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I don't want even even in the stuff that, you know, might be TVPG or something. That might be the rating on it.

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There still might be something in there that could cause someone else to stumble. And so it's better if I just don't talk about it.

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We're talking about something that is so non -essential in the scheme of things. Entertainment, TVs, movies and video games.

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So it's just better that I don't discuss those things publicly. I did this one time on the program on the show.

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I was talking about, oh, it was after we did the what video on the

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Jesus Christ Superstar when I think it was ABC did a live version of Jesus Christ Superstar on Easter Sunday.

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Wow. Was that ever a blasphemous decision? Anyway, I made a video on that just talking about how problematic

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Jesus Christ Superstar is, how blasphemous it really is. And and then

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Becky and I also mentioned just kind of in passing an opera that I enjoyed.

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And I said, you know, I always enjoyed this opera. And it was while we were talking about stuff related to the showing of Jesus Christ Superstar.

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I think we were responding to questions from listeners. Somebody wrote in after that and was like, how could you enjoy that opera?

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It has this in it and this in it and this in it. And and it was like, I never even considered that.

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I never thought that this would offend somebody for me to say that I enjoy this particular opera.

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I was a music major in in college, and I've starred in big theatrical productions.

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So I've done theater on top of that. And I just don't talk about this because I just don't want this.

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It's so non -essential an issue. I don't want it to affect somebody that they would either be disappointed that I would enjoy something like that.

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And so therefore, their view of me or even what they hear me teach is is now somehow going to be affected because of a

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TV show I like to watch or a game I've played with my kids. Now, some of you know me like you might be sitting on the other end going, well, good grief.

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What is he not telling us that he watches? Some of you know how careful I am with my viewing choices because you've seen some of the other videos that I've done.

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There was one that I did, one of the what videos, the 92nd videos that was talking about how

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Christians should not be watching Game of Thrones. That is a night themed porn show where men and women are doing things with one another.

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And sometimes there's gay and lesbian stuff in the show. And I only know this because I've read about it, never have seen an episode.

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I haven't watched two minutes of that show, but I know what's in it because it's easy to find this stuff.

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There there are things that adults do with one another in that show. First of all, that should never, ever be done.

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And it's and they're actually doing that with each other. This is not a it's not computer animated or anything like that.

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It's people doing abominable things with one another and men and women doing things with each other.

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That was meant only for a man and his wife. And you would be entertained by that. You think that's

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OK, that you can sit and watch this you for whom

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Christ died, this sin for which Christ died, that you would be redeemed of it.

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And here you are participating in the world's licentiousness. A Christian cannot watch a show like that and have a clear conscience and not be involved somehow in the sexual immorality.

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And if you can watch that and you are so desensitized that you're not actually appalled by it, that's a big, big problem.

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If your conscience is so muted to this that you can't even get upset when you see it, like like some would respond to me and say, well, you know, it's not arousing for me to watch something like that.

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That's not that's still not good. Why aren't you sickened by it, that the world is into such disgusting things and then making you pay to watch it, which you willingly do?

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Here's my money. That's prostitution. The stars, the actors in these shows really are no different than prostitutes doing the stuff that they do, getting money for it.

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And you're being entertained by it and become a participant in it when you watch it. So all of that to say there are things

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Christians absolutely should not be watching. This is not a matter of conscience with something like Game of Thrones.

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Your conscience should feel guilty and you should repent of that and not do it anymore.

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The shows that I'm watching are not that. OK, so so when I tell you there's things

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I'm watching, I'm not telling you what they are. It's not stuff like that. And the video games I play are, you know, they're fine games that I play with my kids.

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I even let my kids play them. But it's just that there's certain content in there that a person could really find.

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Personally, they could find something wrong with it. Their conscience would be defiled if they were to participate in something like that.

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And so it's better for me to just not talk about it. There's no reason for me to do that, to do like, hey, we're now going to dedicate an entire episode to these movies.

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This one's OK for a Christian. This one's not OK for a Christian. And here's why. That's definitely not for me.

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That's that's definitely not something that I'm going to start getting into. I don't know how that would be helpful to you at all.

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And Hollywood certainly does not need my help. I'm not going to be out there promoting

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Hollywood stuff. They're on their own. Music I listen to can fall into this category as well.

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But most of the music that I listen to is I don't know that anybody would really get offended by it.

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It's mostly Christian music or classical music. I listen to a lot of instrumental stuff.

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Yeah, the stuff that my church sings, I'll go through the songs we're going to sing this

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Sunday with my kids, you know, so they're familiar with the songs and they're able to sing along with them, too. So, yeah, there's nothing in my music library that I don't think would ever offend anybody.

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These other things, though, in entertainment just don't need to be there's no reason to have to bring this up and eat up that kind of time over something that is completely frivolous.

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In fact, a member of my congregation several years ago figured this out about me.

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She said, we noticed that you only mention a movie in your sermon when you're saying something negative about it.

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So I'm using a film as an example, but it's always negative. I said, that's right. So they said it developed in their mind, this idea that Gabe just doesn't like anything because he's always talking negatively.

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If he ever references a film, it's some kind of a negative reference. Yeah, sure. Because I'm not out there to promote this stuff and they don't they don't need my help promoting their films.

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Anyway, all that to say that entertainment, that's one of those things that we don't need to pass that we don't need to be passing judgment against one another over.

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Now, again, there are some things Christians should not be setting before their eyes. They should not have anything to do with that at all.

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Certain kinds of music you should not be listening to. Absolutely not listening to. And I'm not going to eat up more time giving examples of this, and it would probably be extremely profane for me to even reference examples of some of these bad songs that are out there.

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But come on, just use some common sense. There are certain songs that when you hear, you know, I should not be entertained by this.

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I should not be thinking about this and filling my mind with it. But there are other things that are really non -essential.

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They're subjective. It's to each their own. And some who are more mature can handle this better than those who are less mature.

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So don't pass judgment against each other over these things that are just not that big a deal.

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It's not disqualifying somebody from the kingdom of God. It's their particular entertainment choice.

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So why do you pass judgment on your brother or you? Why do you despise your brother?

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We all stand before the judgment seat of God. If a person is watching a particular show with some wicked motives in their heart, and that's why they're watching it.

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Well, that's going to be between them and God, unless for some reason they've actually revealed. Here's what

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I like about the show. And it turns out to be something wicked for it is written, as it says in verse 11, as I live, says the

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Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess before God.

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Or have you heard that before? That sounds familiar. Well, that's in Philippians 2, verses 10 and 11.

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It's cited from Isaiah 45, 23. So this is the Isaiah reference.

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And then when Paul gives it in the hymn of Christ, the Carmen Christi in Philippians 2, verses 5 through 11, when he references it there, it comes from Isaiah.

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Also, it's the Isaiah 45, 23 reference, but it's also part of that hymn. Every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess specifically that Jesus Christ is

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Lord to the glory of God, the father. So showing that this statement in Isaiah 45,

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Christ fulfilled it was about Jesus. As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me.

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Every tongue shall confess to God. Jesus to the church in Thyatira in Revelation chapter two says,

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I am he who searches mind and heart and gives to each person according to their works.

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Jesus is the one who searches mind and heart. So when you read that in the Old Testament, when you read

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God talking to Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 16, where you have the sons of Jesse passed before Samuel, he's there to anoint the next king of Israel after Saul.

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And God says to him, I have rejected this man. God does not look at what man sees.

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Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. Or when you when you read in Jeremiah, when

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God says to Jeremiah that I am he who searches mind and heart in both of those instances to Samuel to Jeremiah, we know that was

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Christ who was speaking because Jesus is the one who says in Revelation two, I am he who searches mind and heart.

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There is nothing that we can hide from God. Your motives may not be known by people around you, but they are known by God.

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Are your thoughts pure before God? Another person can't tell that they don't know what it is you're thinking or what your motivations are, but God knows your very thoughts.

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And we are supposed to be pure even in our thoughts before God. So this should be to keep everybody in line, whether the person who is weak in the faith or the one who is mature in faith, sorry, not the faith, but in faith, weak in faith, mature in faith.

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Know this. Romans 14, 12, each of us will give an account before God.

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So that the weak person knows I must submit myself to God. The mature person knows

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I must submit my conscience unto the Lord. He is the one who knows the deepest, what is in the deepest recesses of our spirits.

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Nothing is hidden from God. And so let us conduct ourselves in the presence of the

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Lord in all things, not passing judgment on one another, not despising each other for things that are non -essential matters.

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And we shouldn't be despising one another anyway. We need to discipline each other.

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That's one of the calls of scripture that we would encourage and admonish one another in all wisdom, as it says in Colossians 3, 16.

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But it also says there earlier in verse 13, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving one another as the

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Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. This is the charitable disposition that we are supposed to have toward our brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Not nitpicking those things that we believe are wrong. But rather submitting ourselves unto

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Christ and encouraging and admonishing one another according to the word of Christ.

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Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness to us, your mercy and your grace.

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May we be merciful and gracious to one another, forgiving of each other, encouraging of one another, never putting a stumbling block before another, but building one another up in the

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Lord. Let us not pass judgment on one another any longer. And we would love and rejoice to consider these things that we've been reading about here in Romans 14 further.

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Teach us and guide us and keep us subject unto your will as revealed in the scriptures.

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We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals, and other resources online at www .tt