Pursuing Peace

Recap United AND Unified

We continue in our sermon series on the early church. For the last couple of weeks, we have been looking at what it means to be and behave like a believer. As believers, genuine faith should be observable in our lives. Last week we looked at a problem within the Roman church. There were factions that were looking down on others because of how they were going about expressing their faith. As a result, judgments were popping up within the group and that is a real problem. One problem is that these matters were all disputable. They were over details like what food could be eaten and what day of the week worship should happen on. These matters were disputable because there was no real set day of worship at that time. Essentially, after Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and ascended, the followers of Jesus continued to go to Sabbath services at the temple or at whatever synagogue they normally went to Shabbat services. The Shabbat services would always be held on Saturday. However, as Christianity came online and since Jesus resurrected on a Sunday, the worship services for Christians eventually went to Sunday morning meetings. These meetings are very different than how we conduct our worship services today.

However, these things are minute details that should not create any real arguments. There have been issues in church history where a decided break needed to happen based on things happening within the church leadership. One such instance was that of indulgences. The pope was selling indulgences, essentially allowing people to pay for their sin. However, we know that is not accurate since our sins were paid for by Jesus. That issue, along with the issue of having the Bible in a language that the common folks could not understand and the need for an intercessor, just to name a few, were reasons that Martin Luther launched his reformation. There was also a guy by the name of Zwingli in Switzerland that was also launching a reformation, but he does not get as much attention. All that to say, when it’s a matter of heresy, then yes, there needs to be a reckoning for such problems. The idea that people need intercession is heretical because Jesus the Son is our mediator, not a dead saint. The Bible should be accessible to everyone. When Jesus came, He didn’t talk to the disciples in some mystic language they did not understand. Instead, He used the language of the day.

The problem here in the Roman church is that these are all disputable matters. They were getting dogmatic about things that they did not need to get dogmatic about. You know one of my favorite disputable topics is that of Calvinism versus Free Will. Are people predestined by God or are we given the opportunity to come to Him, just some do not. I told you last week that I have a list of questions I keep that I would like the answer to. The other day a good friend pulled me aside and showed me the part in John chapter 16 where Jesus tells the disciples that they will not ask any questions when they are united with Him in heaven. So there’s that. However, that does not mean that I will stop asking questions and seeking out the answers. An unexamined faith is not one worth having.

The problem in the Roman church is they are arguing over silly stuff. They are not a matter of heresy or theology. Instead, they are more along the lines of personal preference. Yet, there were people that wanted to raise a stink about it. That’s no good, because if we the church are stuck arguing and fighting amongst ourselves, then we are not really engaging the true enemy. They are united under the banner of Christ, but they are fighting over the wrong things. Luke 11:17 “Knowing their thoughts, he told them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls.” Jesus gives that instruction when the religious elite mumble amongst themselves that Jesus is driving out demons through the power of another demon. That’s just plain silly. When we look at great battles of history, there were allied forces fighting alongside other allied forces, not fighting against each other. It would have been pretty stupid if during world war 2, the American forces and the english forces fought against each other rather than fighting against Hitler and his forces.

Despite all this, I have seen some very disputable matters really wreck the lives of believers and unbelievers alike. In one particular instance, a debate cropped up about who should be able to use the church parking lot after hours. One group believed that a neighboring baseball field could use it because the games were happening outside of church hours. Though they were in the majority, there was a small pocket that wanted no one to use the parking lot except for people attending church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. It got ugly real quick to the point that the church had to bring in someone to intervene. One of the most heartbreaking things to happen there was when the intervener said, “Look, if you continue down this path, this is going to cause some people to fall away from faith and it’s going to cause some people to never come to faith.” To which one of the people responded, “I don’t care”. That mentality is a problem. As believers, we should care about how our behavior affects other believers and other people. Which is what we are going to get into today as we look at Romans 14:13-23

Romans 14:13–23 CSB

Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean. For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died. Therefore, do not let your good be slandered, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and receives human approval. So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another. Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make someone fall by what he eats. It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.

Paul moves beyond the issue of food and sacred days. Now he is on to something much more important. Here in this passage, he brings the focus back to love. Love is the highest value in God’s kingdom. We are encouraged not to be stumbling blocks for the other believers. To be a stumbling block means that we wind up causing this person to falter in his or her faith. None of us want to be stumbling blocks, right? I would hope not.

The Gospel brings freedom and it brought the Jewish folks away from needing to follow certain Old Testament behavior codes, specifically that of eating. Paul here explains that everything is clean. He knows this and he grew up Jewish. The guy knew the Levitical Law very well. Paul himself sees that everything is clean and the sacred days and days of eating are not a big deal. They are disputable. Essentially what Paul is saying is “to each his own”. In these disputable matters. Do what you want because it has no bearing on the kingdom of God.

In the Gospels, there is an instance where the disciples are getting ready to eat. The chief priests see that these men have not washed their hands before eating. This is not to say that we should not wash our hands. I am sure any medical provider would say it is important to wash up before a meal. However, that is not always the case. I am sure that soldiers out in the field were unable to wash their hands before tearing into their MRE. When we were given battle messing while at General Quarters, we were unable to wash up, but we ate anyway. It was out of necessity. That’s not the kind of washing up that these guys were talking about. Instead, it was based on ritualistic cleansing. It was all for show to demonstrate to everyone else how holy they were. The disciples just jump in and eat. When they are called out about it, Jesus explains it is not what goes into a person that matters, but instead what comes out. Mark 7:20–23 “And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”” So it is not necessarily what a person consumes that is the problem, instead, it is what they are producing in their lives. Earlier in that text, Mark indicates that Jesus makes the statement of making all foods clean just before speaking to the issue of defilement.

However, there are certain rituals that we can get ourselves wrapped up into that may be good to follow, but not be necessarily a requirement. For instance, there is the question of asking God’s blessing before we eat our food. I am sure that many of us in here follow that pattern. When I was growing up, my parents did not ask the blessing before food except for when we were at the house. However, whenever I was with my grandfather, a Southern Baptist pastor down in South Carolina, we prayed over every meal, including McDonald’s and other fast foods. So, later on in life when I became a Christian, I followed that example. Dania and I carried that tradition of praying over every meal, even over fast food. Now, I only recently within the last few years learned something shocking. Apparently, one of my mentors did not believe in praying over fast food. He and Dania had taken the youth group out to Ridgecrest. This was a long time ago, like before Reagan was born long ago. Well, they had stopped at a fast food joint and Dania sat down and waited to pray, but my mentor apparently told her “we don’t pray over fast food.” It’s a bit of a joke these days at our house, though we continue to pray over it. Perhaps, one of the reasons he didn’t like it is because we really are asking for quite the miracle when we ask God to make that Big Mac nourishing to our bodies. Who knows why. At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter.

Except, it could matter depending on how others see that behavior and whether it causes them to stumble. That’s the danger point. Paul in this passage is addressing another form of radical Christianity. In these instances where others are caused to stumble by our disputable behavior, now we should modify our behavior to meet their needs and expectations. To be a living sacrifice is not to say “I can do whatever I want” when someone approaches us about something we do that troubles them. Instead, we should have a tone of love and change our ways so that we can edify our brother or sister, rather than tearing him or her down. That’s another part of being a living sacrifice, putting away our comforts to edify another believer.

That’s a hard one, right? However, it is one we should strive to achieve. Ephesians 4:29 “No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.”

When we see someone in need or having problems, the last thing we need to do is to dig in even further and tell them how bad they messed up. That’s definitely not edifying talk. Instead, it tears someone down that is already in a rough state. A while back I talked about Job’s friends. They sat with him for a few days and didn’t say anything. They just sat there in destitution with him. This is a great example of the ministry of presence. What I have learned in life is that is that when people are going through tough times, they remember who was there walking with them during that time, not necessarily the words that were said. However, the words that wind up being remembered are the ones that did not quite land right. Even when we are trying to give comfort, sometimes our words don’t come off as edifying, but instead as a curse. The tongue is a difficult thing. Just like James says in James 3:6 “And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

Anyway, Job’s friends are doing a great job and then after a while, the silence gets to them. We don’t like silence, do we? It’s not part of our DNA to sit in quiet and solitude. After a week of sitting there with Job, his buddies mess up. They mess up because they basically say, “Hey man, what did you do to get yourself into this mess?” or “For it to be this bad, then you must have really done something stupid. What is your problem?” So when we see someone hurting or in need, we ought not beat that person down. Instead, we should build him or her up.

Now that is not to say that we should not offer some advice depending on what is going on. In one instance there was a person coming by regularly asking for monetary assistance. Nothing wrong with that. However, it got to the point that every month this person was coming by asking for money. The last time this person came around, I recommended they come by on Tuesday and we could set up a budget. I spent time in the Navy helping Sailors manage their finances and set up budgets. I wanted to offer something similar. No judgment or any of that, just a “hey, I think we can give you long term help if we go through this process.” Have not seen that person since. Our words and tone have meaning.

In the same vein, some of us like to give each other grief. That’s how we show love to one another. I know that doesn’t sound right at all, but for those of us that did any time in the military know that is exactly how people were with one another. During my time in the Navy, it was understood that people were going to give each other grief because they liked you. In face, if people were being nice to your face, you had better watch out because that person is probably talking bad about you behind your back. Gossip is also not edifying. That does not build anyone up, but it tears the person down without the person knowing what he or she did that caused this judgment to be put on them.

So typically when people were giving you grief, it meant you all were good. Despite the fact that the talk was not edifying it showed a level of trust and love we had for one another. That is all fine and dandy, but when it comes to that stuff, we have to keep the audience around us in mind. I saw this happen many moons ago. At one point, I was out with my kids. I ran into an old shipmate. It was great to see him, we get up, give a big hug and then proceed to give each other garbage over a variety of things. After a while, we give give a hug and say our goodbyes. Then I sit down again and Mary looks at me and says, “Wow, you guys don’t really like each other, do you?”

So naturally my response confused her when I looked at her and said, “Oh no, I love that guy. He’s one of my best friends. Great guy to be around and work with. I’d take a bullet for him.” They didn’t quite understand it.

Our words have meaning. Even though my buddy and I felt no ill will toward one another, there is a bigger issue here. The bigger issue is that we presented to people around us that we did not care for one another. So maybe in those contexts it’s best to keep that kind of banter away from people that do not understand it. Not necessarily because the receiver doesn’t understand what we are doing, but instead it does not convey that love and respect we have for each other. As the Scripture says, we should be building one another up and not tearing one another down.

Our behavior does not just affect us personally. It affects others around us. These behaviors might not necessarily be sinful. They might seem perfectly normal to us and be disputable. The moment it becomes something we need to change is the moment it affects someone else’s faith. If our disputable behavior is causing people to fall away from the faith, our love for others should drive us to change that behavior. Love is not about the self. It is not self serving. Instead, it seeks the good of those we love. Jesus gives this stark warning about people that cause children not to come to Him. Matthew 18:6 ““But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.” This does not just apply to literal children, but also applies to children in the faith. That’s what Paul is warning against here. This stuff is gravely serious.

Mark 9:43 ““And if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, the unquenchable fire.”