As I was preparing this week’s Connect Group bible study guide (“One Another Commands” #4), and reading the apostle Paul’s command to the church at Rome (which he hadn’t visited yet), I was struck by the strength and insistence of it …
Romans 14:13 (NIV) “… stop passing judgment on one another. …”
Now, when we read that at face value we think, “Oh, well, we shouldn’t be judgemental”, and so on. But that surface reading belies the intensity of the command. The literal translation might be read better this way, “Will you just stop criticising and censoring each other!” And that was what was happening. We get more clues from 14:3 &10 where Paul rebukes those who were treating with actual contempt other believers whose values and lifestyles did not accord with theirs. There’s more, of course, in 14:13, Paul says this behaviour was so bad it was causing great offence to brothers and sisters in the Lord, and some believers were stumbling in their discipleship journeys, bewildered and disillusioned.
Romans 14:13 (NIV) “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.”
The “stumbling blocks” and “obstacles” were the behaviours that went with the arguing. These were very harsh attitudes and intentionally offensive words, rude arguments and mean behaviours employed to force others to comply with a point of view considered proper, or superior. This is not petty stuff, at second glance. And what were these arguments about? Nothing important, it turns out, in terms of biblical priorities …
These were useless arguments. They did not contribute to the building up of the body of Christ in any way, in fact, they caused deep offence in the church family. The subject matter for the arguments was as follows …
Romans 14:6 (NIV) “Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains [from meat to eat only vegetables, v. 2] does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.”
Special days of observance? Meat? Vegetarian diets? This was what the arguments were about? Really? Yes, and it was getting so heated that Paul several hundred kilometres away had heard about the damage being caused and has to act. The point is Christians were engaged in nasty, censorial, condemnatory arguments that caused such offence that the missional cause of the church was being seriously compromised. And there it is, dear readers! The church so often engages in useless, heated arguments that its very witness to the world and its mission to make disciples is fatally compromised – and Satan wins.
The subject of these nasty, useless arguments had nothing to do with the mission, nothing to do with biblical commands, nothing to do with addressing sin, and nothing to do with salvation in Christ and eternity. It was useless argument and the enemy was exploiting it induce the church to cripple itself.
There is always plenty of subject matter to fuel endless, useless arguments – heated ones, too – in the church today. If it isn’t useless arguments about the timing of the rapture, or whether or not the consumption of alcohol is OK, or to be vaxed or not, it’s about something else that has nothing whatsoever to do with our mission responsibilities. Yet useless arguments continue in the rudest of ways on social media platforms amongst Christians that damage the witness of the church and cripple its mission to the world – and, without any help from the devil. There are quite senior Christian leaders and pastors openly squabbling with each other – in public forums AND from pulpits! – in the most contemptuous and censorial ways. It seems, to me, to be nastier than ever and is so dismaying and incredibly damaging.
The apostle spoke to this very issue and said, “STOP IT!” The same applies today.
There is always a place for respectful, gracious conversation and, yes, helpful, appropriate debate on any matters relevant to advancing the Church’s missional capability. Such conversation, discussion, debate and so on, should be within the scope of appreciative enquiry in order to understand and learn from each other. Ideally, this kind of discourse should be about what is essential and important – not meat and veggies, or the timing of the rapture. Of course, there are occasions where the Church’s biblical orthodoxy needs to be defended, or when sin needs to be addressed, or a prophetic pronouncement needs to be made. And defend and articulate we should, and with passion, yet with grace. It doesn’t help to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
May I encourage everyone to avoid being suckered into these useless arguments? They cause the newer believers to stumble and even fall away from the faith, and they cause offense to the body of Christ. As I said, there are most definitely times to speak up on important matters – prophetic opportunities, moments of truth, witness and testimony – but with spiritual intelligence and heaps of grace.
Romans 14:22 (NIV)
“So whatever you believe about these things [the useless argument fodder] keep [it] between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.”
Think on these things …
Ps Milton