“We Belong to God”

Romans 14:1-12
Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.
We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
For it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.

Well, folks, you heard it straight from Paul. The weak eat only vegetables, so sorry to the vegetarians but let’s go have some steak for lunch and call it a day! 

I’m kidding, of course! This passage from Romans must feel quite a bit different to us reading it today than it did to its original audience because we have no idea why eating meat or not was such a big deal. It brings to mind a meme that has been circulating in my clergy circles this week that said, “2000 years from now, people will not understand the difference between ‘butt dial’ and ‘booty call’ and that is exactly why the BIble is hard to understand.” What can I say? It’s true! Linguistically, we understand what meat is, but why does Paul think that eating meat makes you spiritually strong? 

If you’ll remember back to the book of Acts and Peter’s dramatic encounter with the risen Christ over what food was considered “clean” or “unclean”, food had massive spiritual meaning to the early church. Jews kept to strict kosher laws, which included not eating food that had been sacrificed to pagan gods. Gentiles who converted to Christianity had no such history of avoiding certain foods. They saw these rules as archaic and unnecessary to the gospel and what it means to be Christian. In Rome, the church was made up of both Jewish and Gentile Christians, which led to many of the struggles for unity that Paul was trying to address. In Galatians, Paul will say, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” But in Romans 14, Paul is not just describing identities but behaviors of followers of Christ. Some people in the Roman church ate even meat dedicated to idols, while others did not. Some wanted the Holy Day of worship to be on Saturday, as it is in Judaism, and others wanted Sunday to be the Lord’s Day. Both groups of people thought that their way of worshiping was the truest, best form of worship. 

While these fights might seem trivial to us now, I can assure you that they were anything but that! This was all taking place at a time when Christianity itself was brand new. What it meant to be a Christian was still very much up for debate. And so these early Christians wanted to make sure that they were doing this right. They fought on issues like meat eating and worship timing because they believed it mattered deeply. I don't fault them for believing that how they live their lives matters. I don't think Paul did either. However, he was strict, sure, and straight to the point was the fact that these disagreements could not come at the expense of unity.

There is a famous quote that has been attributed to everyone from Saint Augustine in the 4th century to Martin Luther in the 16th century that says, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” That quote has guided me through ecumenical relationships and partnerships since I first heard it when I was in college. Yes, we disagree on a lot of important things, but on the essentials, we agree. The quote reminds us to have unity over the things that really matter. The famous ecumenical councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, and Ephesus. These were about those essentials– Do we believe that Jesus really is God or not? Was Jesus fully human or did just appear to be human? These are essential to our faith and anything outside of those doctrinal statements are heresies. But then there are the non-essentials– what we wear to church Sundays, the time we worship, the food that we eat. Paul seems to say that these are non-essentials. Figure out a way to come together despite your differences! That famous quote asks us to allow liberty and the ability to disagree and live our faith differently than other Christians. To disagree but not be disagreeable. For unity is above all things essential.

Now I do want to say as an aside that the question of who gets to decide what is essential or nonessential is a complicated one. Unfortunately, people in power have often used this binary to shut down voices of dissent who are asking and calling for change. When queer folks asked for full inclusion of the church, many leaders said “no no no! We must have unity so don't break off. Don't ask for more. We can't split and divide over this. This couldn’t possibly be essential. Don’t go against Paul’s teaching. Remember unity?”

But things like ordination and acceptance of women in the pulpit or queer people in marriage and leadership is not about our thoughts on leadership. It is not unessential because it is about Imago Dei and the foundational belief that all of us– all of who we are is made in God’s good image. Full stop. No exceptions. So, do we believe that God made queer people in God's own image just the way that God made straight people? Do we believe that women are called into leadership and filled with the same Holy Spirit that fills men? These are not “unessential” questions. My calling by the Holy Spirit is not unessential to my life. And so, by staying true to what I believe is God's truth, I have chosen to not be in perfect unity with other Christians who disagree with me.The fact that we have denominations at all is evidence that the church has chosen separation over unity over and over again. That is something that Paul would certainly mourn that I believe Christ himself mourns. 

And yet, as faithful followers of Christ, we strive for unity in the midst of our broken, messy world. The Church (capital C) may be fractured and divided, but we can still strive for unity in our own little corner of the Body of Christ. In my short month here, it’s been wonderful to see that this congregation is not in the midst of a painful fight that divides people into camps on either side of an issue. I know it’s happened before and it may happen again. Probably not about eating meat or which day of the week is holiest, but we will find something. The church always does. And when we do, it will be our obligation to remember to whom we belong. “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” 

Freedom is Christ is one of the great promises of the gospel. But what does that freedom mean? In Paul’s mind, it means we are free to eat meat if we want to eat meat and abstain if we want to abstain. We are free to live in accordance with our conscience, which God alone is Lord of. This is one of our foundational beliefs as Presbyterians. God is the Lord of our conscience and if we are truly listening to that still, small voice of God within us, then we are being faithful. But that freedom is not unlimited. We cannot use our freedom to lord it over believers who act and think differently than we do. For those who are lifelong believers, we cannot brag or judge new believers who are figuring out what their faith means to them. Our freedom is conditional— we cannot use it to hurt, belittle, or discourage others. It is as if in professing our faith in God that we have all taken the hippocratic oath to do no harm. 

It is good to live as free people but it is better to live as free people who know they belong to God. And because we belong to God, we belong to one another. So do not put a “stumbling block” as Paul puts it, in the way of someone who believes differently than you. Do not force someone to believe or worship or behave as you do, but give them space to listen to their conscience and follow where God takes them. Friends, if you live, live to the Lord, and if you die, die to the Lord. Whether you live or whether you die, remember that you are the Lord’s.