This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions, Romans chapter 14 this
week. This is day four in our look at that chapter. We're going to focus in on
verse 13 today.

We're going to focus in especially on that question, who are those who are weak in
faith? What does it mean that their faith is weak? We've looked in preceding
days at the question of what does it mean to have a disputable matter with
another believer and what the Bible says about that.

Those are matters that we have opinions about and ideas about that the Bible
doesn't clearly give an answer about. We've also talked about what does it mean
to pass judgment on another believer when it comes to disputable matters and
God's warnings against that. And today we focus on what does it mean to have
someone whose faith is weak?

Verse 13 says this, therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another and
instead make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your
brother's way. That's why it's so important to understand those whose faith is
weak. I don't want to put a stumbling block in somebody's way.

And what does it mean to be strong in faith and what does it mean to be weak in
faith? Well, let me give these definitions. The strong in faith feel free to do
anything that's not specifically prohibited by the Bible.

They have a freedom in Christ to do those things that aren't specifically
prohibited. The weak in faith have a sensitive conscience, especially at some
point, maybe because of the experience of how they've grown up or their
religious experiences. And so they feel guilty about certain activities that
they see as wrong or they think others might see as wrong.

And so they don't feel free to do those things because it causes guilt to come
up in their lives. What the weak lack is not strength or self-control. They lack
a freedom of conscience.

Possibly it's because of their past. As Paul writes to those in Rome, he's
possibly writing, probably writing, to the Jewish Christians who are in Rome.
And he's reminding them that there are some who are new believers who grew up in
the Jewish faith, grew up in a Jewish household.

And because of that, they had certain rules that they followed. And now that
they have freedom in Christ to act in a different way, they're struggling with
that. It's hard for them to do.

And if they were to be encouraged to do something that their conscience did not
yet say was okay to do, even though biblically it's okay, it would hurt their
faith. Now, as we talk about the weak in faith, who are those who are weak in
faith? There are two major struggles of what Paul is talking about here as the
weak in faith.

One would be legalism and the other would be works. Legalism would be the
struggle of making rules where there are no rules. Someone has defined a
legalist as someone who lives in mortal terror because someone somewhere is
enjoying himself as a Christian.

Well, I understand that definition because sometimes legalists are those who
have a sour expression and never seem to have any joy in their lives. But the
truth is you can't think of legalists just that way. That's a very narrow
definition of this word because that's not the motivation that governs a
legalist.

That's not what creates legalism in an attitude. It's not not wanting other
people to have fun. There's another reason behind it.

The idea that we have to limit ourselves, that we must limit ourselves from
anything and everything that could possibly be wrong even in my past because
somehow that might hurt my conscience. And so they're not trying to spoil things
for other people. Legalists usually aren't, some are, but most aren't.

What's happening is they're not trying to spoil their own faith. However, the
mistake of a legalist is this. If moral behavior were simply following rules,
you could program a computer to be moral.

The truth of the matter is it's more than just simply following a list of rules.
It has to do with your heart toward God. So legalism, making rules where there
are no rules is a sign of those who are weak in faith.

Now before we move on to talking about works, let me just give a big warning
here. Let me give the warning against those who are strong in faith using these
verses to spiritually blackmail other people. Turns us all into legalists rather
than faith followers when we do that.

I'd like it, I'd love it if everyone has the same opinion that I do about
things, but they do not. And if I can't get over that, even though I may be
strong in faith, I end up hurting the growth of others. This is talking about
those who are weak in faith.

If someone comes to you and says, you have to act like I say you act because
here it says in Romans 14 that if it hurts my faith, it's going to hurt you. The
question is, well, are you strong in faith or are you weak in faith? And it's
pretty easy usually to determine if somebody is a new believer, weak in faith,
or a mature believer.

And if somebody's trying to use these verses to spiritually blackmail you,
that's obviously the exact opposite of what these verses mean about judgment.
Watch out for legalism when it comes to being weak in faith and also watch out
for works. That's another major struggle of the weak in faith.

That means accepting the idea that I have to seek faith and acceptance from God
through my actions, through the things that I do. And what I'm saying here when
I talk about works is this, the weak have not yet fully understood grace. That's
what it means to be weak in faith.

They haven't totally understood grace. Now, why is this issue of grace so
important? Because to fully understand grace not only helps me to grow as a
Christian, we grow based on God's grace, it also brings me to Christ in the
first place.

And if you and I as believers don't exhibit and don't show the world the grace
of God, you're not seeing what it takes for me to come to Jesus Christ. The
truth of the matter is, as we look at many sectors of our own nation right now,
many times the narrow party is the one that wins out, especially the evangelical
churches. That's why a lot of people won't even talk about this issue because it
seems like I'm being soft on sin or I'm not willing to live out the full nature
of what it means to be a believer.

It's fully submitted to Jesus Christ. I don't want to be soft on sin. I want to
fully live out all that Jesus has for me with every commitment.

I want to give my body as a living sacrifice. And yet I cannot ignore what Paul
says here in Romans chapter 14, where he warns us against attributing rules to
the gospel that are not a part of the gospel. The danger of that is people don't
see grace.

People in our society are fantastically interested in grace. They're
fantastically interested, wonderfully interested in the gospel. But they see the
church sometimes as a place that imposes standards and rules of conduct that
have nothing to do with scripture.

They don't see the connection between the way that we act and the grace of God
in Jesus Christ. And we've got to let people see the connection. The artificial
regulations that sometimes we impose on one another keep people from seeing that
connection.

That's the danger here. That's why Paul is fighting for this because his whole
life was committed to helping people to see the grace of God. Now, when we talk
about the freedom to live out the grace life of Jesus Christ, we should never
violate our conscience in that freedom.

We should never violate our conscience. We should always live out the heart that
Jesus has given to us. We should educate our conscience though also and help our
conscience to understand that some of the things that we grew up thinking were
wrong were religious rules that were imposed on us by some church body and not
by the church of Jesus Christ.

Charles Spurgeon once said about this thing of rules, "I have found in my own
spiritual life "that the more rules I lay down for myself, "the more sins I
commit. " Well, his understanding there is that our life in Jesus Christ is not
based on rules. It's based on grace.

Jesus Christ reminded us that there is one command, that we love God with all
our heart, mind, soul, and strength and one that's like to it, that we love our
neighbors, ourself. And if we really get that down, we'll be able to live out
the grace life. And when it comes to those who are weak in faith, we've had a
definition of who they are here, but how do we treat those who are weak in
faith?

The last part of this verse, verse 13, is incredibly important. Make up your
mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. That's
how you treat somebody who is weak in faith.

If you have any sense that they might be weak in faith, that what you would do
might hurt their faith, don't do it, why do it? A picture of this for us on the
Saddleback staff is that none of us on the Saddleback staff drink at all. No
alcohol at all, we're all total tea totalers.

We don't even drink a glass of wine at a meal. Now, I could make a biblical case
very easily that it's okay to drink a glass of wine at a meal. In fact, Paul
told Timothy to drink some wine for his stomach, so to say that you couldn't
drink any wine or alcohol at all is just not a biblical statement.

So why have we decided to do that? Well, we realize in our society a lot of
people get addicted to alcohol. In fact, in our own church, we have a lot of
people who have gone through celibate recovery and been freed from that
addiction.

And what if I was at a meal and just having a glass of wine with my wife and
somebody who'd been through celibate recovery saw me there and they thought,
wow, Pastor Tom can drink a glass of wine. Probably okay for me too. And because
of my freedom to do that, all of a sudden, they drank a glass of wine and they
were caught up again in their addiction.

You see, I'm more than willing to give up something I have a right to do, I have
a freedom to do in Christ for the sake of a brother or sister in Christ 'cause I
don't want to see them stumble. I would gladly give up that right. I do gladly
give up that right so as not to hurt another believer.

And that is the heart behind what Paul is talking about here when he talks about
how to treat those whose faith is weak. Now, as we pray, we all know people who
are new believers whose faith is weak and needs to grow. We all know that our
own faith still needs to grow some.

So let's pray, take a few minutes and talk to God and ask him to help our weak
faith to grow. Jesus, we pray for those whose faith is just beginning to grow,
who've just begun a relationship with you. And as we pray, some of us are
praying for ourselves.

We have a new relationship with you. And we pray that this new faith will grow
and blossom and strengthen in you. Help us to resist the temptation to put rules
and regulations in the place of grace, to settle for simple and small ways of
growth that maybe we could feel like we reached quickly.

Instead, Jesus, help us to understand this is a lifetime of growth and to look
forward to that lifetime of growth in you. Help our faith to grow. Jesus, I pray
for some of us who may feel like we've been growing for a while in Christ, maybe
decades.

And our faith has strengthened in those years, but we still see so often how
weak it is, how we choose things selfishly rather than sacrificially, how we
choose to focus on ourselves rather than you. Help our faith to grow, Jesus.
Help us to get to know you better and better each day, all the way as we
approach that day, when we will be with you forever.

Help our faith to grow day by day, moment by moment, Jesus, because of your
love. We ask this in your name. Amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to be looking at Romans chapter 14, verses 14 to 23.