Month: November 2025

Digging in Deeper: Romans 14:22-23

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“Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the lessons many state curricula seek to teach students early on in their education process is how to differentiate between facts and opinions. Of course, such an effort is deeply worldview dependent, and so parents should be actively engaged with those lessons at home to make sure they are properly supporting or else tuning interference if their states curriculum has been primarily shaped by a worldview position they don’t support. That all being said, the effort is worthwhile in the abstract. One reason for this comes out in what Paul writes here at the end of Romans 14. Let’s talk about facts and opinions on sin.

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Redirection

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Sometimes we get everything right. Sometimes we serve God in a way that explodes in the best way possible. Lives are changed; communities are made whole. And then sometimes, just when things seem poised to grow even further, God comes and interrupts what we are doing for Him to call us in a new direction. Why would He do such a thing? Today, as we wrap up our teaching series, When Life Gets in the Way, that is exactly what we are talking about. Thanks for being here throughout this journey. May you be better prepared for the interruptions you will yet face as you journey toward His kingdom. Here’s the message.

Redirection

In 2016, we thought we were moving. We had been serving our little, country church for several years, and things were going really well. But then another church reached out, and as we prayed through it and considered all of the various factors involved, it really seemed like this might be something God was doing. We inched our way through their process, but it was quickly clear that things were moving ahead pretty smoothly. It was not easy to wrap our heads around the idea of moving. The church we were serving was the first church we had ever served. They had taken a chance on a young guy fresh out of seminary. Our boys were all three born in that community. The church loved us well. But the further we moved forward, the more we got our hearts and minds wrapped around it, and the more excited we got about the prospect of what God seemed to be doing. 

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Morning Musing: Galatians 4:4-5

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“When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The family is the basic building block of any stable, healthy society. Thriving societies have a culture of strong, committed families. If you want to explain the breakdown of a society – take a society like ours for instance – you don’t really need to look much further than the breakdown of the families that constitute it. Nearly every social pathology can be traced back to a family problem of some kind. Communities with large numbers of stable, intact families are objectively better than those without. The trouble is, too many culture-shaping aspects of our society don’t seem to understand that. It is notable then, when a major Hollywood release not only highlights, but celebrates the goodness and worthwhileness of family. The latest major Marvel film, which I have finally been able to watch, does just that. Let’s talk about why Fantastic Four lives up to its moniker.

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Morning Musing: Romans 14:19-21

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“So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another. Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make someone fall by what he eats. It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We live in a culture that has a well ingrained “me first“ mentality. We think about ourselves and what we need before we give much thought to anyone else. Now, not everyone falls prey to this. Some people naturally have a servant-minded personality. Others are raised to think about others first. But even this can become tainted by our me first mentality. They put others first because they’ve been trained to think their worth is found in what they can do for others, and so they serve others as a means of assuring their own value (at least in their own mind). Most of the time we are sufficiently isolated from each other that this isn’t such a huge deal. But in the church, this mindset can be debilitating. Let’s take a look at some counsel from Paul on dealing with this tendency.

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Morning Musing: Romans 14:16-18

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“Therefore, do not let your good be slandered, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and receives human approval.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I had a conversation the other day with a young man who is going through a tough season. He loves the Lord and earnestly desires for his life to reflect that, but his road has been rocky all the same. One of the questions he kept coming back to as we talked is what God’s will is for this or that. I finally told Him that while God cares about the details of our lives, He’s more concerned with the forest than the trees. If we are committed to honoring and glorifying Him in the large things, the small things will fall into place. That’s something like Paul is getting at here in instructing the church in Rome on how to get along together. Let’s take a look.

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