Paul continues on today with his instructions about how to keep peace in the church. Though everyone who belongs to Christ is part of the family of God, we may not always agree on every single matter. These things should not cause division between us. We must love our brothers and sisters in Christ just as we love our biological brothers and sisters, and we must learn that sometimes the best thing to do is agree to disagree. Paul is not speaking about matters of Spiritual doctrine or about the gospel message; the Bible says what it says and the gospel is the gospel. But he's speaking of smaller matters that don't have to do with our salvation.
"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. It is written: 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will acknowledge God.' So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God." (Romans 14:10-12) We don't need to be looking down on our fellow believers as if we ourselves are not going to have to give an account for our lives before God. It's not our place to judge our brother or sister.
"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. 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. 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. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval." (Romans 14:13-18) The growing church was made up of both Jewish and Gentile converts. Having been brought up with the dietary laws, many of the Jewish believers still could not bring themselves to eat anything formerly considered unclean. Paul instructs his readers not to eat these foods in the presence of anyone who will be offended by them. Though Paul believes it is acceptable in the age of grace to eat any food, it is not acceptable to offend a fellow believer by eating food in front of him that will cause him distress.
Would we invite someone to our house who is severely diabetic and serve nothing but foods full of sugar? Would we invite a former alcoholic for dinner and then serve drinks? Would we serve nothing but unhealthy food to a friend who is trying to lose weight because of heart or blood pressure problems? We can clearly see that these things would be wrong. It would be equally wrong to eat a ham sandwich at the dinner table with a person whose conscience is troubled by it and who will feel offended at the sight of it.
"Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 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. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall." (Romans 14:19-21) It could cause a person to fall away from the church and drift away from Christ if he saw Christians participating in things he feels are wrong.
"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. 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." (Romans 14:22-23) If a certain thing bothers our conscience, although there may be no commandment against it, we should abstain from it. Sometimes we just don't feel right about a particular thing. It may not actually be sinful, and it might be alright for others to do it, but it might not be right for us. Paul says we should obey our consciences in such matters.
No comments:
Post a Comment