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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 4
Romans 14:7-17 (ESV)
Do not judge, we heard Jesus say on Sunday. And we gave some examples of what sinful judging looks like, as opposed to the good, God-pleasing judging that Christians are supposed to do all the time, judging between right and wrong, good and bad, wise and unwise. Judging is good and right, as long as it flows from a heart of mercy, and as long as it is “righteous,” that is, as long as it is in line with the teachings of God’s Word.
And that’s exactly what Paul was writing to the Romans about in the Second Lesson you heard this evening. Christians may well have to judge other Christians in matters of right and wrong, where God’s Word has taught us that certain things are right and others are wrong, that certain things are commanded by God whereas other things are forbidden. Where God’s Word has spoken, judgment can and should be made. We’ll use the example of Chip and Joanna Gaines. For over a decade they’ve hosted a Fixer Upper show on TV, all the while promoting themselves as active Christians. This week, it came out that they’ve produced a new series that includes a family made up of “married” gay men and two children that these men acquired through surrogacy, something that’s clearly unrighteous, according to God’s Word. When Christians began to call out their sinful behavior, they complained, like clockwork, that these Christians were “judging” them. Yes, we are, because God’s Word has spoken on this issue. We judge rightly where God Himself judges.
But where God’s Word has not spoken, where God has not commanded or forbidden something, in such cases, Christians are not to pass judgment on one another.
The specific examples set forth in Romans 14 are the examples of eating or not eating certain foods, observing or not observing certain days as sacred. Let me read for you the verses that come before the verses you heard earlier: As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. Here Paul calls it a “weakness” in someone’s faith to believe that God only permits him to eat vegetables. It’s a weakness in faith, because it’s a belief that’s not based on God’s Word. It’s a made-up opinion. The truth is, God has permitted mankind to eat meat as well as vegetables. All foods are “clean” under the New Testament.
But, just because it’s permissible to eat meat doesn’t mean that God has commanded all people to eat meat. He hasn’t. So, if a person has such a weak faith, thinking that he would be sinning against God if he eats meat, and, therefore, eats only vegetables, because he’s convinced that God permits him to eat vegetables, so what? Those who know better, that God permits us to eat all kinds of food, have no business passing judgment on the one who only eats vegetables, just as the one who only eats vegetables has no business passing judgment on those who eat meat, because this is an area that God has left free. In matters that are free, neither one is to judge the other.
Or, in a second example, Paul writes: One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. Under the Old Testament, God commanded Israel to consider the Sabbath Day as sacred. Under the New Testament, that’s no longer the case. Neither Saturday, nor Sunday, nor any other day of the week or year is more sacred in God’s eyes. This also applies to days like Christmas or Easter or any other holiday that we’ve chosen to observe. God doesn’t command us to observe those days—nor does He forbid us from observing those days. In fact, it’s a weakness in a person’s faith to imagine that a certain day of the week or month or year is actually holy in God’s sight. Sundays, Wednesdays, Christmas and Easter—these days are not holy of themselves. They’re simply the days that we’ve decided together, in Christian freedom, when we’re going to gather to hear God’s Word and receive His Sacraments, which He has commanded us to keep doing.
But what if someone does consider Sunday to be more sacred than another day, and chooses not only to worship on that day, without fail, but to avoid work on that day as well, and to fast on Sundays, and other such things? What if someone is convinced that God wants him in church on every feast day in the Christian calendar, and so he faithfully attends? He’s not harming anyone. No one should judge him for that, just as he shouldn’t judge those who don’t worship on all the same days in the calendar that he does.
For none of us Christians, Paul writes, lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For 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, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? 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 confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Here the Apostle redirects our thinking, reminding us that each believer lives to please God, and even dies to please God. There’s no use trying to nitpick the service that other Christians render to God. On the last day, God will call each Christian to give an account to God, not of his brother, but of himself. That’s a sobering reminder, isn’t it? It’s a reminder to turn away from all sin, including the sin of sinful judging, and to take refuge in the cross of Christ, so that, when we give an account of ourselves to God, we won’t have to answer for our sins, because Christ, in whom we believed, has already answered for them for us. We certainly don’t want to add to our sins by judging—or by despising!—our brother for whom Christ died.
Finally, Paul writes: Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The things we’re not supposed to be judging other Christians about—like what they eat or drink, or other things that have nothing to do with God’s commandments about right and wrong—are just distractions from the important things, like walking in love, and true righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. If we let God define love for us, if we let God define righteousness in His Word, instead of defining them based on our own opinions or ideas, or worse, the world’s opinions and ideas, then we won’t waste our time criticizing and passing judgment over the things that don’t matter, because those things aren’t related to love or to righteousness. Focus on love, which may involve pointing out things that are actually sins, out of love for the sinner. But it may also involve modifying your own behavior, in things that are free, because love’s highest goal is not to “do whatever you want” or to exercise maximum freedom at all times. No, love’s highest goal is to honor God in all things and to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ, just as Christ so selflessly served us, so that, instead of grieving them or causing them to stumble, we help one another along in this life, until, together, we reach our Father’s home. Amen.
