Teachers: the objective of this lesson is carefully to examine Paul's concept of mutual respect and caring among Christians. As challenging as the previous lessons might be in the context of today's world, this lesson's challenge is based on spiritual maturity. The spiritually mature must care for the spiritually weak. The mature give every consideration to the consciences of the weak. The mature will not cause the immature to fall away from Christ.
To have an honest understanding of Paul's point to these Christians in Rome, it is necessary to understand two of Paul's basic perspectives. These two perspectives provided some of Paul's primary motivations. Paul's first perspective: God always seeks a Christian's best interest. That is an astounding perspective for a man who forfeited so much to be a Christian. He was among Judaism's leading students prior to becoming a Christian (Galatians 1:14). He possessed all the proper credentials to be successful in Judaism (Philippians 3:4-6). He willingly forfeited all the advantages that could produce success in first century physical Israel. He consciously, deliberately made those choices in order to acquire Christ (Philippians 3:7-11). Yet, he had absolutely no doubt that God always seeks a Christian's best interest.
The point and power of Paul's lesson must not be separated from Paul's theological perspectives. To reduce Paul's teaching to a matter of mere rules and regulations destroys the importance of his lesson. Paul's reason for stressing the necessity of the spiritually mature caring for the spiritually immature is based on his view of God. God always seeks the highest good of each Christian. For Paul, that was absolute, unquestionable truth. That truth was the essence of faith. That truth was the foundation of Paul's personal sacrifice. From his Damascus Road experience forward, even in all he experienced as recorded in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33, Paul never doubted that God sought and promoted his greatest good. A common failure to trust the truth that God seeks today's Christian's greatest good often betrays us. Paul did not measure God's commitment to his good in terms of his physical situations or blessings. Today's Christian frequently measures God's commitment to his personal good through materialistic considerations.
Acceptance of Paul's message about Jesus Christ often resulted in struggle and hardship in the lives of those who believed. Paul always considered the "this world" rewards of Christian existence to be superior to "this world" consequences of being a Christian. Repeatedly Paul stressed the rewards of such qualities as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Consider Galatians 5:22,23; Ephesians 5:9; Romans 5:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:7; Colossians 3:12-15). To Paul, the intangible traits of Christian character and integrity were superior to the tangible gifts of status and possessions.
To Paul, there was no conflict between God's commitment to his highest good and the suffering he physically endured. A human's highest good was not measured by physical considerations or material benefits.
Paul's second perspective: life in God's world with God is vastly superior to any lifestyle on this earth. Consider Philippians 1:23. To Paul, nothing equaled life with Christ in God's world. Compare his Philippians 1:23 statement to 2 Corinthians 5:8 and 2 Timothy 4:6-8.
The greatest blessing any person can receive is life with God in God's world. Paul would not have understood a Christian's desperate attempts to continue physical life.
Under no circumstance could Paul consider any person entering eternal life with God and Christ as an undesirable occurrence. Under no circumstance could Paul envision a judgment scene in which one saved person regretted another person's being saved. In judgment, no Jewish Christian would regret the salvation of any Christian who was not a Jew. In judgment, no Christian who was not Jewish would regret the salvation of any Jewish Christian. In judgment no saved person will oppose or regret the salvation of another person--regardless of what the person did on earth or who the person was on earth.
The death of any person in Christ Jesus produced a desirable circumstance that exceeded the physical mind's ability to grasp or imagine.
Paul's two perspectives totally change the purpose and objective of a Christian's earthly life. "If I will not oppose or reject a person's salvation in judgment, I will encourage his or her relationship with God now. I will encourage the spiritually weak. I will neither judge the spiritually weak nor hold the spiritually strong in contempt. I will be an encourager, not a stumbling block."
A sharing in the faith generated by those perspectives produced this Christian resolve: "I will do anything in my power to encourage a Christian in his or her salvation. I will do nothing to discourage any Christian in his or her salvation. I will never hinder a person on his or her journey to be with God."
Jesus stressed this responsibility: never cause believers to stumble! In Matthew 18:6-9 Jesus said drowning in the sea because a heavy stone was tied to your neck is preferable to causing "a little one who believes in Me to stumble." His emphasis was so definite that he said people should separate themselves from anything that caused stumbling. A similar emphasis is seen in Luke 17:1,2. A person who caused stumbling was promised severe punishment. Though stumbling is a part of this world's existence, do not cause it!
Too few Christians grasp the severe consequences of causing a weaker Christian to stumble and fall away from Christ. Existence in this physical life is spiritually hazardous. It is inevitable that some will spiritually stumble and fall. Pity the person who causes even the weakest believer to fall! His or her consequences are so severe that they make a deliberate drowning seem desirable. One would be better off if he (or she) had a huge stone tied to his (or her) neck and the stone thrown into a lake [guaranteeing death by drowning]. That person would die without any hope of recovering his (or her) body. A violent physical death is to be preferred to causing someone weak to stumble and fall away from God!
Why? Paul answered why in today's text. God invested the supreme sacrifice to make a believer's salvation possible (14:15). Do not cause a person for whom Christ died to stumble. Be deeply aware of the enormous price God paid for his or her salvation. Never allow self-centered concerns to become obstacles to another Christian's faith.
The "why?" surpasses the worth of the fallen person. The "why?" is understood only when one realizes the enormous sacrifice God made to save the fallen one. Christ died to save that person. The offender caused him or her to separate self from the Savior. Each Christian soberly must cling to this truth: "I must never allow myself to behave in a manner that creates an obstacle to another Christian's faith.
"Instead of judging each other regarding sacrificial meat, be concerned about not placing an obstacle or reason for stumbling in your fellow Christian's spiritual path. I am convinced Jesus Christ makes all food pure. However, if a Christian considers sacrificial meat impure, to him it is impure. If you really love that Christian [as God does] do not allow mere food to spiritually destroy him. Because of understanding, to you the food is a good thing. To your brother who does not have your understanding, your food is an evil thing. Do not allow your good thing to be his evil thing. The focus of God's kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The focus is not food and drink. So do not allow your food and drink to be more important than the spiritual well being of another Christian. Being considerate in the food you eat will result in God and people's approval. Commit yourself to practices that produce peace and nurture other Christians. Do not allow what you eat to tear down God's work. If what you eat offends another Christian, your eating results in evil. Do not do anything that causes another Christian to stumble. Hold your correct understanding and conviction quietly before God. Happiness is found in not condemning yourself through matters that receive your approval. Do not forget this: if your eating sacrificial meat encourages a brother who doubts to eat sacrificial meat, he sins. There is no sin in eating sacrificial meat. However, when a Christian violates his conscience, he sins. To him, eating that meat is an act of rebellion against God. His conscience regards eating that meat as a act of rebellion. Faith in God does not rebel against God. If eating sacrificial meat is to him an act of rebellion [not an act of faith in God], he sins because in his understanding he rebelled." In answer to an ancient question, spiritually we are our brother's keeper.
The lengthy preceding paragraph is a paraphrase of Paul's statement.
Noteworthy principles to be understood and practiced:
Never place obstacles in another believer's spiritual path.
Rather than justifying behavior that causes stumbling, concentrate on not being an obstacle to any believer's faith.
Something may be purified by Jesus Christ and evil at the same time.
Jesus purified all food including meat offered to idols. But, if a Christian's faith had not matured to accept and understand what Jesus did, eating sacrificial meat was sinful behavior.
A Christian cannot love another Christian and be insensitive to his or her conscience.
Love in one believer cannot be insensitive to another believer's conscience.
Christians can spiritually destroy a Christian for whom Christ died.
An insensitive Christian can cause the occurrence of spiritual death in another Christian.
While what you do may of itself be good, do not do it in a manner that causes another believer to see it as evil.
A Christian with mature faith could eat meat sacrificed to an idol while honoring and glorifying God for the food. However, a weaker Christian could see the eating as an act of worship to the idol. In the mind of the weaker Christian, the stronger Christian as engaging in evil behavior by honoring another god.
The focus of God's kingdom is on God's purposes in human life.
The focus of a mature Christian is never on selfishness or physical indulgence but on God's eternal purposes and objectives in life.
Christians should pursue things that produce peace among them and result in spiritually building each other up.
The Christian's focus is not on "what can I justify for me," but on "what will produce peace among Christians as it encourages them."
Do not allow self-centered concerns to tear down God's work.
When my selfish considerations work against God's purposes in others, I become God's enemy. I actively oppose His continuing work in Christ.
Encouraging a Christian to violate his or her conscience is encouraging that Christian to sin.
When a believer violates his or her conscience, he or she chooses to disregard or rebel against what he or she feels is rightfully God's will. Even if what is done is "right within itself," it is still a conscious, deliberate act of rebellion against what one feels God wants. A primary aspect of sin is conscious, deliberate rebellion against God.
Encouraging a Christian to violate his or her conscience is encouraging that Christian to stumble spiritually.
Spiritually it is impossible to violate one's conscience and not sustain a spiritual wound.
We can hold a correct understanding quietly before God when that correct understanding would cause other Christians to stumble.
When necessary, a mature Christian quietly can hold a correct understanding as a private awareness between himself or herself and God. In so doing, he or she does not become the cause of a weaker Christian stumbling.
Thought question:
Explain why it is essential for a Christian to honor his or her conscience. Note: the most common way to cause a weak Christian to stumble is to encourage him or her to violate his or her conscience.
The core of the explanation is this: the act of violating one's conscience [that inner understanding of right and wrong] is an act of rebelling against one's understanding of God's will and desire. To knowingly rebel against one's understanding of God's will is sinful. Being godly involves commitment, not mere technicalities.
Link to Student Guide
Quarter 3, Lesson 10