When Christians Disagree (Part 1) Series

Romans 14:1-12

Getting on the Same Page as God About When Christians Disagree (Part 1)

Introduction

A. Growing up here in PA I never realized how big the Civil War is even to this day in the South

B. I thought we were over that

C. When I went down to Toccoa Falls In GA I quickly realized they still cared about the war

D. I have always been a Yankee and always sided with the Yankees

E. Then the movie “God’s and Generals” came out. Now I am a little more confused

F. One of the reasons is because of General Robert E. Lee. I am really impressed with this mans dedication and honor

G. I was ready about Lee the other day and I cam across this:

a. Robert e. Lee was asked what he thought of a fellow officer in the confederate army who had made some derogatory remarks about him. Lee responded and rated the fellow officer as being very satisfactory.

b. The person who asks this question said, “I guess you don’t know what has been saying about you?

c. “I know,” answered Lee. “But I was asked my opinion of Him, not his opinion of me.

H. Robert E. Lee Gut’s it!

I. Today we are going to look at when Christians Disagree

J. We are going to see how we are to handle these disagreements

K. Specifically we are going to look at the fact that:

a. God has Received Us

b. God sustains Us

c. Jesus Christ is Lord

d. Jesus Christ is Judge

I. God Has Received Us (1-3)

A. Explanation

1. Let us first key in on the last part of verse 3. “For God has accepted Him”

2. Who did Christ die for?

3. He died for all

4. That does not mean that he died just for the people who “only eat vegetables”

5. That does not mean that he died just for the people who “eat Meet”

6. He died for all

7. We have been talking a lot the last couple of months about the fact that none of us deserve to be saved, but yet “God has accepted Him”

8. God knew what he was getting Himself into when He sent His Son Jesus to accept us

9. Paul is tells us not to pass judgment on disputable matters

10. Now if someone tells you there are other ways to Heaven other then Jesus, there wrong

11. If someone tells you that they feel the rapture of the Church will happen before the great tribulation and you feel it will happen after the tribulation, FORGET IT, these are the things we are to avoid

B. Application

1. What can we gain from this and apply it to our lives?

2. To set up man made restrictions on basis of our own personal prejudices (or even our own convictions) is to go beyond the Word of God

3. Because God has Received us, we must receive one another

4. We must not argue over these non essential matters

5. We must not Judge over these non essential matters

6. We must not despise over these non essential matters

7. One of the great thinkers and writers in all of Church History is St. Augustine

8. He put it like this “In essential, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, Love”

C. Illustration

1. In Acts we are told about the vision that Peter received and how he began ministering to the Gentiles, this made the church upset and they held a special conference to deal with this matter

2. The conclusion was that “Christ died for everyone and the Gentiles need to here the Gospel”

3. Now it is interesting to note that Peter still struggled in this area. In Galatians 2:11-13 we read were Paul rebuked Peter for snubbing the Gentiles

4. God showed both Peter and Paul that Christian fellowship was not to be based on food or religious calendars

5. In Every church you are going to find week and strong believers

a) The weak believer must not condemn the strong and call them unspiritual

b) And the Strong Believer must not despise the week and call them immure

6. God has received both the week and the strong, therefore we should receive one another

II. God Sustains His Own (4)

A. Explanation

1. Verse 4 has become my “verse of the week”

2. Take a look at it. Read Verse 4

3. Obviously you know I like things that hit me right in the eye

4. When we see the word Servant that is referring to a Christian

5. The master is God

6. God knows what his servant is capable of, God knows what he wants his servant to do

7. Do you know? NO