Projectionist: Start with Shoes-HighDefMP4.mp4
Thank you for being with us in this, our final part of Excess Baggage. In this series we’ve looked at the Excess Baggage that we all bring into our faith. And that makes our faith a whole lot more difficult and cumbersome (that means burdensome, awkward, heavy) than it needs to be. We all have it. Even if you are not a person of faith, chances are it is observing these excess things that Christians sometimes cling to or things that cling to Christianity that make it unappealing to you. We all know Christians who look like they’ve been sucking on lemons, right? For them Christianity is a burden they bear rather than a blessing they enjoy. If that describes you or someone you know, maybe the issue for them is one of excess baggage—they are carrying a bunch of stuff that tradition says they need to carry.
What we’ve been trying to do in this series is lighten that load; to help you see some of the things that seem so right, but in reality are so wrong.
We have discovered in this series, for instance, that those who place their faith in Christ are not under Old Testament Law. The Law recorded in our Old Testament was for Israel alone; it is not for you! Christ fulfilled all the requirements of the Law, and He ushered in for us a New Covenant. Instead of 613 laws to follow from the Old Covenant, there is one in the New Covenant: “For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”” (Galatians 5:14, NLT).
So, just to make sure we are clear on this, we said that the Old Testament is important and informative, but it is not incumbent on those of us who live after the cross and resurrection of Christ (that means it is not something we have to obey; we have a different standard, a higher standard).
Now that’s a hard thing for some of us. This series has been hard on those of us (myself included) who have grown up with our treasured traditions and a faulty understanding of the Old Testament. That is, it has been difficult for those of us who grew up believing that while the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament don’t apply to us (those laws regarding the sacrifice of grains and animals), and while the dietary laws don’t apply to us (those laws regulating what we can and can’t eat), the moral laws do apply. But we saw in week two that the Apostle Paul argued that if one law applies, all laws apply and if we move into a system of righteousness based on rule keeping, we move away from the law of grace. If we think we have to do certain things, then it negates completely what Christ has done. We saw that in Galatians 5.
Our struggle with this is not new. The early church also struggled with it. The leaders in Jerusalem dealt with it in a meeting today known as “The Jerusalem Council.” The decision of this early Church Council was recorded for us by Dr. Luke. In short the decision was “We should not make it difficult for those who are turning to God.” (Acts 15:19).
Since Paul is the major Apostle sent to those who didn’t have the Hebrew or Jewish Scriptures—what we refer to as the Old Testament today, some people in the church as well as some false teachers outside of the church decided to follow him around, and wherever he planted a new church, as soon as he was gone they would sweep in and say, “Paul didn’t tell you everything—let us tell you the real requirements if you want to be a Christ follower.” While for the most part in the early church, these men didn’t get very far, in the history of the church their teaching managed to seep into the practice of the church and suddenly today we find ourselves in the church carrying a lot of excess, unnecessary baggage that makes following Jesus difficult.
So how do we deal with this? The Apostle Paul in his letter written in or around 57 AD to Christians who lived in Rome, gives us some practical advice on how to apply the freedom he said all believers had.
We are in Romans 14 this morning. I love this chapter. It revolutionized my own life. I grew up in a church that specialized in excess baggage. We had rules for everything—we were probably as close to being Amish without actually being Amish as they come! If you are not familiar with the Amish, they are a Christian Sect who believe in total separation from the world—spiritually and physically. They still use horse and buggy because modern means of transportation are, well, modern, and therefore somehow wrong.
The earliest church I grew up in was not Amish, but it was pretty close in some areas. It was Nazarene Holiness. While we didn’t reject all forms of modern life –for instance while television was considered a tool of the devil, radio was permitted. Proper dress—and that was carefully defined by the misapplication of Scripture—was required. My mother or father never wore their wedding rings for instance because (quote), “The Bible says, ‘Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;’ (1 Peter 3:3, KJV 1900). So, if ladies came into church with jewelry on, they wouldn’t leave with it on—it went into the offering plate either willingly or unwillingly. And yes, the only inspired Bible was the King James Bible—it was held that if the Hebrew or Greek of the original language disagreed with the King James Version, the King James Version was right and the original writings wrong.
I grew up with) that and I bought into it. Until J. Mac McClements came into my life and rocked my world! “Mac” took me under his wing and from Scripture showed me grace and freedom. Mac was the Campus Life Director of Youth for Christ. The major passage for me was Romans 14:1-15:7. While we don’t have time to go through this whole passage the way I would like, I encourage you to read it for yourself. It is full of practical advice on how to pack lightly in your Christian life rather than filling it with excess baggage.
This is advice for Christians. So, if you are here and you are not yet a follower of Jesus, this doesn’t apply to you, but I think you will find it interesting. Maybe one of the reasons you aren’t a Christian is because of the excess baggage that you thought was a necessary part of Christianity. This passage should change your thinking on that.
I am going to do something a little different. I am going to read our passage from the predecessor to the New Living Translation, The Living Bible. The Living Bible was a paraphrase, not a translation. A translation goes back to the original languages and then translates them into the language of the people who are reading it. A paraphrase takes the language (in our case English) and rephrases it using the most modern words. Also, translations generally involve a team of people while a paraphrase is often the work of one individual.
So, using the Living Bible which is the one that I used back as a teenager, Paul starts his thought this way, “Give a warm welcome to any brother who wants to join you, even though his faith is weak. Don’t criticize him for having different ideas from yours about what is right and wrong.” (Romans 14:1, The Living Bible).
Now, let’s stop for a minute and talk about what Paul means when he talks about weak Christians and strong Christians. It is not going to be what we normally think. In this passage Paul defines the “weak believer” as the believer who has to have a whole list of rules in order to feel right about his or her faith.
“For instance, don’t argue with him about whether or not to eat meat that has been offered to idols. You may believe there is no harm in this, but the faith of others is weaker; they think it is wrong and will go without any meat at all and eat vegetables rather than eat that kind of meat.” (Romans 14:2, The Living Bible). The problem these early believers were facing is that at the market, the really good cuts of meat at the best prices was meat that had been first dedicated to Roman gods and then brought to market.
Some Christians were arguing that if you bought this meat, you were guilty of supporting false religions, since they were getting a cut of the proceeds. Others held the belief that false gods were false gods. It had no effect on the meat that was being sold; no one was going to become demon possessed by eating this meat that the weaker Christians were arguing had been offered to what they held were demonic idols.
A number of years ago, when Colin was little, Myra and I bought him a Cabbage Patch Kid for Christmas. I was pastor of another church at the time, and one of the ladies in the church had a fit! She claimed that the middle names of all those Cabbage Patch children were names of demons and that we had somehow invited Satan into our home by bringing home this doll! Now, excuse me, but that was ridiculous! But people of weak faith are always looking for something that might have a hidden meaning behind it and they want to impose their beliefs on you. It was happening to the Christians in Rome in 57 AD and it continues to happen today. The object of the objections are different, but the principle is still the same: if it has some perceived affiliation with anything these weak believers consider false, then they think the believer has no business owning, buying or supporting it! It is “anathema” – that is banned and cursed by God, therefore is wrong! There is no room for grey areas in the faith of those Paul describes as weak in the faith.
Look back at verse 1 for a minute. “Give a warm welcome to any brother who wants to join you, even though his faith is weak. Don’t criticize him for having different ideas from yours about what is right and wrong.” (Romans 14:1, The Living Bible). In the NIV verse 1 reads, “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.” (Romans 14:1, NIV84). Whether we like to admit it or not, there are certain areas in the Christian’s life that are not black or white; Paul calls them “disputable matters” and he says that we need to stop judging others based upon our personal views in these matters. “Don’t criticize him for having different ideas from yours about what is right and wrong.”
Christians believe that Jesus was more than a mere mortal. We believe He was and is, “God in human form” Even though He was Creator God who entered His creation as the God-Man He didn’t come to make a point. He didn’t run around pointing out “You’re wrong, you’re wrong, you’re wrong.” I believe if anyone had the right to do that, it would have been Him. But He didn’t. He didn’t come to make a point, He came to make a difference! I have to wonder how much more effective we Christians would be today if we just followed the example of our accepted Leader on this. Jesus, was called “the friend of sinners.” (Matthew 11:18) A title placed on Him by the religious people of his day, not as a complement but as a condemnation.
But I don’t think Jesus would have been even considered to be “the friend of sinners” had He been going around telling them they were sinners! Had He been doing that, these people who were nothing like Him—these people that the religious people of the day shunned--wouldn’t have liked Him, they would have avoided Him! Much like they do us today. There is a problem here. We need to face it and we need to correct it.
I first began my ministry in a camp for troubled youth. Some of our young people came to us from Youth Development Centers—institutions in which they were incarcerated for crimes. One young man who didn’t want to be at our camp was completely out of control. We had to call for a jailer from his institution to come and pick him up. The jailer was not happy. He got out of the car swearing like a sailor. The young man looked at him and yelled, “Hey! They don’t use that type of language around here!” Now this young man had only been with us a few hours. Nobody said anything about his language or what was acceptable or not acceptable. He picked it up from what he observed. We, Christians, when we are living lives that reflect Jesus, don’t have to say anything at times—people know!
So, here’s what Paul says when it comes to how we respond to people who may see things differently than us: “Those who think it is all right to eat such meat must not look down on those who won’t. And if you are one of those who won’t, don’t find fault with those who do. For God has accepted them to be his children.” (Romans 14:3, The Living Bible) If God has accepted someone, who am I to reject them? People who are strong in the faith shouldn’t despise people who are not, and those of you who need all those rules, you need to stop condemning people who don’t see it as you see it! It is as simple as that.
To drive home his point, Paul reminds us, “They are God’s servants, not yours. They are responsible to him, not to you. Let him tell them whether they are right or wrong. And God is able to make them do as they should.” (Romans 14:4, The Living Bible). And trust me on this—He does a much better job at this than you or I will ever do! Our Christian lives would be so much simpler if we learned and practiced this one truth. And our churches would be far more peaceful and more unified as well!
Paul continues, “Yes, each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12 The Living Bible). You don’t get to stand before God and give your report on someone else. The only exception to this is for those who hold the office of pastor. Hebrews 13:17 indicates that ministers are going to have to give not only an account for their own behavior, but also for the behavior of those who were under their care. I take that very seriously. That verse in Hebrews also indicates that if I as a pastor have to give a bad report on someone, that is going to have an effect on that someone. I am not making that up, check it out for yourself in Hebrew 13:17, “Obey your spiritual leaders and be willing to do what they say. For their work is to watch over your souls, and God will judge them on how well they do this. Give them reason to report joyfully about you to the Lord and not with sorrow, for then you will suffer for it too.” (Hebrews 13:17, The Living Bible). If I am interpreting this correctly, it may be the one exception to the general rule found in Romans 14:12. You decide for yourself.
So don’t criticize each other anymore. Try instead to live in such a way that you will never make your brother stumble by letting him see you doing something he thinks is wrong.” (Romans 14:13, The Living Bible). We skipped this before, but verse 7 reminds us, “None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters.” (Romans 14:7, The Message)
“In this way aim for harmony in the church, and try to build each other up. Don’t undo the work of God for a chunk of meat. Remember, there is nothing wrong with the meat, but it is wrong to eat it if it makes another stumble. Or a beer, glass of wine, or other alcoholic beverage. Remember when we started this series, the conclusion of the early church leaders-James, Peter, Paul and the rest, was to try not to make it difficult on people coming to the faith, and then they added, and try not to purposefully offend those in the faith who may have different views than you. Remember, we all have a history. Let’s not flaunt our freedom if we know it might be detrimental to another. You might be free do drink, but it is not acting in love if you do so in front of someone you know has a problem with drinking. You may be free to watch, read or talk about certain subjects, but it is not acting in love if you know you are purposefully making someone else uncomfortable or worse, enticing them by your freedom into sin. Actually, Paul says that.
The right thing to do is to quit eating meat or drinking wine or doing anything else that offends your brother or makes him sin.” (Romans 14:19–21, The Living Bible) “Even if we believe that it makes no difference to the Lord whether we do these things, still we cannot just go ahead and do them to please ourselves; for we must bear the “burden” of being considerate of the doubts and fears of others—of those who feel these things are wrong. Let’s please the other fellow, not ourselves, and do what is for his good and thus build him up in the Lord.” (Romans 15:1, The Living Bible) “So warmly welcome each other into the church, just as Christ has warmly welcomed you; then God will be glorified.” (Romans 15:7, The Living Bible).
What do you think would happen if those of us who claim to know Jesus as our personal Savior started living like that? If we made it a point to build others up rather than tearing them down? If we stopped insisting that everyone had to agree with us on things that make no eternal difference? What we eat, what we drink, what we wear, where we go and what we do, and started to just love and accept people like God accepted us? We really don’t have to imagine it—we have a history of it. The very reason Christianity exists today is because for the most part, these early Christians got it right, and down through history, the people of God got it and because of that, we are here today.
The thing that will make the church irresistible to people who are nothing like us is the same thing that made unholy people flock to the Holy Son of God—an unconditional Love and extended grace.
One final thought here: In areas where we are strong spiritually, we don’t have to worry about being corrupted by the world. In areas where we struggle spiritually, we need to be cautious. If we shelter a strong faith, we won’t complete the work of Christ in our world. If we expose areas we are weak to the influences of the world, we are foolish. So here are the questions we should ask: “Can I do that without falling into sin in my own life? Can I influence others for Christ rather than being influenced by them? Is this something I can do without it weakening my faith? Can I participate in this activity without participating in sin? Jesus was the friend of sinners, but He never participated in their sins.
Susanna Wesley’s advice to her son John is good advice for us today. "Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself."
— Susanna Wesley (Letter, June 8, 1725)
Let me pray for us.
