Love and Tolerance Romans 14:1-9 (NIV)

1.The real world and different ways of thinking

Our Church was founded on the 6th November, 1969. From then, many members have come and gone, including three Pastors. I am already the fourth. Even though the core of our belief is basically the same, there are a lot of ways of thinking about faith. Simply, from the Japanese custom of showing respect to our ancestors, to consideration of how much money we should tithe to the church, for example. conflicts were very often generated from things of a secondary nature, which became obstacles along the path of our heavenly walk. Today we will look at the scriptures and focus our attention on these matters regarding divergence of attitudes and behavior.
When we read Romans chapter 14, we learn that there were conflicts between ‘the Weak and the Strong’ in the early Church. We can presume that the weak were the newly converted Jews, who were offended by the eating of meat prohibited by the Torah (Jewish Bible), as unclean, or for disregarding the Jewish sacred days. The eating issue was compounded further because the Lord’s communion was observed in the form of common meal.
However, the converted gentiles were to learn that they were actually free from these Jewish traditions. Paul did not consider the Jewish observations as significant, but, he did not want to offend the Jewish believers, nor did he think the issue was worth dividing the church over. His desire was to promote unity, not division.
So, Paul says: “One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 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¡É¡ÊRomans 14:2 - 3).His thinking is very clear: ¡ÈAs one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean” (Romans 14-14).
As for Jesus, His point of view was: “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean?¡É (Mark 7:18 ).
But those who gave great importance to the nutritional interdictions raised objections. Even though Paul shared the same opinion as Jesus, he indicated that those who are weak are not False.
“He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God¡É¡ÊRomans 14: 6).
Neither person is unfaithful. Both are acting according to their conscience, but their honest scruples do not need to be made into rules for the church. If we are to follow the teaching of Jesus, both ways of eating is an expression of the same gratefulness to God. “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.¡ÊRomans 14:8).
And Paul continues: “You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat¡É (Romans 14:10).

2. We must have the intellect to distinguish between the essential and the petty.

Paul says; “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). Paul makes it quite clear. He insists that our accusing of other people because of petty or frivolous things is a matter of grave concern. We chose the following verse to read for our invocation today:
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” ( Matthew 25:40). That is what Jesus said about the Final Judgement, and further, He taught them this:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left” (Matthew 25:31-33).
And He continues:
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?¡Ç¡É (Matthew 25:34-49)¡£
But people could not understand the real meaning of this because they never offered Jesus real food, nor places to stay. Jesus’ teaching clearly defines our conduct and behavior toward our neighbor. Be kind, love one another, be helpful. If we accuse our friends and neighbors for minor insignificant reasons, we will cause disharmony within our community.
Paul teaches us more about this in Romans 13. “The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:9-10).
Paul explains what he means by self love. Loving others as ourselves means to be actively working to see that the needs of others are met. We cannot love our neighbors without loving ourselves first. Christians must obey the law of love, which supersedes both religious and civil laws. Whenever love demands it, we go beyond human legal requirements and imitate the God of love.
By loving our neighbors as we should love ourselves, we will please God who loves us all. And when we focus our attention on God¡Çs love for each other, we will refrain from accusing others over silly matters, or asking simple nutritive questions

3. To those who make wars over minor matters.

In this real world people continue to take-up weapons for insignificant reasons, like the Yugoslav wars in 1990, for example. After the collapse of the USSR, conflict occurred between Catholics, Muslims and believers in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The result of these senseless tragedies can be seen today, from our side of history, as total disasters.
Similar conflicts occurred when Protestantism was born out of Catholicism. And, hostility and division continued within the newly-found protestant movement. But, even then, the disputes were the subject of only minor liturgical differences.
Paul says: “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¡É (Romans 14:15).
Paul wants us to be both strong in the faith and sensitive to others¡Ç needs. Because we are all strong in some areas, and weak in others, we need constantly to monitor our behavior.
As saved people we will one day stand before God in judgement. So we must not differentiate, classify, nor accuse people unfairly. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God¡É (Romans 15:7).
Today, let me tell you, my dear church members, don’t look for disagreements in anecdotal matters, but be tolerant toward others, your sisters and brothers, and love each other, as God loves you.

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