WWUTT 1367 Observe in Honor of the Lord (Romans 14:5-6)

Romans 14 Principles for Non-Essential Disagreements

We come back to looking at those Romans 14 principles today, those things that are non-essential that we may disagree over. And even through this, we are to build one another up in love into Christ when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Thank you for subscribing. And if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. The Romans chapter 14 is the focus of our New Testament study this week. And I'm going to start out here by reading verses one through 12. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome.

"'As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables. 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, for God has welcomed him.

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls and he will be upheld for the Lord is able to make him stand. 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.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For he will stand before the judgment seat of God. For 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 will give an account of himself to God. Now, as I mentioned yesterday, we talk about more general matters here in Romans 14. Some of those non-essential issues or the non-fundamentals of our Christian faith.

We established fundamentals in chapters one through 11 and understanding that we are justified by grace through faith in Christ alone. This is to the glory of God according to the word of God. All of that was stated in those first 11 chapters.

Then we get to chapter 12 and we're doing some application here. In light of the fact that we have been justified by faith in Christ, what does this then look like in the life of a believer? Here in Romans 14 and still having to do with how we love one another, which was a charge that was given in Romans 13, Paul talks about some of those non-fundamental matters and that we accept one another and not quarrel over opinions.

Now, the specific example that he uses as a non-fundamental, that we can disagree over this particular issue and it doesn't compromise anyone's standing of justification before God. The one example that he uses is in regards to food, what a person eats.

Now, I said yesterday that the two examples that we have in Romans 14 are days and food. That's true because Paul does talk about day in the verses we're going to look at today, verses five and six, but that's it.

That's really the only place a day of the week is mentioned here in Romans 14. He doesn't go on to talk about that. He goes on to use food the example. So I'll explain the context of that here in just a moment.

Point being that his main example is in regards to food, what a person eats, what they consume. They're not defiled if they eat it and a person is not any holier if they abstain from it. Now, I mentioned yesterday that something Paul has in view here are the Jewish dietary laws in Leviticus chapter 11, because you had Jews who were coming to faith in Christ and learning that he had declared all foods clean, Mark 7, 19.

You also have the story of Peter and Cornelius when Peter went to witness to the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10. And the revelation that he's given from God there declares all food clean. Paul says in multiple places that he is not defiled by eating any kind of food.

In fact, he says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, 3, that those who require abstinence from food that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth, those who preach abstinence of those foods, they're actually teaching something demonic.

We are not unclean by anything that we eat. That's what Jesus was saying in Mark chapter 7. It's not what goes into the body that makes a person unclean, but rather the person's heart and what flows from that heart is what has made a person unclean.

That's what we need to be cleansed of, not what we've eaten, which just goes in the body and is expelled. We need a savior who is gonna give us a new heart and transform our thinking to be like that of Christ.

That's what Jesus does for us. He doesn't cleanse our physical bodies of anything, but rather the spiritual deadness, the dead man or woman that we are because of our sin. He brings alive, we've been made alive together with Christ, as Paul said earlier in Romans chapter 6.

But as we considered yesterday, it's not just Jewish dietary laws that Paul has in mind here, but very clearly, and we went to 1 Corinthians 8 and considered the words that he wrote there to the Corinthians as well.

Clearly, he's also thinking about those Gentiles who believe certain foods are unclean. Maybe those Gentiles think so because they've read in the law about foods being unclean, ceremonially unclean, as it says in Leviticus 11.

Because I don't know if you think about this, but all the way back to Genesis chapter 9, when God was giving the Noahic covenant to Noah, he declared all foods clean there. He says, all animals I give to you for food.

Up to that point, mankind had been eating fruits and vegetables. That's what Adam and Eve ate in the Garden of Eden. And so it wasn't until after the flood that God gave animals to mankind for food. None of those animals were declared unclean, not until we get the law in Leviticus 11, and there was a ceremonial connotation to it.

Christ has fulfilled the ceremonial law. We are not bound to any of those ceremonial rituals for cleanliness that are written in the law of Moses, for Christ is the one who cleanses us of all unrighteousness.

Therefore, those things do not defile the body in any way. So Paul says to the Colossians in Colossians 2 .16, therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. We're talking about things that Christ has fulfilled. The law may have forbid at a point because there was a purpose to it.

It was pointing to Christ who has fulfilled the law and the prophet. So therefore, those things are no longer unclean since we do not have to have this ceremonial cleanliness in order to enter into the presence of God as the priest had to do to go into the tabernacle or into the temple.

We don't have to do that anymore since there is not an earthly dwelling in which God dwells except for ourselves. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6. So once again, we come here to Romans 14 where Paul is primarily using the example of food, and this could apply to Jewish dietary laws or it could apply to those Gentiles who believed that certain foods were unclean, either because they read it in the law, as I said earlier, or because they used to be idolaters themselves.

And there were foods that were offered to false gods, which now they believe they cannot eat or they would be reverting back to their former paganism. Paul is arguing here that nobody is worse off if they eat, they're not better off if they abstain.

And so therefore, it's the one who is weak in conscience, who is weak in faith, who thinks that by eating something, that it changes their standing before God. Therefore, he says in verse four, which is where we concluded yesterday, that such a person will be upheld because the Lord is able to make him stand.

The Lord is able to make him stand. He doesn't fall just because he ate food that had previously been sacrificed to an idol. That does not compromise a person's justification before God. We are justified by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Just because you ate something doesn't change your standing before God. The Lord is able to make him stand. It's not by silly things like eating that somehow overpowers this justification that we've received by faith.

If God has justified a person, then how could eating a certain food change that status of justification? And so then Paul comes here to Romans 14, five and says, 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.

So that's verses five and six there. It was actually quite a bit spelled out there in two verses. But this is the only place, a verse and a half is the only place here in Romans 14 that days are mentioned.

Like I said, we tend to think about Romans 14 and some of those non-essential matters, how we are to love one another through some of these non-essential issues. Romans 14 is the one that lays out that kind of principle.

And we will refer to those things as Romans 14 principles or the ethics of Romans 14, something like that. The chapter itself gets the name of this particular doctrinal application, right? But again, days really are not in view here for the most part.

He briefly mentions it, but then goes back to the example for food. And I really think if I could present my own theory here, this goes against the standard explanation of Romans chapter 14, but I'm gonna present it anyway.

I don't think that Paul is necessarily arguing in Romans 14, five, that you can worship on any day of the week. I don't think that's his argument at all. I think that he's providing another example that goes with the argument that he's making regarding food.

Food is the primary example that he's using here. A day gets mentioned as kind of another example to back up what he's primarily talking about. But what is in view here is not the day of the week that we worship on.

Does that make sense? Because he doesn't say that. He doesn't even mention the Sabbath. We just assume here that he's talking about the Sabbath, but the Sabbath is not mentioned. Let me look at it again, Romans 14, five.

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. Okay, let's stop there. He mentions the day again in verse six, but let's just deal with verse five for now.

So a person esteems one day as better than another. I think it's logical. It's reasonable to conclude that what he has in mind here is the Sabbath. But just like with the dietary laws, he may not exclusively be talking about Jewish dietary laws.

He's also talking about those Gentiles who think about certain foods that are offered in temples to false gods. So there's a couple of different ways to come about. Somebody thinking that they can be defiled by what they eat.

A Jew thinks that he eats something unclean. A Gentile can think that he eats something unclean. And both the Jew and the Gentile are approaching this from different experiences, from different doctrines, that they believe a certain food is unclean.

I think that the same thing applies to the example of day here. I don't think it's exclusively talking about Sabbath, though I think it's right for us maybe in our thinking to go that way, but I don't think it's exclusive to that since it's not specified.

It doesn't say here that the Sabbath is what Paul has in mind. There were certain pagan holidays as well. And you know that. You know that as well as anybody. You had the Feast of Saturnalia, which was going on at this particular time period in the Roman Empire.

And it's that feast that is commonly referred to as the original Christmas, you know, right? You hear this every Christmas. By the way, I write about it in my book, 25 Christmas Myths and What the Bible Says, if you want to pick that one up on the website, www .utt .com.

There you go. There's my book plug for the day. But yeah, so the Feast of Saturnalia, which was a feast that was unto Saturn, the false god Saturn, which was there in December. That's not where Christmas comes from because it never fell on the same day as Christmas.

It was on a totally different day. But that's one of those feast days in the Roman Empire. And there were others. There were other pagan holidays. So those who have come from their paganism will look at those particular days and think of that day as being unclean.

We shouldn't do anything on that day because otherwise we're going to be giving homage to a false god if we're going to recognize that day like the pagans did. And us Christians today will think that same way.

We'll think that we can't have anything to do with Christmas because that's pagan, or we can't have anything to do with Easter because that has pagan roots to it. It wasn't originally a Christian holiday.

It's not mandated anywhere in scripture. So therefore it came from paganism. It does not come from God. So you can have both the Gentile view and the Jewish view of certain holy days applied here to Romans 14 .5.

One person esteems one day is better than another. While another esteems all days alike, each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. So we're not talking about here, there's one day of the week that we should worship on.

And there's other days of the week that we should not worship on. And that's not the argument that Paul is making. In fact, we as Christians would, or we should stand rather in the statement, another esteems all days alike.

We should esteem days that way. All days belong to God. They all belong to the Lord. There is no day that belongs to any pagan deity because those deities don't really exist. They're false gods. And there's not one specific day on which we say this is the Sabbath rest since Christ is Lord of the Sabbath.

And he is the one that has fulfilled all of the Sabbath laws. I go back again to Colossians 2 .16. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

Now, all of those things that are mentioned there, they're all mentioned in the law. They're all given in the law. You have food and drink, certain food, certain drink that Jews were supposed to eat and that which they could not eat.

And then regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. We've got holy days mentioned in the law. We have the moons or months that were marked out by certain moon phases, festivals and harvests that were associated with the moon, things like that.

And then you have the Sabbath, which of course was the seventh day of the week, Saturday. That was the day that you were to keep holy unto God. Paul goes on in verse 17 to say, these are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Let no one pass judgment on you with regard to these things. So they're not judging you because you do not celebrate the Jewish festivals, moons or Sabbaths. Those were a shadow of the things to come and they have been fulfilled in Christ.

You consider that at the end of Matthew 11, and I think this is better understood if you go to the end of Matthew 11 and you go to the beginning of Matthew 12 and you read that without the chapter and verse markers, it's easier to see the flow of the context there without the chapter break.

But at the end of Matthew 11, Jesus says this, I'm starting in verse 25. At that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

Now listen to what Jesus says here. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

By contrast, the Pharisees had been placing a heavy burden on people saying that they had to do these things in order to be saved, in order to have right standing with God, but it has never been by our works.

It is by grace through faith that we have had a peace with God. So Jesus is saying here, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, those who are weighed down by the burdens of works that the Pharisees place upon you.

These were never meant to set you free. They burden you. They do not justify you. Come to Christ and he is the one who gives rest. And we go immediately from that at the end of Matthew chapter 11 to this at the beginning of Matthew chapter 12.

At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

He said to them, have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him, how we entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

Or have you not read in the law, how on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless, talking about his own disciples.

And he says in verse eight, for the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. Again, all of these things were pointing to Christ. So there's not a particular day that is therefore holier than all other days.

All days are the same. Since our Sabbath rest is Christ, he is our Sabbath rest. We rest in him from all of our works, all of our labors, which could never attain righteousness for us anyway. Our righteousness is Christ.

By faith in Christ, we've received the righteousness of God. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath rest was pointing to Christ. He's fulfilled it. So in him, we have rest. We have peace with God and we have rest from our labors.

Therefore all days are a day of Sabbath for us in that spiritual sense. We give every day unto the Lord. Hence, it could be said here that another esteems all days alike. One person esteems one day as better than another.

And again, that's likely gonna be in the context of the Jews who are gonna say this day of the week is the Sabbath day. And so therefore that day is gonna be better than another. While another esteems all days alike, each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

The one who sees all days as the same is not sinning before God. The one who observes a particular day is not sinning before God. Look at verse six. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.

And that really goes with verse five. Because Paul jumps right back into eating after that. 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.

So the one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. Whether you're observing Monday or Friday or Sunday, you observe it in honor of God. Now, why do we as the church gather on Sunday? Well, because that's the Lord's day.

That is the day that Christ rose from the dead. And so that is the day now that we rejoice in the resurrection in anticipation of the resurrection we'll receive at our glorification when we join Christ forever in glory in heaven above.

So that's why the Lord's day became that day that the church traditionally gathers on. And I think because that day is historically called the Lord's day, even in the Bible, that day should belong to God.

Whereas a church we're gathering on that day. Now, if another person thinks that another day of the week is the day that we can gather on, well, that's gonna be between them and the Lord. But traditionally we recognize that it's Sunday that is the Lord's day.

Mentioned in Revelation 1 10, John says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. And I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. You have the apostle Paul teaching on the first day of the week in Acts 20 verse seven, and they're gathered together to break bread.

It's probably understood there that we're talking about doing communion or the Lord's table together. And then you also have Paul talking to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 16. And he says on the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when I come.

He's talking about taking an offering in the church on the first day of the week. So that would be the day that the church gathers. It's called the Lord's day. And so I think that should be the day that we give unto the Lord.

But nevertheless, we should understand foremost that Christ is our Sabbath rest. No one day of the week is actually better than another for it is every day that we are to live to God as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable.

And this is our spiritual act of worship as it says in Romans 12 one. That's as far as we're gonna get talking about days there in Romans chapter 14 verses five and six. And then we'll pick up from there going back into the example of food tomorrow.

Christ as the Fulfillment of the Law and Sabbath Rest

Heavenly father, we thank you for the goodness that you show to us in Christ our savior. And it is through his word that we learn about and ponder some deep truths as we have here. Though it may be in regards to non-fundamental issues, there are still some fundamental principles that must be applied in the way that we love one another in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Grow us in this fellowship that we have in the body of Christ. May we desire to be together and build one another up in love according to your truth. And it's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

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