Theological Triage

Intro

This morning, we will be continuing our series through the book of Romans. If you would open up your Bible or your Bible app and turn to Romans 14.

Romans 14:1–12 (CSB)

Welcome anyone who is weak in faith, but don’t argue about disputed matters. One person believes he may eat anything, while one who is weak eats only vegetables. One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not judge one who does, because God has accepted him.

Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand. One person judges one day to be more important than another day. Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.

Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord. Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, and he gives thanks to God.

For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and returned to life for this: that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.

But you, why do you judge 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. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

So, most of you know that my wife Jodie and I have three kids, Isaac who is 14 and you see up here playing bass and sometimes guitar. Abi is going to turn 13 next month, and our youngest daughter, Chloe is 10. Chloe is a medically fragile child. She has a genetic condition called Mosaic Trisomy 22. In short, you know that Down’s Syndrome is Trisomy 21, where there are three of the 21st chromosome in all of the cells instead of 2. For Chloe, her Trisomy is the 22nd chromosome, but instead of the trisomy being in all of the cells, some of her cells are normal, and some of her cells have 3 of the 22nd chromosome. Each tissue type in her body has a different percentage of regular to Trisomy cells. This means that for her, she has several differences, like her cleft lip and palette, she only has one kidney, and she was born with only heart chambers. Early in her life, the doctors had to do a tracheostomy, and she has had a couple of heart surgeries along with other surgeries.

So, with that in mind, it shouldn’t surprise you that when we roll up to the Via Christi emergency room, it is a wildly different experience than your average ER trip. Even the times that we have taken her to the emergency room at Children’s Mercy are very different, like when she would pull out her GJ tube, which could only be placed by Interventional Radiology at Children’s. Even when we show up with Chloe needing urgent, but not emergency attention, she gets bumped to the front of the line, and we get right back to a room.

The last time Chloe was in the CICU at Children’s for a cold. So, ICU is intensive care unit. NICU is neonatal ICU, PICU is pediatric ICU, and the CICU is the cardiac ICU. Anyway, the last time we were at Children’s with Chloe, Isaac was not feeling well. I can’t remember exactly what his symptoms were, but our doctor here in Manhattan wanted us to take him to an emergency room to get lab work done because it was on a Saturday. Well, we were at Children’s Mercy, so we just took him to the emergency room there. The wait for him was 5 hours. We ended up just leaving and going to an Urgent Care/Emergency Room in Overland Park.

The difference between a medically fragile child getting bumped to the front of the line, and a non-urgent teenager waiting for 5 hours is a good illustration of a hospital practicing triage, which is working to prioritize medical cases based on seriousness of conditions. Today, as we look at this passage in Romans, I want us to think about practicing a sort of Theological Triage, where we prioritize how we react to various levels of theological issues and discussions.

The Weak and the Strong

In this passage, Paul takes a look at two specific issues that causing some disagreement between the believers in Rome. The first issue is that there are some who get Paul’s teaching on eating meat sacrificed to idols and some whose consciences are unable to eat meat that might have potentially have been sacrificed to an idol, so they simply avoid meat altogether, eating a vegetarian diet. Paul fleshes out this controversy more in 1 Corinthians 8, where he explains:

1 Corinthians 8:4–8 (CSB)

About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him.

However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.

The Weak and the Strong

So, in Rome, just like in Corinth, there are some who are “strong” in the faith, who feel the freedom to eat meat sacrificed to idols, and some who are “weak” in the faith, who only eat vegetables. And then, Paul talks about differences people have about observing various days. Here, he doesn’t even label one observance as weak in faith and one as strong in faith, he just says, “Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.”

The observance of days was a sticking point much like whether to eat meat or not. In Colossians 2:16, Paul says, “Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.”

Not Everything Is a Gospel Issue

So, as we read through these two issues, it is clear that Paul wants the church in Rome to care more for one another than these issues, saying, “don’t argue about disputed matters.” There are certainly differences, right? Pastor Bill’s definition of Church Unity fits well with what Paul is teaching here in this passage. Disagreement without discord. These folks disagree about food and observance of days, but they aren’t to argue about such matters. In other words, their energy is better spent on core issues like Christ’s life and death and the coming judgement of God.

There is a temptation in today’s church culture to make everything a Gospel issue, so if there is disagreement on those issues, it must be met with the strongest possible response. Usually in the form of a social media broadside. But instead, there are disagreements that are acceptable for Paul.

Some Things Are Gospel Issues

That said, there ARE absolutely Gospel issues. Matters that come up that cuts to the very core of Christ’s work and our salvation. Turn over to Galatians with me, and look at Paul addressing one of these very same issues, but in very different terms.

Galatians 4:8–11 CSB

But in the past, since you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods. But now, since you know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elements? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? You are observing special days, months, seasons, and years. I am fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.

Woah! Paul just told the Romans, “Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.” And here in Galatians, he’s talking about turning back and being enslaved to things. Specifically, he fears that his labor is wasted because they are observing special days, months, seasons, and years! Which is is Paul? Well, this is where context is needed. For one group, the Romans, this is a matter where individual believers have disagreement, and seem to have undertaken different practices in regards to days. For the other group, the Galatians, false teachers have infiltrated the church and have tied salvation to works, like the observance of special days and events. This passage comes in the context of Galatians, where Paul says he is “amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

For the Galatians, these issues are not issues of preference, but rather, cut at the very heart of the gospel. “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift - not from works, so that no one can boast.”

Theological Triage

So, what do we do with these doctrines where there is disagreement, and how do we determine what hills we die on, and which ones we show grace? There’s an excellent little book by Gavin Ortlund called Finding the Right Hills to Die On that advocates deliberately thinking through what he calls Theological Triage, which is just what it sounds like. Deliberately examining various matters to determine those of the upmost urgency. He suggests, “Sometimes we flatten out all doctrine - either because we want to fight about everything or because we want to fight about nothing. More commonly, we have some kind of functional theological triage, but we have not thought it through very self-consciously. As a result, it is determined reactively by our circumstances and temperament rather than proactively by Scripture and principle.” In other words, if we don’t deliberately think about these matters, our tendency is to react more strongly off the cuff than perhaps we would with prioritization. He goes on to list out four ranks of doctrines, but I find it’s perhaps less helpful for my thinking what would belong in third rank, or fourth rank, and trying to figure out what those mean on a sort of sliding scale, so I’ve loosely organized my priorities over the years into several categories.

Matters of Orthodoxy

The first category that I would group issues into would be what I call, Matters of Orthodoxy. These are doctrinal issues that define a Biblical Christian faith. These are the doctrines that disagreement with earn labels like heresy. These are the doctrines that the early church fought to hold. A book I read in Seminary that was extremely helpful and fascinating to read is called The Gospel According to Heretics by David Wilhite.

So, in the second century, there was a man named Marcion that argued that the God of the Old Testament was inconsistent with Jesus, and so he was the first one arguing that we should unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament. He cut the Bible down to an abbreviated version of Luke along with a few of the Pauline epistles. To Marcion, Jesus as God is pure love, and so he rejected the idea of an Old Testament God that was Just and Holy. He also taught that Jesus simply appeared to have a body. For Marcion, the Creator God was evil, and Jesus was a different God coming to save us from the Creator God.

So, early church fathers like Turtullian had to refute theses heresies. He pointed to Scriptures like John 1:1–3 to show that Jesus was present at creation and is one with the Father.“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.” The church over time had to answer heretics like this to continually affirm those books that are a part of the canon, and those that are not.

These are the kinds of doctrines we’re talking about here. Salvation by faith alone. The Trinitarian nature of one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus as fully man and fully God. These are the kinds of doctrines that we must preserve and refuse to back down from. In Ortlund’s terminology, these are the hills to die on.

So, these are the non-negotiables. We aren’t going to affirm the faith of those holding these positions. We’re certainly not going to work with them on matters like global missions or evangelistic outreach, because their understanding of the Gospel in fundamentally different.

The following categories then are areas where Christians disagree to a certain extent. I think for all of these kinds of doctrines, I can see how the person arrived at their theological conclusions from a study of Scripture, but they have interpreted this or that passage differently, or perhaps started with different presuppositions about doctrinal matters than I have.

Matters of Fellowship

So, my first category is what I’m calling Matters of Fellowship. In other words, these are doctrinal matters that are important enough to me that it would not make sense to fellowship with believers who hold a different position than I do.

The quickest and most obvious example of these kinds of issues would be baptism. As a Baptist pastor, it should shock no one that I believe the clear and consistent teaching of Scripture is that baptism is done by immersion following faith in Christ. I understand how Presbyterians and other denomonations arrived at their conclusion of infant baptism due to their Covenental theology understanding of how Israel and the church relate to one another and therefore that circumcision and baptism relate to one another. I understand how they got there. I don’t have to discount the teaching of someone like Tim Keller simply because he held that different position on baptism than I do.

However, I certainly hold a different view. When I read Scripture, I just don’t see a 1:1 Israel to church, circumcision to baptism replacement that covenant theologians do. Pastor Bill just recently taught in Romans 10 and 11, and the idea that Israel was simply replaced by the church doesn’t seem to fit with texts like that. To me, Scripture is quite clear that circumcision and baptism are two very different things with different purposes. Baptism is this outward public declaration and picture of what has happened inwardly with the person who believes in Christ. The greek word baptizmo litereally means “to immerse.” And so, for me, I would not want to belong to a church that holds a different position on baptism.

Other issues that are in this category would be like my position on Elder qualifications, the understanding that you can’t lose your salvation, my understanding of Imago Dei and how that impacts things like bioethics and race. For all of these issues, I would prefer to fellowship with other believers who agree on these issues. It’s really hard to have have a church structure that accommodates both people that believe in male only elders and pastors and people who believe in both female elders and pastors.

Now, how people sort these doctrines and doctrines in the next category can vary greatly. For example, someone might put the Doctrines of Grace, AKA 5-Point Calvinism here in this category and baptism in the next category. There are people who have left Grace because we don’t take a firm 5-point Calvinism stand, and they’ve gone to a Presbyterian church instead. So for them, soteriology belongs in these matters of fellowship, while baptism is further down in these categories for them.

Matters of Conviction

My next category of doctrines is what I call Matters of Conviction. These are matters where I am convinced of my theological position, but I’m perfectly happy to fellowship with others who don’t hold the same theological position as I do. So, our church has believers who are 5-point Calvinists, and 4-point Calvinists, and Arminians, people who haven’t staked out a soteriology position, and I can fellowship with all of those believers together as we can all affirm the GBC elder position on these matters which states,

“The Bible teaches both the roles of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility in conversion. God convicts the lost person of sin and draws them to repentance. But conversion cannot occur without a response of faith. Paul portrays the Lord as having absolute control over all that happens (Rom. 9:14-24). But the very next chapter insists in equally strong terms that God reaches out to all people and holds them accountable (Rom. 10:8-21). We can’t fully explain how these two doctrines fit together - we simply accept them as God’s truth. Blessed be the name of the Lord!”

So, while I’m convinced of my position in soteriology, I can happily fellowship with those who hold a different position.

Another position might be my position holding to a young earth, 7 literal day creation. As laid out in the elder position statements, there are some other orthodox positions how how to understand Genesis 1.

Now, with all of these later categories, there are absolutely unorthodox positions that someone could take, that would move it right back up to the top. A belief in random, evolutionistic creation for example is outside the bounds of orthodox Christianity.

Matters of Study

The next category is what I call Matters of Study. In other words, these are doctrines that I think I understand what Scripture teaches, but I absolutely would not get into an argument over, but less break fellowship with those who hold a different position. In other words, I am still studying these, and trying to understand what Scripture teaches.

One doctrine that I would put here is my position on the millenium. I’ll be honest, I avoided these discussions completely for years, and even now, I’m skittish talking about my thoughts. A few years before moving to Kansas, I joined the church I had been attending in Iowa through my college and teaching years. The very first congregational meeting I attended as a member, the congregation voted on moving the dispensational, premillenial articulation of eschatology from the church statement of faith to what were essentially elder position statements in the constitution. In other words, the church leadership was wanting to move premillenialism from a matter of fellowship to a matter of conviction. The church split at the end of that vote, and the next week we went from 1,200 average attendance down to 800. So, for a lot of people, these was a doctrine that absolutely belonged in the matters of fellowship category. Others left because they disagreed with how the elders and pastors shepherded through that change. Either way, I came away from this conflict a bit gun-shy about eschatology.

So, I’ve since done study on Eschatology and the various articulated positions, and I think I lean towards one particular position, but I’m not confident enough in that opinion to argue for it. Other matters, like my position on the extent of the atonement, my Progressive Covenantalism stance, all belong in this category for me. By the way, if anyone is curious what my positions on these are, I wrote up a summary for my ordination a few years ago, and I would be happy to share this horribly dry and boring document with you.

Matters of Opinion

The final category I define is matters of opinion. This is where I think the observance of various days was for the Roman church. While I think these opinions are in line with Biblical teaching, there are other perfectly valid opinions that also are in line with Biblical teaching. These tend to be things that the Bible doesn’t directly address, but instead, we look at principles the Bible teaches, and form our opinions from that teaching.

So, for example. Everyone look left. Everyone look right. Did you see other people? I have strong opinions about the sanctuary being lit because I have other strong opinions about centrality of the congregation in singing. Other churches would emphasize that the folks on stage worship and the congregation sort of joins in. For this then, the lights for the congregation are dimmed, and the folks on the platform are lit to draw attention forward. I’m not saying our way is Biblical and the other is not. I’m saying I have strong opinions about the centrality of congregational singing, and therefore make choices like lighting around those opinions. Could I worship in other styles. Sure. The church I was at in Iowa was much more that style. I’ve even led in a charismatic context before. The church our family would go to while Chloe was in the NICU or PICU is much more liturgical.

Now, with any of these opinions, there is a very short walk back up to the top by insisting on my opinions. If I were to say for example that any church that uses a smoke machine is heretical, and such churches cannot be Christian, well, now my opinions have added to, or subtracted from the Gospel, which would make me a false teacher. When we demand other Christians submit to our preferences and boundaries, now we have wandered into legalism.

Welcome the Weak

How then are we to respond to those who are perhaps weaker in the faith than us? In verse 1, Paul says we are to welcome the weak in faith. God has accepted this weak believer Paul says, so who are you to reject them? These people are servants of God, not you. And Paul says, “Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.” Matter of fact, it is in faith that these who are weak are eating vegetables and observing days. Paul says, “Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord. Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, and he gives thanks to God.”

Can I be blunt, we are very often a meddlesome, opinionated culture. It’s not enough that I have this opinion, I need to let you know what my opinion is, and why you’re wrong for not having the same opinion. So, while it is difficult to welcome the weak, I honestly am more concerned that our culture seems to tell us it is good and right and even necessary to despise those who disagree with us.

Do Not Despise the Weak

Paul continues on in this passage, saying, “But you, why do you judge 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.

I’m going to be blunt, our Theo-bro, keyboard warrior, social media obsessed culture runs completely and totally contrary to what Paul is telling us. If we’re not careful, we can become obsessed with clicks, and likes, and reposts. Building a platform needs engagement from people, and do you know what drives engagement in our culture more than anything? Conflict. Shocking statements. Guys like Mark Driscoll are still out there saying and doing offensive things because it gives them attention! Our culture, I would argue the American church culture even, idolizes celebrity, and we have confused celebrity with notoriety.

Reject this thinking. Do not despise your brothers and sisters, even when they disagree on matters of fellowship or conviction with you. They are servants of God, and both they and us will be called to stand before the judgment seat of God.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying, “Don’t talk about any of this stuff, avoid all controversial topics.” No, I’m saying, when you talk about these issues, do so in a spirit of humbleness with your brothers and sisters in Christ. What about the enemies of Christ? We get to hammer them right? Well, how does Jesus say we should interact with our enemies? We’re to love them. So, we hold firm and fast to the truth of the Gospel, but we do so in a humble way that loves them and desires that they come to Christ.

Do Not Judge the Strong

What about the weak among us. What if you were raised to observe a strict sabbath day, and to not do so grieves your conscience. What if you grew up in a culture where hip-hop music and the hip-hop musician lifestyle were inexorably tied together, and you cannot get past the music style of artists like Lecrae and Tripp Lee? How do you relate to the kids who are learning theology from Tripp Lee’s songs? Well, I think if the temptation for the strong is to despise the weak (Kids, don’t despise your totally not cool elders), if the temptation for the strong is to despise the weak, the temptation for the weak is to judge the strong. Well, that music is evil, so no one who truly loves Christ could possibly listen to that stuff.

Paul tells us that it is not for you to judge your brother or sister in Christ on these kinds of preference issues. Paul says in verse 12 that “each of us will give an account of himself to God.” There are probably people whose prior lives of sin are attached to the music they listened to, and so they shouldn’t listen to that kind of music. But that is something that the Holy Spirit is going to need to reveal to them.

So, rather than judging or accusing, I think a great way to listen is to ask honest, humble questions. So, tell me about why you love listening to Lecrae? Did you have a lot of experience with hip-hop before? Tell me about how this is helping or hindering your walk with Christ.

Focus on Christ

Because that’s the core issue, right? All of these discussions and doctrines bring us right back to the central questions. Who is God? What does He say in His Word about our sin and brokeness? Who is Jesus Christ? How has his life, death on the cross, and resurrection fundamentally shifted the focus from self to Jesus as Lord? Someday, every knee will bow and every tongue will give praise to God. Have you bowed the knee willingly today, or will you wait until you do so in terror that day of judgment? Will you come to Christ, or will you reject Him?

As a church, are we accurately representing Christ and His Gospel to the world around us? Are we being salt and light to a dying world? These are the issues that we must prioritize. There are sick and dying people all around us that don’t know the love of Jesus Christ. What did we say triage was? Prioritizing care for those that are most in need. Well, here should be our priority. Preaching Christ and Him crucified. That said, just like Children’s would have eventually gotten to Isaac, these other issues and conversations are important too. We just can’t let them overtake our unity and the spread of the Gospel.

Let’s pray.