Sabbaths, Diets, and Jesus as Lord! August 25, Readings: Song of Songs 7-8, Romans 14, Psalm 101:5–8, Proverbs 21:9–10

Links to Today's Readings

We love to have everything spelled out in black and white. Right and wrong. Good and bad. Acceptable and unacceptable. As a Christian I can do this but I cannot do that. Unfortunately, there are a lot of life's activities and decisions that we must make without such absolute mandates. There are gray areas, disputable issues. Paul addresses these in Romans 14.

• Are there rules for what we can eat and drink (like the rules in the OT Jewish law? 
• Do we have to observe Sabbath days? 
• The big issue in Paul's day seemed to be where a Christian should eat meat that had been sacrificed to an idol god.  

We still have these arguments today. Oh, we don't argue about meat sacrificed to idols, but we have dozens of similar issues. Should a Christian read this? Watch that? Go here? Enjoy that? There are many who wish to impose their rules on what we eat and drink. How much and what kind of activities should we participate in on Sunday? It all boils down to this question - how much of this world can we enjoy without becoming worldly? Where is the line between being in the world and being of the world?

Paul has a very simple set of principles for making decisions on such issues. The rules are simply, but in my experience, Christians have a hard time following them.

First, we must remember that every believer already has a Lord. No, that doesn't quite get at the heart of it. Every believer has a Lord who isn't you. Jesus is the rightful Lord of all and our decisions about right and wrong must be made to please him. Verses 9 and 10 spell this out.

For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

Jesus Christ went to the cross to earn the right to be the Lord over those he redeemed. That removes from us the right to sit in judgment on one another in these kinds of disputable issues. It is wrong for us to attempt to assert Lordship and control over anyone else. That doesn't mean we can do anything we please. It means Jesus is Lord of each of us and we are not to try to lord it over one another. We will stand before God's throne to give account of our lives and must lead them carefully. But we must remember who the Lord is and live for him.

The second key principle is found in verse 5. 

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Each of us, under the Lordship of Christ, must decide these matters according to our redeemed consciences and then allow other believers to make their choices, even if they are different than our own. I must be convinced in my own mind and allow you to be convinced in your mind. Will we always agree? No. But we can respect one another even when we disagree.

There is a third principle in this passage, one that reflects the love of Christ. As a Christian, my first goal is not the expression of my own freedom and the enjoyment of life, but the good of others in the Body. We must, according to verse 19, "pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding" We must be peacemakers, those who seek unity in all these things. I may be free to do many things that I choose not to do for the good of others.

As I walk through life, I must remember that my life is to be lived not under rules, whether the Jewish Law or man-made rules, but under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, to whom I will give account. He died to be my Lord and he is the only one worthy of that honor!

Father, help me to be a peacemaker, to let Christ rule in my life and also in others'.