Romans 14

1As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,

and every tongue shall confess to God.”

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

13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. -Romans 14

Today, my approach is not going to be exegetical but simply my comments on this passage as a whole.  I find certain things in this passage of scripture that really stand out to me, but the whole concept is something that we as human beings just push back against and don't like.

The first really big thing that stands out to me is verse 2.  I have found that in our world today, people that eat meat and people that choose not to have a real issue getting along because of the exact thing that Paul says.  We meat eaters look with disdain on the vegetarians and the vegetarians are very judgmental of the meat eaters.  But this is not just a problem in the area of food.  I have seen this play out in all parts of life, from what you believe in to what you wear.  I have people look at me and because I wear clothes from the thrift store I am looked at with judgement and I look with disdain on people that wear clothes from an expensive store. One other place I have seen this a lot is with tattoos and piercings, especially between the older generation and the younger, because it is so different than what the older generation is used to so it seems to make them uncomfortable.  It makes me really look at what I disdain in people and what I look with judgment on with people.

The second thing here is the stumbling block principle.  I see this as a great opportunity to minister to non christian people.  There are many things that people will do just because it is who they are and you are told to suck it up, like eating something around someone who can't stand it, or even the typical drinking in front of people who are part of AA.  So can we as Christians show those outside the faith that we are willing to put our personal preferences aside, that we are willing to not eat, drink or do something in front of someone that will be a stumbling block to them, to bring them to the Lord.  I have seen a lot lately the selfish nature of human beings, myself included, and wondered how can Christians show the world that we serve the most unselfish God who was willing to give up His son, so that we could spend eternity with Him.  

Number three that stands out to me here is the argument that presumably the Romans were having about the sabbath.  I have heard many such arguments and many such quarrels about this very subject and it is sad to me that we have to go through this so much.  If someone does not take the same day or time as you for sabbath, that is not a bad thing.  It doesn't matter if you have church on Sunday, or Saturday, or even Tuesday, what matters is gathering with your brothers and sisters and spending time as a family with God as our Dad and Jesus as our big brother.  So you and I need to stop spending time telling others that just because they do church on a different day than us, or because they do church a little bit every day that they are wrong.

       And finally, verse 19 'let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.' I don't even think I really need to say anything about this.  It is pretty self explanatory. Pursue peace.  It is the best course of action.  I am not saying give up on what is right, because protecting the innocent and doing what is right is more important than peace.  Remember, 

"If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all." -Romans 12:18

Our Father

"Our Father..." - Matthew 6:9

God is our Father.  He is the one that we can turn to when we need something.  Our God is so glaringly different than the false gods of other religions in that He is known as Father.  This fact blows my mind every single time I talk to Him.  When I think of God as my Father, it makes me think of my earthly Dad.  I love my dad, and I know that if I ever need to talk to someone, if I need advice, if I need something, all I need to do is ask my dad.  God is even more than that for me, to a so much bigger extent is God when it comes to all of these different things.  I wish that more people would see my God as Father and I wish that I could tell people why it is so amazing to love and be loved by a God who is a loving Father.  

Romans 1:8-15

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. -Romans 1:8-15

"First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world." -Romans 1:8

Here is a great example of something I have been learning in my own life in the past few weeks, where Paul says that he thanks God through Jesus Christ.  I like that it is not just through Jesus, because Paul knows that we pray to and have a very specific God, and that is Jesus Christ, we don't just pray to any plain old Jesus so we should be including in our prayers that we pray to the Christ, the Messiah, the one Son of God, and that is Jesus Christ.  I have even been convicted to go farther at times and say Jesus Christ of Nazareth, because I want to be sure that everyone knows who I am praying to and that I serve Him alone. 

The second thing about this verse is that the Roman Christian's faith was being proclaimed all over the known world.  I think that is amazing!  If only we in the Canadian church were known for our faith, known for trusting God so completely.  What a testament to what Jesus has done in our lives and how He can change anyone to be someone of great faith.  I don't know how we can be known as a people of faith like the Romans were, but I would love to find out.  I believe it has to do with being filled with the Spirit.

"For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.  -Romans 1:9-10

I really like how the NIV puts this verse so I would like to share that with you as well:

"God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you." -Romans 1:9-10 (NIV)

To see these two translations together, I really get a more full realization that to serve God with your spirit and with your whole heart are really the same thing.  I think this is a great thing to see because it gives a more full view of what these verses are saying here.  I also really like how the NIV goes a little farther by saying that Paul serves by preaching the gospel, which is something that I sometimes see lacking in our church today.  It is part of how a pastor like Paul was able to serve and I think we as pastors in Canada and the US need to spend more time preaching to our congregations.  

I also want to point out the emphasis on prayer in these verses.  Paul prays without ceasing which is an excellent starting point.  I don't do this well at all and I need to spend more time praying for all things.  Also, Paul is praying for the Roman church at all times in his prayers, which means that Paul is also praying for the other churches that he is and has been in, because it would be remiss of him to pray for one congregation and not the others.  What this shows is that Paul spends a whole lot of time praying because that is so important in a believers and even more so a pastors life.  If we don't have prayer for all the people that are on our hearts and if we aren't praying for the other things in life, we aren't talking to our Father enough.

"For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine." -Romans 1:11-12

I think for me, this section points out something important.  I come from a background where I have spent time in a lot of different churches with a lot of different denominations, and one thing that always has left a bad taste in my mouth is the fact that Pentecostals believe that everyone should have the spiritual gift of tongues.  I don't believe this is true and I don't think Paul did either, for here he is saying that he will impart 'some spiritual gift', not one particular one.  And the gift of tongues is used mainly to encourage and strengthen the individual and not the whole church, where some of the other gifts are there to strengthen the whole church.

Even the best most amazing pastors and leaders in the church can be greatly encouraged by another's faith.  I think that is seen pretty clearly in this text, that we can encourage others with our faith and I think that will also help us to become famous for our faith and the whole world might speak of the faith of the Canadian church if we can encourage our leaders and each other.

"I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles." -Romans 1:13

I want to talk about something here that is a big issue in a lot of churches from what I have seen and does not need to be.  Right here, Paul says 'Brothers', and it often gets misinterpreted as God, and Paul and other writers of the Bible to be sexist.  That is not at all the case.  In fact it is just the opposite.  In Paul's time, the first born brother would be heir to the fathers estate and the other brothers would share in the inheritance, however the sisters would not receive the same portion.  Also, when Paul is addressing the church as brothers, he is actually breaking Roman law, where most everything was by word of mouth and so calling someone your brother who was not blood related implied that he would get a portion of your inheritance.  Now we see this as a good thing, because first of all, by Paul greeting all the men and women as brothers, includes them in this inheritance, and because it is to the whole church, he is saying that we all have an inheritance in Christ, not just the men or just the women.

I think the main part in this verse that is really important is about reaping a harvest.  We learn here that just because a pastor or elder did not sow or water a crop of great faith or great perseverance, does not mean that they cannot come and reap that harvest.  Paul has never been among the Roman church at this point and yet he is still wanting to go and reap a harvest.  We need to remember that we are all part of the body of Christ and that any leader, pastor or elder can sow and water a crop and any other can come and reap that harvest, because it is all to the glory of God.

"I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish." -Romans 1:14

Two quick things on this verse, number one, the obligation comes from Jesus sending Paul to the gentiles.  And number two is when Paul uses the term barbarian, he is just talking to those who didn't speak the Greek language or who didn't follow Greek customs.

"So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome." -Romans 1:15

Oh how I would love to be more eager to preach the gospel.  Often I have so much apathy that I just don't have that desire to preach that I know Christ wants me to have.  This is one way for me to preach the gospel to myself, but I would love to be able to preach to others in some capacity.  The gospel of Christ must be preached not just to those who don't know Him, but also to those who are already following God.  Because we must live in the Spirit and walk by the Spirit, for the Christian life is more than just conversion, it is following.  See Romans 6:4; 8:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:6.

I hope this small message hits you somewhere and that you are encouraged to follow Christ and be eager to preach the gospel!

Romans 1:7

"To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." - Romans 1:7

Loved by God, what an incredible to be told. That the creator of the universe, the name above all names, that He could even begin to love creatures who are like clay to Him, who constantly sin against Him is amazing.  I think this is so profound and something we need to remember about our great Father.

When I read about saints in the scripture, it always puts an image into my head of people like Mother Theresa who are the amazing examples of great Christians, but that's not what Paul is talkin about here. The saints that are talked about in this passage are anyone who has accepted Christ as their saviour, who has confessed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead.  This is a great encouragement to us who are called as saints before God.  The reason is, is this is our new identity, we are no longer known as sinners, but as saints.  So when temptation comes along, we don't have to give into it because our new nature and identity as saint allows us to say no to the sins of the flesh because we have allowed God to take control and have invited the Holy Spirit to indwell us.

Grace to you, how marvellous that we have grace, that free gift of salvation and everlasting life that is ours because of God's love.  This should be an example to us that we are to give grace freely, as it has been given to us. And I am as bad at that as the next guy, but God willing I will become better. 

And Peace, I love peace, I would love to see everyone at peace with each other, no fighting, no bloodshed, no war.  Christ wants that as well, it is He who said "Blessed are the peacemakers" and "As far as it goes with you, be at peace with everyone."  Both of these lines are great examples of how Jesus wants peace, but there is also a second part to that second quote, as far as it goes with you. This means that there will be times where we cannot be at peace with everyone because there are times when we need to disagree with those outside the body. I want to see peace, but I also want to see truth reign, and that is more important to me than peace. So I will keep seeking truth over peace, even if that means that I cannot be at peace with anyone.  I believe that this is one of the biggest problems in the church today is that people seek peace over truth and that is unbiblical, and not what Christ teaches.

Finally at the end of this verse we see that it is from God our Father and The Lord Jesus Christ.  This is our God, two of the persons of the trinity, each individual yet the same, each with their own attributes which fully complement each other along with the Holy Spirit. Let us remember the whole trinity and not just one part.

Amen

2 Timothy 1:7

 "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." -2 Timothy 1:7

Here is a thought that I had in my mind this morning as I was reading the book of 2 Timothy.  I find this verse to have so much in it that I just love.  When I think of the Spirit and what He brings into my life, I don't always think of the self control.  It is a part of my life that I wish I could do better, and it is a great encouragement to know that He is not a Spirit of fear, but of power and love and self control.  When I look at the sin that I have committed in even the past week, lies that I have told, lust that has crept into my mind or just simply eating too much food and being a glutton.  This verse stands out to me as something that I can tell Satan when he attacks me, that he has no power over me, and that I have a Spirit of self control in me that allows me to say no to these temptations.  I am continually amazed at the new things that God teaches me about His word.  Thanks be to God our Father, Jesus Christ our Lord and the Holy Spirit our Helper.

Romans 1:1-6

I have decided that I will begin in the book of Romans, as that is what God has placed on my heart.

"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ." -Romans 1:1-6 ESV

To begin with, we have Paul, a man who really was the worst of the worst, a killer of Christians, one who was willing to kill every Christian who he could get his hands on.  And yet, this man was remarkably changed.  This alone shows me that anyone can turn from any sin and walk with Christ.  If a murderer of Christians can repent and become one of those that he was killing then I believe anyone can turn from any sin.  This is a great encouragement to me, that I don't have to continue in my sin, although Paul was walking away from a much more outward sin, it means that God through the Holy Spirit really can give complete freedom from any sin.

Servant, is a word that we don't really understand in our culture.  Here in our culture it is someone who lives with rich people in a mansion and cooks their food and cleans their house, and is really just a housekeeper.  In the times of Paul writing to the Romans though, this was a person who was in bondage to another, who may have earned money to eventually buy his or her freedom, but was really almost a slave.  So what Paul is saying here is that he is a slave of Christ, that he is willingly in bondage to Him and will do whatever He says to do no matter what.  This is a really difficult thing to follow in my own life, I am a husband and father of one, soon two, and my family so often comes first in my mind, not Christ and so I don't always just do what He says without thinking.  It is something that has weighed on my heart so much lately and something that I really want to change.

Christ Jesus.  Really, this is the most important part of this passage.  Here is where Paul tells us who it is all about, there really would not be this letter or this book without Christ.  As a believer, Christ is the most important, he is our Lord, our Savior, the one and only God.  He came from heaven and was born as a human being, lived a perfect life and then died on a cross as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.  The blood of a perfect man was spilled so that we could be saved, and the blood of God was spilled so that we could be saved.  He died and was buried and then three days later rose from death, thereby conquering Satan, sin, death, hell and the wrath of God so that we would not have to endure those things.  And then after forty days he ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God.  The most important person to ever live on the earth and Paul is willing to go and do whatever He wants.

The next thing I want to focus on is that Paul was Called by Jesus.  In our lives we will probably not have the kind of calling that Paul had.  Christ appeared to Paul in a flash of light, blinding him and telling him to go and be healed by a Christian, whom he hated, and then to follow Him.  Paul was called in a very literal way to ministry for Christ.  In my life, the calling has been a lot different.  I have been called to be a pastor, the reason I know this is because of a lot of things.  First, when I read the scriptures about pastors and what they are to do and how they are to be, it rings true to my passions.  Second, I feel in my heart that God is calling me into a pastoral ministry.  Third, Godly men in my life have said that they see a pastor in me, and that I should go in that direction.  Often in our lives, God shows us where he has called us by the people around us, the passions he has given us and the words in his Holy Scripture.  If we are truly committed to following Jesus in that role of Servant, he will reveal to us what his calling is on our life.

Apostle is a very interesting word, we use it a lot as Christians in our churches and we see it a lot in the Bible.  What it is, really is an amazing thing.  When a Jewish Rabbi was at a point where he was teaching the Jewish scriptures, he would have young men in their teens and early twenties come to him and ask him if they could follow him and become one of their disciples or apostles.  If the Rabbi said yes, then these young men would follow this Rabbi wherever he went, they wanted to hear every single word that came out of his mouth and so would often be covered in the dust that came off of their Rabbi's sandals.  What was different about Jesus, is that instead of men coming to him and requesting to be His apostles, Jesus went out and chose for Himself those whom He wanted to teach.  These men He chose though, were not the smartest or the most gifted and Jesus wanted to show that it is the ordinary people who have ordinary jobs that He will call to be His apostles.  We now have the privilege of walking behind Jesus, getting covered in the dust from His sandals so to speak and hear and learn every single thing that Jesus says.

The next word here that I want to unpack is the word Gospel.  It is a word that is misunderstood by Christians and Non-Christians alike.  We often think that it is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  These are the gospels for sure, but THE Gospel is the story of how Jesus saves us.  This is so important to understand, when Paul is saying that he is 'Set apart for the Gospel', he is set apart to be saved by that Gospel that he is speaking of.  This is something that I just want to emphasize to anyone who is reading this.

Which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures.  This line is really important to me that I talk through.  This is where Paul is really backing up his claims with a really great argument.  If you look through what we now call the Old Testament of the Bible, you will see in many places, prophecies concerning a Messiah that is to come to the earth to save the people of the earth from their sins and to give them everlasting life.  These prophecies were written hundreds if not thousands of years before the birth of Christ and they narrow down who could possibly be the messiah to a very precise person.  The prophecies range from where this Messiah is to be born, before what date He is to be born and what kind of mother this Messiah was supposed to have.  These all point to Jesus Christ and His birth in Bethlehem, before the Temple was destroyed in Seventy AD and to the person of Mary who was a virgin when she gave birth, through the miracle of the Holy Spirit.  These claims that Paul gives are not just empty claims of a man that wants to lead others astray, but the claims of someone who has facts to back up what he is saying.

Who is Jesus?  We often think of Him as modern pictures and movies portray him, as a guy in a dress with long hair who speaks like Confucius, somehow glows and hangs around with sheep and children.  Now Jesus did do some of these things, He loved children and he did say some pretty cool things, but Jesus is so much more than that.  He was Declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness.  Power, and yes, he was humble and washed His apostles feet, and yes he chose not to use that power when he was hung up on a cross to die as our savior, but he has power according to the Holy Spirit.  The third member of what we as Christians call the trinity, the Holy Spirit was upon the first member of the trinity, Jesus Christ in power and in Holiness.  This is something that I think is serving to really hurt the church in that who wants to come and worship some guy that just gave us some good advice.  We worship a God who is powerful, who is mighty, and who is Holy and worthy of our worship.

We have received grace, isn't that a wonderful thing to know.  This is really where Christianity stands out among the religions of the world.  We don't have to work to be saved, we don't have to do a big checklist of things in order to go to heaven, all we have to do is believe that Jesus is God and believe that God raised Him from the dead and we are saved.  This is an amazing thing to me.  I know that I am going to Heaven, because I trust that Jesus will save me.  It allows me to live my life with purpose, following Him and telling others about Him.  It is an amazing and wonderful way to live life, with the knowledge that you are saved and chosen by God to spend eternity with Him.  And it is a free gift, remember that.  Free.

Obedience of Faith, is something that I don't really fully understand.  I know that we are to be obedient to Christ, not because we have to but because we want to out of love for what He did for us.  This obedience comes from faith, because if we don't have faith in something that we haven't seen, we won't obey.  So I think that what Paul is saying to us is out of your faith, obey Christ and what He says to do. 

Among all the nations including you!  Paul was not writing this letter to a bunch of Jews who were God's chosen people.  He was writing to a people who were a lot like us.  They had a lot of sexual perversion in their society, and also a lot of atheism.  Each person really thought of themselves as the highest thing in life and others were not thought of as better or higher than themselves.  Much like it is in our society today.  But this gospel, this good news of Christ is for you and for me and for anyone who accepts what Jesus Christ has done for us and can do through us. 

I think that wraps up my post for today, thanks for coming by and reading, feel free to comment on anything you read here, remember I want to be sharpened and I want to sharpen you.  I would ask that you be respectful of me and of others who are commenting, and I look forward to the next post which will continue on in Romans 1.

Thanks again.
Forrest

Welcome to my Blog

Hello,
My name is Forrest, I am here to write this blog so that I may learn more about my God and Savior, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and I would love it if you would read and comment on what you read here.  It is simply going to be myself commenting on scripture and trying to learn new things.

My goal is to do this weekly, God willing.  I will focus on one passage of scripture, it could be as much as a chapter or as little as a few verses.  The point of this blog is to listen to what God has to say and try to understand some new things.

I am here to hopefully sharpen you and to have myself sharpened, as it says in Proverbs:

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." -Proverbs 27:17

If you would like to see a certain passage done, I would gladly do that.  I believe that:

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." -2 Timothy 3:16-17.  

Here is a summary of what I believe and hold to be true; this is the Nicene Creed.

We believe in one God, 

the Father, the Almighty, 

maker of heaven and earth, 

of all that is, seen and unseen. 

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, 

the only Son of God, 

eternally begotten of the Father, 

God from God, Light from Light, 

true God from true God, 

begotten, not made, 

of one Being with the Father. 

Through him all things were made. 

For us and for our salvation 

he came down from heaven: 

by the power of the Holy Spirit 

he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, 

and was made man. 

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; 

he suffered death and was buried. 

On the third day he rose again 

in accordance with the Scriptures; 

he ascended into heaven 

and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, 

and his kingdom will have no end. 

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, 

who proceeds from the Father and the Son. 

With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. 

He has spoken through the Prophets. 

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. 

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. 

We look for the resurrection of the dead, 

and the life of the world to come. Amen.