Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.
Loving one another means we will not deliberately offend a brother or sister. We might say that everyone is welcome in our meetings, but then we tend to criticize someone who does not meet our standards.
One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.
In this Roman society, the raging issue was that all the meats in the market had been previously sacrificed to idols. So was it all right to eat them or not?
The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.
If you know that the idols are nothing, and therefore could not have any effect on the meat, so it's all right to eat it, then don't look down on your brother who has not yet come to this understanding, and still has doubts about it.
And if you think that the demons behind the idols could have put some kind of curse on the meats, so you don't want to expose yourself to any detrimental spiritual effect from it, so you don't eat it, then don't criticize your brother who is eating it, because he is your brother who God has accepted in Christ.
Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own Master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
We are all to serve one another, but our Master is Christ, and we are accountable to Him. So we are not to put down another servant of Christ as though we are his master. We are each ultimately accountable to Him, and He is able to exonerate each one of us eventually.
One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.
Many of the pagan festivals were open to everyone who wanted to join the party. So if someone wanted to go and have an enjoyable time out with his wife, he didn't have to acknowledge the idol to just have a good time, considering it just another day that had an opportunity.
Another brother might consider that festival day to be one to stay home, to not give any weight to the Pagan idol being celebrated.
The brother out to dinner, and the brother eating at home, are both doing what they consider the best thing to do at that time, but each should be convinced that they are both doing the right thing, having no doubts about it.
He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.
So the one who eats dinner out, gives thanks to the Lord for the good food and good time and good opportunity to enjoy the party. And the one who stays home and does not go out to eat, still thanks God for the good things He gives him at home, and the good time he can have privately with his own family.
For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself;
for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
So whether we live, however we live, or even if we should die, we all still belong to the Lord.
For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
No matter what our condition is, Jesus lived though it all, experienced it all for us, so that He would have victory over everything that could happen to us; and He has conquered everything that we will ever face, no matter what it is, all the way up to dying. He has our back.
But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?
We are all at different spiritual stages of maturity. We have big brothers and big sisters and we have little brothers and little sisters. We are to love one another in this big family of God, considering that we are at different "ages" in relation to our siblings, and let the big brothers and sisters have the freedom and privileges due their maturity without envy or comparison, and see our little brothers and sisters with compassion to protect them from from hurt or wounding.
For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
This is the Bema Seat, the awarding of prizes and awards for achievement. Every one of us will receive some commendation, for all the wrath and punishment for our sins has already been paid by Jesus on the Cross as our Personal Sacrifice. We all will receive only for the good things we have done, as crowns and jewels in our crowns to cast at His feet (see Revelation 4:10).
For it is written,
So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God."As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God" (Isaiah 45: 23).
Only our Creator God and Redeemer God has the authority to judge each of us. He is our Owner and Master and Lord, and has purchased us with the Blood that was poured out at the foot of His altar, the Cross (see John 19: 34, and Leviticus 4: 7).
Therefore let us not judge one another any more,
We are not judges, but we are to be encouragers of one another, to build each other up in the Lord.
but rather determine this--not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.
We are to make up our minds to be aware of others' sensibilities to not do or say anything that might cause another brother or sister to stumble or doubt. For if we boast about or proudly display some behavior that someone else may not be convinced is all right, then we may be encouraging them to do something they may consider might be wrong because you think it's okay.
I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything is unclean, to him it is unclean.
Our thinking processes determine our attitudes. Paul knew that Jesus has cleansed all the animals, making them all right to eat, because of Peter's vision in Acts 10: 9-16; 11: 4-12, as well as the Gentiles to receive the Gospel.
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.
So don't show off your freedom in the Lord to show up someone else! This is not loving one another, it's wounding their consciences.
Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil;
And it's letting something good be spoken evil of, which is what our enemy tries to convince people of in his deceptions. He always twists what God made as good into some evil caricature, and calls evil good and good evil. We certainly don't want to be like him.
for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Food is only what sustains this Earthly life we are living now, and has no eternal value in itself. So whatever diet you decide to eat is up to you, to keep your body healthy. And remember that righteousness and peace will last forever, which will cause our joy in the Holy Spirit to increase.
For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
So when we live this way, we will be doing what is right for both now and eternity, and people will find nothing in us to criticize.
So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.
Let's just go after what will help us get along with one another and encourage each other to keep on growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.
Food is what was the troubling issue of that day, but the principle is to be applied to anything in each society that is considered questionable. Should a Christian today have a social drink? Would a Christian woman wear a bikini at a public beach? There is any number of issues that we must consider in living our lives, for we live in glass houses, observable and watched by the World around us. Everything we do and every word we utter is scrutinized by the world around us.
But we are to be especially aware of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles.
We are to limit our freedom in the Lord for the sake of our family members. If I would want to do something dangerous, but see my little sister there, I will desist in doing that dangerous thing, even if I was trained to do it safely, for her sake. I must be protective of my family members.
The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
When I am confident in what I do, then I will do it in joy and enjoyment.
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.
But if someone still has doubts as to the rightness or wrongness of what he is considering, if he does it anyway, thinking it might be wrong, then he is deliberately doing wrong, which is sin.
That's why we need to be totally convinced in our own minds. We must believe that what we are doing really is right and beneficial. We don't want to miss the mark (sin) in anything we do or say, as far as we are able.
O my Father, teach us Your ways. Help us to be firmly thinking Your thoughts for us, to have Your viewpoints and Your attitudes concerning what is going on in our lives. Help us, Father, to protect our little brothers and sisters, and to help them to also grow up in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. Teach us how to be good big brothers and sisters, and to always make the right choices in how we live our lives.
May our every moment be in acute awareness of Your Presence in us and with us, to do what pleases You according to Your will for each of us, and keep us from comparing ourselves with ourselves and each other, but only with You.
Teach us how to love one another as You have Loved us, that the World will know we belong to You and will be drawn to You.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
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