Lesson Ten
What Is My Commitment To The Christian Community?
Text: Romans 14:13-23
It cannot be over stressed that the context has not changed from last week's study. Many Jewish Christians had a real problem with the fact that idolatrous gentiles could become Christians without first going through the process of being Jewish proselytes. [Refresh your memory by reading Acts 15:1,2,4,5.] Also, many gentile Christians had a real problem with the devotion many Jewish Christians held to Jewish rituals, ways, and traditional practices. The first twelve verses of Romans 14 indicate that many gentile Christians had a more accurate concept of faith in Christ's spiritual adequacy than did many Jewish Christians.
It would be quite easy [and still is!] for Christians of one viewpoint to publicly denounce Christians of a conflicting viewpoint as "stupid believers who cling to a flawed concept of Christianity. Why, if they only knew and understood what I know and understand, they would not devote themselves to such ridiculous practices and reasonings! God's goal and the goal of the church is best served by blasting those inferior people every chance we have! God simply does not need people like that misrepresenting Him!"
From this perspective, it was easy for Jewish and gentile Christians (and for us!) to reason that they had no obligation to Christians who were in disagreement with them. Many Jewish Christians could and likely did say, "If those gentile so-called believers are going to eat that when it was probably sacrificed to an idol, they have no place in the Christian community. We do not know what they are, but they certainly are not Christians even if they have been baptized into Christ!" It would be equally easy for gentile Christians to say, "If those Jewish so-called Christians are going to keep the Sabbath and eat the religious feast of Passover, they are still Jews and not Christians! Yes, they were baptized into Christ, but we do not know what they are spiritually. However we know Christianity is not represented properly by them!"
Remember, an accepted part of the acts of worship in both Judaism and idol worship involved eating a religious feast on special occasions. In the religious world of the first century, eating had an understood and broadly accepted spiritual significance that included (a) what was eaten and (b) where the meal was eaten. That is a significance unfamiliar to most of us. It is also a significance that has led some of 20th and 21st century Christians to come to questionable conclusions about the act and place of eating. Too often we attach our conclusions regarding today's concerns to their 2000 year old problems without bothering to learn what their issues and concerns were.
Among Christians, Paul's focus and our common focus of today stand in striking contrast. Paul said the primary issue is not passing judgment on each other's convictions [ouch!], but the primary issue is to refuse to discourage each other when convictions differ [ouch!]. With God, the basic issue in the Christian community is respect for each other, not correctness. Again, refresh your memory by looking at Romans 14:4-6. God is big enough to handle differences that arise from the faith and devotion of the people who are in Christ! God knows and understands when the Christian expresses devotion to Him--in eating certain religious food, in abstaining from the same food for religious reasons, in keeping holy days and attributing to them special significance, in saying that there is no special significance to any day because all days are holy.
How can that be? (a) God accurately knows the believer's motives--we don't! (b) If we conclude that something that disturbs us about others who are in Christ of necessity disturbs God, we err because we cling to a poor [and possibly incorrect] view of God. When we become intolerant of other Christians, God's tolerance shown in His mercy and graced does not live in us. (c) God called us to be servants, not judges of someone's devotion to God. As servants. Christians are devoted to respecting those who give themselves to Christ, not to confrontation with those who give themselves to Christ.
The objective of every Christian is not to "tear down the work of God." Unless Christians have an accurate understanding of God's work, they can find themselves tearing down instead of advancing. This same Paul told Timothy, "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. . ." (1 Timothy 1:15). Paul told Titus, "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. . ." (Titus 3:5). Jesus said of himself, ". . . Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). He also said of himself, "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matthew 9:13). Or, "And hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'" (Mark 2:17). Or, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32). Jesus said of God's work in him, "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him" (John 3:17). Until Christians understand God's commitment to saving sinners, they will find fault with and reject others whom God has forgiven.
Forgiveness is 100% for any sinner who enters Christ. However, though each forgiven sinner has been totally purified by Jesus' blood, each forgiven sinner begins his/her new relationship with God and other forgiven sinners at a different starting point. Thus differences among forgiven sinners always will exist. The challenge facing the more spiritually mature always will be to not discourage the weak or cause them to stumble.
Thus the supreme spiritual value always will be love. What kind of love? The standard of Christian love: God's love which purified the sinner! Thus mature Christians do not exist to "prove I am right and you are wrong" to elevate their spiritual significance. They exist to be an example of those who pursue righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit as they dedicate themselves to things that will "build up" (encourage, mature) other Christians. Among Christians, being "right" is insignificant in comparison to being caring! A Christian will not be "right" at the expense of spiritually destroying another Christian for whom Christ died!
The spiritually mature care rather than control! They are examples rather than intimidators! It is much simpler to intimidate than to be an example!
For Thought and Discussion
- Discuss: It would be quite easy for Christians of one viewpoint to denounce Christians of a conflicting viewpoint.
- Discuss: It was easy for Jewish and gentile Christians to reason they had no obligation to Christians in disagreement with them.
- What was not Paul's primary issue? What was his primary issue?
- The objective of every Christian is to refuse to tear down God's work. What is God's work?
- Discuss: Love is God's supreme spiritual value.
