A Liberty Greater Than Your Rights

A Sermon on Romans 14:13–23 preached by Ps Phil Hunt

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Take your Bible, please, and turn with me to Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter 14. We want the Scriptures open before us so that we can see for ourselves the truth God has for us this morning. Romans chapter 14, and we’ll be looking at verses 13 through 23. I want to speak to you this morning on this subject: A Liberty Greater Than Your Rights.

The famous Baptist pastor of a century and a half ago, C. H. Spurgeon — how many have ever heard of C. H. Spurgeon? If you’ve been around, you’ve heard that name. Very famous — probably one of the most famous Baptist pastors in modern history, Charles Spurgeon.

It is said he openly enjoyed an occasional cigar and did not believe that smoking was inherently sinful. In 1874, an American Baptist pastor named George F. Pentecost visited London at Spurgeon’s invitation and preached at Spurgeon’s church, the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle. During his sermon, he testified about surrendering his cigars. Spurgeon famously declared afterward that he intended to go home and smoke a cigar, “to the glory of God.” The newspapers of the day picked up on that remark and spread it throughout Britain. Tobacco merchants soon began placing Spurgeon’s photograph on packets of tobacco. Critics warned Pastor Spurgeon that parents trying to discourage their sons from smoking were being answered with the words, “Spurgeon smokes.” Spurgeon did reduce his smoking and may have eventually stopped.

There’s a famous story — if you Google it, it comes up everywhere, and it can’t really be verified — that one day, as Spurgeon was heading home from his office at the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle, he looked up while riding in his carriage and saw a billboard along the road advertising cigars with the words, “The cigars that Spurgeon smokes.” The story goes that he was struck in the heart and immediately quit smoking cigars at that moment.

Whether that’s true or not, we’re not completely certain, but it does point to the truth that as Christian leaders, our private liberties can become a public influence far beyond what we intend.

We saw last week, in chapter 14 verse 1, and before that in chapters 12 and 13, that we are commanded to walk in love — as those who present themselves to God as living sacrifices, holy, not conformed to this world (chapter 12, verses 1–2). In 12:9, we are commanded to genuinely love one another within the family of God. This love is a debt we continue to pay one another throughout our lives — we saw that in chapter 13, verse 8. Last week we started in Romans chapter 14, but we only made it to verse 3. Remember, Paul told us: welcome the weak, but not to quarrel over opinions. Why? Because God has already accepted that weak brother. Who are you, who am I, to pass judgment on a weaker brother? Who am I to judge someone else’s servant? That’s the point Paul was making.

Now we need to catch up before we go further, because Paul isn’t finished making this case. Look at verse 4:

“Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”

Paul is reminding us that this brother in Christ, this sister in Christ, is not your servant — he is God’s servant. Paul says this weaker brother will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. He’s being upheld by God not because he holds his convictions perfectly, or because he never wavers or stumbles, but because God Himself has committed to keeping His servants on their feet. This is the doctrine of preservation. It does not rest on the strength of the servant, but on the power of the Master. We are preserved. We will continue.

We will cross the finish line one day to hear Christ say, “Well done” — not because we were strong, or particularly clever, or endowed with more gifts than someone else. No. We will cross the finish line because Jesus Christ has taken a personal interest in my life — to strengthen me, to hold me up, to preserve me, and to get me across the line.

I don’t know if you’ve seen those clips from the Olympics, or from long marathons, where the runner is coming and his legs just stop working. I saw one recently — the finish line was right there, and the guy kept trying to get up, and he’d stumble and fall, try to get up, stumble and fall, and started crawling toward the finish line. Another racer could have run right past him and won the race. But that racer stopped, picked him up, got him back on his feet even though his legs were like jelly, put his arm around him, and carried him across the finish line so that he won the race.

That’s what God does for us. It is called the doctrine of preservation. He who has received you will preserve you and will present you faultless before the Father. Can we say amen to that glorious truth? Hold on to that truth, because it’s going to matter again in a few minutes.

Notice in verse 5, Paul then says that this weaker brother is not obligated to see things your way — he must be fully convinced in his own mind:

“One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”

One brother believes that one day is holy, and the other brother believes that every day is alike — but both brothers belong to Christ, and both act out of a heart of thankfulness to Jesus. In other words, they are motivated in the decisions they make by their gratitude to Christ for His amazing salvation. Shouldn’t that be our motivation, friend? If you know Jesus as your Savior, shouldn’t we be motivated to serve, to be faithful, and to be holy? Shouldn’t we be motivated out of a heart overflowing with gratitude for what Christ has done for us on the cross — redeeming us, justifying us by faith, and guaranteeing us a home in heaven?

This is what Paul argues in verses 7 through 9: whatever we do, it is for the Lord. And that conviction was personal — it’s between the Master and the servant. That’s a very personal issue. It’s not yours to overrule. It’s not yours to get next to the brother and say, “Let me just help you with this — you know, every day, actually, there’s no such thing as a special and holy day.” Paul says, don’t start judging one another, and don’t start despising one another — the strong despising the weak, and the weak judging the strong. Don’t do that. Let every man be fully convinced in his own mind before the Lord.

And in verses 10 through 12, Paul reminds us that that same servant is going to give an account — but not to you. He’s not going to answer to you; he’s going to answer to his Master. Listen to what it says:

“We will all stand before the judgment seat of God… So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Judging your brother is like grading someone else’s homework. It’s not your assignment. What are you doing? That’s what Paul is saying. So welcome him — why? Because God accepts him, as we saw last week, because he belongs to another Master. And watch yourself, because you yourself will one day give an account to God for yourself, not for him.

That’s where we left it: stop judging one another in the application of Scripture. But Paul doesn’t stop there, so we can’t stop there. It’s not enough to simply leave your brother alone. Paul goes on to argue that if you are the stronger believer, you have a responsibility toward your brother or sister, and that responsibility is fueled — motivated — by love. Your Christian liberty was never meant to be exercised in selfishness; it is to be governed by love toward others.

So here’s the question for this morning: how, then, do we walk in love toward the weaker brother? Verses 1 through 12 tell us: stop judging. That’s where you start — by stopping. Stop judging him. And then, in our text this morning, start limiting your own liberty in love.

This text is like a sandwich — there are two “buns,” two outer sections, and the “meat” in the middle. Verses 13 through 16, and again 20 and 21, give us this idea:

Don’t Stumble Your Brother

Look at verse 13. Do you see the first word? “Therefore.” So Paul is saying: therefore, stop judging one another. Why? Because your brother is God’s servant, because I am not his judge, because as God’s servant he will answer to his Master, and because — remember what we just said — you will give an account for yourself, not for him. So stop looking for our rights, and start looking for how we can help our brother not stumble and fall back into sin. Stop judging your brother. Instead, judge that you will not put a boulder, a stone, into his path over which he could stumble and fall.

In Galatians 5:13, Paul writes to the church of Galatia: “Do not use freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Notice again, verse 13: “Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer.” Now look at the next phrase — “but.” So, don’t do this — stop passing judgment, stop judging one another, stop despising one another because you see things differently in your applications of Scripture. Stop it. But instead — decide. That’s actually the Greek word used here; it does mean to decide — decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

What is a stumbling block? In our home, as my children were growing up, we had a hallway that ran in a circle, with the big homeschool room in the middle. At night, we would play — chase each other, play tag, run around that circle. When the kids were little, they loved it — they’d scream and run, and I’d chase them. Then somebody had the great idea to turn the lights off, so now Daddy was supposed to sneak up on them quietly. You could hear them all giggling in the corner, then running around the corner, looking one way, then the other — “Where is he? Where’s he coming from?” Then I’d jump out, they’d scream and run, and if I tagged them, they were “in jail” and had to sit on the couch until somebody tagged them free.

Well, one of my bright, intellectual children — I don’t remember which one — decided that in the dark, in this interior hallway where you truly could not see, they would hide behind one of the open bedroom doors. And when I came running past, they’d take a plastic toy container and slide it right in front of me as I came down the hall in the dark. What happened? It was a stumbling block, and I went flying. They thought it was funny until I said, “That’s it, the game is over.” They’d tripped me in the dark, not realizing it could have broken my neck or my arm. I’m not eight years old! A stumbling block.

Paul is saying: don’t do anything, don’t be involved in any exercise of your liberties that would cause your brother to trip up spiritually — whereby he would be tempted to violate his conscience and act contrary to his faith. In other words, don’t exercise your freedom if it means your brother could be tempted back into sinful patterns of living, into sinful habits or addictions. Don’t do it.

Because if you cause one of Christ’s children to stumble, God takes offense. Look at Matthew 18, verse 5 and following. The word “child” here means a child of God — not merely, though it would include, a human physical child. It says:

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me… but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Well, how’s that for graphic? Rather than causing one of God’s dear children to stumble back into sin, it would be better to go tie a millstone — you know what a millstone was, that massive round stone they used to grind wheat — tie it around your neck and jump into the middle of the lake. It would be better for you to do that than to exercise liberty in a way that causes your weaker brother to stumble and go back into a life of sin.

That’s heavy. That’s serious, is what I mean. So the warning here is: do not cause your brother to stumble. Don’t put a hindrance in the way of his spiritual growth and maturity. That’s number one. Why? Because your liberty is not yours to judge.

Your Liberty Is on Solid Theological Ground

Look at verse 14:

“I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean.”

Paul is saying: theologically, there is no such thing as unclean food. There’s no such thing. There’s no such thing as an unholy day. There’s a big debate in the US over October 31st — Halloween. Big debates over whether children should dress up in a Halloween costume and go collect candy, if you’re a Christian, or whether they shouldn’t. People are at odds with one another over whether their little children should dress up and go out. You know what Paul says? All days are holy because God created them. “I am persuaded that nothing is unclean of itself” — he’s talking here about the conscience.

Paul had knowledge. He had confidence that God had declared all foods clean. That was theological clarity — you can read 1 Corinthians 8:7–13, where he speaks about this again. And yet he acknowledges the reality of an uninformed conscience. There were brothers who were weak because their conscience told them that eating a particular food was sinful. What’s going on there? Well, remember — the Jews were coming out of the Old Testament dispensation, with all its requirements about clean and unclean animals, what meat you could and couldn’t eat, how things had to be prepared, ceremonial defilement, and being barred from temple worship. All of that had trained their conscience in that way.

And relative to the conscience, Paul says, it is a sin for that person to eat that food — though it’s not a sin relative to reality. The reality is there is no sin; all food is good because God created it. There’s nothing unclean; you’re free to eat anything you want. But if your conscience tells you this is a sin against God, and you, believing it to be a sin, go ahead and do it anyway, you have sinned.

How did Paul know this about food? Because Jesus Himself said so. Look at Mark 7:15 — Jesus is speaking:

“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.”

And verse 19: “Since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled” — thus Jesus declared all foods clean. Paul knew that. Paul knew he was free to eat anything — even pork! Praise God, one of my favorite foods — free to eat pork. But that’s taboo for an Orthodox Jew; it’s unclean to them.

Your Liberty Is to Be Exercised in Love

Look again at verse 15:

“For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.”

Don’t let your good be spoken of as evil. And in verse 20: “Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is not good to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.”

Your liberty is to be exercised in love. Don’t grieve your brother. The word “grieved” here means genuine spiritual pain and injury. Don’t destroy your brother over your freedom to eat certain foods. Paul issues this warning in verses 15 and 16, and the same warning again in verses 20 and 21. Right in the middle — which we’ll see next — is the kingdom of God.

“Do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.” How can you engage in exercising your liberties knowing you are destroying a Christian for whom Jesus suffered and died on the cross? He died for that brother, that sister. How can you then destroy the one for whom Christ made alive? Do you see the contrast? We are to exercise our liberties in love. 1 Corinthians 8:11 says, “By your knowledge, the weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.” What will you choose, Christian — to act on your liberty, or to act in line with Christ’s atoning death?

Notice also: legitimate liberty gets reviled when exercised carelessly before unbelievers. We live in a culture where unbelievers have certain social expectations of Christians. Many unbelievers would say, “A Christian should never…” — you can’t be a good Christian and drink alcohol, or you can’t be a good Christian and smoke cigarettes. In Zambian culture, lost people, unbelievers — those who don’t believe in Jesus — look at it that way. We understand from this text that they’re not accurate. And yet that’s how they view it, that’s what they see. So when they see you, who claim to be a Christian, doing the things that culturally society says Christians don’t do, and you say, “I’m free” — yes, you are, you’re free, go join C. H. Spurgeon and smoke a cigar for the glory of God — except when you do, the community around you despises the name of Christ because of your exercise of freedom. “That guy calls himself a Christian? What kind of Christian is this?” Have you heard people say things like that?

That’s what Paul is saying here. Don’t do that. Be willing, because of the love that Christ has shed abroad in our hearts, and the love we have for Jesus and for others, to set aside our liberty for the sake of Christ and His glory. That’s Paul’s argument. Everything is clean, but the priority is love over liberty. He says in verses 20–21, it is better not to eat, or to drink wine, or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble. So what will you choose — to hold your liberty, or to surrender it the way Christ surrendered His life for your brother? What will you do?

Don’t Trade the Kingdom for Your Liberty

Number one was: don’t stumble your brother by the exercise of your liberty. Number two, verses 17 through 19: don’t trade the kingdom for your liberty.

Look at verse 17, and notice the substance of the kingdom. It’s not issues of liberty, food, and drink; it’s not the scruples of the weak. Diet is not the measure of spirituality.

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

The substance of the kingdom is righteousness — the practical righteousness of conduct, possible because you and I have been declared and made righteous before God through the death of Jesus Christ for our sins on the cross. Second, peace — this speaks of peace with God that results in the peace of God. Third, joy in the Holy Spirit — not some vague feeling of “I just feel so peaceful,” but a Spirit-produced fruit. The fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22–23, is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, and so on. So don’t trade the kingdom for your liberty, because the substance of the kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit — not what you eat and drink.

Second, notice the commendation in the kingdom. Look at verse 18. Those who set aside their liberty in love are commended by God for using that liberty in love toward a brother in Christ. The word “well-pleasing” is the exact same root Greek word translated in Romans 12:2 as “acceptable” — “but be transformed… that by testing you may discern what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.” Same word. We’re to be well-pleasing. God is well-pleased when we put righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit ahead of, and give priority over, our liberties. Not only commended by God, but, notice verse 18, commended by fellow servants — fellow Christians around us approve of our faith in Christ. This is what faithful Christian living looks like. We want the world to see Jesus, not stumble over our use of Christian liberty.

Third, notice the purpose in the kingdom, verse 19: “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.” We are called to edify others in the kingdom of God. To edify means to build them up to be like Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:11: “Encourage one another and build one another up.” Peace is not just what the kingdom is — it’s what you’re now sent to pursue. Look again: “Let us pursue what makes for peace.” We are to pursue — to actively and intentionally follow hard after peace within the fellowship of the saints at Kitwe Church. We’re to strive for peace. This is the opposite of confusion, turmoil, and disunity. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Strive for peace with everyone.”

We are building a new worship center — a new church building over here in Parklands. We pray that, through what God will give during our sacrifice offering on September 6th, we’ll be able to purchase the bricks and mortar and see the contractor begin work on the slab that’s already sitting there, and begin to build this building and see it rise up. We’re praying that God will provide the four million kwacha we need, which will then release the matching grant of nine million, so we can move forward with our building — the bricks and the mortar.

But in the building of Christ’s church, every believer is a brick, and peace is the mortar holding it all together. Confusion and disunity happen when bricks are laid without mortar. When you try to build a church without everyone pursuing peace and love, the wall is a mess and will eventually collapse.

Don’t Sin Against Your Conscience

Number three. Look at verses 22 and 23:

“The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

Don’t sin against your conscience. What is Paul saying? Listen, stronger Christian: exercise your freedom in private. Keep it between yourself and God — that’s literally what he just said. Don’t get together with others and debate disputable things; there’s nothing edifying in that. 1 Corinthians 8:9: “Take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.”

When Lori and I first moved to Africa in 1992, we moved to Mombasa, Kenya, in ’92 and ’93. In Mombasa, my wife always wore skirts and dresses — always — because slacks, in that time and place, were considered immodest. In fact, the saying in Mombasa was that only prostitutes wore slacks. It was inconceivable to the population in Mombasa in 1992 that a woman could be a good Christian and wear anything other than a dress or a chitenge. So what did Lori do? She only wore skirts and dresses when she left the house. She wore slacks inside our home. But if we had a visitor knock on the door, she would scurry to the back and change. Why? Because we wanted to live out this principle — because we loved these people, because we wanted to see them come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, not stumble over our exercise of liberty.

Exercise your freedom in private, Paul says, and then live your faith in public. Whatever you do that is not from faith, Paul says, is sin. So do not sin against your conscience. Titus 1:15: “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; their minds and consciences are defiled.” Our conscience is free to act upon our faith, but our practice is limited by love when the use of our liberty would injure a brother or cause him to fall into sinning against his own conscience.

Spurgeon claimed that his liberty was to the glory of God. Paul agrees with that standard, but he applies it in the other direction: “Whether, therefore, you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Whether you eat or you don’t, whether you exercise your liberty or lay it down for your brother, do it all for the glory of God.

So what’s the point? Our unity at Kitwe Church is not shared cultures, shared customs, or agreeing on every application of Scripture. That is not where our unity lies. It is sharing a Master who died both for us and for our brothers — a Master who not only died for us both, but sustains us and will one day judge us. Christian friend, guard that unity. Let love, not liberty, have the final word in your decisions.

So what should we do with this? Where do we go from here? Let me suggest two things.

Number one: some of you this morning need to surrender your life to Jesus. You’re not a Christian, you’re not saved. You might know about Him, but you do not know Him in an intimate and real way. He has never come to live in you by His Holy Spirit. He is not the Lord of your life. You are still condemned in your trespasses and sins. This morning, I have great news for you: the God who sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the sufficient sacrifice for your sin, welcomes you to come to Him in humble faith. Turn from your sins and believe in the finished work of Jesus, and He will save you this morning, right now, where you sit — you can become a Christian. Don’t delay, friends. Don’t delay. Don’t wait. Surrender to Jesus today.

Christian friend, what about you — where do you go with this? How do you respond to what we’ve learned today? Surrender your liberty. Are you willing to set something aside? Surrender your liberty for the good of your brother. That’s what God is calling us to do — surrender your liberty for the advancement and the good of your brother.

Father, we thank You that the Spirit of God dwells within us. We thank You for the clear teaching of Your Word that sets us free — our consciences free. We thank You for the teaching of this passage. We pray, O God, that our responses might be coupled to faith on one side and love on the other. We’d not compromise the truth, but that we would speak that truth and live that truth in love. Use us in one another’s lives to encourage one another, to build one another up in the most holy faith. O God, may we never, as Your children, exercise our liberties to the destruction and injury of a baby Christian. May we never exercise our Christian liberties to the detriment of the testimony of Christ within the context You have placed us. Give us wisdom, Lord. May we love You with all of our hearts. May we love one another. And may You be pleased to preserve our unity with one another within this congregation because of our unity with You.

With your heads bowed and your eyes closed — if you’re here and you have never received Christ as your Savior, today, as Paul says to the Corinthians, “Behold, today is the day of salvation, behold, now is the accepted time.” Right where you sit, if you will humble your heart before God and believe in Jesus’ finished work on the cross as a complete sacrifice for your sins, He will save you, He will make you His child, right now. You may be very religious, even a church person, and yet you’ve not yet taken that final step of becoming God’s child — won’t you do that? Believe on Jesus, let Him transform you. Transformed Christian, won’t you submit to the Spirit of God who lives within you, and allow your decisions this week to be motivated by love? Father, hear our cry, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.