God Welcomes Us All

Romans 14:1–12 NRSV

1 Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. 5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. 6 Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God. 7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” 12 So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

No one likes to be judged. No one likes being criticized for their way of life or how they dress or what their favorite flavor of ice cream is. (Though, the correct flavor is peanut butter and chocolate.)

We might like being judged in the case of being a participant in a contest, especially if we do well. We might not like being judged in a contest…if we do not meet the standards.

But it seems somehow that this is something we innately do. Something we’re prone to do. Perhaps we even judge ourselves for being judgmental. Or look down upon others who look down upon others.

Do you see how judgement can be such a spiral, such a trap?

Considering weakness is a similar trap. What is weak? It lacks something -- strength, backbone, perhaps.

Now, in polite Pacific Northwest company, we would never outright call someone weak. But we would certainly look askance at someone, cast curious eyes upon them, if they diverge from what we might call normal.

I love that the Apostle Paul uses food as his opening illustration, because it’s so easy for us to connect with.

Let’s work with his illustration, specifically around eating all manner of foods vs. eating only vegetables.

We know that throughout the ancient Scriptures, there are descriptions of all kinds of foods that were considered clean to eat and a number of foods that were considered unclean. This distinction was helpful in the formation and sustaining of Hebrew culture and health. In the wilderness and entrance into Palestine, it was imperative that the people eat well to maintain their strength, but also be wise about what they put in their bodies.

The same continued in the first-century world of the Christian church. Rome, especially, with its size and connection to the broader Mediterranean world and beyond, would have been filled with all kinds of different markets and vendors, foods and exotic offerings. It was a hub of many cultures and so, of course, new Christians would be trying to figure out how their dietary and religious practices could align with their broader community and what was to be different and set apart for them.

We also know that in many other places throughout the letters of the New Testament, there are discussions about what kind of meat could be eaten, how it was to be prepared, and what was to be abstained from. There were great debates over this — was food used in ritual services acceptable to eat later? Or should it be burned up as a complete offering and abstained from?

Some, clearly, were able to handle the tension of eating and engaging with cultural practices that were outside the norms of Jewish clean and unclean distinctions. Others, those called “weaker” here, were more cautious, less willing to transgress any formal lines around what was clean and appropriate.

But to think of yourself as weak because you abstain or refrain is a misnomer. In many ways, this kind of weakness is actually a degree of attentiveness to not put oneself into a position that compromised your faith and your growing understanding of how God’s way was leading you to live.

Plainly put — if being faithful to how God is moving in you and instructing you to care for your body is to refrain from certain kinds of food, then do it. What if we could hear the work weak as something more like sensitivity. For those of us who would struggle with eating meat, either for reasons related to how the meat was prepared or because of our own personal constitution, then it is ok to be sensitive.

The same can be said for the other illustrations Paul uses: “Do you have a favorite day of the week? Well, I think Saturdays are the best.” How simplistic, but also how appropriate to draw attention to. Jews practice their day of rest and sabbath on Saturdays. Christians would ultimately land upon Sunday as their day of gathering. We have reasons for this difference, but what’s at the heart of the argument here is that the day does not matter! Do you observe the day in honor to the Lord? That’s what matters! Be fully convinced in your mind, as much as you need to be. And be gracious to those who see things differently.

At the core, the message here, about judgement and weakness and what’s right and wrong — it’s all a discussion of what it means to give God honor with our lives.

Does how we live, eat, worship, work, love our neighbors — does it honor God?

Some might wonder, well, is there a better way to honor God? Yes, perhaps. But being a good postmodern millennial, I also have to say — how we find honoring God with our bodies is going to look different. At the core, what matters is the love of God and love of neighbor. Is what we do, eat, say — is it loving God and neighbor and self? Then do not judge one another for the way we do it.

All are accountable to God. All our divisions, differences, peculiarities — they all ultimately only matter in how they honor and are accountable to God’s way of love.

A common difference among Christians, even today, is in how we understand alcohol use. Many church traditions use wine juice at the communion table, alongside the bread. We, at least this Presbyterian church, opt for grape juice. We do this because it is inclusive — young and old, sober and not — we all can meet at a simple compromise of non-alcoholic juice in our communion service.

We are no better than our Lutheran friends down the street, who use wine in their service. We are no better if we partake in alcohol or choose not to in our daily lives. What matters is not whether we do or don’t do this thing — what matters is this: Do we honor God and love our neighbor as ourselves as we practice communion, break bread with friends around a table with glasses of wine, or abstain for health and spiritual reason? Do we honor God?

Here’s the point: God welcomes us all. The weak and the strong. The longtime faithful and the ones still working it out. Vegetarians and carnivores. Wine drinkers and tea drinkers. Gluten-freers, dairy lovers, health nuts and junk food connoisseurs. Regular and diet soda drinkers. Food Co-Op shoppers. Farmers Market hippies. Target sale shoppers. God welcomes us all.

Friends, it’s really easy to get into cycles of judgement and comparison, as we’ve considered here. The heart of the message today, for us, is that God welcomes us all and God will uphold us as we faithfully pursue love of God and neighbor with our lives.

What you snack on, on the way…it’s really less important than how we make the journey and how we treat one another.

So, do not judge.

I want to close with a reading from the Prophet Isaiah, taken from Eugene Peterson’s The Message. It opens with a beautiful “if, then” statement about what can happen if we step outside of blaming, judging, talking behind each others’ backs, criticizing the other for how they practice their faith. When we cease judgement, we can truly shine with God’s loving light.

Here is the promise of finding a full life amidst a hurting world of judgement and division, life in the emptiest of places.

Isaiah 58:9-12

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 58

A FULL LIFE IN THE EMPTIEST OF PLACES

9–12  “If you get rid of unfair practices,

quit blaming victims,

quit gossiping about other people’s sins,

If you are generous with the hungry

and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,

your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you where to go.

I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—

firm muscles, strong bones.

You’ll be like a well-watered garden,

a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,

rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,

restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,

make the community livable again.

May we make our communities livable, rebuilt and renovated with love and acceptance, grace and mercy. May we cast aside judgement and instead, adopt postures of learning, curiosity, and mutual affection. May this be our foundation, our wholeness, as God’s beloved people, welcomed one and all.