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Lesson 22 Sept 14 Romans 14:1-15:7 Let Us Pursue What Makes For Peace 1. What is an "opinion"? 2. What is "doctrine"? 3. ls it appropriate for us asbrothers and sisters inChrist to have opinions? 4. How can we discern thedifference between amatter of opinion anddoctrine?5. What's the danger of treating doctrine as a matter of opinion? Romans 14 represents a shift in Paul’s focus to another point of practical emphasis regarding what it looks like for redeemed sons and daughters of God to present themselves as "living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God,,(Rom 12:1-2). As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. (14:1-3) Before we go a step further, it's pivotal that we notice and appreciate the God-breathed parameters of the topic under discussion. o The Spirit of cod is shaping our understanding of how we ought to interact with one another when it comes to matters of differing opinion.o The practical example used as an illustration is the eating of meat. Whether one eats anything or vegetables only, God welcomes both.o Since God welcomes both, the one ought not to pass judgment on the other, and vice-versa. Authority, Paul asks a perspective-shaping question. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (14:4) To further the discussion, a second example is provided. One person esteems one day as better than another,while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. (14:5-6) Once again, the issue is how we ought to interact with one another when it comes to matters of differing opinion.Whether one esteems one day as better than another or esteems all days alike, both are acceptable to God.o Since God welcomes both, the one ought not to pass judgment on the other, and vice-versa. We all have opinions, we all make judgment calls, we all develop preferences, but this is what we must remember. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die,we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,"As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,and every tongue shall confess to God."So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Rom 14:7-12) The judgment seat belongs to God.