Please open your Bibles this evening to the book of Romans, chapter 14. Romans, chapter 14. We are continuing to study through the doctrine of Christian liberty, which might be called a subsidiary of the doctrine of Christian freedom. We have studied for weeks now freedoms that we have in Christ, freedom from the condemnation of the law of God. Because Jesus Christ has suffered on the cross for our sins, all those that believe in Him, because He has suffered there and paid the penalty due to those sins, no longer can the law condemn us. Even though it may call us to obey, it cannot condemn us before God. We are justified by faith. We are free from the law as our judge and condemner. We're also free from the accusations of Satan who comes to us to discourage the Christian heart, to tell us that surely God could not love the likes of us. Surely he could not care for us. Surely he will not help us in situations that we find ourselves in. But we are free from those accusations because the blood of Christ has affirmed for us and confirmed that the fatherhood of God and the love of God is toward all who are in Christ, no matter what Satan may accuse us. So we return to the scriptures and to Christ for our hope and our strength. We are also free from the opinions and traditions of men to teach our conscience what is right. We are called as believers no longer to let the additions of men from the scripture bind our hearts and our consciences again. One of the great errors of the Pharisees was that in their zeal for righteousness, they added so many laws to the moral law of God, to the revealed word of God, and Christ came preaching that no longer were men to subject themselves to these man-made traditions. And we found in the Gospels that our Lord continually warned His people to turn away from the teaching of the Pharisees to the truths of God's Word. And we find in the Epistles, Paul doing the same. He says over and over again, do not let your conscience be bound to man-made traditions. Do not listen to those who come apart from the word of God and say to you, do not touch, do not taste, do not handle. And the odd thing about it all is that these teachers primarily are not those who come to take you into sin and licentiousness away from God's word, but to place upon the Christian heart what seems to be righteousness. Men who advocate abstaining from meats and drink and forbid marriage. And so there are many warnings throughout the Old and especially the New Testament to not submit our consciences to men, but rather to search the Scriptures and see if these things are so. And then we looked last week into the 1 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9, the issue of meat sacrificed to idols, and what a Christian should do in certain situations when he comes across such occasions where here is a brother who thinks that it is sin to eat meat sacrificed to idols, when Paul very clearly says it is not sin, but the brother thinks it is sin. Then what should one do? Paul says that I will not eat meat. And then he talks in first Corinthians 10 about an unbeliever, not a believing brother, but now an unbeliever that sets food before you. And if that food he does not comment on and you suspect that it's meat sacrifice to idols, you go ahead and eat it. But if the brother says that's meat that came down from the temple, then you don't eat it. Not for your conscience sake, but for his. And so the issue of our conscience not being submitted to the traditions of men is part of Christian freedom. But as we saw in closing last week, that freedom that we have in Christ must never be an excuse for licentiousness and sin, nor must it be used to cause a brother to stumble, but the root of all Christian liberty is self denial. And so in first Corinthians 14, starting now to read, we find something very interesting, a strong brother and a weak brother in the same congregation. And I want you to notice how Paul handles that problem. He doesn't do what we would think he would do. Now, except the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One man has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Let him not regard Let him who eats, pardon me, let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat. And let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls, and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man regards one day above another. Another regards every day alike. It let each man be convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord. And he who eats does so for the Lord. For he gives thanks to God. And he who eats not for the Lord, he does not eat and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living, but you, Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ or of God. For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall give praise to God. So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, To him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Therefore, do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have is your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith. And whatever is not from faith is sin. Now, we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproach thee fell upon me. For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, That through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus. That with one accord, you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. Let us pray. We thank you, Father, that you have taught us in the scriptures that none of us live to ourselves or die to ourselves. But in all that we do, we live or die unto the Lord. And as we work through this doctrine of Christian liberty and Christian freedom, we ask that you would help us to think clearly according to the scriptures, because even now in reading this passage, many of us come from different backgrounds who have heard this passage taught in different ways and already think we know what it means. But I ask, O Lord, that you would help us to come to the scriptures, and each time we read them, to have an open heart and an open mind, and to study them as they are written as best we can, and helped by your Holy Spirit to apply them as we should. We thank you that you have sent the Son of God not only to take us as individuals to heaven, but to teach us how to live together on earth. And Father, there are times when that's hard. It's hard because of ourselves, to have a kind spirit toward others, A self-denying spirit, an unselfish spirit, and it's hard for others at times to have that spirit toward us. And even as we study this doctrine of Christian liberty, we ask that you would help us with our own hearts to apply it. And be very strict with ourselves and very charitable toward our brothers. to give the benefit of the doubt, that while we examine our hearts closely with our brothers and sisters, we ask that you'd help us to let love hope all things, and believe all things, and never fail. That so whatsoever is true, whatsoever is lovely, we would let our minds dwell on these things, So help us, Father, as we work through this great doctrine of Christian liberty to have the spirit that Christ wants us to have toward one another, that our unity and our one-mindedness may be built as we join hands around the throne of God. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Last time, we tried to define the doctrine of Christian liberty. And I read to you from Ernie Reisinger's chapter where he deals with the regulative principle in the little book, Shepherding God's Flock. And I'd like to read to you again that Christian liberty has to do with the use of things indifferent. Things that are not in and of themselves defined as sin in the scripture. And he says that there are three conditions which need to be met for a thing to be indifferent. To be indifferent, a thing must lack a positive precept by which it is ordered. And there must not be any negative precept by which it is prohibited. It must truly be left as something free to be used or not to be used, to be embraced or rejected as particular conditions may require. And so a thing indifferent is not right or wrong in and of itself. It is indifferent because there is no positive command which says thou shalt not, And there is not any negative command by which it is prohibited. Secondly, to be, and if an indifferent thing is introduced into the church's worship or polity, it must be manifestly useful and conducive to edification. It may be a desirable thing elsewhere or at some other time, but is it desirable here and now in regard to worship? Third, indifferent things ought to be set up in the church with evangelical freedom, not with authoritative tyranny. They should not be made matters of compulsion, ignoring the Christian liberty of individuals or of other congregations. When indifferent things fall under authoritative tyranny, they cease to be indifferent. And the point that Ernie is making in that last principle is that if something is indifferent, it cannot be made a necessity by the authoritative leaders in the church. And it must be so clearly a sin if it is made necessary that as with the other sins in the Bible, it is ultimately subject to disciplinary action. And if it's not subject to that, and it's not that clear in the scripture, then the authorities in the church must not require it of the people. And we'll talk about that issue of authority later on. But as it stands tonight, remember those things, the things indifferent, and we have already seen that there are many things that early Christians thought were indifferent that were not, and many things they thought were not indifferent, which were. And Romans 14 especially deals with that particular issue. In Galatians and Colossians, the people were warned not to be circumcised, or else they would be compromising the gospel and losing their salvation, or that is proving that they never had it. For nothing must be added to Christ in regard to salvation. We are justified by faith alone apart from works. And so Paul told the Galatians and the Colossians that they must not be circumcised when professing Christians come and tell them that they should be. On the other hand, when Paul took Timothy in Acts 16 on his journeys in Asia Minor to preach the gospel, the first thing he did was take Timothy, whose mother was a Jewish and whose father was a Gentile, And for the sake of peace in the churches, so that Timothy may have a hearing in preaching the gospel to the Jews, Paul circumcised Timothy. But it was not for Timothy's salvation. It was according to the doctrine of accommodation that to the Jew he could become as a Jew. and to the Gentile as a Gentile. So the doctrine of Christian liberty requires that we govern our behavior not only according to the law of God, and only the laws and commandments of God define what is sin, but we also regulate our behavior in regard to its effect upon certain people in certain places. and they are not all the same. Now, what I'd like to do tonight in Romans 14 is simply work through it in a Bible study fashion and identify the problems at issue in Romans 14 and then Paul's solution to the problem in Romans 14. And then we're going to come back next time and talk about some general principles that must govern the doctrine of Christian liberty, and go on from there. So first of all, what were the problems at issue in Romans chapter 14? Well, there were three problems. In the same church, these people were worshiping together in the same pews, if they had pews. And they had differences in whether it was right or wrong to eat meat, whether it was right or wrong to observe certain days, whatever those days were, and whether it was right or wrong to drink wine. And according to this passage, there were those in that same body in Rome, that had differing views on those three issues. Now, you would think that Paul would say, let's decide the issue. Is it right or is it wrong? And all of you act this certain way. You would think that he would say, well, it's right or it's wrong to eat meat, so all of you eat meat. but he doesn't say that. It is right or wrong to observe certain days, so all of you observe those days or not. It is right or wrong to drink wine, so all of you either drink wine or none of you drink wine, but he doesn't do that. Because these two groups of people, were sitting in the same place. And though he makes a judgment on the issue, he does not resolve their problem that way. So what were the problems? And the first one in verse two was the eating of meat. One man has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. And without offense to anyone, I say amen. We do not have to be vegetarians as Christians. There's a strong vegetarian movement in America today among the non-Christian community, but also among the Christian community. And we must be extremely careful in our zeal to help a brother's health to become more restrictive than the word of God in what we require of them or teach them. It is not a sin to eat red meat. And again, I say amen. But it's not. It may not be the most healthful choice that you have, but God himself said to Peter, rise, Peter, kill and eat. And we found in scripture last week that God has made everything good and for our use. And we must be careful as Christians. It was the weak brother that was the vegetarian. His faith was weak. He thought that it was wrong to eat any meat. And this was not a Judaizing problem, which is an important issue here. because the Jews had no problem with eating meat. And this was not a Judaizing problem for salvation, because Paul would have dealt with it differently. The ceremonial laws of the Jews permitted the eating of meats, at least certain meats, and this seems to be a blanket vegetarianism. As I've tried to figure out what group this is talking about, I mentioned last time that I think this had to do with pagan asceticism. That is, this possibly had to do with the forerunners of a group that came evident in the second and third century after Christ called Gnostics. And they did come out of Rome and all through the Mediterranean world. And some Gnostics taught that flesh and material things are evil in and of themselves, but that the spirit of man is good. So the way to become more spiritual is to deny yourself normal comforts of the flesh, like abstaining from certain foods and marriage. And as I mentioned last time, the Gnostic gospel of Thomas does that. It has a story of the apostle Thomas going to India. This was probably written in the third century after Christ and attributed to the apostle Thomas. And Thomas's gospel as he went into India was to go into a household. And as he sat down to eat a meal, he would not eat any meats. He would drink only water, and as he sat there at the meal, he would teach them that they must abstain from marriage. The exact same things involved in Romans 14. 1 Timothy 4, as we read last week, Paul warned the church, but the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, 1 Timothy 4, Some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. Now, when we think of a conscience as seared, that it is so hardened that you can't make a den in it. It is so burned off by sin that it has no feeling. We tend to think of those who are thrown into the world. into drugs and alcohol and immorality, giving themselves over to sin after sin. But that's not what he's talking about here. These people have seared their own conscience the other way, verse 3, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it's received with gratitude. For it is sanctified, that is, holy or set apart by means of the word of God and prayer. If the word of God says it's okay to eat meat, it's okay. If the word of God says it's okay to eat red meat, it's okay. Because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. But notice that the conscience has been seared by abstaining from certain things. Men who forbid marriage and abstaining from foods. We must not let our consciences be subject to men's traditions or inventions, because we are free in Christ. Our conscience is to Him, not to anyone who comes and says, you can be more holy if you become celibate and give your life to a monastery or a nunnery. Or if you become one of these people who give their lives in the name of Christ and good service to Christ, who have dedicated themselves to celibacy for the kingdom of God. But you see, if one comes and says, you become more holy if you're more celibate, or celibate, can't be more celibate, you either are or you're not. If one comes and says, you are more holy if you're celibate, or you respect a person because they're celibate more than a person that is not. This is submitting your conscience to men, and you must not do that as a Christian. Now, Titus 115 is an important passage to this issue of Christian liberty. In fact, it's a prerequisite to understanding the doctrine, because everyone in this room comes from a background other churches or other teaching, or maybe you've been raised in this church, but you still have a history in the way you think about this issue. But I want you to notice what Paul says in Titus chapter one, verse 10, for there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision who must be silenced because they're upsetting whole families teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. For this cause reproved them severely that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, But by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. Now the issue of verse 15 in the principle here is this, that to the pure all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. There are those who look at any particular issue and can only look at it from the perspective of what is wrong with it, even if something may not be wrong with it. This is the person who looks at another believer, and they see or hear of this other believer doing something. And what is their attitude? They think the worst. the worst. They assume the worst. They think the worst. To the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But to the pure, all things are pure. They look at the behavior or hear of something about another believer and they assume the best. Because they're trusting that that person is more holy than they are. And while it may be true of their heart in what they observe, they're giving the benefit of the doubt and the motive to them. This is not being naive. For we know as well as the Bible teaches, that if you do not guard your heart as a Christian, you may fall into any sin in the Bible. On the other hand, we roughly treat ourselves and we grant charity toward another. And when we examine situations regarding Christian liberty, we do our best to not let our sin problems and the way our mind thinks define what is really true about the issue. To the pure, all things are pure. I will, if God says something is good and permissible for a Christian, I will, so far as within me, trust God no matter how I feel. If I've been raised in a family that says it's a sin to eat red meat, a literal sin, But God says it's not, then I will take God's word no matter how these feelings and emotions arise in me every time I see red meat. No matter my background, if God says something is good, I will accept it as good. Because to the pure, all things are pure. And so there must be a proper attitude as we approach these particular issues. In Romans 14, the weak brother was defiled in his conscience. And so when he looked at meat, he thought it was a sin to eat meat. But the strong brother, knowing God's Word that everything is sanctified by the Word of God in prayer, if God says it's good, it's good, that strong brother was pure in his thinking, and therefore it was pure to eat meat. The strong brother knew that it was acceptable before God, but the weak brother was following some non-Christian, non-Jewish teaching, still mixed in his faith, and he was unaware of that. The second issue in verses five and six of Romans 14 was the issue of observing certain days. In verse five, it says, one man regards one day above another. Another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord. And he who eats, does so for the Lord. For he gives thanks to God. And he who eats not for the Lord, he does not eat and gives thanks to God. This is a difficult passage to determine what is meant. In following Paul's line of thinking and his consistency with the way he presents things first and second, it is likely that the weak brother honors one day above another, but the strong brother honors every day alike. There are four different positions that have been put forth on what the day is that is being talked about here. What is the day? In verse five, one man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Well, it could be, first of all, the seventh day Jewish Sabbath. There were Jews in Rome They had become part of the church. And you need to remember that in the early church, the seventh day was still honored in worship, as well as the first day, at least through Acts 21. And some people say much later. And that some of the ceremonial feast and days of the Jewish nation were honored among the Jews, but not for salvation. So it could be the seventh day Jewish Sabbath that the weak brother says we must honor that day above another. Or it could be referring to the Jewish feast days, the various feasts of the Jews, the Pentecostal feast, the Passover feast. If you look in Leviticus 21 through 23, those chapters, you see that these other days were called Sabbaths as well. There was more than the seventh day Sabbath in the Old Testament. There were first day and eighth day Sabbaths as well. But it could have been the honoring of these Jewish feast days, or it could have been a pagan holiday, a special day, a fast and celebration, which would follow verse two. We know that verse two was not from Jewish prohibitions to eat meat, and it's possible that the honoring of a certain day was some kind of pagan day. Or, as some people teach today, it could be referring to the first day of the week, which was the pattern of Christian worship in the New Testament, the day that Christ was raised from the dead. Now, I do not believe that this refers to the first day, the Lord's day. And the reason I don't is that this would mean literally that there is no special day for Christians to worship. And that would contradict the New Testament in which they worshiped on the first day of the week and church history before the apostles died, which testified that the first day was the common day of worship for the churches. Also in 1 Corinthians 16, which was written only within a few months of this passage, Paul tells the Corinthian church to gather their collection on the first day of the week when they were gathered together. So whether Paul is referring to Jewish feast days or the seventh day Jewish Sabbath or some pagan holiday, This still does not eliminate the first day, the Lord's day, nor does it eliminate the fourth commandment from the law of God, which the new covenant says is written upon our hearts. The law that God once wrote on tablets of stone is what he has now written upon our hearts. The weak thought, that certain days should be honored as special. The strong said no. And I don't believe it was talking about the first day. So you search the scriptures yourself and see what you come up with. And the third issue was wine. Again, it seems to be pagan asceticism which advocated total abstinence from wine. And as I speak on this subject, I'm not advocating to anybody here or any young person here, that you should drink wine. I'm trying to be faithful to the text of scripture. Again, it seems that pagan asceticism advocated total abstinence from wine. But this was not taught by either the Old Testament or the New Testament. The weak, brother, thought abstinence from wine was essential to Christian growth. The strong brother did not. We do have warnings in the Old and New Testament to not be drunk from wine. And abstinence may be necessary for the believer. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 23. Paul says, I do all things for the sake of the gospel. that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air. But I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified. Abstinence is a legitimate Christian position regarding this issue. But these are the three issues. So what should the Christians have done? It would seem, as I said, that the solution that Paul would bring would be that either all would eat meat to straighten out the controversy or none would eat meat just to stop the fussing about it. It would seem that either all would honor this special day or none would honor this special day just to have uniformity in the church. or that all would drink wine, or that none would drink wine. But verse 14 of Romans 14 says, I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. To those that are defiled in conscience, nothing is clean. So how did Paul tell the church to live together with these differences? Here's how he did it. He said that grace must reign in both the attitudes of the strong and the weak, and their behavior must take into account the other brother. To the strong, he said in verse 1, now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. Not having a condemning spirit, you who are strong. It is true the brother is wrong. But accept him. And not for the purpose of being condescending toward his wrongness. Verse 3. Let not him who eats regard with contempt he who does not eat." Well, he's ignorant, you know. He doesn't know any better. He won't listen to me. I've explained it to him a hundred times. But he just won't accept it. Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat. Verse 10. But you, why do you judge your brother? Why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Verse 15, for if because of food your brother is hurt, you're no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Verse 18, for he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue the things which His attitude must be right, this strong brother. Not condemning and condescending and arrogant. And then the weak must have the proper attitude in verse three. Let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. You know, this brother just doesn't understand. He doesn't understand what he's doing, that this is wrong. And he's sinning against God because this is a sin. We need to pray for him. Or verse 10, but you, why do you judge your brother? Why, again, do you condemn regard your brother with contempt, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." This weak brother, who thinks it is wrong to eat meat, that you must observe a certain day above another, whatever that means, that it is a sin to drink wine, this brother, even if he sees the difference here in the stronger brother, must have charity toward him. He must think. I'm sure he's trying to work this out with the Lord. He must have thought through it some and we have a difference. I will guard my heart and I'll pray that God will make it plain to him. And if I'm wrong, that God will change me as well. And we will worship in the same pew on the Lord's day and love one another. and their behavior may have to change. The strong in verse 21 and 22. It is good, said Paul, not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. See, there are two different things here. Never give up your Christian liberty internally. Never change your mind about whether it's right or wrong based upon another brother's opinion. You may hold to your internal liberty with all your heart and be happy about it, but the external exercise of your liberty is another matter. And neither is Paul advocating that you can't do anything because someone out there disapproves of everything you do. It's not talking about that. It's talking about a sin problem, which another brother believes is sin. And in his case, and in his presence and observation, you shall not practice what he thinks is sin, lest his conscience become convicted and condemned, and he eat against his own conscience because he's observed you. I doubt any of us will be able to do much of anything if we submit to the control of everyone who names the name of Christ and who passes judgment on anything that we do. Christ is not calling us to be that submissive to the minds of others, but he is saying that if there is a genuine problem with a brother, we must be willing to deny ourselves the strong must deny what is their right privilege and what is right for the good of the weak brother whose conscience is weak. On the other hand, the weak brother needs to have the proper behavior as well, in verse 6. He who observes the day observes it for the Lord, and he who eats does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God. And he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat and gives thanks to God. The weak brother must understand that the brother who eats meat is doing it unto the Lord. He must give a proper motive. He must give the benefit of the doubt and not suspicion him of evil. Because he disagrees with something that the word of God has proved or certainly not condemned. And verse 23, but he who doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith and whatever is not from faith is sin. If you think it's wrong to eat meat, you better not eat meat, no matter if Fred eats red meat or anybody else eats red meat until you are convinced from the scripture that it's okay to eat red meat. You must hold to your conviction. with a proper attitude toward the strong brother. And so this issue of Christian liberty in Romans 14 is very difficult. But you need to understand that Paul didn't say, okay, everybody does this or nobody does that. Because the thing is an indifferent thing and or permitted by God's word. They each were to have the proper attitude one toward the other as they worship God in the same place with a charitable spirit until God revealed further things to each of them. Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification, for even Christ did not please himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproach thee fell upon me." Our Lord Jesus Christ set forth the example. He could have marched into this world as the King of heaven and the King of glory. on a proud white stallion with all kinds of attendants bearing riches behind him, setting up an earthly tent that was more glorious than any building that you've ever seen upon this earth. But he didn't come to be that kind of a lover of men's souls. He came to deny himself at no matter what the cost, what would be good for me and for you. He denied Himself heavenly privileges, rightful privileges. The Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head. The birds of the air have nests. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. You see, we don't have to have everything our way to be happy. Because we have a Savior, who denied himself for our good. So let each of us govern our own behavior for edification of others. All things are lawful to me, said Paul, but not all things are profitable. Let there be unity in things essential, liberty in things nonessential. But let there be charity in all things. For we do not live unto ourselves and we do not die unto ourselves. For whether we live or die, we're the Lord's. When you get a hold of what Jesus Christ actually did for you and how far he went to deny himself for our good, and you really understand what that good is, then to deny yourself for a weaker brother is nothing.