Romans 14:15-16 - Preserving Christ's Sheep

Romans 14:15-16 -  ¹⁵ For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil.

Message: Showing Love to Your brother though your choices

Time: Written in AD 57 from Greece, to the Christians, both Gentile and Jewish in Rome

What the Lord is Saying:

I am right in the middle of a discussion on a Christians behavior towards another person (namely a Christian brother) over matters of disagreement. Paul isn't speaking of all disagreements, but those that involve information that is not explicitly understood through the reading of scripture.

He started off the chapter by talking about a person "weak in faith" or not as strong as the person seeing the other person. The big issue I saw was a respect towards people and their different convictions. (That said, I have said it earlier and I continue to think it is important to mention that there are many subjects that one person might view as negotiable and another non-negotiable. This is especially true in matters spoken of in the Old Testament as doctrine, but then not spoken of in the New Testament and the belief that their is in fact a new covenant and so the stuff in the Old Testament isn't needed to be upheld.) So, I think the principle of these verses is easy to read but the application of them is hard to define.

From verse 3 on, there is back and forth mentioning of food and days. Obviously, in that day and time, these were matters of big concern. And more specifically, the parties Paul is discussing throughout the book of Romans are Jews and Gentiles. To me, this started in chapter 2 when Paul began to speak about the customs of the Jews that tended to then regard the Jew as saved, notably circumcision, keeping the Law, and judging the Law. And probably, here in these verses, is once again looking at the customs of the Jew and now the life of the saved person and the Gentile. And the church of Rome was made up of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. There were customs, traditions, that the Jewish Christians continued to keep that the Gentile probably did not seem necessary.

And so now looking at verse 15, I see Paul's words to the Gentile: "If because of food your brother is hurt." The Gentile believed that any food was able to be eaten. The Jew held probably to vegetables only, but the Gentile ate whatever. This is somewhat of a confusing verse. A person may even get defensive reading it, sensing that he is begin instructed to give up something he enjoys. The key phrase I see in verse 14 is "walking according to love."

The evaluation tool that I should use is, am I showing love to my brother. I think of a couple of scenario's:

1. I am having a party, inviting several friends, and at the party I plan to serve alcohol. One of my Christian brothers is a recovering alcoholic and recently took a vow to not drink again. Because of this, I need to not serve alcohol. Serving alcohol is something I do not have a problem doing, but I need to be sensitive to my brother and I don't want him to be given an opportunity to stumble. Here I am having charity, that is sacrificing my own comfort in order to not hurt the happiness of another.
2. Same scenario as above, but this time one of my friends does not like to drink alcohol. I do not have to not serve alcohol. They don't like drinking alcohol so they won't, but that doesn't mean that other shouldn't. This is the respect that I believer Chapter 14 is referring to.

In verse 15, it has a couple of thoughts to it. One, in the same thought of verse 14, we need to make sure that what I think is good, but someone else thinks is wrong, doesn't because then something that people look at me and see as evil. This is kind of tough. So, with my above scenario, is it okay to have drinking in a house with someone that doesn't like drinking. I think it depends on the person and whether or not they can respect your different views.

I think also in this verse is a little bit of the idea that I must be very careful of my actions as a Christian. If my actions cause someone else to sin then how am I acting as a Christian? Paul has spoken of this many times. Verse 1 of chapter 2 says the Christan condemns himself when he judges. But even more clearly is verse 24, regarding the Jew, "The name of God is blasphemed because of you." The Jew upheld the law, but then broke it behind people's backs. Is it any wonder that the world loves to bring to light those pastors or ministers or broadcast Christians that have sinned in a manner that the world knows Christians despise? I think of many times when a pastor has been found cheating on his wife or even being caught in a homosexual relationship. How unfortunate this is because it gives the name of God a bad name.

I remember when I was 21 and worked at a golf course during the summer while doing beach ministry and my head foreman heard me cuss. He glared at me and thought I was in trouble. How could I do such a thing? It was fine for him to do it, but not me. (I notice this when I walk in a room and people are cursing and they immediately turn to me and say, "Sorry Chris" like they have offended me.)

As a Christian I must be very careful and I must be quick to apologize.

Promise: A mature believer is to be a strong believer.