Can't We All Just Get Along
Quotes
“How dare we reject a person who God has accepted? Indeed, the best way to determine what our attitude to other people should be is to determine what God's attitude to them is.” –John Stott
"A matter of conscience is a practice about which God has not specifically spoken in his word. He has not clearly forbidden it nor clearly commanded it. So it is possible to move to one of two wrong 'extremes' when it comes to 'disputable matters.' We must guard against thinking that almost every area is a disputable matter of conscience, and against the view that hardly any area is a disputable matter of conscience."
--Tim Keller
"The weaker Christian (in Romans 14) does not understand that when the meaning of justification by faith is grasped, questions like the use of meat and wine and special days become irrelevant." --Leon Morris
"The ‘stumbling-block principle,' does not have to do with 'offending' someone but with causing people to fall by urging on them an action they cannot freely do."
--Gordon Fee
Questions for discussion
1.) Do you tend to want to rule almost all matters as being disputable, or almost no matter as being disputable?
2.) Can you see any area in which you may be the “weaker” believer (to do so takes great self-awareness!)?
3.) How does Romans 14 challenge you?
4.) In your network of relationships with Christians, what disputable matters might fit into this weaker and stronger paradigm?
5.) If you find yourself in the position of “stronger” in a certain disputable matter, what is your priority: enjoying your freedom, or giving it up to serve another Christian?
6.) Thinking on Romans 14:19, how can you pursue peace more actively?
7.) Pray (or yourself first!) that Jesus would empower His followers to welcome one another, support and instruct one another, worry about ‘they own self’, and love.
Other Scripture
1 Corinthians 8 1 Thess 5:20 Isaiah 45:23
Mark 7:14-15 Acts 10:15,28 Isaiah 45:22 & 24