Romans 14: Welcome the One Who Doesn't Think Like You

Introduction

Takashi Kondo, pastor of Hamadera Bible Church (Japan), continues his series "The Believer Who Lives as an Architect." Jesus, the master builder, is building his Church. He tore down the walls that divided, and he placed every believer on his construction site with four carpenter's tools: the Word, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer.

This sixth message looks at the construction site itself. On a site, you work with people who don't think like you. We didn't grow up in the same environment, we haven't lived through the same things, and we don't understand the Word in the same way. And wherever people this different come together, division and conflict show up fast.

Romans 14 answers a very practical question: how do we live together when believers who love the same Lord don't share the same convictions? The pastor identifies seven truths in it. This message develops the first two.

Outline of the Message

1. What the Bible Says Clearly, and What It Leaves to Our Wisdom

• For the believer, the Bible is the Word of God and carries absolute authority. It contains clear commandments: do not murder, do not steal, love and serve one another. On these points, there is no debate.
• But the Bible is not an instruction manual that covers every situation. When you are unsure about a job, it doesn't give you the name of the company. When you pray about whom to marry, the page you open doesn't carry the person's name.
• It gives principles and wisdom so you can choose in the fear of God. That is where the problem starts: believers who have the same Bible and the same Lord don't always reach the same conclusions about what it doesn't spell out.
• What music can a Christian listen to? What should you do or not do on Sunday? How should you dress for worship? What kinds of leisure are appropriate? Ask these questions in a church, and you won't get a single answer.
• These differences easily slide into judgment. We are so sure we are right that we condemn the other person in our heart, we keep our distance from "the one who doesn't understand me," and division settles in little by little.

2. The Church in Rome, a Construction Site Full of Differences

• Jews and Gentiles found themselves in the same Church in Rome. Two groups that had never mixed had become one family in Jesus. But the years they had lived before salvation were not erased in an instant.
• The Jewish believers had grown up under the law of Moses, with its dietary rules and the Sabbath. Leviticus 11 lists the animals that may be eaten. By keeping these laws, Israel showed that it was a holy people.
• These laws are fulfilled in Jesus. He teaches that what goes into a person from outside cannot defile them (Mark 7:18-19). Yet imagine it: what you were taught never to eat, you are suddenly told you can eat. Many hesitated.
• Peter himself resisted in his vision: "Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." The voice answered him: "What God has cleansed, don't you call unclean" (Acts 10:14-15). It took him time to fully receive this teaching.
• The Gentile believers, for their part, came out of a world of idol worship. Meat offered to idols was sold in the market, meals went along with religious festivals, and certain days were held sacred. Many wondered whether they could still touch anything that reminded them of their former life.

3. First Truth: Differences Exist Among Brothers and Sisters

• "One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats herbs" (Romans 14:2). "One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind" (Romans 14:5).
• Is having different opinions a sin? No. When people from varied backgrounds become one in the Lord, it is normal for differences to exist. They believed in the same Lord, but they didn't have the same past.
• It is true for us as well. We are saved by the same Gospel, but we didn't grow up in the same family, the same culture, the same traditions. Our maturity differs, and so does our understanding of the Word.
• The pastor asks us to truly believe this, not just to know it. Because when you see a brother think differently, your first reaction is often: "Why is he doing that?" or "Something is wrong with him."
• "The question is not whether there are differences. There are. The question is how we handle them."

4. Who Is "the One Who Is Weak in Faith"?

• Romans 14:1 speaks of "one who is weak in faith." This is not someone who trusts Jesus very little, nor someone who gives in easily to temptation, nor a person who is physically frail.
• It is a believer who is still spiritually immature, whose conscience remains fragile. He knows a little of the Word and the Gospel, but his limited understanding keeps him from choosing with full conviction what is permitted in his daily life.
• The pastor quotes Leon Morris: Paul is not speaking of a person whose confidence in Christ is weak, but of someone who has not yet grasped how to live as a believer, who has not yet applied his faith to his concrete life.
• In Rome, believers were free to eat anything, and it was not a sin. The weak person, however, couldn't let go of his old habits. Even after being taught about his freedom in Christ, he still felt a twinge of conscience.

5. Second Truth: Welcome, Don't Judge

• "Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions" (Romans 14:1). This is not a suggestion, it is a command.
• The word "welcome" means to receive someone into your circle, to take an interest in them and draw them close. It is not a reluctant welcome, but one full of gentleness and love.
• The same word appears in Acts 28:2: on Malta, the islanders "kindled a fire, and received us all, because of the present rain, and because of the cold." And in Philemon 17, when Paul sends Onesimus back: "If then you count me a partner, receive him as myself."
• The verb translated "judge" or "dispute" can also suggest separation, division, quarreling, and conflict. That is exactly what is born when we don't welcome one another.
• The pastor asks each of us: on the subjects the Bible doesn't settle, don't you take your own way of doing things as the standard? Even without saying anything, don't you judge in your heart the brother who walks differently?

6. Judgment Goes Both Ways

• "Don't let him who eats despise him who doesn't eat. Don't let him who doesn't eat judge him who eats" (Romans 14:3). The danger exists on both sides.
• The strong can despise the weak: "They are legalists," "the Bible doesn't forbid it, so don't tell me what to do," "he is an immature believer." He can see the weak as a nuisance who keeps him from enjoying his freedom.
• The weak can judge the strong: "He doesn't fear God," "he is sinning." He can even go as far as breaking fellowship with him.
• Both attitudes make the same mistake: when the strong and the weak refuse to welcome the one who is different, they have forgotten the Gospel. When we judge someone, the Gospel is no longer in our heart.

7. God Has Welcomed Him, So Welcome Him Too

• Verse 3 ends this way: "for God has accepted him." It is the same word as in verse 1. The foundation of welcoming one another is that God has welcomed us.
• We were not welcomed because we were perfect, or because our way of thinking was flawless. We were sinners wandering like sheep, in rebellion against God. Jesus was nailed to the cross in our place, and God received us as his own when we believed in him.
• Having received the same grace, will you say to your brother: "I don't like the way you think, I can't welcome you," or "I don't want fellowship with you because you don't measure up to my standards"? That would be strange.
• The pastor makes this clear: the sin the Bible clearly condemns is not to be covered up under the name of difference. We confront it with grace, according to the Word. But we don't judge a brother over what the Bible doesn't call sin, as if our opinions were God's commandments.
• "Those who have known grace should be the most gracious in the way they treat one another."
• What makes us one is not our personality, our culture, or our preferences: it is Jesus Christ. The pastor concludes with Mark Dever and Paul Alexander (The Deliberate Church): if we can live in love through the Gospel when we have nothing in common except Christ, it is proof of the power of the Gospel to transform self-centered sinners into a community that loves one another.

Key Takeaways

• The Bible gives clear commandments, and on everything else, it gives wisdom. On those matters, faithful believers can reach different convictions.
• Differences between brothers and sisters are normal. What matters is how we handle them.
• The one who is weak in faith is not the one who doubts Jesus, but the one whose conscience is not yet free to apply his faith to his concrete life.
• To welcome is to receive the other warmly, like the people of Malta around the fire, not to put up with them reluctantly.
• The strong who despise and the weak who judge make the same mistake: they forget that God welcomed the other by the same grace.

Personal Application

1. On what subject the Bible doesn't settle do you tend to take your own way of doing things as the standard?
2. Is there a brother or sister you judge in your heart, even without saying anything? What would the thought "God has accepted him" change?
3. Do you see yourself more in the strong who despise or in the weak who judge?
4. Whom could you welcome this week with the warmth of Acts 28:2, by taking a real interest in them?
5. Take a moment to remember how God welcomed you, and thank him for this grace.

Verses Cited

• Romans 14:1-19
• Leviticus 11:1-2
• Mark 7:18-19
• Acts 10:14-15
• Acts 28:2
• Philemon 17

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is "the one who is weak in faith" in Romans 14?

For Takashi Kondo, this is not someone who trusts Jesus very little. It is a believer who is still immature, whose conscience remains fragile: he knows the Gospel, but he is not yet able to decide with full conviction what is permitted and what is not in his daily life.

What does "welcome" mean in Romans 14:1?

The word describes a warm welcome: receiving someone into your circle and taking an interest in them. The same verb describes how the shipwrecked were received around a fire on Malta (Acts 28:2) and Paul's request that Philemon receive Onesimus as himself (Philemon 17).

Do we have to accept everything in the name of differences?

No. The preacher makes clear that sin the Bible clearly condemns is not to be tolerated under the pretext of difference: we confront it with grace, according to the Word. Romans 14 concerns subjects on which the Bible does not speak clearly, where no one should impose their opinions as God's commandments.