Love First

Intro

We are wrapping up our series, “The New Normal,” and we are discussing what God is calling us to as a church as we see the light at the end of the tunnel for COVID-19. Because we want to acknowledge it or not, this pandemic has changed things forever, and there is no, ‘going back to normal’.

So what does the New Normal look like for us as a church. We started by talking about how Jesus creates a new normal for us when we commit to following him. We talked about how we need to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit because our world is going to need more then just well crafted arguments to embrace our new reality. Last week we talked about fatherhood, and how COVID has challenged our involvement with our kids, and we either stepped up and filled the void created by the lack of church and school, or we just continued to do what we’ve always done and maybe been distant or distracted.

This morning, as we wrap up our series, I want to have a little fun but challenge all of us along the way. This is something God has been working on me since I started hashing out this message, and its been something that I’ve been working on and will continue to be working on probably until I meet Jesus. So I start by saying we’re all in this together, and that really the only way this is going to get better. We’re better together, and we need to keep each other accountable whenever possible.

Pet Peeves

I want to start off by talking about pet peeves. If you’ve been watching the services over the last little while, you know that there’s a question coming, and you can probably guess what it is. Don’t say anything. Why? Because that is called a spoiler, and for some people, that is a major pet peeve! When Avengers Infinity War and Endgame came out, there was so much hype around these two movies. If you haven’t seen them, don’t worry I won’t ruin anything. When the movies were coming out, my intern at the time refused the even think about the movies because I always waited to see them. He passionately hated spoilers that he refused to spoil anything for anyone. For me, I generally like spoilers, because it actually makes me want to see the movie. There are a few exceptions to that rule.

For me, my pet peeve really boils down to arrogant people. It is one thing to be the smartest guy in the room, it is another to make sure everyone around you knows it. It is one thing to be a leader and in a place of authority, it is another that person leads with an iron fist and its their way or the highway. When Michelle and I were talking about this, she was quick to point out I used to be like that. I know. I think that’s why it bothers me because I see how hurtful that can be and it probably bothers me more knowing I used to lead like that then the fact others do.

Question #1: What is your pet peeve?

I want you to think about your pet peeve, and why it is a pet peeve for you. We are going to come back to that in a bit.

This morning we will reading out of Roman’s 14 if you want to turn there in your Bible. If you don’t have a bible or a bible app on your phone, no worries, it will be popping up on your screen as we go.

If you have never spent a lot of time in Romans, I would encourage you to do so in the near future. Romans is a letter that Paul is writing to a church he’s never been to but heard lots about. So over the course of the letter, he really unpacks Christianity to it’s fullness so that everyone he’s writing to is on the same page. We talks about how fallen man is, and the fact that Christ alone could pull us out of the sin and mess we find ourselves in. Our lives needed a supernatural Savior in order to turn things around.

By the time we get to chapter 14, he is now addressing believers from the stand point of how this truth and new life should be lived out. We pick it up in verse 13

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.

When Paul says nothing is unclean, he is talking about food. In 1 Corinthians 8, he specifically names food sacrificed the idols. For the Romans, he was addressing a crowd that had a mix of Jews and Gentiles mixed in. But the issue is still the same.

For the Roman church, those who came from a Jewish background would have identified certain foods as unclean according to the law of Moses. Foods such as lobster, shark, pig, rabbit were all listed as foods that the Jewish people were supposed to avoid.

For the Corinthian church, we see another perspective. There would have been people in the gathering who were deep into pagan worship, meeting in the temples of the Roman gods at the time. For them, certain foods would be offered and eaten as a sacrifice to those idols. Anything that wasn’t eaten would have been sold in the market. For those coming out of idol worship, they would see that food as tainted and something to avoid.

It comes down to a matter of opinion

One of the reasons we struggle with these passages in our Christian context is we encounter a lot of people who have food restrictions based on their religious background. We know people who have food restrictions based on health and diet and a variety of other factors.

So if we were to contextualize this scenario, would it be appropriate for someone on the Keto diet to expect everyone around them to abide by the same rules they are living by? No, they made a choice, so that applies to them. However, if I know someone who is on Keto, it would be considered rude and ignorant of me to eat something in front of them that they can’t. Why? Because it may increase the temptation and cause them to stumble in their diet.

At the most basic form, that is what is going on in these passages with one major difference. We’re not talking about a diet; we are talking about someone’s faith and convictions. We’re talking about a group of people who feel certain foods are contrary to their devotion to Christ and eating those foods would be a betrayal of that devotion.

One of the things that we need to be aware of when we read scripture is that there is often more going on in the scripture, and that there is sometimes a bigger principle going on. In the church today, we may not fight about the kinds of food we eat, but we do fight over things that really boil down to a matter of opinion. In fact, churches have split over such minor things. Churches have split over the removal of the organ, the addition of drums, women in leadership, and the list goes on and on and on. As long as people have opinions, there is going to be disagreements.

The problem is when our opinions get in the way of others growing in their faith and being a part of the church.

Question #2: Has there been a time someone’s opinion had a negative effect on your faith? Were you able to overcome that effect? How?

Bob Goff was being interviewed recently on a podcast. If you don’t know who Bob Goff is, he is a fairly popular Christian speaker and someone I look up to greatly. Anytime he speaks or writes a book, it is just pure gold. I highly encourage you to check him out.

In the interview, the host asked Bob about his career as a lawyer. In 2 decades of practicing law, Bob never lost a case. Obviously that sounds like quite an incredible feat, but Bob qualified it by saying this: The record was a reflection of his ability to choose cases. Bob admitted that he never took a case he knew he couldn’t win. He went on to say that mentality has served him well as a believer. You don’t have to pick every fight that comes along. Not every battle needs to be won.

This is something that I learned the hard way a couple years ago. When I first started out in ministry, if someone disagreed with me on a matter of faith, I took it upon myself to make sure they understood they were wrong. I had the idea that everyone had to agree with me. There weren’t many debates I’ve lost over the years. However, there have also been a lot of people who lost those debates and never came back to church because they felt embarrassed or they felt their opinion wasn’t valued. There have been a lot of instances where I may have won the battle, but I lost the war. I lost a friend, I lost a youth out of ministry, I lost a leader. I lost someone from the kingdom of God.

My opinion was more important then their eternity.

As I look back over my debate record with people, I realize there were a lot of times we were debating over a truly minor thing, or I was debating the wrong person. So here is what I’ve learned when it comes to our convictions and communicating them to others.

1. Know your audience.

If you are talking to someone who is not a believer, do not try to impose your Christian convictions on them! If someone has not committed their life to following Jesus, then they really don’t care what the bible calls sin and what it doesn’t. It would be like going on a missions trip to Mexico and trying to impose our Canadian laws on them. Our laws do not apply to people living in Mexico. In the same way, you are a citizen of heaven and bound to the teaching and instruction of Jesus. But someone who is not a believer and thus not a citizen of heaven does not have to follow that same teaching

If you are talking to another believer, then the second principle applies

2. Know your stuff

Know the difference between the matters which are sin and the matters that are conviction. There are certain things that are sin, no matter what church you go to, if you identify yourself as a believer of Jesus, these are wrong in the eyes of God.

Then there are other things that are matters of conviction. These are those grey area matters that someone would consider no fly zones, and others don’t see as that big of a deal. In those things, hold to what is true for you. If something is a matter a conviction for you, then do as Paul says, and keep it between you and God. You will one day stand before Jesus and be held accountable to your convictions. Not mine, not your spouse’s, yours. In the same way, your kids will be held to their convictions, not yours.

Their have been way too many people hurt by the church because someone imposed their convictions on someone else and created a situation of guilt and shame, rather then conviction and growth.

How does this fit with the New Normal?

As the pandemic passes, and we try to find out way in the New Normal, the church needs to be the safe place where people can come as they are and know they are valued and loved. All throughout the gospels, we read how Jesus would eat with people who were considered outcasts, sinners, and messed up. Yet Jesus loved them because everyone has the image and likeness of God in them. We are not the sum total of our mistakes; our identity is in who God says we are. We are what God sees in us

In the New Normal, we love first. Back in the Romans passage, Paul’s heart is that we would other’s well being and growth first. We would love our neighbour and accept them because of who they are, not what they’ve done.

A couple weeks ago, I said that only God has the power to change lives. So in the New Normal, let God be God, let him do the life changing work, and let us love people because of how God loved us.

There are more important things in life then our opinions. We need to be a people who actively make sure our opinions are aligned with God’s word, and when it comes to things that are debatable, let us choose to love and be unified then to fight and divide.