St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

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Romans:  Welcome the Weak in Faith

Romans 14:1-12

September 11, 2005

1. Today we finish our walk through Paul’s Letter to the Christians in Rome. Through this whole letter, he taught them how to be The Church – (1) everybody’s included, Jew and Gentile, and neither one can "lord" it over the others; (2) The Law of Moses doesn’t cut it – the Law of Love that Jesus taught is the only Law we need: (3) We become a family when we love the way Jesus loved; (4) We must renew our minds if we want to love the way Jesus loved; and (5) Respect, Encourage, Affirm, and Love are the words for REAL life. This is the essence of Paul’s letter –

2. It all sounds REAL easy. Sounds so easy you would think the Church would have had no problems being REAL over the centuries. Not so. From the very beginning, Christians have divided themselves into two groups – those who have it right (which, of course, is US), and those who have it wrong (which is THEM). Paul found this in the congregations he started, and he assumed it was true about the congregation in Rome. Hence this part of his Letter to the Romans.

3. He builds his advice on two opposites – weak and strong. "Make your companions those whose beliefs are a bit weak – who are ineffective; who don’t understand the freedom they have in Christ – but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions," he says. Be a mentor! Kindly teach those who are new to the faith. Then he lays out three reasons why those with greater understanding should not condemn those with lesser understanding:

1. We’re all members of the same family, for heaven’s sake! We’re all children of the Living God, and therefore Jesus’ own brothers and sisters. Just as grandparents and parents teach family traditions to their children, so, too, do the elders of the church teach Christian traditions to "new members" of the church.

2. Being members of the same family, all of our practices stem from the same root. Biological families trace their members back through the same genealogical chart, and so do people of faith. We all sprang from the roots of Abraham, so we cannot condemn any belief. Just because one group has determined to honor God differently from another group does not mean either one is wrong. What can be done to appropriately honor God by one should not be condemned by another. Why? That question leads to the third reason why the Children of God should not quarrel with each other:

3. Because God is the only appropriate judge. To set ourselves as judges over those with different practices is to take a responsibility that only belongs to God. In the end, God will judge all of us about the ways we have treated others. So, if we’re going to err, it’s far better to err on the side of forgiveness than on the side of condemnation.

4. Those are Paul’s three reasons for Christians to be unified. Don’t condemn other Christians, because we’re all members of the same family; don’t condemn other Christians because all of our faith practices stem from the same root; and don’t condemn other Christians because God is the only appropriate judge.

5. And that also is why teachers are so important. It’s up to the teachers to pass on this tolerance, build up the Church, so that, in the end, every person shall seek to please only God.

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