Romans 14:14-23

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="097285a1erlcgo.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Grace Evangelical Church</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Grace Evangelical Church"><U><B>home</B></U></A><B>    </B></div> <div> <A HREF="id296.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 13:17 p1"><U>Romans 13:1-7 p1</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 13:17 p2"><U>Romans 13:1-7 p2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id307.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 13:810"><U>Romans 13:8-10</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id309.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 13:1114"><U>Romans 13:11-14</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id310.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 14:113"><U>Romans 14:1-13</U></A>   |   <B>Romans 14:14-23</B>   |   <A HREF="id320.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 15:16"><U>Romans 15:1-6</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id321.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 15:713"><U>Romans 15:7-13</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id329.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 15:14"><U>Romans 15:14</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id330.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Romans 15:1521"><U> Romans 15:15-21</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id331.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 15:2223"><U>Romans 15:22-23</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id332.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 16:116"><U>Romans 16:1-16</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id342.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 16:1727"><U>Romans 16:17-27</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="096d2c00dkelyh.png"> <div> Main Menu:</div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Who Are We?"><U>Who Are We?</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What Do We Believe?"><U>What Do We Believe?</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Where Do We Meet?"><U>Where Do We Meet?</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Good News For You!"><U>Good News For You!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Life of the Church:</div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Announcements"><U>Announcements</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Calendar"><U>Calendar</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id398.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Newsletters"><U>Newsletters</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Staff"><U>Staff</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id267.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon MP3s"><U>Sermon MP3's</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id341.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Library"><U>Library</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Ministries:</div> <div> <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fellowship Groups"><U>Fellowship Groups</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Missions Ministry"><U>Missions Ministry</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mens Ministry"><U>Men's Ministry</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Womens Ministry"><U>Women's Ministry</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Childrens Ministries"><U>Children's Ministries</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Youth Ministries"><U>Youth Ministries</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Romans 14:14-23</I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="0a7bc4b0.jpg" border=0 width="700" height="75" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Edify of Edifice   Part 2</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Rom 14:14-23</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>     How should you live before a restrictive (weak) brother?  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Principle: Love does not violate your brother 14:14</B></div> <div> 1 Corinthians 6:12 </div> <bR> <div> <B>Practice: Love does what is best for others 14:15-17  </B></div> <div> The Law of Christ Galatians 6:1-4<B> </B> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> Law of liberty 1 Cor. 8:1-7  </div> <div> Law of love 1 Cor. 8:7-13</div> <div> Law of Supreme Sacrifice 1 Cor. 9:1-15  </div> <div> Law of Accommodation 1 Cor. 9:16-23 </div> <div> Proverbs 26:4-5; John 4:32  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Principle: Love pursues peace with all 14:18</B></div> <div> Acceptable to God 2 Cor 5:9; Rom 6:22; 12:1, 11 </div> <div> Approved by men </div> <div> Handling openly and honestly God's Word 2 Cor. 4:2 </div> <div> Persuading others of the coming accountability 2 Cor. 5:11 </div> <div> Willingness to go through suffering 2 Cor. 6:4 </div> <div> Dealing honestly with finances 2 Cor. 8:21<I> </I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Practice: Pursue godly things 14:19</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>     </B></FONT></div> <div> Pursue peace with others Matthew 5:9<B>;</B> John 14:26-27; John 14:26 </div> <div> Build up each other Eph. 4:29</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Principle: Love lets God work 14:20-21</B></div> <div> Phil. 1:6; country-regionplaceRom. 14:17</div> <bR> <div> <B>Practice: Practice your faith before God 14:22-23</B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B>Your practice is godly if you let God work</B></I></div> <div> <I><B> pursuing peace with all with a fully convinced conscience.</B></I></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Biblical Teaching on God living in the Believer's Soul (part fourteen)</B></div> <bR> <div>      This study continues the study of God's work in creating a home in your soul, i.e. a temple for the residence of Jesus Christ.  This week we discuss the last two rooms in the soul - the bathroom and the bedroom.  Proverbs 24:3 notes, “Through wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established.”  </div> <bR> <div> The best way to rest at night is to work hard during the day.  Exercise, fresh air, and good food always give our body a craving for rest.  That's why people rested more before electricity and television.  Two hundred years ago, more people worked hard on farms in fresh air and they slept well until the rooster crowed.  The same principles apply in the spiritual life.     </div> <bR> <div>      The writer to the Hebrew Christians called attention to the failure of the Israelites to rest in the provision and protection of the Lord (Heb. 3).  The Israelites refused to trust God and God said, (3:11), <I>As I swore in My wrath, they will not enter My rest.”  I wonder if insomnia is the physical parallel of failing to work hard, eat right and trust in the provision and protection of God?   </I>The writer addresses his audience in Hebrews 4 with the importance of faith in the promises of God.</div> <bR> <div> <I>Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.  Heb. 4:1 </I></div> <bR> <div> He warns them to fear, because when we fall short, we will be in sin, and it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God because of sin.  country-regionplaceIsrael failed many times.  country-regionplaceIsrael came short of God's rest when they complained to Moses for not having water to drink in the desert. (Ex. 17:2)  They fell short when they complained about having to eat the same old manna for every meal (Num. 11).   We fall short when we depend on ourselves for happiness, when we consistently rise early and retire late to accomplish our aspirations, and when we depend on our efforts in life.</div> <bR> <div>      The problem was not the inadequacy of the promises, but that the people would not trust the promises.  They would not unite the promises with their faith, Heb. 4:2 <I>For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard</I>.   When we take the promises of God's Word and unite them with faith, we will be able to stand firm.  It's like concrete mix and water.  If the concrete and water are kept separate, neither will provide a good footing or material necessary to hold bricks together.  But if they are mixed together, then the concrete can be used to hold a wall upright and strong.  The wet concrete dries and leaves a solid product.  The concrete is the Word of God and the water is our faith.  When the mixture dries, the divine production remains, because Jesus Christ is increased or glorified, and we are decreased.  As we stand firm we rest, because God provides the power.  We do not rest when we are disobedient to His command to believe His provision.</div> <bR> <div> <I>For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter my rest. Although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.  For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; And again in this passage; “THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience. (Heb 4:3-6)</I></div> <bR> <div> It takes faith, belief or trust to enter His rest.  Faith rest describes faith in the promises of God, because He has already accomplished all that will need to be done since the foundation of the world.  Now, we have yet to see how it will work out, but God has completed the actions.  Our part is resting in what He has designed and done.  When we realize it is God who works in us, then life has a new perspective.  Why do we fail?  Because we are resting in ourselves, in our own efforts, rather than God and that's sin.  It's sin not to learn the promises of God.  It's sin not to trust the promises of God by faith and rest in those promises.   The writer continues, “<I>There remains therefore a Sabbath Rest for the people of God.  For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His (Heb. 4:9-10).</I></div> <bR> <div>      The Sabbath refers to the seventh day when God rested from His creation work.  God was not tired, but He recognized the work was complete and enjoyed His creation.  There was nothing more to be done, so God established the pattern of rest and remembrance.  Growing believers who enter than rest cease from their own works, and allow the Lord to work through them.  Paul wrote, “<I>I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but God lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself up for me (Gal. 2:20</I>).”  Growing believers trust as the bricks are assembled in the temple of their soul that the wet concrete will solidify so they can stand firm (Eph. 6:10,11).  </div> <bR> <div>      In order to get to the point where we rest, however, we do have to labor.  Labor diligently, not in life, nor in our job, nor even in our families, but in the Word of God.  The writer continues, </div> <div> <I>Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.  For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:11-12).</I></div> <bR> <div> If we labor in the word, then we can rest in life.  Then our rest will be peaceful, rather than tossing and turning through the night and the day!  The word for diligent is <I>spoudazo</I> which means to be zealous in action, earnest in pursuit, thorough in preparation.  Paul uses it for zealousness in humility, gentleness, and patience preserving the unity of the church (Eph. 4:1-3). Paul used the word for our diligent pursuit of learning the word of God 2 Tim. 2:15.  Peter uses it in the pursuit of purity before the return of the Lord (2 Pet. 3:14).  Hence, the writer in Hebrews exhorts the readers to diligently pursue entrance into the rest.  If we don't, then the same things that happened to the Israelites will happen to us.</div> <bR> <div>      How do we build and enjoy the bedroom of our soul?  The answer is in laboring in the Word.  It is the Word which knows our thoughts and intentions.  It is the Word which strengthens the weak (Heb. 12:12)  It is the communication of God's Word that strengthens every part of the body (Eph. 4:11-16).  </div> <bR> <div>      We have completed looking at four basic rooms of the soul.  The number and decorations in the rooms is dependent on your understanding and application of God's Word to life.  Let's take just a moment to look at the roof of the home or temple complex in the soul.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id320.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 15:16"><U><B>Next Page</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Grace Evangelical Church"><U><B><IMG SRC="0c740400.gif" border=0 width="64" height="64" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Grace Evangelical Church"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>