Meat vs. Veggies and Masks vs. No Masks - A Look at Romans 14
By: Dan Seale
On a scale of 1 to 10 how strong is your opinion on the issue of eating meat or vegetables?
On a scale of 1 to 10 how strong is your opinion on the issue of wearing masks or not wearing masks?
I am guessing many of you have stronger opinions about masks than meat, except maybe for those of you who are vegetarians or steak lovers.
While masks are by no means the greatest issue facing us today, how we disagree is an important issue to consider as we prepare to move from worshiping together outside and online to meeting in our sanctuary. Your responses to our survey showed a wide difference of opinion about this matter which we expected. How do we love each other when we have such diverse opinions? One of the elders sent me a sermon by Brian Harrell on Romans 14 that I think does a great job of helping us think biblically about masks in the context of the local church. He pushes us to think about masks not from a political or scientific position but from a relational position. You can listen to the full sermon, The Comeback from Covid 19 #1 here.
In Romans 14 Paul addresses the issue of what food was acceptable and which was not. Can you believe the church’s unity was being threatened by food choices? Vegetables are ok but certain meat is not. I have seen churches fight over carpet colors, real flowers vs. fake flowers, music preferences, musical instruments, alcohol, dancing, wine vs. grape juice, as well as a myriad of tertiary theological differences.
After a similar list of divisive issues Pastor Harrell has experienced in the church Pastor, he says this:
But let me add a new one to the list; Covid 19, coronavirus, where it comes from, how serious is it, what to do about it, and the politics that surround it. In a church like ours we have people who are hyper fearful and wish everybody would have a hazmat suit and then we have the opposite who believe it’s government overreach and that true Christians won’t contract it.
Covid 19 is just the latest in a series of things that Satan will use to divide the church against each other. And when that happens, we violate a prayer request that Jesus made for us that I bet very few of us ever pray…
John 17:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Jesus wanted his followers to be one.
Here are some excerpts of how Harrel applies the passage to congregational life.
1. First, it can get ugly when my convictions (or my opinions, or my ways of doing things) become a test of fellowship for others.
What’s going on in Romans 14? What is going on in every church that has had a problem? Romans 14:2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.
How it starts is when two different people have two different opinions on the same subject. Now let’s understand that were not talking about some clear-cut Bible teaching that is vital to what it means to follow Jesus. If someone comes along and says, “I don’t think Jesus is the only way to heaven” then were going to have a problem. But I have been in churches where the subject of women wearing pants had been elevated to some kind of exclusive belief and not to believe it their way meant that you were excluded.
The problem in Rome was that their opinions about certain things became dogmatic and the only way to see an issue was to see it the way I see it and anything less than that was unacceptable.
2. Second, their opinions turn to attitudes and their attitudes were poisoned with pride.
In Romans 14:1 and 3 we see the attitude. In verse 1 it starts with quarreling or getting into heated debates.
In verse 3 that leads to “despising.” When you despise somebody you belittle them, you set them aside and ignore them, they don’t count anymore.
Also, in verse 3 it leads to “passing judgment.” When you pass judgment, you are condemning the other side, you have decided something about them, and that they would be punished somehow.
This is how the devil divides the body of Christ. We get on our high horse because we’re smarter, we have more sense, we have more data, we are more scientific, we have more faith, we know Greek, and we begin to look at those who don’t share our opinions and we attack them, we put them down, we may even publicly embarrass them, we post belittling things on Facebook.
By the way, if you want to go one step further in this look at verse 15 because it doesn’t end in judgment… By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. Now it is public humiliation.
Pastor Harrell reminds us of Paul’s vision of the church:
If you read enough of Paul in the New Testament you will come to realize that one of the most amazing things that God did was to create a church where all people, of all colors, of all backgrounds, from all over the world, of all incomes, of all cultures, of all sexes, of all languages, would be one family, one body, one unit, because we all got in the same way - through faith in Christ, and we would be so deeply committed to each other that nothing could tear us apart.
It was literally what Jesus prayed – that we would be one.
So, Paul proposes a solution. A solution for hymns versus contemporary worship/meat versus vegetable/Republican versus Democrat/it’s for real versus it’s a conspiracy/
Here it is…
Romans 14:15 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…… 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
His solution is not “tolerate the other person” or “be nice to other people who are different” or “endure their wrongness” but his solution is to walk in love. This is the most inconvenient thing that we could do is to ask yourself, “what does love require of me right now.”
When they are on the opposite side of the universe politically what does love require of me?
What does love require of me when they don’t see it my way?
What does love require of me when I don’t get my way?
What we really want to ask is; what does anger require me, what does self-righteousness require of me, what does my opinion require of me or what do my politics require of me.
Scripture says; if your brother (this is the other person that Jesus died for and believes and is in your family) is grieved (they are hurt, there’s something not right in the relationship) by your actions then you are no longer walking in love.
Two powerful scriptures about love…
John 15:12-13 (MSG)
This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. 13 This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.
1 John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and so we should lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
Everything you need to know and about love you can learn from Jesus.
So love is me making a move, or this church making a move that costs us something and causes me to give freely even though I may never get anything in return.
And this kind of love is what sets God apart and sets his people apart.
What does love require of me?
There is such a love, a love that creates value in what is loved. There is a love that turns rag dolls into priceless treasures. There is a love that fastens itself onto ragged little creatures, for reasons that no one could ever quite figure out, and makes them precious and valued beyond calculation. This is love beyond reason. This is the love of God.
In Romans 14 Paul gives a better way to work through differences of opinion on masks, meat, music, and anything that may cause division.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how willing are you love and lay down your rights for your brothers and sisters in Christ?
1 John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and so we should lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
May God’s Spirit move us all to say 10 as we consider others more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3-4) and love our neighbors as Jesus has loved us.