Good News! Digesting the Book of Romans

Question of the day:  Your favorite Christmas eve tradition or experience is what?

A warning. A stern instruction. To the Romans? To us?

Perhaps this chapter  more than all other chapters in the bible seems to be almost written directly to us, us the Seventh-day Adventist Church.  I will never forget the first time I read this chapter.  After reading it I just sat silent for a while digesting it all.  The second time I remember hearing it was about 10 years ago during a worship at MPA.  The chaplain at the time read it to the staff from the message bible.  Again, I was stunned.  Stunned because it sounded like it was written just for us. So today I am going to title this study as, "A warning to the SDA church- A warning to me."

Before we read the chapter there are a couple things we need to understand.  First, this was written to the Romans because of cultural rituals that we don't do and don't understand.  It had a lot to do with food that had been sacrificed for false gods.  I debated on how much we need to delve into all that to better understand this chapter and decided that there is a lot here for us even if we don't understand all the reasons why it was written.  The message is still the same.  Second, it is important to know that this chapter is in no way saying that the Sabbath isn't important any more, or that it doesn't matter what you eat.  I want us to realize that right up front. Perhaps we should go into all the rituals and customs to better explain what he is saying so that we understand that is not what he is saying, however because of time, we are going to just get to what he is saying.  I would encourage you to study this in your own time.

READ: Romans 14

We are going to read it this morning in the Message.  I know we don't usually read it in the Message first, but today we will.

Cultivating Good Relationships

14 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.

2-4 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 he should only be a vegetarian 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.

5 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.

6-9 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.

10-12 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.

13-14 Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I’m convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it.

15-16 If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat or don’t eat, you’re no longer a companion with them in love, are you? These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died. Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet? Don’t you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!

17-18 God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.

19-21 So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. You’re certainly not going to permit an argument over what is served or not served at supper to wreck God’s work among you, are you? I said it before and I’ll say it again: All food is good, but it can turn bad if you use it badly, if you use it to trip others up and send them sprawling. When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus. So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating. Don’t eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love.

22-23 Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong.

Verse 1: Welcome with open arms those who don't believe like you.

How can we do this?

Who has God been poking you to reach out to?

Open arms... what does that look like?

Verses 2-4: Let God do the convicting! He is capable of doing it without you!

Do we too often act as if we, "the remnant" are the only ones chosen to come to God's table?

Verse 5-9: Live your convictions. Do what he has asked you to do!

Verses 10-12:  You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God. 

As we approach the beginning of a New Year, what is God asking of you this next year?  

Where does He want you to focus? 

What have you been putting off working on with Him?  

Verses13-14:  Don't get in the way of what God is trying to do in the lives of others.

How do we get in the way?

How can we contaminate things?

Verses 15-16: Don’t you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!

Ouch!

Verses 17-18  God's Kingdom is a matter of what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy.

How do we single mindedly serve Christ?

Verses 19-21  So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other.
How do we share the life of Jesus?
What would that look like?

Verse 22-23  Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others.

As we celebrate this Christmas season, how can we put this into practice?

As we grow together as a church, how do we put this into practice?

As we live in our families, how do we put this into practice?

This chapter is not just about food.

This chapter is not just about the Sabbath.

This chapter is about bowing at the feet of Jesus and living a life of surrender to Him.  

If I am bowing at the feet of Jesus I am not looking at those beside me. 

If I am living a life surrendered, my focus is not on what you are doing or not doing but on what He is calling me to do.

I want to challenge us this next year to love and serve those around us with complete abandon! Let God do the transforming in your life and in theirs!  Share the life of Jesus! To do that live surrendered.  Live! 

So many times when we are compelled to "fix" those around us, it is really because we are wanting to avoid what God is trying to do in our lives!

Stop avoiding the work He is trying to do in your life!  Stop getting distracted by looking around and start looking up!

We will be amazed at the year we will all have, if we will live as His!