Thoughts From Romans 15 - Part 1

 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” 4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed  Rom.15:1-8

        Listening to this new song I love by "Tides" called "Alive?" Love it. Here are the lyrics or at least some of them. Notice what she is saying. Her life used to be about serving herself, getting followers, finding herself - all self-centered things. What a universal motivation in the world. If you go to any psychiatrist, they will try to build this part up in your life to find meaning and happiness.

      Did you ever think about what it would look like if Jesus decided to serve Himself? I think the Devil knew because when he tempted Jesus, he hit Him in those areas; "You have miraculous power so use it to feed yourself, get popularity, get power" - but Jesus knew that in order to do that He had to follow Satan. It even appears from Romans that Jesus going to the Jews only was a part of His submission to God's plan to fulfill the promises to the Patriarchs. He could have gone to the Gentiles and been received but He didn't serve Himself and the end result was rejection and crucifixion. But Hebrews says He did it for the joy set before Him. If you want to have joy, meaning, hope, peace - stop serving yourself. Die to self and live for Jesus. You can't serve yourself and follow God. You might think, "I'll follow God in all these areas but in this one area I'm going to serve myself." Nope, doesn't work.

We are drops in an ocean without limit

You and I, we′re specks of grain in the sand

But I believe we were placed with intention

There's a part to play

Grow a following, yeah

Gain influence

What a currency to people who are clueless

But I need more than that

Something tangible

Dig in deep to the root of what makes me whole

Hope in myself was my sole fixation

Never livin′ up to my own expectation

And most of the time

I'd do anything, if it meant I would feel alive

Cause I was not alive

Or at least not yet

Not yet

(Listen)

We're not here to stay

Only passin′ thru

I fear that so many people get it misconstrued

You gotta face the fear

Confront all the wrong

And let your life be redeemed to know where you belong

Hope in myself was my sole fixation

Never livin′ up to my own expectation

And most of the time

I'd do anything if it meant I would feel alive

Holiness in life is my new motivation

Castin′ all my cares on the author of creation

Now this is the way

Yes I'm sure is way it is meant to be

Thoughts From Romans 14 - Part 6

  So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.  Rom. 14:22,23

        The one thing I haven't talked about is this whole thing about eating which Paul keeps talking about in Romans 14. It appears that the idol worshippers offered animal sacrifices to statues of pagan gods and rather than let these stink, spoil, attract maggots, overnight these meats would be bought by local vendors and sold a day later at the meat market, probably at a discount. Some Christians would say, "I could never eat that because it was offered to a demon" while others would say, "an idol is just a marble slab, it's nothing so I am going to buy cheap meat and be a good steward of God's money."

      Now both could be in the same fellowship and never have an issue with this except in 3 instances as I see. #1) They are shopping in the same market, and one sees the other buying that meat. Solution - If you eat that meat, go shopping at a low traffic time and look around before you buy it. My wife makes a mean rum cake, but we would never buy the rum in our locale. We wait for a cruise or something like that.

 #2) You invite that person over for supper and serve the meat and they ask, "Is this meat that was offered to idols?" You can't lie so you say yes. Paul would instruct the weaker brother not to ask, just assume it's not and your conscience won't be bothered. I suppose a modern-day scenario might be you get a gift for Christmas, but you are boycotting Target, and you don't know if it came from there. Just accept it and don't ask. Or your ministry gets an anonymous gift, but you say, "What if this is from the Masons?" Don't ask, just accept it as God blessing you. Or is this candy you got from trick or treating? Don't ask. Just eat it.

#3) You are at a Bible study (or whatever form of the scriptures they would have had) and someone brings up the subject for discussion. This actually is great because this is how the weaker brother can grow and this is how the stronger brother can grow in grace, love, longsuffering, and understanding. It may also convict the stronger brother if he is actually being free in an area he shouldn't be and has taken his freedom too far. Paul says that it is possible to approve of too much so be careful.

      Are there areas that you are holding to a stronger standard than scripture gives? Are there areas that you have freedom in that scripture holds you to a higher standard. These are questions we need to continually ask and pray for divine wisdom as we continue in our daily process of sanctification (spiritual growing up).

         

Thoughts From Romans 14-Part 5

  If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.  Romans 14:15-21

          I once read an article somewhere called "The Tyranny of the Weaker Brother". I can't recall most of what it said but I thought it was a cool name. The just of the article was that the weaker brother can really take away from your freedom if you try to follow all these principles in Romans 14. For example, do you read King James in church so as not to offend the King James only people? Our church does because it's the version Paul used. (that's a joke) Does the pastor wear a suit and tie? Ours does a wardrobe change between contemporary and traditional services. Wine or grape juice? I think this isn't a Romans 14 issue. It has to be grape juice because of recovering alcoholics in your congregation. Then there is the church has to have a Sunday evening service and mid-week prayer meeting crowd. Do you keep these on life support for the few that come?

      It appears the early church met on the first day of the week, but can it meet on different days? And does it have to be in a building? The instructions we get are "don't neglect the assembling of yourselves together," and that's about it. Can't that be in a house group. I would think so as long as everyone's spiritual gifts are being used for the benefits of the others. Obviously, a larger assembly allows for better use of these broad gifts. Many people left our church during Co-Vid19 because we chose not to meet in a large assembly but in smaller groups and this violated the principle of the Sunday morning church weaker brother tyranny.

        As I can recall from the article, the tyranny began when the weaker brother was invited into your house and started looking in your refrigerator and saw beer or your cupboards and saw wine or your albums or CDs and saw secular music or your magazines and saw "Seventeen" (am I dating myself?). I remember hiding all my kids' Harry Potter books when certain people would come over and telling the kids what shows they weren't allowed to turn on while their children were over.

       So, what's the bottom line? I think Paul is saying if your righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit is contingent on any of these debatable issues being affirmed, you are missing the boat. We should have so much contentment in Jesus alone that removing any of these things' "rights" or "freedoms" for the sake of others while they grow, shouldn't affect us one iota. Let's find all we need in life in Jesus!

Thoughts From Romans 14 - Part 4

  Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.  Rom. 14:13,14

            I was on a visitation with a fellow deacon one night, driving on some roads in the middle of nowhere whose names ended in "hollow", when my partner started ranting about people who would hide Halloween candy that they liked at the local Wal-Mart and then the day after Halloween pull it out and it would be half priced. He was disgusted by that and thought it was the worst kind of dishonesty. When I heard him tell of this dastardly deed, my only thought was "What a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?" Of course, outwardly I agreed with him, inwardly I really didn't think it was wrong. Maybe my conscience is hard as granite and I know, in my mind I can justify a lot of things, but I could do this squirreling away with a clear conscience.

        There are a lot of activities like buying a lottery ticket when the prize gets up to a billion, that I could do but for someone else, whose conscience is set off by the thought of gambling, could not and should not do it because it is a sin. People have no problems drinking alcohol and dancing at weddings and I can't help but feel this is improper because I was raised that dancing and drinking is a sin. I know now it's not, but I can't help but picture Job at home offering sacrifices for his kids the next morning for partying sins.

        We've been talking about debatable issues and the next principle I would offer is that doing an activity that isn't forbidden in the Bible is permissible as long as it can be done with a clear conscience and you are sensitive to on-lookers who might think it is wrong. I am reminded of the Christmas card I received from the national leader of Young Life who had gone on a mountain climbing expedition with his family, and the card consisted of a picture of them all lifting a champagne filled glass, toasting their accomplishment saying, "To a great Christmas and Happy New Year." Was he not aware that many Christians find drinking alcohol to be one of those areas that can't be done with a clear conscience? What if someone who feels guilty about drinking starts because Christians that they admire are doing it. Are they causing their brother to sin? Yes. More on this later.

Thoughts From Romans 14 - Part 3

 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Rom.14:10-12

            The whole issue of "judging" is confusing to Christians and the world alike. On the one hand both groups can quote verses like "judge not lest you be judged" and "take the plank out of your own eye before you remove the speck from others". On the other hand we are told to judge rightly and to judge people's actions to decide who we can let into our life and who it's best to avoid. Don't we say to our kids "choose good friends"? How can they do that without judging?

          This isn't meant to dive deep into "judging" but rather give one insight from this passage. Paul equates judging someone with treating them with contempt. In other words, if we are looking down on a person, feeling superior to someone, feeling or expressing disdain for someone based on their actions, we are judging or being judgmental. Our calling is to love people. If we are judging fellow believers, especially in this context, the debatable issue has only served as the trigger to expose the darkness of our hearts and our lack of love.

         For example, let's say a brother loves an ice-cold beer or two or three while watching a sporting event. For me, that's difficult because growing up in Wisconsin, the Lutherans and Catholics drank and Christians didn't. That's the way I was raised. For me to consider myself a superior Christian to them because I don't, or to question whether they are truly saved would be wrong. I just need to follow my conscience, and they follow theirs and still enjoy hanging out together.

        I can picture movie or TV clips where a frustrated person fumes at another and says, "You had one job!" Throughout these last few chapters of Romans, Paul is trying to make the point, "You have one job - love people! How do you keep messing it up?" Knowing Paul, he might even be fuming. Let debatable issues like drinking, smoking, Halloween, Santa Claus, Harry Potter, swim wear, Sunday activities, King James Version, views on evolution, women in ministry, reformed theology, CNN vs. Fox, political party affiliations, contraceptive choices, day or night of worship services, capital punishment, capitalism vs. socialism, handling of the border, the list goes on... let those issues be used to challenge our ability to truly love as Jesus has commanded us to.

Thoughts From Romans 14 - Part 2

  One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

            As we discuss debatable issues, if we're asking, "Is it OK?", we're probably asking the wrong question. Paul talks about doing things "to the Lord" in this passage which means to me, the question we should be asking is does this glorify You, Lord?"

           Let's take two holidays Christmas and Halloween. We discussed Santa recently but if I ask the question "is it OK to put up Santa decorations?" and "Does it glorify God to put up Santa decorations?", I get two different answers. It's not a sin to celebrate Santa Claus but celebrating him does nothing to, in fact detracts from lifting up the incarnation of God, the real reason for the holiday. What about trick or treating? If we ask those two questions, in my opinion we get the same answer - yes. There is nothing against going door to door with your little kids dressed up like superheroes or princesses and it glorifies God spending time with your kids and meeting neighbors. A different issue would be decorating with witches, skeletons, etc. You could ask those two questions and also get the same answer - no.

       This is the second rule for debatable issues - ask those two questions and if the answer is yes, then go for it. What's the first rule? If your brother or sister asked those questions and came up with a different conclusion than you, let God grow them. Or maybe you came up with the wrong answer. Look further into the issue and make sure your heart isn't hardened in this area. As a kid, Wizard of Oz showed once a year and it was always Sunday nights - church night. I remember asking my Dad if I could miss church just this once and he told me to go in the bedroom, get on my knees and pray about it. After several minutes I came out and said, "God says I can skip church just this one time." My Dad didn't say, "No He didn't!", but he let me stay home from church. He was allowing me to make the wrong decision on a debatable issue (morning AND evening church) because he was growing me to stand. It's complicated but we will keep exploring this issue.

Thoughts From Romans 14 - Part 1

  Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

            I feel like our 4 kids could match up to any 4 kids raised by Christian parents in the world. I know I am a little biased, but I think my wife and I did a great job raising these kids. I'm pretty sure our kids think that they turned out pretty wonderful, also, and that's why it never ceases to amaze me, as they raise their 11 kids, that they don't do it exactly like we did. Obviously, they think, with their insider information, that they know better than us! One thing that we have learned is not to tell them where they are deviating from our way and where they are going wrong. Oh boy, that does not go over well. The interesting thing, the older I get and can observe the outcomes of parenting techniques or say schooling choices that I was sure were the best and only way to get the optimal outcomes, may not be the only way. There may be other legitimate schools of thought that work.

         Paul is kind of saying the same thing here - God is raising children. Our spiritual progression from baby to adulthood, although the older I get I wonder if I'll ever reach spiritual adulthood, has been overseen by a loving parent who is determined to see us stand on our own two feet and reach maturity. The interesting thing about God is that he isn't bound to a singular parenting style - he individualizes it. Imagine if we decided everyone goes to bed at 9 except one child, who functions better on less sleep, gets to stay up till 11. Pandemonium would have ensued! "That's not fair!" "Why does he get to stay up and we don't!" God isn't bound to that. He raises everyone as He sees fit.

         There is the rub because we as Children of God see other children being raised in different manners with different rules and we don't get it. But God is individualizing because He knows what it's going to take to bring that person to maturity. The problem is that there is a difference between parenting rules regarding bedtime and parenting rules regarding letting their kids drive without a license. One is a matter of opinion, and one is wrong and we may be obligated to step in and say something. This is the problem that we find ourselves with in the body. We are obligated to step in when we see going off the path into sin, but we just need to know and be sure of where the line has been crossed from not doing and seeing things our way to legitimately getting off the unique plan God has for them.

        This isn't easy and takes much wisdom and Paul is going to give us some more pointers throughout the rest of this passage. The takeaway today? God isn't interested in producing your clone. Give Him and your brother and sister freedom to grow in a different way than you did.