Edify One Another

Posted on April 15, 2007

 

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Romans 14:13-15:3

In the animal kingdom, weaker animals don’t get any help, they get devoured. We ought to be different, but often we prey on weaker believers. It makes us feel better when other people have problems. We can judge them and take the focus off of ourselves.

Paul here deals with our concern for other believers as we make decisions. Remember from last Sunday evening’s passage that other people are never to be our primary concern when making moral decisions – God is. We’re to seek to glorify God first of all, but then, to edify others.

TRUTH: God’s plan is that we grow others and that we are grown by others. We are to get along with and look out for weaker believers.

HOW TO RELATE TO WEAKER BELIEVERS…

Keep the peace with others when possible.

Notice that twice in the passage, he mentions “peace.” In the Bible, peace refers to a kind of tranquility found in the absence of confusion. The Bible says that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.

Seeking peace with others means…

• Yielding our rights instead of demanding them.
• Removing any basis for personal judgment.
• Focusing on God’s kingdom, not religious differences.

Whether we are willing to seek peace with one another will directly affect the image that the world has of us. Many people don’t go to church today because they have encountered pettiness and judgmental attitudes. We ought to be discerning between truth and error, sin and righteousness, but we should not judge those who feel differently about secondary issues. We should seek peace instead.

Avoid decisions that cause others to stumble.

Paul is very clear in verse 21. We’re not to do things that cause others to stumble. I listened to two elderly ladies talking about the alcohol issue once. One argued that there was nothing wrong with an occasional social drink. The other lady rebutted that if her drinking caused someone weaker to start drinking and that person became an alcoholic, she would answer for it before God. Her basic idea is right. We’re to think of others before making a questionable decision.

Help bear the weaknesses of others.

I believe Paul’s thinking crosses chapter divisions here and continues on the idea of “edify one another” by saying we should “bear (lift up, help carry) the infirmities (moral weaknesses) of the weak (those unable to carry their load).” One of the great ways we do this is by simply saying, “You don’t have to go through this alone, I can help.”

When I was a kid, I really wanted to impress my grandfather. He sent me to the barn to get a five gallon can of gasoline and it was full to the brim. He watched from a distance as I struggled earnestly to get that can up the hill. I refused to ask for help, he laughed, and I suffered the consequences. Some of you won’t ask for help because it would make you look weak. Well, we’re all weak! We need each other.

Jesus died to pay for the sins that result from all of our moral weaknesses. You can trust Him to save you and help you, and to help you to help others.