In this episode, Colin delves deep into the notion of being ‘weak in faith’ as described by Paul. Is it about lacking strength, or is there more to it? Through a thoughtful examination of Romans 14, listeners are guided to a deeper understanding of faith not as a measure of strength but as an assurance of God’s acceptance amidst our struggles.
So yesterday I shared with you that being weak in faith is not about not having enough strength to overcome something. Maybe you’ve got an addiction or some kind of habit that’s troubling you. But rather, weak in faith is not believing that God receives you with the struggle that you have. Now you may say to me, well, how do you know that, Colin? That sounds like your interpretation. But I want to assure you, as best I can, I don’t impose an interpretation on Paul, but I let Paul explain himself. And that’s how I come to the conclusions that I do. And how do we let Paul explain himself in this case? Well, let’s look at the next verse. Let’s read, first of all, 14 verse 1. Receive one who is weak in faith… but not to dispute over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Now, what in the world does that mean? Well, first of all, he’s not talking about vegetarianism, of course, but he’s talking about people who fear that if they eat meat, they will be condemned by God. Now, why would they think that? Well, Paul speaks about this in 2 Corinthians 8. He talks about people who are concerned about what kind of meat it is that’s being sold on the market. Not that whether it’s a pig or beef, not whether it’s pork or beef, but whether it was offered to idols or not. And there are those who believe that if the meat was offered to idols before it was brought to the market for sale, then they would be contaminated. And those people Paul describes as weak in faith. Because he says a little bit later, If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Do you see the connection there? Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection was for the purpose of regaining, winning the whole world back to himself. The fact that Christ’s death has won us to himself means that things like whether we eat meat from the marketplace or not do not separate us from God, because Christ has claimed us. Now this is a tremendously important truth, and that’s why I said some days ago that there are some surprisingly interesting and beautiful truths in Romans chapter 14 that people often miss. Now you may have a struggle with alcohol, let’s say, or drugs, and you have this feeling or belief that I can’t be a Christian until I overcome this thing. And so what you inadvertently do is you make that thing stronger than the grace of Christ. It’s as if you put your drug addiction or your alcohol addiction like a great stumbling block in between you and God’s grace. It’s as if you make your struggle greater than God’s grace. I know there are just oodles of people who do this, and certainly I did it many, many years ago. I did this very thing, that my personal struggle would separate me from God. And until I overcame it, then I couldn’t be a Christian. And thus, so many people disqualify themselves because of their struggle. Now the good news about the gospel is that Jesus Christ died as a judgment for all the sin of the world. and that when you accept Christ, you are realizing for the first time that your struggle is not going to separate you from God, because God is going to be with you in that struggle, and he’s going to help you to keep believing. And as you keep believing, that struggle is going to become weaker and weaker, and you are going to be able either to overcome it or keep bouncing back when you fail. This is what we need to understand about the gospel. So let’s read further. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. And then Paul says, and this gets back to the original point that he’s trying to make, let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. In other words, we may look on someone who’s weak this way and who just feels that eating some meat off the market might be too risky and might condemn him before God. We who are stronger in faith may be tempted to despise that kind of person. Oh, he’s just so weak. He just doesn’t get the point. No, we don’t despise the weak in faith. We have to remember that the days existed when we were weak in faith. And so we encourage that person rather than despise him. And we help him to see the gospel more fully so that he realizes that Christ has gained lordship over the living and the dead, and Paul by that obviously means also over those who believe and those who don’t believe, because his lordship is to cover everything. Verse 9, For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that he might be lord of both the living and the dead. It’s quite a statement, isn’t it? And remember verse 17, jumping ahead, of course, for the kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So you and I have the privilege of helping a weak in the faith person to realize how great the atoning work of Christ is, how thoroughly comprehensive it is, so that it covers even that person weak in faith who is afraid that his addiction or struggle will separate him from God. You encourage him to keep bouncing back, it’s okay, because Jesus has atoned for his sins, and the addiction that he has has no power to condemn him or identify him or judge him. Wow, what a truth we have here in Christ. And then Paul also says, “…and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats.” That is, the person who is weak in faith and is afraid of buying meat from the market, he shouldn’t judge the person who seems to have more liberty than he does. Now, there are lots of people who do that, right? There are some very, very strict Christians who don’t allow themselves to do certain things, like, say, drink a glass of wine with dinner, who judge those who do allow themselves that liberty. So if you are a person weak in faith, that is, if you are a person that has very, very careful strictures about various things, you must be careful not to judge that person who has more liberty than you do, or who allows himself to have more liberty than you do. Don’t judge him. If he is a person who believes in Jesus Christ, believes in him as his atonement for sin, and who is believing that he is counted as resurrected and righteous in Jesus Christ’s life and resurrection, then don’t judge him. So you see, the ones who are strong in faith have a temptation to despise those who are weak, and the ones who are weak in faith have a temptation to judge those who are strong. Boy, what a mixture. Now that kind of dynamic, those two, judging and despising, have existed in the church all through the centuries, and they have created tremendous divisions. Once we forget what Christ has done on the cross, once we forget that he is the atoning sacrifice for all sins, then we will start looking at people with a quizzical eye, and we will start judging them or despising them, one way or the other. And so Paul says in verse 4, Who are you to judge another’s servant? Oh, that’s interesting. Whose servant is he talking about? Well, we sinners. We who are either weak or strong, we are servants. Of whom? Well, we are servants of Jesus Christ. So when you start looking at people as men and women who have been regained, repossessed by Jesus Christ, then you stop judging them, because you recognize they stand or fall in their faith in Jesus Christ. That’s what Paul says in verse 4. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. Now, I love this, because what Paul is saying is, look, God the Father or God, Jesus or God or the Holy Spirit, is working on a weak person’s life or a strong person’s life. And mind your own business as to how he’s working. That is not to say we don’t counsel that person or we don’t encourage that person who is weak in faith. But the final judgment of that person is God’s, not yours. We don’t determine whether we believe a person is saved or lost by our evaluation of him. We say, God evaluates people. And he is the one who is the judge. I am not. We serve other people. That’s how it works. So do you see how this is coming together? Let’s read it again, shall we? This is Romans chapter 14, verses 1 to 4. Receive one who is weak in faith, but not to dispute over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. And this is where you and I have confidence in God’s work for every human being on the planet. You know, there are those who are, well, maybe your own relative, your father, your mother, your son or daughter, maybe an addict. a drug addict or an alcoholic, and you just fear that they will be condemned to death and be destined to doom. Yet, if you believe in the gospel, and if you believe in the atoning work of Christ, then you believe that God is taking people through their darknesses, their valleys, and their mountaintop experiences. You know, don’t endlessly beg God to deliver your child from his dark valleys. But rather, thank God that God is taking that child through the dark valleys to bring him to himself. Because God knows what he’s doing. God is able to make him to stand. For God, rather I should say, indeed, he will be made to stand for God is able to make him stand. I love that new confidence that we can all have in God’s work for other people, not just for us. It’s the wonder of the universal nature of Jesus Christ’s atonement. Thanks for listening today. This is Colin Cook, and you’re listening to, you have been listening to How It Happens. 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