The Way of Love and Judgment
Good Morning Friends,
We have been studying Romans in a men’s group at church and today I am leading the conversation on the inevitable difference of opinions people will have on issues of religion and beliefs. It is of course one of the greatest challenges to choose a life of liberty and the pursuit of love, not happiness. To pursue love by contributing to the spiritual development of others not by destroying it with disputes and judgment on issues that are not essential. One of the issues is the lack our acceptance for other’s Choices of Conscience on The Way of Love and Judgment.
Scripture: Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.
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; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
Romans 14:1-22 (NRSV)
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
1 Corinthians 13 (NRSV)
Message: It is not about having it our way. It is about focusing on building up the community of believers in love. At a recent gathering of Christians interested in the faith of the 23,950 teens in our County it was shared that statistically 2,874 are depressed, 1,198 have eating disorders, 10,298 have had sex, 3,952 have been abused, 11,925 have consumed alcohol in the last three days, 4,071 have thought about suicide, and 13,173 have witnessed the breakup of their parents’ marriages. To reach kids we need to learn the art of discretion… learn how to help them, by example, to base decisions on the freedom of faith but in a way that shows forth love. We are to focus on the Kingdom of God and the priorities that are central to the Kingdom. Friends, this is about righteousness, peace and the joy in the Holy Spirit from the inside out, for the Kingdom of God is about helping people be right with God through Jesus, not about personal preferences. The focus of the Kingdom is on the heart, the good news and making sure we are not a stumbling block to others. One of my friends use to be a hit man for the mob. His job was to be a stumbling block. He exacted his judgment through violence, his influence through evil and when asked how he came to change and be saved he tearfully shared that it was only through the power of God’s love. That was the only thing that made a difference. Friends, if we hope to change the status of our world, kids have to become more than a statistic. There is a better way…love, and if we do not reflect it then we are on a fool’s errand.
Pray that the peace in our lives would be reflected in the harmony of mutual support. Pray we would encourage one another as Christians who actually enjoy each other. Pray that we experience joy that comes as a result of God’s Spirit among us. Pray that we embrace service to Jesus in a way that brings people we disagree with closer to God. Pray that we realize the issue is not just theology but relationships. Pray we take responsibility for our own choices. Pray we not confuse personal opinions with the essentials of our faith. Pray we choose wisely. Pray we take the mote out of our eye so we might focus on the Kingdom. Pray we learn to love.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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