A Strong Faith (Romans 14)

Romans 14:1-9

I want to look as well at the passage from Romans 14. In some ways, Paul is answering the same question: what do we need to do, what do we need to know? In particular, there are questions in Rome about worship practices and dietary restrictions. How often do we need to go to church? Is it okay to eat bacon? Can I eat bacon AT church? As you can imagine, there were, in Paul’s day—as in ours—differences of opinion, differences of practice in some of these matters. Listen again to what Paul says. This is from “The Message” translation.

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.

Transcript

A Strong Faith (Romans 14)

Introduction

Hello, welcome to the Will Preach for Food podcast. I’m Doug, a pastor here at Faith Lutheran Church, based out of Shelton, Washington, a congregation of the ELCA. You can learn more about Faith at our website, www.faithshelton.org. This podcast is being recorded for Sunday, May 7, 2023. Today’s sermon title and theme is “A Strong Faith.” Thanks for choosing to listen to this podcast today. May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to the God who is our Rock and our Redeemer, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

John 14:1-13

The holy Gospel according to St John, the 14th chapter, beginning with the first verse.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

The Gospel of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

I Am the Way

“I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.” That’s what Jesus says: 

·        Without the Way, there is no going.

·        Without the Truth, there is no knowing.

·        Without the Life, there is no growing.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most comforting and hopeful promises of the Bible. Trusting this promise—trusting the one who makes this promise—is called having faith. A strong faith that, as Romans puts it: “nothing in all creation can separate us…”

I also think it is important to pay attention to the conversation that follows. In verse 8, one of the disciples asks Jesus to show them the Father, and that will be enough. Jesus tells him that he has already done that. Jesus and the Father are one and the same. If you know Jesus, you know the Father. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen God. 

When it comes to faith, Jesus is all we need. There is no hidden knowledge, next level, or secret handshake. Jesus is all we need. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. Everything we need to know about God. Everything we need to know about being human.

Romans 14:1-9

I want to look as well at the passage from Romans 14. In some ways, Paul is answering the same question: what do we need to do, what do we need to know? In particular, there are questions in Rome about worship practices and dietary restrictions. How often do we need to go to church? Is it okay to eat bacon? Can I eat bacon AT church? As you can imagine, there were, in Paul’s day—as in ours—differences of opinion, differences of practice in some of these matters. Listen again to what Paul says. This is from “The Message” translation.

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.

We are all guests at Christ’s Table. Paul teaches us to practice freedom AND tolerance. Freedom with regard to the law. Christ alone, by grace, through faith, apart from works of the law. So worship the way you see fit. But whatever you do, or don’t do, is answerable to God. “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…” Freedom, and tolerance…

Tolerance is an old word, but it feels like the best word for today. “Welcome with open arms people who don’t see things the same way you do.” We all have our stories. An author once spent time at a monastery. She asked one of the monks what was hardest about living in community like that. The monk told her it was potatoes. Everyone’s mother cooked potatoes differently, and at the monastery they had to learn how to eat each other’s mom’s recipes for potatoes!

Takeaways

What is a strong Faith? How then, shall we live? What kind of faith community honors God and blesses our world? Four marks of a strong faith:

1.      Hope. Hope in the promise of Jesus. He goes to prepare a place for you, too. This is the free gift of grace, and the promise that nothing, not even death, can separate you from God’s love. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

2.      Christ alone. Jesus is all you need. Here at Faith, consistent with our Lutheran Christian tradition, we preach the three solas: Word alone. Grace alone. Faith alone. Beyond that, everyone of us have different views and beliefs about one thing or another—baptism, communion, end times, spiritual gifts, the nature of existence. People sometimes ask me what Lutheran believe about such and such. My response is that people BELIEVE and THINK all sorts of things. What we TEACH is Christ and him crucified, for us and for our salvation. The Bible, the Catechism, the Augsburg Confessions—2000 years of keeping the main thing the main thing. That leaves a lot of room for debate and disagreement. And that’s okay.

3.      Freedom. Because we are saved by grace, apart from works, we have freedom. On the one hand, this means that no one can tell us what we have to do (a Pentecostal pastor once insisted that the blessing has to be done with the right hand, not the left). It also means that we can be open, brave, try new things, fail often, and form unconventional partnerships with, say, a community theatre group or Spanish speaking Assemblies of God congregation.

4.      Tolerance. And finally, a strong faith is marked by tolerance of others and others’ recipes for potatoes. Or bacon. Or worship. Or politics. Or gun control. Or abortion. In this era of cancel culture and book banning, let’s be radical. Let’s practice tolerance in the name of Jesus. Here are four phrases we can practice in conversation this week:

a.      I hadn’t though about it that way before.

b.      Thank you for sharing your perspective.

c.      Say more about that.

d.      Let’s agree to disagree.

After all Jesus has gone to prepare a place for each one of us, which means we all have a place at the Table of the Lord. We don’t get there because we’re right about everything. And if we are all guests at the invitation of Jesus, who am I to judge or interfere. As Paul says: “If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without our help.

Hope in Christ alone. Freedom with regard to the Law. Tolerance with regard to our neighbors. That is what a Strong Faith is. Amen.

Conclusion

Thanks for listening today. I hope this podcast series is helping you fall more deeply in love with the God who created you, who loves you, and has a purpose for your life. To learn more about Faith, go to our website, www.faithshelton.org. Please “like” us, subscribe, donate, or sign-up for our newsletter. You can subscribe to this podcast on most podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple, and Google. Chas, thanks for your production work on this podcast every week. All glory…