Sermon Tone Analysis

Romans 14:1-4

Vegetarians are Welcome to Worship, Too

 

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?

It is before his own master that he stands or falls.

And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.[1]

In the text before us, Paul contrasts Christians whom he designates as “weak” with those whom he will soon designate as “strong” [see *Romans 15:1*].

He uses the example of a Christian who has scruples about what may or may not be eaten.

To be specific, he speaks of Christians who are maintain a vegetarian diet as examples of “weak” Christians.

He could have been referring to any of a number of reasons these believers were vegetarian, several of which follow.

Some people have become convinced that Paul was referring to Jewish Christians.

There is no certainty in assigning this term exclusively to Jewish Christians, though the Jewish community did have religious dietary restrictions that were frequently carried into the Christian Faith by early saints who came from that Jewish background.

There is nothing in the Old Testament law that required Jews to be vegetarians.

There were careful distinctions between “clean” and “unclean animals, of which Jews were free to eat the former, though not the latter.

There were specific prohibitions against eating the blood of animals, which had to be properly drained even from edible meat.

Jews who “keep kosher” today are careful to only eat meat from animals that have been slaughtered under the watchful eye of specifically appointed rabbis who are authorised to place kosher labels on the meat.

Observant Jews also avoid eating dairy products at the same time as they ingest meat products as a part of “keeping kosher.”

Speaking of “weak” Christians, Paul uses the Greek word */asthen/**/éo/*.

It is interesting to observe that the Greek term */asthen/**/éo/* is used to translate the Hebrew term */kosher/* in the Septuagint—the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament makes it clear that the word Paul uses to describe a “weak” brother is often used for the term */kosher/* in the Old Testament.[2]

It is probably accurate, therefore, to understand that Paul was including Jewish Christians who chose to be vegetarians instead of running the risk of a non-kosher diet as “weak.”

It should not be inferred that he was thinking exclusively of Jewish Christians, however.

There were also Gentiles who reacted to the excess of pagan society through practising a form of asceticism—dressing in plain clothing, eating a vegetarian diet, and drinking only water.[3]

Such people may well have assumed that the simple fare of their former lifestyle was complementary to the Christian Faith they had received.

Readers of the New Testament are aware of the fact that in Corinth, many Christians struggled with eating food offered to idols [see *1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 10:23-33*].

Meat was sold in the agora—the marketplace—and that meat was almost without exception offered to idols before it was sold.

Coming out of the bondage to idolatry, many Christians in that day still associated food offered to an idol as belonging to the idol, and they dared not risk violating their consciences through eating such meat.

Therefore, in order to avoid even accidentally eating meat associated with the idolatry they formerly practised, these Christians chose to maintain a vegetarian diet.

Whatever the reason, or reasons, for tension between the “weak” and the “strong,” their censure of one another did not honour God.

Similarly, our tendency to categorise one another within contemporary churches, condemning some as weak while imagining ourselves to be strong (for that is, tragically, the common assumption for most of us), fails to honour the Lord Christ; and such attitudes certainly harm the cause of the Master.

In order to confront our tendency toward thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, and to provide a clear warning against censuring our fellow saints when such censure is not warranted, let’s explore the instruction Paul gave a church that questioned whether vegetarians were welcome to worship.

As we explore the passage, I have no doubt that we will come to the conclusion that vegetarians are welcome to worship, too.

Welcoming Others into the Faith — There is no escaping Paul’s intent in his words, welcome him.

The church of the Living God is to be a welcoming place—a refuge for those who are wounded, a haven for those who are battered by the storms of life, a place of nourishment for those who are growing in the Faith.

Too often, the church has been reduced to a duty performed instead of being the Body of Christ ministering.

The church is not an organisation one joins, but it is the Body of Christ.

Members are added to the church, and because the Master of the church adds whom He wills to the local assembly, those who are members are to joyfully receive whomever He appoints.

The word Paul uses points to this vital truth.

It is not merely that as members we are to “give the right hand of fellowship” to those coming into the fellowship of the assembly, but we are to receive each one as God’s precious gift to His people.

When Paul commands the church in Rome to “welcome” those who are weak, he uses a word that is somewhat rare in the New Testament.

Nevertheless, it is used enough times to give us a sense of what the first readers of this letter understood the Apostle to be saying.

As an example, when Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos speaking in the synagogue in Ephesus, they saw that he was a gifted speaker.

However, he did not have a thorough grasp of the Gospel required of a preacher.

Therefore, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately [*Acts 18:26*].

They took him—accepting him as a gifted servant in whom they were willing to invest everything God had entrusted to them.

When Paul and his travelling companions were shipwrecked on the Island of Malta, the native people kindled a fire and welcomed the shipwrecked mariners [*Acts 28:2*].

In the account, Doctor Luke places the stress upon the kindness shown to the distressed sailors and passengers.

When Paul is pleading for Onesimus, he urges Philemon to receive him as [Philemon] would receive Paul [*Philemon 17*].

Paul expected that Philemon would accept him as an honoured guest, and he instructed him to accept the runaway slave in the same way.

Philemon was to show him kindness, accepting him as a brother.

In this portion of the Letter to the Romans, Paul reminds us that God has welcomed even the weak saint [*Romans 14:3*].

Therefore, we are responsible to welcome one another as Christ as welcomed us [*Romans 15:7*].

This action results in glory to God.  Do you want to see the glory of God among His people?

Then, determine to be a welcoming people.

Determine that you will accept one another as a gift from the hand of the Saviour.

Perhaps we need to remember who we are as the Body of Christ.

Each Christian is not only gifted by the Spirit of God, but each Christian is a gift from the Spirit of God.

This is the reason that I caution against “joining” the church, preferring instead to teach that Christians are added to the church.

God provides congregations that teach His Word, and in those congregations, we are nourished and refreshed.

He guided us to the particular congregation that we call our home church and He set us there so that we could be blessed and also bless others.

Together with the Body of Christ where we worship, we are charged to reflect the fullness of Christ the Lord.

This is the reason for the diversity of gifts and the reason for the necessity of serving one another in a spirit of humility.

By this means, the world sees something of the character of the Master and is drawn to consider the love of Christ.

This point is so vital that we dare not pass over it too quickly.

We must not become guilty of attempting to substitute our best ideas for the divine plan.

Among the churches of our Lord is a pronounced tendency for Christians to “hire” a preacher, instead of permitting the Head of the church to appoint whom He wills to shepherd the flock.

Well meaning people determine that they must “control” the church, instead of trusting the people of God to exercise the gifts which He has entrusted to each Christian.

We often convince ourselves that the church cannot accomplish the tasks God assigned, so we invent “wings” to do what the people of God were supposed to do through the congregations to which they belong.

There are so many “wings” of the church that we wonder how a church ever “flies.”

Detached limbs—wings and arms—purportedly belonging to the church litter the ecclesiastical landscape.

God’s plan was that each local congregation would accept responsibility to fulfil the Great Commission and build each member of the Body through mutual participation in the life of Christ.

I must clarify this point, lest someone distort it to accomplish a personal agenda.

Though all Christians are gifted, and though each gift is essential to the health of the Body of Christ, not all Christians are equally mature.

Neither should we expect that all Christians act with the common desire to honour Christ.

Sometimes, Christians substitute their own agendas for the divine program and seek their own interests instead of seeking the glory of Christ.

For this reason, God has appointed among the churches apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor~/teachers [*Ephesians 4:11*].

The charge to these gifted men is to provide guidance until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes [*Ephesians 4:13,14*].

God appoints whom He wills to guide His people, to equip His saints for service, to enable His people to mature in the Faith.

Those appointed to this divine service are responsible to recognise the gifted nature of each member of the Body and to assist those gifted to wisely exercise the gifts God has entrusted to them for the benefit of the Body of Christ.

They must guard against arrogance that from time-to-time attempts to assert itself within the congregation.

I provide this review of basic ecclesiology in order to remind us that we are not the final arbiters of who we will receive into the church or even whether we deem them worthy of membership within the Body of Christ.

We are responsible to graciously receive each person whom God sends to us, welcoming each one as evidence of God’s goodness to His people.

This acceptance must be balanced by a measure of sanctified common sense that cautions against accepting those living in open defiance of the will of God.

Instead, those who are disobedient must be held accountable when they seek to unite with us; and those who claim affiliation with us who are disobedient must be held to account for the profession they make as fellow worshippers of the Risen Son of God.

As a congregation and as individual Christians, we have received a charge that has never been rescinded: go and make followers of all people in the world.

Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of this age [*Matthew 28:19, 20*].[4]

That charge imposes responsibility not only to tell people of Christ, but also to accept them when they confess His Name and it makes us responsible to instruct them so that they will grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Setting Limits to Dissent Within the Faith — According to what we have learned thus far, we are to welcome all Christians, even weak ones, into the fellowship.

However, Paul sets practical limits to the welcome extended scrupulous saints.

He warns that we must not accept an individual if his presence results in a quarrel over opinions.

There are doctrinal truths that are not negotiable; and there are opinions that must yield to the Word of God.

The distinction between the two concepts defines the difference between convictions and preferences.

Each Christian holds preferences, but it seems that fewer and fewer Christians hold convictions.

Convictions are unalterable, but preferences can be jettisoned whenever it is convenient to do so.

As Christians, we hold certain truths that cannot be negotiated—Jesus Christ is very God in human flesh; He died a sacrificial death, was buried and was raised on the third day; He ascended bodily into Heaven where He is seated on the right hand of the Father; He is coming again to receive the redeemed to Himself; His salvation is freely given to all who believe this message of life and receive His reign over their life; and, the Bible is the infallible and inerrant Word of God written for our benefit.

These are convictions that are held by all who bear the Name of Christ in truth.

As Baptists, we hold to biblical authority for all faith and practise.