Needless debates can tear a church apart in no time. So how do the strong and weak avoid dividing over matters of conscience — considering that God has designed the church to be a family with differing levels of knowledge and maturity? Paul gives four corrections in Romans 14. First, don’t condemn your brother for something God doesn’t condemn them for. Second, don’t destroy God’s church for the sake of a food, day, custom, or conviction not clearly given in His Word. Third, seek the kingdom of God. And, fourth, pursue the things that make for peace. While we’re not to violate our conscience, we are to walk in faith, love, and kindness, forgiving one another as Christ has forgiven us.  

 Sermon: https://churchandfamilylife.com/sermons/692d2f7d76788078fc36b81d

Romans 14, 13-21 says, pursue the things that make for peace. That's verse 19, that's the heart of the entire section. God has designed the church to be a family of different backgrounds, different scruples, different levels of maturity, different levels of knowledge. And so learning how to love each other is critical all the way through your Christian life, all the way to glory, because we change through our Christian lives. And so the apostle Paul is talking about what he calls the strong and the weak.

Here's how he dissects this. He says that the weak are tender in their conscience. They have scruples that aren't necessary. The strong are free in their consciences and have a sense of Christian liberty. And both of them are tempted to sin against each other.

The weak are tempted to judge the strong. The strong are tempted to despise the weak. He's really saying you can't make your personal conscience issue a test of fellowship. I like the way Luther said this. Check the nuance here.

He says, a Christian is a free Lord of all and a dutiful servant of all. That's really the balance that the Apostle is talking about in Romans 14. The kingdom of God is not in food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." And so all of this to say, God is trying to protect the Roman church, that local church, and every other church afterward so that believers are not the policemen of everybody else's liberty. The Apostles' focus really isn't making rules about diet and days, but love and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. What he says is to pursue the things that make for peace in verse 19.

He uses this word pursue. It actually means to hunt, to hunt it down, to chase it down, and what does it do? It edifies, it builds up, it protects. And so he says, edify one another, don't tear down. And so the apostle Paul is saying, whatever you do, do it by faith.

Don't violate your conscience. Don't override your conscience. Your conscience is like the smoke alarm of the soul. And the apostle isn't telling the strong to change their view. He's not telling the weak to change their view, but what he's saying is don't violate your conscience.

That takes you down a wrong path. This is all about walking in love, kindness toward one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, because God in Christ has forgiven us. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Scripture applied as a production of Church and Family Life. Visit ChurchandFamilyLife.com for more resources.