Why Am I So Obsessed With Your Sin?

Romans 14:1-12

 

Many folks in my profession love to engage in what is called proof texting. In laymen terms, we find an obscure text that perfectly makes our point. Usually the search for this scripture is done on Saturday……late in the evening…just after the sermon is completed when the preacher discovers the sermon is lacking a biblical text. Using all the tools at hand, they, and I would like to emphasize the word they, search until a scripture is found. The next morning the scripture is read, then quickly set aside while the minister drones on about whatever happened to be on his mind on Saturday evening.

Other times a minister will stumble across a text that is too good to pass up. The scripture is a jewel. It has been buried deep in scripture and for some reason never been uncovered in all the Biblical studies of the diligent pastor. The discovered gem proves something the minister has always known to be true, but has never been able to scripturally substantiate. This morning I have the honor of sharing one of those rare jewels with you.

Romans 14:2, “Some believe in eating anything, while the weak only eat vegetables.”

As much as folks like to quote scripture, you think someone would have turned Romans 14:2 into a bumper sticker.   But why stop there. The next slogan adopted by Five Guys could be, “The Apostle Paul claims the weak eat vegetables, so make it a large cheeseburger and be strong in the Lord.” While that might not work in our area where folks believe in strict separation of church and menus, I have to believe places like Lynchburg would elevate this slogan to legendary culinary status.   (Stop)

 

Proof texting is as dangerous as it is fun. I can make almost any argument when I choose to use just one isolated verse. But when the reader expands the text to include more than one verse, the text, much to the disappointment of the Saturday night scholar, is seen in an entirely different light.

Why does it appear Paul is giving vegetable eaters such a hard time? Maybe the better question should be, “Why should I care what another person eats?”

Being raised in the South, I quickly learned to eat whatever was placed on my plate. My five basic food groups include, bread, grease, sugar, caffeine, and seconds. Paul’s apparent approval of meat eaters makes perfectly good sense to me. But my knowledge of the cultural setting in which Paul lived makes me hesitate before making God an accomplice when I reach for that second ham biscuit.

The early Christian community was often divided into two distinct groups, those who were originally raised in the Jewish faith and those who were more familiar with the customs of the Roman or Greek cultures. Many Jews and Gentiles alike were transformed by the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. They flocked to hear folks like Paul and Peter tell of God’s amazing gift of grace. They were baptized and welcomed into new communities of faith. But they brought with them many of their traditions. Even I, a die in the wool southerner knows a Hebrew National hot dog tastes a lot better than the hotdogs served at Ashley’s. Jewish laws concerning food are very particular and the preparation of the food they consumed was meticulous. Many meat dishes served by a Roman would never find its way to the table of a good Hebrew, even if the family claimed Jesus as their Lord. And this caused problems.

Imagine a potluck supper in the time of Paul. Three families were assigned to bring bread, three families were to bring vegetables, three families were assigned deserts and three families were asked to bring the meat. The three meat families got together and collaborated. The prayer was offered, the line formed, and the meat presented for everyone’s consumption was pork barbeque. It was a feast for both the eyes and stomach of at least half the congregation. But to those who had been raised Jewish, it was an abomination.  Trying to be polite, they skipped the barbecue and filled their plates with vegetables.

You know what happened next. Mrs. Rossini, whose pork recipe was legendary, was miffed that Mr. Jacobson had suddenly become a vegetarian. She tried to be tactful. “Come on Stan, try the pork. You are a Christian now. You’ll like it. Give it a go.”

Mr. Jacobson politely refused.

Mrs. Rossini was not to be discouraged, “What’s it going to hurt, just a little taste.”

Mr. Jacobson replied, “To eat pork is a sin.”

Mr. Rossini entered the conversation, “Are you calling my wife’s barbeque the work of the devil?” That is when things got ugly. The group was clearly divided over what was and what wasn’t a sin. Finally one of the members of the church, realizing there was going to be no agreement that evening said, “Paul’s in town. He was a Jew and is now a Roman citizen.  Let’s see what he thinks.”

Paul correctly surmised that this particular congregation was having bigger issues than what was served at a family night dinner. Each of the people in that congregation was engaged in a particular faith journey and not all their faith experiences intersected.

 I have been Presbyterian all my life. My father was a Presbyterian minister.  I was brought up under the Covenant Life Sunday School Curriculum. I graduated from a Presbyterian College and three Presbyterian Graduate Schools.  That is not the journey most of you have taken. You are Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Congregational, Roman Catholic, and Unitarian roots, just to name a few. Some of you are influenced by the teachings of Calvin and others wish you had never heard the name. You have brought to this place your gifts, your faith journey, and your deepest beliefs.  Furthermore you came from the east, the west, the north and the south. Some of you came because of your love of music, some of you love the diversity of thought, and some of you love our commitment to mission. But I dare to say none of you think alike. What is important to you may be of no interest to me. We each have a set of values and beliefs developed over the past 50 plus years and those standards are important. But what does that have to do with me not particularly caring for tomatoes? 

Everything!!!  You don’t have to listen to Guy Clark to know, “There are only two things money can’t buy; true love and home grown tomatoes.” For some of you, to not like fresh tomatoes is downright sinful.

And there is the problem faced by Paul. The congregation was divided and each side was saying to the other, “If you don’t think like me you must be wrong because I am getting my directions straight from God.”

In one of the most prolific statements attributed to Paul, the great missionary and theologian uttered these unforgettable words, “We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

Paul is saying to members of that Church in Rome,   if Christ is the Lord of both the dead and the living, then Christ can certainly be Lord of the weak and the strong. Christ can even be Lord of those who abstain and those who indulge. Vegetarians and Carnivores, Jews and Gentiles, together can identify themselves as children of the living God.

As Christians we always get ourselves in trouble when we stop seeing another person as a child of God and view her as a personification of a particular “sin” which we abhor.  From this spiritual posture, our righteous actions are not all that righteous and our defense of Christian ideals is not all that Christian. The horrible truth is some folks use their allegiance to the Lord as an excuse to lord over others.

 

 This brings a smile to my face because Paul, who some might suggest has theologically lorded over us for 2,000 years, is urging folks to avoid passing judgment on others. Perhaps Paul was remembering when he was called Saul. Perhaps he was remembering a day when he thought he knew the truth and that truth wasn’t about to set anyone free. Perhaps he remembered going blind, both physically and spiritually and having to learn everything over from scratch. Paul was not without opinions but a basic message continues to ring through his writings. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, no longer slave or free, no longer male or female. All of us are one in Christ Jesus.”

It is honorable to stand up for what you believe. It is commendable to march into hell for a heavenly cause. All Paul is asking is in the name of Christ, we listen before we speak; we think before we react;  we pray and  we love each, even to the point of making ourselves venerable as we try to figure out what it is God wants us to do.  In 30 odd years of ministry I have yet had God interrupt a sermon and say, “Louie, I think you missed the point.” But God regularly sends folks to talk to me on Monday morning to remind me some folks really do eat tomatoes.  

In the coming months we will need to hear each other more than ever.  Our fellowship hall has some serious structural issues and together we will need to decide what we are going to do about it.

A pipe line is being discussed which is dividing our county both geographically and emotionally and I believe our neighbors are interested in what we might say.

Our country seems to be running out of options in the Middle East decisions are being made that will directly impact the lives of our children and neighbors.

This place, this holy place, this lively place can bear the burden of these conversations because we love each other, we trust each other and we have chosen not to lord over one another. That doesn’t mean that on these and many other issues some of you will eat meat while others will insist on the nutritional value of vegetables. That is what makes this place unique. But what makes us holy is that we continue to eat our barbeque and tomatoes at the same table.

                                Thanks be to God,     Amen.