Rom 14:1-15:13
Freedom is a tricky thing. It’s something that we hold dear as members of a democracy. It’s something that people have fought long and hard to achieve. We’d hate to give it up. Yet there are times when our desire for freedom can lead us astray, even to the point of undermining the very thing we’re trying to protect. I guess you’d have to say that America epitomises a society fixed on freedom. It is after all, the Land of the Free. Yet in America this past week or so, we’ve seen people who were afraid to go out of their houses. They were afraid they might be the next victim of a sniper who’d killed 10 people. If they went to the supermarket they were told to take a zigzag path to maker themselves a more difficult target. There in the land of the free, people were prisoners in their own homes. And you’d have to say that one of the reasons their freedom had been removed was because the sniper was free to buy a high powered target rifle. He was free to attend sniper classes which apparently are becoming more and more popular! So that one person’s freedom ended up taking away that of thousands of others.
Now that’s a fairly extreme situation, but each one of us could find ourselves in a similar situation, if we’re not careful, as a result of our Christian freedom; because dealing with freedom, ironically, requires restraint.
Dealing with freedom requires restraint
Here in this passage from Romans 14 & 15 we find a dilemma for those who have truly grasped the notion of Christian freedom. The dilemma is this: When we look at others and see how they’re continuing to misunderstand the gospel, our natural inclination is to look down on them, or to try to correct them; perhaps even to despise them. But the end result of that is that we end up removing their freedom. This was obviously a continuing issue in the early church because it comes up again in 1 Corinthians 8&9. The big problem for them was whether it was OK for a Christian to eat meat that might have been offered to an idol before being sent to the butcher’s. This is still a problem for Jews and Muslims of course. Unless they can be sure that their food has been prepared in the proper way, they won’t eat it.
But it isn’t just Jews and Muslims who have a problem here. There are all sorts of rules and prohibitions that have arisen over the years that some Christians take as law and others realise are superseded by the gospel. So,
We need to be clear about the source of our Freedom
I dare say there are still some here today who were taught as they grew up that Christians shouldn’t do any work on a Sunday. When I was growing up one of my idols was Brian Booth. He was the Dean Jones or the Ricky Ponting of Australian cricket in those days. And he was a great Christian role model for young boys like me. He was actually a member of my church. He used to teach me Sunday School. Well, those of you who are old enough may remember that not only was he a great cricketer, but he was also a great hockey player. In fact he was chosen for the 1956 Olympic hockey team. The only trouble was that some of their games were scheduled to be played on a Sunday. And his conscience wouldn’t let him play sport on a Sunday. So he had to withdraw from the team. Now I tell you that story, not to criticise Brian Booth. On the contrary, his decision showed he was a man of great integrity as well as sporting prowess. But it does highlight the sort of legalism that creeps back into our thinking almost without us realising it.
You see, he was a member of a church that was really strong on the gospel. He understood the significance of salvation by faith alone. He was one of those responsible for me learning the gospel as I grew up. But the freedom of the gospel hadn’t been translated into ordinary daily life. People were still bound by laws and regulations.
I remember when Di and I were getting ready for our wedding we suggested that maybe we could have the reception in the church hall. But no, that wasn’t possible because no dancing was allowed on Church property. And we certainly couldn’t have had wine or beer! That would have been really unchristian wouldn’t it?
But was it unchristian? Look at what he says in v2: "Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables." It doesn’t sound like your diet affects your faith does it? It may indicate the strength of your faith. Mind you, not the way my parents’ generation thought. That is, that the strong in faith were those who abstained from certain things. Rather the strong in faith are those who realise that their salvation only ever depends on what Jesus Christ has done on the cross. Whether you eat or drink certain things is a question of personal choice. Perhaps a choice based on health issues or ethical principles, but not in any way having to do with your standing as a Christian.
Well, it’s now some 30 years later and looking back it would be easy to look down on the people who decided that dancing wasn’t to be allowed in the church hall or that drinking alcohol was in some way against the gospel. And it’d be equally easy to criticise those who still hold that sort of view.
But we’re told: "3Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them." You see, the moment we begin to look down on those who have misunderstood the freedom of the gospel, or who have overextended the freedom of the gospel, we actually begin to undermine that freedom ourselves.
Satan is so clever isn’t he? Here we have a message from God, that Jesus Christ has freed us from the things that bound us, from the law, from the religious ceremonies of Judaism, from judgement, and what do we do? We begin to accumulate new laws. Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs, don’t go dancing, don’t work on Sundays, don’t even play on Sundays. All of them set up for good reasons. All of them things that you could make a case for if you wanted to. But in the end, just another set of laws that bind us, that provide something for Satan to accuse us of.
Except of course that we don’t need Satan to do the accusing do we? Look at v4: "Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another?" We do our own accusing don’t we? All the time forgetting that we’re all just servants of the same master. God is our Lord and master. He’s the one who’ll judge us to see whether we’ve satisfied his requirements. And what’s the basis on which he’ll judge both them and us? On whether we’ve kept our lips free of alcohol? On whether we’ve worked on Sunday? On whether we held a dance in the church hall? No! He’ll judge us on the way we’ve responded to Jesus Christ. On whether we’ve responded to him with faith in his death and resurrection or whether we’ve rejected him. And of course the people we’re talking about in this discussion are all members of the Church. They’re all people who are here on the basis of their faith in Jesus Christ. So he’s able to say in v4: "They will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand." Whether we stand or fall will depend on what Jesus Christ has done for us. That’s the basis on which we can claim to be free of all law. And that must be the basis on which we refrain from passing judgement on others, whether it’s on the basis of something they do, or something they don’t do.
So here’s the first important thing for us to take home from this passage today: We all stand before God on an equal footing: on the last day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall give praise to God. And when God invites us into his kingdom it will be on the basis that we’ve accepted his free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. It’ll be on the basis of Christ’s saving work on our behalf. In the meantime how we live our lives is a matter of Christian conscience.
Freedom depends on our response to God.
I want you to notice the way Paul treads a very careful line as he writes this passage, not to fall into the very error he’s writing against. It’s clear from the first couple of verses that he has an opinion about what Christian freedom implies as far as this issue of eating certain foods and observing certain days is concerned. Those who observe religious festivals and abstain from certain foods are characterised as the weak. But that’s as far as he goes in criticising them. And the reason he doesn’t criticise them further is because it’s not his position to do so. As we just observed, it’s God who will judge. But it’s also because Paul realises that those who observe these regulations are actually doing it for a good reason. They’re doing it because of their conscience. They’re fully convinced in their minds that this is right, so that’s how they live. They’re doing it because they want to serve God. They honour the Lord’s Day out of honour for God. And those who don’t observe such things, do it for the same reason. So as long as they don’t then use their piety or their sense of freedom as an excuse to judge others what they’re doing is fine. They’re free. They can respond to God in either way, by eating or by abstaining.
You see, what matters is this: Are we living to the Lord? Is he the centre of our motivation for living? So don’t worry about what someone else is doing. Make sure you’re right in your relationship with God.
We must limit our Freedom in response to one another.
But of course our relationship with God can never be considered on its own, can it? We’re not independent entities able to do what we like without considering others. We’re part of a fellowship. So our freedom needs to be tempered by a consideration of the effect our behaviour might have on others. Look at v13: "but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. 14I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died." There’s a responsibility on those who are strong to care for those who are weak by not putting a stumbling block in their way. So there will be occasions on which we might decide to abstain from something, to not do something, because of the effect it might have on another individual. If you have a friend who has a drinking problem you might well decide not to serve wine with your meal, or not to have an open bar at a party. Or if the person you invite has a moral objection to wine you might decide to forgo your usual glass of chardonnay for their sake.
But on the other hand we need to be careful of those who use this sort of moral argument as a manipulative tool. Who try to impose a false morality on others by the way they respond to this sort of issue. Who manipulate and control by passing judgement rather than by persuading. I remember a heated discussion at a vestry meeting at another church over the issue of whether guests who were to be invited to an outreach dinner in the local High School, should be allowed to bring wine or beer. There was only one person objecting but he used all the manipulative arguments he could find, until in the end he threatened to resign when the vestry made the decision to go ahead.
You see, this is a 2-sided issue. There’s a call here for parties on both sides of the discussion to respect the freedom of the other. In the end the only rule that we should be applying in this situation is the rule we read last week: to love our neighbour as ourselves. To submit to one another as to the Lord. To pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Otherwise all we’ll do will be to undermine the work of Christ, to bring ruin to those for whom Christ died.
Freedom results in the power of Christian Unity
Finally notice how the passage finishes as we move into ch15. "2Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor." And then in v5: "5May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." There’s no point in being free if it doesn’t lead to this end. The whole of the Scriptures is directed at this one end, that all people might praise the God who made them. That all of creation might be united under Jesus Christ in service of the living God. 14:17 says: "17For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." There’s a power in using our freedom for God’s service and for the benefit of those around us that overflows in praise to God, in joy and peace and righteousness, that goes far beyond what we think we might be achieving by giving up some pleasure or by enjoying it. Such unity of life will be seen by those around us as a powerful witness of the saving work of God, not just in the next world, but in this world already. As we exercise our freedom in love and submission to one another two things will happen: other people will see the kingdom of God being revealed in our lives, in the church, and will be led to give praise to God; and we’ll get a foretaste of what it will be to live in God’s kingdom in the future.
And so he prays "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." May that be our prayer for one another as well.
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