Gray Matter

Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats. For God has received him. Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

How do believers live faithfully in the gray areas where Scripture is silent?

The Walk of Faith Versus Religion

How many of you have recognized in your walk with the Lord that religion is quite a bit easier than walking by faith? It is much easier to have a list of do's and don'ts—a list of things that are safe and things that are out—than it is to follow God by faith. But that is the walk of the Christian. We walk by faith and not by sight, led by the Spirit of God and by the grace of God.

In this walk we encounter many things that are not expressly spoken of in the Scriptures. Please don't misunderstand—I am not saying the Scriptures are deficient. Everything we need to know about God's character, nature, will, and salvation has been revealed to us. The Scriptures are comprehensive in what they reveal, as God intended. But there are certain things we face in this life that the Bible does not directly address.

These are what might be called gray areas—things that don't have a clear "safe" or "out" marked upon them. How do we deal with those things? How do we walk there in the middle, confronting those areas where the Bible is silent? In Romans 14 Paul speaks to that very issue.

There Are People Weak in the Faith

Verse 1 says, "Receive one who is weak in the faith." We can imagine several things that might classify someone as weak: those easily snared by temptation, those without a firm grasp on doctrine, or those who allow certain liberties that others don't. While such things may be involved, Paul will give us very clear teaching about what constitutes weakness in the faith. But first, notice the simple point: there are people in the church who are weak in their faith.

The Bible describes every Christian, when they first believe, as a "babe in Christ." We are newborn babies in the faith. Remember in John 3 when a very religious man came to Jesus by night and Jesus said, "You must be born again to come into the Kingdom of God." Every person who becomes a Christian is born again into a new life, and at first they are infants in the faith. The unfortunate fact is that some people have been part of a church for ten, twenty, or thirty years and yet, by their conduct, could still be classified as infants.

Paul wrote to the troubled church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 3:1, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual people but as carnal, as babes in Christ." Though they had followed the Lord several years, he could not write to them as spiritual because they were immature in their understanding and application of the faith. It is not necessarily abnormal to be immature—they may not have been under good teaching—but we are not to stay in that place.

We Must Grow Toward Maturity

The author of Hebrews writes in 5:12, "By this time you ought to be teachers, yet you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. You have come to need milk and not solid food." He continues, "Everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." They should have been further along, but they had not exercised themselves in the word of righteousness.

Peter says in 1 Peter 2, "As newborn babes desire the pure milk of God's word, that you may grow thereby." When we become Christians and receive the Spirit, we don't get instantly uploaded with all knowledge like the Matrix. We grow by the pure milk of God's word.

Yes, we come into the kingdom with childlike faith, and we are exhorted to be imitators of God as dear children (Ephesians 5:1). But we are not to remain children in our understanding, "tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14).

So the second point: spiritual strength and maturity are not requirements for church membership. Paul says, "Receive one who is weak in the faith." And the third point: those who are weak are to be graciously received into fellowship. There is no prerequisite to be part of the body of Christ other than putting your faith in Christ and receiving Him as Savior and Lord. There is no entrance exam. How many of you are thankful for that? I didn't test well in high school.

The word "receive" means to accept or grant access. It can also mean "to lead by the hand." We receive those who are weak so they would be strengthened, nourished, and grow into mature disciples—and a mature, healthy disciple reproduces, sharing their faith and seeing others come to the knowledge of the truth. We don't receive people who are weak only to leave them there or let them lead others astray. In Ephesians 4:11 Paul says God has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers "for the equipping of the saints, the building up of the body of Christ," so that we would no longer be children tossed by every wind of doctrine. God has given us His word, His Holy Spirit, and spiritual leaders to raise us up to maturity.

What Are "Doubtful Things"?

Paul continues, "but not to disputes over doubtful things." Grant them access, bring them in, lead them by the hand into maturity—but don't bring them in just to debate doubtful things. What is a doubtful thing? It is one of those gray areas—matters not expressly or clearly addressed in Scripture. They are nonessentials or secondary issues.

We must repeatedly remember that Paul is not speaking about clearly articulated doctrines. He is not talking about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the second coming, the inspiration of Scripture, the importance of repentance, or the sinfulness of idolatry, murder, adultery, and immorality. Those things are clearly spoken to in the Bible.

What is he talking about? Perhaps whether Christians can dance—I won't speak to that, because I can't dance, but whether it is forbidden. The Bible doesn't say. Whether a believer can watch TV or certain movies. Whether certain musical instruments can be used in worship. Whether drinking or smoking is sin. Now, drunkenness is sin—but whether consuming alcohol without being drunk is sin, the Bible doesn't say. The Bible doesn't say, "Thou shalt not smoke." You could make a case from being the temple of the Holy Spirit, but we must recognize the Bible doesn't explicitly say that.

Other examples: whether to worship on the Sabbath (Saturday) or the Lord's day (Sunday); whether communion should use grape juice or wine; whether baptism should be by immersion or sprinkling; whether there is a rapture seven years before the second coming, in the middle, or otherwise. There is a lot of leeway and discussion, and people hold different positions—and yet they are still Christians.

Essentials Versus Differences

There are many good, solid Christian churches in our community who are our brothers and sisters, though they may not share our view of worship, may use wine in communion, or may baptize differently. They still believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the inspiration of Scripture, and the incarnation. Believers attending churches like Bethel Baptist, Emmanuel Faith, or Mission Hills Church are part of the body of Christ.

There are others who call themselves Christians but hold different positions on the essentials—they don't believe Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection are sufficient for salvation, but think they must add good works. Those, such as the Latter-day Saints, are not orthodox, and there is a clear separation. But those who simply hold a different position on whether a Christian can dance—that is not grounds for excluding them from fellowship.

We are to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude) and to "convince, rebuke, exhort, with all patience and teaching" those who deny the essentials (2 Timothy 4:2). But as it relates to doubtful things, we are to be determined not to dispute. Sadly, most churches debate these middle issues—they are the very things that cause denominational separations. It's rarely about the resurrection; it's about not liking how another church worships or its mode of baptism. We must admit the Bible does not speak to every issue. Where the Bible is silent, we should endeavor to be silent also, and not disfellowship people over such things.

The Example of Food Sacrificed to Idols

Verse 2 gives an example: "For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables." If you're a vegetarian, this isn't saying you're weak in faith. We need the context. I believe Paul is addressing a cultural issue in the early church—the division between Gentile and Jewish Christians, which was a serious problem. In Acts 15 they held a church-wide leadership council in Jerusalem to deal with it. Paul addressed it repeatedly in Corinthians and Galatians, and here in Romans—written to a predominantly Gentile church—he recognizes the temptation to divide along cultural lines.

The Gentiles grew up in a society built around the worship of deities like Zeus, Apollo, Bacchus, and Diana. Worship involved sacrifices, and the temples funded themselves by selling the sacrificed meat in the marketplace at a reduced rate. So you could buy "clean" meat or cheaper "meat sacrificed to an idol." There is no real difference in the makeup; it's the same meat, just cheaper. And who doesn't like a good buy? In Gentile culture, this was no big deal—it was culturally normative.

But for Jewish believers, raised under the Levitical law and kosher rules, meat sacrificed to an idol was considered spiritually and morally unclean, and they believed eating it would make them unclean. Their entire upbringing drilled into them: do not go near unclean things. So a cultural, traditional tension arose in the church.

Does the Bible say such meats are morally unclean? Quite the opposite. In 1 Corinthians 8 Paul says an idol is nothing, and there's no demonic presence in the meat. It is intrinsically fine. Yet a Jewish believer's conscience would be buffeted by the fact it had been offered to an idol, so some would say, "If all the meat in town is offered to idols, I'll just be a vegetarian." Would they really do that? Remember Daniel and his three friends—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—taken to Babylon, who refused the king's delicacies and ate only vegetables. They were holy men of God, yet in their hearts they could not partake. It was culturally normative for the Jewish mind.

Receive One Another as God Has Received Both

It's interesting that Paul classifies the one with the stricter standard as "weak in the faith." We might think someone with a high standard of righteousness is strong and admirable, yet Paul says the one who eats freely is strong, and the one who eats only vegetables is weak.

Paul's teaching is this: "Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you to judge another man's servant? To his own master he stands or falls."

Different cultures practice the Christian faith in different ways. Their practices are not necessarily wrong—they're just different. How many of you have visited another Christian church and thought, "I don't like the way they did that," or "Now we stand, now we kneel"? If you travel with us to China or Africa, you'll see amazing differences in practice, and yet these brothers and sisters love God. It's culturally and traditionally different—but is it biblically wrong? No.

The believer who walks in liberty is not to look down with scorn on the one who refuses to eat because of conscience. And the one who has established a religious standard not based on Scripture is not to judge the one who does not observe it. There is flexibility for traditional and cultural values within the body of Christ.

Why does this matter? When we set up non-scriptural standards and hold others to them, it becomes easy to live a fake spirituality. Some have said, "I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't chew, and I don't run with those who do, so I am righteous"—yet they have not even accepted Jesus. That is a wrong standard of righteousness. Someone could be living in open adultery and say, "At least I don't drink and smoke, so I'm righteous." See the danger?

God has received both. It may be hard to recognize, but those who believe in Jesus and put their faith in God for salvation—even at that church down the road—God has received them just as He has received us. It does not bother God one whit whether one eats meat sacrificed to an idol or doesn't. There is no spiritual value to it whatsoever, yet we so often make a big deal about it. If God has received us, we should receive one another. Judging another over things not explicitly stated in Scripture is frivolous and petty.

God Alone Is the Judge

Paul gives a second example in verse 5: "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind... He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself... Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's."

Paul was willing to leave this to the conscience of the individual. But whatever we do, we must be able to do it "as to the Lord." As he says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whether we eat or drink, we do all to the glory of the Lord"—of course, not using conscience as an excuse for obviously sinful behavior. Ultimately, you and I stand before the Lord, not before one another. He is judge.

In verse 10 Paul asks, "Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother?" Notice he calls them your brother—these people with different traditional views are still brothers in Christ. "For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ... So then each of us shall give account of himself to God."

If God is the judge, why do we judge or show contempt for another? In Romans 13:8 we were exhorted to love one another, and if we are to love one another, then we are exhorted here to no longer judge one another. Why? Because God alone is the judge, and we will all stand before Him. He will take care of every issue we think He should handle. The obvious application: we should be far more concerned about ourselves than about what the person down the street is doing. But it's so much more fun to point fingers, because it diverts attention from us—our sins look worse than other people's.

Do Not Cause Your Brother to Stumble

So how do we apply this? Verse 13: "But rather resolve this, that you not put a stumbling block or cause to fall in our brother's way." This teaching is very specific: we should never do anything that might cause another to stumble into sin or fall away from faith in Christ. Paul is not saying we should never do anything that might bother someone—we bother people every day. The point is that we not cause them to fall away from the Lord.

Verse 14: "I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." How many of you have traveled to Israel? Because of Jewish dietary restrictions, you can't buy a cheeseburger there—no In-N-Out Double Double, Animal Style. There is nothing spiritually or morally unclean about an In-N-Out burger—I'm not talking about the calories or cholesterol—it's just good. Did you know this very property was supposed to be an In-N-Out? Thank God they built one down the street, but we got the property; this would have been the cash register right here.

There is nothing unclean about that burger, yet you can't eat it in Israel because the dietary restrictions forbid mixing meat and dairy. I know there's nothing unclean about it—but for someone who grew up their whole life under that restriction and then becomes a Christian, if to them it is unclean, then for that individual it is unclean.

Let me make it more serious. Suppose someone in the church came out of a life consumed by alcohol and continual drunkenness. They've come to faith, renounced those things, and set them aside. You may know that drinking alcohol is not sin—drunkenness is—but for that person who has laid it aside and said, "For me it is unclean," it would be sin to consume.

Verse 15: "Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died." Underline "no longer walking in love." I know there's nothing wrong with the burger, and I know drinking is not sin—but if it causes my brother to stumble, I won't do so openly before them, destroying them with what I deem a liberty. Romans 13:8 reminds us that love does no harm to a neighbor. So walking in love, I do away with it.

The Kingdom Is Righteousness, Peace, and Joy

Verse 16: "Do not let your good be spoken of as evil." Christ has made us free—that's a good thing. But if I use my liberty to tear someone down, that good thing becomes evil. Verse 17: "For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men."

Too often we emphasize the wrong things. In God's kingdom, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit are of value—these give us acceptance before God. We are not accepted because we do or don't eat cheeseburgers. We are accepted because of righteousness—not our own, but God's righteousness imputed to us—and the peace He gives through salvation, resulting in joy through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Not whether you worship Saturday or Sunday.

While some churches grant or withdraw membership based on dietary rites and observing certain days, God's kingdom does not grant access on those grounds. Some churches struggle with celebrating Easter, Christmas, or having a Christmas tree. God doesn't care whether you have a Christmas tree—now if you bow down and offer sacrifice to it, that's idolatry, which Scripture clearly forbids. But having a tree doesn't make you more or less righteous. You might be happier; I don't know.

Verse 19: "Let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which we may edify one another." The church in Corinth split over Sabbath versus Lord's day worship, dietary restrictions, and holidays. Paul's exhortation to Corinth, to Rome, and to us 2,000 years later is the same: pursue those things important to God and the building up of one another. "Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense." Even with liberty in Christ, if it causes another to stumble, it becomes sin for you—not because partaking is wrong, but because of the offense.

Verse 21: "It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak." If I know it might weaken, stumble, or offend another, Paul says willingly lay it aside and pursue what is important to God—righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Whatever Is Not From Faith Is Sin

"Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves." What does this mean? Imagine you walk with God by faith, mature in the Scriptures. As you walk, God impresses upon you by His Spirit, "I don't want you to eat In-N-Out Double Doubles, Animal Style." You say, "But God, they're okay." He says, "But I'm impressing upon you that I don't want you to partake." You argue, "But I like them, and there's nothing in the Bible against it."

Yet after church you drive down the freeway, get off at In-N-Out, and as you walk through the door there's that still small voice: "But I said no." "But I want it!" Now, "Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves." You approve of it, saying the Bible doesn't disprove it—yet you are condemned over it in your heart. Happy is the person who simply gives it up.

"But he who doubts is condemned if he eats"—even though the thing he partakes of is not wrong—"because he does not eat from faith. For whatever is not from faith is sin." If you cannot do what you are doing with God standing right beside you—even though there is no explicit "thou shalt not" in Scripture—then give it up. Let it go.

But don't apply that standard to other people and declare, "You shouldn't eat In-N-Out." Don't make it the standard of righteousness. Between you and the Lord, as you walk by faith, it is—but it is not the standard for another.

So how do we live in these gray areas? We walk by faith, with the Spirit of God residing in us, not judging another, but praying, "Lord, help me to discern by Your direction what is right." Amen.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for Your word. Lord, help us to apply these things—it is one thing to know it, another to live it. I thank You that the things acceptable to You, the things that give us open access to Your kingdom, are not about eating or drinking, but about righteousness—putting our faith in You for righteousness. Through Your righteousness we receive Your peace, peace with You and with one another, and joy by the abiding presence of Your Holy Spirit.

Lord, it may be that some here today have not accepted Your righteousness. They have been trying to be religious, doing away with certain things, thinking that makes them righteous. I pray that Your Word would open their eyes to see that righteousness only comes by You giving it to us, and that through Your righteousness we can have peace and joy by the abiding presence of Your Holy Spirit. Help us to serve You in these things, knowing it is these things that make us accepted to You. In Jesus' name, Amen.