The Weak and the Strong

IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

The Weak and the Strong

Date: Jun. 25, 2023

Passage

Romans 14:1-12 (ESV)

1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 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. 4 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.

5 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. 6 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. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 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. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

10 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; 11 for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”

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

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

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Daily Bread

Key Verse: 14:3

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.

We should do our best to be sober minded before God and serve him. While we do so, we may also become judgmental toward others. We may meet people we consider to have weaker faith than us. Some people are able to eat everything, while others are only able to eat vegetables. Should we judge based on what we think?

We may say we served God from our youth and that we served God with all our time. Or we may have many disciples or have given many offerings to God. We should not look down on those who are not able to do so. They will also stand before God, and they will stand because God will make them stand. We do not have any judgement over them. God is judge over us and them. Paul says in verse 4, “Who are you to judge someone else’ servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall.” We will give an account of ourselves to God. We should live before God rather than men. Rather than judging others, we should live before God.

While offering ourselves fully to God, we should not judge how others are doing before God. God is their judge, and in God’s eyes, they will stand because they are God’s servants, too.

Prayer: Prayer: Lord, help us not to judge but accept one another in Christ.

One Word: One Word: Accept one another in Christ.

A Good King is Humbled

2 Kings 18:1-16

Key Verse: 18:5

He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.

Today's Question

What does the first commandment forbid?

See answer and references