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.

Thoughts From Romans 13 - Part 3

  And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

             It's interesting at the hospital, that throughout the corridors there are mounted on the ceilings closed circuit cameras. Those cameras are all wired to or sent wirelessly to a central security room somewhere in the hospital where I would imagine that some security guard is watching you. Now I'm not sure how much trouble one can get into in the halls of the hospital, but if they were watching over the years, they could have seen me slip and fall on wet flooring multiple times and most recently walk into a wall playing Pokemon Go. The cameras would catch my life's bloopers, but they wouldn't catch my sins. Why? Because I know they're there and watching me.

           Last blog I looked at the motivation behind truly loving people is to love God more than anything. To be accepted and loved by God should tear down the idols in our life that keep us from pure love for others. This passage tells us that if there is part of us that is still gratifying and living for self, and there always is, picture those divine ceiling cameras.

        My least favorite Christmas song is probably "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" because it replaces the eyes of Heaven on you with Santa Claus' eyes seeing if you are sleeping, awake, being bad or being good. I have over 40 inflatables in my yard, no HOA rules, and none include Santa. I'm not opposed to Santa - well maybe I am. He takes away the focus from Jesus and is even given divine attributes. Other people can celebrate and promote him, like Kirk Cameron (my hero), but I won't.

       I'm reminded of a story told by Francis Chan. He and his wife took their godly grandmother to a Broadway play and at intermission she asked to go home because if Jesus came back, she didn't want Him to find her at the theater. While this might be a tad over-sensitive, maybe not, we have to ask ourselves, if the eyes of Heaven are on us and Jesus may come back at any moment (it's 2000 years closer than when Paul wrote), shouldn't that affect our behavior? If Santa Claus sees your actions 24/7, how much more God? Live right!

Thoughts From Romans 13 - Part 2

... whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Rom. 13:8-10

             "Do not covet" is the 10th commandment because it's the "etc." commandment. Paul talks about it in Chapter 7 and Jesus discusses it in the Sermon on the Mount. Paul as a Pharisee was a strict "law obeyor", but when he read "Thou shall not covet" it tore at him from the inside. All the other laws are somewhat doable like don't murder, don't steal, don't commit adultery, but don't covet gets at your heart. How do you stop wanting what others have?

       We addressed it a bit when we talked about the difficulty of rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn, that it's hard to truly rejoice when you're coveting that they were blessed and mourn when you're kind of glad when they are brought down to your level as you are coveting their success. How do we truly love like Paul says here in Romans 13 when our self-centered hearts are prone to covet?

     When I think about the other commands, I would guess the other non-doable one is "don't worship idols". We are to worship God and nothing else. How easy it is to take a good thing like family, security, pleasure, possessions and make it the ultimate thing. Jesus said the two greatest commands are to love God first and then love your neighbor. Maybe the secret to obeying the second, which Paul is discussing in these verses, is to obey the first. If we truly love God and demonstrate that by making Him the ultimate thing rather than idols, we probably wouldn't have anything to covet and address the heart issue that makes it so hard to love.

     If we truly love God with all of our heart soul mind and strength, then we are free to love our neighbor as we should. Are you coveting something your neighbor has? Why? Is there an idol in your life that needs to be exposed? Let's let these 3 things be idol "diagnosticators"; coveting, problems rejoicing with, and problems mourning with.

Thoughts From Romans 13 - Part 1

  Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. Rom.13:7,8

         These are the go-to verses people use for debt free living. I will agree, it's good to pay cash for everything if you can. I just heard that if you buy a $450,000 house on a 30-year mortgage at 6.75% interest rate, over the 30 years you will have paid 1 million dollars to own that house. No wonder first time age of ownership of houses has skyrocketed from 29 years old to 45 years old. Trump is now proposing a 50-year mortgage which would change the previous bank payment from $550k to $1 million. If nothing else, that is bad stewardship of the money God has entrusted you to manage. If Marty on Ozark did this, he would lose his eyes. Fortunately, God is merciful to us dummies, but he might start giving His resources to better stewards to manage.

        Is this passage really forbidding taking out loans, though. The word outstanding in "let no debt remain outstanding", to me seems to say, if you have taken out a loan, don't miss your monthly payments. If you are renting, the landlord deserves his monthly checks. If you have workers, they deserve their wages on time. This is part of Christian integrity. It's part of being responsible, trust-worthy people that reflect well on Christ and don't allow people to say, "If that's a Christian, I don't want to be one."

      The one debt he says that has no 15, 30, 50- year end is the debt we owe others to love them. We owe people love. God gave us an unbelievable amount of love by sending His son Jesus to die for us and He is telling us that we are to do likewise. We owe a debt of love to God and He expects us to pay it back by loving others and it's such a huge amount that it will take our whole lives to give it back.

       We as humans are owed very little. We don't deserve health care, education, retirement, life liberty the pursuit of happiness - the only thing I believe we deserve is judgement for our sins. But God, rich in mercy, sent Jesus to take what we are owed. Now, we owe it to others to serve them. For example, as a doctor, if someone comes in thinking "I deserve medical care" they will be demanding unthankful and usually unsatisfied. This is also seen in the midst of the government shutdown as people aren't receiving their food stamps. One eighth of Americans feel they are owed these and are angry they aren't getting them. As a Christian doctor, I owe people health care, it comes from me. If people think they don't deserve it but I out of love am giving it to them, what a difference in attitude that makes. If people would think that they aren't owed food stamps but we as Christians owe the poor food and we feed them, what a change in attitude!

       Let's dedicate our lives to meeting the needs of others and sometimes to do that we should have less debt to free up more of God's resources to redirect.