January 30 – Agree to Disagree
By Audrey Bauman
Romans 14: 1 – 13 (NLT)
“Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. 2 For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. 3 Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval.
5 In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. 6 Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God. 7 For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. 8 If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and rose again for this very purpose—to be Lord both of the living and of the dead.
10 So why do you condemn another believer[a]? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For the Scriptures say,
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.[b]’”
12 Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. 13 So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.”
This chapter has one theme – don’t criticize others. We’re going to look at this chapter over two days since the last part of the chapter addresses a particular issue and may be more controversial for some of you. (Wondering what is ahead?)
In the early church, there was a division between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers. The Jewish Christians were used to lots of laws and regulations; the Gentiles were not. The first 5 books of the Old Testament outline many rules about what a person could eat – or not. You may be aware of current Jewish tradition if you’ve ever visited a Kosher grocery store, or if you know some Orthodox Jews. Some examples of their different rules on diet include meat drained of all blood. They do not eat any pork products. They do not mix dairy products with other food, and actually have two sets of dishes to keep the two food groups separate. Gentiles then and today don’t have any food restrictions unless they have decided to follow a particular diet plan – for example, vegetarianism.
So you can imagine the conflict that arose in that early church. The Jewish Christians likely felt that they had the main say-so since Christianity came from the Jewish faith. Jesus was a Jew; He was their Messiah. So they felt these new Gentile converts should follow the rules God gave to Moses. Wouldn’t they be good rules since they came from God originally? On top of the food rules, there were also special holy days such as The Feast of Tabernacles or the Passover. So how did that fit into this new direction the Christian faith was taking them?
Paul’s admonition is to “stop condemning each other”. His first instruction is give some space to new Christians – “Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong”. I think “weak in faith’ means they are new to the faith. Then he goes on to talk about conflicts over food and holy days. We don’t have the same conflicts in the Christian church in 2025, but we do have different denominations. Those denominations were begun on disagreements on how things should be done, or different interpretations of the Bible. For example, some churches believe that communion should be held frequently while others hold it 4 times a year. Some churches follow the traditions of Lent, while others think Lent is an effort to please God by abstaining from things, and they don’t agree with that. Some churches baptize infants while others believe baptism is for those old enough to understand what they believe. If you were to talk to some of the more conservative Mennonites in Waterloo County, they would say Christians should use horse and buggy for transport and wear only black clothing with no accessories. So there are definitely differences in the Christian church today.
But Paul is saying that we are not to criticize other Christians. We may disagree with what they think is right, but we are to let it go. The only one who can make accurate judgements is God. It is Him who we will answer to some day – not each other. So how does that translate practically? I think it is alright to disagree about things, but I don’t think it should divide us from each other. The bond that ties all Christians together is our belief that Jesus is God’s Son, and that He died and rose again making it possible for us to be restored to a personal relationship with God.
This is what makes it possible for Christian organizations apart from the church to work together – organizations like Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative and Matthew House. I had my eyes opened wide when I went to university and started attending Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship. The church I grew up in tended to think they were right and every other denomination was wrong. They targeted some churches especially as mere traditional churches that really didn’t understand scripture. When I discovered that many of the leaders in our IVCF group came from those churches, I was amazed. But I’m so glad I encountered this early in my life since it gave me a whole new perspective on how Christians from all denominations can work together and belong together. Even so, I’m glad I attend LSA since it suits my personality better than some other churches. And I enjoy attending other churches when we visit family and friends even though I may not agree with everything they do. The common bond is Jesus, our wonderful Saviour. And that’s what we need to remember.
Our song for today is Heal Our Land by Kari Jobe.