MPC 30th July 2006.July 30 - Romans 14:1-15:13 - "Worth Disputing?"
Phil Campbell MPC 30th July 2006.
Put yourself for a moment in the place of Angus McInnes. Angus is a bloke with no time at all for modern music. Especially not in church. In fact, Angus and some of his friends are disgusted by the way things are going. And all the modern instruments that are turning up in trendy worldy kind of churches. Angus doesn't want his church to go the same way. But the problem is, there are 52 other people in the congregation who disagree.
Angus is an elder. And because so many other people want modern music, he resigns. Angus spits the dummy. And leaves the church, never to return. The whole McMillan family leaves with him... for the same reason. They don't like modern music either. And they can't have fellowship with people who do.
It's a sad story. And a true one. It happened in my last church. Not, fortunately, in my time there. But in the year 1886. .One hundred and twenty years ago. The modern musical instrument they were so worried about was a pedal driven pump organ. Angus McInnes was so upset about the introduction of organ music - that he resigned his eldership and left the Maclean Presbyterian church on June 12, 1886..
A little bit closer to us, and a bit more recently, I heard of a church where 20 people left... all because of a disagreement over what age kids had to be to join in the Lord's Supper.
Another church, where the congregation was divided over whether or not to replace a stained glass window that was damaged in a storm. And the infighting got so bitter that the minister had a nervous breakdown and resigned.
Incredible stories - about how issues that are so unimportant, somehow get blown out of all proportion. Trivial things. That the bible doesn't even bother talking about. That can so easily rip apart the unity of a church.
Here in chapter 14 verse 1, Paul uses a word that puts it all into perspective. disputable. This is all about how to handle the kind of disputable stuff that cause arguments.
You've got to be clear. There's stuff that's absolutely foundational to the gospel that's not disputable at all. But there's stuff around the edges that some Christians have got one view and other Christians have got another view; and because it can go either way, because it's disputable, guess what. There'll be people lining up to have a dispute over it.
I saw on Beyond Tomorrow on TV the other night, over in Florida there's a company that's worked out a way to stop hurricanes. There's a storm blowing in off the coast, and they send out at jumbo jet loaded with those sort of water absorbing crystals you can put in your potplants or disposable nappies. And they dump the crystals in the clouds. And the moisture clumps up in a gel. And drops harmlessly in the ocean. Dyno-Gel to the rescue.
Well, here's Paul's Dyno-Gel for disputes over disputable matters.
Because just because a matter is disputable, doesn't mean you should let it cause disputing. Here's what to do. Chapter 14 verse 1. "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters."
And the rest of the chapter goes on to unpack what that actually means. But let me spell it out right from the start. And you might as well be confronted with the fact that it's not entirely easy. Because he's saying you might be right. And they might be wrong. But leave it alone. Accept the person who's weaker in faith... who's wrong. Without passing judgement.
Let's take a closer look at this idea of the weak in faith. And the strong. Because Paul goes on to unpack it in the next few verses.
And it's all in the context that we've seen already in Romans of Christians who used to be Jewish. Over against the Christians like most of us, who are gentiles. Non Jews.
Because as you probably know, anyone brought up Jewish has been trained to be very particular. Particular in not eating particular foods. The Old Testament told them not to eat pork and a whole lot of other stuff. Living here in Rome, seems like that's been extended to not eating any kind of meat, because it's probably been sacrificed in an idol temple.
And there are other Jewish rules; things about special religious days to be observed as well. Like the Sabbath.
Whereas the gentiles, when it came to these issues, they're not fussed at all. And they couldn't give a hoot about what they eat or drink.
Of course, we might be much the same today. Sometimes it's a generational thing. Sometimes it's part of the package of the kind of religion we've grown up with. Sometimes it's cultural.
There was a book written back in the 70s called Great Church Fights. And the American author Leslie Flynn says:
Wide disagreements exist today in our churches over certain practices. A Christian from the South may be repelled by a swimming party for both men and women, then offend his Northern brother by lighting up a cigarette. At an international convention for missionaries, a woman from the Orient could not wear sandals with a clear conscience. A Christian from western Canada thought it worldly for a Christian acquaintance to wear a wedding ring, and a woman from Europe thought it almost immoral for a wife not to wear a ring that signaled her status. A man from Denmark was pained to even watch British Bible school students play football, while the British students shrank from his pipe smoking.
That was the seventies. And I'm sure not much has changed.
Christians, it seems, will quibble over almost anything.
What sort of clothes should you wear to church? It used to be your Sunday best. Do you go to the theater or the movies? Is dancing ok for a Christian? Is it ok to drink alcohol? Or not? What sort of music should you have in church? How should you school your children? State schools? Christian schools? Home Schools?
And then there are those of us who are shaking our heads knowingly and saying, we know better than all that. And we smirk behind our hands at people who are so narrow.
In the church in Rome, it came down to issues of what it was right to eat. And what it was right to drink. And whether one day was any more holy than the rest.
The Jewish Christians didn't like the way the Gentile Christians did things, and the gentiles didn't much like the Jews. And it was heading for exactly the sort of church meltdown that's still so popular today.
And you'll notice that at every point, Paul says an interesting thing. He says, the one with the most limitations is the weaker brother. The one making the self imposed rules is not the spiritually strong one. But the weaker.
Which tends to take us by surprise. Because maybe we're used to thinking that it's actually quite pious and impressive to impose spiritual sounding limitations on yourself.
I mean, maybe you're impressed if I tell you that I've been on a self imposed chocolate ban for the last 9 years. Paul's talking to people on a strict diet of vegetables. And strict sabbath observance.
Well, Paul says in verse 2, it's not impressive at all. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak... eats only vegetables.
Verse 5; in parallel; one man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike.
And guess what. He's saying getting all fussed about food, getting all fussed about sacred days... it's not a sign of a strong faith... it's a sign of a weaker faith. It's a sign they haven't yet fully understood the way Jesus has done away with the law. They haven't yet fully caught on to the fact that God's interested in a righteousness that comes from the heart. Maybe they weren't listening when Jesus said those words in Mark chapter 7. It's not what goes into a man that makes him unclean. But what comes out of his heart. These rule driven Christians, Paul says they're still weak in the faith.
But guess what else? He says, so what. He says, that's not the point. Because there's something far worse. And that's to be divisive.
So verse 3, the guy who eats everything, the guy with ham sandwich in one hand and his golf club in the other on the sabbath afternoon, he's got to be careful that he doesn't look down on the one who with weaker faith. And the other side of the coin, still in verse 3... the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does. For God has accepted him.
Notice those words? They're important. What's God think about these disputable issues? If you've put your faith in Jesus, He'll accept you either way. Because you see in God's eyes it's not about food rules and sabbaths. It's about whether or not you're submitting to the rule of Jesus Christ.
And that's the point. I mean, if you're all saying you're serving the Lord Jesus, if you're serving Jesus and the other guy's serving Jesus, who do you think you are to go judging somebody else's servant?
Which is the point made in verse 4. And then the following section:
Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand.
Either way. Carnivore or Herbivore. Because, you see, it's the Lord who is able to make him stand. It's faith in the Lord Jesus that counts. And not your food rules and your Sabbaths.
But even so; don't argue about it. One man considers one day more sacred than another, verse 5; another man considers each day alike. That's okay. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. And then leave it at that. Instead of trying to force your position on the other guy.
Because the one who regards some days as special, in their own mind, they're doing it for the Lord. The one who eats meat, verse 6, eats to the Lord for he gives thanks to the Lord. And he who abstains, likewise. And all of life is meant to be like that. Lived in service of the Lord Jesus. In fact life or death. If we live, we live to the Lord. If we die, we die to the Lord. Whether we live or die, verse 8, we belong to the Lord. The one who died and rose, verse 9, which makes him ruler of the living and the dead.
So how dare you, verse 10, judge, or look down on, your brother. Over something as trivial as whether he eats meat or not. Whether he likes a glass of wine with his dinner. Whether he mows his law on the Sabbath day? If he wears an ear-ring? If he turns up to church in shorts and thongs? If he prefers classical music or rock and roll? You're judging a servant of Christ. Who, like you, will stand before God's judgement seat. Verse 12 says, so then, each of us will give an account of himself before God. And not before you.
So what do you do? Well, Paul says it's obvious.
You stop passing judgement on each other. Verse 13.
You work very hard to avoid putting any stumbling block in the way of your brother.
You bend over backwards to be gracious. And not turn disputable matters into disputes.
Verse 14, Paul says he's fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if your brother is distressed by what you eat, then you're not acting in love.
You're standing on your rights. Even if it means you're standing on your brothers foot at the same time. And so by your insistence, by being determined to stand on your right to ham and eggs, you're quite happy to destroy your brother who Jesus died for. Which means you're allowing a good thing... ham and eggs... to do untold evil. Verse 16, "Don't allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil like that." Don't push the point so much that it's pushing someone out of fellowship. Don't let the thing you're convinced is good... be the cause of so much destruction.
And yet so easily, we do. We argue the disputable stuff; and we think we're doing it to honour God. But we're not. In fact, it's a total misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God. Which is not a matter of eating and drinking, verse 17, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
I mean, a barbequed steak is delicious. But are you going to choose that over righteousness and peace and joy? A ham sandwich with mustard is terrific. But are you going to insist on that at the cost of offending every Jewish Christian in your church?
See, it's not the person insisting on eating meat or the person insisting on not eating it who's impressing God. It's not the tee-totaller impressing God, nor the non-tee-totaller. It's the peacemaker. Who by the work of the Holy Spirit helps the church grow in righteousness and peace and joy thorugh the Spirit. Verse 18 says anyone who serves Christ in this way... is pleasing to God, and approved by men.
So, work really hard, says Paul, bend over backwards, to be that sort of peacemaker. When there's a hurricane forming, fly over it and dump your load of Dyno-Gel to calm things down.
Let us therefore make every effort, verse 19, to do what leads to peace and mutual edification. Build each other up. Don't destroy the work of God for the sake of a sandwich. All food is clean... the old Jewish food-laws have gone. But there's still one thing that it's wrong to eat. And that's anything that causes someone else to stumble. Anything that causes friction and fighting and ultimately falling out of fellowship.
So on both sides of the fence... when it comes to disputable things, give one another the freedom to differ. Without making it an issue. Because ultimately, what a tragedy it is if you end up either sticking to your rights and causing division; or else going against your conscience, and eating when you think you shouldn't. Which Paul says is actually sinning. Because in your mind you think God disapproves of you doing it, and you're prepared to do it anyway.
But the key point is, verse 22, whatever you believe about stuff like this, keep between yourself and God. Make up your own mind. And don't go imposing your views on everyone else. It's fine for me to abstain from chocolate. But I'm not going to tell you to. And I'm not going to judge you when I see you tucking into a family sized Cadbury dairy milk. In fact, I'll be quite envious.
But it's not easy to do that, is it? When you know you're right. It's not easy when you're the right one, when your position's the strong one... to keep it to yourself.
It's not easy. But the important thing is, it's Christlike. Take a look at the first few verses of chapter 15, and you'll see it. The point runs straight on into verse 1. We who are strong, instead of insisting on pointscoring, ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Please your neighbour for his good. Because that's what Jesus did.
Verse 3. For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." Instead of pleasing himself, he took the insults, he took the suffering, he took the pain we deserved. The ultimate example of pleasing his neighbour and not pleasing himself.
And yet we insist on standing on our rights. Insist on having things our way. Insist on our own preferences in music, or in Sabbath days, or in making rules on what you drink or what you eat. That in the end are just divisive.
"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves," Paul says in verse 5. Unity, as followers of Jesus Christ. So that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And not bring his name into disrepute in the way you bag one another.
The rule is, be like Jesus. The strong giving way to the weak. For the sake of the much more important unity.
So there it is. Paul's recipe for peace. Which so many churches and so many Christians just ignore as they tear one another apart.
Which is all the more tragic when you consider verses 7 to 13. Because the point is, this unity, this incorporation of Jews and gentiles together, Paul says, it's the climax of God's plan through the ages.
And verses 8 to 12, he reels off a whole string of old testament quotations to prove it. From Psalm 18; from Deuteronomy 32 - Rejoice O gentiles with his people! From Psalm 117; from the Prophet Isaiah, the root of Jesse will spring up, the descendant of king David, the Messiah, who will rule over the nations; the gentiles will hope in him. Every nation, rejoicing under the rule of Israel's Christ. Welcomed with open arms.
Unless, of course, they buy the wrong stuff at the deli.
Or sing the wrong style of hymns.
Or still want to mow their lawns on the Sabbath.
You know, the beauty of the church was always meant to be that it brought together all kinds of different people under Jesus Christ.
Which means there's all kinds of scope for disputing. And yet Paul says, there's no need for it. You can do it. You can be part of a unity, that thinks the same, that speaks with one voice. By remembering that we're all servants of Jesus Christ. And he's the Christ who gave himself up for others.
So accept one another, verse 7, Just as Christ accepted you.
Accept one another. Across the cultural dividing line of race or of age or of Jewish heritage or of a Presbyterian family line that stretches back to the first fleet.
You might have been a gentile. Having trouble accepting the rule crazy Jews. Or a Jew. Having trouble accepting the easy going gentiles. Paul says, accept one another. You might be a person who can't stand hymns and traditions. Other people love 'em. Paul says accept one another. You might like organ music. Or like Angus McInnes in 1886, you might dislike it with a vengeance. No matter what. Paul says accept one another. Just as Christ accepted you.
Because if you're following the example of Jesus, then when you get together with other Christians, you won't be looking for ways to push your own agenda. You'll be looking for ways to serve. And encourage. And build up in the faith.
There are countless ways you can do that. The way you welcome people. The way you make sure everyone's included in the conversation over morning tea. The way you take the time to listen to people. Even if you disagree. The way you turn up week after week at Growth Group and at Church, even the times you don't really feel like it. Putting your own preference aside. Cause you know there are people there you can build up and encourage.
When we do that, says Paul, we're actually going to bring praise to God. As the unbelievers who are watching us are dumbfounded by the way we put up with one another's differences. The way that a group of people so different in race and age and education and employment and preferences and tastes and styles get together - and even love one another.
Friends, it's something we all need to keep hearing. Even though I think as a church we're doing well in a lot of these things. Because I think there are so many gracious and Godly ones among us. And we need to remember, no matter what kind of food we're eating, no matter what kind of music we sing, here's the bottom line. If we're not going to be a church full of people who want to build one another up in the faith, if we're not going to be a church where we accept one another and love one another, we might as well not sing any songs at all. Because we won't really be a church anyway.
Let me finish with the words of Paul's prayer in verses 5 and 6. And apply his words to us. "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give us a spirit of unity among ourselves as we follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth we may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."