Epistle for September 17, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 14:1-12
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

We can easily forget just how radical this new religion of Christianity was.  True, it was predicated on the prophecies and principles of the Jewish faith.  But it was a sharp departure from the legalism that had come to characterize the Pharisaical expression of Judaism.

Paul addresses some of the trickier aspects of Christian culture that will require some nuance — food and festivals.  For contemporary Christians, these concerns may seem quaint, but for Paul’s time they were of extreme importance.

First of all, he makes it clear that food and festivals are not critical to Christian identity.  And he also makes it clear that the church is not a place to wrangle about such issues:

Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.

This is a reassuring word.  The church is not given boundaries that keep out those who are weak in faith.  The church is to be a place where they can receive sound instruction and grow in faith.  However, the church is also not meant to be a debating society.  There are some things that are clearly revealed as true, that are not disputable within the church.  And there are some things that are matters of opinion and personal practice — what some might call adiaphora, which is defined as “matters not regarded as essential to faith, but nevertheless permissible for Christians or allowed in church.”

Some of these adiaphora include what Christians choose to eat, and what special times they observe.  Paul makes it very clear from the very beginning that dietary laws are not central to the Christian faith.  This is radical for a Jew who has been steeped in the Pharisaical tradition.  The dietary laws of Leviticus were of such importance that they had spawned a cottage industry of commentary in the Oral Laws of the Pharisees — concerning pork, shellfish, blood, lobsters, rabbits, etc.  These Oral Laws had come to be regarded as almost equal to the Written Law, but were actually the traditions and interpretations that had been passed down since the exile of Israel in the 6th century B.C.

Paul makes it clear that what a person chooses to eat or not eat is a matter of personal conscience, not religious legislation.  Peter had already broken this ground when God called him to cross the line separating Jews and Gentiles.  When the Centurion Cornelius invited Peter to come to his home and preach, Peter had experienced a vision preceding this invitation:

He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth, in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky.  A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”   A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean” (Acts 10:11-15).

This vision seemed to have a dual purpose.  On the one hand, symbolically, God was telling Peter that Gentiles were to be included in the church.  But on the other hand, Peter was being told that the prohibited foods were no longer forbidden.  They had been a part of Israel’s cultural identity, but Christianity transcends cultural and ethnic identity issues.

So Paul’s Solomonic wisdom on this issue is that each person must decide in their own mind what is appropriate to eat.  The one thing that he insists on is that whatever a person chooses to eat, as dictated by their own conscience, should not be a matter of division or a source of disapproval:

 One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.  Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

In a word, church members are not to judge one another based on diet.  Their only judge is God:

Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.

Paul then turns to festival days and sabbaths.  The same rule applies:

One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.  He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.

The sabbath observation in Judaism, and the three major feasts (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles) were central to the identity of Judaism, along with other minor festivals. Paul is not denying the importance of corporate worship in the church.  He assumes that Christians meet together on the first day of the week (1 Corinthians 11:18-26; 16:2).

But he is also insistent that the ritual system of sacrifices has been superseded.  Certainly, the Gentile is not bound by these Jewish rituals, although we have really good evidence that Paul himself continued to observe them as a Jewish Christian.  For example, when he was returning from his missionary journey from Macedonia and Greece, he was eager to arrive back in Jerusalem in time for Pentecost (Acts 20:16).  It may well be that Pentecost had assumed a dual purpose, as both a Jewish feast day and a Christian commemoration of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The bottom line for Paul, though, is the importance of the Christian community established by unity in Christ:

For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

What a person eats, or doesn’t eat; or whether they observe all the same holy days, is not relevant.  What is relevant is that they belong to the same Lord, who paid for their salvation with his blood.  The mark of identity in this new community of faith is following Christ — not kosher foods or high holy days.

The bottom line is that every person will be held accountable for their actions and their own conscience before God.  It is not up to individual members to judge one another:

 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Lest we draw the conclusion that Paul has renounced his Jewish heritage, he quotes the Hebrew Scriptures, from Isaiah 45:23:

 For it is written, “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.’”

Ultimately, every person will be judged according to their own relationship with God, not according to human custom or tradition:

 So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.

APPLY:  

There are a few old cliches that may describe the issue Paul addresses: “don’t major in the minors” and “don’t sweat the small stuff.”

Paul is advising the church in Rome that a person’s diet doesn’t define their faith, nor does their observance of special days.  What defines their faith is their relationship with Christ and his church:

For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

One thing we are not to do is judge someone based on their dietary habits or whether they fast, or how they observe the liturgical calendar.  Fasting, for example, is a spiritual discipline that is encouraged in both the Old and New Testaments.  But the person who fasts is not superior to the person who doesn’t. That is a personal decision.  If it enhances our relationship with God, it is commendable.  But if a person chooses not to do so, that is between themselves and God.

To take the cliches a little farther — as someone has said: “Don’t sweat the small stuff — and it’s all small stuff.”  One person fasts, another doesn’t.  One person eschews meat, another eats it.  That is not an “essential” matter for salvation.

RESPOND: 

Paul’s counsel is ultimately directed toward individual accountability on personal lifestyle issues.  That doesn’t mean that these lifestyle decisions don’t matter.  Fasting is encouraged in the Christian tradition as a means of enhancing our prayer life and reminding us of our dependence on God.  Too much meat, though permissible, does have health consequences — and a vegetarian diet can be of great benefit.

But what we often see, especially in our time, is a kind of moral superiority even among those who are non-religious.  The vegetarian may condescend to the person who orders a hamburger at dinner.  There are Christian denominations that absolutely prohibit meat, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine.  The use of these substances may be debated, and some of them are absolutely of no benefit to the body, but it can’t be demonstrated from Scripture that they separate a person from God.  Gluttony and drunkenness are regarded as sins —but those are sins of excess and a lack of self-control. We don’t stop eating simply because of the risk of overeating.  Anything that we crave, or to which we become addicted, can become our god — and that can separate us from our primary loyalty to God.

And then there is the warning about time.  I tend to like the observance of the liturgical year as observed in my own church — Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost.  And all the “holy days”: Christmas Eve, Epiphany Day, Baptism of the Lord, Transfiguration Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week (including Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday), Easter Sunday, The Day of Ascension, Pentecost Sunday, All Saints Day, Christ the King Sunday.  And I will admit, that when I’m in a church that doesn’t display the “correct” colors for the proper season, it bothers me a little.  Then I have to remember this passage from Romans 14.

At the same time, those from a non-liturgical background should be reminded that they are not to judge traditionalists.  Paraments and special days and unique traditions (I think of the beautiful icons in Orthodox churches) don’t save anyone.  But as long as those traditions are an enhancement to worship and not the object of worship, the non-liturgical Christian should have no objection.

The bottom line is clear — Christ doesn’t have a “special menu” that every Christian is supposed to choose. Nor does he demand that we all observe the liturgical year.  What ultimately matters is that we live to the Lord.

Lord, I do find that when I fast, it makes me more aware of you. And there are special times of the year that raise my awareness of your story.  But I don’t seek to impose those practices on others.  Help me to live my life by precept and example so that others see you at work in my life, and are drawn to you by my lifestyle.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
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Epistle for September 13, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 14:1-12
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

We can easily forget just how radical this new religion of Christianity was.  True, it was predicated on the prophecies and principles of the Jewish faith.  But it was a sharp departure from the legalism that had come to characterize the Pharisaical expression of Judaism.

Paul addresses some of the trickier aspects of Christian culture that will require some nuance — food and festivals.  For contemporary Christians, these concerns may seem quaint, but for Paul’s time they were of extreme importance.

First of all, he makes it clear that food and festivals are not critical to Christian identity.  And he also makes it clear that the church is not a place to wrangle about such issues:

Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.

This is a reassuring word.  The church is not given boundaries that keep out those who are weak in faith.  The church is to be a place where they can receive sound instruction and grow in faith.  However, the church is also not meant to be a debating society.  There are some things that are clearly revealed as true, that are not disputable within the church.  And there are some things that are matters of opinion and personal practice — what some might call adiaphora, which is defined as “matters not regarded as essential to faith, but nevertheless permissible for Christians or allowed in church.”

Some of these adiaphora include what Christians choose to eat, and what special times they observe.  Paul makes it very clear from the very beginning that dietary laws are not central to the Christian faith.  This is radical for a Jew who has been steeped in the Pharisaical tradition.  The dietary laws of Leviticus were of such importance that they had spawned a cottage industry of commentary in the Oral Laws of the Pharisees  — concerning pork, shellfish, blood, lobsters, rabbits, etc.  These Oral Laws had come to be regarded as almost equal to the Written Law, but were actually the traditions and interpretations that had been passed down since the exile of Israel in the 6th century B.C.

Paul makes it clear that what a person chooses to eat or not eat is a matter of personal conscience, not religious legislation.  Peter had already broken this ground when God called him to cross the line separating Jews and Gentiles.  When the Centurion Cornelius invited Peter to come to his home and preach, Peter had experienced a vision preceding this invitation:

He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth, in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky.  A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”   A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean” (Acts 10:11-15).

This vision seemed to have a dual purpose.  On the one hand, symbolically, God was telling Peter that Gentiles were to be included in the church.  But on the other hand, Peter was being told that the prohibited foods were no longer forbidden.  They had been a part of Israel’s cultural identity, but Christianity transcends cultural and ethnic identity issues.

So Paul’s Solomonic wisdom on this issue is that each person must decide in their own mind what is appropriate to eat.  The one thing that he insists on is that whatever a person chooses to eat, as dictated by their own conscience, should not be a matter of division or a source of disapproval:

 One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.  Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

In a word, church members are not to judge one another based on diet.  Their only judge is God:

Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.

Paul then turns to festival days and sabbaths.  The same rule applies:

One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.  He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.

The sabbath observation in Judaism, and the three major feasts (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles) were central to the identity of Judaism, along with other minor festivals. Paul is not denying the importance of corporate worship in the church.  He assumes that Christians meet together on the first day of the week (1 Corinthians  11:18-26; 16:2).

But he is also insistent that the ritual system of sacrifices has been superseded.  Certainly, the Gentile is not bound by these Jewish rituals, although we have really good evidence that Paul himself continued to observe them as a Jewish Christian.  For example, when he was returning from his missionary journey from Macedonia and Greece, he was eager to arrive back in Jerusalem in time for Pentecost (Acts 20:16).  It may well be that Pentecost had assumed a dual purpose, as both a Jewish feast day and a Christian commemoration of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The bottom line for Paul, though, is the importance of the Christian community established by unity in Christ:

For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

What a person eats, or doesn’t eat; or whether they observe all the same holy days, is not relevant.  What is relevant is that they belong to the same Lord, who paid for their salvation with his blood.  The mark of identity in this new community of faith is following Christ — not kosher foods or high holy days.

The bottom line is that every person will be held accountable for their actions and their own conscience before God.  It is not up to individual members to judge one another:

 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Lest we draw the conclusion that Paul has renounced his Jewish heritage, he quotes the Hebrew Scriptures, from Isaiah 45:23:

 For it is written,“‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.’”

Ultimately, every person will be judged according to their own relationship with God, not according to human custom or tradition:

 So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.

APPLY:  

There are a few old cliches that may describe the issue Paul addresses: “don’t major in the minors” and “don’t sweat the small stuff.”

Paul is advising the church in Rome that a person’s diet doesn’t define their faith, nor does their observance of special days.  What defines their faith is their relationship with Christ and his church:

For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

One thing we are not to do is judge someone based on their dietary habits or whether they fast, or how they observe the liturgical calendar.  Fasting, for example, is a spiritual discipline that is encouraged in both the Old and New Testaments.  But the person who fasts is not superior to the person who doesn’t. That is a personal decision.  If it enhances our relationship with God, it is commendable.  But if a person chooses not to do so, that is between themselves and God.

To take the cliches a little farther — as someone has said: “Don’t sweat the small stuff — and it’s all small stuff.”  One person fasts, another doesn’t.  One person eschews meat, another eats it.  That is not an “essential” matter for salvation.

RESPOND: 

Paul’s counsel is ultimately directed toward individual accountability on personal lifestyle issues.  That doesn’t mean that these lifestyle decisions don’t matter.  Fasting is encouraged in the Christian tradition as a means of enhancing our prayer life and reminding us of our dependence on God.  Too much meat, though permissible, does have health consequences — and a vegetarian diet can be of great benefit.

But what we often see, especially in our time, is a kind of moral superiority even among those who are non-religious.  The vegetarian may condescend to the person who orders a hamburger at dinner.  There are Christian denominations that absolutely prohibit meat, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine.  The use of these substances may be debated, and some of them are absolutely of no benefit to the body, but it can’t be demonstrated from Scripture that they separate a person from God.  Gluttony and drunkenness are regarded as sins —but those are sins of excess and a lack of self-control. We don’t stop eating simply because of the risk of overeating.  Anything that we crave, or to which we become addicted, can become our god — and that can separate us from our primary loyalty to God.

And then there is the warning about time.  I tend to like the observance of the liturgical year as observed in my own church — Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost.  And all the “holy days”: Christmas Eve, Epiphany Day, Baptism of the Lord, Transfiguration Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week (including Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday), Easter Sunday, The Day of Ascension, Pentecost Sunday, All Saints Day, Christ the King Sunday.  And I will admit, that when I’m in a church that doesn’t display the “correct” colors for the proper season, it bothers me a little.  Then I have to remember this passage from Romans 14.

At the same time, those from a non-liturgical background should be reminded that they are not to judge traditionalists.  Paraments and special days and unique traditions ( I think of the beautiful icons in Orthodox churches) don’t save anyone.  But as long as those traditions are an enhancement to worship and not the object of worship, the non-liturgical Christian should have no objection.

The bottom line is clear — Christ doesn’t have a “special menu” that every Christian is supposed to choose. Nor does he demand that we all observe the liturgical year.  What ultimately matters is that we live to the Lord.

Lord, I do find that when I fast, it makes me more aware of you. And there are special times of the year that raise my awareness of your story.  But I don’t seek to impose those practices on others.  Help me to live my life by precept and example so that others see you at work in my life, and are drawn to you by my lifestyle.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
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Epistle for October 8, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Philippians 3:4-14

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul focuses on his own autobiography as a witness to the Gospel of grace that he proclaims.  In this passage we see through Paul’s  eyes his own transition from a self-righteous overachiever to a man completely dependent upon Christ.

He begins by demonstrating to the Philippians that he has a great personal resume, in purely human terms.  He has every reason to have confidence in the flesh if the goal of salvation is to be reached through human achievement.

The list he offers highlights his accomplishments as a highly committed, deeply  religious person:

circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

His place in the Judaism of his day, regarded as the true faith of the Chosen People, was absolutely secure.  Not only had he received all the normal marks of an observant Jew — circumcision, a place in the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews — he was a member of the most exclusive religious “fraternity” of his day — the Pharisees.

To be a Pharisee was to be a part of a highly scrupulous group.  The word Pharisee means those who are set apart. They were renowned for their strict observance not only of the Law of Moses, but also of the Oral Law, that body of traditions, interpretations and applications that had been passed down by generations of rabbis.

Moreover, Paul’s zeal for his faith was so intense that he sought to root out those whom he regarded as heretics, this new Jewish sect that were called Christians.  His quest to rid the world of this threat led him to Damascus — and conversion!

Yet, Paul could honestly say that his devotion to the law of Moses was so impeccable that he was blameless.

However, compared to the glory and grace that Paul had come to know in Christ, his own accomplishments are meaningless to him:

However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.  Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ….

Note the three-fold reference to loss, which illustrates that Paul has given up all  of the achievements and credentials of his former life.  In comparison to knowing Christ, his long list of merits are mere trash.

Paul reiterates the core of his message of grace when he outlines his new aim, to be found in Christ:

not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

Throughout his epistles, Paul has made it clear that it is impossible to establish one’s own righteousness by obedience to the law.  While the law is holy and just and good, the human capacity to fulfill the law invariably falls short.  Only by complete surrender through faith in Christ does the believer receive the:

righteousness from God based on faith.

Paul states clearly his own personal mission statement:

that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death;  if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

This highlights an important aspect of Paul’s spirituality — that faith in Christ means identification with Christ’s cross and his resurrection.  We can see that very clearly in Galatians 2:19-20.

 For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

Nevertheless, Paul confesses his own deep humility, acknowledging that he is still in the process of growing when it comes to following Christ:

Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

There are two key points that are striking here.

First, there is the paradox that Christ has already made Paul his own, yet there is a response still required in order for Paul to continue to make Christ his own.  Christ’s grace has already accepted Paul as he is.  But Paul is aware that identifying with Christ’s crucified and resurrected life requires that he press on to make it his own.

There  are several analogies that spring to mind — we are embraced by someone who loves us, but we also must embrace them in return if we are to experience the completion of affection.

But Paul’s own analogy brings us to the second point — Paul uses an athletic analogy to describe his spiritual journey:

Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

One can almost see the stadium and the runners as they are being cheered on by the crowds.  Paul runs his race so that he may cross the finish line and receive the ultimate prize.

So, the analogy prevails.  He has been selected for the “team” by the grace of Christ. It is time to forget those previous efforts of self-directed achievement that fell short of victory, without looking back.  And now he strives to excel in the spiritual contest with his utmost effort so that he may fulfill the high calling of Christ.

APPLY:  

Ours is an achievement-oriented society.  From our first report cards that our moms put on the refrigerator to the lists of awards and honors and degrees that follow our names in our resumes — we are hungry for recognition.

While this may be admirable and desirable from a human point of view for our resume building, this is not how we experience the glory of Christ.

Christ’s grace is available to all, from the president of the United States to the homeless woman pushing a shopping cart filled with her only possessions.

As Paul tells us, Christ has taken hold of us by grace.  He has already offered himself to us completely and without reserve.  He emptied himself of all but love, and offered his life on the cross so that he might raise us up with him.

What response should this elicit from us?  If we fully grasp what Christ has done for us, it inspires us to give all that we have and all that we are to follow him.  This is the path to sanctification.

We remember, however,  that even this striving toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus is still not our accomplishment.  It is not something that we achieve, but rather something that we receive by grace.

As Paul reminds us in his paradoxical statement earlier in this letter to the Philippians:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13).

No matter how intense our effort, how earnestly we press toward the goal, we are enabled to do so only by God who is at work in us.  That is why we are truly humble before God, who is the author and finisher of our salvation.

RESPOND: 

When I was a young man, I went to a Christian counselor concerning my depression.  He recommended a book that helped me to apply all of my theological training to my personal problems.

The book was The Search for Significance by Robert McGee.  I can sum up the message very simply — we are taught in our culture to base our self-worth on our performance and the opinions of others.  Our accomplishments and the opinions of others become the mirror in which we measure ourselves.

Unfortunately, even the most accomplished and most popular persons in the world, in their most honest moments, must accept that they fall short of perfection. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has nothing to say to those who do not accept that they are sinners.

The Gospel of grace tells us that we are already accepted for Christ’s sake.  We are loved.  There is nothing more that we need do in order to be more acceptable to God. Our acceptance by God is not based on our performance or the opinion of others. Christ has performed all that needs to be done for us to be reconciled to God. And Christ’s opinion of each of us is that we are worth dying for!

When I read McGee’s book, and began to apply its message in my own life, it liberated me from the effort to establish my own righteousness or to “prove” myself.

And, when I could accept that I was already accepted by Christ, I was free to give my very best effort to press on toward the life that he envisioned for me.

I had “made the team” already.  But now I didn’t want to simply sit on the bench.  I wanted to excel and perform at the highest level possible – not for my own sake but for Christ’s sake.  My motivation for obedience and excellence was no longer to bolster my ego or my resume, but gratitude for what Christ has done for me.

Our Lord, whatever I have accomplished is rubbish in comparison to the glory of knowing you through your death and resurrection.  I receive your grace with humble gratitude, and press on toward the goal of your high calling.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
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Epistle for September 17, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Romans 14:1-12

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

We can easily forget just how radical this new religion of Christianity was.  True, it was predicated on the prophecies and principles of the Jewish faith.  But it was a sharp departure from the legalism that had come to characterize the Pharisaical expression of Judaism.

Paul addresses some of the trickier aspects of Christian culture that will require some nuance — food and festivals.  For contemporary Christians, these concerns may seem quaint, but for Paul’s time they were of extreme importance.

First of all, he makes it clear that food and festivals are not critical to Christian identity.  And he also makes it clear that the church is not a place to wrangle about such issues:

Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.

This is a reassuring word.  The church is not given boundaries that keep out those who are weak in faith.  The church is to be a place where they can receive sound instruction and grow in faith.  However, the church is also not meant to be a debating society.  There are some things that are clearly revealed as true, that are not disputable within the church.  And there are some things that are matters of opinion and personal practice — what some might call adiaphora, which is defined as “matters not regarded as essential to faith, but nevertheless permissible for Christians or allowed in church.”

Some of these adiaphora include what Christians choose to eat, and what special times they observe.  Paul makes it very clear from the very beginning that dietary laws are not central to the Christian faith.  This is radical for a Jew who has been steeped in the Pharisaical tradition.  The dietary laws of Leviticus were of such importance that they had spawned a cottage industry of commentary in the Oral Laws of the Pharisees  — concerning pork, shellfish, blood, lobsters, rabbits, etc.  These Oral Laws had come to be regarded as almost equal to the Written Law, but were actually the traditions and interpretations that had been passed down since the exile of Israel in the 6th century B.C.

Paul makes it clear that what a person chooses to eat or not eat is a matter of personal conscience, not religious legislation.  Peter had already broken this ground when God called him to cross the line separating Jews and Gentiles.  When the Centurion Cornelius invited Peter to come to his home and preach, Peter had experienced a vision preceding this invitation:

He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth, in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky.  A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”   A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean”(Acts 10:11-15).

This vision seemed to have a dual purpose.  On the one hand, symbolically, God was telling Peter that Gentiles were to be included in the church.  But on the other hand, Peter was being told that the prohibited foods were no longer forbidden.  They had been a part of Israel’s cultural identity, but Christianity transcends cultural and ethnic identity issues.

So Paul’s Solomonic wisdom on this issue is that each person must decide in their own mind what is appropriate to eat.  The one thing that he insists on is that whatever a person chooses to eat, as dictated by their own conscience, should not be a matter of division or a source of disapproval:

 One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.  Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

In a word, church members are not to judge one another based on diet.  Their only judge is God:

Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.

Paul then turns to festival days and sabbaths.  The same rule applies:

One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.  He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.

The sabbath observation in Judaism, and the three major feasts (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles) were central to the identity of Judaism, along with other minor festivals. Paul is not denying the importance of corporate worship in the church.  He assumes that Christians meet together on the first day of the week (1 Corinthians  11:18-26; 16:2).

But he is also insistent that the ritual system of sacrifices has been superseded.  Certainly, the Gentile is not bound by these Jewish rituals, although we have really good evidence that Paul himself continued to observe them as a Jewish Christian.  For example, when he was returning from his missionary journey from Macedonia and Greece, he was eager to arrive back in Jerusalem in time for Pentecost (Acts 20:16).  It may well be that Pentecost had assumed a dual purpose, as both a Jewish feast day and a Christian commemoration of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The bottom line for Paul, though, is the importance of the Christian community established by unity in Christ:

For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

What a person eats, or doesn’t eat; or whether they observe all the same holy days, is not relevant.  What is relevant is that they belong to the same Lord, who paid for their salvation with his blood.  The mark of identity in this new community of faith is following Christ — not kosher foods or high holy days.

The bottom line is that every person will be held accountable for their actions and their own conscience before God.  It is not up to individual members to judge one another:

 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Lest we draw the conclusion that Paul has renounced his Jewish heritage, he quotes the Hebrew Scriptures, from Isaiah 45:23:

 For it is written,“‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.’”

Ultimately, every person will be judged according to their own relationship with God, not according to human custom or tradition:

 So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.

APPLY:  

There are a few old cliches that may describe the issue Paul addresses: “don’t major in the minors” and “don’t sweat the small stuff.”

Paul is advising the church in Rome that a person’s diet doesn’t define their faith, nor does their observance of special days.  What defines their faith is their relationship with Christ and his church:

For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

One thing we are not to do is judge someone based on their dietary habits or whether they fast, or how they observe the liturgical calendar.  Fasting, for example, is a spiritual discipline that is encouraged in both the Old and New Testaments.  But the person who fasts is not superior to the person who doesn’t. That is a personal decision.  If it enhances our relationship with God, it is commendable.  But if a person chooses not to do so, that is between themselves and God.

To take the cliches a little farther — as someone has said: “Don’t sweat the small stuff — and it’s all small stuff.”  One person fasts, another doesn’t.  One person eschews meat, another eats it.  That is not an “essential” matter for salvation.

RESPOND: 

Paul’s counsel is ultimately directed toward individual accountability on personal lifestyle issues.  That doesn’t mean that these lifestyle decisions don’t matter.  Fasting is encouraged in the Christian tradition as a means of enhancing our prayer life and reminding us of our dependence on God.  Too much meat, though permissible, does have health consequences — and a vegetarian diet can be of great benefit.

But what we often see, especially in our time, is a kind of moral superiority even among those who are non-religious.  The vegetarian may condescend to the person who orders a hamburger at dinner.  There are Christian denominations that absolutely prohibit meat, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine.  The use of these substances may be debated, and some of them are absolutely of no benefit to the body, but it can’t be demonstrated from Scripture that they separate a person from God.  Gluttony and drunkenness are regarded as sins —but those are sins of excess and a lack of self-control. We don’t stop eating simply because of the risk of overeating.  Anything that we crave, or to which we become addicted, can become our god — and that can separate us from our primary loyalty to God.

And then there is the warning about time.  I tend to like the observance of the liturgical year as observed in my own church — Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost.  And all the “holy days”: Christmas Eve, Epiphany Day, Baptism of the Lord, Transfiguration Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week (including Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday), Easter Sunday, The Day of Ascension, Pentecost Sunday, All Saints Day, Christ the King Sunday.  And I will admit, that when I’m in a church that doesn’t display the “correct” colors for the proper season, it bothers me a little.  Then I have to remember this passage from Romans 14.

At the same time, those from a non-liturgical background should be reminded that they are not to judge traditionalists.  Paraments and special days and unique traditions ( I think of the beautiful icons in Orthodox churches) don’t save anyone.  But as long as those traditions are an enhancement to worship and not the object of worship, the non-liturgical Christian should have no objection.

The bottom line is clear — Christ doesn’t have a “special menu” that every Christian is supposed to choose. Nor does he demand that we all observe the liturgical year.  What ultimately matters is that we live to the Lord.

Lord, I do find that when I fast, it makes me more aware of you. And there are special times of the year that raise my awareness of your story.  But I don’t seek to impose those practices on others.  Help me to live my life by precept and example so that others see you at work in my life, and are drawn to you by my lifestyle.  Amen. 

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