1. Romans Criticized each other
Today is the third Sunday of the Advent and will observe the Christmas worship the next Sunday. On that very day, we celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. His birthday which happened 2000 years ago isn¡Çt a past event of the history. It still has a great importance for us who live in today¡Çs world. Because the arrival of Jesus Christ on the earth renewed the whole world. We are about to live a new life thanks to his birth. Therefore Christmas is the most appropriate time to meditate how our life-style should be in this renewed universe. We reflect on the meaning of Christmas by reading Romans 14 in today¡Çs session.

Paul told in Romans 1 to 8 that God had given his only Son, Jesus Christ, to save all humans. Then he wrote in following chapters 9 to 11 that God intended to save also unfaithful Israelites through the salvation of Gentiles. The passage of Romans 14:12-23 gives some advices about how we must respond to God¡Çs merciful act of salvation.

Paul started the chapter 12 this way, ; - So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.(Romans 12:1-2)

We are newborn. We are now citizens of the kingdom of God. Thus Paul told, ; - ¡ÈSin will not be your master, because you are not under law but under God’s grace.¡É(Romans 6:14)

So our life must be different from those who belong to the earthy world. Nonetheless, though we are under Gods¡Ç grace, we still behave like sinners. Even the church, which is a congregation of citizens of heaven, is still under influence of sin, too. Epistle to the Romans was addressed to the church of Rome and Paul intended to resolve worthless conflicts among Roman believers through the letter. Today¡Çs reading passage tells the nature of conflicts. Paul started the letter with those verses, ; - ¡ÈAccept into your group someone who is weak in faith, and do not argue about opinions. One person believes it is right to eat all kinds of food. But another, who is weak, believes it is right to eat only vegetables.¡É(Romans 14:1-2)

We understand that disagreement occurred between those who ate vegetable alone for religious concern and others who didn¡Çt avoid meat consumption. Paul called vegetarians ¡Èthe weak in faith.¡É

Gentile-Christians might be the majority of the congregation. They had the background of the Greco-Roman culture which made them liberal with religious interdicts. Therefore they didn¡Çt hesitate to eat meat. In contrast, Jewish-Christians remained under influence of the Judaism which required strict avoidance of impure foods. And, in that era, meat sold in the market was mostly of animals sacrificed in idolatrous temples. For that reason, Jewish-Christians considered meat of that kind to be impure. They thought that eating it was against the teaching of Moses. Acts 15:29 shows us in which way Apostles though about the issue. ; - ¡ÈStay away from any food that has been offered to idols, eating any animals that have been strangled, and blood, and any kind of sexual sin. If you stay away from these things, you will do well.¡É That reveals that many of Jewish-Christians were still under power of the law. 

Gentile-Christians looked down on them as ¡Èthe weak in faith,¡É whereas Jewish-Christians accused liberalists for ignoring interdicts of foods. So Paul tried to lead both sides to reconcile with each other. ; - The one who knows that it is right to eat any kind of food must not reject the one who eats only vegetables. And the person who eats only vegetables must not think that the one who eats all foods is wrong, because God has accepted that person.(Romans 14:3)

Paul¡Çs stance is clearly based on the teaching of Jesus. ; - I am in the Lord Jesus, and I know that there is no food that is wrong to eat. But if a person believes something is wrong, that thing is wrong for him.(Romans 14:14)

And that is endorsed by Mark¡Çs record. ; - (Jesus said) ¡ÈThere is nothing people put into their bodies that makes them unclean. People are made unclean by the things that come out of them.¡É(Mark 7:15 )

For that reason, Paul called those who were set free from the law ¡Èthe strong in faith.¡É He thought that those who stayed under the law were ¡Èthe weak in faith.¡É

However he didn¡Çt mean that liberalists were perfectly right. Because their consumption of meat might hurt faith of others. ; - If you hurt your brother’s or sister’s faith because of something you eat, you are not really following the way of love. Do not destroy someone’s faith by eating food he thinks is wrong, because Christ died for him.(Romans 14:15)

Even if eating meat itself were justified, hurting others¡Ç faith is sin. So Paul gave them this instruction, ; - ¡ÈDo not let the eating of food destroy the work of God. All foods are all right to eat, but it is wrong to eat food that causes someone else to sin.(Romans 14:20)

Then Paul wrote about those who considered certain days to be more important than others. ¡ÈCertain days¡É suggest fasting days of the week observed by some Jewish-Christians. Liberalists might also mock that observance of the law. Gentile-Christians should think that Jewish conservative Christians were not set free from the yoke of law despite the Gospel.

However Paul kept the same principle on this issue. ; - Those who think one day is more important than other days are doing that for the Lord…. (Romans 14:6)

Paul meant that whatever they did, they did it to express gratefulness to God. He taught that those who refused to accept different ways of thinking fell from the love of Christ.

2. All things are allowed but not all things are good to do
I once witnessed the conduct which seemed representing Paul¡Çs words literally, ¡ÈDon¡Çt cause brothers and sisters to sin because of something you eat.¡É My family lived in Australia for 10 years due to my job. And we met in Sydney an Australian pastor who had preached in Japan for long time. One day we invited him with his wife to our home for dinner. During the meal the pastor didn¡Çt drink wine at all. It was my first time to see an Australian who won¡Çt drink wine at table. So I asked him if he was against alcohol consumption. His answer was unexpected one. He said, ¡È You can enjoy wine because it is a gift from God. But I won¡Çt drink it because the act might hurt someone¡Çs faith.¡É I understood that the pastor took freedom of Christians and gave up pleasure of wine. I thought that it was the very act which pointed to the Christian faith. To some extent, my vocation to become pastor came from the power of faith of that man.

Paul said, ; - ¡È…those who eat all kinds of food are doing that for the Lord, and they give thanks to God. Others who refuse to eat some foods do that for the Lord, and they give thanks to God.(Romans 14:6)

The ideal attitude of the church is the tolerance of different ways of thinking. However it still isn¡Çt realized. As a matter of fact, we find too many conflicts inside the church. That is a big problem. For example, several congregations of United church of Christ in Japan*1 dispute the qualification for sharing the Holy Communion. Some members think that baptism is strictly required. Others are willing to invite those who believe in Christ but are not yet baptized. The present standard of United church does¡Çt accept participation of non-baptized persons to the rite. As a result, some pastors who ignored the directive of the center were dismissed. Though both sides have arguing basis endorsed by the Scripture, the attitude of United church is categoric. It seems that they are similar to believers of the church of Rome in which Christians accused each other. I think that such a kind of intolerance is one of reasons for which the number of Japanese Christians remains only 1% of the population after 100 years of ministry. We should be more open minded on matters of few importance in the faith itself.

Paul also said, ; - ¡ÈIf we live, we are living for the Lord, and if we die, we are dying for the Lord. So living or dying, we belong to the Lord. The reason Christ died and rose from the dead to live again was so he would be Lord over both the dead and the living. So why do you judge your brothers or sisters in Christ? And why do you think you are better than they are? We will all stand before God to be judged.¡É (Romans 14:8-10)

Though they might judge each other in the secular world, we who stand before God are urged to love and forgive all neighbors.

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3. For unanimity of the church
Today¡Çs invocation verses are Romans 12:4-5 ; - Each one of us has a body with many parts, and these parts all have different uses. In the same way, we are many, but in Christ we are all one body. Each one is a part of that body, and each part belongs to all the other parts.

We preserve the church by helping each other. It means that each part forms the entity of the body of Jesus Christ. Naturally, members of congregation has different background in culture, social status or financial possibility. Some are fond of wines whereas others emphasise negative effects of alcohol consumption. The latter might consider drinking alcohol to be a sin. Or certain vegetarians might think that slaughtering animals to get meat is a cruel act. Those different way of thinkings can have right basis on both sides. Nonetheless, the righteousness required in the church is not that of humans, but of God. Paul said, ; - ¡ÈIn the kingdom of God, eating and drinking are not important. The important things are living right with God, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.¡É (Romans 14:17)

Therefore, it is meaningless to discuss the matter of eating and drinking. They are merely human and earthy issues. Quarrel on qualification for participating in the Holy communion is sterile. Because God will save all of us, regardless of practicing or not the rites. Paul warned that self-centered notion of righteousness would break up the unity of church. He gave the lesson about the issue in 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 ; - ¡ÈWe are allowed to do all things, but not all things are good for us to do. We are allowed to do all things, but not all things help others grow stronger. Do not look out only for yourselves. Look out for the good of others also.¡É

It is normal that Christians have different points of view concerning the faith. There should be various understandings of the Holy communion or Baptism. And Christians must accept diversity of thinkings instead of criticizing or throwing off different opinions. Because we know that God is the Judge, not any human being as Paul said, ; - ¡ÈSo why do you judge your brothers or sisters in Christ? And why do you think you are better than they are? We will all stand before God to be judged¡É (Romans 14:10)

Those who are ¡Èdifferent¡É from the majority are very often disdained in today¡Çs Japanese society. But Paul taught us, ; - If you hurt your brother’s or sister’s faith because of something you eat, you are not really following the way of love. Do not destroy someone’s faith by eating food he thinks is wrong, because Christ died for him. (Romans 14:15 )

We must not keep the similar stance to those who belong to the secular world. Paul also said, ; - ¡È For that reason we should stop judging each other. We must make up our minds not to do anything that will make another Christian sin.(Romans 14:13)

You can drink wine because all things are allowed. But if your consumption of wine cause others to sin, you¡Çd better to stop drinking in front of them. We are allowed to do all things. But our love for neighbors must determine our behavior. Freedom of Christians is the right to give up a part of our pleasure if it is necessary to help neighbors. Jesus came on the earth and died for us. He loves us so much. The recognition of that love changes us fundamentally. We forgive others because Christ forgives us. Even if someone hate us and spit in our face, we will never do likewise. Because Christ died even for that aggressive person. The sick cannot be necessarily healed by coming to church. The poor cannot be always become rich thanks to the faith. However, they must receive blessings of God just the way they are. That is the church. We will be blessed and changed, regardless of who we are and how we look like. In the church, we will become a newborn inside ourselves. So much so, Paul taught that we should stop judging each other. We must accept those who think in different ways, and not argue about difference of views. Because ¡Èwe are allowed to do all things, but not all things are good for us to do.¡É That should be the most appropriate message to listen to during the Advent.