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Cape Elizabeth Church of the Nazarene |
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Texts:
Romans
14:1-12
“Pastor, you’re wrong!”
Those words greeted me one Monday morning shortly after I arrived in my
study. Ripping open the Bible, this
person informed of where I was wrong and what needed to be done about it!
Interrupting the conversation I attempted to communicate how and why I
interpreted a certain doctrine of the church in a particular manner.
Rebuked for being wrong I was told that my ministry was in vain and I was
a tool of Satan. I responded offering that “we’d have to agree to disagree
on this particular issue.” We
prayed and the person left my study never to return.
“You’re wrong!”
That, apparently, was a common phrase bouncing around the fellowship
times at the Rome First Church. “You
can’t do that and still be Christian!”
“You can’t eat that and call yourself a Christian!” “You can’t
go there and still be Christian!” “You
have to celebrate these festivals if you want to remain a part of this
community!” “No I don’t!”
“Yes you do!” It appears
that the fellowship at Rome First Church was fractured and fragmented.
And so Paul writes, after clarifying that one is set free from sin by
grace through faith alone, “welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for
the purpose of quarreling over opinions” (Romans 14:1).
Can you believe it?
In light of the Gospel and who Christ has made us to be through his death
and resurrection, there were disagreements within the body of Christ -- the
Church! And it seems to be over
issues of food and festivals. A
disagreement over food? Imagine the
scene with me. A group here says
that being Christian means eating only vegetables on fellowship days.
No meat. No dessert.
No chocolate. Another group, catching wind of the plan, shows up with only
meat, dessert, and chocolate flaunting their position that they can be Christian
and eat only meat, dessert, and chocolate.
In essence, that’s the type of community to which
Paul is writing. But it really
wasn’t about food or festivals, the deeper issue was whether one could be
Christian and still be a Jew or whether being a Gentile Christian meant that you
had to become Jewish. Unfortunately,
neither group knew where to draw the line regarding their faith and the living
out of their faith.
Fortunately, we’ve moved far beyond those issues
of food and festivals. Or have we?
In the early years of the Church of the Nazarene there was much
discussion and debate over issues of dress, dance, and other secondary details.
You see, some from the Northern area believed the southerners carried
with them a little too much legalism. Here
this accounting of the merger at Pilot Point in 1908: “And
so at last the October day came when weary travelers from four corners of the
nation climbed off the trains at Pilot Point and headed for the big tent beside
Brother Roberts’ rescue home. The
links of their fellowship had been forged on many anvils, yet tense moments of
debate must temper them again before they could be joined. At one point in the proceedings, discussion of such matters
as wedding rings and tobacco became so heated that H. D. Brown rose to suggest
that if union could be had only at the price of multiplying rules the Nazarenes
should let the southerners go. His
speech, repeated several times, was finally reduced to the words, “Mr.
Chairman, let them go.” Dr.
Bresee, his hand upraised, responded each time, “We cannot let them go,
Brother Brown; they are our own folks.” Like
so many other leaders in both North and South, Bresee had caught the vision of a
national holiness denomination, which should set ablaze a line of churches and
missions in every city of the nation.
“Under the grip of this simple, evangelistic
impulse, the southerners agreed to accept the consecration they could see in
place of the legislation they desired. The delegates agreed to spell out in full in the “general
rule” on modesty and simplicity the scriptural references to woman’s dress
in I Timothy 2:9-10 and I Peter 3:8. They
reworded slightly the “advice” on tobacco, and dropped the ring ceremony
from the marriage ritual. But that
was all. What won out over argument
was brotherliness; love prevailed over law.
And so the Nazarenes became one people, North and South, East and West”
(Timothy Smith, Called Unto Holiness: The Story of the Nazarenes: The
Formative Years, p. 220).
But where do we draw the line?
How do we prevent ourselves from falling into the “whatever goes”
trap currently engulfing society at large?
(For we know that the manner in which we live is a reflection of our
faith and our understanding of who God is in our lives.)
How do we love when we disagree adamantly?
How do we love when others criticize us or our way of doing things?
We know that Paul is writing to a Christian
church, people like you and me. We know
that each person is an individual and that Paul’s context is especially
difficult due to the mixture of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.
But, in some senses, it sounds as if Paul might fit well within this
postmodern, relativistic culture. Tolerance
is the goal! What’s right for me,
might not be right for you but that’s okay!
So, then, what is our position and posture to other Christians?
To other churches? To other
para-church groups and organizations? Better
yet, what is Christian freedom?
Paul’s point is that the Christian is not a law
unto himself or herself. And
neither is any Christian a law unto someone else. One cannot claim freedom for oneself without allowing freedom
to the other. What is right for one
cannot be a sure guide to what is right for another.
But. . . what, then, is of unarguable necessity?
What is the core conviction to which we must adhere?
As we look into these words in chapter 14 we must
refresh ourselves with what has said previously.
In Romans 8 he writes: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (v. 2).
Because of the work of God in Christ and by accepting his free gift of
new life by confessing with our lips and believing in our hearts that Jesus was
raised from the death and by opening ourselves completely to him, we are set
free from sin. Then, in another
work of God, the very Spirit of Christ -- the Holy Spirit -- frees us from the
prescribed law by cleansing us of sin and, in it’s place, fills us with the
very love of God and we are set free to love.
Charles Wesley writes: “Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in
sin and nature’s night. Thine eye
diffused a quick’ning ray. I
woke; the dungeon flamed with light! My
chains fell off; my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee”
(Charles Wesley, “And Can It Be?” in Sing to the Lord, p. 225).
In his famous sermon entitled “Catholic
Spirit,” John Wesley accounts differences of opinion, worship, and even
important doctrinal issues as of little significance in how we approach and
treat other persons. He writes: “I
dare not, therefore, presume to impose my mode of worship on any other.
I believe it is truly primitive and apostolical: But my belief is no rule
for another. I ask not, therefore, of him with whom I would unite in love,
Are you of my church? of my congregation? Do you receive the same form of Church
government, and allow the same Church officers, with me?
Do you join in the same form of prayer wherein I worship God?
I inquire not, Do you receive the supper of the Lord in the same posture
and manner that I do? nor whether, in the administration of baptism, you agree
with me. . . . Nay, I ask not of you . . . whether you allow baptism and the
Lord’s supper at all. Let all
these things stand by; we will talk of them, if need be, at a more convenient
season; my only question at present is this, -- “Is thine heart right, as my
heart is with thy heart?”” (John
Wesley, “Catholic Spirit” in The Works of John Wesley, vol. 5) Although Wesley
admonishes us to be fully convinced of our own stances in these matters, we
should not impose them on others, but let our encounters be defined by love and
prayer. Wesley, for example, says: “while
he [a catholic spirit] is steadily fixed in his religious principles, in what he
believes to be truth as it is in Jesus; while he firmly adheres to that worship
of God which he judges to be most acceptable in his sight; and while he is
united by the tenderest and closest ties to one particular congregation -- his
heart is enlarged toward all mankind, those he knows and those he knows not; he
embrace with strong and cordial affection, neighbours [sic] and strangers,
friends and enemies. This is
catholic or universal love. And he
that has this is of a catholic spirit. For
love alone gives the title to this character: Catholic love is a catholic
spirit” (Wesley, p. 503). This appears indeed an
attitude astonishingly open toward others and their differences.
Love must always frame our actions and reactions.
What we do and how we act must be driven and determined by the love of
God. Likewise, how we respond and
what we say to others must erupt out of the love of God being poured into our
hearts!
One phrase continues to resonate with me: “What
won out over argument was brotherliness; love prevailed over law” (Smith,
220). You see, loves always wins!
Paul, formerly Saul the persecutor of the church, is so convinced of the
power of the love of God that he reminds his Christian friends time and again
that love always wins. To the
church in Rome he says: “Let love be genuine.
Love one another with mutual affection.
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves
another has fulfilled the law. Love
does no wrong to a neighbor.” To
the church in Corinth Paul writes: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not
envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It
does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not
rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes in all things, hopes in all things endures
all things. Love never ends” (I
Corinthians 13:4-8a). To the church
in Ephesus Paul says: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and
live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering
and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1). To
the church at Colossae he writes: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another,
forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together
in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:12-14).
All of these admonitions to love erupt out of
Paul’s personal encounter with God on the Damascus Road.
In every letter Paul writes he presents the Good News and, then, proceeds
to illustrate who we become through the cross; through the death and
resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Our
lives become God’s illustrations to the world at large.
Living our lives to God’s greater glory always begins and always ends
at the foot of the cross! For in
the cross we discover the love of God for ourselves and find out that love
always wins! Love always triumphs -- even over death! “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as our does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones” (I Thessalonians 3:12-13). Go this day in the peace, the presence and the power of our resurrected Lord -- Jesus the Christ! Amen!
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