Today, we return to Romans 14 where the Apostle Paul is giving us a portrait of a servant of the Lord. Today's passage is directed toward the stronger and the weaker Christian, and it addresses the subject of judgment. Each and every one of us has our own unique backgrounds. Some of us come from a background of absolutely no church at all, while others come from a background of far too much church with far too many traditions. And, these traditions, if they are not grounded in the Scriptures, are some of the hardest strongholds for any believer in Christ. In fact, these traditions oftentimes create unmerited friction and division among believers in Christ. This is the issue that the Apostle Paul addresses here in Romans 14.
In v.5-6 of today's passage we read, "5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks."
There are two issues being addressed in these verses: the day to worship God and the way to worship God. For the Gentiles that were in the church at Rome at that time, they had no problem with valuing one day over another or eating meat that had been sacrificed in a temple of a false god. For them, the Sabbath had long been a day that they treated just like any other day of the week. They did not grow up being taught the dietary laws of the Law of Moses; for them it was just meat. But for the Christian with the Jewish heritage, the Sabbath was the most holy day of the week and eating the meat was a little bit too close to idol worship. And so, a huge argument arose between the two sides due to their different traditions and backgrounds. They had begun to judge one another.
The key to the Christian life is our heart motivation. The key to understanding all of this is the fact that the Apostle Paul uses the prepositions "to" and "for" in these verses. In v.6 he writes, "to the Lord." And in v.8 he writes, "for the Lord." You see, it all comes back to what is informing our motives. If our motives are anything other than love, even for ourselves, we are not living out of the freedom that Christ earned for us on His cross.
Henri Nouwen said it well when he said, "Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family."
The Apostle Paul here addresses an attitude that would obscure the real meaning of Christianity. The real meaning of Christianity doesn't matter what day we worship on, but that we worship the God of the Bible. And whichever day we choose to worship together corporately, we must make up our own minds about it, and to not judge other people who view this differently than we.
In v.7-8 of today's passage we read, "7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s."
As believers in Christ, we are in the family of God with people who are a lot like us and we are in the family with people who are a lot different than us. The ultimate issue is that of love. The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 5:1, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
Most live in accordance with the BIG LIE which is a formula that we unknowingly operate out of and it says: "My value equals my performance plus what others (including God) thinks of my performance."
I find it interesting that every religion known to man is based upon good works, except the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ! Hinduism tells us that if we renounce the world and relate ourselves to the "spirit of the universe" we will find peace. Buddhism sets before us eight principles by which if we walk according to them we will find ourselves on the way to salvation. Judaism says we must keep the Law of Moses absolutely and then we will be saved. Islam says we must pray five times a day and give alms and fast on the month of Ramadan and obey the commands of Allah. In all of these religions, we hopefully arrive acceptable before God after we have performed enough good works. But, there is no way of truly knowing if we have ever done enough to merit God's favor.
In v.9 of today's passage we read, "For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living."
The Lord Jesus alone has the right to judge us in these areas and He has the ability to do so because He has demonstrated His Lordship by conquering sin and death on our behalf. He deliberately humbled Himself and gave Himself up to death, and so, He alone has won the right to judge anyone. When we judge another, we are trying to take His place as judge.
The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ reminds us that He performed on the behalf of all who place their faith in Him! The Bible is very clear that if we believe in His sacrifice, that He bridged the gap that our sinfulness created between us and God, we will be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ alone has done what no man can do for himself and thus He has set us free from the penalty and power of our sinfulness. I close with a word from my favorite author, Brennan Manning: "Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is your true self. Every other identity is illusion."
