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Romans 9-16

Applying Righteousness: Towards Others/Selflessness

Caleb Combs · Sunday, 23 November 2025 · Romans 14:1-15:13 · 51:48 · 7,725 words

Romans S31 · 14:1-15:13 Holly

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

Romans 14 calls the church to unity despite diversity, urging believers not to judge one another over non‑essential matters such as eating meat or observing special days. The pastor notes that the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Listeners are challenged to lay down personal freedoms when they might cause a brother or sister to stumble and to pursue building up others. The message calls for keeping the main thing—glorifying God together—above personal convictions.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

eat 49 conviction 37 freedom 34 essential 21 stumble 27 meat 20 participate 14 non 17 personal 21 flaunt 10 legalism 11 hindrance 11

Topics

Freedom 9 The Law 5 Faith 3 Judgment 3 The Weaker Brother 2 The Gospel 1 The Body of Christ 1 Sin 1 Hope 1 Unity 1 Atonement & Sacrifice 1

Scripture referenced 25

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 14 2:31 Romans 14 4:10 Romans 12 5:12 Romans 14 6:10 Romans 14 6:40 John 17 6:58 John 17:1 7:21 Romans 14 8:28 Romans 14:1 8:34 Romans 14:5 9:22 Romans 10 20:48 Romans 7 22:55 Romans 14:14 23:03 1 Corinthians 10 23:23 1 Corinthians 10:23 23:28 Romans 14:5 27:16 Romans 14:23 28:53 Romans 14 30:05 Romans 14:23 30:05 Romans 14 32:58 Romans 14:15 40:17 Romans 14:19-21 40:27 1 Corinthians 10 42:44 Romans 14 48:38 Romans 14 50:02

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 7 lines, 0:34. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey, everyone. My name is Lorena, and thanks for checking out one of our sermons today.

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Well, good morning. Good to see you. Good to be with you.

Thanksgiving week. I know many of you have got big plans and different things happening going on this week.

And so, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us this morning as we open God's Word together.

Pastor Noble and I were talking. We have two weeks left in our 32-week Romans series.

That's kind of crazy to think, like, wow, we have preached 32 weeks in Romans.

I have never preached that long in a series, but I could probably preach 32.

32 more weeks of it. It's so rich in theology and doctrine and biblical truth.

And so, I hope you have been challenged, have been as challenged and encouraged by Romans as I have.

Every time I open it and read through it, it's like, oh my goodness, that's super applicable for me and my life.

And I hope to be able to always, excuse me, communicate to the best of my ability what the Lord, I believe, has given me.

You're able to see and understand it and apply it.

And we're able to live that out in a real practical way in our lives.

And so, I'm excited to kind of get close to wrapping that up today as we continue in our application of righteousness.

If you're a guest new here, my name is Caleb and I'm the pastor here.

And for the next 30-ish minutes, we will open God's Word and see what he has for us.

We believe the Bible is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, meaning it cuts through the darkness of this world, speaks truth.

It's an ever-consistent truth that we live out in our lives.

And so, for us, as the church, the Word of God is truly, truly valuable as we try to live for it in our lives.

I want to give you a quick update before we jump into Romans chapter 14.

Last week, we presented the church with an end-of-the-year giving.

And so, we're looking for 1,000 people in our nine locations to participate in giving above and beyond $100 to help meet a budget deficit for the end of the year.

And so, challenging you where we're at on that.

So, I told you last week, as well as our locations, we'd be giving updates in where that is.

And so, I think we've had 372 participants.

Participants just in the last week and raised $64,288, which is incredible.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for participating, praying through that.

And it's just great.

Hotly specific, we've had about 70 people have participated in helping us meet that need.

And so, wanted to give you an update.

We'll continue to give you updates.

We do want to celebrate what the Lord is doing while also going, hey, we're still looking for.

1,000 people.

That's not necessarily 1,000 families.

I gave the number last week.

We had roughly about 5,000 participants in our gatherings last week.

And so, 20%.

20%.

And I said this, and it's always stood out.

If a lot do a little, a little won't have to do a lot.

As we come together to meet the needs of the church, the local community, and see the Lord continue to bless.

And so, that is the continued update.

And so, wanted to make you aware of that.

And so, if you have a Bible, a device, something to follow along, read along, we'll be in Romans chapter 14.

We're going to look at really the entirety of the chapter this morning.

Trying to do a deep dive on 23 verses will almost be impossible.

But you'll get more of a, maybe not a deep dive, but we'll give a nice overview while looking at application.

Over the last few weeks, we have looked at the application.

Of righteousness, or the application of the truths of Romans.

And so, Paul writes these doctrinal truths as we seek to live for the Lord.

And watch the Lord transform us as living a radical life.

One that is different.

than the world around us. As a believer, as a Christian, you need to hear that. We are called

to live different than the world around us. Not better, okay? I'm not better because I live. No,

I just realize my life should reflect, as Romans 12 says, be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable,

pleasing to God, which is my reasonable service. Meaning, I've been called to live for the Lord.

And so my actions, my responses, how I love my neighbor, how I love one another in the church,

how I interact with local leaders, which we did that a couple weeks ago, how we interact with

people that are hard to love, right? That we interact with them in our lives. And so all as

we try to seek and glorify the Lord. I shared in my Wednesday night group, this for my men is

really just going, loving the Lord,

our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as

ourself. And so applying scriptures in our life, not just being a hearer of the word, but a doer

of the word. So this morning, as we look at Romans 14, we'll see Paul call the church towards unity,

calling the church to be unified together, but not with the idea that, okay, we're all together

because we all are.

Similar, right? Or we're all together because we all have the same value system. We all have

the same opinions, ideas. See, I believe Paul in Romans 14 calls the church to unity despite

diversity. Unity despite diversity. Unity is a common theme starting with Jesus, right? As Jesus

is praying in John 17, it records Jesus is praying in his final moments. He's praying for what? His

His followers, the church that comes after him to be unified. Paul is constantly speaking towards

the theme of unity and writing to the churches in the New Testament, be unified, avoid false

teachers and be unified, solidified under the hand of God. The Psalmist in 133 verse one writes,

behold, how good and pleasant is it when brothers dwell in unity. And so,

unity is pleasing to the Lord. But we know as human beings, I'm not saying anything anyone in this

room doesn't understand or know, right? It's hard to be unified with somebody you have a hard time

having a conversation with. It's hard to be unified with someone you don't necessarily agree with how

they dress, what they look like, all the different things that they, really, they talk that way? Why

would they talk that way? Right? You can think of the ways the body of Christ has, I will use the

word you're not supposed to use in church, split over things that truly don't matter. And yet we've

been called to be unified. And so Paul in Romans 14, I'm going to read the chapter and we're going

to look at some, I would say some truths in it this morning. Verse one, Paul says, 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. Let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats.

For God has welcomed him. 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. Verse five continues. One person esteems one day as better than another, while

another esteems all days alike. For each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. For 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 give

thanks to God. For none of us lives,

himself and none of us

dies to himself

For if we live, we live to the Lord.

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 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 and every tongue shall confess to God.

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another, on another any longer.

But rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

We're going to get to that in a few minutes.

I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is...

Nothing is unclean in itself.

But it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean.

For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.

But what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking,

but of righteousness and peace and joy.

In the Holy Spirit.

Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

So let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbringing, upbuilding.

Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.

Everything is indeed and clean.

But it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes you...

It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes you...

your brother to stumble.

The faith that you have kept, keep between yourself and God.

Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.

But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats.

Because the eating is not from faith, for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Let's pray and we'll talk through that this morning.

God, we love you.

We praise you.

We honor you.

God, thank you for your word.

Thank you for this truth.

God, thank you for the book of Romans as we seek to apply the righteousness you have given us

that we have received through your son, Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice on the cross.

God, this morning, we ask for wisdom.

We ask for understanding.

We ask for discernment.

We ask for truth.

God, as we ask that your Holy Spirit work in our hearts,

as we're able to see and understand what you have for us.

Correct us, guide us, lead us, speak to us, God.

God, be with us this morning.

We are so thankful for who you are.

And we praise you and we love you.

It's in your name we pray, the name of Jesus.

That was a lot to that passage, I realize that.

Some of you are like, oh my goodness, that is a lot and it was a lot to read.

And so we're going to unpack that and give us some truth out of this.

But a little backdrop of this passage.

I intro this now several months ago.

But Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome.

He's writing to this church that has been made up of a diversified people.

One group is some Jewish men and women that have been grown up and learned the law all their life.

And now they've received Jesus Christ as their savior.

They confess with their mouth and they believe in their heart that God is who he says he is.

And he sent Jesus to die on the cross for their sins.

And they confess their sins and they are now a child of God.

And so these Jews now will also follow some law rituals.

And so they'll follow some of the laws that have been written in Leviticus and Exodus.

And some of the Old Testament laws, some traditions.

And so there's this group of Jews that are observing the law.

And then there's the liberated, if you will, Gentiles.

These Gentiles did not grow up under the law, the teaching and the understanding of the Old Testament.

They're hearing about this transformation.

They're transformed into Jesus' men.

And they want their lives to be transformed by the same gospel.

That the Jews have been changed and transformed by.

But yet they don't understand many of these Old Testament practices.

And so they are all put in the blender that we call the church.

And now they've been called to live for the Lord.

Now they've been called to be unified.

And so they are having some quarrels.

They're having some arguments.

They're having some disagreements in the church.

Now I know this church had them.

And this church has no disagreements or no quarrels.

Okay.

All right.

I say that in jest, right?

That's not reality.

When you put two human beings in a room.

Most of the time.

I mean 100% of the time.

We won't agree on 100% of the things.

And so we will have some differences of opinions.

And so Paul is writing specifically.

Speaking of two specific issues.

Two specific issues.

One is the idea of whether they should eat meat or not.

And you're thinking, okay.

Is it they've been called to live as.

No.

The Jewish followers of Christ.

Are concerned that they are not eating kosher meat.

You're saying, what does that mean?

Kosher meat is meat that has been prepared.

It's not been offered to false idols.

It's been properly prepared and not mixed with other meats.

And so these Jewish followers are like, hey.

If it's.

We're unsure where this meat came from.

And so it's best for us to eat as vegetarians.

And the Gentiles are like, hey, bring on the meats.

I want the meat sweats.

All right.

That's what they're thinking, right?

You're thinking of Thanksgiving already, right?

But they're like, hey, hey, bring on the rack of ribs.

I'm ready for it.

All right.

They really are like, hey, we enjoy this.

And then he speaks of the other situation.

Some will observe the Sabbath day.

They'll value Saturday, okay?

The last day of the week or the first day of the week.

We're unsure.

It's still an argument even to this day.

Like, hey, am I supposed to do something on Saturday because it's Sabbath?

Or am I supposed to do something on Sunday?

Or how does this work?

And so Paul speaks directly into both of these issues and situations,

which we'll talk through.

Paul is speaking to really a divisive topic or a divisive issue that is a non-essential, okay?

A non-essential.

That is so important for us to understand here.

See, diversity doesn't.

It doesn't mean inclusion on all truths, okay?

All right?

The truth of God's word.

As we lean in on essential truth, the majors of the scriptures.

That doesn't say, hey, we include all belief systems.

No, no, no, no.

We believe Jesus is the only way to heaven.

All right?

That is so important for us to understand.

We are saved by grace through faith.

That is a foundational belief.

We believe heaven and hell are real.

Real and eternal places.

That is a truth we cling to, all right?

We believe Jesus is coming back again.

That is a truth.

You notice I didn't say, hey, you know what?

He's going to come back at this specific time and this specific status of history.

No, because we don't understand that.

That would be non-essential.

But what the essential is, is Jesus is coming back, right?

We believe salvation is only through Christ.

That is a essential.

And so don't like, okay, while Caleb is saying we're supposed to be diversified

and include all beliefs that everyone can get to heaven in their own way.

Nope, that is not what I'm saying.

And that's not what scripture says, okay?

All right?

That's not, hey, we want to live in unity.

That doesn't mean we don't love them, okay?

That doesn't mean we don't love people with other belief systems.

But we want to love them with truth, as Ephesians says.

And the truth is Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

And no one comes to the Father but through Jesus.

Through him, all right?

That is a foundational doctrinal truth that we must understand.

But Paul is speaking to this non-essential, okay?

This opinion-based thing that they'll believe.

And so he's really, if we're really talking about easy thoughts,

we're going, okay, well, it'd just be easier if these two,

the Jews would go start their own church and the Gentiles would go start their own church.

One would be the church of the vegetarians.

One would be the church of the carnivores.

Count me in on the carnivores, all right?

I don't eat enough vegetables.

I get it, all right?

Paul is saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Don't allow your personalities or don't allow like, well, I want to go.

No, no, no.

under the essentials and be okay with, hey, there's some differences of opinions on some things,

some diversity. I read this this week. I thought it was so good. In essentials, unity. In non-essentials,

liberty. And in all things, love. As we've been called to love. And so we looked at these two

controversial ideas. In the first six verses, Paul references them. He says, as for the one who is

weak. And so what is he doing here? He's categorizing people as weak and strong. And so

we, as the men talked about this on Wednesday night last week, and looking at 1 Corinthians

chapter 10 and 11 and 12, as we studied that, hey, you know what? Some may be weak and unable to

participate in the freedom God has given them. While others may feel strong that they can

lean into some of that freedom. And we're going to talk about that.

Freedom in just a few minutes. But as we seek to understand, we are not under the Old Testament

law anymore. The law has been completed, fulfilled, right? As we see, Jesus came as the completion,

the fulfillment of the law. And so if you look at Old Testament scriptures, there's some great

truths of the law of like, hey, you know what? The meat will be unclean. Some health ideas of this.

And so the Jews were told,

to stay away from non-kosher meats. Now, for you and I, does that mean we can't go to Red Lobster

later today? No, we are not under that. All right? And so we can eat shrimp. Now, are there health

benefits to not eating some of those things? Yes and no, right? And so depending on what website

you clicked on today, right? Right? And so there's opinions on, okay, should I eat this? Should I not

eat this? And so Paul is going, hey,

don't get lost in the weeds. All right? And so let's focus on the main doctrinal truths and not

divide over the diversity of opinions or practices or ideas. But we have been given the opportunity

of freedom, especially in these two specific areas. Okay? He's talking about what you're eating.

All right? And then not making a day more holy than another. All right? Well, you're like, man,

I grew up and we made Sunday,

special day. That's fantastic. And we're going to get to personal conviction in a little bit.

All right? But as followers of Christ, we've been given freedom. Jesus speaks to this in Mark

chapter seven, said, there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him.

Romans 14, 14. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, this is Paul now, that nothing is

unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it's unclean.

And so now he's speaking into personal conviction, but we've been given freedom.

First Corinthians chapter 10, Paul speaking to the church of Corinth on a similar discussed

and argued over topic. First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 23, all things are lawful,

but not all things are helpful. I think the King James says profitable. All things are lawful,

but not all things build up. That's an important passage. Our focus on building others. Our focus

is on others as we live out our lives. And so we've been given freedom. Okay? We have freedom.

And so we look at, okay, can I eat this meat or can I not eat this meat? Now you have the freedom

to eat the meat, or you have the day for celebration of days of what's happening, what's going on.

And so you look and go, what are those applications in our church? And so I was texting with a couple

buddies this week.

It was interesting. So you, they can go, okay, eating. All right. We're still talking about

eating, right? Um, you know, gluttony overeating is still a sin, by the way. We don't talk about

that one too much, right? Still a sin. Gluttony is a sin, but participating in eating of food or

seafood or certain things, drinking of alcohol. The Bible does not say it's a sin to drink.

Drunkenness is a sin, but you can partake in alcohol dancing. Some of you guys,

you grew up as Baptist and your mind is currently being blown, right? Like, oh my gosh, pastor. Like

I have to pray for you right now. Right?

I did too, don't worry, right?

But you look and go, okay, let's talk about scripture.

Not personal conviction or preference.

We're gonna get there, right?

You're like, wow, pastor said I can drink and dance.

Oh my goodness, it's all, no, no, we're like, relax.

Right, we're gonna get to some of this, all right?

We talked about this on Wednesday.

I didn't come out of my Wednesday night men's group

as a very popular, all right, I understand.

The idea of tattoos, you're like, man,

I don't want a tattoo, I don't care.

Like, we're looking at some of these freedoms.

There's even like makeup, dress, hair length,

Bible translations, oh my goodness.

There's some good ones and there's some ones

that I don't prefer to use.

Music, some of you are like, man, card playing, right?

Euchre's not a sin, all right?

Feel free to play, all right?

Now, if you get angry and curse afterwards,

that's your fault, no, it's good, right?

Even like serving in the military, right?

There's denominations that are like,

hey, you know, we're a pacifist.

So we look at some of these,

we look at some of these convictions

that you have the freedom to participate in.

And we as believers are given the freedom, right?

As Jesus specifically says,

as Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit,

is communicating to the church in Rome,

the church in Corinth, and even to other churches

that we are lawful to participate in.

And so hopefully for some of you,

today may be a step out of legalism

that has been ingrained in you

that has been ingrained into your life

for 30, 40, 50, you fill in the blank years.

Others, man, this is the first church you've ever gone to

and you've been here for weeks.

You're like, oh my goodness, these are great truths.

And we all come together in the blender of going,

how can we honor and glorify the Lord

with the best of our ability?

Because that is the goal,

is we love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind,

and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves.

But each of us has personal conviction, all right?

Personal conviction.

And this is an important truth

that we're gonna talk about

just for a few minutes this morning.

Personal conviction, verse five.

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Having personal conviction.

Now this is extra biblical conviction.

This is non-essential conviction, all right?

And so you're like, okay, what does that mean?

You may abstain from eating seafood by personal conviction.

Or you may abstain from drinking alcohol

from a personal conviction, all right?

Here's what I'm gonna tell you.

That's not a bad thing.

This is not a bad thing.

And we're gonna explain what that truly looks like.

See, being convinced in your own mind,

that personal extra biblical conviction.

I had a conversation with some friends of mine

a few months ago, and I began to try to unpack,

what are some personal extra biblical convictions

that I have?

And asking myself, hey, what do you think?

What are some?

What are some things that maybe you have?

And so some of us, it was some of how you were raised,

or some of it was a parent passed down,

or maybe something that, hey, you know what?

I've had drunkenness, or I've had alcoholism

passed down in my family, and so I've had to remove myself.

I can't put myself around alcohol

because I'm susceptible to that.

And so I have a personal conviction to that.

Here's what I'm gonna tell you.

You know what the Bible says?

You must follow that personal conviction.

It says,

if you don't follow it, it's a sin.

but whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats.

Meaning, well, you know what?

I'm around everyone that's eating these meats,

or I'm doing this, or playing cards,

or filling in, or dancing,

or you fill in the blank of what that extra biblical

non-essential belief is, and I participate.

You're actually sinning.

You're actually sinning.

Because you are going against that personal conviction.

You're not living out the personal conviction.

God has placed in your heart that you have established.

That's by being convinced in your own mind.

And so having that truth, having that understanding,

having that practice, having that life,

I'm going to live that out to the best of my ability.

And so not experiencing peer pressure.

And peer pressure is not just for teenagers, by the way.

It's crazy.

Peer pressure is for adults.

We all experience that while everyone else is doing this,

it'd be easier if I just gave up personal conviction

and practiced this.

Rather than holding personal conviction,

see verse 23 of chapter 14,

but whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats

because the eating is not from faith

for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

It's a practice that being convinced,

following those personal conviction.

If the Lord convicts you that something is wrong

in your life, you'd better not do it.

Even if other Christians are doing it, all right?

Personal conviction, living that out.

And that's important for us to really think

through and understand of like, no, no, no.

This is my conviction.

This is what I believe the Lord has called me

to live out in my life.

And I'm going to practice this regardless of,

wow, another follower of the Lord is loving the Lord.

They're honoring him and they're practicing.

That's okay.

Doesn't make me better or worse.

And that slides into the term I referenced, legalism.

Legalism, some of you have grown up in church

your entire life and you've experienced

the pains of legalism.

Legalism, right?

You're better or worse because you do this

or you don't do these non-essentials.

The sad reality is legalism has been used

as a weapon over church history.

Like we tear out believers.

Well, you know what?

I'm better because I don't do this

and you're worse because you do this.

Well, the truth of the matter is we are all broken people

that need the grace of God in our life.

And I'm thankful that he died for the world.

And I'm thankful that he died for the world.

And I'm thankful that he died for the world.

And I'm thankful that he died for the world.

And I'm thankful that he died for the world.

And I'm thankful that he died for the world.

And I'm thankful that he died for the world.

And I'm thankful that he died for the world.

And I'm thankful that I've experienced the grace

and the mercy of Jesus Christ in my life.

That is a base root in understanding.

There is no better or worse in this room today, okay?

We only worship a name above all names

and that name is Jesus.

That's a foundational truth.

But the idea of legalism.

And so at a grassroots base understanding

of what legalism, here it is, you ready?

It's pushing your non-essential

or extra biblical truth on someone else.

So I think at a base root,

maybe somebody had a good conviction.

All right, I'm gonna abstain from participating in this.

I have the freedom to eat this.

I have the freedom to drink this.

I have the freedom to go here.

I have the freedom to exercise this.

But I have this personal conviction.

And so if I had this personal conviction,

I was supposed to live it out.

But when it becomes legalism, if I say,

hey, you know what?

As your pastor, I had this conviction.

Now you must do this.

For many of you, you've experienced

the pain of that in your life.

Maybe with kids or grandkids.

And they have rebelled against legalism

because that's not legal.

That's not legal.

That's not legal.

That's not legal.

pushing on of a conviction that was based out of not a bad thing, but it became a extra biblical

standard that has hurt people. Paul in Romans 14 pushes this idea of legalism. He says,

why do you pass judgment on your brother? What's he saying? They ate this meat. Why are you saying

you're better? Or they chose not to eat the meat. Why are you flaunting your freedom in their face?

He continues, or why do you despise your brother? They become hatred or bitterness. How could you

do that? Right? You've heard that in church before. For we all stand before the judgment seat of God.

You'll answer to God for your convictions. For it is written, as I live, says the Lord,

every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to God. Then each of us will give an

account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer,

but rather decide never to put judgment on one another.

This is really good. I hope to be able to preach this. Put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the

way of a brother. There's a mindset shift and mindset change. I use that, the idea of flaunting

our freedom. Well, you know what? I'm flaunting my freedom. I can, or we can participate in eating

this meat or participating in this non-essential or drinking alcohol, but coming to a place of

understanding of not flaunting that to cause a stumbling block.

Or a hindrance. Those two phrases or two words are really important because they're different.

One, the stumbling block is leaving something carelessly behind and someone, a brother

specific, stumbles over it. You say, what could that be? Well, you have the freedom to

drink alcohol. But if you have a friend, a brother, a relative that is an alcoholic, you better be

very careful. You better be very careful because you can cause them to stumble and then you will

be held responsible. Well, I have the freedom. You said it. Yeah, yeah, you have the freedom,

but you better be careful you're not causing them to stumble. I have the freedom to participate

in this activity. Guess what? You better be aware of who you're causing to stumble carelessly. I

love that phrase because it really encapsulates. I flaunt it. I don't care what's left behind. No,

no, no. Truly being a member of the body of Christ is caring for the body of Christ and going, hey,

I know there's others that struggle or stumble. I can't flaunt my freedom in front of them because

I'll cause them to stumble in sin and then I'll answer to God for my flaunting of freedom. And I

care and I love them so much. I wouldn't want them to stumble over that. So that care,

like, well, you know what? It's no big deal. I'll tell you this could be a big deal for them. And so

being others focused, I wrote in my notes, I'm stronger. I'm okay. I'm more spiritual. When you

start saying I'm, you're pretty messed up, right? Or how about this? We're messed up, right? No,

no. What is best for the body? What is best for others? And so thinking through those freedoms,

I'll say this as a parent, you have kids thinking through the freedoms that God has given you

because you know, what you do, what you practice will be passed on, whether you like that or don't

like that, right? It'll be replicated. And so thinking through, you have young kids knowing,

hey, what do I want to have available in the house? Or what do we want to practice? Or where

do we go? Because I know I don't want to be a stumbling block for my kids or your grandparent.

Don't be a stumbling block for your grandchildren. Thinking through that of what you participate in,

these non-essential things. But then he uses not just stumbling block. And this is what really I'd

like to be able to preach. He says, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or a

hindrance or a hindrance. See the stumbling block is carelessly leaving something behind. A hindrance

is deliberately leaving something behind. And so the way that I describe that is,

is that is a legalistic rule that you are on purpose putting on something,

someone's shoulders a weight that they're unable to live out. I have a friend,

she works on staff. She grew up in a very legalistic world. And so grew up at a Baptist

church. She loves the Lord, which I'm thankful for. And so we laugh about this now, but I

guarantee you some laugh and some pain in her. But growing up, she would go to snow camp with

her church. And so she'd go to snow camp. And so they were instructed to wear

snow pants, but in their world, the women were not allowed to wear pants. All right. And so

they would put snow pants on and then they would put culottes or a skirt over top of their snow

pants. This is real, right? This is, this is she. And so she still feels that pain to this day.

Really? And she laughs about it, but some of it's like, Oh, and some of you grew up in that world.

You're like, Oh my goodness. I am. This was a hindrance for my life. It was a weight

put on my shoulders that I was unable to live out or practice.

In my life. And so it created a bitterness. Some of you have siblings or relatives because of the

weight put on their shoulders by extra biblical or non-essential truths that have crushed them.

And they've walked away from the church or they walked away from the Lord. That's what this

hindrance is describing that you are intentionally going, Hey, here's this weight. Here's this

conviction. You carry it. And the truth of the matter, it is your conviction may crush someone

else. It may crush someone else. Whether that's, uh,

intentional or carelessly. And so we must understand these convictions. Aren't a bad

thing. You may have a conviction that you don't participate in one live that out because

the Lord has maybe put that on your life too. Don't project it on someone else.

And so thinking through that practical understanding.

And so we must focus on not being a stumbling block or hindrance.

Now, how do we do that?

How do we do that?

Because verse 15 of the chapter says,

if your brother is grieved by what you eat,

you are no longer walking in love by what you eat.

Do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

Verse 19 through 21.

So let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual building.

Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.

Everything is deed clean,

but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

It is good not to eat or eat meat or drink wine

or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

What is the heartbeat here?

It is exactly what I opened the message with.

Loving the Lord, my God, with all my heart, soul, mind, and my strength,

and focusing on loving my brother and my neighbor

and making sure that I'm not causing them

to stumble by what he eats.

It's not causing them to stumble.

It's being others-focused.

See, when we flaunt our freedom,

well, Caleb, you said all things are lawful,

I can do whatever, I can eat, I can drink,

I can do all these things.

You can, you can, but you better be sure

you are not causing someone else to stumble.

You're like, how do I do that?

Well, that's wisdom and discernment,

being aware of other brothers and sisters

that you're around and caring for them.

So others-focused.

And I'll say this,

it's better to lay down

that freedom than inadvertently

cause someone to stumble.

See, pursuing, as in that passage,

the mutual up-building,

building one another up.

See, it is our Christian duty

when exercising our freedom

not to think about how our actions

not only affect us, but affect others.

We're to remember that it's not

to just flaunt or display

our Christian freedom,

but live out a love that is genuine

that we preached through just a few weeks ago.

A genuine, true love for

one another.

See, 1 Corinthians 10 gives us a good summary statement.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do,

do all for the glory of God.

I'm going to say that again

because it's a great summary statement.

Do all for the glory of God.

Whether I eat or drink,

I think that encapsulates everything, right?

Whatever I do, do all for the glory of God.

And that is loving the Lord my God

with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength

and loving my neighbor as myself.

Others-focused.

See, having unity and diversity

is hard, right?

I'm not saying anything that's like,

somebody practices

differently. They talk differently.

They value different things

than I do. Non-essential biblical things.

And man, why don't you go

find some people that you can hang out with, right?

I actually feel like

our world is terrible with this now.

Somebody believes a different thing

on me like, hey, I don't want to be around them

because they bother me, right?

Or it's even more, I'm going to

convince them of my conviction

and I'm going to win them to my side.

You do that, I do that too, right?

Cool thing about the way

God has placed the church is in diversity.

People of all ages,

different walks of life, some opinions

on some gray area things

in the Bible, but it is a

sweet thing to the Lord when we lay

some of these things down and come together

in unity and going, you know what?

I'm going to be at peace with my brothers and sisters

knowing that it glorifies the Lord.

That's what God has called us

to as a church. That is what

God has called us, not just as

the church at the river, but churches

around the world, the global

church, the big C church.

Once a month, I get together with a group of local pastors.

And so I was invited into this group, man, a little bit over a year ago.

And so a friend of mine said, hey, I'm going to get a group of local pastors together.

We're going to pray for one another.

We're going to hopefully sharpen one another.

And so we're going to get together, eat breakfast once a month.

And so I said, all right, I'm in.

Because I think that is truly valuable.

So each month, I get together with Pastor Ryan from Grace Chapel in Waterford,

Pastor Benjamin at Oakland Woods Baptist Church in Clarkston,

Pastor Phil at First Baptist of Holly,

Pastor Ben of Springview Community Church in Davisburg,

and Pastor Ted at Oakwood Community Church in Brandon.

And so I get together with these pastors.

Here's what I want you to hear from me.

These men love the Lord.

They are faithful to the gospel.

I love each of these guys.

I've grown to love their commitment to the word.

I've grown to love their commitment to the serving of the Lord.

And I know one thing.

They are brothers.

They are in arms for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Can I say this to you?

We don't agree on everything.

There's some things we disagree on.

There's some non-essential things.

You know what?

That are okay.

It's funny.

One of them says, Caleb, we view you as the hip pastor.

I don't know what that means.

But I'm not hip.

I got nice shoes.

But that's it.

I felt encouraged by that until I told my kids and they laughed in my face.

All right.

I share that with you because I love these dudes.

I really do.

I have grown very fond of their ministries.

I've grown fond of their faithfulness to the gospel, the hardships that they go through.

And I begin to think about, wow, different churches, different sizes, some different

beliefs on some non-essential convictions.

They love the Lord.

They're faithful to the gospel.

They want to see this area, this county, this state, this country, this world transformed

by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And that's our faith.

That's our focus and should be the focus of the church.

So I'm not saying, hey, you know what?

We want to be unified and disregard some convictions for inclusion.

No, that's not what I'm saying.

Please don't hear me say that this morning.

That's not who I am.

Don't walk out of here thinking there is some foundational truths that we will hold a line

for.

But also think through this.

There are some non-essential things that truly in the grand scheme of things.

Well, you know what?

This person's wearing jeans.

This person's wearing a suit.

This person's sitting in pews.

This person's playing a guitar on stage.

This person doesn't have a guitar on stage.

This person has drums.

Or this person eats this or doesn't eat this.

You know what?

The reality of those things in the grand scheme of the world, those don't matter.

How can I build up my brothers and sisters?

And how can I be a part of the work of the Lord?

That's what Romans 14 says.

I don't want to be a hindrance or a stumbling block.

See, the sad reality of the church in 2025, it's easier to say, look as I look, always

do as I do, then and only then I'll fellowship with you.

Shame on the church today.

And I'm preaching at myself, thinking, wow, how can we lock arm in arm with brothers and

sisters, not just in this community, but in communities around for the advancement of

That is the call we've been called to carry out and live out this morning as a close unity.

Despite diversity, work, hiring, you have to give up some freedoms.

I lay this down with a building up of the body.

I pray for you this morning.

God, we love you.

We praise you.

We honor you.

We glorify you.

God, thank you for your word.

Thank you for your truth.

God, this morning, as we seek to apply Romans 14,

as we seek to live that out in a real practical manner,

God, forgive us.

Forgive us when we project our convictions on someone else

or forgive us when we flaunt our freedoms.

God, I'm thinking of interactions that I've had

and I need to ask for forgiveness right now.

God, this morning, as we apply the very righteousness of God

that you've given us,

help us to be unified under the mighty hand of God.

Laying down some freedoms when we have to lay them down,

but also being cognizant of those around us

to not be a stumbling block or a hindrance,

ultimately, for the building up of your body,

the building up of others with a focus not on self,

but a focus on glorifying you.

God, we praise you this morning.

We have so much to be thankful for,

so much to give you glory for, God.

Help us to keep the main thing, the main thing,

and stay unified on your truth.

God, we praise you.

We love you.

Thank you for your word this morning.

It is truly, truly transforming us.

We praise you in Jesus' wonderful name.