Have you ever listened to someone trying to learn an instrument? Maybe your kids have been learning how to play the piano, or the guitar, or the violin, or the flute, or some other kind of instrument, and as they practiced a new song, you listened in, and you might have been able to discern what the song was that they were trying to play, but it sounded really rough. But a week or two later, as they continued to practice, and you continued to listen in, the song became clear. Not only did it become clear, when they played it the right way, the song sounded beautiful. The song sounded harmonious. In some respects, the church is like an instrument that is being played. If you think about it this way, we can have right doctrine. We can have right teachings, sound teaching. We can have qualified elders who are leading. We can have qualified deacons who are serving. A church can even have several ministries in which members are involved. But if we're not living in harmony with one another, the semblance of a church may exist, but it's clear that the church is not functioning the way that it should. Even the world can discern when a church is not in sync with one another. Beginning in chapter 12, Paul has been helping us see that the gospel creates harmony in the life of the church. How so? Because through the gospel of Jesus, God declares that all of us in Christ are forgiven, we are justified, and we are no longer condemned. That's across the board for every member of God's family. You are justified, you are forgiven, and you are no longer condemned. That is what God has said he thinks about all of his people. And because God doesn't condemn us, what Paul is helping us see in Romans 12, 13, 14, and beyond, is that we shouldn't condemn each other either, that we shouldn't despise each other, that we shouldn't judge each other. Instead, the gospel helps us to love and respect each other, even when we disagree on matters. And friends, this kind of community is the kind of beautiful and attractive community that the world is longing for. And friends, we have it. and we can offer it to the world through Christ. And as we've observed together for the last few weeks, in Romans chapter 14, particularly verses one through nine, Paul has given us a clear path for how we can handle matters of disagreement regarding opinions or convictions. He teaches us that we should love and welcome one another into the family of God because God has welcomed us. Aside from matters of sound doctrine that are central to the faith, aside from real sin issues that have captivated a church, most of the matters that we discuss together are matters of opinion. Most of the ways that we live out our faith are matters of conviction, not commandment. And these can easily divide us when we make these opinions central issues to our faith. And in Romans 14 verses 10 through 12, so that's our text this morning, Paul puts these matters into perspective. That's what I want us to think about together this morning. What kind of perspective on life is Paul wanting us to have as we live and worship the Lord together. And this perspective is gonna help us to be patient with each other. So let me give you the perspective in a statement that Paul wants us to take on, and then we'll look at it together in the text this morning. So here's the perspective. On that final day, that final day that all of scripture attests to, On that final day, all of those in Christ will give an account to God, not to each other, about how we stewarded our lives. So let me say that again. On that final day, all of those in Christ will give an account to God, not to each other, about how we stewarded our lives. To say it another way, as Pastor Dallas reminded us last week, Jesus is Lord. I'm not your Lord, you're not my Lord, Christ is Lord. And we all will give an account to him on that final day. That's what Paul wants us to see in Romans 14, beginning in verse 10. I'll start there and read through verse 12. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, for it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. There's a framework around this text that I think is important to understand so we can comprehend what Paul is actually trying to teach us in these couple of verses here. And the first thing I want you to notice about this text, you see it there in verse 10, is the word brother. Just look there in verse 10. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? Now, as we've already looked at by reading the text, Paul is going to address the subject of final judgment. That day in the future when Christ returns and judges the world. But keep in mind that Paul in this particular context is addressing members of the church at Rome. He's writing to Christians and he's addressing different opinions on matters like Jewish food laws under the old covenant or the Jewish calendar and the certain Celebrations that Jews would gather together and remember God through, or the Sabbath day that they would worship the Lord together on. And what Paul does here is he refers to them both as brothers, which is simply another term for believers. And that word brothers is comprehensive. It certainly means brothers and sisters. So members of the Church of God, his family, brothers and sisters in the faith. What that signals to us is that as Paul raises the subject of final judgment, he's doing so as it relates to Christians and the final judgment. Now in Romans 1 through 11, Paul went through great lengths to show us that it's by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, that anyone becomes a member of God's family. When we are justified by faith, we are justified forever. That is the basis for our entrance into God's kingdom. And it is all of grace, not of works. My works, your good works, the good things we do as Christians, those do not determine whether or not we enter God's kingdom on that final day. It's by grace that we will enter God's kingdom. So when Paul deals with giving an account to God in verse 12, that helps us know that he's dealing with something other than whether or not we will enter the kingdom of God. He's made it clear, we're in because of Christ. So when we look at verse 12, he's dealing with how we stewarded our lives and how we lived in light of these opinions and convictions that Paul has been addressing here in Romans 14. And this is foundational for understanding verses 10 through 12. So we gotta ask the question, who specifically is Paul addressing in these couple of verses here? We learned in Romans 14, one through nine, that there are those in the church at Rome who Paul calls, this is Paul's language, he calls them the weaker Christian, and then he refers to some as the stronger Christian. We talked about that for a couple of weeks now, what he means by that. But Romans 14, verses two and three, gives us a little context for what he's referring to here. So just look at verses two and three. One person believes he may eat anything. He says later, that's the stronger Christian. His conscience, her conscience is not bound by old covenant Jewish food laws. So he says, one person believes he may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him." So who's Paul dealing with? Who's he addressing in these couple of verses? As he phrases it, the weaker Christian and the stronger Christian. Now, there were Christians who believed that old covenant food laws were no longer in effect. Paul, in fact, lumps himself into that group in Romans 15 verse one. In their consciences, they felt that they were free to eat all foods, even if these foods had been offered to idols, because God is Lord over all foods. And so they felt free to eat certain foods that were at one time prohibited. And Paul refers to these Christians as the stronger Christians. But there were also Christians in the church at Rome, probably Jewish Christians, who believed that they needed to keep the food laws in order to remain faithful to God. And Paul referred to these Christians as the weaker Christians. So here's the deal. This was causing tension in the church. It was causing certain Christians to judge those that had different opinions, to, in one sense, condemn those who had different opinions than themselves. And it caused other Christians to look down and despise those who had differing opinions from themselves. So Paul is addressing the stronger and the weaker Christians. By the way, Every one of us in some respects falls into both of these categories on different subjects because there are some subjects, some issues that we may be stronger in in the faith and our understanding of God's word and how we live it out. And there's some issues that we're maybe weaker in the faith and our understanding in how we live that out. So we can't just lump this person into the strong category and this person into the weak category, we have to be humble enough to recognize, yeah, there's areas I'm strong in, there's areas I'm weak in. But in this church, Romans, in the church at Rome, Paul is dealing with two very specific groups on two very specific issues, food laws and the Jewish calendar. So here's what he's going to do, and I think there's so much instruction for us here in this text. He's gonna ask two questions. So that's how I want us to kind of think about this passage, and then he's going to give us that perspective that we began with in this sermon. So here's the first question, and it's for the weaker Christian. Verse 10. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Now this is a question directly aimed at the weaker Christian in the church at Rome. How do we know this? Because in verses two and three, that passage I read earlier, he uses the word judgment with respect to the weaker Christian judging the stronger Christian. Look again at verse two. One person believes he may eat anything, that's the stronger Christian, while the weaker person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains. Then he directly addresses the weaker Christian. And let not the one who abstains, all right? You got these Jewish food laws that you're holding on to so you're not going to eat certain foods. And let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats. So we know here in verse 10, this first question is addressed to the weaker Christian. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Why are you judging the brother or the sister who eats all foods because they believe all foods now are ceremonially clean? What does Paul mean when he asked the question, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Imagine a scenario with me that I think is a reasonable scenario. It's reasonable to imagine a scenario in the church at Rome where a Jewish Christian who has followed the Jewish dietary laws all of his or her life, and this person now has a difficult time eating pork, which was considered ceremonially unclean under the old covenant food laws. So you can imagine that scenario. In Christ, justified by faith, my only hope of salvation is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. But my entire life, I've kept these laws, and it was an act of obedience. So you can imagine a scenario in which that kind of Jewish Christian says, I need to continue obeying these laws. Because in his mind, he believes that in order to be faithful to God, he needs to abstain from eating pork. He knows that he is saved by faith. He knows what happened to Peter in Acts chapter 10, with the great sheet coming down and God telling Peter that all foods are now clean to eat. He's not abstaining to earn God's favor. Christ earned it for him. Rather, he believes it's a matter of keeping himself holy and separate from the pagan world. His conscience is still bound by this old covenant command. All right, so that's the scenario. In Christ alone I'm saved, but God called me to obedience, and I think this is still a matter of obedience. Now, here's what this can potentially do to that kind of person's mind. This is what it can do to the mindset of that Christian toward other Christians who don't follow this particular command anymore. It can create a sense of, well, I'm more obedient than you. or you are living in disobedience because you're not following these commands. And friends, that is a spirit of condemnation. Judging another brother or sister on a matter that is an opinion. That is a spirit of judgment. Again, this is not warning a brother or sister, like in Galatians chapter six, verse one, to stop continuing in sin. No, this is a matter of opinion, a matter of interpreting how the new covenant has fulfilled the old. You say, well, okay, what about a modern day example? We could go all over the place for this, but let me just give you one example to help us think through What exactly Paul's getting at? Here's a principle regarding worship. As Christians, we believe that we ought to express a sense of reverence in worship. There are other things that we ought to express in worship, but we should certainly express reverence in worship. And regarding music, This is something that we see take place in churches. One Christian might believe a certain style of music conveys more reverence, while another Christian believes that styles of music are not central to conveying reverence in worship. So for one, it's an act of reverence. For another, it's not really a matter of reverence. The kinds are styles of music that we sing. So the traditionalist, can potentially mentally and verbally condemn the other Christian because he or she, they believe, are not revering God in worship. Now again, that's one example of many examples that we could think about together. But the point is, that is a matter of passing judgment on your brother or sister. There may be certain things you do or don't do because you believe that you are being obedient to God. Maybe you view Sunday as the new Sabbath. And for some Christians, you're not gonna work on the Sabbath or you're not gonna mow your lawn or do yard work on Sunday. And when other Christians do yard work on Sundays, it's possible you could have a spirit of judgment towards your brothers and sisters who don't hold the same opinion. But God is teaching us in Romans 14 not to judge or condemn a brother or sister over a matter of opinion. So that's the question that he asked the weaker Christian. Then he asked a question to the stronger Christian. And we see it there in the second half of verse 10. So here's question two. Or you, why do you despise your brother? So the first question is aimed at the brother or sister who holds a particular conviction and then judges the other brother or sister who doesn't hold that same conviction and judges them and in their mind and even verbally condemns them because they're not being as obedient as I am. But the second question is aimed at the stronger Christian. Why do you despise your brother? You hear that language, despise? Now again, how do we know that Paul is referring to the stronger Christian? Let verses two and three be our guide. Verse two, one person believes he may eat anything stronger. while the weak person eats only vegetables. Now look at verse three. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains. So there's the connection. Just as he connected the weaker Christian judging the stronger Christian, now he's addressing the stronger Christian despising the weaker Christian. So there's the connection with the word despise. Now what does he mean when he says, why do you despise your brother? Let me pose the same scenario, but from the stronger Christian's perspective. Again, it's reasonable to imagine a scenario in the church at Rome where you have a Jewish Christian who has followed the Jewish dietary laws for all of his life, has a difficult time eating pork which was considered unclean, In his mind, he believes that in order to be faithful to God, he needs to abstain from eating pork. He knows that he is saved by faith alone in Christ alone. He knows what happened in Acts chapter 10. All foods have been declared clean to eat. In his mind, it's a matter of obedience. Now here's the difference for the stronger Christian that Paul refers to. In his or her mind, if God has declared all foods clean, then we can enjoy all foods, right? In fact, Jesus said in Mark 7, 15, there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. Now here's the danger for the stronger Christian. It's not a matter of judgment, it's a matter of despising the weaker brother or sister. Because if this person who believes that all has been made clean, if this person operates out of a spirit of truth without grace, and that's key, it'll be hard to exercise any patience with the weaker Christian. Don't you know your Bible? Don't you know what happened in Acts chapter 10? And this is the mindset that can potentially develop toward other Christians who maybe think they ought to keep certain old covenant commands. It creates a sense from the stronger Christian toward the weaker Christian. Well, you're a legalist. You're just adding laws that no longer matter anymore. Don't put your unnecessary, burdensome commands on me. You just need to get it together because you don't understand your Bible. That's despising a brother or sister. This is someone that Jesus bought with his blood. In fact, the word despise means to treat with contempt or to regard as nothing. Well, you don't even get your Bible anyways. What's the fellowship worth it to me? And this is despising. This is looking down on someone without respecting them. Again, I'll go back to the same modern-day example, just something that we all can relate to. We should be reverent in worship. That's the principle. Regarding music, one might believe certain style conveys more reverence, while another believes styles of music are not central to conveying reverence in worship. the non-traditionalist mentally and verbally may despise the other Christian. Because, oh, you only believe there's one kind of style that can bring reverence into our worship. You just don't understand your Bible. And that's just, that's despising our blood-bought brothers and sisters. Friends, there may be certain issues that you feel you're more mature in, that you have a better biblical understanding of a particular issue, and yet you find yourself despising those that have a different opinion than you. And God is teaching us in this larger passage, go on back to chapter 14, verse one, not to quarrel over opinions, but to welcome each other. So these are the two questions that Paul is raising, one to the weaker Christian and one to the stronger Christian. Why do you judge? Why do you despise? That's the framework. Now he's going to give us the right perspective we ought to have, which is not judgment and not despising. So here's the perspective. All will be judged by God. All will be judged by God. In the very last part of verse 10, he says, for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. Verse 11, for it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. It's as clear as day. Every human being is going to confess to God. Now again, I want to mention here, certainly all people will be judged. But Paul is specifically addressing believers. That's the context of these few verses. Those who he's writing to. Now the Bible certainly addresses the judgment of all people everywhere for all time. There will be a final day on which the sheep are separated from the goats, as Jesus uses that language in the Gospels. There will be a final day that he will judge those who are in Christ and those who are outside of Christ. There will be a day when every person will enter in to their final destination. Each will spend forever either in everlasting life with Christ or everlasting torment in hell apart from Christ. So that's a major theme that runs throughout the Bible about this final day. And Jesus really addresses this significantly in the Gospels. But in this text, Paul is specifically addressing the judgment of believers. The judgment of believers. He's specifically referring to Christians, both strong and weak, standing before the judgment seat of God, and we all will stand, all of us, strong, weak, all of us will stand before a holy and righteous God. And across the board, all in Christ will be justified. That's not the issue that Paul is dealing with here. We will be saved. Okay, we gotta get that. Paul's not dealing with our works in relation to our final salvation. He's dealing with something else here. Christ's work on the cross is our basis for justification, not our works. So what is he getting at? Okay, if we are justified in Christ, then we have a responsibility on this earth while we have breath in our lungs to steward our lives to the glory of God. That's what Paul's dealing with here. You will be justified on that final day because you're justified right now. You are legally accepted into God's family. The adoption papers have been signed by the blood of Christ. It will never be reversed. You are His forever. You can call Him Abba Father. But as Christians, we have been given lives to steward for His glory. That's a responsibility that all of us have. And how we do that will be accounted for on that final day. This includes how we live out our faith in all matters, even our opinions and convictions. So this is the reality, the perspective that Paul is trying to help us embrace and live in and relate to one another with, and he's gonna explain that in the latter part of verse 10. So here's the perspective. He says, for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. Now what does it mean to stand before the judgment seat of God? Well in this text Paul is saying the judgment seat of God conveys at least two realities. So here they are. We will all make a confession and we will all give an account. We will all make a confession and we will all give an account. Let's think about that first reality. We will all make a confession. In verse 11, Paul supports his assessment of where we are all headed by quoting the prophet Isaiah. He goes back to Isaiah 45, verse 23, and he says, for it is written. This is verse 11. As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So what is Paul doing? He's reaching back to the prophet Isaiah to something that Isaiah said hundreds of years ago and he's helping us understand that the Bible is harmonious. The Bible is telling the same story. The same thing that Isaiah was telling you, I am telling you today. Paul is reaching back to Isaiah when he made an appeal to the nations to turn to God and be saved. Well now that we have the full revelation of God's redemptive plan, that's what Paul is reaching back to and he's saying, we know the whole story now. Christ has come. He is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. So we have the full revelation of God's redemptive plan. Now that we have it, We will all stand before the judgment seat of God and confess that Jesus is Lord. In fact, Paul alludes to this same reference in Isaiah 45 in Philippians chapter 2. Beginning in verse 8, I'll just read, he says, and being found in him excuse me, and being found in human form, Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that, at the name of Jesus, Every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What Isaiah was saying in Isaiah 45 has now been fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so we will all stand before the judgment seat of God and in Christ we will say, we boast in Christ alone. Can you imagine a scenario where the Father looks at you and says, why should I let you into my kingdom? The only answer we will have to give is, you shouldn't. But Christ is Lord. and he is my Lord and his righteousness is my righteousness and in him you have forgiven me and that is the only basis for our entrance into the kingdom. So we all will stand before a holy God and make the confession Jesus is Lord. You know what we will not be confessing? Oh, this brother, this sister that I was a member of the same church with, they were my Lord. No, that's not what we're gonna be saying. No, Jesus is Lord. That's the confession, okay? But in that confession, Paul says we will also give an account for how we stewarded our lives under his Lordship. So notice the second reality, we will all give an account. Verse 12, so then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. I'm not sure that we can Look to the Bible and know exactly how this giving an account for our lives will look on that final day. I'm not sure the Bible gives us all those details about what that final day is gonna look like for Christians. So I won't spend time trying to speculate this morning about what that could look like. But most importantly, here's what I think Paul wants us to understand. He has made the case in Romans 14 that we all are not each other's judges. God is. So I won't give an account for you, you won't give an account for me, we are not each other's judges. Now here's the point. In the context of the church at Rome, when you abstain from eating certain foods, are you doing that in faith? Or when you eat all foods because all foods have been made clean, are you doing that in faith? Or when you worshiped joyfully to all kinds of styles of music? Did you do that in faith? When you mowed your lawn on Sunday, did you do that in faith? I mean, whatever it is, the point he's making is, as you live out the truth of your justification, I'm in Christ, as you live out the truth of your salvation, Are you living in faith? Wherever you land on your opinions, are you living by faith? Are you exercising what the Spirit has given you? Did you act the way you did because you believed that it pleased the Lord? Or like Paul says in Galatians chapter one, were you trying to please other men and women? Are you trying to please the Lord? And friends, what Paul wants us to understand in this text, only God knows your heart. So we can't be each other's judges. And so we shouldn't judge or despise each other. Instead, We ought to open up our arms wide and just welcome each other into the family of God. Again, I want to be clear, Paul addresses sin in the church. So when there are sin issues, oh, there's a way to handle those. But that's not what he's dealing with here. He's dealing with matters of opinion. He's dealing with brothers and sisters who look at the same issue and land in different places. And he says, don't judge each other. Don't despise each other. No, welcome each other because God has welcomed you into his family. And so we welcome each other and we respect each other for the decisions that we make, particularly on matters of opinion. And friends, that's what pleases the Lord. this right perspective that we will all give an account to God. He's judge. This helps us be patient with each other. This helps us to love each other. And friends, this is the kind of harmonious community that the world is longing for. And we have it. And we have much to offer. Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Father, we live in the midst of a world that is incredibly divided. And you have given this world a microcosm, in your local churches, a microcosm of what true unity, true love looks like. And Father, we as your people, we confess that we don't always live it out perfectly. We sin, we offend each other, we hurt one another. But Father, we have the means to forgive each other because we have been forgiven in Christ. You have welcomed us into your family. And so Father, I pray the truth of the gospel would deeply affect our hearts this morning. And we would seek to show love and kindness to each other. We would be eager to listen in. on why we believe certain things, and to be patient with others when we disagree. and to even recognize that maybe we're actually the ones that are weak in an area and our brother or sister we thought was is actually strong. Lord, you can do this kind of work in our midst and we need you to do it. We pray you'll do it all for the glory of your name. Father, we love you and we're so grateful that you first loved us. We ask all these things in Christ's name and for his glory, amen.