Have you ever had to agree to disagree with someone you were close to? I’m certain you have. Have you ever had to let go of a friendship or relationship because there was a major disagreement worthy of division? Probably so. Not all disagreements need to end in division, but all disagreements must have a deliberate discussion. I don’t need to debate with other believers when we have a disagreement, but I must discuss it so that we may both discern the truth from error. When humble, faithful, biblical discussions are had, then can we discern and decide if the disagreement is worthy of division. There are some doctrinal issues that are not up for debate or disagreement (scripture, trinity, person and work of Christ etc.). However, there are also many doubtful things that are up for discussion and can still leave room for fellowship though we may disagree (food, clothing, holidays etc.). This is nothing new, but sadly throughout church history (including the present day) we would rather debate or divide more than we would genuinely discuss what God has to say about the issues of life. Amos 3:3 says, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed.” We must be able to agree on the non-negotiable doctrines of the Bible but also be able to disagree while keeping unity on the negotiable issues. When it comes to Christian liberty and Christian fellowship, we don’t need to be identical twins; we just need to remember that we are siblings in the same family. We share traits, but we still have uniqueness in our features and personalities. Uniformity is not essential to our Christian fellowship, but unity is essential. The gospel and grace of Jesus Christ has united all believers together with Him to His eternal glory and our eternal good. Ultimately, Christian liberty and fellowship is for the good of the church and the glory of Christ. These two things must be our goal and the way that we reach the goal is by being gospel fueled grace filled and glory focused. Unity, Christian fellowship, and liberty must be exercised with humility, not hostility. The world is our enemy, not our brethren.
When it comes to our daily practical application of the doctrines of the Bible, we must come back to the questions, “does this please God?” Christian liberty is the freedom that the gospel gives us to live by God’s grace for His glory. The issue of practical theology is that there are a thousand different opinions about doubtful things in the life of liberty for each believer. As the Apostle Paul continues this practical application of the gospel, grace, and glory of Christ in the book of Romans, he emphasizes that the Christian’s character and conduct must be consistent. This occurs only by grace through faith as we consecrate all of our life to Him moment-by-moment while being constantly conscience of His presence and preeminence in our life. As we do this, our preferences fall by the wayside and Christ is made preeminent in our heads, hearts, and homes which strengthens the unity, health, and usefulness of the local church. Here, Paul is not dealing with differences over salvific issues or moral issues. Paul is addressing issues of practical theology of personal preferences. What unites every believer is Christ. He is our foundation and focus. He is our power and purpose. We are dependent upon Him for all things, and we must delight in Him alone. In Rom. 14:5-8, there is a repeating theme of all things being “to the Lord” six specific times over these verses. We must never forget that all of life is “of Him, through Him, and to Him.” Because of this, each believer must be united together with one another in seeking to please the Lord and glorify Him in all of life. This means that each of us have to ask ourselves in every aspect of our practical life, “is this honoring Jesus?”
Rom. 14:5-8 says, “5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. 7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” Your personal background such as your personal education is or experiences are a natural baggage that you bring to your Christian liberty and fellowship with others. The believers with a Gentile background in the early church had come from the pagan world where they would sacrifice to false gods (demons) in pagan temples and often participated in other moral atrocities in their worship of these false gods. Because of this, after their conversion to Christ, they would swear off eating meat altogether and would totally avoid any sort of relationship with the pagan holidays, festivals, or celebrations. They believed that they would dishonor Christ by celebrating something or eating the wrong thing. On the other side were the believers who came out of a Jewish background. These individuals would enjoy their liberty in Christ by eating all things, but they still celebrated the old Jewish feasts and festivals. Traditions and taboos are hard to break. There is a temptation for those who are in Christ to run to extremes or to go back to the comfort of our past self-righteousness of rules and regulations. Paul addresses these issues in depth as well in Gal. 4:8-11 and Col. 2:8-23. As you read in those passages you will see that Paul is addressing those very same issues of practical theology for the believer’s liberty and fellowship. We must make sure that Christ is preeminent and not our preferences. We must as well lay aside our preferences to not be an offence to a “weaker” brother or sister who is still growing in the grace of Christ so they may enjoy their liberty that Christ has given. The personal preference that causes division is an idol of the heart that must be crushed if we are to truly enjoy Christian liberty and fellowship. Today, we will see the instructions for believers to be fully persuaded and purposed in their Christian liberty for the good of the church and glory of Christ.
First, each believer must be fully persuaded of their convictions of Christian liberty and fellowship. Your outward behavior comes from an inward belief. To put it another way whatever you affirm will show up in your attitude, actions, and associations. You and I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church through belief on Him which is the motivation for our behavior; this includes our inward attitudes and outward actions and associations. What we believe matters. Who we belong to matters. How we behave matters. The Christian now has liberty in the truth of the gospel we affirm, and grace applies it so that we may have faithful attitudes, actions, and associations. Remember, we need all of Christ for all of life. It is all by His grace for His glory and our good. The specific problem in this section of Rom. 14:5-8 is the question of celebrating particular days as more sacred or if everyday is sacred to the believer. The issue was causing division in the church as the believers with differing backgrounds (Jewish and Gentile) were either avoiding certain foods or festivities. Diet and days were causing unnecessary division. As we have addressed already, there is necessary division. Romans 16:17 says, “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” The heart of this particular issue is that the believers with Jewish background were adamant that they should still participate in the old Jewish traditions of festivals and feasts. The issue here is NOT about whether or not the local church should gather on the Jewish Sabbath or Sunday. From the very onset of the early church, Sunday was the day that the church gathered together. We have to see that biblically, each day is sacred and set apart as unto the Lord, but Sunday is what we New Testament believers call the “Lord’s Day.” Ps. 118:24 says, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Yes, each day is sacred, but the Lord’s Day (Sunday) is set apart for believers to gather to the glory of God. Let me give you the importance and implications of why Sunday matters. Sunday, the first day of the week was the day the Lord Jesus resurrected (Lk. 24:1-9). On the next two Sundays (Lord’s Days) Jesus met with His disciples (John 20:19,26). The Holy Spirit was given on the Day of Pentecost which was on the first day of the week and it occurred seven Sundays after the Feast of Firstfruits which symbolized Christ’s resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20,23). The early church gathered every Lord’s Day to worship, pray, give, hear the word preached, and break bread (meals and communion). In short, each day is sacred, but the Lord’s Day is set apart for the gathering of the saints for the good of the church and glory of Christ. The believers with a Jewish background had no issue with meeting on Sundays to worship the Lord, their issue was that of the obligations of the traditions of Jewish holidays. For us, we can see that the Sabbath day was an obligation in the Old Testament, but under the New Testament in the body and blood of Christ the Lord’s Day (Sunday) is a privilege. The grace of God has set us free with the liberty in Christ from the law and to live a life of love (See Gal. 5). If we understand that, then we can move onward to understanding the instruction to be fully persuaded.
Preferences about days and diets lead to unnecessary division. Each of us though must examine the Bible and our own heart to develop in our Christian liberty and fellowship. We are instructed that each believer is to be “fully persuaded in his own mind.” Now, this doesn’t mean that you get to decide on your own volition what God says (See 2 Pet. 1:19-21), rather we must rightly divide the word so we can rightly apply the word (2 Tim. 2:14-19). To be “fully persuaded” is the word “plerophoreo” which means to bring to full measure. The word is used in referencing either accomplishment or convincing. Here, it is the idea of being fully convinced through the process of thinking and weighing out a particular issue. The idea is that each believer must develop not merely personal preferences, but personal convictions about matters such as those in the passage. The “mind” is the inner man which references one’s intellect and moral decisions. Personal convictions deal with what you think, how you feel, and what you decide to do in response to a particular issue. Each of us must have convictions, but our convictions may vary without breaking fellowship with one another. Our personal Christian liberty deals with our maturity and growth in grace. Therefore, not everyone will be at the same maturity in their walk which determines what they will either accept or avoid (days and diets). The cultural issue is that both the Gentile and Jewish believers were stuck in their taboos and traditions. The truth has set us free and the truth of the gospel, grace, and glory of Christ transforms us from the inside out. We must be personally and fully persuaded of God’s truth, not man’s tradition. Traditions are preferential, but truth is preeminent. Simply, our convictions must be Bible convictions. Convictions built on and by the truth of God’s revealed word. We must study the scriptures and submit to them. What does God say? That is the only question that matters. Oftentimes, what God says contradicts the taboos or traditions of man. As the indwelling Holy Spirit reveals to us God’s word we must surrender to His authority. To be fully persuaded deals with the intellect and intentions of your head and heart. This comes by being dependent upon the Holy Spirit’s illuminating work through the scriptures. It is a continual work of grace for us to grow in grace so that by grace we can live in the liberty of Christ. To “regard” is to judge something to be better than something else, to judge as superior, and hence, to prefer, to regard as more valuable. The idea is one’s particular orientation, bend, or pattern of mind. All of us are bent toward something, but we must all bend our preferences at the preeminence of Christ’s word, work, and will. Plain and simple. Truth trumps tradition. A convinced head leads to a convicted heart about a matter. Bible convictions deal with intellect of the mind and the intent of the heart. It must be gospel fueled grace filled and glory focused.
Second, each believer must be fully purposed in their convictions of Christian liberty and fellowship. When we are persuaded by the transformational truth of the gospel, grace, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ then we can be fully purposed to live “of Him, through Him, and to Him” in all areas of life. These four verses of this section focus on all of life being “unto the Lord.” If we don’t believe that all things are unto Him, then we begin to believe that some things in life are for us or about us. All of life from the “minor” to the “major” is to be motivated by the presence and preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “Lord” is the word “kurios” which means one who has absolute authority, power, and ownership. If our diet and days is unto the Lord, then this means that all of life has to submit to the Lordship of Christ. It means that my preferences must bow down to Him. It means that everything that I affirm, accept, avoid, or associate with must bow down to the Lord. Because we belong to Christ everything that we believe and in every way that we behave matters. We are representatives of Christ. We are to be living sacrifices conformed to Christ, not the world. We are to be those who live by grace without abusing or abandoning it. We are sons by His adoption, but we are slaves under His authority. We don’t like that language, do we? Slaves. Servants. Stewards. We are Christ’s servants in His sight. Nothing is hidden from Him (Heb. 4:12; Ps. 44:21). We live “coram deo” which is the Latin phrase meaning in God’s presence or before His face. To be fully purposed means that I purpose myself to live with His presence and preeminence as the primary motivators of my life. If it isn’t for His glory, then the purpose is for your own. No man lives or dies “to himself.” Life and death are “of Him, through Him, to Him.” Christ defines our life and death. His glory is our purpose, but we must be purposed in our heart to live all of life as sacred to Him so that in our life and death He would be glorified (Phil. 1:20-21). Many misinterpret this to simply mean that we are accountable to one another. That is true certainly and is important when living with our Christian liberty and fellowship. However, the primary meaning is that all Christians regardless of background cannot live apart from Christ. We are totally dependent upon Him and our heart must be devoted to Him completely. Christians don’t live apart from Christ is the primary meaning, but we also don’t live apart from the Church which is the secondary meaning or application. No man is an island or his own. We belong to the Lord. Christ is our life. (Col. 3:1-4). Col. 3:22-25 says, “22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; 23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. 25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.” We serve one another as we serve the Lord. All of life is in surrender and service to the Lord who is sovereign over our life. Because of this, all of life is sacred and to be sanctified unto Him (Rom. 12:1-2). There is “no respect of persons” in the sense that each of us will stand before God and give an account of ourselves and for ourselves. This is why we must be fully persuaded and purposed in our Christian liberty so that we would not be so easily offended nor so we would easily offend others.
We are called as believers to be consistent in our character and conduct. We must be consecrated to the Lord as we are connected to Christ and His Church. Furthermore, we must be considerate of others. We are united to and in Christ, but we are not uniform. Each believer is unique in their personality and preference, but we must bend both of those things to the truth of God, not the taboos and traditions of man. We must be willing to divide over things that are necessary, but also to be willing to not divide over unnecessary things. The only way we can do that is to be fully persuaded by the truth of the gospel, grace, and glory of Jesus; and be fully purposed to live for His glory in all areas of life. My life is not mine; it is His. Our preferences are not primary or preeminent; He is! Be willing to discuss your disagreements, but willing to be teachable. Be willing to give grace for another believer’s convictions. Remember though that all of life is sacred and we are reminded of this especially as we gather corporately on the Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Day is to remind us of our unity in Christ regardless of our life’s luggage that we bring as we gather. The Lord’s Day is to remind us that we are under grace; therefore, the gathering together with the people of God is a privilege of law, not a mere obligation of the law. The Lord’s Day reminds us that everyday is to be lived in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must ask ourselves each day, but especially today, are we living for His glory or ours? Is your preference preeminent or is Christ? We must be fully persuaded and purposed by the transformational truth of the gospel, grace, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The unity and usefulness of the church is at stake. Don’t let your Christian liberty put others in bondage. Be bound to God’s truth, not man’s tradition.
Grow With Pastor Joe 
Leave a comment