Message Notes

Senior Sunday School 30 March 2025

Text: Romans 14

Subject: “Why do you judge your brother?”

 9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 

10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 

11 For it is written:

“As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”

12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 

13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

Romans 14:9-13

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD JESUS

1. He lived

2. He died

3. He rose from the dead

4. That He might be “the Lord of both the dead and the living”

THE PROBLEM OF BEING JUDGMENTAL

1. A question raised

“But why do you judge your brother?” Romans 14:10a

a) This was a real problem

b) It was affecting the Church

c) It had to be dealt with strongly

2. A related problem

Or why do you show contempt for your brother? Romans 14:14b

a) To be judgmental is more serious than we think

b) There is the danger of showing contempt for a brother

BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF THE LORD

1. The judgment seat here is called “Bema”

2. It is not the Judgment for salvation

3. It is the Bema Seat where the Lord commends or rebukes a servant

a) It is the Lord who will commend

b) It is the Lord who will judge righteously

c) To the Lord every knee shall bow

GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF OURSELVES TO THE LORD

1. We are all accountable to God

2. We have to stand before the Bema seat of the Lord Jesus

3. A great word of advice

a) To stop judging people

b) To make an important resolution

c) To not put a stumbling block

d) To not cause anyone to fall

REMEMBERING THE WORD OF THE LORD JESUS ON “IDLE WORDS”

33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 

34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 

35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 

36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Matthew 12:33-37

1. Every idle word has to be accounted for

2. The challenge is to be a good person with a good treasure in the heart