Sermon Synopsis for November 25, 2007

“Decisions that Unite Us in Christ” Romans 14:13 to 15:6

I asked the children how they made decisions. Some people like the “eeney, meeney, miney, moe” method, but I prefer flipping a coin.

In the famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Matthew 7:7) That’s some pretty good advice.

We can SEEK for an answer in God’s Word (the Bible); we can ASK God for direction through prayer; we can KNOCK on a few doors of opportunity and see which ones God opens.

Sounds a little better than coin flipping.

The church in Rome had to make a decision if they were going to keep peace in the church.

The Apostle Paul was interested in Rome; it was the capital city of the most powerful empire in the world at the time. He hadn’t been there, but he did know a number of people who moved there from cities he had visited.

You see … Emperor Claudius kicked the Jews (and Christians who were Jewish) out of Rome because they were trouble makers. … Nero’s mother poisoned Claudius so that her son could become emperor, which he did at age 17. Nero was a little immature to run the empire, so the Philosopher Seneca took care of all of the governing stuff. … Seneca allowed the Jews (and Christians) to return to Rome and there was a time of peace for about 8 years until Nero forced Seneca out of power (Seneca eventually committed suicide) and Nero took charge. … Nero murdered his mother, and his wife, and got really mean with the Christians (and Jews). He even built a bonfire of Christians on his front lawn to celebrate his birthday and initiated throwing Christians to lions as public entertainment. … All of this was not good news for the Christians, who after being blamed for the fire that burned down most of the city, were kicked out entirely.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Christians during the good years of Seneca’s rule. That is the period when Paul went to Rome (although not as he had planned, see Acts chapters 25 to 28 for the full story).

The church in Rome had to make some decisions which would seem petty compared to the decisions they would have to make when Nero entered into his full rage.

If you read the portion of Paul’s letter indicated at the beginning, we find that the church must have had some differences about eating. Apparently some wanted to follow the Old Testament dietary laws, some wanted to be vegetarians, while others wanted to eat anything that pleased them.

This doesn’t seem like a big deal to us, but these Roman Christians took it pretty seriously. They may have even divided into two churches: The Vegetarian Church of Rome and the Carnivore Church of Rome.

Of course this would confuse non-Christians about the purpose of being a church all together.

I suppose that, noting the large absence of men in the congregation today who have gone deer hunting, Maple Grove would probably be part of the Carnivore Church.

DISSENT (DISAGREEMENT) IS PART OF WHO WE ARE

The human race is notable for its divisions and disagreements.

At the beginning of the early church (Acts 2 to 4) the Holy Spirit came, women and men preached boldly to the people in Jerusalem, there were miracles, people sold property and brought it to the church, they shared so that nobody was lacking anything. (Read acts 2:42-47 to see what kind of church it was.)

Wow! There was love, generosity, caring, learning; they were of one mind and of one spirit. What a church!

But it didn’t take long to get to chapter 6 – quarreling had broken out, there were charges of discrimination and favoritism. Greek heritage folks complained that the Hebrew heritage folks were giving preferred treatment to their people, especially the widows.

They solved it by naming a bunch of deacons with Greek names.

This set a pattern; there were many more disagreements that needed to be resolved rather than causing divisions.

In Acts chapter 15 they had to decide if non-Jews had to become Jews before they could become Christians. Avoiding a good church fight, they decided that anyone could become a Christian, but they had to follow a few basic rules.

Some didn’t like that decision, and went around dividing churches over the matter. You can read about these folks (who were called Judaizers) in a number of the other letters in the New Testament. They taught that all Christians should be obligated to be circumcised and follow kosher food laws, among other things.

Here’s the Point: Dissention, that threatens unity, has always been part of the identity of the church. It’s central to who we are.

Maple Grove built the initial church building in 1909. There were many things to be decided. Should we have a platform? That raises some people above others, which is against our conviction that all people should be treated the same.

Once the decision to build a platform was made (for practical reasons), there was another questions. How high should the platform be? Two groups surfaced; one was for a platform of 11 inches and the other, 7 inches. It was first built 11 inches (on the sly), but to keep the peace – reduced to 7 inches. It sounds petty to us, but a church split was averted.

People disagree – One of the things that we need to always remember is that when we become Christians our human nature isn't abolished.

Thomas Aquinas said, “Grace does not abolish human nature, but grace redirects our human nature.”

Scripture doesn’t deny our humanity; rather it presents leaders full of flaws and imperfections. They are real people, just like you and me, but they do have one difference from many people. They made a commitment to the one and only perfect God. They want God to use them for His work. Who is guiding our disagreements? God or me?

In many places the Bible refers to God’s people as sheep. That’s not because we are all cuddly, warm and fuzzy. Sheep are anxious, worrisome creatures. They settle their differences by butting heads. The shepherd in their midst gives them direction and keeps peace.

As God’s sheep we need to let the good shepherd take care of us; without Jesus in our midst we would just butt heads with each other. One of us would win, but we’d all be just a bunch of “soreheads.”

When Jesus is in our midst, things are different.

As we read the scripture and church history, we shouldn't be surprised that there were problems. We just need to learn how to keep problems from infecting our community. Keeping Jesus present is a good start.

PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROJECTS

There are some important points we can glean from the passage in Romans:

1. We should stop passing judgment on each other (14:13) just because you disagree with what they think.

I’ve heard that there is a pair of deer antlers on display in an old monastery near Babenhausen, Germany. They are permanently interlocked. They were found in that position many years ago. Apparently the animals had been fighting fiercely and their horns became so entangled that they couldn't disengage. And as a result, they both perished from hunger.

We should think about the consequences before we “lock horns” with another person.

Egoism teaches that what I’m thinking, what I’m doing, what I want, is more important than what you think, do or want.

We don’t need a “me” centered church.

We need a Christ centered church!

2. Don’t put stumbling blocks in the way of others (14:13). In verse 15 we find that this is not the loving thing to do.

3. Do things that lead to peace and build each other up (14:19). Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food (v.20).

When we put things into perspective – they can lose importance.
Really, how eternally important is it if we are vegetarians or carnivores? If we build our platform 7 or 11 inches? What about the color of the carpet, cushions on the pews, etc. Our building project was full of decisions.

Paul tells us: “Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of _______.” You can put in your conflict of choice.

What is God’s Work? Proclaiming salvation, feeding the hungry, helping others, seeking justice, bringing peace, etc.

For some reason God gave that work to us. God could do a much better job on his own, but he wants to use us to accomplish his will and work in this world.

I can think of precious few things I would let get in the way of God’s work.

4. Think about the needs of others (15:1-3). If we love someone we will seek to please them.

Love? Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

CONCLUSION
Here is one of the recommendations of our church consultation: Once a decision is made live with it even if you don’t like it. Stop re-doing decisions in the parking lot.

Trust God – in the decision making process (pray, ask God’s guidance, etc.). If decisions are questioned, the bottom line is that we are questioning God (who led us to the decision).

Love each other – seek what is best for everyone. How can we build-up rather than tear down.

Romans 14:19 – “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” Do not destroy the work of God for anything.

Our common decision to follow and serve Christ should keep us together.