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Don't judge one another

February 7, 2016 Speaker: Gary Series: Romans: The Gospel for God's Glory

Scripture: Romans 14:1–12

Romans: The Gospel for God’s glory
Romans 14:1-12
Don’t judge one another
Don’t judge each other over non-essentials for Christ is Lord over all

1) As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions, 14:1.
Opinions are matters of belief and behavior not required or prohibited in Scripture.

2) One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables, 14:2.
The person who was “weak in faith” was the Jewish Christian who still held to the Old Testament food laws and feared that in Rome he couldn’t be guaranteed any “clean” or kosher meat, so he ate only veggies. In what way was he weak in faith?

3) 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, 14:3.
Why should the “strong” not despise the weak? Why should the weak not judge the strong?

4) 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, 14:4.
How does knowing the Lord makes his servant to stand in faith keep us from judging?

5) 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, 14:5.
Some observe the Sabbath (and other holy days); others don’t. What reasons does Colossians 2:16-17 give for the Sabbath no longer being a requirement? How should we decide as to our practices in matters not required or prohibited in Scripture?

6) 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, 14:6.
What is important in our choices regarding matters not required or prohibited in Scripture?

7) For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself, 8 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, 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living, 14:7-9.
How does what Paul says in these verses give reason for not judging one another?

8) Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all 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, 14:10-12.
How does the fact that we will each give an account of ourselves to God compel us not to judge one another? What are some issues that are not explicitly required or prohibited in Scripture we tend to judge one another over?

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