God expects His church to be unified. This daily devotional looks at how disciples of Christ are to look through love, not through uncleanness, to promote harmony.
Nuggets
- Judgment can cause stumbling blocks to be put into place.
- Something can be unclean to one person that is not unclean to another.
- We are to influence our fellow disciples whether we intend to or not.
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Devotions in the Transformed to Perfection series
In my Bible, Romans 14: 13 starts a new section: The Law of Love. However, when we read verses 13 through 15, they seem like they are replaying the theme Paul had been discussing.
- What you eat.
- Don’t judge.
Let’s see if we can figure out how it meshes with love.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Don’t be Stumbling Blocks
“Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister” (Rom. 14: 13 CSB)
Judgment can cause stumbling blocks to be put into place.
Paul started the verse with the word therefore. He was tying this back to what he had previously said.
Disciples are not to have an opinion on something someone else does if God hasn’t made a law or commandment about it. Lyth wrote that Paul was saying that a disciple “respects the convictions of others.”
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Paul was tying some concepts together here: the don’t judge, the weak/strong faith interaction, and brotherly love. He was zooming in on the aspect of love that denies itself without outright stating it.
What Paul was saying was, Stronger Disciple, keep your opinion to yourself if God hasn’t made it a law or commandment. You aren’t loving Weaker Disciple when you are trying to force them to believe the way you do. In fact, you may be making them turn away from God.
I know. This is hard. We feel like we are right in everything.
We are’t.
Beecher reminded us that the highest are to serve the lowest. That goes back to Matthew 20: 16. “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen” (Mt. 20: 16 KJV).
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We are talking about things that are not forbidden here. Lyth said we are talking about things that don’t have moral value. We interpret the stumbling blocks to mean things that lead to sin, so we think they should be forbidden.
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I think too many times we stick our noses into someone else’s relationship with God where it doesn’t belong. Yes, we are to preach to others and make disciples, but our relationships with God are private.
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
We are to remember we are talking about interactions between two believers here. We are not talking about an interaction between a disciple and a non-believer.
God wants us to look to Him for … everything.
• The rules that guide our lives.
• The character that forms us.
• How we interact with others.
Nothing Is Originally Unclean
“I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean” (Rom. 14: 14 CSB)
Something can be unclean to one person that is not unclean to another.
We’ve talked about cleanness before. Cleanness has to do with the Israelites remaining holy.
Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues. Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
So, the end goal is to be pure as God is. If we are, we will be holy.
Glossary
I have to process what Lyth said. When he was talking about things that were not forbidden and have no moral value, he was saying that sometimes that was known only to those who were more knowledgeable in the faith.
They ceased to be indifferent when they became stumbling blocks and started violating the law of love. They now became the exact opposite of what God wants.
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It becomes a fine line that we walk — our personal liberty (Rom. 14: 1-12) and our love for others (Rom. 14: 13-23). It is all about letting people believe what they believe when it does not violate God’s laws and commandments. It is living together within the church, loving God and each other.
If we look at this life as training for the next, that means we should strive to be pure and sacred in this life — as God is. Beecher wrote that one of the tenants is love one another. That is the second greatest commandment.
When Satan tempts us to judge, he is not tempting us to judge on God’s standards. He is wanting us to judge on some convoluted version.
Oh, Satan doesn’t want us to really know what God wants us to do. That would mean we were studying His Word and meditating on it. That is how we seek Him. When we seek Him, we find Him.
We will always find God when we truly look because, when we take one step toward God, He is running ten steps toward us. Satan does not want to take that chance.
Lyth noted that all creatures God has made is good. I am not sure that this verse, though, limits it to creatures. It says “… nothing is unclean in itself …” (Rom. 14: 15 CSB emphasis added).
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The problem with that is a lot of good things can lead to sin if we take the the wrong way. Good relationships can lead to sin if we make them our priority instead of God. Good jobs can become that in which we put our faith and trust.
Influencing Fellow Disciples
“For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ die” (Rom. 14: 15 CSB).
We are to influence our fellow disciples whether we intend to or not.
Much emphases is given these days to living in a peaceable manner with our neighbors. Packard wrote, “In the constant movements towards a better social life more and more attention is given to the poor and the oppressed, to the victims of appetite and of evil in all its forms, and more is asked of every Christian to-day in the way of personal sacrifice than ever before.”
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God wants His church to be unified. But we have to be careful.
We like to think everyone is either all good or all bad. When talking about strong and weak disciples, Anderson reminded us that isn’t the case. He wrote, “A recognition of the Lord’s authority, a desire to execute the Lord’s purpose, and a confession of the Lord’s goodness, characterise both parties. But while there is good on both sides, there are on both sides manifestations of evil.” There is good and bad in everyone.
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We don’t have control what truth really is. Beyond that, we have no clue about what people’s motivations are.
It is hard to read the words that some will be destroyed. It is even harder to read that something we may or may not do can cause that destruction. Thomas wrote, “One man can and often does spiritually ruin another by his suggestions, his spirit, his example.”
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We need to watch our actions to ensure that we are not bringing spiritual ruin to other disciples.
Making the Connections
I loved Anderson’s terminology: uncharitable criticism. In our Charity series, we said charity means showing others love flavored with acts of benevolence.
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We can have the love in our hearts all we want. Until we act on that love others don’t know it.
We have to put aside our belief that we always have to be right. We have to say, “You know, I, personally, believe something different, but that’s okay. We’re different people, and God loves both of us, and I love you, brother/sister.”
I can’t tie it up any better than Anderson did. He wrote, “Justice is conformity to a standard; the Christian standard of life is the loving nature of God. I cannot therefore be just in the Christian sense unless I have love. Not what is good for me alone, nor what is good for my brother alone, but what is best for all, is to determine my action as a child of God. But the law of love is not satisfied with the attainment of anything less than the best good of all.”
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How Do We Apply This?
Packard wrote, “Practical duties in the New Testament are seen to be the sequence of sublime truths.” We are to live out God’s truths.
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Anderson said what I’ve been saying all year. It isn’t about checking off the do’s and the don’ts from some big checklist. It is about redoing for godliness and getting His character.
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I don’t think we can say it enough. God wants us to live together in harmony. He doesn’t want us to sin, and He doesn’t want us to cause others to sin.
Father God. It is easy for us to focus on the doing part of sanctification. It is harder for us to focus on the being part. That part includes the submission part. We totally submit to You so that we may live in harmony with our brothers and sisters in Christ both now and throughout eternity. Amen.
What do you think?
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