We had a great one yesterday at Bright Idea, picking out some highlights from what Paul says in this chapter of his letter to the Christians in Rome...
Here's the blog for this week if you want to go deeper...
Some people think all Christians do is reject people from other faiths,
argue about women bishops and hate gays. It's embarrassing that some
Christians do these things. It's annoying that these are the stories
that get a high profile in the media. And it's just plain wrong (not to
mention ironic) when anyone is prejudiced against Christians because of
the way some Christians are prejudiced against others. Christians who
argue a lot have a lot to answer for.
People who trust and follow Jesus fall out about all kinds of stuff but they shouldn't. Ever.
STOP and read Romans 14
Paul is talking in this chapter about Christians falling out over
'disputable matters' (v1). He's talking about silly arguments between
people who trust and follow Jesus about what foods are ok to eat or
whether or not one day is more special than the others. These are not
matters of right and wrong. It's the motive that counts. Christians
are allowed to eat whatever food they want to because Jesus declared all
foods 'clean' (Mark 7:18-19),
so Christians are free to avoid certain foods or eat them all, so long
as they do all of it for Jesus, that's fine. Likewise, Christians are
to keep the sabbath command by resting one day a week (Exodus 20:8-11) but it's primarily about having a sabbath heart that is at rest with Jesus every day of our lives (Hebrews 4:10).
Paul clearly has an opinion about these 'disputable matters'. He knows
all foods are ok to eat and he knows that one day is not more important
than the others but more importantly, he knows that Jesus makes his
followers family. Jesus' family should not argue, fall out or separate
over anything. Some Christians I know have left churches because they
disagree about who gets to lead, some have left because they find
certain people difficult to get on with, some have left because they
think the guitars are too loud and still others have left because they
think the guitars aren't loud enough! These are all rubbish reasons to
leave a local church. Christians that leave over these issues are
giving up on part of their family.
Paul says servants of Jesus should be united because they have the same
master (v4). He says those who live for Jesus should be united because
Jesus died to give them life in him (v7-9). He urges Christians
everywhere to work hard to be united because Jesus has already united
them (v19). How dare any Christian reject other Christians when God
accepts all of them (v3)?! If we're trusting and following Jesus then
he has made us family. And if we're going to be hanging out together in
heaven with Jesus forever, then we might as well start practicing now!
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