The Gospel Applied: “Service with a Smile” – Romans 14, Part two

waitressI walked into the café and read the sign. It said: “Seat yourself!” I walked over to a booth and sat down. “You can’t sit there!” a waitress barked. I turned to look, and she said, “I just cleared that booth and I have some men coming in to take it.” I smiled and got up. I wasn’t in a particular hurry because my flight was running behind a bit. I said: “That’s fine. Do you have another seat I could have?” She looked at me and saw my smile and said. “I am sorry. A lady just yelled at me and another guy took me apart this morning at breakfast, and I have just had it with today. I shouldn’t have taken in out on you!” I looked at her and could tell by her uniform, her face and her hair that she had seen better days. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll stand here for a bit and you check for a place when you can. I have a few minutes.” About two minutes later, I got the nicest spot in the place by the window, looking down on the runway. “There is a plug below this seat in case your laptop is running low,” she said. She was looking out for me, and I could see it in her service. A smile and a little patience makes the difference.

Am I always that way? No, not at all. I keep busy, and I don’t always see people right in front of me. Yet, I know that isn’t the right way to treat people. I could have acted as badly as that waitress any day of the week. Is that true of you? Do you get so busy, or so self-focused sometimes that you don’t see others clearly? We might all need the refresher from the middle of Romans 14, where we left off in our study. We might need the reminder that…

Key Principle: Real Christians are those who “serve Jesus by serving people”.

Without being mind-numbingly repetitive, let’s set the discussion of the text in context.

First, we can split the letter to the Romans in two parts:

Romans 1-11 was about what God did for people – His saving work that would made our yielding of heart a reasonable demand on His part. If God stood up to my rebellion with love and drew me in, why wouldn’t I want to follow Him?

Romans 12-16 was designed to describe what a yielded life of a follower of Jesus should look like.

Second, in the second part of the letter, the discussion on a “re-shaped life” had a specific progression – it made sense:

• In Romans 12, the life of the Christ follower is an inspected life (12:1), resistant to the world’s molding (12:2), a servant of God’s people (12:3-8) and one who walks in practical ways to show we are growing to be like Jesus (12:9-21).

• In Romans 13, the life of a follower of Jesus made them a more responsible citizen.

• In Romans 14:1-3, following Jesus meant that each of us learned to be Biblical in our walk, but gracious is relation to preferences.

Paul left an overriding principle that clarified how we choose life actions in public places as he summarized the problem of the weaker brother that could stumble due to our preferences:

Romans 14:13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.

How do we learn to live together in a “team first” mentality and a “me first” culture? How do we become servants in an age where we are taught to demand others to serve us?

The place to begin is the church – where instruction on servant-hood can be taken into the home and into the world. In order to make a grace environment that will help people grow and be grounded we must do this: Watch one another for cues as to what help is needed, not for the purpose of becoming another’s judge. There are two important implications of Romans 14:13.

We must hold the Word of God as the highest standard in each of our lives: When an action is Biblically defined as incorrect, you are not judging a fellow believer, the Bible is doing that. The issue isn’t what is LEGAL, but what God says in His Word. The issue isn’t what our CHURCH says, but whether or not we can see the principles taught clearly in the Word in proper context.

An old professor used to begin class with a question like: “Do you honestly believe what Colossians 2:4 teaches?” Invariably one student would ask: “What does it say?” The teacher would reply, “Is that what matters as to whether or not you believe it?” He made his point. If you are Bible-believing Christian, the Word in its proper context is the standard.

When the Word allows individual judgment, let circumspect love be the rule. It simply isn’t Christian to be of the “what’s in it for me” mentality – since that isn’t how Jesus taught us, and that isn’t what He modeled.

Continue following Paul’s discussion as he offers four principles to set the stage for “Serving Jesus by serving people” thinking:

1: Things are not “all relative” – even when they are not Biblically prescribed. Even something allowed for others can be absolutely forbidden to you.

We will call this the “Guilt” Principle: Though something can be amoral on its own, the context of its use can determine its sinfulness in the life of a participant.

First, we must be sure that we all understand the terminology of the problem. The Bible poses God’s mandates, or His instructed and encouraged behaviors as “MORAL” – which means “that which conforms to God’s desired behavior for us”. When the world uses the term “moral” it is normally used in a flexible sense; they mean that which is currently considered “acceptable” by the majority. When the believer uses it, the term should be framed by Scripture, and can be called “RIGHT” behavior only if it is deemed so by God’s revealed Word set in the context to the people to whom it was delivered. Behavior that violates God’s Word or even His stated principle intent is what we call “IMMORAL” behavior. Such behaviors hurt the participants, and if tolerated by society can even harm the very fabric of the community. A third type of behavior is termed “AMORAL” behavior – actions that are not intrinsically right or wrong.

There is no Biblical way to comb your hair, to sweep your front walk or to eat a sandwich within those actions themselves. At the same time, if your parent told you to sweep the walk and you did so with a heart of complaint, the WAY you did it moved it from AMORAL to IMMORAL – because you did it with a wrong heart for a wrong reason. You and I eat sandwiches all the time, but when the Earl of Sandwich first “constructed” the sandwich, it was for the purpose to allow him to eat while gambling away his fortune. His was an immoral sandwich, mine was just a peanut butter and jelly. The bottom line is this: context can change something AMORAL into IMMORAL. Doing something that is not intrinsically wrong can be a violation of moral boundary if the context warrants it. Here is an important truth from God: it is easier to violate morality by taking an action than by abstaining from it. It is called by the world: “If in doubt – don’t” precept. That doesn’t explain everything, but we should hear it and ponder its meaning.

Follow further as Paul makes the note:

Romans 14:14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean…Later he wrote: Romans 14:22 The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because [his eating is] not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

It is a WRONG behavior…If it violates God’s conviction in my heart.

In this case, it is wrong because it violated the simple context: “Did the Spirit give instruction to me about this?”

You may ask: “Why don’t we all agree on how the Biblical principles fit together and apply to each case?” Often the problem isn’t intrinsic to the practice or abstention of it – it is in the perception of a brother who doesn’t see what God has shown you. God may allow you to do something because you have no negative history with it, or because it has demonstrated no particular power over you, though someone else associates their past with that practice or behavior. Consider the verses:

If we are honest, we will admit that some of us have been guilty of “closet judgment of another’s liberty”. Did you ever look on a social media site and see a brother or sister doing something you “didn’t think” they would (or should) do? Maybe they went to a play or movie you wouldn’t have seen. Maybe they were with people you wouldn’t have felt comfortable around. Maybe they had on their plate or in their glass something and you thought: “Hey, I didn’t think they would do something like that!” You weren’t going to slide backward in your walk – you just wouldn’t have done what they appeared to be doing, and don’t know why they would be involved in such a thing….

Consider this: You don’t know the whole story. The drink in the picture may have been poured for them, but they weren’t going to touch it. Someone else posted the picture, so they had no choice about it being public. The person they were with is ungodly, but they are building a specific and prayerful relationship with them to serve them in the name of Jesus. The play they saw was about being supportive to a lost friend, not about their entertainment. It is easy to think you know WHY someone is doing something you wouldn’t do – but I am going to ask you to deliberately set aside the time you would like to spend discussing other’s choices unless you have some forced reason to weigh in on their behavior. It is very possible you don’t have all the facts – since we seldom do.

Let’s say it this way: If your observation of a brother or sister in Jesus leads you to fixate on some behavior that could cause you to stumble, you are a weaker brother. If that behavior raises concern that you care to privately discuss with the person, you are probably a mentor and “discipler”. If you just want to share your observation about someone else’s behavior with another unrelated party, with no attempt to fully understand it or even perhaps privately correct it, you are a gossip and may be a budding legalist. The problem isn’t “the play” they went to see that bothered you as much as what the enemy is “playing out” through your lips.

Two other facts must be noted before we move on.

The first fact is this: when Paul wrote in 14:14 that “nothing is unclean in itself” it was in the strict context of the behaviors he was addressing in the passage. He wasn’t saying “everything is amoral – all neither good nor bad”. He was saying that practices which are not specified in Scripture cannot be judged as inherently evil to everyone in all circumstances.

The second fact is this: A critical standard for transgression of “clean” or “right” behavior (not specified in Scripture) is the violation of the participant’s conscience. The Spirit of God inhabits our mind, transforms us over time, and works within the frame of our conscience. That is not static – our mind grows and changes with different experiences and the introduction of new facts.

We need to grow in our walk, and that means we will change as the Spirit leads us to drop once acceptable behaviors, or opens the door to once unacceptable ones. Can we not simply admit that some things change as we age? My parents taught me many dangers in the use of credit cards, and are now avid accumulators of “cash back” rewards on their card. They don’t buy with money they haven’t yet made, and neither do I (at least not for many years now). I grew up in a home where fixing the old car was better than payments on a new one – until I found out that often the fixes were wildly expensive and caused much “down time”. Now I don’t mind payments as long as I own more of the car than the instant turn in value of the vehicle. I grew up hearing that I should live in a “cash only” payment scheme, but now I pay my mortgage without feeling the need to repent of sin because I borrowed to get into the system. I understand the down side of each of these practices, and I have carefully considered each as I believe God would have me do.

If you don’t change your mind when confronted with new information or experience, it normally means either you were right about what you thought in the first place, or you are simply a stubborn person that refuses to grow in that area. I plead with you to take special care as a follower of Jesus not to equate a stubborn character with true holiness prompted by the Spirit of God. Holiness is a personal and sharp conviction of heart, formed from the Spirit of God at work within us; Stubbornness is a judgmental spirit that comes from enshrined prejudices. The first constantly beckons us from deep within to walk in ways that please our Father; the second cries out at the very least to seize the attention of others, and at most to gain control over their God-given choices. While It is true that holiness requires stiff resolve, it is led by God. True stubbornness is borne merely of the desire to have both God and man bow to our understandings and requirements. Servants of God must be holy, but cannot be stubborn.

It is WRONG…If it exercises liberty without proper care for the weak.

Romans 14:20b “…All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.”

The Bible makes a clear point to all of us – as believers we called to think “team first”. Before I choose a liberty in a public place, I must consider who will watch and what they will see. Before I say something out loud, I need to consider who will hear it and what will they hear. Before I post it online, I must ask, who will read this and what will they think I said. It IS critical that I think of others in my deportment – so critical that I am deliberately repeating the principle multiple times in different ways.

In the guilt principle, we have highlighted the negative side of the argument. At the same time, there is more to it. Yes, we need to follow the Spirit in things unspecified by Scripture. Yes, we need to keep an eye on what could cause another believer to go backwards in their walk. We also need a third practice: we must grow past looking at others for the directions of God’s Spirit in our lives. The guilt principle addresses the one considering the DOING of something – not the one watching. A little later in our lesson, we will address the “other side” of this argument, that is, how to grow past being so easily affected by another’s practice.

2: Our life choices are not about liberty but more about real love.

To emphasize the point, let me call this the “He Ain’t Heavy” Principle: All true love places demands, as all real relationships do.

Romans 14:15 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

The Bible teaches that true love for my brother places demands on my life:

If you keep reading the passage, you will note that Paul makes clear when the behavior is optional and choice oriented, our desire should be to choose with our brother or sister in mind – because that shows real and mature love.

Love demands that I not allow any liberty to divert my brother’s growth:

Remember Romans 14:15? “…Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

The question behind this statement is clear: “Is my brother more important to me than my liberty?” This is a critical question for Americans, as they tend to LOVE CHOICE. In fact, if we have any one national value that we all share, it is the value of having our own personal choice. It is the reason public transportation doesn’t work as well in our country as in Europe – we love our cars because they offer personal choices that are more difficult by metro or bus. It is the reason our supermarkets are larger than in many places – we need so many kinds of the same thing. The problem with an Americanized version of Christianity is this: we can hold as Americans the right to choose, but that right is trumped by a demand to love a brother more as a Christian. I don’t think it is an exaggeration for us to admit that many believers in our country are better at being a “rights-oriented” American that a “brother-oriented” Christian.

Love demands that I build a positive testimony as much as possible:

Romans 14:16 “Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil…”

Self-reliance, when it means living in a way that doesn’t depend on others to care for your God-mandated responsibility is a good thing. Yet, often we can re-shape that idea and come to believe: “It is no one else’s business what I choose to do.” In a sense, that is a natural thought to those who aren’t asking you to pay for their choices. At the same time, it isn’t a Christian view at its core. God calls a believer to CARE what another person sees in their personal behavior and attitudes. God placed His Spirit within you, not simply to transform your life, but so that He may be on display through the store window of your behavior. Don’t forget! You are a display of God’s creative and transformational workmanship as Paul reminded:

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [h]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

The believer is the “poem” (Gr: poema) being crafted by God as He works through our life. The idea of a poem is to pain a picture in words, and draw the reader into the scene. Part of God’s work in you is to become a display of life changed when touched by the Master’s hand.

Love demands that I recognize the value of the Kingdom is greater than the value of any individual freedom:

Romans 14:17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Despite the number of hours church people spend in dinners, luncheons and banquets – the Kingdom isn’t primarily about FOOD – but that wasn’t what Paul was getting at! What he was making clear was that the Kingdom is not about CHOICES OF LIBERTY which leads to self-focus, but RELATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS which draw people together – like righteousness, peace and joy – all executed at the direction of the Holy Spirit. Look at these traits:

Righteousness is the word dikaiosýnē, a Greek law term that meant “a judicial verdict, the verdict of approval” or in the NT, “God’s approval”. The idea is simple; it is a practice that is approved in His eyes.

Peace is the term eirḗnē which comes from the verb eirō, or “to join or tie together to make a whole, to bring God’s gift of wholeness to”. Peace binds and completes the package; it brings a wholeness to the group.

Joy (in the Holy Spirit) is a term used in a number of senses. The most common is the “resolute assurance of God’s care”. Here, the sense is a bit different. The term “xará” is a form of the root which means to “extend favor, lean into a proper awareness (of God’s) grace. One lexicon suggested it is “grace recognized”. This is a relational idea about the common Christian experience with one another, as opposed to our individual confidence in God. It isn’t as much about understanding that God “will be there for me” as it is a marveling about “How God has done so much for all of us”.

The point of the verse is that my focus CANNOT rightly be on myself. I must care about living in a way that demonstrates God’s approval, brings wholeness to the community of faith and reminds us all of how good God has been to each of us!

Two other principles are corollary and do not require much depth of study to make additional sense:

3: Believers must always keep their eyes on their testimony.

The “Testimony” Principle is this: Acceptable service to Jesus includes recognizing I am always on display. It isn’t only if we are doing something allowed that matters, but if we are doing it with a view toward the weaker among us who may be watching.

Paul reminded:

Romans 14:16 Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who in this [way] serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

4: Believers must watch everyone on the team for opportunities to build the team – because the issue is about pursuit of a stronger body.

The “Brother” Principle is this: Your brother’s well-being is always more important than satiating your desire. That is the true meaning of “other person centered”.

Paul noted:

Romans 14:19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. 20 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food… 21 It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or [to do anything] by which your brother stumbles…

As believers, we have many priorities. We don’t always think through whether we are intentionally building a safe haven for our new and weak brothers – but we should!

Here is an important question: “Are there ways to avoid conflicts and wounds among brothers?”

Yes, there are. Paul continued to offer principles that help us stay together as one today! In Romans 15 he wrote:

To the Strong he wrote:

Learn to think in circumspect ways and keep your eye on the brother that can “buckle” under the load or be diverted by a challenging example. Romans 15:1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.”

In addition, we who are strong need to learn to defend the weaker brother above any personal liberty, and learn to do it almost as a “muscle reflex”. Let the weakness and frailty of another easily offended believer become your opportunity to grow to be more like our selfless Savior today. Romans 15:2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. 3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”

To the Weak he wrote:

Learn to follow God’s Word, not other brothers – so you can quickly outgrow the offense stage. That is why he told us in Romans 15:4: For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Learn to probe the Spirit about your direction and application of Scripture, and take your daily encouragement and marching orders directly from your personal engagement with God. That is part of the point of Romans 15:5 Now may the God [b]who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one accord you may with one [c]voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… 13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Please, know that you won’t get it right all the time, and will need to adjust your thinking along the way. Hopefully, that will keep you humble. Followers of God for generations didn’t see Jesus coming to save Gentiles – they had no clue. 15: 7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. 8 For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to You among the Gentiles, And I will sing to Your name.” 10 Again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, And let all the peoples praise Him.” 12 Again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, In Him shall the Gentiles hope.”

Don’t become a professional “weaker brother”, because that is usually a veiled excuse for being a legalist. Remember, a legalist often complains to gain control, and weaker brother doesn’t complain, they fall from a walk with God in obedience.

Finally, let me ask you to honestly consider; “Are there only certain things that your faith allows you to eat?

Many believers can’t find anything wrong with anything. They don’t follow the Word or the Spirit, they follow an unregenerate conscience and a cobbled together morality. That won’t reach anyone, and it won’t please God.

Someone wrote: “According to a recent article I just read on nutrition, they said eating right doesn’t have to be complicated. Nutritionists say there is a simple way to tell if you’re eating right. Colors. Fill your plates with bright colors. Greens, reds, yellows. In fact, I did that this morning. I had an entire bowl of M&M’s. It was delicious! I never knew eating right could be so easy.”

When you make up the rules – it IS easy…but it is also wrong.

We spend a tremendous amount of time and energy on our preferences and hide them in theological concepts that SEEM important. Most of the things we spend time on don’t matter to the lost world, and don’t make an appreciable difference in the saved one.

In my own fellowship of churches, I watched as America was walking into naturalism and destruction of the family, while we were continually finding a new time and place to study in committee and discuss our history and traditions. We are all good men and women, but I think we may not understand the lateness of the hour sometimes…Among the towering discussions was how often someone should be dunked in a tank to declare their allegiance to Jesus and whether our corporate celebration and worship songs should come from a book or be projected on a screen. While we did that – America marched by and redefined critical parts of the culture.

Don’t misunderstand me. How we worship matters. How we baptize communicates a specific set of truths. At the same time, they don’t warrant the amount of time we spent, or the strong defensiveness with which we argued about such things. The dark night approaches in which our work will become impossible. We all know it. Why waste our time re-defining and re-stating things that won’t get us very far.

I am ready to publicly admit that I like where I have come from, and don’t want to change it. I am also ready to admit that we do what we do, largely based on our best understanding of Scripture. Our leaders search the Scriptures daily and seek the Lord’s face in prayer continually. If you want to follow God, I am confident they provide an atmosphere that allows you to do that. If, however, you want to argue incessantly about details that are speculative at best, you aren’t going to be comfortable in the coming days of the church in America. The time for picky Christian squabbles is over. The monks need to forget how many angels can dance on the head of the pin because the front door of the monastery is on fire. Let me be clear: If you are a believer, you’re soon going to need your Christian friends – all of them. The country is morally tottering on the brink, and this is the time for heroes of the faith.

I want to call out heroes in our public schools that will live for Christ without gaining an attitude against the authorities of their school who are in the middle of a changing climate and can barely breathe with all the things beings tossed on top of educational objectives. I want to call out heroes who will take cookies to their neighbors who move in, regardless of whether they are properly married or living in immorality. We aren’t going to slip into some sinful redefinition because we show love to people who need love. We will cling to the text, even as we face a broken world bravely.

This is a time for quiet champions of the Word and calm “embracers” of the Spirit to drop to our knees and ask God for more time to reach our neighborhood. It is a time for stiff personal discipline but public love and winsomeness. If we waste our opportunity tossing insults at the lost world, they will face an eternity without the knowledge of God’s love and never reach out for the door of forgiveness – and we will bear some of the responsibility for it all.

Real Christians are those who “serve Jesus by serving people”.

The Gospel Applied: “Red Card” (Romans 14, part one)

A “red card” is a penalty card used in many sports as a means of reprimanding a player, coach or team official. They are usually used by referees to indicate that a player has committed an offense. I mention that, not because this is a sports lesson, but because there are times when it seemed appropriate to the Apostle Paul to raise a “red card” to some of the people in the church of the first century, because they were acting in ways that needed to be “called out”. It isn’t unloving to call out bad behavior, though it can be done in an unloving way. In fact, the basis of much of parenting is doing just that: letting a child know what behavior will not be accepted as they journey through life. In this lesson, we are going to watch as Paul pulled a “red card” out of his toga for instruction during a service in the growing infant church of the first century. They were doing something wrong – and it is something we need to take another look at as we pass through this letter.

If you will allow me, I want to begin this lesson in an unusual way – with a story that is both NEGATIVE and PERSONAL. I won’t end there, but I am choosing to do this because I believe it will help us understand the passage of Scripture we are about to study together – both the specific features of the text and how emotionally deep the issues involved truly are even in our day…

A couple of years ago I got a phone call from a young woman who was very upset with a leader in the church where I was serving. She reported to me that she was in a public place in town and she saw one of our church leaders at the time ordering a beer with his sandwich at a vendor’s stand. Even worse (in her mind), that leader offered to buy a beer for the guy that he was going to sit at lunch with, but the man declined because he didn’t drink. It turns out, the man the leader was sitting with was a friend of the woman who called, and he was a Christian who grew up being taught that any consumption of beer was a sin – a violation for any Christian. Though he thought it was terrible that anyone who confessed Christ as Savior would drink a beer, much less offer to another brother a beer, he didn’t tell the church leader that he was offended at the purchase and offer, but rather took his offended spirit to the young woman who called me. She was indignant when she brought it to me.

I think she thought she knew how I would respond – and I didn’t live up to her expectations. I know that because she was so deeply offended that she left that church and verbally shared her disappointment with others in the Christian community. In fact, four others left that fellowship – never to return to the best of my knowledge. They left primarily because their expectation was that I would strip the man from any leadership position and that our church would publicly apologize to her friend for his “sin of participation” in alcohol consumption. I honestly tried my best to respond to her kindly, but because I didn’t do what she wanted, she left and took her friends with her.

I wasn’t hurt because she chose to leave the church where I was serving – I try not to let that be a problem to me. Over the years I have come to recognize there are many reasons people may be led to move from wherever I am to another place. God is at work in people’s lives, and I believe my voice is just one among many. I truly know many who do this work well and I admire them, and feel privileged every time you take the time to walk back in and sit down for another hour together. I did hurt when she left, though. I hurt because I enjoyed her company when she was with us. She brought a great testimony for God. I hurt because she didn’t mind defaming a whole room full of brothers and sisters she once called her “spiritual family”.

The Bible makes distinctions about three kinds of behavior, and different passages address each. Sometimes, the passage we read is encouraging an appropriate expression of the faith by a Christian – it is a GOOD behavior. Other times, the passage is explaining why God put limits on a choice and how we should not pass by the fences He placed – that is a BAD behavior. Still others, like the ones we are going to look more closely at in Romans 14, are behaviors that God neither forbids, nor encourages – they are PERSONAL CONVICTION behaviors. The passage we want to examine is very much about things that different Christians view in different ways. These are passages that often confuse people that don’t know God, as well as immature believers, who read nothing more than “you don’t get to judge others” and conclude they understand the Bible.

Let’s be clear: the same Apostle that wrote what we will study today also told a church to remove a man in sexual sin from a congregation of believers in 1 Corinthians 5 – because that was a BAD behavior. Later when he repented, Paul told them to “let him back in” and stop forbidding his participation – because that was GOOD behavior.

Despite what people say, the Bible doesn’t say that real believers make no value judgments about behaviors.

You can’t raise a child without making judgments about who they should, and should not spend time with. That is part of good parenting. At the same time, there are choices that each believer is privileged to make with the Spirit of God that are not another person’s choice to make for them.

Because you love Jesus doesn’t mean you must be a Republican or Democrat – that is your choice, and it is based on how you grew up, and who you believe has a better vision, in general, for the country. Your Christianity isn’t wrapped in whether you like the new healthcare legislation. We don’t run campaigns in the foyer, and we don’t try to speak for or against every piece of new government legislation – though even our staff has personal opinions, I am sure, about many of the news headlines. You can agree or disagree on whether our country should be pressing to make an agreement with Iran this month – or not. Let me say it plainly: You may have many very passionate ideas and beliefs that are truly are rooted to your best understanding of how to apply God’s Word to daily life – but that doesn’t mean that you are right. It also doesn’t mean you have the right to expect to win the argument even in a room full of Christians. In fact, your argument may be wounding other believers… so we need to talk about it.

I know we need to talk about it, because God prompted Paul to write about it in Romans 14 (and 1 Corinthians 8-10), and our study in Romans will be where we place our attention for this lesson. Here is the point…

Key Principle: Believers must be taught not to harm those who are weaker in their Biblical world view with things the Bible allows individuals to decide between them and God.

The idea is summarized in the beginning of the passage…Paul warned the Roman believers: “Include those who are not mature in their faith (ability to see what God says is true), whose Biblical worldview is limited. Include them to help them, not simply to judge their condition (and control by your preferences their choices)”. (14:1).

There are two points we must recall before we can embrace the passage and truly understand it:

First, none of the things we will discuss are explicitly WRONG (as defined in the Bible).

These same principles DO NOT APPLY in cases where the Bible is explicit about what must be done or avoided. Two believers who are engaged in a sexual relationship outside of marriage are violating Scripture and committing sin – and that isn’t what we are talking about. A man who is breaking into your car is stealing. If you find out about it, you needn’t worry that you are being judgmental, you can just call 9-1-1 and let the police worry about that. We ARE allowed to stand against sin that is called such in Scripture – in fact we are commanded to do it. When people want to persuade the public that they should be able to do something the Bible calls sin, we have every right as a American to object, and every duty as a Christian to live inside the text – no matter what the world accepts as their ever-changing moral standard.

Second, believers are all at different points of growth in their journey to follow Jesus, so we must learn to distinguish between what is WRONG and what WE BELIEVE someone shouldn’t do.

As much as we may hesitate to admit it, they aren’t an identical list. When people aren’t doing what we think they should – we have a tendency to mislabel them. Sometimes we can’t tell if the person in front of us is really a rebel or just a confused person who doesn’t know enough about God’s Word to really understand what we are saying. If we treat a searching or immature Christian as a rebel, we can wound them badly, and perhaps push them from a proper walk with God. Their hurt can become Satan’s playground to hinder them from growth – so we need to be careful.

Let’s get into our study of Romans 14, and set it in the letter Paul wrote, as he moved his thoughts from Heaven and God’s work to earth (Romans 1-11) to the believer’s daily experience (Romans 12-16). Certainly both Heaven’s work and earth’s testimony are important. Certainly the first one affected – and even made possible – the second. The fact is, though, believers need to know more than their position – they need to know what being a “believer” means in practical terms. How does an eternal relationship with God affect a Tuesday in July? That is what the second part of Romans is all about.

Romans 12: The Transforming Believer

In Romans 12 set the stage for the section, in three simple facts.

First, we are not our own, and therefore must recognize God has the right to inspect and correct our behaviors (Romans 12:1-2).

Second, we were empowered to serve one another, not simply saved to change our eternity (Romans 12:3-8).

Third, God set the parameters of proper attitudes and actions (12:9-21). He offered a series of them:

1. Authentic love (12:9a).
2. Life choices that stand against evil and for what God calls “good (12:9b).
3. Showing Deference: A “my brother first” deferral that puts away selfishness (12:10-11).
4. Good attitudes: A hopeful voice, a patient spirit and prayerful decision making processes (12:12) and even a kind gentleness (12:16).
5. Inviting: A loving spirit toward people (12:13).
6. Forgiving: Blessing one who has tried to smear our reputation (12:14).
7. Supporting: Coming beside the hurting to be a refuge of tears, or celebrating with party hats one who is rejoicing (12:15).
8. Confidence: A tongue that tries to make peace without compromise (12:17-18) a heart that quickly regains peace when wounded (12:19-20).
9. Outreaching: We should do what it takes to be renewed to the task of constantly peering into the painful darkness – not to curse it – but to rescue those lost in it (12:21).

Romans 13: The Good Citizen

In Romans 13, Paul took a few moments to leave the relationships between believers in the church, and addressed how a follower of Jesus should be a good and obedient citizen if it was at all possible. The important point we acknowledged when we looked at Romans 13 is that we are entirely unable to “pull off” the Christian life in the flesh – but NEED the Holy Spirit to empower our lives and convict us when our choices begin to “wander off the rails”.

He didn’t linger in that thought, but turned back to relationships between believers to continue his points from Romans 12, as if certain behaviors were necessary to address right away – and it appears they truly were. People were hurting each other in the circle of believers, and what was worse – they thought they were right in doing so. Let’s look closer. Paul began by introducing someone:

Romans 14: Meet the Weak Believer – where we all began our journey.

Romans 14:1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.

The weak in faith are not, in the context, those who don’t know God. They are clearly followers of the Lord Jesus based on how he described them in the remainder of the text. They are apparently those who are still unstable enough in their walk that they will stumble if someone’s behavior drives them off course. They probably don’t know the Word very well (though they may not know they do not), and clearly aren’t strong enough to grasp on their own what God allows and what God doesn’t.

In my experience, they are often compassionate people who accept out of love those who are walking in sin and are dangerous – but they love them and cannot see danger in both their closeness to them, and their inability to answer of the hope that is within them clearly. They may be those who continue to think in un-Biblical ways because God has not yet begun a transforming work in them in some area and they may not understand the critical thinking path that allows a more mature believer to see the issue with the greater clarity and context that comes from years in the Spirit and the Word.

Two Test Cases

Look at the description of the “weak in faith” person, and note the problems they enter the room bearing (consciously or subconsciously). The Apostle offered two distinct issues that plagued their thinking. One of them related to the mundane world of food and its preparation. The second related to the spiritual demands of corporate worship and its timing.

Look at the first case – what appears to be a dietary issue:

Romans 14:2 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. 3 The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.

Here is the key: The case of the food is not simply about “carnivores” and “vegetarians” – it is about people who perceive the dangers of “unholy affiliation” (14:2-4).

Jews who were scattered throughout the provinces in the Roman period had very specific eating requirements based on Leviticus 11 and other passages of the Law. Unless they had access to both a kosher butcher, and a rabbi who was recognized to be able to declare foods kosher under the law (in terms of their origin and preparation) – they had to eat vegetables alone. Some of them came to Jesus and yet were still Jews, so they ate restricted meals, and their faith in Messiah did not mean they could simply buy the local ham or  improperly bled beef.

Add to that, the meat that was available in the marketplace was often associated with pagan offerings as described in 1 Corinthian 8-10. Gentile born believers knew well the pagan associations with meat “offered to idols” before it hit the market (often at discount prices). Some believers associated the meat with the idolatry – especially if they had been involved in that kind of cultic life before they came to Jesus. It felt like a deep regression into the power of the occult to have that burger – and they couldn’t in good conscience do it. Other Gentile born followers of Jesus grew up in small villages, and it simply never had that connotation in their mind – so they didn’t care.

With all that as background, here is the problem: some Jews associated meats with improper standards of preparation, while some Gentiles felt a cultic influence was creeping into the life of a believer if they bought meat offered to idols. In short, some people associate certain practices with a part of their life before their walk with God. In their minds the practice is inextricably linked to the evil foundation in their mental association. It can’t be right, because it was a part of the life of darkness to them…they believe all followers of Jesus should see the purity of their thinking and stop a practice based on their logic.

They were likely tempted to lean into two opposite extremes as a result:

Contempt:

The one who eats meat is not to belittle the one who is so concerned they refuse all meat. (14:3a) It is often the temptation of those who have a broader perspective to look down on those who restrict their behavior but seem somewhat legalistic.

Here is the problem with the partaker’s line of thought – they don’t see the depth of passion and strength of heart the Kingdom gains by having someone like an abstainer among them. They can easily lack appreciation for the amount of time and energy the abstainer put into making their walk with God a very pure behavior. It takes discipline and work to walk with God, and they may not be correct at all their conclusions, and may even be overly restrictive – but that doesn’t mean they are trying to be a pain – they are working to sharpen their walk and help us all be the spotless bride that Jesus deserves.

The more liberal mind often has grasped more information on a subject, but that doesn’t justify less respect for a brother. We live in times when the simplest problems are being obscured by complexity. Rather than take all week to read the details of an Iran treaty, why not ask a simple question like: “Is it right to deal with people while they are actively seeking to destroy you and your interests in their speeches and support of terrorism?” All the complexity of what IS and IS NOT included in an agreement gets clarified by the contextual question of whether we should negotiate with people actively and openly engaged in terrorism on an international level. Regardless of how you feel about the agreement, my point is that it is easy to end up befuddled by complexity and lose the simplicity of any right and wrong anywhere. Everything becomes a relative grey because you are so educated – you no longer can call evil what it is. Can we not agree that blowing up children on a bus to make a point make you inherently uncivilized? Can we all agree that supporting such actions should keep you from sitting at the table of civilized nations?

Judgment:

The one who abstains should not judge the one who eats the meat. (14:3b). It is natural that those who believe something strongly enough to discipline themselves to keep from it will tend to see those who participate as “liberal” and “less dedicated” to the truths that they have experienced.

Here is the problem with that abstainer’s thought – they aren’t as consistent as they think they are. The days of the week in our modern English speaking culture were named after the classical planets in Hellenistic astrology, according to a system introduced in Late Antiquity. The Germanic tribes added to the terms, but all were thoroughly laced in a pagan system of celebration. For instance, the term Sunday came from the Old English Sunnandæg meaning “sun’s day” and a Germanic myth of a goddess who gave birth to the other days. We could go on and on, speaking of names of months, holidays and the like. In other words, no one can cut all that pagan influences out of their life and still function in the world. Paul wrote Scripture in a Greek language with words heavily laden and often derived from pagan mythology. He didn’t tell people to learn Hebrew before he would give them the Gospel.

Be careful with what I am saying. I am not arguing that because we have a little paganism in our culture you should dive into the deep end of the pool. I am simply making the point that purists only see the parts of purity that bug THEM, and not the total picture… it is perhaps more complex than they like to realize. Therefore, two things are essential: we must remove from our lives the things God speaks into our heart about, and we must be gentle toward those who do not – if it is not specified in Scripture. We can pray that God will show them something, and we can lovingly discuss their view – but we have no right to even THINK of ourselves as BETTER because we have a particular view on a preference. If the Bible doesn’t say it, it isn’t dogma – and you don’t have the right to be dogmatic about things that aren’t dogma.

A Warning to Both Sides of the Argument: Don’t argue!

Paul offered these words to the “hyper-careful vegetarians” and to the “liberal thinking carnivores” – stop arguing and don’t hurt one another. Why? Listen to the word:

Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

In other words, it isn’t the menu that is a problem – it is the attitudes and treatment to one another that are problems. Both responses are wrong (14:4), because neither is to live comparing their walk to the other, nor are they to attempt to control others who serve God. They are to call on their Master for personal direction and live according to the conscious presence of the Master in their lives.

The Second Case: The case of Christian corporate celebration isn’t only about which days to worship, it is actually about inappropriately forced application of God’s Word (14:5-18):

Take your time with this one, because it can be hard to follow, and it is critical. In Romans 14, Paul wrote:

Romans 14:5 “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike.”

Some people have been deeply blessed by practices that God commanded them to keep. They know what God did in their lives through obedience, and they cannot understand their limited application – how a believer could live without that practice that is so meaningful to them…Some of my Jewish believing friends fall into this camp – but mostly it comes from people who weren’t born Jewish, but insist that all followers of Jesus must follow the practices given specifically to the Jewish people. They essentially are forcing what God commanded a specific group onto the whole of those who would follow God.

Let’s say it this way: God commanded that some people were to keep particular days (Jews and Sabbath, Holy Days) but others had no such command, and weren’t a part of the context at the time the Scripture command was given. Some people began, already in the first century, to try and enforce these prescribed days and celebrations on all believers in an effort to make all one (14:5a). Still others tried to make the case that although some believers were not commanded to keep those unique Jewish markers, still they would benefit from keeping them.

Paul outlined principles for three proper behaviors:

Conviction:

Since God is in charge and God created communication, we can safely leave some things to the Holy Spirit (smile) – like giving believers direction in areas not specified by Scripture. Keep reading:

Romans 14:5b “…Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. 7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or 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.

Each believer that was not specifically commanded by God’s Spirit to celebrate on a certain day or in a certain way was free to choose, but needed to consciously consider the choice (14:5b). Each of us serves the Lord Jesus – and when His Word hasn’t clearly told us what to do, we have His Holy Spirit within to do that.

Let’s be clear: Legalism kills the work of the Spirit, because it allows someone else to play the role of the Holy Spirit in leading God’s people. It stifles conviction and rests control in the hands of men, but God didn’t put that decision in the hands of men. Legalism is thwarted by people of conviction speaking out against “lowest common denominator” faith.

Why didn’t God tell us everything? First, He offered principles to virtually every area of life I can think of. Second, it occurs to me that these disagreements opened the opportunity for the Lord to develop backbone in the family of faith. By developing thoughtful reasons for behavior, we consciously choose to live for the Lord instead of obediently following the dictates of human institution!

Acknowledgement:

Every believer must remember that Jesus will judge our behaviors and performance:

Romans 14:10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? 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 give praise to God.” 12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

We must ever be mindful that Jesus is the Righteous Judge, and He alone must be pleased by our walk. He is perfectly capable of righting what is wrong. Don’t skip over 14:12, because it is critical to understand. I will not be standing with you at the judgment of your works. Jesus was judged for your sins, but your works are open for inspection NOW and when you stand before Him – and you will do that ALONE. You will need to explain to Jesus why you chose to do things His Spirit told you not to do. Your mom won’t step in an explain your “special case” – this one is all on you.

Commitment:

Finally, Paul made clear that we must do everything possible to avoid causing another brother to stumble into sin because of our behavior. (14:13).

Romans 14:13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.

It is possible the best way to avoid any possible offense may be to participate in some behaviors only in private – but that is for the second part of this lesson. In the next lesson, we will talk about the “avoiding all appearances of evil”. For now, it is important that we make sure we understand that we can be WRONG in attitude even when we are RIGHT in practice.

Believers must be taught not to harm those who are weaker in their Biblical world view with things the Bible allows individuals to decide between them and God.

I cannot close this without finishing what I told the woman with the complaint about the church leader, or I know what mail I will receive this week!

I asked the woman to meet with me, and asked her to bring all that she could find on what the Bible said about ordering a beer at a vendor stand. In addition, I asked her to read Matthew 18 and answer this question: If you or your friend were offended at the leader’s behavior, did you take the time to tell him that? Why or why not?

When we met, I asked her if the Bible said that any alcohol consumption was sin. She said, “No! I believe drunkenness is a sin.” I asked her if the leader acted as if he was intoxicated, or consumed anything more that would make you believe he had been intoxicated at that or any other time? She said, “No! But I was offended!” I said, “Do you have the right to dictate his behavior in an area where the Bible does not?” She said, “If I am offended, he shouldn’t do it!” I said, “First, he doesn’t know you are offended, because you didn’t tell him – you told me. Second, the Bible did not give you the right to dictate the work of the Spirit in an area where you agree the Bible does not specifically call out the proper choice.”

Then, I stopped. I could tell she was hurt, and I didn’t want that. I tried to share about this passage and the one in 1 Corinthians 8-10. She agreed in principle, but was just sure that because she felt so strongly about it, it must have been a “God thing”. I told her the same Spirit at work in her was at work in that leader. I asked if she prayed for him. She said, “No! I want him to step down!” I replied: “That’s fine. My question is, does Jesus want him to step down? You’ll only know if you take the time to talk to Jesus about that, and then sit and talk with that leader directly.” She left, took others with her, and never returned. She missed the lesson.

You see, I know that leader. I know he would never touch another beer in public again if he thought it would genuinely cause someone to stumble. She didn’t stumble. She tried to dictate legalism, and when she couldn’t make the rules – she left to spread her sense of righteous indignation elsewhere.

Despite what our culture says, you have no divine right to walk through life without being offended at another person’s choices.

Let me end with this: You will never fix broken things by making up your own rules. Jesus told us how to act with one another, and He is the Master.

The Gospel Applied: “Mission Impossible” – Romans 13

peter-gravesWhen I was a kid, Peter Graves used to get his spy assignments for a secret team of agents on a reel to reel tape recorder. Every episode, we heard the words: “Your mission, should you decide to accept it is…” The fun part was the end of his listening to the message when it ended with: ”This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.” Right in front of our eye the tape would start smoking, and evaporate! Oh those were simpler days! We sat mystified at how these secret spies of the underworld could pass undetected messages beneath the nose of an unsuspecting public. During the whole series (1966-73), Bruce Geller (the producer) kept us guessing at how the “IMF” or “Impossible Mission Force” would trick one bad guy after another. Every problem seemed insurmountable. Every enemy seemed clever. Yet, episode after episode, the “Impossible Mission Force” pulled out some new magic.

Don’t lose me on the illustration… As I was preparing anew the lesson from Romans 13, I recognized it was a very simple passage. It contains plain instruction and is not written in a pretentious style that demands too much of any reader to grasp. Yet, though it is simple on the surface, the demands of the passage require an understanding of the broader context that we must recognize, or the passage will leave us wanting. We will read God’s Word, seek to do what He told us, and find ourselves defeated and depleted. What do I mean? Look for a moment, even before reading the whole chapter, at the last line of Romans 13, found in verse 14: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to [its] lusts.”

Now ask yourself, “What does that truly mean?” Am I about to listen to a message that encourages me to look at a model Christian as one who leaves today in their car without using the air conditioner? Will they refuse a good restaurant for lunch and go home to eat bread, drink water and send the money they would have spent to missionaries? Will they avoid comforts through the week, and sleep on a hard floor rather than a soft mattress? “You’re being silly!” some will protest. Maybe. Now, let me ask you, how does one make NO PROVISION for the flesh in regard to its lusts and walk through a buffet line? There must be more to this! The passage appears to tell us what God expects from us, but not HOW God expects us to do what He told us to do.

In an effort to make clear what I believe must be understood about the passage, I am going to ask you to allow me to change the normal way I construct a lesson. If you will be patient, I would like to take a few minutes and take apart the passage BEFORE we look at the key principle we will consider… If you will be patient, the method will make sense.

Before moving into the lesson, we should note again that our text is part of the section that deals with God’s desired behaviors from those who have first recognized their sinfulness (Romans 1-3), and the gift of God that is our salvation (Romans 4-5). It is written for those who know that God empowers us to walk with Him (Romans 6-8), and for those who trust God for doing what is right in His plan – keeping His Word at all times, as exemplified in His relationship with Israel (Romans 9-11). Romans 12-16 was clearly written for the believer and about the measure of a believer. In that context, it offers four simple, straightforward instructions.

Four Instructions for Believers

Instruction One: We must recognize that God gets to put people in charge, and accept the truth that God is ultimately in charge of the whole plan.

As a follower of Jesus, we accept that what is happening in the physical world is but a symptom of the spiritual world. We believe that behind the scenes are two competing agendas – that of a loving God and another of a deceiving enemy. Though God’s enemy has great power on our planet, he is limited to the realm God has set for him until the time that evil is brought to an end. Ultimately, all things happen under the authority of our Heavenly Father – even the things He is not pleased by. Yet, the underlying system, though at times suffering from later corruptions, is still a reflection of His original establishment. Paul put it this way…

Romans 13:1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.

The text argued for obedient and respectful believers in the public realm. Don’t miss that there are three important principles related in this portion:

• Design: First, God had an original design for civil authority. Part of honoring God in this text is choosing as believers to in practical ways place ourselves beneath the authority the Word claims God placed over us (13:1a). The text also made clear that it was God’s design that authorities were placed to help those who desired to do good and cooperate with society, and to keep those who did evil in fear (13:3-4). Government had a divine design. Civil authority had a God-strategy.

• Rebellion: Second, God expects believers to follow His appointed authorities. Refusal to follow the authorities (with the exception of the most radical circumstances covered in the few places concerning civil disobedience elsewhere in Scripture) is ultimately a refusal to follow God’s ordained order (13:1b). In fact, our rebellion against God’s placed civil authority is another form of rebellion against God. The statement is not absolute – for there were times when believers had to stand against civil authority to preserve life and obey God – but they were the rare exception. We must remember that there is a distinction between people in Scripture who were motivated by an intense desire to follow God with their whole heart – that ran into conflict with the authorities, and people who were motivated by rebellion and self-will to fight the authority at hand. With rare exception, God expects His followers to respect civil authorities.

• Results: Third, God endowed civil authorities with effective tools to punish those who would not follow. Those who refuse to follow the God-ordained authority do so at their own peril and should anticipate no aid from God in doing so (13:2). Standing against God-ordained authorities will not only incur certain negative outcomes, but will also violate your sense of guiltlessness before God and man (13:5). God has not appointed them without some real power.

Instruction Two: We must act out submission by paying our taxes.

The theory of obedience was made much more practical by Paul pointing to our use of money to show obedience and honor. He noted:

Romans 13:6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for [rulers] are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax [is due]; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

This isn’t heady, it simply requires that we not “in theory” to embrace civil authority and then feel justified starving its ability to collect revenue necessary to perform its vital civil tasks. The passage requires that we openly agree to pay, honor and show respect to those in authority. Bear in mind Paul was a Roman, writing during the early years of Emperor Nero. Though he was not yet acting out, there were ample illustrations of inequitable rulers readily available at the time.

Don’t cynically read this as some kind of patronizing passage to keep the authorities off the back of the early church leaders – it is both their record and the breathed Word of God! The instruction was clearly to respect, fear and honor civil authority based on their placement by God. This included paying taxes into a system that used the money for purposes we wouldn’t individually agree to as believers. There is yet a third instruction…

Instruction Three: We must be clear: taking or withholding something that belongs to another (according to God) is both a violation of God’s law and an unloving act.

It is important for us to note that when God calls for us to give honor, fear and treasure to civil authority, He has the right to direct my finances. All that I have has come into my life because of My Heavenly Father. Listen to what God directed:

Romans 13:8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled [the] law. 9 For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of [the] law.

We are to keep our ledger clear of debt, but recognize there is one part of the ledger that can never be clear: the part concerning our love. We OWE it to people to love them. If we violate the sacredness of another person’s marriage – we steal from someone. We steal their special bond, violate the sacredness of their promises and covenant to each other, and potentially wound their children and family. When we kill another human being, we steal their right to more opportunities for forgiveness, more chances to find love and experience grace – we take from them what is not ours to take. When we take from another the things that are justly theirs, we remove from them the fruit of their labors, and we show ourselves discontented with what God has placed rightfully in our hands. All these are sins: adultery, murder, theft. We must not take, but we are equally commanded not to withhold – or we also sin. We are not to withhold our deliberate action to meet the needs of those around us, without the expectation of any specific return on our action. We are to love, because we were commanded to by God. – that is reason enough. There is one final command…

Instruction Four: Because we claim to be Jesus’ followers, we should endeavor to take on the Master’s looks: His actions, attitudes and the focus He had on finding fulfillment in His Father, not the flesh.

Perhaps summarizing the whole passage, the end of the text calls for us to deliberately change our appearance…

Romans 13:11 [Do] this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. 12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to [its] lusts.

God called on every follower of Jesus to lay aside the works of a life built on self, and put on the attitudes, character and action that were exemplified in our Savior Some things are to be removed: carousing and drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, sensuality, divisions and the poison of jealousy. Some things are to be increasingly evident: Christ-like focus on fulfilling the desires of our Father in self denial.

What is absolutely clear is this: Paul, under the direction of God’s Spirit, made a list of things in Romans 13 he wanted believers to observe with their lives. He instructed them to DO some things. Left by itself, Paul’s words can look like a “self-help” directional seminar. It can sound like he is giving us a shopping list of things to do in order to have God “check off” on our life sheet – “Good job!” To some limited extent, that is true…but only in the context of a yet greater truth – and here is the point you waited so patiently to understand…

Key Principle: What God calls us to do MUST be understood in the context of who we are in Christ and what He does with one who trusts in Him. Without that context, we will try to walk with God in the power of the flesh.

Years ago I heard a Pastor in Canada say that he thought of these kinds of Bible passages like a J C Penney catalogue. He could look through the catalogue of God’s Word and see the things he wanted to have, spiritually speaking, in his life. To get them, he would pray. He looked at prayer like “placing the order” from the catalogue of the Scripture. He could visualize himself praying, and as he did, his request was sent it up to Heaven. He imagined a long room full of angelic employees who would take his request, let’s say, to be “more loving” – and drop it on the angel’s desk marked “more love”. They would package some special amount of love and shoot it down to his heart with a spiritual arrow. If he read that he shouldn’t be jealous, he would ask God to give him more strength to keep him from succumbing to jealousy, and then could just see an angel at the “spiritual strength” desk shooting an arrow at him as he slept, hitting him in the heart. This is how he viewed his Christian life for years – the Bible catalogue and the “angelic arrow” Federal Express. The problem is that kind of life gets heavy – because it isn’t a whole view of what God told us about the spiritual world and walking in it well.

Behind the problem with that thinking is that doesn’t take into account ALL of what God told us, only part of it. Paul knew something about the list he gave the early believers that we must understand or we will work hard to be good Christians and fail every time. Here is the truth: the standards were absolutely impossible for them to pull off on their own.

Let me say it another way directly from the passage we have just studied. You may want to walk in constant obedient subjection to those in authority over you. You may desire to pay everyone everything you owe them – all the time. You may seek to be known as the most loving neighbor in the history of mankind. You may have a sincere yearning to reflect only works that are in harmony with the life and teachings of Jesus. You may aspire to walk without a hint of sexual impurity in your innermost thoughts. You may voraciously hunger to live a life without a single conflict with those around you, and never allow the cancer of jealousy to eat away at your soul. You may truly, whole-heartedly and with all your best intention crave a life that could stand before God and man and say: “Inspect me, within and without, and you will see one who makes not even a slight provision for my fleshly hungers – but lives a life of purity and wholesome thinking.” Here is the truth: you don’t have the power to pull it off. There isn’t one Christian you have ever met that can make the claim that they have successfully pulled off that list – not one.

But I have the Bible!

Some will react inside with objections because they have worked to know the Word and believe that alone should bring about victory. Your knowledge of God’s Word will be helpful, but it won’t get the job done, either. Before you reject what I am saying… listen. Most of you know me. I am a Bible teacher and I push with all my strength to get people to study the Word and know the Word in order to LIVE the Word. Yet, I have to woefully admit that that isn’t the whole story – by itself that prescription won’t work.

Consider the context of Paul’s earlier words in Romans 7, where he clearly showed that while the Law of God made clear we are self-willed and fall woefully short of right behavior, that same Law was entirely inadequate to make me pleasing to Him – because it didn’t provide the power to pull it off. In fact, Paul went on to tell us HE couldn’t pull off the Law:

Romans 7:15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I [would] like to [do], but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want [to do], I agree with the Law, [confessing] that the Law is good.

Paul made it clear: He was inadequate in his will power to follow the patterns and practices God outlined for him, and the knowledge of the will of God didn’t come with the power to obey God in and of itself. Is it any wonder you and I struggle with the same thing? Most of us have far less training, far less successful church planting and far less impact on our generation than Paul had on his, and yet HE couldn’t pull of godliness with his own power. He couldn’t get from text to practice without dropping the ball!

Here is the truth: Your knowledge of God’s Word will make greater obedience eventually possible, but it will not, by itself, make you obedient to Jesus. Those of us who have both known Christ for a long time, and who have carefully studied His Word can testify without exception that we are sure of our salvation, that we are thankful for the Word of God – but that we are very much still strugglers against sin in our own lives. There is no question about it, I won’t “learn my way out of temptation” or “learn my way into consistent victory over sin.” The power simply isn’t there. If Paul couldn’t, what makes me so arrogant to think that I will be able to accomplish this? But wait… that isn’t the whole problem. I must also face a world that is cold to my labor to obey and honor God.

My Environment is no help!

Add to the truth that I am a fallen vessel the fact that I live in times that are increasingly discouraging me to walk in a way that pleases God. This world is no friend to grace, to obedience and to honoring Christ. It hasn’t been since Paul’s day. He wrote:

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8 [we are] afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Paul made clear that his power wasn’t from the flesh, but the weakness of his flesh would make it clear to anyone who was watching that when he did right it was God working through his broken life. You read no arrogance in 4:7, but a broken man who exalted Christ in each victory! Immediately after, Paul made clear that life wasn’t easy. The world wasn’t friendly to his faith. He described the constant pressure on him in 4:8-10. Listen to the words closely: “afflicted – not crushed; confused – not despairing; persecuted – not alone; struck down – not destroyed; marked by the call of the Cross – dead to self. He didn’t want to live for Himself… he wanted Jesus to live through Him.

Here is the great challenge of our time – not battling people who believe they found liberty by forcing an agenda through judicial fiat, but by battling a false view of hope, love and true fulfillment. As God’s church in this age, we must renew ourselves to the task of articulating clearly the truth that finding ultimate freedom cannot come from trust in this world and its pleasures. The call of Christ is to “come and die to self that I might live through you!”

The Bible is clear: true happiness will not be found in even the best human relationships, because all of us are fickle, fragile and frail. Our “lifetime lover” may believe they will be faithful, and they may love us deeply – but we may still end up sitting beside their empty chair. Don’t forget that they are not in control of the length of their days, and if they were, they would honestly reveal they struggle to be in control of their wandering desires throughout their life. We rob people of the truth when we act as though real fulfillment can be found in relationships with people.

Come now, believer, let us renew ourselves to the grand message yet again! Relationships on a broken planet filled with flawed people cannot be where ultimate fulfillment is found. It is the Gospel that sets people free. It is Jesus Who saves! It is God’s Spirit Who brings true liberty! No acceptance by the crowd, no sense of empowerment, no decoration of earthly riches and no form of sexual expression ever will make me free. Only Jesus can do that.

If I cannot pull off obedience to God in the flesh, how can I take the Word and grow? How can I be held responsible for what happens in my growth.

Your growth isn’t dependent on you alone, but you play a role in it.

First, I must reckon that the foundation of my relationship with God is not based on my performance – but on Christ’s work.

Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God [did]: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and [as an offering] for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us…

That doesn’t mean that I should get mystical and fuzzy about obedience – it means that I shouldn’t look at my relationship with God like I am hanging over a precipice and clinging with my fingertips to God – hoping to stay strong enough to get through and not fall. Jesus said the Father holds me in His hand, not the other way around. I am to live my life on the solid foundation that God loves me, wants me to succeed in my walk, and is willing to help me do it. Listen to the words we read from Romans 8:

I do not live under a heavy weight of condemnation, because I am in Christ. The Atonement Law was temporary and brought renewed need for sacrifice – but Jesus paid it all. He became all the condemnation to lift it from me once and for all. God won’t condemn me. He isn’t looking for a way to get rid of me, judge me or guilt me. He wants me to respond to our relationship – not to try to earn one. That part is DONE.

I need to grasp that the operation of “Christ in me” is to become my directing force, and not the threat that more condemnation and death. When I read, I skipped verse 2, where this idea is very clear:

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death… who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Did you notice the two laws that were posed against one another? The first was the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ” and the second was the “law of sin and of death”. What are these laws? Work backwards from the end.

  • The law of sin and of death was the law that God made in which He planted the whole framework of substitutional atonement. It is the law that said “Sin brings death. When one sins, one must die.”
  • The law of the Spirit of life in Christ supplanted the “law of sin and of death” when justification replaced atonement. The new law was this: Jesus took all your condemnation and replaced your identity with His own. God sees you as clean in and through Jesus. He sees your spiritual life as the new breath of Jesus in your once dead flesh.

Let’s unpack the verse anew… the law that there must be constant sacrifice to keep you in standing with God has been replaced by Jesus breathing life into the dead and marking them before the Father as His very own – filled with His life. We live in constant fellowship with a Holy God Who sees us as alive with the life of His Son. We walk, not to earn His love and His acceptance, but embracing that we fully have both.

Second, we must recognize the beauty of the empowering work of the Spirit. This is not a mystical force, but God doing in and through us what we cannot do, as we open the doors of our inner man to Him. We offer Him control, and He does with that openness what we cannot:

Romans 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able [to do so], 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Note the phrase: “set their minds”. This is a term about our human responsibility. We have the Spirit of God indwelling us (8:9a), but that isn’t all there is to the operation of the Spirit. In fact, there is a process of “setting our mind” according to our Spirit-filled status. We can open ourselves to God’s direction by refusing to feed on rebellion and deliberately refusing that which would quench His work in us.

Years ago I read a story about men in one of the concentration camps in World War II. The war was nearly over, and the SS guards left the camp early one morning as the Allied army approached. They left the gate unlocked. Remarkably the bewildered prisoners did not leave. Some thought it was a trick. Others were simply beaten into subjection by their evil captors. In the end, they all realized them were free men living in the trap from which they had now been freed. Many believers are like that. They live under sin as though it is still their master – but the power of Christ and the work of His Spirit has set them free to please the Father!

Finally, we must see the world properly. Paul wrote again in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

• We recognize that we cannot put our hope for fulfillment in the flesh, because it is falling apart.

• We commit ourselves to allowing God to renew us within even as things fall apart without.

• We recognize that physical suffering is temporary and small compared to eternal reward.

• We measure life, not by what the eye sees, but by the eternal nature of the spiritual world.

James White illustrated this when he wrote: “I sat down and looked through some magazines this past week. I discovered that if I want to feel right, I need to get a NordicTrack. I don’t have a NordicTrack, just a membership down at the gym, so I suddenly realized that I didn’t feel as healthy as I thought I did. I then read that if I wanted to be stylish, I would need to buy a Toyota Camry. Our family van was in the shop, so I had been driving our old Mercury Sable. That felt bad enough. Real men drive SUVs or bright red sports cars. I’ve got four kids, so I don’t have the luxury of driving what real men drive. So I found out that I couldn’t be stylish with the cars I owned. Then I saw that if I wanted to really feel the spring season, I had to dress for the spring season, and the only place for that was at Dillard’s. I knew I wouldn’t have a chance to go to Dillard’s that week. Suddenly the beautiful weather just didn’t seem that beautiful. I just wasn’t dressed for it. It didn’t get any better. I learned that I needed to be opening my mail with knife from Oneida. I only had a two-dollar letter opener from Office Depot. Now even my mail was disappointing. On top of that, I discovered that I couldn’t have a good meal if I wasn’t in Texas – at least not a meal that would satisfy me. So much for my Lean Cuisines. Then I read that if I wanted to be a man, at least a manlier man than my neighbor, I had to drive a Yard-Man mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine. At least it was cheaper than a new SUV. I like my house until I saw the new development’s ad. I thought my family and I were close until I realized we didn’t have season passes to the amusement park. I even thought I loved my wife, but since I hadn’t bought her a diamond necklace from the jewelry store, I was informed that I didn’t. I found out that I can’t even be romantic with my wife unless we use Sylvania light bulbs. Wouldn’t you know, we have GE. By the time I got finished with those magazines, I wasn’t just depressed – I needed counseling. Ever felt that way? We all have. It’s the sad fruit of living life that covets. James Emery White, You Can Experience an Authentic Life (Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000), 139-140

Believers don’t look at the world the same way as those who haven’t yet met Jesus! We live in JOY to follow our Heavenly Father – but we do it in His power and Jesus’ identity. We know what He called us to do, but we also recognize that apart from Jesus we can do nothing.

The things we are called on to do in our walk with God MUST be understood in the context of who we are in Christ and what He does with one who trusts in Him. Without that context, we will try to walk with God in the power of the flesh.