Saturday, August 24, 2013

Romans 14




1As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 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. 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.
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. 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.For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 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. 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

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

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.