Tag: Romans

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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Digging in Deeper: Romans 14:13-15

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“Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean. For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

In the early 20th century, some philosophers and literary critics, tired of what they saw as the restrictiveness of modernity, began to explore beyond its limits. Starting from the jumping off point that the meaning of a particular text isn’t fixed, they gradually began to apply this relativistic thinking to all of life. Thus cultural relativism was born. While possessing perhaps a grain of truth, relativism’s impact on culture broadly has mostly been poisonous that at least many Christian philosophers have been working to counter ever since. So then, why does Paul seem to propose a kind of relativism here? Let’s explore what he is saying and how we can create peaceful, welcoming churches.

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Morning Musing: Romans 14:10-12

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“But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Christians have often been accused of being judgmental. Sometimes this label has been well-earned. Other times it results simply from our inviting people to live in God’s kingdom with its ethic of righteousness instead of the world. The teachings of the New Testament on judgment can be confusing. Sometimes we’re told to judge, sometimes we’re told not to judge. Let’s explore what Paul has to say here and talk about how to get judgment right as followers of Jesus.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 14:5-9

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“One person judges one day to be more important than another day. Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind. Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord. Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, and he gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and returned to life for this: that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When I was in high school, I got to play in the jazz band. We met before school at 6:45 two days a week. I loved it. More than just that, I learned to love jazz as a musical style. Jazz is all about improvisation. It’s about having the freedom to explore and create. There are almost endless possibilities and varieties open and available to players. I say almost endless because there are some boundaries, and the greatest freedom comes to those musicians who have spent the most time learning where those boundaries are through years and years of discipline and practice. But within those boundaries, there really is room to thrive. In a world that operates like it’s playing a fugue, the church offers jazz to those interested in something truly free. As Paul continues exploring the freedom we have in Christ, let’s talk about it.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 14:4

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“Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the biggest critiques against the church and believers more generally is that we are judgmental. We’ve talked about this issue before in other contexts, but the reality is that sometimes we have been deserving of that criticism. But not always. There’s a difference between standing firmly on a particular moral position and actively condemning those who hold and act on the opposite view. Where judgmentalism becomes an even more pressing problem for believers, though, is within the church. When we start judging one another as fellow members of the body of Christ, we sew the seeds of division and disunity which eventually grow to split churches and to create bad church experiences that can drive people away from the church entirely. As with the situation of judgment cast outside of the church, the situation is a bit more complicated than it appears at first glance. What Paul writes here offers some helpful wisdom in our efforts to get things right.

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