It’s important to ask the right questions in life – in fact, much of our education focuses around finding the right questions to ask, and the best ways to answer them.

Have you ever played the game “Psychologist?”  Tanya used to love to play this game with her youth in Birmingham.  It’s kind of an enhanced version of “20 Questions.”  One person is dubbed the “psychologist” and is sent out of the room.  While that person is gone, everyone else decides what’s “wrong” with them – for instance, everyone thinks that they are Michael Jackson, or everyone thinks they are a dog.  Then the psychologist comes back into the room and has to ask yes/no questions to figure out what’s wrong with everyone.

It can be quite comical – and pretty frustrating, too, if the group chooses to have a problem that’s complex.  For instance, each person thinks they are the person seated directly to his or her left.  It takes some good question asking to figure out what’s going on!

Of course, questions are important in real life, as well.  Take asking directions – unless you get lucky and stumble upon a really good direction-giver, if you don’t know how to ask good questions you can end up more lost than you were to begin with!

Or think about doctors and nurses and healthcare professionals, trying to figure out what’s wrong with someone.  If you focus on the symptoms, ask the wrong questions, you can end up nowhere – or worse, you can end up with the completely wrong diagnosis!

Jesus was a master of asking questions that got to the heart of the matter.

It’s the same in matters of faith.  Each sermon I work to find the questions that are vital to us today, here in this place and time.  Some passages have questions that are easy to find.  Some don’t.  This is one of the latter.

We could ask all kinds of questions about this passage – but only by asking the right questions will we get to the heart of what Paul is saying, and what it means to you and me.

Wrong: Weak Vs. Strong

First is the question, “Who is WEAK and who is STRONG?”  After all, we always want to know where we stand in our faith.  What does God think of us?  What do others think of us?

Admittedly, Paul seems to be acting a bit superior here.  But I don’t think that’s Paul’s tone at all.  After all, Paul has spent several chapters now discussing our relationship to the Law – not just the old Mosaic Law, but to any certain set of practices and rites.  We are free in Christ, he says, to follow the LAW of LOVE and not the old strict laws.

And, Paul has also been very clear to make sure that everyone is seen as equal in God’s eyes – no matter their background, social status, or level of spiritual maturity.

So we can’t get caught up into splitting ourselves into “WEAK” and “STRONG.”  That’s God’s job, not ours.  No matter how strong you might think you are, there are always others somewhere, sometime, who have a stronger faith in some ways.  No matter how weak, there are always others who are newer and less mature in their faith.  And besides, how are we going to classify strength and quality of faith?  What criteria will we use?

These distinctions don’t matter to you and to me.  They don’t even really matter to God.  This question is only a distraction.

Wrong: Looking at the Issues

Another trap we can fall into is looking at the specific issues Paul brings up – vegetarianism, celebration or non-celebration of certain days.  And it would be an easy trap.  We could go on for several sermons digging into the biblical roots of vegetarianism, into the debate over the true day of Sabbath.

But Paul is not talking about the specific issues here – his language shows that these are only examples of where he’s really going.  The issues he raises are rooted in the culture, time and place of the people to whom he was writing – they have no real meaning to us.

Obviously, there were disputes among the Christians in Rome over these two issues.  The

• Vegetarianism – was both a pagan and a Jewish practice.
• “Certain days” are not clarified. Could be the continued observance of Saturday as Sabbath, or the celebration of some cultural holidays observed by the state.

In our context these kinds of issues can take many forms:

• Seventh-day Baptists/Adventists,
• Working on Sunday
• Celebration of Halloween (or Christmas, or Easter), previously pagan holidays
• dietary restrictions,
• praying before meals,
• using contemporary or traditional music
• the style of our worship – formal or informal

In these things that are not explicitly set out in scripture or that are unclear, we must TRUST our brother or sister in Christ to examine God’s word, allow God to speak to them, and follow the convictions given to them by the Holy Spirit.

Right Questions: What is Essential and what is Non-Essential?

How should we respond when we have different opinions?

Here’s the bottom line – Paul is telling us to make a distinction in matters of faith between what is VITAL and what is NOT (14:17-18). Notice that Paul is very clear on excluding certain sinful practices throughout his writings – he’s not being overly tolerant of any and every thing.  Neither is he promoting any kind of religious pluralism.

Rather, he’s cautioning us to be careful to distinguish between ESSENTIALS of the Christian life and NON-ESSENTIALS.  Stand up for the essentials, absolutely!  But on the non-essentials, we have a God-given task to overcome our differences and continue in worship and witness.  Our goal is not to achieve the perfect set of beliefs, but to glorify God by our love and unity (15:5-6).

This was the problem the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day faced. They were so busy looking at the details of the non-essential things that they missed the most important essential of LOVE.  That’s why Jesus boiled it down for them – the most important commandment was not one of the myriad little ordinances in the Mosaic Law.  Rather, it was a summation of the whole Law – “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Paul points out the most important essentials in 14:17-18:  For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, ¹⁸because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

Focal Questions:

• What are our ESSENTIALS?
• What strong convictions do we hold outside those Essentials?
• How can we preserve love, peace and unity when we disagree about these non-essential things?

©2012 Notes From Jon. All Rights Reserved.

The following doesn’t read the same as it came out in the sermon – this is basically an expanded commentary on the text.  I’d love to hear your thoughts…

——————-

Through the Book of Romans
(Hopping, Skipping and Jumping)

When & Why

Paul likely wrote this letter near the end of his third missionary journey, during his long stay in Corinth.  Paul had never been to Rome, even though he had hoped to for many years.  His work in the East had kept him so busy that he had not made it to Italy yet.  But now he considers his work in Asia Minor to be complete, so he hopes to stop by Rome on his way to Spain – which at that time was the Western edge of the civilized world.  It’s almost as if Paul was working to spread the Gospel to the “corners” of the earth. So Paul hoped the church in Rome would be a kind of headquarters for his mission work in the West.

This was also a crucial time in Paul’s ministry:

• He was poised to take the Gospel to even wider regions of the world.

• He had made many enemies among both Jews and Christians, both of whom were distorting his message.

• His message had not, to our knowledge, been completely written down – only in parts, as he wrote to the various churches.

So Paul uses this opportunity to write out some of his thoughts, and “flesh out” his presentation of the Gospel.

Romans is NOT a theology textbook.  Paul took some time to get it together, but it is not an exhaustive account of his theology (in other words, you can’t just look here for all your answers – you still have to look at the whole Bible before you make any theological judgments about what you find in Romans).

The Church in Rome

The Roman church was likely founded by Jews who came there over the course of decades – maybe even a few who were present at the day of Pentecost.

It’s hard to explain how important Rome was in the ancient world.  The ancient mind did not have as global a perspective as we do today – they had maps that were imperfect at best, and they thought more locally.  Rather than thinking of kingdoms or nations with borders, they thought in terms of cities.  A city simply expanded its influence out into the area beyond it.

So the Roman Empire was merely an extension of the city of Rome.  Rome was the hub, the center of all activity in the Empire.  So if you were going to spread word about something quickly in that world, the best place to go would be the hub.  That’s why Paul wanted to go there so badly.

But the Gospel had already gone there.  A movement as quick and as passionate as Christianity in those early days would certainly have reached Rome – everything went through Rome.  A fledgling church had already started there, and apparently had already gotten out of hand.  The fight over the new faith was nowhere as strong as it was between Jews who practiced the new religion and those who practiced the old religion.  The fight between these two groups in Rome was so fierce that Emperor Claudius had expelled most of the Jews from the city in order to keep the peace.

The point:  Most of the Christians in Rome to whom Paul writes are Gentiles, so Paul has to do some explaining at times to help them understand the Jewish background.

All these facts come together to make Romans a beautiful letter, and a very rich expression of Paul’s understanding of the Christian faith at that time.

Beginning the Letter

1:1-7 – Paul leaves no doubt about who he is, who he serves, and who he is writing to.  In fact, in just a short paragraph, Paul lays out the essence of the Good News he preaches.  This is the “Gospel” he will talk about in the letter to come:

• Jesus is God’s Son divinely, and humanly is descended from David

• His coming and work were foretold by the prophets in the Scriptures

• He was resurrected as a sign of his status as God’s Son.

• From his work, we have received both grace and responsibility to take his good news to all the nations.

1:8-15 – Paul explains why he is writing (see above).

1:16-17 – Paul begins by saying he is not ashamed of the Gospel.  Why would he be ashamed?  He’s given us clues elsewhere:

In Corinthians, Paul alludes to the fact that the story of Jesus is foolishness.  Who would die for a bunch of sinful people?  How would one man’s death cancel out the wrongs that someone else had done?

The Gospel is also plain and simple in ways.  There is only one God, not dozens who mingle and bicker with one another.  No great list of tasks must be achieved to make God happy – unlike many religions of the time that required a lifetime of rituals and sacrifices.  The Good News is that we don’t have to navigate all those difficult things to be made right with God.

Our Gospel was not as logical and complex, not nearly so developed as the many alternatives one could find in the city of Rome.  Who would want this simple and foolish religion in place of ones that made much more sense and were so much more tangible?

“I do,” says Paul.  “I’m not ashamed to claim this Gospel.”  And he’s not ashamed to PROCLAIM it.

These are pivotal verses in the writings of Paul, because for the first time we begin to see that the Gospel is not just a set of words.  It’s not a tract that we hand out to people, or a set prayer that everyone has to get just right.

The Gospel does not SHOW the power of God.  It is not the STORY of the power of God.

No, the Gospel IS THE POWER OF God for salvation.  When truly present, the Good News of God is alive and active, and God’s Spirit works to bring about a response in the heart of the one who comprehends it.  Evangelist D.L. Moody described it best – the Gospel is like a lion.  All we have to do is open the cage and get out of the way!

“Righteousness of God” is debated (what kind of genitive is it?), but whatever Paul meant by it, it’s clear that:

• It is GOD’S righteousness and not ours,

• It is mysteriously intertwined with faith,

• We are called, somehow, to live in light of that righteousness.

1:18-20 – There is an age-old debate about what happens to those who have never heard the Gospel.  What about the people who lived before Christ?  What about those who lived after, but never heard about him – whether because they lived too far away, or because no one bothered to tell them?

Paul seems to give a hint of an answer at that question.  He speaks of the “ungodliness and unrighteousness of human beings,” but he doesn’t say those things are because they do not know.  No one, Paul says, can plead IGNORANCE.  Rather, ungodliness and unrighteousness come in those who “suppress the truth.”  Paul says they KNOW the truth – they are NOT ignorant.  Rather, they are choosing to ignore and suppress the truth.

That might be a hard pill to swallow – how can people be condemned even when they haven’t heard of God?  Paul lays out his argument:

While not everyone has heard the specific and full revelation of God through Jesus, EVERYONE has perceived at some level that there must be a creator.

So while every human being may not know what God commands specifically, EVERY human being will be held responsible for how he or she has responded to God as HE HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO THEM.

Therefore, every human being is under judgment at some level – we are all without excuse.

Paul implies that “we all worship something.”  If it’s not God, it’s a substitute for God.  Every human being comes to a realization at some point that he or she is only a small part of the universe, and not in control of everything.  So we find meaning in life by how we choose to orient our lives and our actions.

We all worship something.  It may be God, MONEY, POWER, OURSELVES, OUR FAMILY, OUR REPUTATION… the list is endless.  But while some of these things are good – God created some of these things – they are no substitute for God.

So every human being either responds positively to God, or negatively.  And we are responsible for how we have responded.

24-25 – Again, Paul is eloquent in describing how God acts in response to our unrighteousness.  He gives us a choice of how we will respond – and if the outcome is not what he wants, he will not force it on us.  He allows us to chase after the desires of our hearts.  This determines how we will act.

And Paul is not just speaking of those who have heard and rejected.  God’s wrath is directed against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness.  It’s hard to conceive, and we don’t understand it completely.  But even those who have not heard of Christ will, in some way, be responsible for how they have responded to what God has shown them.  We can only guess how their response will be accepted by God.

And that’s where we go “from preachin’ to meddlin’.”  Because I have to ask myself this question:  If the people who have never heard of Jesus Christ have no excuse, where does that leave ME?  Some people haven’t ever heard God’s call, but I hear it every day – when I look around and see the state our world is in, when I hear someone talk about how they can’t apply faith to their life, when I see someone who’s in desperate need of just the most basic human needs.

I hear the call all the time, and sometimes I don’t respond.  For whom will it be worse – those who never heard, or those who heard and didn’t respond?

©2012 Notes From Jon. All Rights Reserved.