A few weeks ago one of you told me that you had to work on Sunday, which was unusual for you. We talked a little bit about whether this would be a time to take a stand or “pull the donkey out of the well.” The debate about working on Sunday is one that occurs almost every fall when harvest becomes a pressure and rain is threatening on Monday. Some of you have taken a firm stand and under no circumstances will you work on Sunday. Others will harvest even when Monday looks like it will be a nice day. Evidently we differ in our opinions about this.
I am aware that there are people in this congregation who will partake of wine or other alcoholic beverages on occasion. I also know that there are some here who have a very firm stand of abstinence. Evidently we differ in our opinions about this.
As some of you know, I believe that God has opened the door for women to be involved in church leadership and has nothing against women preaching or leading in the church. I am fully aware that there others in this congregation who have very different opinions and also many who are in between. Evidently we differ in our opinions about this.
In each of these issues, many people hold their positions firmly and passionately. It is often difficult to accept other points of view because we have thought deeply about our point of view. This makes dialogue difficult because we care about the perspective we take. I do not want to debate these issues this morning, but I do want to talk about how we can be brothers and sisters in the body of Christ even when we hold such different perspectives. I do want to reinforce that our oneness in Christ and our service for Christ is a higher value than that we agree on all of these issues. I do want to urge us to love one another and serve Christ arm in arm in spite of our differences.
The text we will be examining is Romans 14:1-15:13.
In order to be faithful to God’s Word, we need to understand the issue which Paul was addressing to the Romans. One writer has suggested that this passage is really at the heart of the purpose for writing Romans. The church in Rome was divided along several lines and this was causing division in the body. Paul’s message is a strong encouragement to unity in the body of Christ.
As we have seen previously, there were both Jews and Gentiles in the church in Rome. Although the church was not only divided around ethnic issues, there is a strong connection. Many years before Christ, during the time of the kings of Israel, the Jewish people living in Israel continually sinned. Two of their sins were that they participated in the religion of the people around them through inter-marriage and they failed to honor God by keeping the Sabbath. As a result of their wandering away from God in these ways, God continually warned them and threatened that if they would not mend their ways and follow Him, He would drive them out of the land. They did not mend their ways and God did drive them out by the hand of the Babylonians and for 70 years they lived in exile in Babylon. When they returned, we read in Ezra and Nehemiah how they diligently sought to follow God.
By the time of Jesus, the dietary laws which identified them as Jews and the Sabbath laws were firmly entrenched in their observance of religion. From young on the values that were deeply engraved on their hearts and minds were the value of avoiding all contact with pagan religion, which included avoiding eating meat sacrificed to idols, and keeping the Sabbath laws. John E. Toews says, “since the middle-second century B.C.; they were boundary markers which defined Jewish particularity over against other people.”
When Jesus came, he invited people to a new kind of relationship with God. It involved a relationship with God which was based on Christ’s death and resurrection and in which a person could participate in that relationship not on the basis of outward rituals like abstaining from certain foods or keeping the Sabbath, but by faith. Paul thoroughly understood this and lived by it, but he also understood that some people could not shake the values they had grown up with and so abstaining from certain foods which might have been offered to idols or failing to keep the Sabbath was just too much for their spiritual understanding to accept. Paul calls them “weak in faith” and they were because they did not have enough faith to understand that they were saved by faith alone and that eating meat sacrificed to idols and keeping the Sabbath laws added nothing to their acceptance by God. The things that Paul says in this section are set in this context and as we read it, we first of all need to understand it in that context.
However, the principles which are presented here also apply to many other situations like those I have mentioned above and others like head covering, jewelry, media, dancing and other issues about which sincere followers of Christ have differences of opinion. The question is, “How does the body of Christ function when it doesn’t agree?”
I would like to address these issues by presenting the principles which permeate this passage. Rather than examine them by going verse by verse, I have drawn out the principles which appear over and again throughout the text. There are four principles which can help us relate to one another as brothers and sisters in disputable matters.
The first thing we need to notice is that there are disputable matters among those who are sincerely following Jesus. Notice how this fact appears again and again in this passage.
Right in 14:1, Paul speaks about “disputable matters.” In both 14:2 and 5, he indicates that one man eats and another man doesn’t/ one man considers one day more sacred and another man considers every day alike. In other words, there are differences.
Furthermore, we need to recognize that the differences are not a difference between people who are faithful to God and those who are not. In 14:6, he indicates that the one who eats “eats to the Lord” and the one who abstains “does so to the Lord.” Both of these people have come to their positions as a part of their faithfulness to God. Paul himself had very strong opinions about the matter of days and food laws and says in 14:14, “As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself.”
One of the things that has disturbed me is the matter of labeling. I am aware that I have been labeled by some as “liberal” in some of my views. I have also heard such labels applied to other conference leaders. I also know that I have applied the label “legalistic” to some people at times. Such labeling and the opinions that are behind them are not helpful and violate one of the basic premises of this passage. That premise is that equally sincere followers of Jesus who base their faith and hope on His finished work on the cross and who seek with all their heart to follow Him in life come to different conclusions about some of the details of what it means to be a disciple.
If it is our opinion that we have the only correct interpretation of what it means to follow Jesus, we will find it very difficult to live in unity and we might find that we are being disobedient to this Scripture which acknowledges differences.
As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that although Paul is very tolerant here, he is not always so tolerant. There are other times where he directly and vehemently attacks others as false teachers. What is the difference? I believe that the difference is that those areas are not “disputable matters.” In those cases he is attacking matters that go to the heart of the gospel, to the core of what it means to be a Christian.
Furthermore, acknowledging differences does not mean that we compromise our perspective. Embracing differences still allows for firm convictions.
The problem is, how can we do that and still relate with those who disagree as brothers and sisters? The primary thesis in this passage is a call by Paul for unity. I believe that the key verse in this section is that found in 14:19 where he says, “do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” The specifics of that are spelled out in the text.
We read, for example, in 14:1, “accept those who are weak in faith.” We also read in 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.”
I believe that 14:3 is a very important verse which addresses both sides of the issue. For some, the one temptation is to despise or look down on those who do not share our perspective. In Paul’s theology, he saw a measure of bondage for those who did not eat meat and who kept all the Sabbath laws. He calls them people who have “weak faith.” Yet he says that one should not look down on them. So those who might have more freedom in their faith on various issues today must be very careful not to look down on those who do not share that freedom.
On the other hand, those who believed that it was God’s will to refrain from eating meat and that it was necessary to keep all the Sabbath laws, could face the temptation to judge those who had freedom. They could easily view them as being people who were unfaithful to Scripture. They were convinced that their understanding was rooted in the Old Testament Scripture. Paul’s word to them in 14:3 is that they “must not condemn.”
This is difficult to do! It is difficult because we believe that we have thought about these issues and have looked at Scripture and are certain that we have understood them correctly. How can we then accept others whose views are different? How can we have fellowship with them as brothers and sisters? It is so easy to either despise or judge.
Paul answers this question in Romans 14:4 where he says, “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.” Why must we not despise or judge? Because we have no right to. We are not the master of anyone else. God is our master and only God can judge whether we have sincerely listened to Him and are obedient to Him.
That does not mean we should not talk about these things or share with one another why we believe what we believe. In fact, I think it is critical that we do have those kind of conversations. But when we look down on another or judge another, then we have stepped into the role of God and we have no right to do that.
So the critical response to differences on disputable matters is to accept one another and make every effort to be peace makers.
On the issue of eating meat and observing all the Sabbath laws is able to say in 14:14, “I am fully convinced.” Evidently he has taken the time to examine Scripture and pray and think through things and has a firm conviction on this issue. We often think that if a person really studies Scripture and is sincere they will come to the same conclusion as we have. In other words, we assume that if a person does not agree with us, they have not really studied Scripture well enough or that there is something wrong with their relationship with God. As we have already said, that is not necessarily the case. Even sincere people who are in a good relationship with God and who diligently and sincerely study Scripture will come to different conclusions. That was the first point. However, it is also possible that people have not done that, that they have not thoroughly examined an issue or do have something wrong in their relationship with God. Paul addresses that issue in this passage as well.
I mentioned in the last section that we should not judge one another because God is our master. In several verses, Paul reinforces that this is not only a reason not to judge one another, but also a reason to make sure that we are standing on solid ground in our opinions. He challenges in 14:5, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” That implies thinking and praying and discerning in order to be at peace in the presence of God. We should get to the place that whatever we do or think we should have the confidence to do it to the Lord. This is the theme of verse 6 where the one who eats meat “does so to the Lord” and the one who abstains, “does so to the Lord.” You can’t do that unless you are fully convinced in the Lord that what you do is the right thing. The incentive for this kind of careful thought and conviction is that, as 14:12 says, “each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
Whatever we do, we must also let our conscience be our guide. For a person who believes that something is sin, for that person it is sin. Paul says in 14:22, “the man who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” So again we are encouraged to make sure that we are at peace in the presence of God about how we live our life.
In the situation which faced the Romans, Paul is very clear that he is convinced of his perspective on the issue. He is so strongly convinced that he even calls those who are troubled by eating meat those who are “weak in faith.” He encourages those who are weak in faith that they should not judge those who have freedom, whom Paul calls the strong.
In spite of Paul’s strong convictions and in spite of the fact that he identifies those who disagree as “weak in faith” it is amazing to see that he nevertheless calls for a very gracious way of relating to them. In 14:1 he has said that they should “accept him whose faith is weak” He says a similar thing in 15:1, “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” This is powerful and worthy of note. I like the way John Toews puts it when he says, “The weak are prohibited from judging, but only the strong are exhorted to change their actual behavior because they alone have the power to do that.”
The tendency of those who have freedom in certain areas is to look down on those who do not have that freedom and to try, in some way, to force them to have a greater freedom. God’s Word calls us to a different way of acting. It calls us to selflessness, submission and sacrifice.
In 14:13 and following, he first of all teaches that those who eat meat should not put a stumbling block in front of those who do not eat meat. In verse 15 he says, “If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love.” What a powerful teaching when it comes to disputable matters! The value that should form all of our actions is not first of all our freedom, but “acting in love!”
In 14:22 there is another statement which speaks to this ethic. Paul says, “So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.” I was intrigued by the phrase “does not condemn himself by what he approves.” What does this mean? I believe that it does not mean that there is a danger that we have gotten it wrong. What it does mean, in the context of the passage is that if you have freedom to do something, and you exercise that freedom and in the process you cause another person to stumble, you condemn yourself, not because the act itself is wrong, but because you cause another person to stumble. You condemn yourself because you are not acting in love.
As we move into chapter 15, we come to the foundation which supports such a way of living. In 15:2 Paul speaks very plainly when he says, “Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” By setting aside our freedoms and submitting to that which will build up our neighbor, we act in the way that is right. This is not always easy to do and so Paul reinforces the motivation for such living when he points to the example of Jesus Christ. In 15:3 Paul says, “For even Christ did not please himself…” It is from the example of Christ that we learn to live in love. How did he handle insults? He absorbed them on the cross and so silenced them.
Love and the good of the other lived out with self sacrifice and submission are the higher values we are called to follow. Doing whatever we can to build unity is the value that supports such love. What a wonderful encouragement in Romans 15:5 where Paul prays “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus.”
I know that this is an intensely practical issue. I know that I have failed to follow this teaching and, on the other hand, I have experienced the insults of people who disagreed with me who have also not been following this teaching. What does God teach us here? Although the issue Paul was addressing is not our issue, the principles which arise are for us.
1. There are differences and that is just the way it is. In fact, in one way we could say that those differences are a part of the incredible variety with which God has blessed us in this world.
2. When we disagree, we must not, on the one hand, look down on each other or on the other hand judge one another.
3. We will all stand before God and so it is important that we be diligent to submit all of our opinions and actions to God and continually seek His will.
4. Whatever conclusions we come to we must also be willing to submit to the body of Christ and to treat each other with love so that none of our actions will cause a brother or sister to fall in faith.
This tells us that loving one another, accepting one another, honoring one another and submitting to God are higher values than “being right.”
May God help us to live in peace with grace.
No comments:
Post a Comment