This morning I am reading from Paul's letter to the Romans. I think this is my favorite of his letters, there is always something to reflect upon in his writing. Today my focus is the very last verse of this section I am going to quote, for context. Here are the verses - Romans 14:1-6,10,12-14,22-23 NIV:
[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."
[5] "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."
[10] "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. [12] So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God."
[13] "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."
[22] "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."
Paul is speaking about several things that apparently were issues in the early church, eating certain foods, and special days. Without going into depth, I believe these both come out of the Jewish observances that were put in place by the Lord through the covenant of the Law. Paul is writing to the Roman church, many of whom were originally Gentiles, but the church essentially came out of the Jewish people, and many of those observances came with them. Paul is trying to breathe freedom into the church without making it all religious, and I think he does an admirable job.
The verse that really caught my eye this morning, was verse 23, and just the very end statement, "everything that does not come from faith is sin." I read that and immediately thought, wow that is a very broad definition of sin! To note, the Greek word he uses is hamartia and it means to 'miss the mark, or have no share in' and I believe in this case he means our observances, if they do not come out of our relationship with the Lord, are empty and do not result in growing our life in Him.
Now, we could potentially discount this statement as only dealing with the eating of food, but Paul was speaking about much more than just eating food in these sections. Paul is dealing with the issue of religious observances, and judgment, and our propensity to think that because God has called us to embrace something, that makes us special or better than someone who hasn't been called to embrace the same thing! I love what Paul writes in verse 4 - "who are you to judge someone else's servant?" In other words, even though we serve the same Lord, He might have given the other person other instructions than those we have received, and its not for us to judge them!
Unfortunately the church has been terrible about this area, and often the Gospel message is accompanied by a whole list of things you can't do and call yourself a Christian. Denominations are launched, and churches split because one group judges another group to be wrong in their teaching or observations, or things they call important. Growing up Catholic, we had all sorts of days of religious observance, and days of fasting. These can all be good thing, they can also be a reason that we decide to judge someone who isn't observing the same things, and this is issue Paul is addressing.
These observations, in and of themselves, have no real value unless they are done through faith. In fact, if they are done without faith, they would be sin, according to Paul in verse 23. Rather than focusing on the negatives, Paul writes, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit," ( Romans 14:17). In other words, these gifts in and from God are what we should be turning our hearts towards, in our walk of faith.
In looking back at this chapter, I think I might sum up Paul's encouragement as 'be mature and follow after God and embrace what He tells you to embrace, and expect others to be mature and allow them to do the same, while at the same time allowing that they might have a different call in their life with God.' Oh that we in the church would encourage one another to pursue relationship with the Lord, and allow the Lord to be Lord of one another's lives!
We don't need to judge one another, we need to encourage one another and celebrate the righteousness Jesus has given us! We need to celebrate the peace and joy we receive in the Holy Spirit! We need to allow one another to have different faith expressions than those we embrace! We need to look to our own life and embrace all the things the Lord has invited us into, in faith, without getting all religious! He is about relationship not rule following.
One last note, I will say that my life and faith expression toady is much different than it was 40+ years ago when I received salvation. I was no less a Christian back then than I am today, but much has changed in what the Lord has invited me to embrace through our relationship. In the same way that my relationship with my wife has changed and grown deeper after, soon to be, 35 years, my relationship with the Lord has matured and grown deeper. I am more aware today of my sinfulness and faithlessness than I ever was back then, and that is not because I have grown more rebellious and hard-hearted, it is because I have seen so much more of God and understand so much more of Him, and see how far I have to go and grow. I am not discouraged, rather I am encouraged that all the wonderful experiences I have had are just the tip of the iceberg, that there is so much more!
My prayer today is that more and more of my life might be lived in faith, through faith, and that I might be more and more like Him. I am encouraged to guard my heart and mind against judgmental thinking. I am encouraged to let the Lord be the Lord of other's lives, realizing that He is drawing each of them in their relationship with Him! Finally, I am reminded that even though everything that I do outside of faith is sin, that He has paid for each and every sin already!
Amen and Amen!
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