Romans 14:1-8

• 1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.
• 2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.
• 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.
• 4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
• 5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
• 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
• 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone.
• 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

I. Accept your weaker brother.

The word "accept" in Greek is from proslambano, which taken literally means to "partake of food." Literally, EAT YOUR BROTHER! Take him into yourself. The Greek lexicon has this alternate translation: "to accept into one's society, home, family or circle of friends." TAKE HIM IN!

There's an interesting old poem about this (by Edward Markam):

• He drew a circle that shut me out,
• Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
• But Love and I had the wit to win,
• We drew a circle that took him in.

It is not the "faith" which is weak or strong, but the Christian PERSON who is weak or strong (Romans 14:1-2).

We are using the NIV in the bulletin today, but the New American Standard Bible is a more accurate translation of the Greek.

"Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only."

The King James Version is also better....

"Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs."

This may seem like a subtle and unimportant distinction, but it actually is VERY important. Faith is neither weak nor strong. Faith is faith. It's like being pregnant. There's no such thing as being "a little bit pregnant." You are or you aren't. Faith: either you have it, or you don't. And faith is not something that you and I produce within ourselves. Faith is a gift from God. And God does not give anything that is not all that it should be. It is the PERSON who is weak, not the FAITH which is weak.

The word "weak" in Greek means basically someone who is SICK (Matthew 10:8 for example). The saving faith that God gives us which brings us to Christ is not sick or weak. It is strong and healthy. But when we become saved we are "babes in Christ." WE are weak. WE are immature. There is nothing wrong with our faith, but we must grow in grace, and as we grow in grace we become wiser.

II. Christians must learn to distinguish between doctrines that are VITAL and doctrines that are NOT VITAL.

That is the purpose of the creeds. For example, here is the Nicene creed (381 AD)....(back of hymnbook, # 717)

• We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, of all that is, seen and unseen.
• We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,
• God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
• Through him all things were made.
• For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
• by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
• For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.
• On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
• he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
• He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
• We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
• With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
• He has spoken through the Prophets.
• We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
• We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
• We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Everything in this creed is VITAL. It dilineates the basic bedrock of the Christian Faith. But notice WHAT IS LEFT OUT....

• 1. Nothing here about what you may or may not eat.
• 2. Nothing here about worshipping on Saturday vs Sunday.
• 3. Nothing here about baptism by sprinkling or immersion.
• 4. Nothing here about infant baptism vs believers baptism.
• 5. Nothing here about form of church government: by elders, by deacons, by congregation, by bishops.
• 6. Nothing here about singing with or without instruments in worship.
• 7. Nothing here about which version of the Bible must be used.
• 8. Nothing here about meeting in a church building or meeting in homes.
• etc. etc. etc.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are all too often condemning one another about minor details of the Faith, and creating dis-unity. Paul goes on the emphasize how we must stop condemning each other.

III. Weak and Strong Christians must stop condemning each other (Romans 14:3-5).

There is a sinful inclination in us to climb to the top of the hill on the backs of others. When we were young we used to play a game called "King of the Mountain." We did this with mounds of snow, and also at construction sites, which had mounds of dirt. The object of the game was to get to the top of a pile of dirt, and then prevent other kids from reaching the top. And of course we would try to get the fellow on top, and throw him down. Note: the object was not simply to get to the top, but to PREVENT others from getting to the top.

Human beings have a "pecking order" just like chickens. People have a social order, just like a pack of dogs. (In any pack of dogs, there is a leader, and the others are followers. There are also outcasts, and those who are constantly persecuted, because they are weak, or different.)

We are not animals. We are human beings. And more than that, we are men and women who have been redeemed by the mercy and grace of God. God has been kind to us, we must then be kind to one another.

Joh 13:15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

• 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
• 22 "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."
• 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
• 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
• (I Peter 2:21-24)

If we disagree about what we can eat, or what we should wear, or how to keep the Sabbath, then let's discuss it. "Be fully convinced in your own mind." But let's talk about it in love. Let's speak to one another to edify, to build up, not to tear down. Let's be willing to learn. Maybe our brother is right! And let's not gossip secretly about so-and-so who doesn't agree with us about every thing. We are here to help each other, not condemn each other. Your brother or sister belongs to God, and you may be sure that God will not condemn him/her.

• 13 ¶ You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another in love.
• 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbour as yourself."
• 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
• (Galatians 5:13-15)

IV. No Christian lives or dies for himself. We live and die for Christ. We live and die for each other.

"Who am I? Why am I here?" Admiral James Stockdale will long be remembered for his famous questions, as he was the running mate of Presidential candidate Ross Perot. He died on July 5, 2005. This Wednesday will be Veterans Day. Let's pause a moment and see how this famous veteran was an example, and how he can say something to us about these verses in Romans 14...

Stockdale was a man who lived to serve others...(December 23, 1923 - July 5, 2005) was one of the most highly decorated officers in the history of the United States Navy.

Stockdale led aerial attacks from the carrier USS Ticonderoga (CVA 14) during the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident. On his next deployment, while Commander of Carrier Air Wing 16 aboard the carrier USS Oriskany (CVA 34), he was shot down over enemy territory on September 9, 1965. Stockdale was the highest-ranking naval officer held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

He was awarded 26 personal combat decorations, including the Medal of Honor and four Silver Stars. During the late 1970s, he served as President of the Naval War College. Stockdale was candidate for Vice President of the United States in the 1992 presidential election, on Ross Perot's independent ticket.

Stockdale was born in Abingdon, Illinois. Following a brief period at Monmouth College (1946), he attended the Naval Academy where he graduated in 1947. Stockdale had promised his father that he would try to become the best midshipman at the Naval Academy. Years later, that promise served to strengthen him, while a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Concerning his time at the Naval Academy, he would later say "Plebe year of education under stress was of great personal survival value to me."

Shortly after graduating, Stockdale reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, for flight training. In 1954, Stockdale was accepted into the Test Pilot School at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. It was there that he tutored John Glenn, at the time a young Marine aviator, in math and physics. In 1959 the Navy sent Stockdale to Stanford University where he received a masters degree in International Relations and Marxist Theory. Stockdale preferred the life of a fighter pilot over academia, but later credited Stoic philosophy with helping him cope as a POW.

On August 4, 1964, Squadron Commander Stockdale was one of the US pilots flying overhead during the second alleged attack of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident; unlike the first attack, this one is believed to have been a false alarm. In the early 1990s, he recounted: "[I] had the best seat in the house to watch that event, and our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets-there were no PT boats there.... There was nothing there but black water and American fire power." Stockdale said his superiors ordered him to keep quiet about this. After he was captured, this knowledge threw a burden upon him. He later said he was concerned that his captors would eventually force him to reveal that he knew this secret about the Vietnam War.

On a mission over North Vietnam on September 9, 1965, Stockdale ejected from his A-4E Skyhawk, which had been disabled from anti-aircraft fire. Stockdale parachuted into a small village, where he was severely beaten and taken into custody.

He was held as a prisoner of war in the Hoa Lo prison for the next seven years. Locked in leg irons in a bath stall, he was routinely tortured and beaten. When told by his captors that he was to be paraded in public, Stockdale slit his scalp with a razor to purposely disfigure himself so that his captors could not use him as propaganda. When they covered his head with a hat, Stockdale beat himself with a stool until his face was swollen beyond recognition. He told them in no uncertain terms that they would never use him. When Stockdale heard that other prisoners were dying under the torture, he slit his wrists and told them that he preferred death to submission.

Little did Stockdale know that the actions of his wife, Mrs. Sybil Stockdale, had a tremendous impact on the North Vietnamese. Early in her husband's captivity she organized The League of American Families of POWs and MIAs, with other wives of servicemen who were in similar circumstance. By 1968 she and her organization, which called for the President and the U.S. Congress to publicly acknowledge the mistreatment of the POWs (something that they had never done even though they had evidence of gross mistreatment), was finally getting the attention of the American press and consequently the attention of the North Vietnamese. Mrs. Stockdale personally made these demands known at the Paris Peace Talks and private comments made to her by the head of the Vietnamese delegation there indicated concern that her organization might catch the attention of the American public, something the North Vietnamese knew could turn the tide against them. The result could not have been more fortunate for James Stockdale at the very time he slit his wrists.

Together with other captives such as George Thomas Coker, Stockdale was part of a group of about a dozen prisoners known as the "Alcatraz Gang", separated from other captives and placed in solitary confinement for their leadership in resisting their captors.

In a business book by James C. Collins called Good to Great, Collins writes about a conversation he had with Stockdale regarding his coping strategy during his period in the Vietnamese POW camp. "I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade."

When Collins asked who didn't make it out, Stockdale replied:

"Oh, that’s easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."

Stockdale then added:

"This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end-which you can never afford to lose-with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

Witnessing this philosophy of duality, Collins went on to describe it as the Stockdale Paradox.

Stockdale was released as a prisoner of war on February 12, 1973. His shoulders had been wrenched from their sockets, his leg shattered by angry villagers and a torturer, and his back broken. But he had refused to capitulate.

He received the Medal of Honor in 1976. Stockdale filed charges against two other officers who, he felt, had given aid and comfort to the enemy. However, the Navy Department under the leadership of the-Secretary of the Navy John Warner took no action and merely retired these men "in the best interests of the Navy."

Debilitated by his captivity and mistreatment, Stockdale could hardly walk or even stand upright upon his return to the United States, which prevented his return to active flying status. Out of respect for his courage, and out of high regard for his intellect, the Navy kept him on the active list, steadily promoting him over the next few years before permitting him to retire as a Vice Admiral. He completed his career by serving as President of the Naval War College, from October 13, 1977, until August 22, 1979.

After his retirement in 1979, he became the President of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. His tenure there was short and stormy as he found himself at odds with the college's board as well as most of its administration, by proposing changes to the college's military system and other facets of the college. He left The Citadel to become a fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in 1981.

During the following two decades, Stockdale wrote a number of books both on his experiences during the Vietnam War and afterwards, and on philosophy. In Love and War: the Story of a Family's Ordeal and Sacrifice During the Vietnam War was co-written with his wife Sybil and published in 1984. It is a compilation of love letters he sent to his wife while he was a captured POW. It was later made into an NBC television movie, watched by 45 million people.

Another example of living for others...:

In 1941 Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish friar from Warsaw was arrested for publishing anti-Nazi pamphlets and sentenced to Auschwitz. There he was beaten, kicked by shiny leather boots, and whipped by his prison guards. After one prisoner successfully escaped, the prescribed punishment was to select ten other prisoners who were to die by starvation. As ten prisoners were pulled out of line one by one, Fr. Kolbe broke out from the ranks, pleading with he Commandant to be allowed to take the place of one of the prisoners, a Polish worker with a wife and children dependent upon him. "I'm an old man, sir, and good for nothing. My life will serve no purpose," the 45 year old priest pleaded. He was taken, thrown down the stairs into a dank dark basement with the other nine prisoners and left to starve. Usually, prisoners punished like this spent their last days howling, attacking each other and clawing the walls in a frenzy of despair. But this time, a seeming miracle was heard coming from the death chamber; "those outside heard the faint sounds of singing. For this time the prisoners had a shepherd to gently lead them through the shadows of the valley of death, pointing them to the Great Shepherd." The Nazi guards were utterly astounded to see the men they were killing by starvation, at peace with themselves, quietly singing hymns just before they died. To keep one's heart and head in love and courage, in the midst of horror and degradation-- not letting oneself become degraded, but answering hate with love-- that is a miracle of moral heroism. A few weeks later, several SS troopers along with a doctor and a prisoner who survived to report the incident, entered the basement to remove the bodies. In the light of their flashlight, they saw Fr. Kolbe, a living skeleton, propped against the wall. His head was inclined a bit to the left. He had a smile on his lips and his eyes were wide open with a far away gaze, as if seeing something invisible to the SS troopers. A needle injected poison into Fr. Kolbe's arm and in a moment he was dead. He was starved to death by the Nazis, but not before he had aided the other starving prisoners in facing their own deaths.

The Christian world is very big, but very shallow. There are so many who believe they are Christians, but who are not. So much of the Church is similar to Old Testament Israel, of which God spoke in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah....

• 10 ¶ Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
• 11 "The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
• 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
• 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
• 14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
• 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;
• 16 ¶ wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
• 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
• (Isaiah 1:10-17)

How many Christians really love Jesus, and are committed to follow Him? How many know what He taught? How many know what He told us to do? How many are trying to spread the Gospel around the world? I'm afraid our American Christianity is a thousand miles wide, but only 1/2 inch deep.

We can't do much about others, but we can begin with ourselves. Challenge yourself. Are you a real Christian? Or a Christian in name only. Do you read and ponder the words of Jesus? Are you trying to follow in His footsteps?

Are we living for ourselves, or are we living for Jesus? Are we living for ourselves, or are we living for our brothers and sisters in Christ? Instead of criticizing and condeming each other, what are we doing to build each other up in the Lord? What are our acts and words of kindness and mercy?

CONCLUSION: So we have four directives here in Romans 14:1-8...

• 1. Accept your weaker brother.
• 2. Learn to know the difference between vital foundation doctrines and peripheral things.
• 3. Stop condemning each other.
• 4. Stop living for yourself.