When Christians Disagree (Part 2) Series

Romans 14:13-23

Getting on the Same Page as God about When Christians Disagree (Part 2)

Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Love!

Introduction

A. Tomorrow is the day that we celebrate memorial day

B. For a lot of you it is a day off

C. But why do we celebrate Memorial Day?

D. We celebrate memorial day to remember the men and women who fought for our country’s freedom

E. In our Christians life we have a lot of freedom we have a lot of liberty that we can take, and that is to be enjoyed

F. However, with Freedom comes what? Responsibility

G. The same way we have a responsibility to our country to protect our freedom

H. We have a responsibility in our Christian life

I. We have the responsibility to Pursuit Love

J. To pursuit Love in all our actions

K. Today we are going to look at how to love when Christians disagree, specifically

a. Christians affect each other

b. Christians must have priorities

c. Christians must help each other grow

d. Christians must not force their opinions on others

I. Christians affect each other (13-15)

A. Explanation

1. What you do what you say what you eat, everything that you do can and will affect each other

2. What we have to realize is that our actions do affect one another

3. If you do not believe me, watch sports, you will see someone a little victory celebration and then watch kids repeat that action

4. Therefore we need to make sure that what we do does not affect a person in a negative way

5. In these verse Paul is using food as an example

6. For Paul there is no such things as unclean food, that is to say there is no such thing as if you eat certain food it is a sin

7. However, for some of the Romans Christians this was a problem

8. Paul was dealing with people who would be completely offended if he did eat some meet

9. What is the great commandment? Love one another

10. If we are acting in love we will abstain from eating the meet in front of the other person

11. Do you remember what is says in 1 Cor. 8:1? (Read It) Knowledge Puffs up, Love Builds up

B. Illustration

1. Many kids will believe that they have monsters living under their bed or in their closet

2. Mothers know this is not true, they know the only thing living under their bed is stuff growing on the garbage under the bed.

3. However what do mothers do, do they come in with their knowledge and just tell the kid to get over it?

4. No, with love they will sit at the bedside, talk to the child, and assure him that everything is secure

5. Then the child can go to sleep without fear

6. Knowledge plus love helps the week person grow strong

C. Application

1. What can we apply to our lives?

2. There are certain things that we need not create disputes over

3. I mention last week about Music weather I should listen to just Christians Music or if Secular music ok

4. If I am with someone who does not listen to secular music I am not going to listen to it around the person

5. Does that mean that I agree with their opinion?

6. Not necessarily that means I will not try to destroy my brother, rather instead I will act in Love

7. I really really like Chicken wings

8. My favorite place to eat chicken wings is Quaker Steak and Lube, as you may or may not know in many ways it could be considered a bar

9. If by going to a bar would cause a fellow Christians to become distressed, I would not longer go their

10. I like the wings a lot, but is there any food out there that is worth destroying someone?

11. No

12. Our Actions do affect each other, do your best not to let your actions negatively affect another

II. Christians Must have priorities (16-18)

A. Explanation

1. Take a look at verse 16 through 18, the Phrase what you consider good refers to the liberty enjoyed by the strong in faith

2. The church in Rome, what they consider good is the fact that all food are clean and every day is sacred in the eyes of God

3. The path of God’s grace is a broad path with lots freedom, no a restrictive path of arbitrary rules that make no sense

4. What happens is we have the uncanny ability to major on the minors

5. Just like the Pharisees of the old, we worry about things we just do not need to worry about