"Tend to Your Own Knitting"
Sermon Presented September 11, 2005
Romans 14:1-12
I was an obnoxious child when it came to religion. I was sincere, committed and unbearable! In my Southern Baptist church in St. Joseph, MO, I learned all of the "right" answers. I attended church every time the doors were open and I absorbed all of the "facts" of faith and practice that were presented. I knew that Baptists were the first Christian denomination because they dated back to John the Baptist! I knew that immersion was the only acceptable baptism and that dancing was a sin. Not only did I know the answers, I laid them on all who would listen - willingly or unwillingly. God called me to spread the word, right? It didn't matter that the word I spread was bad news!
While I was a pastor in Marysville, KS I visited with a woman who had been my best friend from kindergarten through high school. She remarked that one of her few childhood memories was of the arguments we had about religion! OUCH! But as we visited, she acknowledged that I had made a 180 degree turn from the beliefs of my childhood. Now I wasn't as sure of myself and was much more open to the opinions of others. When we realize that we don't have all the answers, our relationships improve tremendously.
The Church at Rome was experiencing conflict such as I experienced in my childhood relationships. In order to help the people, Paul wrote a letter giving basics for healthy relationships within the church. Hear his instruction as written in Romans 14:1-12. (Read text.)
The Roman Church has different problems than those at Wyatt Park Baptist Church in St. Joseph during my youth, but there are similarities in that passing judgment is the recognized sin. Problems arise because people are from different backgrounds and at different places in their walk with Jesus. Some are non-Jews while others come from a strong Jewish background; some have been Christians a short time while others have a longer period of commitment to God through Jesus.
One of the church controversies concerns eating meat. Because no one knows what meat sold in the markets has been previously sacrificed to idols, the new Christians believe it will contaminate their faith and witness if they eat it. So they abstain from all meat and believe others should do likewise. Another issue concerns holy days. Some feel a need to observe holy days rigidly and others could care less. The newer Christians are more rigid than the mature, and their differences evoke arguments and threaten the good will in the church.
We may think we are different than the Roman Christians, but we all have our mental lists of what good Christians do and don't do and we judge people by our lists. Because our lists differ, whose list do we follow?
If I asked each of you to make a list of rules Christians should obey, the lists would vary. Certain rules may appear on most lists, but the lists will differ because of our various backgrounds, ages and personal preferences. Because our beliefs develop over a lifetime, they are usually in flux. Relationship problems arise when we use our list to judge others.
Now you may think that the Roman controversies over diet and holy days are ridiculous, but quarrels regarding religious beliefs and practices have plagued Christians for almost 2000 years. Twenty-first century churches have our own controversies such as whether to have traditional or contemporary worship, whether or not to raise hands or shout "Amen" in worship, to use an organ, which translation of the Bible to read, ordination of women or acceptance of Gays. We can identify with the Roman Church conflict.
How do we determine if a religious practice is right? Well, some decide what they want to do or believe and then go to the Bible to justify it. Others hear something from their pastor, a TV or radio preacher, or a friend and without reflection, accept it as God's word for them and set that belief in concrete. Often we determine what is best because it is a part of our heritage or it's what feels right to us.
Verses 5 & 6 give us Paul's criterion for evaluating religious practice. First, we are to be fully convinced in our minds that it is right, and second, our actions are to be done in honor of the Lord and as thanksgiving to God. Whatever decision we reach needs to have behind it the integrity of genuine reflection and prayer rather than doubt and confusion that grows out of haste or group pressure.
Paul sees the problem as being how the weak and strong can live together in community and in peace. The weak take a narrow line and the strong a broader line. One sees unbreakable principles at stake and the other sees principles as more flexible guidelines. One argues that to concede a point means the whole house of cards will collapse, while the other argues that if the house is that fragile, perhaps it should collapse. Small circles vs. larger circles. Narrow boundaries vs. wider boundaries. Black and white vs. shades of gray. Obedience vs. freedom. The problems come when we judge our fellow Christians.
How does Paul respond to the conflict? Well, he doesn't attempt to settle their controversies. He doesn't take sides and he doesn't set up rules. He does insist that even eyes of faith see things differently. The religious positions articulated here are polar opposites, mutually exclusive. Paul makes no effort to harmonize them or to impose uniformity. For Paul, faith in Jesus doesn't make all people and beliefs alike.
In fact, he allows that radically different theological positions can stem from the same motives - honoring the Lord and giving thanks to God. It isn't that one person is operating with sinister motives and another with pure motives. Both are genuinely attempting to live properly before the Lord. Good and pure religious motives can manifest themselves in radically different understandings.
Paul's concern is how the arguments are impacting the church and not the truth of the argument. He makes several theological observations and trusts they will lead to reconciliation. In other words, the health of the believing community takes precedence over "right" beliefs and "right" practice. Paul emphasizes that we don't live to ourselves and we don't die to ourselves. An individual Christian is an oxymoron. No one is an island, because our relationship with the Lord draws us together in community.
Paul's final perspective is that we are accountable to God. Only God has the right to judge us. Christians certainly aren't to judge one another. Since we are accountable to God, there is no reason to usurp God's role.
Now if you are like I am, you have done plenty of judging in your day - and still find yourself doing it. We don't outgrow it, we just change our criterion for judging. "If she would just…." "A real Christian would never…." "She thinks she is better than anyone else, but in truth…." "If he would give to the church what he should, he wouldn't have…." "She's got to be kind of weird to practice…." Etc. When we judge others, we don't stand with them or beside them but over them.
When we consider that we are ultimately accountable to God, our inclination to pass judgment diminishes. The more concerned we are with our responsibility to God, the less concerned we are with another's responsibility to us or to God. In the presence of God we become aware of our own inadequacies. The light of God makes us transparent, so that we find it difficult to place another under the beam of our own investigative light. To recognize that God passes judgment on us makes us less ready to pass judgment on others, much less to despise them.
How then do we live with diversity - with great difference among our members? We are to accept one another - along with our differences. We can celebrate our unity in Christ and not focus on differences in practice and beliefs.
Problems do arise when some in the church believe they are more spiritual than others and set out to change them. Sometimes the weak become tyrants and create problems that must be addressed. Ignorance and prejudice need to be confronted and not catered to. When a person becomes ugly in the face of differences, for the health of the church, their attitudes and actions cannot continue.
The basis of union in the church isn't similar interests or mutual attraction, but our response to God's offer of salvation through Jesus that is made to all people. With our diverse backgrounds, we must constantly be on guard against allowing petty differences to explode into major issues.
I would like to read our text from Eugene Peterson's The Message. Romans 14:1-12
Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with-even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.
For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume all Christians should be vegetarians and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn't eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.
Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.
What's important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God's sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you're a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It's God we are answerable to-all the way from life to death and everything in between-not each other. That's why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.
So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I'd say it leaves you looking pretty silly-or worse. Eventually, we're all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren't going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture:
"As I live and breathe," God says, "every knee will bow before me; every tongue will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God."
So tend to your knitting. You've got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.
So tend to your knitting and allow God to work in people's lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. God can handle it! Amen!
