Peace and Mutual Support
Romans 14:19 “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
Peace and mutual edification – supporting one another. When was the last time you gathered with a group of people for a sustained period and those words were applicable? One of the biggest criticisms people have of churches is that the people who attend them seem unloving, judgmental, or hypocritical. I don’t want to spend any time defending the church from those critiques. As someone who has attended church his whole life, I know for a fact that these charges are sometimes accurate. What I want to talk about today is the Bible’s remedy for this problem.
Any church that is full of sincere Christians is going to be a church with disagreements. Over time even the most polished veneer is going to wear off when people begin to challenge each other’s thinking or offer differing perspectives. I would also add that this is true of any organization that is serious about its mission. But shouldn’t the church be better? Shouldn’t it be different than the local Elk’s Club, or city council, or club team? The answer is yes it should. And the Bible offers us clear guidance on how to do it.
Romans 14 is a master class on how to get along with people in a loving way. It acknowledges the reality of differing opinions and convictions. Most Christians care very deeply about what they believe! But along the way some of us develop convictions based on cultural influences instead of the Bible. These “Bible-adjacent” convictions are not necessarily wrong or bad. They just take up a lot of oxygen and play an outsized role when they cause divisions in the church. Any true church following Jesus should be able to live with this tension: not everyone will agree on every issue, yet we are still called to love and respect each other.
Some key ideas from Romans 14 to remember when we disagree with each other:
1. A true church member doesn’t get caught up in “disputable matters.”
There is a whole host of issues that people disagree on, from politics to media to health and wellness. We are called to accept our brothers and sisters: Romans 14:1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.
Romans 14:1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.
2. A true church member acknowledges how that they are connected to their fellow members, and therefore should be sensitive to their needs.
Romans 14:7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.
3. A true church member tries to keep the main thing the main thing.
The unity we share with Christ is so much more important than peripheral issues.
Romans 14:17-18 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
Ultimately one of the hallmarks of a healthy church is that its members can “disagree well” with each other.