Be thou my Vision Lord of my heart, High King of Heaven my treasure thou art.
” Am I truly your treasure? in what ways do you know and are certain that I am your treasure? It is easy to say words of love and adoration, but the genuine proof of their reality lies in the way you live and think, the choices you make, where your thoughts and actions are directed for most of the day. Remember Romans 12:1 true worship means giving not only our thoughts and words to God but our whole bodies, our whole lives. Difficult? That is why I have transformed your mind and given my Holy Spirit to help you.”
Chapter 14 is perhaps a chapter that is not given nearly enough attention to. The theme of the interaction of the members of the church for the benefit of the whole continues. Paul is busy spelling out the details of the overall instruction of what it means to love one another. The theme of the whole chapter is directed at how we see and interact with each other in the church, especially focussed on the grey areas where people so easily condemn each other.
There are two areas he addresses: food and drink; special days, like the Sabbath. He does so against the backdrop of weaker and stronger brothers in the faith. It is one continuous thought but we will deal with the chapter in two parts. Scan the whole of ch 14 but focus on the first 12 verses.
As an aside may I say that I have observed that these type of issues often cause more division in the church than most others.
The underlying principle that we have to keep in mind lies in vs 12. Each of you will give an account of himself to God. So that points back to the fact that when we condemn people for behaviour which we don’t approve of, we are taking up the position of God.
The problem of food and keeping special days of course highlights the difference between the Gentile believers and the Jewish believers that Paul is facing. But we still have those issues today in the church. From the food perspective we have the issue of whether it is OK to drink wine. But also more and more people are becoming focussed on not eating meat and following vegetarian and vegan diets. Not so prominent is the discussion on the importance of the Sabbath and other “holy days”.
The principle Paul highlights in these first12 vv is that the “stronger” brother has the freedom to eat what he likes and not be limited by regarding certain days as special. It is up to the stronger brother to avoid making an issue of these things. It is the one depicted as the weaker brother who is likely to judge. Ultimately the principle is the same for both, clearly voiced in v 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant ? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
And in vs 10 For we will all stand before God’s judgement seat. And vs 12 So then each of. Us will have to give an account of himself to God.
What Paul is saying, we must recognise that it is God who is the ultimate judge and He decides what is right so we must remember that before we criticise others in these grey areas. This does not take away the responsibility we have towards others to minister to them if they’re openly sinning in other areas.
This is such a tricky area, but nevertheless one we should consider carefully. The ultimate purpose of the command to love remains supreme and should be demonstrated by the unity we, as believers show towards the outside world. That unity remains God’s aim as Jesus said in John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another. It is the important role of the stronger brother to help the weaker brother feel secure in his faith and benefit from the communal spirit.
More on this subject next time. In the meantime may God bless each one of you.