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Centreville Presbyterian Church

The Book of Romans: How To Overcome Conflicts | March 17, 2024

The Book of Romans: How To Overcome Conflicts | March 17, 2024

We live in a divided country in a divided world. Sadly, the church often times is not any better. This week let's examine how the Word of God lays the foundation for true community.

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Centreville Presbyterian Church

15450 Lee Hwy., Centreville, VA 20120, USA

Sunday 9:00 AM

Sunday 10:30 AM

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Ephesians 4:3-5
I am eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.



Gospel Urgency transforms community
Romans 13: 11-12 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep…. The night is far gone; the day is at hand.



Churchill:
“Now at this very moment I knew that the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death, I knew we had won the war after all! How long the war would last or in what fashion it would end no man could tell, nor did I at this moment care. We would not be wiped out. Our history would not come to an end. Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force.”



Romans 13:8-10
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
There is something more important than being right
Paul makes three surprising observations
1. It is not more Holy to follow more rules
Romans 14:1 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.



Romans 14: 17
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Paul makes three surprising observations
1. It is not more Holy to follow more rules
2. Nothing created by God is impure
Romans 14: 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.



Paul makes three surprising observations
1. It is not more Holy to follow more rules
2. Nothing created by God is impure
3. You can be right and wrong at the same time
Romans 14:3-4 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. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?
True Christian Unity
Some issues are more essential than others

20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

True Christian Unity
Some issues are more essential than others
We are about Unity NOT Uniformity

Romans: 14:5-6
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.

True Christian Unity
Some issues are more essential than others
We are about Unity NOT Uniformity
Stop Passing Judgement
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Romans 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. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
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True Christian Unity
1. Some issues are more essential than others
2. We are about Unity NOT Uniformity
3. Stop Passing Judgement
4. Prioritize your brother’s and sisters’ spiritual health



Romans 14:15
For 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…. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.



C.S. Lewis (weight of glory):
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.

It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”