Romans 14:1 "Him that is weak in the
faith receive ye, [but] not to doubtful disputations."
We can easily see from this, that just because someone is not a
trained Bible scholar is no reason not to fellowship with them. We are
warned not to get into arguments with them that might lead to their
not believing. The new convert to Christianity should be fed milk and
honey for a while, until they are able to understand the deeper things
in the Word. I Corinthians 3:1 "And I, brethren, could not speak unto
you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, [even] as unto babes in
Christ." I Corinthians 3:2 "I have fed you with milk, and not with
meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are
ye able." You can clearly see from this that, a person who has just
been saved is not quite ready for the things of the Spirit. A babe in
Christ needs a little time to get the flesh under subjection of the
spirit. We Christians of long standing sometimes forget how hard it
was at first to get the flesh to obey the spirit.
Romans 14:2 "For one believeth that he may eat all things:
another, who is weak, eateth herbs."
I Timothy 4:4 "For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing
to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:" We know that
anything we have prayed over is clean and may be eaten without fear of
condemnation from God. The secret is the prayer, the prayer made it
clean for us. I Timothy 4:5 "For it is sanctified by the word of God
and prayer." The person who is eating herbs is doing it from lack of
knowledge. We, who know that it is alright to eat meat, should not
make fun of a fellow Christian who feels it is wrong. We could however
show him the following Scripture. I Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;"
I Timothy 4:2 "Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience
seared with a hot iron; " I Timothy 4:3 "Forbidding to marry, [and
commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."
Romans 14:3 "Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not;
and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath
received him." Romans 14:4 "Who art thou that judgest another man's
servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be
holden up: for God is able to make him stand."
This tells me that to the fulness of the knowledge that we
possess at the time, we should do our best to be pleasing to God.
I Corinthians 10:29 "Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the
other: for why is my liberty judged of another [man's] conscience?"
Here, we see the answer to it all. Whatever we do, we must do it with
a clear conscience. Again I say, God will not hold you responsible
for the things you do not know, if you have made an effort to do what
you believe to be pleasing to Him. Why don't we just let God handle
His business? We are not anyone's judge, God is. What God does with
someone else is not our business.
Romans 14:5 "One man esteemeth one day above another: another
esteemeth every day [alike]. Let every man be fully persuaded in his
own mind."
Colossians 2:16 "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in
drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the
sabbath [days]:" These are both interesting Scriptures, in face of
the fact that, the Jews celebrate Saturday as their Sabbath, and the
Christians celebrate Sunday as the Lord's day or first fruits. We are
told to be fully persuaded that what we are doing is pleasing to God.
We are to celebrate with a clear conscience. Whatever day you esteem,
do it as unto the Lord.
Romans 14:6 "He that regardeth the day, regardeth [it] unto the
Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not
regard [it]. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God
thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth
God thanks."
God is not so interested in the technicality of what day we
celebrate as He is in the fact that we have chosen an individual day
and set it aside to worship in. God wants our heart to be in
worshipping Him. We know that Jesus said, that the sabbath was made
for man and not man for the sabbath. Mark 2:27 "And he said unto
them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:" You
see from this it is not the day that is important, but the fact that
we choose to worship God one day a week.