Morning Message Text: Romans 14: 1-12
The Weak and the Strong
1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.
2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.
3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.
4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.
6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.
8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister ? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
11 It is written: “ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’ ”
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
Morning Message:
I was torn between two very good and relevant texts for today. I will preach from both and try to connect them. The text that I didn’t read this morning is Matthew chapter 18: 21-35. It is titled in my Bible, “The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.” It starts with Peter coming to Jesus with a question, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Now I believe that this should be a relatively easy answer from Jesus. I would simply say, yes, that seems like way more than they deserve. Don’t you agree? I mean, think about this for a moment. Someone wrongs you once, that’s easy to forgive; after all we all make mistakes and need forgiveness. If the same person hurts you a second time, well that’s a little different, but still within the realm of our human ability to forgive. The saying goes; fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. But I think most can find it within their hearts to forgive a second offense. We would probably keep a very close eye on them from that point forward. If they do it a third time, well most of us would say, three strikes and you’re out. I think that Peter is being very reasonable and gracious offering seven times. What do you think?
The answer that Jesus gives is shocking. Seventy-seven times. In reality, when we study the Bible and the meaning of numbers, Jesus is saying that there is no limit to how many times we should forgive. What is Jesus trying to convey here? Believers in Christ have been forgiven far more than they will ever be asked to forgive. We must cultivate a spirit of forgiveness, not a habit of counting offenses. Let’s take a moment with that. How many of us vividly remember the things that are done against us? How many of us, even when we say we forgive someone, hold on to the memory of the offense? Come on now, think. How many times have you heard or even said this yourself, I really like so and so, but I remember what they did, and I can’t trust them? Now the words might be different, or maybe you didn’t say it out loud, but simply thought it. The result is the same, your forgiveness is not complete, and you are counting the offenses against you.
We are at times just like the unmerciful servant, we want forgiveness for our mistakes, but we withhold that same forgiveness from those who sin against us. We pray this every week, but we must live it as well. Lord, forgive us our debts, or sins, as we forgive our debtors, or those who sin against us. We seek God’s mercy, but we are not merciful to others. In our text for today in Romans we can apply this same method of thinking. Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. Now this applies to your brothers and sisters in the faith. I always tell you that there are rules that are essential to our faith that must not be compromised, and then there is the rest of the regulations, the non-essential things that we church people get all tied in knots over. Now, as Presbyterians we aren’t as guilty of this as some denominations, but we still have our sacred cows. A long time ago, when I first became interested in ministry, someone gave me a wonderful book. I think its title was, “Sacred Cows Make Great Hamburger.” I probably still have it somewhere. The gist of the book was this, we should take all of those non-essential traditions and church habits, the sacred cows, and grind them up and make something that we could all enjoy. They are worthless to the body of Christ, and worse than that, they are the very things that cause us to be unmerciful to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Faith in Jesus is all that will matter when we stand before God’s throne. Our knees will bow, and our tongues will acknowledge God, and we will all give an account of ourselves. Let me make this perfectly clear. We are not to accept sin, but we are to accept our brothers and sisters in Christ, even when they don’t respect our sacred cows.
God expects His children to take on his likeness. If they do not resemble him in their willingness to forgive, they prove they are not his children. James 2: 13 says, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. God is rich in mercy and grace, but he is also holy and just, so those who refuse to forgive should not imagine that God would welcome their unforgiving hearts into his kingdom. We all know that God calls us to a much higher standard as his children. Forgiveness is not easy, and God is not standing by waiting to condemn you if you fail to forgive, but we must develop forgiving hearts. If we want mercy, we must give mercy. God accepts us because we have believed on Jesus as Lord and Savior. Shouldn’t we give that same acceptance to our brothers and sisters in Christ?
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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