ACTING IN LOVE

Considering one Another
(Romans 14:11-15:7)

Paul is sometimes viewed as a driven and uncaring person. In this sermon, preached at Greyfriars Classical Service on 18 November 2007, Rob Yule shows that Paul is in fact a remarkably caring pastoral leader, concerned that Christians respect the needs and feelings of others, even the weakest and most insignificant among them. This passage, moreover, illustrates how Paul derives his ethics from his theology. His wise counsel about how Christians should behave is drawn from basic convictions about what Christians believe.

Paul has an undeserved reputation as a hard-liner. This passage shows that he is a wise and compassionate leader, concerned that all God’s people respect each another and live in a manner worthy of God’s love in Christ which has redeemed them. Paul desires our unity as Christians. He is concerned about how we relate to one another, concerned that we are respectful of the needs and feelings of all, even the weakest and most insignificant.

How we behave

Look at Paul’s key exhortations:

‘Let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in another believer’s way.’ (14:13).

‘Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.’ (14:19).

‘We should all please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.’ (15:2).

‘Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.’ (15:7).

These exhortations show Paul’s pastoral heart, his concern for right relationships, his interest in people getting on with one another, his desire that we live not just for ourselves but always consider others. Paul is not just a visionary mission strategist. He is a wise pastoral leader, concerned for the corporate welfare of the Roman church and for how we relate to one another today.

What we believe

What is characteristic of Paul in this passage is the way these exhortations how we are to behave are based on convictions about what we believe.

We have already observed this in Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul draws his ethics from his theology, his advice about behaviour from his understanding of belief, his teaching about human relationships from his convictions about divine revelation.

In this passage about the strong and the weak, Paul deals with some very ordinary human problems, yet he grounds them in some very exalted theological principles. Biblical expositor Griffith Thomas very appositely called this passage ‘High Doctrines for Humble Duties.’

Let’s look at the theological affirmations he bases his pastoral exhortations on:

1. Christ died to be our Saviour

The primary basis of Paul’s counsel that we should consider others is his conviction that Jesus Christ gave his life for us.

He writes, ‘For we do not live to ourselves alone and we do not die to ourselves alone. 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. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.’ (14:7-9).

Later he continues, ‘We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. We should all please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.’ (15:1-4, TNIV).

We’re not to live for ourselves, because Christ didn’t live for himself. Jesus has been rightly described as ‘the man for others’. We’re not to live selfish lives, pleasing ourselves, because Jesus didn’t live selfishly, pleasing himself. We should live for God and for one another, because he lived for God and for others.

Christ so identified himself with the service of God, Paul says (quoting Psalm 69:9), that the insults of those who insulted God fell on him. He so identified himself with God’s cause and honour, that the shocking and irrational hatred human beings have toward God — people’s curses and swearing — fell on him instead. He literally bore our sins in his body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24).

‘Christ did not please himself’ (15:3) — this simple statement sums up with moving simplicity the meaning of the incarnation, the character of Jesus’ earthly ministry, and the underlying purpose of his death. It should move us to live for others too.

2. Christ rose to be our Lord

The second theological reason Paul gives why we should be considerate of others is that Christ rose victorious over death. ‘For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.’ (14:9).

Death is not the end. Righteous living is not for nothing. Personal sacrifices are not in vain. Paul’s thought is similar to the triumphant conclusion of his extended treatment of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians: ‘Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.’ (1 Corinthians 15:58).

The loss of this eternal perspective is one of the major causes of the spread of immorality, injustice, and iniquity in the world today. In his great novel The Brothers Karamazov, the nineteenth century Russian novelist Dostoevsky foresaw the evils that would be unleashed upon the world by the growth of atheistic materialism. In the novel Ivan Karamazov, the atheistic intellectual, hypothesises that ‘If God did not exist, everything would be permitted — even cannibalism.’ In the world today we are seeing the shocking consequences of the denial of God’s existence and of the eternal dimension. Many people today think anything and everything is permissible because they imagine God does not exist and hold them accountable for their actions.

But God does exist. He has raised Jesus Christ from the dead and revealed that there is eternal life beyond death where the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked punished. We have already seen (in Romans chapter 2) that Paul anchors moral living in the hope of eternal life:

Self-denial is worthwhile, caring for others is worthwhile, moral living is worthwhile — because Christ rose from the dead to reward those who follow him and give them eternal life.

3. Christ is coming to be our judge

The third theological reason Paul gives for considering one another flows from the second — Christ is coming to be our judge. We will all one day have to give an account of ourselves to God:

‘You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you look down on your brother or sister? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ ” (Romans 14:10-11, quoting Isaiah 45:23).

‘So then,’ Paul continues, ‘we will all give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.’ (14:12-13).

The greatest contemporary myth is that human beings are autonomous — that we are independent solitary individuals, self-made men and women, free to do whatever we like. This myth fuels the notion that we are dependent on no one, accountable to no one, and responsible for no one. It is destructive of human solidarity and of care for one another.

The outworking of this philosophy is the stuff of daily news and TV soaps. A mother is arrested early in the morning for neglecting her children and partying with her friends. A bloke cheats on his wife for a quick thrill. A sportsperson takes drugs to cheat others and further their ambition. A business corporation takes over a firm to strip it of its assets for quick profit. An executive defrauds a company’s assets for personal gain. A television producer pushes the boundaries of public taste for the sake of ratings. A young person rips off music with not even a passing thought for the artist’s royalties.

No, says Paul, this is not acceptable. We will all stand before God’s judgment seat. Paul has a high view of personal accountability and responsibility. We are all directly answerable to God for our actions. In life and death we belong to the Lord. We are accountable to him, our risen Lord.

These three foundational Christian beliefs are the three acclamations of the Communion service. When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we remember and affirm that

Christ has died!
Christ has risen!
Christ will come again!

4. Christ came to bring our acceptance

Paul concludes with a fourth theological truth, and it comes close to the great theme of the earlier portion of his letter: God, in Christ, has accepted us; therefore, we must accept one another. ‘Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.’ (15:7).

Paul’s use of the word ‘acceptance’ here is almost equivalent to his use of the term ‘justification’ earlier in Romans. John Stott points out that this principle is even stronger than the golden rule that Paul mentioned in chapter 13. It is good to treat others as we would like them to treat us, but it is even more praiseworthy to treat them as God treats us. ‘The former is a ready-made guide based on our fallen self-centredness, while the latter is a standard based on God’s perfection.’ (Romans, p. 361).

God’s acceptance of us — and our reciprocal duty to accept others — isn’t something weak or namby-pamby. John Stott says, ‘though God’s love is indeed unconditional, his acceptance of us is not, since it depends on our repentance and our faith in Jesus Christ.’ (Romans, p. 360). There will be times when we need to exercise tough love — and insist on evidence of change in the lives of those who misconstrue our kindness or misuse our generosity.

Paul teaches us to accept weaker brothers and sisters warmly and genuinely, without getting into arguments over their misgivings or the issues that concern them. Accept them — but don’t let their preoccupations divert you from your own calling to serve God.

Rob Yule, 18 November 2007
© 2007, Greyfriars Presbyterian Church