By Audrey Bauman

Romans 14: 14 – 23    (NLT)

^“I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong. ¹⁵ And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Then you will not be criticized for doing something you believe is good. ¹⁷ For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too. ¹⁹ So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.

²⁰ Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble. ²¹ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to stumble. (Some manuscripts read to stumble or be offended or be weakened) ²² You may believe there’s nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right. ²³ But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.”

These verses contain some instructions that I think many of us might find annoying.  Paul is telling us that we need to behave in ways that don’t cause distress or controversy to others.  I suspect your immediate reaction is to think, “If I have to give up something because another Christian gets upset, then that is just too bad.  That takes away my individual rights”.  I’ll admit, it’s a hard instruction to take seriously.   If you discover that something you are doing is causing someone else to be upset, it really makes you think a lot as you mull over and over in your mind how you should deal with the situation.

I think the key words in these verses are: “And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it” (v. 15); “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (v.17); and “So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up” (v.19).   The deciding factor when we bump into disagreements with other Christians is - does my reaction bring “goodness, peace, and joy”.  If it brings disharmony and broken relationships, then we need to really stop and think.

I thought I’d tell you about a couple of examples in my life where I had to stop and think about my decisions.  One of the earliest situations in my life occurred when Wayne and I were planning our wedding.  Wayne’s dad was already upset about Wayne’s decision to go to school (university was the worst) since that meant Wayne was leaving behind the simple life devoted to God and working on the land that very conservative Mennonites love.  He had accepted that we were getting married but was having a hard time with the wedding being in a ‘modern’ church in another city.  One of the principles of living simply is wearing no jewellery at all.  So after a lot of talking with each other about how to make things easier for his dad, Wayne and I decided to not give each other wedding rings during the wedding ceremony. We exchanged them privately with our pastor right after the ceremony.  Our reception receiving line was interesting as people checked our hands and saw wedding rings, and then looked puzzled.  But making that decision made things so much better between us and Wayne’s dad since he recognized that we were not trying to throw his beliefs in his face all the time.

Another issue I’ve thought a lot about as I’ve read those verses over the years is what my position is about serving alcohol.  I don’t think drinking alcohol is wrong.   Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding.  The Bible has a couple of things to say about alcohol. “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit”. (Ephesians 5:18  NLT)  or “Don’t drink only water. You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach because you are sick so often”. (1 Timothy 5:23  NLT)  You certainly can’t say the Bible is against alcohol.  However, some Christians are.

So how do I deal with that?  Whenever I have people in my home for a church related reason, I don’t serve alcohol.  For example, we don’t serve alcohol when our small group meets for Bible study or for social occasions.  One thing I discovered during our time together was that one of our members is a recovered alcoholic, and that really brings home Paul’s admonition , “ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to stumble”.  (v. 21).  So out of respect for whatever someone believes about alcohol, I don’t serve it at ‘official’ church functions.  I also don’t serve it when family is present who disagree with alcohol consumption in any way.  If I am aware that friends or family enjoy a drink, then I may serve it.  When you get right down to it, Paul asks us to promote peace and joy.  If our behaviour gets someone upset, then is it really worth it to ‘stick to our guns no matter what’?

Our song for today is Love One Another by Newsboys. I like to include the lyrics in music so we can get all the words.  This video has a lot of flashing lights in it - just warning you.