This passage from Romans discusses how Christians should treat one another regarding differences in beliefs and practices. It says believers should welcome each other without disputes, even if they disagree on what foods to eat or which days to honor. Each person can decide these matters for themselves. The passage encourages not judging or despising fellow Christians. It says all believers will answer to God, so they should seek to avoid harming others or causing them to stumble in their faith. Christians should pursue unity, peace, and building each other up instead of tearing each other down over disputable matters.

2. ROMANS 14
THE SERMON-IN-A-SENTENCE
Freedom and Conscience BOTH Matter

3. ROMANS 14:1-4
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him,
but not in order to have disputes on difficult points.
One person believes he may eat anything,
while the weak person eats only vegetables.
The one who eats should not despise the one who does not,
and the one who does not should not condemn the one who does,
for God has welcomed them. Who are you
to pass judgment on the servant of another?
It is before their own master that they stand or fall,
because the master can make them stand.

4. ROMANS 14:5-9
One person esteems one day as better than another,
while another esteems all days alike. Each person should
make up their own mind. The ones who celebrates the day,
do so in honor of the Lord, just as he one who eats,
eats in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God.
The one who does not eat, too, is abstaining in honor
of the Lord, and likewise gives thanks to God. For none
of us lives to ourselves. 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 belong to the Lord. That is why
the Messiah died and came back to life, so that he might
be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

5. ROMANS 14:10-12
Why do you condemn your fellow Christian?
Or you, why do you despise a fellow Christian?
For we will all appear before the judgment seat of God;
for the Bible says,
“As I live, says the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
So then each of us will give
an account of ourselves to God.

6. ROMANS 14:13-16
Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another;
if you want to exercise your judgment, do so on this question:
how to avoid placing obstacles or stumbling blocks
in front of a fellow family member. I know, and am
persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean
in itself, but things do become unclean when
people regard them as such. For if your brother or sister
is being harmed by what you eat, you are no longer
behaving in accordance with love. Don’t let your food
destroy someone for whom the Messiah died!
So do not let something that is good for you
make other people blaspheme.

7. ROMANS 14:17-19
For the kingdom of God is not a matter
of eating and drinking, but of justice,
and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Anyone who serves The Messiah like this pleases God
and deserves respect from other people.
So then, let us find and follow the way of peace,
and discover how to build each other up.

8. ROMANS 14:20-23
Do not, for the sake of food, pull down
the work of God. Everything is pure, but it
becomes evil for anyone who causes offence when they eat.
It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or
do anything that makes your fellow Christian stumble.
The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.
When you’ve thought something through, and can go ahead
without passing judgment on yourself, God’s blessing on you!
But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats,
because the eating doesn’t spring from faith.
For whatever is not of faith is sin.

9. ROMANS 15:4-5 (niv)
May the God who gives endurance
and encouragement give you the same attitude
of mind toward each other that The Messiah had,
so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, The Messiah.
Accept one another, then, just as Christ
accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

10. SOUL TRAINING
EXERCISE
In light of today’s message:
Pray blessing over those you KNOW
disagree with you, or who see things
differently than you do…
* Provision
* Peace
* Protection
* Wisdom
* Health, etc.