Matthew 18:21-35Pastor Lori Broschat

Romans 14:1-12November 13, 2016

Matthew 18:21-35Pastor Lori Broschat

YOU SAY TOMATO

Ruth Graham, dressed and made up as would seem fitting for any American woman in the 1970s, attended a luncheon with wives of conservative pastors in Germany. These German Christians had more conservative ideas regarding how women should look. They did not believe that married Christian women should wear makeup or clothing that made them look too much like the world. As a result, a German pastor's wife, sitting across from Ruth Graham, became very upset.

She thought it was shameful that the wife of this famous evangelist looked so worldly. Why, Ruth Graham was even wearing mascara! The German pastor's wife became so angry that she started crying right into her beer. Meanwhile Ruth Graham couldn't understand why the woman was crying, although it bothered her that a self-respecting pastor's wife was drinking beer at a meeting to prepare for an evangelistic crusade where Christians come together as the unified body of Christ.[1]

The Christians in ancient Rome couldn’t agree any more than Christians can today. To say some people of faith are mean spirited is putting it mildly. If someone makes a comment about your choices, it might become an ongoing battle to defend yourself and your faith. Who needs that when the world already challenges your faith?

Paul’s counsel to the Roman Christians about dietary laws and holy days may seem trivial, but look at what church folks argue about these days and you’ll find some pretty trivial stuff there too. Let me take you on a personal history of my experiences with Christian behavior toward other Christians. Beginning before my parents were even married my mother encountered opposition from my father’s mother who didn’t approve of my aunts because they wore slacks and played cards. My mother didn’t do those things but her sisters did and that made her a bad person.

My first appointment had a situation right out of today’s scripture. We had a funeral for a woman who, along with her husband, had been a vegetarian. Her husband requested we serve cheese, egg salad or peanut butter at the lunch rather than the usual cold meat. The woman in charge of the kitchen had a fit and said the church would look ridiculous if they served peanut butter. New as I was to ministry, I reminded her whose funeral lunch it was.

One summer in seminary I returned to ND to serve the churches of a husband and wife who went on sabbatical. Someone in the tiny Methodist church told me I should be careful how I dressed because long ago a new pastor’s wife had worn shorts to church in the summer and someone put a note into the offering plate instructing the pastor to please make sure his wife was properly dressed the following week. That’s a pastor’s favorite pet peeve, by the way, the anonymous criticism.

When I came out of seminary and served my first solo church I soon learned there were restrictions on what we could do in the church, like having Sunday school or VBS or coffee after worship. These were the things we could not do because they might have created a mess. All this was the rule of one woman and no one dared to cross her.

In another congregation, I encountered a whole different level of personal prejudice from one woman, but for the most part people kept their comments to themselves. The exception was the way sandwiches were cut for funerals. Believe it or not, there was a diagram as to how sandwiches must be cut into thirds. I did not master it well. When I asked why it was such a big deal the response was less than kind.

I could go on and on, but instead I must make a confession. When I was in the time of my life that living out my faith began to matter to me, I used to pass judgment on people who didn’t know their Bible or who held slightly less strict beliefs than I did. I have since had to loosen my hold on judgment in 30 plus years of faith. I still want people to know the Bible, that will never stop, but I can’t concern myself with how often they worship or what they read or how they invest their money. That’s not my business, not even as a pastor.

Referring to Romans 12:3, we can see where we often go wrong in our attitudes. “Don’t think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think. Rather, think soberly, in life with faith, the true standard which God has marked out for each of you.” Remembering that might put us in the right frame of mind to discover what Paul meant by people who are weak in their faith.

When Paul wrote weak he was talking about people like I used to be in my early 20s. This weakness comes about for two reasons: 1) these people have not yet discovered the meaning of Christian freedom; they are at heart still legalists and see Christianity as consisting of rules and regulations. 2) They have not yet freed themselves from a belief in the efficacy of works.

How are we to react to such people? The first word that comes to mind is kindly. The churchstill holds two viewpoints, one more liberal and the other more conservative. When we meet an opposing view from our own there are three ways to act. First, we must avoid irritation. An impatient annoyance with such a person gets us nowhere. Second, we must avoid ridicule. People cannot remain unhurt when something that is important to them is laughed at.

Lastly, we must avoid contempt. People’s views are their own and must be treated with respect.[2] When a woman not from my church mentioned in a Bible study that she was worried about going to heaven because she wasn’t very good at riding horses I had to respond with kindness and admit I wasn’t sure where her view came from. She told me she had seen a verse in the Bible that we all receive white horses when we get to heaven.

I told her I needed to do a little research before I could give her an answer. I located the verse I believed she meant and informed her that it referred to the hosts of heaven riding on white horses, but the hosts of heaven were the angelic beings so I figured she was safe, and she was relieved.

We are urged not to despise or condemn anyone, for who are we to judge the servant of the master? We are all servants of the same master, so it is up to Him to judge us individually. The situation is one of practice, but not necessarily religious practice. This kind of judgment and condemning is just a symptom that something else is wrong.

Pettiness is a good word for what goes on in some churches. Indeed, it’s a common way for people to leave a church and join a different one, not because they were petty but because someone was unfair to them. We may think it’s just being too sensitive, but Paul says it’s soul crushing, and to some it may be the thing that causes them to lose faith.

The number one reason the disenfranchised give for refusing or quitting Christianity is judgmental people. Even if you’re a helpful person just pointing out what someone believes is wrong is not all that helpful in their eyes. How do you know which issues fall into which category? One author suggests we go through the New Testament and very carefully consider what is emphasized and why.

The “agree to disagree” argument or excuse is not sufficient in all cases of faith. What are those things we can and should agree on? What won’t cause division or resentment? Well to name a few, the Lordship of Christ, the gift of grace, the belief in salvation by faith, the authority of Scripture, the existence of a triune God and many, many more. I have a clergy friend who tells me he no longer believes in the virgin birth. Does this make him a bad person or a bad Christian?

Once upon I time I might have thought so, but now I realize it doesn’t affect the fact that he is saved by Christ, so it doesn’t bother me like it might have. So why d0n’twe focus on the essentials in the church and ignore the other lesser make or break things? Maybe we feel unqualified to weigh in on such heavy topics so we stick with what we think know or can control.

The church should be a place of welcome, where unity is found not in particular practices of piety, but in the fact that we belong to the Lord. God has welcomed us; Paul says we too should welcome those whose piety differs from our own. I once served a small Church of God congregation who informed me that they were the true Church of God in the area because the other congregation didn’t play the right music.

In one of my former churches there was a loss of members when they switched from the King James Version of the Bible in the pews to the Revised Standard Version. In Kentucky, it was common to hear people say unless you spoke in tongues you weren’t saved. I guess those folks have never read the passages about the way the Spirit hands out different spiritual gifts to different people. Practices should not be what make us Christians, but what is in our hearts and how we love God and love others.

What we didn’t hear in the passage read today are the later verses in this chapter, which begin to appear a bit more authoritative than instructional. Verse 13 says “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.”

Stop judging but rather worry about what you are doing that might be causing someone to stumble. Or as my former mother-in-law used to say, tend to your own knitting. It’s more than just criticizing that’s at stake here. Verse 15 shows a further glimpse into the damage we might be doing. “If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.”

Substitute the word eat there for say or write or whisper to other people. Whatever we do that creates stress upon the other person’s faith is no longer acting in love. Imagine if you destroyed someone by your offhand comments.

Moving on to verse 17 and 18 we see how Paul kindly and gently reminded his readers of their priorities. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.”

I’d much rather focus on peace and joy than on whether the color of someone’s Christmas tree is religiously sound. Life is so much better when our freedoms don’t overstep onto the freedoms of others. Especially since Christ literally died to set us free from oppression.

Which is probably why Paul concluded with this thought, “So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.”

Our Bishop Ough, who was elected as the President of the Council of Bishops, recently released a statement about the dividing factors in our denomination. Here is a small portion of his address, “Let’s admit it, this Christian unity stuff is difficult, in part because we tend to forget that authentic unity is a Spirit gift, not something we create or enforce by rules and law.

Paul understood we do not create unity. We are called to maintain unity. We cannot create a gift. We are called to affirm, celebrate and maintain unity. We don’t create the Body of Christ; it is a gift. Authentic unity is ultimately a Fruit of the Spirit rather than a fruit of purity codes, polity systems, polite relationships or political compromises.”

I hope you can see that in the past week we have already put our national unity t0 the test. The months and years ahead will be very telling because basically half our country is unhappy and the other half is overjoyed. It remains to be seen how much more divided we become, but as Christians we belong first to the Lord, the one who sees and judges and chastises and rewards. No matter who is in the White House, Christ is King.

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[2]Barclay, William, TheNew Daily Study Bible, The Letter to the Romans, pg. 212-213