LOVE AND THE COURAGE OF MY CONVICTIONS
We all have our convictions. They may differ widely or be very close depending on the subject. Others may wonder why we hold such strong convictions about things that in their opinion matter not at all. Or they may be appalled that we don’t consider their convictions seriously for ourselves.
For instance, some people are vegetarians for health reasons, because meat is loaded with cholesterols and such. Others are vegans because they oppose cruelty to animals in any shape or form. Still others love animals…right next to the mashed potatoes.
I personally have a conviction that anything wrapped in bacon is edible. One time I even ate scallops wrapped in bacon and I didn’t even know what scallops were. Of course, after the meal, I went home and googled “scallops.” If not for the bacon…
Personal convictions are very important to the apostle Paul. He spent three chapters in 1 Corinthians and two in Romans on the subject of our convictions and their relationship to Christian liberty. Now that we are saved by grace through faith what does our liberty permit? Almost anything it seems. Paul told the Corinthians, “All things are permissible…” (1 Cor 6:12). But not all things are beneficial.
The question from our passage is this: Is there a time when my personal convictions disrupt the fellowship of the believers? And the answer Paul gives is this: Yes, when my personal convictions cause me to harm the faith of a fellow believer who does not share my conviction.
If love is the supreme law of my life in Christ, how shall I live by the courage of my convictions?
What is a conviction?
Let’s pause for a moment and formulate a definition of a personal conviction.
The word “conviction” does not appear in Romans 14 in the NIV but it best describes the differences that threaten the unity of the church in Rome.
1) A conviction is a strongly held belief. In v. 5 Paul advises his readers to be “fully convinced in his own mind.” Convictions are not just opinions but are beliefs that we act upon. “Women are lousy drivers,” is a prejudice. “Justin Trudeau should focus on being a father and husband instead of the Liberal leader,” is my opinion. I drive a Toyota because I believe they are a dependable car and good on gas – that is my conviction because I believe it and I act upon it.
2) The convictions Paul talks about are behavioral beliefs. Romans 14 does not center on the debate of what is true (Christ rose from the dead) but on what we should or should not do (is it okay to eat market meat?).
3) Convictions are inferential. That is, they are conclusions we reach when there are no hard and fast answers. Often they are based on our interpretation of Scripture but you would be hard pressed to quote chapter and verse to back it up.
4) Convictions do not define right and wrong; God’s word defines what is right and wrong. We know that murder is wrong – Scripture says so; even human law says so. Convictions take up where the Bible and law leave off. Convictions determine what my conduct will be when the Bible doesn’t say what to do. My convictions draw the line between what I will do and not do in the exercise of my Christian liberty.
5) Christian convictions are a matter of conscience. We read the Bible and gain an understanding of God’s ways and together with our conscience we feel guilt or affirmation.
6) Christian convictions are a matter of faith. As our knowledge of God’s word and our conscience determine our convictions, faith plays a role in the living out a conviction. We want to practice only those liberties we can do in faith. When we doubt what we are doing, we feel guilty because we are doing what our conscience condemns.[i]
1. Love accepts those who hold different convictions
With this in mind we turn to our text to study the problem Paul addresses and what he has to say about our convictions.
a) Who is the weaker “brother”? – In the continuing theme of love began in ch. 12 under the injunction “in view of God’s mercies,” Paul gets specific. There is trouble in the church at Rome. They don’t agree on what is acceptable behavior for believers. Paul’s answer begins, “Accept him whose faith is weak…” (1).
Who is the weaker brother or sister? In this context it is not clear who Paul is referring to. Since the issue is about eating meat and observing special days we can pretty accurately figure it out. The meat question makes us think of former pagans who worshiped idols and ate meat at those temples as in 1 Corinthians 8. They could simply be ascetics who are trying to live a simple life. Legalists who read the OT and believed all of scripture should be obeyed might have insisted on a porkless diet (no bacon).
The clues point most directly at Jews who became Christians though. Wanting to keep the traditions of their Judaism by honoring Jewish festivals and avoiding not only idol meat but any meat that isn’t kosher, these Christian Jews were abstaining and thought others should too.[ii]
Paul called these “disputable matters.” In other words, it sounds like he thought they were being too strict, even fussy. This is obvious in that he calls them the “weak” in faith. Paul, who had been a zealous Jew, taught widely about his freedom from the Law because of his faith in Christ. The meat issue to him was a non-issue, but he recognized that to others it was still important.
Some of our own disputable matters are not so clear in identifying the weaker brother or sister. Who has the stronger faith? The one who drinks alcohol moderately? Or the one who abstains on principle? With many of our convictions we can find an endless debate on who the weaker person is.
b) Why we need to accept the weaker brother – Regardless of whether you are weak or strong we need to accept each other. Just to be clear though, the stronger believer is the one who has a deeper faith and a greater grasp of grace and Christian liberty. Weaker saints tend to be more legalistic. It’s still sort of fuzzy who is holy versus legalistic. Whatever the case it is easy to look down on other believers and pass judgment whether you are weak or strong.
There are four reasons given in our text for accepting the other brother or sister:
i – God has accepted him (3-8): “The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him” (3). If God has accepted that person, meat-eater or not, then we must accept him too. If this were a matter of who Christ is (human-divine) then there is a problem. But to disrupt the fellowship of the church over what we eat or drink is nitpicky.
ii – Christ died for him (9): The reason God accepts him is because he believes that Christ died for his sins. This the defining act that draws us together as a people – Christ’s death. “Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living” (9). This is what determines whether we belong to the Lord.
iii – He’s family: By virtue of our faith in the one true God and his Son Jesus Christ, we have become a new family. “You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother?” (10a,b). Earlier in v. 4 Paul had asked who we were to judge someone else’s servant. God is the master of us all and we cannot judge another person when we have no clue what they are struggling with. I was brought up in a home that shunned the three big vices: smoking, drinking and dancing. As a child if I saw someone smoking I automatically assumed they were not a Christian. Smoking is unhealthy to be sure, but is it not one of the disputable matters? Most smokers would love to quit and I will not add to their guilt by judging them. I accept them as fellow believers who struggle with us all to control our behaviors.
iv – God is the judge: Ultimately God is our judge and he will convict us each personally through the Holy Spirit who works in our lives to change that which God wants changed. “For we all stand before God’s judgment seat” (10c), and “…every tongue will confess to God” (11c). God is a far more just and fair judge than you and I can ever be. On disputable matters, Paul urges, leave it to God.
2. Love practices personal convictions with caution
Whether you think yourself enlightened and free in your faith, or you think yourself faithful and others as liberal in what they allow, Paul urges both, stop judging.
But if you are among the so-called strong in faith, Paul has a further word: “…make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way” (13).
a) “Look before you leap” – This cliché cautions us to think before we make a decision. Aptly it applies to this situation in that if we leap we need to remember that others are watching what we do and may assume that it’s okay to leap too, even though it goes against their better judgment.
In our text specifically, Paul wants to discourage behavior on the part of a strong person that would cause a weak person to eat food that he or she thinks is forbidden. If the strong were to hurt the weak in this manner, then brotherly love, which Paul encouraged earlier in this letter, would be violated.[iii]
A weaker brother who thinks it is wrong to eat meat, either because it was sacrificed to an idol or simply is not kosher, does so because the stronger Christian did, violates his own convictions. When I exercise my liberty and cause a weaker brother to stumble, I have sinned in exercising my liberty, even though is consistent with my own convictions.
Love is the standard we live by, so “If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died” (15). For the sake of others, look before you leap.
b) Decided by the Kingdom principle – What is Christianity about? Rules? Fitting a pattern or mold created by our sense of tradition or worldviews? Is it about what we wear to church or what dialect we speak?
Paul sets us straight about our faith by introducing the Kingdom principle. He wrote, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men” (17-18). This is the guide we use in considering our personal convictions. How so?
The kingdom of God is not about disputable matters, things that are not specifically commanded by God. It is about righteousness which we receive as a gift for believing in Christ – it is not earned, it is given, and this by grace. So we can’t earn it by eating and drinking or doing the right things. The kingdom is about peace in relationships within God’s community. It is about joy, the product of community life. And it is brought together by the Holy Spirit who dwells in and among God’s people creating community life.
And if we have to sacrifice a few rights, freedoms, convictions and liberties for the sake of God’s kingdom, for the sake of community, for the sake of our brother or sister, isn’t it worth it? Jesus died for them, so “yes.”
c) Do I build others up? – This is a question pertaining to the kingdom of God, specifically each other within the kingdom.
“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall” (19-21).
Edification – to build up – that’s what that means. Judging others tears them down. Criticism rips apart. Is your opinion so crucial that it is just busting out of your chest, wiggling up your trachea to spit out in words, possibly deflating the object of your verbiage, that you cannot hold it back? Really? We Christians are in the business of building up. So what if the details are not perfect?
d) Keep your convictions to yourself – We admire people who act on the courage of their convictions. It is heroic when they stand against the flow and stand for righteousness. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. Some convictions are solid – like the conviction to share the gospel. Others are important but personal.
And in these personal situations Paul has this to say, “So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God” (22). That is surprising isn’t it?
Let’s use a fictitious scenario to illustrate this point. Suppose an older brother from a foreign country comes to visit. He makes a statement in a living room full of people that his grandmother told him the moon is made out of cheese, and since she would never lie to him, it is most certainly made out of cheese. I have a conviction that the moon is not made out of cheese. But I have a higher conviction that Jesus died and shed his blood for me and my brother and that we should not belittle one another and that we build each other up. This conviction is certainly higher than the one I have about the moon. Therefore, I save my conviction about the moon for some other time when I can privately discuss the moon with my brother. And perhaps we never talk about the moon because what is more important is my brother’s spiritual journey with Christ
I do not want to be overbearing with my convictions. On the other hand I must not be lazy in my pursuit of God, for Paul also said, “Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil” (16). (Harry Potter story). Most of our personal convictions are those disputable matters. When we open our mouth to defend the courage of our convictions let it be about Christ, and let it be motivated by love for others.
Conclusion
Now how does this really apply to us in our fellowship?
This truth touches our reality when a congregation like ours with different generational, cultural and personal preferences meets for worship every week. Paul affirms your preferences. It is good to like what you like. We are all different. And you do not need to change what you like. God likes that you like it and that our likes are not the same. He loves variety. He made us unique so that we are not all the same.
“Your ecclesiastical preferences, insofar as they help you worship God and follow Jesus, are good. If you partake and give thanks, God is praised. In-depth expository sermons and punchy homilies, 19th century hymns and 21st century songs, loud music and quiet music, hands up and hands down, ancient liturgies and modern informality, Bible studies and accountability groups, activism and contemplation—it’s all good. If you like old music, praise God. If you like new music, praise God. He likes both old music and new music. More importantly, he likes people who like old music, and he likes people who like new music.”[iv]
One of the most important points in Romans 14 is something that Paul does not say: that the weak (whoever they are) in faith must change their view. He does not agree with them and he hopes they will change or grow. But he does not tell them to change.
Christ did not die for music. Christ did not die for precisely 70 minute worship services. Christ did not die for food or drink or any other disputable matters, he died for you, for me. He sacrificed himself, leaving an example that we sacrifice for each other, whatever that means in terms of church.
What do we do then?
First, be careful that your actions do not lead someone to do something that goes against their own personal convictions and thereby sin against their conscience. The use of alcohol certainly comes to mind in this regard.
Second, be careful that your theological correctness does not sound practically insensitive. It is better to do right than to be right. And the right thing to do is love.
Third, give those who plan and lead our worship services the benefit of the doubt. They are working and praying and striving to bring us into the presence of God through the music they pick. They are not trying to offend anyone, but bless everyone.
Give each other the benefit of the doubt on disputable matters. It’s called “grace.” We don’t know what others are going through or what battles they are facing. Perhaps they need our guidance through the spiritual morass we call life. Let’s build each other up, for the sake of Christ who died for us all.
AMEN
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