West Cocoa Chat

It is amazing to me how our lives can go through various stages within a matter of days. On Monday Barb and I started our 28^th year of school. As late as Monday afternoon our School District had not made up it’s mind as to whether we would be open on Tuesday. That call was made later that evening and then another 3 times as we ended up missing the rest of the week courtesy of Tropical Storm Fay and her 20 plus inches of rain.

I think it was Dee and Randy who remarked about the stress I was communicating on Wednesday night as we felt the full force of Fay. Tonight we went out with 10 of our friends to our favorite Mexican Restaurant and then enjoyed a movie together. A very stress-less environment. Life can literally turn on a dime or in this case, a tortilla chip. The food was good and the movie was funny but what made the evening was relationship.

Without being so pompous that I would try to interject my logic on God, I do think there is a rhyme and reason to why Jesus tells the Pharisees that the two greatest Commandments in Matthew 22 are:

³⁶"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" ³⁷Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

The second commandment implies relationship. We cannot be a church of one and if you’ve ever seen one of my favorite movies, Christmas Vacation, it also means that we’re going to have to work with each other. There will be times when everyone is getting along and then there will be times when you’ll feel like Clark Griswold from the movie when after a number of family disasters he tells his wife Ellen, “We’re on the threshold of Hell.”

Paul anticipated these times among believers. Part of his letter to the Church in Rome where he delves deep into the theory behind the Gospel, he addresses these times in Romans 14:

¹ Accept those whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. ² One person's faith allows them to eat everything, but another person, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted that person. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master they stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

⁵ Some consider one day more sacred than another; others consider every day alike. Everyone should be fully convinced in his or her own mind. ⁶ Those who regard one day as special do so to the Lord. Those who eat meat do so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and those who abstain do so to the Lord and give thanks to God. ⁷ For we do not live to ourselves alone and we do not die to ourselves alone. ⁸ If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹ For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat your brother or sister with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. ¹¹ It is written:
" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
'every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.' " ^[a]

¹² So then, we will all give an account of ourselves to God.

¹³ 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.

As I said earlier, the matters of eating meat sacrificed to idols and the observance of pagan holidays were considered serious doctrinal matters. Sound familiar? Do we have these kinds of discussions today? Absolutely. How do we handle them? Let’s let Paul speak.

Vs. 4 – Paul says have your discussions but leave the judging out.

Vs. 5 – Paul says its O.K. to have a strong opinion.

Vs. 10 – Paul not only says leave the judgment at home, again, he also says watch that attitude.

Vs. 13 – Paul says the first and primary level of sustaining our relationships in the church is to not put a stumbling block in front of your brother. He clearly defines that stumbling block in verse 13 as the passing of judgment on each other.

We can have our opinions and differences in the church as long as we value the relationship above the issue. Being in a community of faith is hard work. We have to work at getting along with each other when we have differences in doctrine. We also have to work at being open in our relationships so we can assimilate new folks that come into our church family.

I’m so proud of our church for it is in this matter, relationships, that they seem to excel. As a church moves towards non-denominational / autonomous Christianity, there will be differences of opinion. I love the way our church works at working this out but we all know it can go awry at a moment’s notice. May we all be in communities of faith that can follow this pattern of Paul’s in Romans 14.

// posted by cwinwc @ 9:21 PM