Whether We Live or Die, We Do It for the Lord (Rom. 14:1-12)
February 1, 2026
Whether We Live or Die, We Do It for the Lord (Rom 14:1-12)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” I bless you in the name of the Lord that, exactly as you confessed, the Word will be fulfilled. The book of Romans was the Word God gave to the church in Rome, and the nation of Rome was the superpower nation of the age like America is today. So, inside of the Roman Church, there were not only converts from Judaism, there were also Roman citizens and captives of Rome who were living there. Through the book of Romans, God is giving the answer to these people of where problems began. Everybody thinks the problems of life are different: people are saying many different things, like, “America is the problem,” or, “My parents are the problem,” or, “My children are the problem.” Some people even think, “Oh, I met the wrong partner, that’s the problem.” Or some people think, “If only I had been born in a different nation.” There are also people who are born into a family line that is prone to mental illness, and they think they are suffering from this illness because they were born into this family, but what does the Bible tell us?
The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and we cannot meet Him. A problem is not this or that, the real problem is our Original Sin that separates us from God, leaving us captured by darkness. That Sin is not something I committed personally, it is the Original Sin committed by Adam, coming down my family line, to me. So, what exactly is our family line? That, the problem of being separated from God and trapped by darkness has come all the way down the family line to me. That’s not something I can change by my hard work; I cannot change that by succeeding. All of those things may change how I look externally, but they cannot change my internal spiritual state. Why are there Christians today committing suicide? Why do they have depression and have no choice but to take their lives? It is because there is something inside of my spirit that leaves me no choice but to commit suicide. So, for us, there is nothing we have that is already inside of us. Just like when you take a photo, whatever is imprinted on the film is the photo that results. My life is a result of what is in my spirit. If we have the spirit that is depressed, then that results in depression in my life, and it leads me to suicide. It didn’t happen all of a sudden. The cause of that is in my spiritual state, the color of my spirit. That spiritual state is separated from God.
So, what is the answer? What is the answer to escape from the darkness? We must meet with God. We have no way to meet with God, that is why God Himself had to send His one and only son to die on the cross and resurrect for us. So, the one who has no sin must die on the cross for my sin. In order to escape from the forces of darkness and Original Sin, we must overcome that authority. The only way to meet God is Christ, That was fulfilled through Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection. Anyone who accepts that Jesus Christ becomes a child of God.
When that spiritual state is corrected, then we have true healing take place. However, if we go outside of that gospel, we cannot be healed. But, anyone who believes in and accepts Jesus as their Christ receives healing in that moment. The characteristic of people who are not receiving healing is that their heart keeps on leaving God. So, their mind is always in a state of division. There is no other choice for them. So, they fall more into obsession. When your thoughts are stuck on something, you can’t escape; that takes us all the way to addiction. What can we do to correct this? I must set the focus of my heart on the work that Christ did for me on the cross. Then, because we give the sovereignty and lordship to Him, He will reign over us. There is no weakness that can overcome God’s sovereignty and control, so even our weakness is no excuse. If we are making excuses still, it is because we don’t know the meaning of the cross of Christ, yet. When we correctly know the meaning, then God begins to work.
Who is the Lord of my life? Jesus Christ, and my life must be entrusted to Him to completely reign over and control; then, our mental state will be corrected and fixed. No matter what problem you are facing, it cannot overcome Christ. He is the Creator. No matter how much Satan tries, he cannot overcome Christ. For those who have this answer, how must we live? How must we live our lives inside the church? We must love one another and use the gifts and talents God gave us to raise and save others in the church.
1. Within the church
1) Different opinions
Inside of the Roman Church, there were many different groups, then, what is the problem that became the issue? 2000 years ago, every nation served their own idols. After the Renaissance period, the power of mankind became more emphasized rather than the power of God, but before that point, every nation had their own religion.
(1) Idol sacrifices – meat
Anytime they gave an offering to their god, they always sacrificed meat. Because they were giving so many sacrifices, they would sell that meat in the market. Then, there was a dispute inside of the church, whether you were allowed to eat that meat or not.
(2) One with faith eats anything (Rom. 14:2)
There was one group of people who said that they can. What’s the evidence that says we can? Because Jesus Christ has fulfilled all of the law on the cross, all of the laws of the Old Testament of what animals we can or cannot eat have been finished, and there is not even such a thing as idols because there is only one True God. Then, no matter what food we eat, it was given to us by God; therefore, we can eat it. So then, they eat things like pig meat.
(3) One with weak faith eats only vegetables (Rom. 14:2)
But another group said, “No, how can you eat something that was offered to an idol? And in the book of Leviticus, God tells us which animals we can or cannot eat, and we are not allowed to eat pigs.” Even now, there are dietary restrictions that Jewish people and Muslims follow, for example, halal food. And for example, Leviticus 11:26 says that Jewish people can only eat animals that have separated hooves and chew the cud, because when they have separated hooves, it symbolizes being set apart in the world, and when they chew the cud, it symbolizes meditation. So, based on that spiritual meaning, the book of Leviticus says which animals to eat and which to not eat. There are also the physical diseases that animals carry, and those are the animals God said not to eat. But either way, the Jewish people were very sensitive regarding meat.
2) One strong in faith
(1) No God but one (1 Cor. 8:4)
(2) An idol is nothing at all in the world (1 Cor. 8:4)
(3) Christ has finished – ceremonial law, purity law (Col. 2:16-17)
3) One weak in faith
(1) One with weak faith eats only vegetables (Rom. 14:2)
(2) Do not eat unclean food (Lev. 11:4-23)
(3) Those who live on idol sacrifices (1 Cor. 8:7)
However, in the Roman church, there were Christians who were converts from Judaism and converts from Gentile nations. So, then the people who said, “I’m allowed to eat the meat,” started to criticize those who said they could not eat the meat, and then the people who said we could not eat the meat began to condemn the people who do eat the meat. Even after receiving such a precious gospel, they began to fight over something like this. Nowadays, people don’t fight over food like that; they can’t eat it because they can’t afford it, but this was what was happening 2000 years ago. The second topic they were arguing about were about special days, for example, the Sabbath and the Feasts. Other people say, “Every day is the same because every day belongs to the Lord,” but why did the churches have no choice but to fight like this? Because Christianity was still new. Now, 2000 years later, many things have been established.
2. Do not fight with one another
1) One another
(1) Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling (Rom. 14:1)
(2) Do not treat with contempt the one who does not eat (Rom. 14:3)
(3) Do not judge the one who does eat
However, the real point that they were trying to say is the same today, and that main point is in Romans 14:1: “Accept the one whose faith is weak.” In other words, if somebody says, “You’re not allowed to eat the meat,” do not look down on them, but accept them. Do not criticize their opinion. That’s the Word the Lord is giving us. Because I have faith, I must be able to accept the opinions of those with weaker faith and not criticize them. On the other hand, the people who do not eat the meat should not condemn those who do eat the meat. This is the answer that God is giving to the Roman Church.
2) Master
(1) Servant (Rom. 14:4)
(2) Raise up the weak (Rom. 14:4)
Why is it that we should not judge, criticize, and fight with one another like this? Because that person’s Master is Jesus Christ as well, and if that person stands, they are raised up by Christ, not by people. So yes, we must be able to discern, but you must not judge. We must be able to discern; however, if we put ourselves in the seat of God and begin to judge what is right and what is wrong, then we change the Master. The characteristic of Satan is that he tries to go in the seat of God, and that is how Satan works in our thoughts and our emotions, invisibly as well. So, if I say that I have faith, so I judge somebody with lesser faith, then I’ve placed myself in the seat of God. Who were we? We were all sinners who were separated from God. Now, we are righteous by faith. If we don’t have that faith, then we will always go back to the life and thinking of a sinner. So, 1 Cor. 10 says, “if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you do not fall.” We can always fall when our faith is weak. But this is something that is very relevant, especially to ministers like myself. Because we have such great faith, sometimes it gets frustrating when we hear that somebody does not have faith. Sometimes we feel, “Why are you saying something that doesn’t even make sense? Don’t do that.” Because that person is a saved child of God and they are speaking for the Lord as well, you need to accept what they are saying. Because yes, their faith might be lacking now, but it is God Who raises their faith anyways, so that authority is with the Lord, and faith is continuously developed. We also had a time when our faith was weaker, and our faith continues to get stronger.
Matthew 7:1 says, “If you do not wish to be judged, then you should not judge.” People who have more knowledge are more prone to judge others, and it might be that those people make fewer mistakes than others, but it’s hard for them to have true success. Because their personality is the type that cuts people off, they cannot succeed on their own, but there are other people who are very optimistic or positive, and I think they have a higher probability of success because even in the midst of despair, they see the positive things and they go forward. But even if they start from the same place, some people fall because of their thoughts, and there are some negative points to them as well.
What is true success? True success is God’s will being fulfilled, and true success is, instead of judging people who are weaker or more vulnerable in the church, it is saving them and raising them up, because after we die and we go to heaven, the rewards we receive will speak for themselves. If our life ended with this earth, we wouldn’t have to think about this, but this is not the end of our lives. Everything we do on earth will stand before judgment, before God, like in the last verse. So, God gives us our reward then, so whatever you do or do not accomplish on earth is not the end.
Romans 14:4 says, “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?” “Someone else’s servant” means that person has another Master. God has given every person inside of the church their faith, and even if their faith seems weaker, they have their Master, so if you’re criticizing or judging somebody, it means you are judging their Master. God told Abraham, “You will be a source of blessings and whoever blesses you, I will bless, and whoever curses you, I will curse.” For people who know what true blessings are, they will know how precious people are and save those people. On the other hand, people who have blessings but kick them away will judge and kick other people down. So, just because someone has a lot of worldly knowledge does not mean their life is working out correctly, because the education of the world does not teach us how to accept and save people. That is something only the churches teach. So, kids who learn very well in the church will live very well in society as well. For kids who live a good church life, they will have a good family life, why? For we are people, and they know how to have good human relationships based on the Word of God. And because God thinks that people are so precious, He also thinks that people who think other people are precious, are precious. But there are other people who use other people to get their own goals. Then, God cannot just let them stand because God is the judge. So, we must have true success. You must raise people up, that’s true success. Inside of that, material possessions and knowledge and everything follow along.
(3) Authority to stand (Rom. 14:4)
Romans 14:4 says, “Before his own master that he stands or falls,” so that means God is the One Who raises up those who are weak. “And they will stand for the Lord is able to make them stand.”
3) Be fully convinced
(1) Considers one day more sacred than another (Rom. 14:5)
The second point of contention was the special days, some people claimed, “You have to worship on the Sabbath, Saturday; other people claimed Sunday, etc., because back in those times, the Jewish converts emphasized the Sabbath, so these people would worship on the Sabbath, which was Saturday, as well as Sunday. There are some people who say, “We only have to worship on Sunday because the day on which Jesus Christ resurrected was a Sunday.”
(2) Considers every day alike (Rom. 14:5)
There was another group of people who said, “No, every day is the Lord’s day, so every day is alike for us,” so they began to fight with one another about things like this, who’s right and who’s wrong. Back in those days, the people of Rome served the god of Rome, and we still see a lot of that today. People argue whether December 25 was Jesus’ real birthday or not. These people are arguing, “Why are we celebrating December 25 while that was a pagan holiday celebrated by the Romans?” I’ve met religions and sects of religions that say this. There is a specific church that would specifically recruit pretty, young women to go around giving pamphlets, saying, “Is December 25 really Jesus’ birthday?” and using that to get people to come to their church, and they always used pretty, young women so they could get the attention of young men, so they were using that as one of their evangelism strategies. Because they’re using this question, “Is December 25 the day Jesus was born? That was actually a pagan holiday,” Christians are confused. What is the Word God is giving us about that? Romans 14:6, “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.”
(3) Be fully convinced in their own mind (Rom. 14:5)
Romans 14:5 says, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind,” so it doesn’t matter what’s right or wrong—just be fully convinced in your mind, and later on, as your faith grows, you can continue to change. Nowadays, there are Seventh Day Adventists who worship on Saturdays. They say, “You have to worship on Saturdays because that was the Sabbath in the Old Testament,” You can worship on Saturdays, don’t criticize them for that, we will worship on Sunday. And also, don’t criticize me for worshiping on Sunday.
Colossians 2:16-17 says, “Do not criticize based on what you eat or drink,” but 2000 years ago, their background made them like this, because in the Old Testament, there were so many feasts, and then the Gentiles also had their holidays, rituals, or celebrations. For Korean people, when their parents pass away, they give ancestral worship. There are some people who converted to Christianity so they don’t give ancestral worship, but they ask to give worship on the day their parents passed away. There was somebody like that, so I told their entire family that Jesus is the Christ, and their children said that I was a little weird, that, “This is the day of our father’s death’s anniversary; why is he talking about Jesus Christ? That pastor should have been comforting our family for the death of our father, but instead, he was proclaiming the gospel so boldly?” In reality, this family wanted to give ancestral worship, but now that they were Christian, they felt that they shouldn’t, but they wanted to give some kind of worship instead. At that time, I saw it as a negative thing, and so I used that as an opportunity to give the gospel to the son who didn’t have the gospel, but even those people, I should have accepted them, that, if they’re wanting to give worship to celebrate that person’s death, then may that be given to the Lord. People who had my faith would think, “You don’t need to give worship on this day. That person is dead, why are you celebrating or memorializing that with this worship?” So even today, our conclusion might go back and forth, but don’t criticize or judge one another.
3. For the Lord
1) Days and food
(1) For the Lord (Rom. 14:6)
There are some people who put a lot of emphasis on Passion Week as well, but there are other people who say, “Why are you only taking it seriously during Passion Week? Every day you should think about the Resurrection.” They say, “Why are you fasting during this week? The Lord has liberated us, we should be celebrating our freedom.” So, there are two sides that might go back and forth. Even that, if they are doing it for the Lord, then just accept them. What’s more important is, what are they doing it for? If someone is only doing something to show off their own faith and righteousness, we don’t have to accept that.
(2) None of us lives or dies for ourselves alone (Rom. 14:7)
However, if this person is genuinely doing this out of faith in the Lord, then accept that, because none of us die to ourselves nor live to ourselves; whether you live or die, may you do it for the Lord. Even after we die, we will go into eternal life in heaven; even then, live for the Lord, and temporarily on earth, we live for the Lord.
(3) We belong to the Lord (Rom. 14:8)
1 Cor. 10 says, “Whether you eat or drink, do it for the glory of the Lord.” “Should we do this or not?” Whatever you do, do it for the glory of the Lord. If you abstain from something, do that for the glory of the Lord as well. “Should I live here or there?” Wherever you live, live for the glory of the Lord. “Should I drink alcohol or not? Should I smoke cigarettes or not?” The Bible doesn’t speak about cigarettes because they didn’t exist 2000 years ago. Cigarettes really only became popular after they saw the tobacco plant in the Americas and it spread from there, but whatever you do, do it for the Lord. For me, when I smoked cigarettes, I remember it affected my memory, and it also made me smell to other people. That was for me, but it did help alleviate some stress. This was when I was a nonbeliever. For nonbelievers, they have nothing else to rely on, so they rely on cigarettes, or when nonbelievers get stressed, they don’t have the Lord to rely on, so they rely on alcohol. The Bible tells us not to get drunk on alcohol; it doesn’t say to not drink alcohol at all. Even Noah drank alcohol, and even Jesus Christ used wine in the Communion, so whatever you do, do it for the Lord. You would know this. You know whether you’re eating this to alleviate stress, or if you’re doing it for the Lord.
2) Jesus Christ
(1) Death, resurrection – Lord of both the dead and the living (Rom. 14:9)
Rom. 14:9, “For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord to both the dead and the living.”
(2) Do not judge or treat with contempt your brothers and sisters (Rom. 14:10)
Rom. 14:10, “You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt?”
(3) Stand before God’s judgment seat (Rom. 14:10)
When we die, we stand before God’s judgment seat. For nonbelievers, if they cannot receive salvation for their sins through Jesus Christ, they go to hell. Even those with salvation are judged, what is that judgment? We will have to lay an account of how we’ve lived our entire life for the Lord or not, and God gives us a reward for that judgment.
3) Judgment seat
(1) Every knee will bow before the Lord (Rom. 14:11)
(2) Every tongue will acknowledge God (Rom. 14:11)
Rom. 14:11, “As surely as I live, says the Lord, “Every knee will bow down before Me, every tongue will acknowledge God.” When we stand before God in judgment, we will have no choice but to bow down on our knees, and even if God does not ask us, we will testify of our lives before Him. So, even when somebody commits a crime and they are taken before the police and interrogated, some of that fear will make us talk and expose ourselves. So, a sinner is bound to kneel.
(3) Give an account of ourselves to God (Rom. 14:12)
We were bound to confess everything we’ve done in our lives with our own mouth before the Lord. So, how can we accept and raise people up inside of the church? We must do this well. That is how new believers will come into the church and realize that the Kingdom of God, a.k.a., the Church, is different from the kingdom of the world. In reality, there is no such thing as “stronger” or “weaker” faith, because the Lord is the Lord of us all, and God is raising up our faith according to His time schedule. So, you shouldn’t say that somebody else’s faith is weaker just so you can elevate your own faithfulness, because that person’s Lord is Christ as well, so you must leave the sovereignty to the Lord.
But there are some people who will do that to their own benefit. You need to help people like that come back to the correct path. There are some people who have a faith that is so based on physical blessings. Blessings come to us from heaven, and they come from heaven through Christ. However, if the goal of our faith is not Jesus Christ Himself, and instead, we are focused on the physical blessings we get through Christ, then our faith is wrong. Christ our Lord must be the main goal of our faith, but instead, if the goal of our faith is the physical blessings we get through Christ, then we will get spiritual problems, because in other words, we are worshiping an idol, and we think of idol worship as something detestable, but that’s what the Israelites did. Inside of the Temple itself, they would place other idols and worship those idols. We might look at that and think, “How is that even possible?” but we are doing the exact same thing. If our heart is not centered on Jesus Christ, and instead, we are living for something else, that is an idol. That idol worship turns into spiritual problems, mental problems, and even physical problems. But why don’t we feel like this is wrong? You were not able to sense that this idol worship is wrong, because this is the faith our parents had, and the faith that the people around us have.
We must be able to relay the correctness to others. There are also people who have legalistic faith, and they may be more prone to succeed because they try to live based on what is right, but then, they get spiritual problems too. The law is the Word of God, but what is a legalistic person? The standard of their faith is not on Christ alone; instead, the standard of their faith is their actions and how well they keep the law of God, then they get their spiritual problems, too. A lot of elites have spiritual problems like this, because an elite is somebody who has accomplished something with their self-control and discipline, more than others have. Because they have lived their lives trying to control and discipline themselves, they are bound to get mental problems. So, the more legalistic a person is, the more that family will have mental problems. So, the elites of the world may look successful from the outside, but they are hiding spiritual and mental problems inside. From the perspective of the gospel, we say they are hiding their mental problems. They don’t reveal their weakness, but you need to be aware of this and help them. Humans try to control themselves to succeed, but you cannot control your mind. The law must naturally be fulfilled with the grace and the power that God gives us through the Holy Spirit.
There are also people who fall into unhealthy mysticism. They can never succeed because they cannot make the correct judgments. They say, “Oh, the Lord gave me a dream yesterday,” or, “I looked at the clouds and I could tell that the Lord was with me.” That is, first of all, unscientific, and if people like that try to run a business, it’s not going to work. It might look like they have faith, and yes, God is mystical, but you must believe in the Christ. Yes, the work of the Holy Spirit is mystical, but you must believe with accuracy.
The fourth type of faith is humanistic faith. “Oh, do you have to believe in God so extremely? You can live in this world with the methods of the world,” those people are the same. Why are there so many mental problems in America today? It is because the churches are not able to teach or restore the gospel accurately, so the fault is with the churches. The world originally did not have the gospel, so they are bound to be destroyed like that, but if the churches are just looking at the problems of the world and just staying still, then that is a sin. We must give them the gospel. You need to tell them the cause of the problems in their lives. Nonbelievers have not heard of the reason why they have problems, the real problem is sin that separates us from God. Therefore, the darkness has seized us as individuals and our family line. There is something inside of our spirit that forces us to commit suicide. Why are we depressed? There is something inside of us that leaves us no other choice. Why is our mind so divided? Because our spirit is divided. There is a cause that leaves us no choice but to commit suicide. The scars inside of us are terrifying if they are not healed. If someone has a scar inside of them, then Satan goes in and out of that and seizes that person. If the evil spirit, through that scar, is the spirit of suicide, then that person will take their life. If that evil spirit is of sexual immorality, then that’s what that person will do. So, whatever the problem is, the true problem is the spiritual problem of leaving God. The people around you have never heard this once, so they must hear it through you.
Conclusion
1. Establish the bartizan of the gospel and the Kingdom of God
The bartizan of the gospel must be raised up inside of us first. Humans do not need anything else; we need the gospel, we need the cross. I need to go in front of the cross to know who I am, I need to know, “I’m a sinner, that’s why I need the Christ, that’s why I need the Christ today.” If you don’t go before the cross, you won’t know who you are. Paul said, “I must die before the cross every day.”
2. Go down the path of doing the work of the Kingdom of God
3. Establish the platform to save lives in the field
So, every day, may the cross be your center and your goalpost. From that point on, you will no longer lead your one life; you will entrust it to the Lord, then God will reign over you and the work of God’s kingdom takes place and your life is revived, and you will save other people. That is true success. So I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ that whether you live or die this week, you will do it for the Lord.
Message Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We thank You for saving us who were dead by the goodness of the cross. We pray You will give us the grace to live for the Lord, whether we live or die. Give us the faith to accept the opinions of those with weaker faith, and please give us the faith to entrust everything to our Lord.
We have returned Your materials as offering to the Lord. We pray that You will bless the hands that have given the offering so that everywhere it is used, those who are stuck in darkness will be brought to the light of Christ. May all of our studies and work be used to save all nations and peoples. Lord, we believe You will continuously give us the economy of light for world evangelization. May this be the time where all the curses, disasters, and unbelief of poverty are broken down. We believe You will give us the economy and the business of light that will do world evangelization through our posterity. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.
God, we thank You. God, we pray You will bless the newcomer today. May you give her the grace to live and die for the Lord. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.
Announcements
1. Online zoom early morning prayer (Tue-Fri, 5:30am, Sat, 6am). Raise the bartizan of prayer.
2. Remnant Bible 30-Verse Memorization Contest
3. Venmo account address for church offering: @Antiochmissionchurch
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to live and die for the Lord, be with them now until forevermore and always, amen.