Today’s Reading: Romans 13; Romans 14; Romans 15; Romans 16
Scripture: Romans 14:1-13 (this is a little long, but worth reading)
1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to 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. 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? 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 confess to God.' " 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself 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 your brother's way.
Observation: I know this is a long passage for my blog but I wanted to include this much because it conveys to me such an important principle. So much of the history of the Church has been filled with conflicts between Christians. Even the biblical account in Acts includes controversies and divisions that arose in the early Church. And it continues to this day.
This phrase in verse ten is so important: "...why do you look down on your brother?" An attitude of pride and superiority regarding another person whose beliefs or actions are deemed to be inferior is what Paul is talking about. And these kinds of attitudes are common. I see this between denominations and even within a church between individual Christians. And it has a stench to it. Paul makes three basic points which I will list briefly in the next section.
Application: The first point that Paul makes is to define "disputable matters." There are many aspects of one's person and spiritual life that are a matter of preference and opinion. They are not set in stone or established as right or wrong in scripture. He lists a couple of examples: food and special days. And he teaches that in matters such as these, arguments and debates don't settle anything. It's a matter of personal conscience: "Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." In other words, "keep it to yourself."
The second point is this: there is one Master to which the other person must answer: "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls." So if I judge, I stand in the place of God and arrogate one of his responsibilities onto myself, as if I have the right to push Him aside and take over this job. And an additional implication of this point is that not only does the other person have a Master, but I too have the same Master. And I should stop focusing on the other person's lacks and concentrate on my own failings, one of which may be judgmentalism. (Oh, and also notice in verses 1-3 that the person who judges the other is weaker in his faith. Typically, those who judge make themselves out to be more spiritual but Paul indicates otherwise.)
The third point is that rather than focusing on what's wrong with my brother of sister, I should work to help them advance. "make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way." So much of what Christians spend their time on actually impedes the progress of other Christians, themselves, and the church in general. Think of how much could be done against the enemy, if we refocused all this negative energy against him. No wonder he spends so much time sowing discord among believers. Let us give him no quarter and work to bless others rather than focus on what we perceive to be their shortcomings.
Prayer: Lord, help us to please you in the way we bless others. May we be those who promote unity, progress, and love among your people.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
