Scripture: Romans 14:1-12.
14 Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. 6 Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.
7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
12 So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
*******************************************************************
Good morning. As of Saturday afternoon, when I recorded this, 196,000 acres had burned in the Creek Fire which was 6% contained. The air quality was terrible - probably still is on Sunday morning. I hope you are all able to stay inside, away from the smoke. And that you are safe from the fires, and the virus, and all other dangers.
Some years back I started having trouble with meat - all meat. It wasn’t a moral thing. Meat just was not agreeing with me for some reason. So I was living as a vegetarian craving meat. After a year or so I started trying meat a little at a time and discovered which ones I could eat with no trouble, and which ones were still a problem. *sigh*. Anyway, While living meat free I discovered a Vegan restaurant not far from my church. I tried everything on their menu and most of it was pretty good. Not the hot dogs, though. I discovered, much to my surprise, that Vegan ice cream is not only tasty but because it is not dairy, there was no grease stain left when I inevitably spilled some on the front of my shirt. Which has nothing to do with anything, really, but. . . .
When I was going to that restaurant regularly some of the servers were pretty hard core evangelistic Vegans. You know the kind - the ones who want to convert the entire world to a totally plant based diet, who will go on at some length about the immorality of killing animals for food. Some even made a point of quoting Genesis, where Adam and Eve were told they could eat all the grains and fruits of the earth - but not meat. Because I was sitting there waiting for my meal I was kind of a captive audience - it wasn’t usually really busy at the hour I went for lunch. I must admit that I started only going there on the days those servers did not work, because you know, they were pretty annoying. I like Vegan food ok, but I’m really happy that I can eat meat again.
Although, did you know that Oreos are actually made from vegan ingredients including pure cocoa (not chocolate) and “cream” made from soy, oil and corn. So next time you eat a sleeve of Oreos in one sitting don’t feel guilty. Be proud of yourself for leaving your comfort zone and exploring Veganism.
The congregations in Rome had a number of disagreements. One of them was about eating meat and drinking wine. The Jewish Christians who followed Jewish dietary laws did not eat meat or drink wine that might have been sacrificed to one of the many gods worshipped in the Roman Empire before being offered for sale in the marketplace. The Gentile Christians had no such concerns, and considered the Jewish Christians weak because of their lack of freedom in this regard, whereas the Jewish Christians condemned the Gentile Christians, the ones Paul refers to as strong, for what they considered to be an illicit use of freedom. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. Likewise, Jewish Christians continued to observe certain holy days specific to Judaism which Gentiles did not observe, such as the Day of Atonement, and certain fast days. Even which day was designated as the correct day to worship came under fire, as Jews wanted to continue to observe the Sabbath (Saturday) and worship on that day, whereas Gentiles tended toward worshipping on the Day of the Lord’s Resurrection (Sunday).
Paul’s response to all of this was very much like the Disciples of Christ’s viewpoint - in those matters which are not essential for salvation, as long as one honors and thanks God in their observance, those practices that are different are unimportant. Each must accept the other as honoring God in their own way, without requiring that all practice their faith in exactly the same manner. “You must not pass judgment,” Paul said, “for God has welcomed them.” I can’t help but think of the story I told some time back, about the woman who proudly proclaimed that because she only wore long skirts she was a real Christian unlike those women who wore short skirts or pants. How essential to salvation is what one wears, really? Or whether one worships on Saturday or Sunday? Or whether one drinks juice or wine at the Lord’s Table? Or whether one eats meat or tofu? “Why do you despise your sister or brother? For we all stand before the judgment seat of God.” Truly I say to you, how you treat one another is far more important when it comes to matters of salvation than how you dress, or what you eat, or who preaches. . . . Or how you vote.
If you pay any attention to the news, whether on the internet or on television or in print, you will most likely be aware that some Christians claim that you cannot be both Democrat and Christian, while other Christians claim that you cannot be both Republican and Christian. I am quite certain that neither of those positions can find justification in Scripture. Actually I am very well aware that both of those positions find much in Scripture to justify their points of view, but I would say both are wrong. And I say that because these are judging each other in exactly the way that Paul says not to do. They are despising each other, quarreling over opinions. Each chooses their position, selects portions of the Gospels or the Epistles or even the Old Testament that seems best to fit their point of view, and uses those verses as a weapon against the other side. Just as the Jewish and Gentile Christians did back in the day. “Look,” says one. “Jesus showed very clearly that those old laws don’t suit in these situations. He healed on the Sabbath, and ate with lepers. So we don’t have to worry about Sabbath observance or purity laws any more.” “Wrong,” says the other. “Jesus says he came to fulfill the law, and that until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is fulfilled.” And Paul said, “Who are you to pass judgement? It is before their own Lord they will stand or fall.” As long as you vote your conscience, as long as you vote in the way that you believe best serves God and God’s people, as long as you believe your vote honors God, and you give thanks to God that you live in a time and place where you can vote, as long as you are fully convinced in your own mind, you will be upheld by the Lord your God. Just please, vote. Get registered if you aren’t already, and get informed, and vote.
Whatever we do, if we are Christians, we should do it to honor God.
And that includes honoring one another - accepting one another - loving one another -
NOT judging one another.
Even though we all do things differently, each of us does what we do to honor God. When we give, it is to honor God, even if we cannot give much.
When we sing, it is to honor God, even if we can’t carry a tune in bucket.
When we do our work, it is to honor God, no matter what that work is.
All that we do in living, we do for God.
In every thing, in living and in dying,
let us be accountable to God.
For we belong to the Lord,
who welcomes us,
and upholds us,
and gives us life,
No comments:
Post a Comment