Being Good News: Forbearance with others in Church

Romans 14.1-9

I grew up with a mother who highly values bringing your best clothes to church. The argument, a valid one, was always the same: “We are coming before God. If you would go a meet the President, would you not dress appropriately?” In the rebellion of my teenager years, I always felt this was just hypocrisy. Coming before God? God is always with us! Why would a 2 hour gathering on a Sunday, make it so special that I need to change my clothes? The president might value my appearance, but does God does so? If so, He loves us conditionally, because it is dependent on choosing between a suit or some jeans. Now, I am not saying that I am right and my mother is wrong. We both desire to honor God. She sees that we can do it in our way of dressing, which would match our Portuguese cultural traditional background. Traditionally, we would seek beautiful clothes to be in the presence of people we highly value, as a way of showing respect and love for them. I just disconnected myself from that notion as I have seen people honor God in all kinds of clothing. Do not worry, my mother and I still have vivid exchanges about this topic, but we do not believe that it defines our salvation.

Paul knew that unity and harmony among believers is vital for the strength of the church and the success of its mission. A house divided among itself cannot subsist.

Diet and Calendar (keeping holy days) were two of the most sensitives issues that separated Jews from Gentiles; after the topic of circumcision. Paul makes it very down to earth in chapter 14. He wants those who hear these words to be convicted about what intakes to pursue unity. Paul chooses to bring some clarity sharing a Christ-centered approach to diet and calendar.

Like today, there were as many potential disagreements over small matters as there were believers in the church. The tendency to split and separate is always an easy route: “I stay with all those who agree with me on everything!” To the Roman believers, and I believe to all those who are here today at ANCL, Paul brings counsel on how to maintain harmony in a very diverse church. The principles of God exposed in these 9 verses, transcend time, and echo truth to our day.

v. 1 Accept (proslambanesthe = to receive, to welcome) other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.

/ Key word: Acceptance | Weak in Faith | Opinions

Let us not forget that the Roman church (very likely multiple house churches) was composed from a wide variety of backgrounds. Here, at ANCL, we also have that in common with the Roman church addressed by Paul. We too come from a wide variety of backgrounds. To accept, to welcome believers, independent of their spiritual growth/development/maturity, creates room so that continuous growth is encouraged rather than stopped by cold rejection.

As a rowing coach, I learned that all athletes have their own particularities when it comes to development and growth. Everyone grows at different rates. For example, some might already be developed physically, but still need to understand more about the sport. Others might have a deep understanding of the sport, but remain weak in the body. To grow and develop spiritually holds resemblance to the growth and development of an athlete. We too have areas in which we remain weak in faith, and other areas where we are strong. Either being weak or strong, we all tend to have a negative view of what we are not:

The “weak” tend to be judgmental. As they live a more rigorous life, limiting their diet and keeping certain days sacred, they look at those with freer lifestyle to be guilty (guiltier) of sin.

The “strong” tend to despise/dismiss those who maintain a more restricted diet and calendar. “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,” Romans 11.17

For the division between the “strong” and “weak” is a pratical example of the problem of the relationship between Jew and Gentile, law and gospel, OT and NT, that is basic to the Romans.

Paul wants to redefine the relationship. He is aiming towards mutual respect! Salvation is not dependable on differences of opinion about life-styles. Differences of opinion on life-styles should be shared in a safe and loving environment. It is through sharing ideas that we can come to a fuller understanding of what the Bible teaches. Difference of opinion can be a source of learning and richness in our relationships. Mutual respect chooses dialogue as a way of growth.

Mutual Acceptance Romans 15:7 “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Further on treating the weak as brothers and sisters: Acts 18.26, 28.2; Philemon 17; Matthew 16.22; Mark 8.32; Acts 17.5, 27.33, 36

vs. 2-3 For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them.

/ Key word: Diet | Sensitive Conscience | Tolerance

The Christian diet is as broad as our moral conscience, and our eating choices are not means to salvation.

Here those who imposed a vegetable diet were not worried so much about the exploitation of animals, since this is a contemporary problem. Those Paul addressed in the Roman church were abstaining from meat, likely, due to certain Jewish dietary restrictions. Maybe some Jews expected the food to be kosher (animals killed under the supervision of a rabbi). On the other hand, both for Gentile Christians and especially for Jewish Christians they did not want to risk eating food that had been offered to idols. After a sacrifice was presented to a god in a pagan temple, the remainder of that offering, meaning the parts that had not been burned, could end up in the marketplace. So, it could be that purchasing meat at the market or eat meat at someone’s home would mean to eat the remains of a burn offering to idols.

Our background (life before Christ) can play a significant role on how we interact with life. Someone who was a alcoholic, even having been saved by Jesus Christ, might avoid bars/alchoolic drinks because his/her faith is not yet strengthen to confront a past reality in a redeemed way. The external pressure might still be too strong for their experience of faith. Some view the idols as worthless and phony, so they had no problem with eating any kind of meat. Others, to avoid a guilty conscience, would check for the source of their meat.

On matters of opinion/scruples, Paul tells us we must not look down nor condemn. God accepts both. The word for accepted is the same used in verse 1 of this chapter. Even though we might have a tendency to reject those who hold different beliefs or practices, we are to imitate God, who accepts them. Paul gives insight into two groups who are both acting according to their conscience. Neither of their clean conscience should be applied to others as God’s law. Indeed, we must be careful, in our Christian experience, not to fall into the same mistake. For example, conflicts emerge among believers on what style of music can be “more worshipful.” Paul clarifies the solution to this conflict: Believers can accept each other without all liking the same music. If some music style reminds you of an old life in which you had a different idol (reference of worship) maybe you need to be careful on how you expose yourself to it. If some music style has the potential to share the gospel into the pagan world, it ought to be used prayerfully; by those who are strong in faith to be entrusted in doing so.

Mutual Acceptance Romans 15:7 “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

4 Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval.

/ Key Words: Judgment | One Judge

We are not the judges of humanity. Only one master can judge humanity. God our Lord.

The whole point is: Strong and weak Christians need to stop condemning each other because it is the Lord, and he alone, who has the right to assess the Believer status and conduct.

The Lord alone can judge (Romans 14.10). As believers we are God’s servants, which means that we must respond to Him alone (Luke 6.37, 41-42; 1 Corinthians 4:3-5) Before him we either stand or fall; and only with His help can we stand and receive His approval. 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. When we stand before God, it will matter what we have done, not what our Christian brother and sister have done.

Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

We must quit from “playing” the role of God in the church. While the church must stand against life-styles and actions expressly forbidden in Scripture (e.g. adultery, sexual immorality, murder, theft, ...), the church should not create additional rules and regulations and make them in equal standing to God’s law. To the question of “how to get along with people who bug us?” should have the answer, “through Jesus.” It is together in community, one body accepting one another with love and respect with Christ as the head, that we find the proper context to examine and discern the whole issue of “right” and “wrong.” Humbly before God and His Word (incarnated in Jesus), we holy trust the conviction of the Holy Spirit to either firm or move our hearts. Holiness starts with personal responsibility before being spoken with/to our neighbour (Matthew 7.3-5).

5-6 In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God.

/ Key words: Honor | Freedom

For Jews they kept Sabbath as the holy day, while later on Christians made Sunday their holy day. Maybe growing up around religious holy days, you too find more significance in some “special” moments of the year. Or maybe because you just became a Christian, you think you need to embrace all these sacred days as to become a “good” Christian. Maybe you treasure Christmas or Passover. Maybe you even follow rigorously lent or advent season. You might defend even that is unholy not to observe some of these religious festivities, and that the whole of christian experience is empty and unfaithful without it. For others, also Christians believe it or not, every day is alike - every day is holy to the Lord (Colossians 2.16-17).

Paul declares that each person should be “fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable.” Honoring the Lord must be at the foundation of your choice. This might lead you and your community to take a day of the week, a particular moment, to gather and worship together. Must it apply to every Christian community? NO! Jesus always confronted the religious leaders of his time, because they use “remembering the Sabbath” as a tool of religious tyranny. Sabbath was meant for spiritual renewal of people, not for enforcing power over one another and measuring their spirituality base on human regulations for a God given gift (Mark 2.23-28). We cannot assume that those of us, who gather here on a Sunday morning, are in closer proximity to God compared to those who do not. This would be a new form of Christian legalism. That is Paul’s whole point. We all must honor God, but we will not all do it the same way and on the same day. There is freedom in living life with God. There is freedom in honoring God.

7-9 For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and rose again for this very purpose—to be Lord both of the living and of the dead. '

/ Key Words: Worship | Christ-centered | God Pleasing

We are not the lords of humanity. We belong to Jesus: The Gospel is the proclamation that He is our deliverer, He is our Lord!

God should be driving the motivation of our hearts. We must seek to live life for Him. This means that we want to obey. Conscious of our backgrounds (which include tradition, ritual and conduct) we want all of our actions, attitudes and habits to be pleasing to the Lord. So, in church life, whenever asked about the motivation behind your behaviour and convictions, each of us should come back to the reflection, “Am I doing this out of respect for God? Is it coming from a desire to worship Him?”

We no longer bring sacrifices to God to make peace, for our benefit or our cleansing. Christ died and rose again. We believe in Christ as the ultimate sacrifice. Once and for all, he has brought us to unity with God. We consecrate our whole life to Him. We offer our life! So now, we self-sacrifice, in obedience to God for the sake of others. We deny ourselves: we live and die for Lord.

We do not leave in a vacuum. We take our cross, bearing one another, and following Christ! In Portugal we have the saying: “my freedom ends, where another one freedom starts.” Freedom in Christ must allow us to show and live out grace, mercy, love. Honoring Christ creates a heart that is welcoming of others. A heart that listens without ever feeling threaten. A heart that speaks truth in love. A heart that remains humble and inquisitive, knowing that new questions lead to growth and closeness to God.

Ultimately, Christ came, died and rose again so that we might be delivered from judgement and made free!

2 Corinthians 5:15 “and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”