ROMANS 14<\/b><\/p>\n
One man\u2019s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables<\/i><\/p>\n
(Romans 14:2)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Romans 14 deals with an important issue in community among Christians. There are always some differences of understanding between Christians, and Paul here tells us we are to bear with one another on such matters.<\/p>\n
Beyond this, Paul writes that some believers are \u201cweak.\u201d The weak believer is the one who fears to make use of some good gift that God has given to mankind and to the church. In Paul\u2019s day the weak believer was afraid to eat meat and drink wine sacrificed to idols. In our day many believers are afraid to drink wine at all.<\/p>\n
If a man believes that it is a sin to eat meat, and then goes ahead and eats it, he has sinned. He has sinned not because he has eaten meat, but because he has done something he thinks God has forbidden. Because of this, Paul says that strong Christians are to be careful not to lead weak Christians into sin by encouraging them to go against their consciences.<\/p>\n
Paul admonishes us \u201cnot to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother\u2019s way.\u2026 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall\u201d (Romans 14:13, 21). How can I cause my weaker brother to fall? By flaunting my liberty and encouraging him to act against his conscience.<\/p>\n
If, on the other hand, I eat or drink in private without violating my conscience, I have offered no offense. The weaker brother may not like my doing it, and he may even be shocked, but I have not encouraged him to sin. Moreover, Paul makes it very clear that the weak believer is not to tyrannize the church. When the weak Judaizers wanted Paul to eat separately from the Gentiles, Paul adamantly refused (Galatians 2). The strong believer must oppose the weak believer when he tries to make his scruples a law for the whole community.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Some believers think no Christian should do anything that other Christians forbid. How do the final comments of Drs. Sproul and Nicole on page 10 apply to this situation? Think through this issue carefully and be able to articulate your position. Where would you draw the line between leading others to stumble and exercising your liberty?<\/p>\n
For further study: 1 Corinthians 8:1\u201313; 10:23\u201311:1<\/i><\/p>\n
TABLETALK<\/p>\n
from ligonier ministries and teaching and encouraging believers \u2022 december 1989<\/p>\n
THE MAJESTY OF CHRIST<\/p>\n
Daily Studies From The Teaching Fellowship Of R. C. Sproul<\/p>\n
publisher<\/b> Ligonier Ministries<\/i> executive editor<\/b> Ralph D. Veerman<\/i> editor<\/b> Robert F. Ingram<\/i><\/p>\n
creative services<\/b> Michael S. Beates; David K. Freeland<\/i><\/p>\n
marketing\/production<\/b> W. David Fox; Melissa Prichard; Gretchen Suskovic<\/i><\/p>\n
circulation<\/b> Gwen Weber<\/i> writer<\/b> Sharon Anderson<\/i><\/p>\n
LIGONIER MINISTRIES BOARD OF DIRECTORS<\/b><\/p>\n
Bruce Fogerty<\/p>\n
G. Richard Hostetter<\/p>\n
Robert C. Legler<\/p>\n
Stephen H. Levee, Jr.<\/p>\n
C. G. Mills<\/p>\n
Archie B. Parrish<\/p>\n
Jim Seneff<\/p>\n
R. C. Sproul<\/p>\n
John Thompson<\/p>\n
Ralph Veerman<\/p>\n
Luder Whitlock<\/p>\n
Charles Colson<\/p>\n
(Director Emeritus)<\/p>\n
Published by Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, Inc. under license granted by Ligonier Ministries, Inc. Copyright 1989, Ligonier Ministries, Inc. This Bible study is based upon teaching material by Dr. R. C. Sproul. Unless noted, all Scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible<\/i>, New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishers.<\/p>\n
member evangelical press association<\/p>\n
on the cover: Sixteenth-century nativity, Church of Sainte Foy. Giraudon\/Art Resource, New York.<\/p>\n
ralph veerman \u2022 executive editor<\/p>\n
Coram Deo<\/p>\n
It is hard to think of the majesty of Christ when we picture His royal birth in a dirty Bethlehem stable As Ken Gire writes in his new book, Intimate Moments with the Savior<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Every royal privilege for this Son ended at conception. Where you would have expected angels, there were only flies, where you would have expected heads of state, there were only donkeys, a few haltered cows a nervous ball of sheep, a tethered camel, and a furtive scurry of curious barn mice.<\/i><\/p>\n
Except for Joseph, there was no one to share Mary\u2019s pain. Or her joy. Yes, there were angels announcing the Savior\u2019s arrival\u2014but only to a band of blue-collar shepherds. And yes, a magnificent star shone in the sky to mark His birthplace\u2014but only three foreigners bothered to look up and follow it<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Thus, in the little town of Bethlehem \u2026 that one silent night \u2026 the royal birth of God\u2019s Son tiptoed quietly by \u2026 as the world slept<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Gire\u2019s words describe beautifully the irony of this lowly, peasant setting for the birth of our royal King. But isn\u2019t this irony consistent with so much of Scripture? It is in dying that we are born anew, it is in serving that we receive, it is in our suffering and humiliation that we gain a fresh glimpse of the grace and glory of God. We see the majesty of Jesus in both the Cross and in His resurrection and ascension<\/p>\n
It is our prayer that this majesty will become more clear to you in this month\u2019s Tabletalk<\/i> through the excellent teaching articles by R. C., Rebecca Pippert, Robert Norris, John Sartelle, and Mike Malone.<\/p>\n
We are also profoundly grateful to all of our readers whose sacrificial giving has made the production and distribution of Tabletalk<\/i> possible in 1989. We pray that this teaching publication, with your support, will bear glorious witness to the majesty of our Savior.<\/p>\n
Our proclamation at Ligonier is Coram Deo<\/i>. Our labor of love at Ligonier is before His face, In His presence, and under His Glory<\/i>. May we all this Christmas season renew our calling to serve Christ selflessly, knowing that the light of our good works bears glorious testimony to the majesty of Christ. ■<\/p>\n
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ROMANS 14 One man\u2019s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables (Romans 14:2). Romans 14 deals with an important issue in community among Christians. There are always some differences of understanding between Christians, and Paul here tells us we are to bear with one another on … Continue reading “THE WEAK AND THE STRONG”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}