July 15, 2025 • 38 mins
Practical communal insights for partaking in the faith-life elements beyond food and drink.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear and tongues
of fire to proclaim your word.
Amen, good morning church.
When I was in elementary school, it was always a blast when
somebody had a birthday, sincethe whole class would get to
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celebrate.
I don't know if schools stilldo this.
Do they let you bring cakes andstuff in anymore?
Yeah, okay, I'm glad they stilldo that.
Well, one kid in my class namedJosh was the son of the local
candy store owner.
Yeah, yeah, that's what I washoping for.
That meant that when this kid'sbirthday came along, we were
(00:45):
loaded with treats, and not justnerds.
It wasn't nerds Twizzlers orTootsie Pops, no, this was
Thomas Sweets level stuff.
He would come in every birthdaywith these finely crafted,
fresh off the presses thatmorning.
Fresh off the presses thatmorning, decadent artisanal
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chocolates.
Yeah, and we're like seven.
We have no idea how good thisis.
It was a delight.
So he'd hand them out rightafter lunch and, as was the case
for anyone who celebrated theirbirthday in school and parents,
you probably know this he hadto bring enough for everyone,
everyone.
So the teacher bless her wouldpatiently manage all 20 of us
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through an afternoon of sugarhighs and wild celebration In
this section of Romans thismorning.
I'm going to read the passagenow for you.
We're going to find a littlebit of a different scenario, one
that's not quite as fairbecause not everybody is able to
partake.
So Romans 14, verses 13 through23.
(01:56):
I'll read them from the screenwith you.
Let us therefore no longer passjudgment on one another, but
resolve instead never to put astumbling block or hindrance in
the way of another.
I know and am persuaded in theLord Jesus that nothing is
unclean in itself, but it isunclean for anyone who thinks it
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unclean.
If your brother or sister isbeing injured by what you eat,
you are no longer walking inlove.
Do not let what you eat causethe ruin for one whom Christ has
died, so do not let your goodbe spoken of as evil, for the
kingdom of God is not food anddrink, but righteousness and
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peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The one who thus serves Christis acceptable to God and has
human approval.
Let us, then, pursue what makesfor peace and for mutual
upbuilding.
Do not, for the sake of food,destroy the work of God.
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Everything is indeed clean, butit is wrong for you to make
others fall by what you eat.
It is good not to eat meat ordrink wine or do anything that
makes your brother or sisterstumble the faith that you have
have as your own convictionbefore God.
Blessed are those who have noreason to condemn themselves
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because of what they approve.
Romans 14, 13-23.
So yeah, we have some people inthe church in Rome who are
plenty happy eating and drinkingfreely, while others are
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struggling to be in thecommunity because they can't
enjoy the food.
That's simply what's happeninghere.
There's some people who areeating it all and there's some
people who are like I can onlyeat veggies.
So the latter group isfollowing a little bit of a
stricter vegetarian diet.
I can only imagine what wouldhave happened had my friend Josh
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in elementary school onlybrought enough candy for his
close friends.
It takes five minutes around afive-year-old before you hear
the words.
It's not fair to overcome aconversation.
Surely enough, my friend'sfamily was wise to always
provide enough for everyone,even if that did present a
headache for the teacher Toprevent some in our class from
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stumbling in jealousy.
It was always an all or nothingscenario.
But church.
This morning I want to offeryou a simple message.
Our Lord Jesus has prepared afeast for you.
So I'm going to repeat that OurLord Jesus has prepared a feast
for you.
So I'm going to repeat that OurLord Jesus has prepared a feast
for you and it is a decadentfeast.
It's better than Josh's candiesand, much to the confusion of
(05:00):
both the strong and theso-called weak in Paul's Roman
audience, jesus' feast, it's foreveryone.
In the middle of today's reading, paul gives us the following
verse, a rare commentary on howhe views the kingdom of God.
He only talks about it a littlebit.
Mostly, jesus talks about it,but Paul here and there.
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The kingdom of God, he writes,is not food and drink, but
righteousness and peace and joyin the kingdom of God, he writes
, is not food and drink, butrighteousness and peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit.
We are invited to feast in thekingdom church, and it's not on
candy or on refreshing drinks oron vegetables.
No, it's something far betterPeace, righteousness and joy in
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the Holy Spirit.
These will be our three mainframeworks for this morning One,
feasting on righteousness, two,feasting on peace and three,
feasting on joy.
By coming to the table andfeasting on these things, I
suggest that we as a communitycan perpetuate God's reign of
love and grace, so feasting onrighteousness.
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Righteousness, it seems, is thefocal point of the conflict Paul
notices among the strong andthe weak in Rome, and our
colleague here at Ecclesia,lydia she, did a great job
covering the historical contextof these groups last week.
I've put a little bit of acursory review on the screen for
you.
Those weak in faith Paul refersto as such, since their
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relationship with Godnecessitated still adherence to
laws of dietary cleanliness.
Whether these were Mosaickosher laws or some kind of
reaction against food sacrificeto idols, like Paul saw in
Corinth, it's a little unclear.
But either way, those whom Paulcalled weak in faith felt some
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kind of need spiritually to keepthis diet of vegetables.
It was core to how they livedout, their righteousness, their
sense of standing before God andjustification.
Those strong in faith, on theother hand, felt a freedom from
this particular action.
Their sense of righteousness,rightness before the Lord and
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justification was dependent onfaith alone, not faith plus
dieting.
The central concern for bothgroups, ultimately, was this
same matter of righteousness orrightness, justification how can
they be made right before God?
And Paul does not shy away fromthis theme.
Indeed, paul actually makesrighteousness the thing, it's
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the central theme to this wholebook of Romans.
It's this whole letter thathe's writing.
It is about righteousness.
The section we're covering today, along with chapters 12 and 13,
we'll see on the next slide.
We are here Applications.
Look at that.
The section we're coveringtoday, along with chapters 12
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and 13, is just part of thepractical teachings Paul offers
at the end of this great letter.
So gifts in the communitychapter 12, relations with the
state chapter 13,.
And dietary conflicts, chapter14, they're the direct
applications of the theologyPaul has already covered in the
earlier chapters, 2 through 11,or 118 through 11.
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That's why these final chaptersof the letter can feel so
contextual.
They are the applications, theaction steps Paul is offering
for his Roman audience.
They're tied to real-lifescenarios.
So in this way, paul's words intoday's passage direct us back
to the very core of his letterthat we have been disclosed, as
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Romans 3, 21 to 22 tells us therighteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ.
Over the course of our series onRomans we have occasionally
quoted NT Wright's summary ofthe book.
The righteousness of God isrevealed through the
faithfulness of God for thefaithfulness of humanity.
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Wright himself is elaboratingdirectly on Paul's thesis
statement in Romans 1.17, thatthe righteousness of God is
revealed through faith, forfaith.
So here today, in chapter 14,paul is simply putting this
point into practice, a practicethat happens to be regarding
food, I am persuaded.
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Paul writes in the Lord Jesusthat nothing is unclean in
itself, verse 14.
Paul claiming nothing but theauthority of Jesus alone why he
probably uses the title LordJesus here instead of his
typical construction ChristJesus affirms the theology of
the strong Faith alone issufficient for us to be
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justified before God.
Hence Paul continues the faiththat you have have as your own
conviction before God, verse 22.
Not only are the strongjustified by this faith, but
they are freed from anycondemnation.
When we feast in the kingdom ofGod, ecclesia, we feast on
righteousness in the Holy Spirit.
(10:21):
This means that we livejustified, we are right before
God because of faith alone, notby any particular works of our
own.
That said, this can sometimesleave us feeling aimless, and it
shouldn't.
Life justified by faith andthis is where Paul's message
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carries a powerful rebuke forthe strong shouldn't be one that
proceeds in doubt, it shouldproceed in faith.
So if in letting go of the lawin this case release from
dietary restrictions means theweak would have little else to
support their relationships withGod, then this push from the
strong could only lead to theweak's injury and ruin words
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that Paul uses in verse 15.
It would actually, paul claims,destroy the work of God verse
20.
That's some pretty stronglanguage.
This offense that Paul'scalling out the strong regarding
to cause others to stumble indoubt is something far worse
than the weak's reliance onfaith plus a few works, at least
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they're still attempting to bein relationship with God.
What the strong are doing, paulsuggests, is risks, the weak's
standing their sense ofrightness before God, their
confidence before God, entirely.
Those who have doubts arecondemned if they eat, paul
writes, because they do not actfrom faith.
For whatever does not proceedfrom faith is sin verse 23.
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If the weak were to begineating freely, as the strong
suggest, then they wouldn't bedoing so out of love for Jesus,
and that precisely is why itwould be a mistake.
The good of the strong, thedoctrine of faith alone, would
actually be spoken of as an evil.
Verse 16, literally in theGreek, paul writes as blasphemy
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Because the weak, in theircircumstances it would mean the
loss of what little good theydid have in their relationship
with God.
So let me offer an analogy here.
Imagine a young child trying tolearn how to swim.
I just spent a week with someof my nephews and there was lots
of swimming and the little onesthey were still in their
floaties, and their floaties aresuper helpful as they're
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learning the muscle movementsfor different strokes and
develop confidence in theirskills.
The floaties actually enabledthem to swim super-way deep out
into the pond and explore thewaters freely, to play, to even
grow in deeper love for thesport of swimming and for water.
However, some of the older kidsaround them, or an older kid
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that you might see at the poolor something around your kids,
might look at them and think, oh, that kid is still constrained
by their floaties.
How weak that little kid.
No, no, no, no, no At somepoint, yes, it is the goal that
the young child will be able toswim freely even more freely,
without their floaties.
But if the older kid makes theyoung ones take the floaties off
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, the young child might growimmediately doubtful of their
skills and drown, because it'snot something that they're used
to.
They're used to having thosesupports.
They simply aren't ready toditch the floaties.
Works in this case, dietaryrestrictions for the weak are
kind of like floaties as theygrow in their faith.
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The goal is to eventually, yes,ditch these dietary
restrictions, and that's whyPaul ultimately sides with the
strong so that they can standbefore God solely in the faith
offered to them by Christ.
But if we need the floatiesstill, if they need the
vegetarian diet still, paulseems to give an allowance for
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this and the alternative wouldmean the loss of faith entirely
for many in the Roman church.
And I don't know if any of youhave maybe felt this in your own
lives where you've been pushedjust a little too far, too quick
.
I've found over the course ofmy life.
That's sometimes how a lot ofchurch hurt can start is that
somebody's trying to presentlike here's what you need to be,
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here's where you need to go,here's what righteousness looks
like, and not giving you thechance to quite get there in
your own timing.
That's what Paul's givingallowance for.
Paul doesn't want us to growimmediately doubtful and drown
in our faith.
He wants us to preserve whatgrowth we do have in Christ so
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far.
So, before we get too haughty,I do think a lot of us have
things like the week we havefloaties in our faith lives and
sometimes these are good.
I used to wear a cross necklace,a little dog tag, religiously
every single day in high schoolbecause it reminded me to put on
the armor of God.
Every time I would step out inthe door in the morning I'd put
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it on and, yeah, it operated alittle bit like a relic for me.
It was hard for me to gowithout it.
I felt naked or empty when itwasn't there, but that didn't
mean it was necessarily hurtingmy faith.
After some time I dideventually learn to outgrow it,
live without it, be able to walkout of the house and know, yeah
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, I'm putting on the armor ofGod and it's not dependent on a
necklace, but it was helpful.
It was a floaty for a season.
Similarly, I used to get a lotof nightmares when I was a kid
night terrors, spiritual attacks.
I'm convinced they would wakeme up and I'd have all this fear
in the dark.
So I taped a flash card withthe verse God is love from 1
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John right above my bed so thatevery single time I'd wake up
and it would be this anchorright there that I could look at
.
It would keep me centered onChrist and protect me from the
fear that might be coming out ofthe dreams.
So it was a necessity for awhile, but eventually I learned
other strategies to help me workthrough those moments.
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I learned certain Biblepassages that I could pray
through or work through if I gotwoken up in the night.
But I say this becausesometimes the floaties like the
necklace or that flash card onthe ceiling they're really
helpful.
So Paul is seeing a lot ofhelpfulness that the vegetables
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might have for the weak in faithin Rome.
But sometimes the floaties canhold us back too, and this is
when they become idols.
I think of the way so manychurches fought over worship
music in the early 2000s.
Reliance on hymns held manypeople back from a deeper faith
that was indifferent to musicgenre.
I also think of the way somepeople live and die by one
particular translation of thescriptures or by one favorite
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online thinker, or by oneinterpretation of Genesis, or by
male preachers only, or bypolitically aligned churches
only, or by one particularersonly, or by politically aligned
churches only, or by oneparticular spiritual practice or
habit.
We all have these things and weprobably can think of people
where we'd be quick to point itout.
And in our best days, in thesepeople's best days, they might
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know theoretically that otheroptions are okay.
They might say like, oh yeah, Icould read other passages of
Scripture, I can switch, I canbranch out to the NIV instead of
my ESV or something like that.
But they might be hard-pressedto try these things since it's
not simply what they're used to.
I heard this a lot.
When we had a woman preachercome to my town for the first
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time as a kid, everybody waslike, oh, I'm just not used to
it.
It's like, well, I'm not surethat's quite enough of a reason
to not engage.
There's a time when thefloaties should come off.
Salvation by faith alone meansthat the second these things
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become necessities for yourrelationship with God, you've
begun justifying yourself beforeGod again instead of letting
Christ justify you.
So that's the line, friends.
Are they necessities for you?
To feast on righteousness?
Ecclesia is to focus on Christalone.
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That, ultimately, was the stakefor both the strong and the
weak in Rome.
Both were making food the point.
The point was not food For theweak, it was we need to eat the
food For the strong.
You don't need to eat the food.
Neither of them were focusingon.
You have freedom in Christ.
Neither of them we're focusingon.
You have freedom in Christ.
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So if there is something youhave that helps you focus on
Christ alone, awesome, do it.
Use it.
If it begins to become a meansto an end, however, or if the
means to the end becomes to besorry, if it begins to become
the end instead of the means tothe end, then it's time to take
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the floaty off.
In the kingdom of God, there'sa better feast for you than mere
food and drink.
There's a better feast for youthan that one translation.
There's a better feast for youthan that one preacher.
There's a better feast for you,friends.
So I want to offer a firstcheck-in.
What helps you keep focused onChrist alone?
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Are there any floaties helpingyou out in your own faith life?
Are there things that are likeoh yeah, you know this is
something I'm into right now andthis is good.
I've been on a listening prayerkick for like a year now.
It's been really great.
I also know at some point Godwill have other things for me.
Are there any floaties holdingyou back right now?
Are there things that you knowit's kind of a time to let go,
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but you're just holding onto ita little too firmly.
And particularly.
I want to give us a second toidentify with a strong here, and
this is not meant to condemnyou or anything.
It's just a check.
Have you at all been mappingyour own faith journey onto
someone else's faith journey ortheir own faith formation?
The strong were mapping theirfaith journey and their faith
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formation onto the weak, andthat was a problem.
Paul wanted to give the weak atime for them to grow in their
own way, in their own sense.
So that was number one.
That was feasting onrighteousness.
Feasting on the way that we areright before God, that we are
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made just before God.
Number two feasting on peace.
We can go to the next slide,please.
Yeah, back to the big chunkyscripture.
I'm going to hop around alittle bit so you can follow the
numbers.
Let us then pursue what makesfor peace and for mutual
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upbringing.
Paul writes in verse 19.
So far, in focusing onrighteousness, we've focused
mostly on the negative side ofPaul's argument to never put a
stumbling block or hindrance inthe way of another verse 13.
Now, as we think about feastingon peace, I want us to turn to
the positive side of Paul'sargument.
One New Testament scholar,douglas Moo, puts it as such
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Positively the strong are torecognize their freedom for
these matters, their good, inverse 16.
They must be governed by lovefor their fellow believers verse
15, and concern for theupbuilding of the body of Christ
verse 19.
So, as we consider what itmeans to feast on peace, let us
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consider these two metrics inour life together love for
fellow believers, in thispassage at least, and here's
patience.
The strong, the ones without thediet, are to care and cater for
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the weak, even as the weak arenow where they currently are in
their faith lives.
For while Paul agrees with thestrong, nothing is unclean in
itself.
You are justified by faithalone.
Yes, yes, yes.
Paul also notes it is uncleanfor anyone who thinks it is
unclean, on the second half ofverse 14.
This is in line with Paul'sbroader ethic that we see
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elsewhere in the scriptures Tothe weak, I became weak.
He wrote to the Corinthians sothat I might win the weak.
I have become all things to allpeople that I might by all
means save some.
1 Corinthians, 9.22.
Love for fellow believers is tobecome one with them.
This is why Paul writes inRomans 14, 18, the one who
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serves Christ is acceptable toGod.
Yes, they're a living sacrifice, just like we saw in Romans 12,
1, two or three weeks ago.
But they also have noted herehuman approval, feasting on
peace, means we love peopleenough to be with them in the
midst of their becoming.
This is something I perhapslearned best from Soren
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Kierkegaard, giving a little nodto Matt, our Kierkegaard bro,
in the back.
Kierkegaard was a theologian wholived in the early 1800s in
Copenhagen, denmark, and hewrote a lot of stuff.
But among many of his textsthere was this beautiful book
called Works of Love.
It's a little complex to getinto as a book, but it was a
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really good one.
Kierkegaard was concerned, justlike many people today, by how
many things done in the name ofChristian love actually turn out
to be harmful, empty, deceptiveor hypocritical instead.
This is a perennial topic.
So, in an effort to reclaim love, kierkegaard reconceived it.
It was for him not just avirtue, a habit to be cultivated
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, like it had been thought offor most of the Middle Ages.
Rather, love for Kierkegaardwas a duty, a human
responsibility of sorts, that weneeded to fulfill with
intentionality, moment aftermoment after moment after moment
.
It could never just become ahabit.
It always had to have thatintentionality behind it.
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So in a slightly more pragmaticchapter of his book and this
could possibly be a good chapterto dive into if you ever wanted
to just like the kind ofpragmatic chapter we see in Paul
today in Romans, kierkegaardinstructs us of our duty to love
those we see as we see them.
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He writes the task is not tofind the lovable person, writes
the task is not to find thelovable person, but the task is
to find the person already givenor chosen lovable and to be
able to continue finding themlovable, no matter how they
might be changed.
So, put shortly, we are to lovepeople both for who they are
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now and for who they arebecoming.
I used to teach high school andthis was something I had to
think about all the time in mylesson plans.
We had to do formativeassessments and summative
assessments and I had to thinkabout how can I care for these
kids now as they're trying tofigure out the Pythagorean
theorem, and also how can I carefor who these kids are going to
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be in a couple of years asthey're graduating, walking
across that stage.
It was a beautiful, beautifulpart of the vocation, but this
isn't always easy.
Believe me, there are times Ifind it simpler to do one or the
other to love who somebody'sgoing to be, because it's really
hard at the moment, or to lovesomebody for who they are now,
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because it's hard to see wherethey're going.
Sometimes it's hard to do both.
My grandmother she passed awayback in 2020.
She had been suffering fromdementia for a long time and had
reached that point in theillness where she couldn't
really remember anyone anymore.
In the illness where shecouldn't really remember anyone
anymore, and I recall peoplearound me saying, oh, she's not
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herself.
And that's something that I hadheard people say similarly of
me back when I had bouts withdepression, and they might say
this isn't the real Lillian, mygrandmother, or this isn't the
real Wes.
And yes, while there was sometruth in these statements, we
weren't acting in a way that wasfull to our personalities or
full to the way that we had beenknown in our communities.
I always felt like thesestatements kind of missed the
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bigger picture.
In this earthly life, we arenever truly ourselves.
We've all fallen short of theglory of God.
We're in separation of God.
We're in separation.
Nevertheless, we are alwaysourselves to some degree.
We're just not complete.
So to diminish the reality of mygrandmother's experience in
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dementia or to diminish my ownreality in depression, as if
those weren't really us, itmight have been a good coping
mechanism for the people aroundus, a well-intended attempt to
love who we could become withhealing.
However, these weren't ways ofloving us for who we were in
those moments and I've oftennoticed the inverse of this.
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For some others, like a few ofthe medical professionals who
were caring for my grandmother,they could only see her as a
patient, not as a person who wasin process of becoming which
maybe I'm a little biasedbecause I'm in ministry, but I
think there's a lot of becomingthat you're doing at the end of
life.
So they'd love my grandmother,but only as a patient in a
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nursing home, not as someone whocould heal indeed would heal
upon meeting Christ and be morecomplete than ever before.
To love someone for both whothey are now and who they're
becoming, who they will be,that's a powerful and deep kind
of love, one which can bringtrue holistic peace.
It can because it sees peoplefor the whole of their lives,
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and this is what the Biblesuggests for us, ecclesia.
We love God because God firstloved us.
1 John 4, 19.
Paul wrote earlier in Romans how, while we were still sinners,
christ died for us.
While we were not ourselves,christ loved us.
We are to extend this ethic toone another church In a day's
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passage in Romans 14, we seePaul instructing the strong to
love the weak fully in the midstof their dietary commitments,
all while loving the weak forwho they might become once they
mature.
Beyond these commitments, paulexhorted the church to peace by
encouraging the church to liveinto the already not yet of
God's kingdom, lived out in oneanother, to love people for who
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they are in Christ right nowalready, and to love people for
who they are yet to be in Christ, who they're becoming in glory.
So, in the context of ourchurch community, how can we
love one another for who we arenow, faults and all while also
seeking one another's mutualupbringing?
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This is a key question ofspiritual formation.
Friends, we are to feast onthis peace in the Holy Spirit.
Paul recognized the way theHoly Spirit was moving in Rome.
He saw the Holy Spirit movingin the lives of the weak to draw
them nearer to Christ throughthese dietary restrictions.
And Paul joined the Spirit inthis endeavor, invited the
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strong to join the Spirit inthis endeavor too.
We are to consider how God isbuilding up the community around
us and how we might actaccordingly with that kingdom
movement.
So check in number two, and Iwant to give you a little bit of
time to ponder this foryourselves right now.
So I'm going to give you alittle moment for quiet.
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Think of someone in your lifewhom you love.
Maybe it's your kid, maybe it'syour kid, maybe it's your
grandma, maybe it's yourself,ponder, how you love them in
this present moment.
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I invite you to ponder and hopefor their future, how God might
be forming them.
If you imagine them in glorywith Christ, what do they look
like?
And, lastly, I invite you topray over these two visions.
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Ask God how you can love thisperson best as a companion on
the journey.
Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,amen, Amen, amen, amen, amen,
amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,
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amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,amen, amen, amen, amen.
In my own prayer time, I was ledto think of our church,
thinking about our church as weare right now, six years into
this beautiful endeavor, butalso, where are we going to be
in 20 years?
Where are we going to be in 30years?
And trying to imagine that.
That's something we try to doas a staff a lot, and it's
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something that we invite you totoo, how you want to see the
church grow.
But it takes loving the churchhere and now too, to be able to
do that.
So that was number two.
So we did feasting onrighteousness number one we did.
Feasting on peace was numbertwo.
So we did feasting onrighteousness number one.
We did feasting on peace,number two.
Third and finally, I want tofocus a little bit on feasting
(32:27):
on joy.
In his book, the Instructor,pedagogus in Greek, st Clement,
a second century pastor andteacher in Alexandria, egypt.
He was ordained like 189 AD.
He wrote the following onspecifically this passage from
(32:49):
Romans 14, 17.
He said righteousness, peaceand joy.
He who eats of this meal, thebest of all, the best meal of
all, will possess the kingdom ofGod, fixing his gaze on the
holy assembly of love, theheavenly church.
So, ecclesia, our Lord hasprepared a feast for you.
(33:10):
That's so cool.
Like I, with Paul, I welcomeyou to the table of this kingdom
feast.
It is not one of food and drink, but rather righteousness and
peace.
After all, the book ofRevelation depicts for us how
(33:34):
blessed are those who areinvited to the marriage supper
of the Lamb.
Let us rejoice and exalt,giving Him the glory, giving God
the glory, for the marriage ofthe Lamb has come, friends,
god's kingdom has arrived.
This wedding feast, this table,it's prepared for you, right
(33:55):
here and now.
God's prepared a feast for you.
It's so cool.
A little while back in fall 23,I thought it was last summer,
but it was farther back ourchurch did another sermon series
on the kingdom of God.
During this time, we frequenteda simple definition of the
kingdom, articulated by DallasWillard, and I'm going to put it
(34:17):
up on the screen for you.
Next.
The kingdom of God is the rangeof God's effective will.
The kingdom of God is the rangeof God's effective will.
This means that wherever God'sdesires are carried through,
wherever they are respected andfollowed out freely by our
(34:42):
agency, that's where God'skingdom has arrived.
That's where God's kingdom hasbeen revealed.
So, church, insofar as we feaston righteousness, receiving
Christ's justification for us,insofar as we choose to feast on
(35:03):
peace, walking in love for oneanother's mutual upbuilding,
insofar as we choose to feast onjoy, recognizing that we can
celebrate God's invitation tothe table together, then we
proclaim God's living reign.
We proclaim God's living reignof grace and love everywhere we
(35:24):
go.
When we come to this table, weexercise God's effective will
and uplift the kingdom of heavenhere on earth.
That's what happens when wefeast on righteousness, when we
feast on peace, when we feast onjoy.
We are exercising the effectivewill of God.
I invite the worship teamforward.
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I want to ask you for check-in.
Number three what would it meanfor you to come to this table
this morning?
This is a core value atEcclesia.
Come to the table just likelife in the spirit, and we got
both of them in one verse.
Come to the table just likelife in the Spirit, and we got
both of them in one verse.
Yeah, what would it mean foryou to come to the table this
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morning?
We have an actual table.
This is one of the things thatwe do in our rituals of worship
as Christians.
We have a table that we setevery week, one that Christ set
for us literally in history, in33 AD.
Set a table on Thursday, thenight before Passover, in
celebration of that holiday,with his friends said this is my
(36:28):
body broken.
For you, what would it mean foryou to come to this table this
morning?
What would it mean for you tocome to this wedding feast this
morning To be with Christ,sovereign and alive?
Would it be an authenticexpression of your faith?
Maybe it is and you feel deepjoy and peace and righteousness
(36:48):
in the opportunity toparticipate in this act of
worship.
If that's you, that's awesome.
I'm happy for you.
That's where the strong were inRome and that's what Paul was
exhorting.
Maybe.
Maybe you're feeling sort oflike there's righteousness and
peace and joy at the table, butyou really are just longing for
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a reminder of Christ'sforgiveness and grace this
morning.
That's okay too.
Or maybe coming to the tablefeels inauthentic, something
you're just not quite in themood for, or you don't really
believe in fully right now.
After all, do not for the sakeof food Paul writes Not for the
sake of food Destroy the work ofGod, the work that God's doing
(37:32):
in you.
You are welcome to come to thetable if you feel it is God's
will working something out inyou.
You also are not compelled tocome if it would not be to your
benefit.
You can and should discerncarefully if it is the right
(37:52):
table for you to come to.
That's an act of faith, friends,maybe this morning you've never
come to the table, maybe you'venever had faith in Christ, and
if that's you again, the tableis for you.
But it doesn't have to be foryou right now.
God's patient with you.
God's eternal.
So either way, ecclesia, ourLord Jesus, has prepared a feast
(38:18):
for you.
God has prepared a feast foryou in his kingdom.
It is one of righteousness andpeace and joy, and I pray that
you can partake of it, so far asyour faith encourages you to do
so.
Thank you so much, church.
Peace and grace to you.
Lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear and tongues
of fire to proclaim your word.
Amen, good morning church.
When I was in elementary school, it was always a blast when
somebody had a birthday, sincethe whole class would get to
(00:22):
celebrate.
I don't know if schools stilldo this.
Do they let you bring cakes andstuff in anymore?
Yeah, okay, I'm glad they stilldo that.
Well, one kid in my class namedJosh was the son of the local
candy store owner.
Yeah, yeah, that's what I washoping for.
That meant that when this kid'sbirthday came along, we were
(00:45):
loaded with treats, and not justnerds.
It wasn't nerds Twizzlers orTootsie Pops, no, this was
Thomas Sweets level stuff.
He would come in every birthdaywith these finely crafted,
fresh off the presses thatmorning.
Fresh off the presses thatmorning, decadent artisanal
(01:10):
chocolates.
Yeah, and we're like seven.
We have no idea how good thisis.
It was a delight.
So he'd hand them out rightafter lunch and, as was the case
for anyone who celebrated theirbirthday in school and parents,
you probably know this he hadto bring enough for everyone,
everyone.
So the teacher bless her wouldpatiently manage all 20 of us
(01:33):
through an afternoon of sugarhighs and wild celebration In
this section of Romans thismorning.
I'm going to read the passagenow for you.
We're going to find a littlebit of a different scenario, one
that's not quite as fairbecause not everybody is able to
partake.
So Romans 14, verses 13 through23.
(01:56):
I'll read them from the screenwith you.
Let us therefore no longer passjudgment on one another, but
resolve instead never to put astumbling block or hindrance in
the way of another.
I know and am persuaded in theLord Jesus that nothing is
unclean in itself, but it isunclean for anyone who thinks it
(02:21):
unclean.
If your brother or sister isbeing injured by what you eat,
you are no longer walking inlove.
Do not let what you eat causethe ruin for one whom Christ has
died, so do not let your goodbe spoken of as evil, for the
kingdom of God is not food anddrink, but righteousness and
(02:43):
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The one who thus serves Christis acceptable to God and has
human approval.
Let us, then, pursue what makesfor peace and for mutual
upbuilding.
Do not, for the sake of food,destroy the work of God.
(03:06):
Everything is indeed clean, butit is wrong for you to make
others fall by what you eat.
It is good not to eat meat ordrink wine or do anything that
makes your brother or sisterstumble the faith that you have
have as your own convictionbefore God.
Blessed are those who have noreason to condemn themselves
(03:26):
because of what they approve.
Romans 14, 13-23.
So yeah, we have some people inthe church in Rome who are
plenty happy eating and drinkingfreely, while others are
(03:50):
struggling to be in thecommunity because they can't
enjoy the food.
That's simply what's happeninghere.
There's some people who areeating it all and there's some
people who are like I can onlyeat veggies.
So the latter group isfollowing a little bit of a
stricter vegetarian diet.
I can only imagine what wouldhave happened had my friend Josh
(04:11):
in elementary school onlybrought enough candy for his
close friends.
It takes five minutes around afive-year-old before you hear
the words.
It's not fair to overcome aconversation.
Surely enough, my friend'sfamily was wise to always
provide enough for everyone,even if that did present a
headache for the teacher Toprevent some in our class from
(04:33):
stumbling in jealousy.
It was always an all or nothingscenario.
But church.
This morning I want to offeryou a simple message.
Our Lord Jesus has prepared afeast for you.
So I'm going to repeat that OurLord Jesus has prepared a feast
for you.
So I'm going to repeat that OurLord Jesus has prepared a feast
for you and it is a decadentfeast.
It's better than Josh's candiesand, much to the confusion of
(05:00):
both the strong and theso-called weak in Paul's Roman
audience, jesus' feast, it's foreveryone.
In the middle of today's reading, paul gives us the following
verse, a rare commentary on howhe views the kingdom of God.
He only talks about it a littlebit.
Mostly, jesus talks about it,but Paul here and there.
(05:21):
The kingdom of God, he writes,is not food and drink, but
righteousness and peace and joyin the kingdom of God, he writes
, is not food and drink, butrighteousness and peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit.
We are invited to feast in thekingdom church, and it's not on
candy or on refreshing drinks oron vegetables.
No, it's something far betterPeace, righteousness and joy in
(05:43):
the Holy Spirit.
These will be our three mainframeworks for this morning One,
feasting on righteousness, two,feasting on peace and three,
feasting on joy.
By coming to the table andfeasting on these things, I
suggest that we as a communitycan perpetuate God's reign of
love and grace, so feasting onrighteousness.
(06:09):
Righteousness, it seems, is thefocal point of the conflict Paul
notices among the strong andthe weak in Rome, and our
colleague here at Ecclesia,lydia she, did a great job
covering the historical contextof these groups last week.
I've put a little bit of acursory review on the screen for
you.
Those weak in faith Paul refersto as such, since their
(06:31):
relationship with Godnecessitated still adherence to
laws of dietary cleanliness.
Whether these were Mosaickosher laws or some kind of
reaction against food sacrificeto idols, like Paul saw in
Corinth, it's a little unclear.
But either way, those whom Paulcalled weak in faith felt some
(06:52):
kind of need spiritually to keepthis diet of vegetables.
It was core to how they livedout, their righteousness, their
sense of standing before God andjustification.
Those strong in faith, on theother hand, felt a freedom from
this particular action.
Their sense of righteousness,rightness before the Lord and
(07:18):
justification was dependent onfaith alone, not faith plus
dieting.
The central concern for bothgroups, ultimately, was this
same matter of righteousness orrightness, justification how can
they be made right before God?
And Paul does not shy away fromthis theme.
Indeed, paul actually makesrighteousness the thing, it's
(07:42):
the central theme to this wholebook of Romans.
It's this whole letter thathe's writing.
It is about righteousness.
The section we're covering today, along with chapters 12 and 13,
we'll see on the next slide.
We are here Applications.
Look at that.
The section we're coveringtoday, along with chapters 12
(08:06):
and 13, is just part of thepractical teachings Paul offers
at the end of this great letter.
So gifts in the communitychapter 12, relations with the
state chapter 13,.
And dietary conflicts, chapter14, they're the direct
applications of the theologyPaul has already covered in the
earlier chapters, 2 through 11,or 118 through 11.
(08:28):
That's why these final chaptersof the letter can feel so
contextual.
They are the applications, theaction steps Paul is offering
for his Roman audience.
They're tied to real-lifescenarios.
So in this way, paul's words intoday's passage direct us back
to the very core of his letterthat we have been disclosed, as
(08:52):
Romans 3, 21 to 22 tells us therighteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ.
Over the course of our series onRomans we have occasionally
quoted NT Wright's summary ofthe book.
The righteousness of God isrevealed through the
faithfulness of God for thefaithfulness of humanity.
(09:14):
Wright himself is elaboratingdirectly on Paul's thesis
statement in Romans 1.17, thatthe righteousness of God is
revealed through faith, forfaith.
So here today, in chapter 14,paul is simply putting this
point into practice, a practicethat happens to be regarding
food, I am persuaded.
(09:37):
Paul writes in the Lord Jesusthat nothing is unclean in
itself, verse 14.
Paul claiming nothing but theauthority of Jesus alone why he
probably uses the title LordJesus here instead of his
typical construction ChristJesus affirms the theology of
the strong Faith alone issufficient for us to be
(10:01):
justified before God.
Hence Paul continues the faiththat you have have as your own
conviction before God, verse 22.
Not only are the strongjustified by this faith, but
they are freed from anycondemnation.
When we feast in the kingdom ofGod, ecclesia, we feast on
righteousness in the Holy Spirit.
(10:21):
This means that we livejustified, we are right before
God because of faith alone, notby any particular works of our
own.
That said, this can sometimesleave us feeling aimless, and it
shouldn't.
Life justified by faith andthis is where Paul's message
(10:43):
carries a powerful rebuke forthe strong shouldn't be one that
proceeds in doubt, it shouldproceed in faith.
So if in letting go of the lawin this case release from
dietary restrictions means theweak would have little else to
support their relationships withGod, then this push from the
strong could only lead to theweak's injury and ruin words
(11:06):
that Paul uses in verse 15.
It would actually, paul claims,destroy the work of God verse
20.
That's some pretty stronglanguage.
This offense that Paul'scalling out the strong regarding
to cause others to stumble indoubt is something far worse
than the weak's reliance onfaith plus a few works, at least
(11:29):
they're still attempting to bein relationship with God.
What the strong are doing, paulsuggests, is risks, the weak's
standing their sense ofrightness before God, their
confidence before God, entirely.
Those who have doubts arecondemned if they eat, paul
writes, because they do not actfrom faith.
For whatever does not proceedfrom faith is sin verse 23.
(11:52):
If the weak were to begineating freely, as the strong
suggest, then they wouldn't bedoing so out of love for Jesus,
and that precisely is why itwould be a mistake.
The good of the strong, thedoctrine of faith alone, would
actually be spoken of as an evil.
Verse 16, literally in theGreek, paul writes as blasphemy
(12:16):
Because the weak, in theircircumstances it would mean the
loss of what little good theydid have in their relationship
with God.
So let me offer an analogy here.
Imagine a young child trying tolearn how to swim.
I just spent a week with someof my nephews and there was lots
of swimming and the little onesthey were still in their
floaties, and their floaties aresuper helpful as they're
(12:39):
learning the muscle movementsfor different strokes and
develop confidence in theirskills.
The floaties actually enabledthem to swim super-way deep out
into the pond and explore thewaters freely, to play, to even
grow in deeper love for thesport of swimming and for water.
However, some of the older kidsaround them, or an older kid
(13:01):
that you might see at the poolor something around your kids,
might look at them and think, oh, that kid is still constrained
by their floaties.
How weak that little kid.
No, no, no, no, no At somepoint, yes, it is the goal that
the young child will be able toswim freely even more freely,
without their floaties.
But if the older kid makes theyoung ones take the floaties off
(13:25):
, the young child might growimmediately doubtful of their
skills and drown, because it'snot something that they're used
to.
They're used to having thosesupports.
They simply aren't ready toditch the floaties.
Works in this case, dietaryrestrictions for the weak are
kind of like floaties as theygrow in their faith.
(13:46):
The goal is to eventually, yes,ditch these dietary
restrictions, and that's whyPaul ultimately sides with the
strong so that they can standbefore God solely in the faith
offered to them by Christ.
But if we need the floatiesstill, if they need the
vegetarian diet still, paulseems to give an allowance for
(14:06):
this and the alternative wouldmean the loss of faith entirely
for many in the Roman church.
And I don't know if any of youhave maybe felt this in your own
lives where you've been pushedjust a little too far, too quick
.
I've found over the course ofmy life.
That's sometimes how a lot ofchurch hurt can start is that
somebody's trying to presentlike here's what you need to be,
(14:29):
here's where you need to go,here's what righteousness looks
like, and not giving you thechance to quite get there in
your own timing.
That's what Paul's givingallowance for.
Paul doesn't want us to growimmediately doubtful and drown
in our faith.
He wants us to preserve whatgrowth we do have in Christ so
(14:49):
far.
So, before we get too haughty,I do think a lot of us have
things like the week we havefloaties in our faith lives and
sometimes these are good.
I used to wear a cross necklace,a little dog tag, religiously
every single day in high schoolbecause it reminded me to put on
the armor of God.
Every time I would step out inthe door in the morning I'd put
(15:11):
it on and, yeah, it operated alittle bit like a relic for me.
It was hard for me to gowithout it.
I felt naked or empty when itwasn't there, but that didn't
mean it was necessarily hurtingmy faith.
After some time I dideventually learn to outgrow it,
live without it, be able to walkout of the house and know, yeah
(15:33):
, I'm putting on the armor ofGod and it's not dependent on a
necklace, but it was helpful.
It was a floaty for a season.
Similarly, I used to get a lotof nightmares when I was a kid
night terrors, spiritual attacks.
I'm convinced they would wakeme up and I'd have all this fear
in the dark.
So I taped a flash card withthe verse God is love from 1
(15:53):
John right above my bed so thatevery single time I'd wake up
and it would be this anchorright there that I could look at
.
It would keep me centered onChrist and protect me from the
fear that might be coming out ofthe dreams.
So it was a necessity for awhile, but eventually I learned
other strategies to help me workthrough those moments.
(16:14):
I learned certain Biblepassages that I could pray
through or work through if I gotwoken up in the night.
But I say this becausesometimes the floaties like the
necklace or that flash card onthe ceiling they're really
helpful.
So Paul is seeing a lot ofhelpfulness that the vegetables
(16:34):
might have for the weak in faithin Rome.
But sometimes the floaties canhold us back too, and this is
when they become idols.
I think of the way so manychurches fought over worship
music in the early 2000s.
Reliance on hymns held manypeople back from a deeper faith
that was indifferent to musicgenre.
I also think of the way somepeople live and die by one
particular translation of thescriptures or by one favorite
(16:58):
online thinker, or by oneinterpretation of Genesis, or by
male preachers only, or bypolitically aligned churches
only, or by one particularersonly, or by politically aligned
churches only, or by oneparticular spiritual practice or
habit.
We all have these things and weprobably can think of people
where we'd be quick to point itout.
And in our best days, in thesepeople's best days, they might
(17:21):
know theoretically that otheroptions are okay.
They might say like, oh yeah, Icould read other passages of
Scripture, I can switch, I canbranch out to the NIV instead of
my ESV or something like that.
But they might be hard-pressedto try these things since it's
not simply what they're used to.
I heard this a lot.
When we had a woman preachercome to my town for the first
(17:43):
time as a kid, everybody waslike, oh, I'm just not used to
it.
It's like, well, I'm not surethat's quite enough of a reason
to not engage.
There's a time when thefloaties should come off.
Salvation by faith alone meansthat the second these things
(18:06):
become necessities for yourrelationship with God, you've
begun justifying yourself beforeGod again instead of letting
Christ justify you.
So that's the line, friends.
Are they necessities for you?
To feast on righteousness?
Ecclesia is to focus on Christalone.
(18:26):
That, ultimately, was the stakefor both the strong and the
weak in Rome.
Both were making food the point.
The point was not food For theweak, it was we need to eat the
food For the strong.
You don't need to eat the food.
Neither of them were focusingon.
You have freedom in Christ.
Neither of them we're focusingon.
You have freedom in Christ.
(18:47):
So if there is something youhave that helps you focus on
Christ alone, awesome, do it.
Use it.
If it begins to become a meansto an end, however, or if the
means to the end becomes to besorry, if it begins to become
the end instead of the means tothe end, then it's time to take
(19:09):
the floaty off.
In the kingdom of God, there'sa better feast for you than mere
food and drink.
There's a better feast for youthan that one translation.
There's a better feast for youthan that one preacher.
There's a better feast for you,friends.
So I want to offer a firstcheck-in.
What helps you keep focused onChrist alone?
(19:31):
Are there any floaties helpingyou out in your own faith life?
Are there things that are likeoh yeah, you know this is
something I'm into right now andthis is good.
I've been on a listening prayerkick for like a year now.
It's been really great.
I also know at some point Godwill have other things for me.
Are there any floaties holdingyou back right now?
Are there things that you knowit's kind of a time to let go,
(19:56):
but you're just holding onto ita little too firmly.
And particularly.
I want to give us a second toidentify with a strong here, and
this is not meant to condemnyou or anything.
It's just a check.
Have you at all been mappingyour own faith journey onto
someone else's faith journey ortheir own faith formation?
The strong were mapping theirfaith journey and their faith
(20:18):
formation onto the weak, andthat was a problem.
Paul wanted to give the weak atime for them to grow in their
own way, in their own sense.
So that was number one.
That was feasting onrighteousness.
Feasting on the way that we areright before God, that we are
(20:41):
made just before God.
Number two feasting on peace.
We can go to the next slide,please.
Yeah, back to the big chunkyscripture.
I'm going to hop around alittle bit so you can follow the
numbers.
Let us then pursue what makesfor peace and for mutual
(21:01):
upbringing.
Paul writes in verse 19.
So far, in focusing onrighteousness, we've focused
mostly on the negative side ofPaul's argument to never put a
stumbling block or hindrance inthe way of another verse 13.
Now, as we think about feastingon peace, I want us to turn to
the positive side of Paul'sargument.
One New Testament scholar,douglas Moo, puts it as such
(21:23):
Positively the strong are torecognize their freedom for
these matters, their good, inverse 16.
They must be governed by lovefor their fellow believers verse
15, and concern for theupbuilding of the body of Christ
verse 19.
So, as we consider what itmeans to feast on peace, let us
(21:43):
consider these two metrics inour life together love for
fellow believers, in thispassage at least, and here's
patience.
The strong, the ones without thediet, are to care and cater for
(22:03):
the weak, even as the weak arenow where they currently are in
their faith lives.
For while Paul agrees with thestrong, nothing is unclean in
itself.
You are justified by faithalone.
Yes, yes, yes.
Paul also notes it is uncleanfor anyone who thinks it is
unclean, on the second half ofverse 14.
This is in line with Paul'sbroader ethic that we see
(22:24):
elsewhere in the scriptures Tothe weak, I became weak.
He wrote to the Corinthians sothat I might win the weak.
I have become all things to allpeople that I might by all
means save some.
1 Corinthians, 9.22.
Love for fellow believers is tobecome one with them.
This is why Paul writes inRomans 14, 18, the one who
(22:47):
serves Christ is acceptable toGod.
Yes, they're a living sacrifice, just like we saw in Romans 12,
1, two or three weeks ago.
But they also have noted herehuman approval, feasting on
peace, means we love peopleenough to be with them in the
midst of their becoming.
This is something I perhapslearned best from Soren
(23:10):
Kierkegaard, giving a little nodto Matt, our Kierkegaard bro,
in the back.
Kierkegaard was a theologian wholived in the early 1800s in
Copenhagen, denmark, and hewrote a lot of stuff.
But among many of his textsthere was this beautiful book
called Works of Love.
It's a little complex to getinto as a book, but it was a
(23:34):
really good one.
Kierkegaard was concerned, justlike many people today, by how
many things done in the name ofChristian love actually turn out
to be harmful, empty, deceptiveor hypocritical instead.
This is a perennial topic.
So, in an effort to reclaim love, kierkegaard reconceived it.
It was for him not just avirtue, a habit to be cultivated
(23:58):
, like it had been thought offor most of the Middle Ages.
Rather, love for Kierkegaardwas a duty, a human
responsibility of sorts, that weneeded to fulfill with
intentionality, moment aftermoment after moment after moment
.
It could never just become ahabit.
It always had to have thatintentionality behind it.
(24:19):
So in a slightly more pragmaticchapter of his book and this
could possibly be a good chapterto dive into if you ever wanted
to just like the kind ofpragmatic chapter we see in Paul
today in Romans, kierkegaardinstructs us of our duty to love
those we see as we see them.
(24:39):
He writes the task is not tofind the lovable person, writes
the task is not to find thelovable person, but the task is
to find the person already givenor chosen lovable and to be
able to continue finding themlovable, no matter how they
might be changed.
So, put shortly, we are to lovepeople both for who they are
(25:04):
now and for who they arebecoming.
I used to teach high school andthis was something I had to
think about all the time in mylesson plans.
We had to do formativeassessments and summative
assessments and I had to thinkabout how can I care for these
kids now as they're trying tofigure out the Pythagorean
theorem, and also how can I carefor who these kids are going to
(25:27):
be in a couple of years asthey're graduating, walking
across that stage.
It was a beautiful, beautifulpart of the vocation, but this
isn't always easy.
Believe me, there are times Ifind it simpler to do one or the
other to love who somebody'sgoing to be, because it's really
hard at the moment, or to lovesomebody for who they are now,
(25:48):
because it's hard to see wherethey're going.
Sometimes it's hard to do both.
My grandmother she passed awayback in 2020.
She had been suffering fromdementia for a long time and had
reached that point in theillness where she couldn't
really remember anyone anymore.
In the illness where shecouldn't really remember anyone
anymore, and I recall peoplearound me saying, oh, she's not
(26:12):
herself.
And that's something that I hadheard people say similarly of
me back when I had bouts withdepression, and they might say
this isn't the real Lillian, mygrandmother, or this isn't the
real Wes.
And yes, while there was sometruth in these statements, we
weren't acting in a way that wasfull to our personalities or
full to the way that we had beenknown in our communities.
I always felt like thesestatements kind of missed the
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bigger picture.
In this earthly life, we arenever truly ourselves.
We've all fallen short of theglory of God.
We're in separation of God.
We're in separation.
Nevertheless, we are alwaysourselves to some degree.
We're just not complete.
So to diminish the reality of mygrandmother's experience in
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dementia or to diminish my ownreality in depression, as if
those weren't really us, itmight have been a good coping
mechanism for the people aroundus, a well-intended attempt to
love who we could become withhealing.
However, these weren't ways ofloving us for who we were in
those moments and I've oftennoticed the inverse of this.
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For some others, like a few ofthe medical professionals who
were caring for my grandmother,they could only see her as a
patient, not as a person who wasin process of becoming which
maybe I'm a little biasedbecause I'm in ministry, but I
think there's a lot of becomingthat you're doing at the end of
life.
So they'd love my grandmother,but only as a patient in a
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nursing home, not as someone whocould heal indeed would heal
upon meeting Christ and be morecomplete than ever before.
To love someone for both whothey are now and who they're
becoming, who they will be,that's a powerful and deep kind
of love, one which can bringtrue holistic peace.
It can because it sees peoplefor the whole of their lives,
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and this is what the Biblesuggests for us, ecclesia.
We love God because God firstloved us.
1 John 4, 19.
Paul wrote earlier in Romans how, while we were still sinners,
christ died for us.
While we were not ourselves,christ loved us.
We are to extend this ethic toone another church In a day's
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passage in Romans 14, we seePaul instructing the strong to
love the weak fully in the midstof their dietary commitments,
all while loving the weak forwho they might become once they
mature.
Beyond these commitments, paulexhorted the church to peace by
encouraging the church to liveinto the already not yet of
God's kingdom, lived out in oneanother, to love people for who
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they are in Christ right nowalready, and to love people for
who they are yet to be in Christ, who they're becoming in glory.
So, in the context of ourchurch community, how can we
love one another for who we arenow, faults and all while also
seeking one another's mutualupbringing?
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This is a key question ofspiritual formation.
Friends, we are to feast onthis peace in the Holy Spirit.
Paul recognized the way theHoly Spirit was moving in Rome.
He saw the Holy Spirit movingin the lives of the weak to draw
them nearer to Christ throughthese dietary restrictions.
And Paul joined the Spirit inthis endeavor, invited the
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strong to join the Spirit inthis endeavor too.
We are to consider how God isbuilding up the community around
us and how we might actaccordingly with that kingdom
movement.
So check in number two, and Iwant to give you a little bit of
time to ponder this foryourselves right now.
So I'm going to give you alittle moment for quiet.
(29:57):
Think of someone in your lifewhom you love.
Maybe it's your kid, maybe it'syour kid, maybe it's your
grandma, maybe it's yourself,ponder, how you love them in
this present moment.
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I invite you to ponder and hopefor their future, how God might
be forming them.
If you imagine them in glorywith Christ, what do they look
like?
And, lastly, I invite you topray over these two visions.
(31:10):
Ask God how you can love thisperson best as a companion on
the journey.
Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,amen, Amen, amen, amen, amen,
amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,
(31:39):
amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,amen, amen, amen, amen.
In my own prayer time, I was ledto think of our church,
thinking about our church as weare right now, six years into
this beautiful endeavor, butalso, where are we going to be
in 20 years?
Where are we going to be in 30years?
And trying to imagine that.
That's something we try to doas a staff a lot, and it's
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something that we invite you totoo, how you want to see the
church grow.
But it takes loving the churchhere and now too, to be able to
do that.
So that was number two.
So we did feasting onrighteousness number one we did.
Feasting on peace was numbertwo.
So we did feasting onrighteousness number one.
We did feasting on peace,number two.
Third and finally, I want tofocus a little bit on feasting
(32:27):
on joy.
In his book, the Instructor,pedagogus in Greek, st Clement,
a second century pastor andteacher in Alexandria, egypt.
He was ordained like 189 AD.
He wrote the following onspecifically this passage from
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Romans 14, 17.
He said righteousness, peaceand joy.
He who eats of this meal, thebest of all, the best meal of
all, will possess the kingdom ofGod, fixing his gaze on the
holy assembly of love, theheavenly church.
So, ecclesia, our Lord hasprepared a feast for you.
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That's so cool.
Like I, with Paul, I welcomeyou to the table of this kingdom
feast.
It is not one of food and drink, but rather righteousness and
peace.
After all, the book ofRevelation depicts for us how
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blessed are those who areinvited to the marriage supper
of the Lamb.
Let us rejoice and exalt,giving Him the glory, giving God
the glory, for the marriage ofthe Lamb has come, friends,
god's kingdom has arrived.
This wedding feast, this table,it's prepared for you, right
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here and now.
God's prepared a feast for you.
It's so cool.
A little while back in fall 23,I thought it was last summer,
but it was farther back ourchurch did another sermon series
on the kingdom of God.
During this time, we frequenteda simple definition of the
kingdom, articulated by DallasWillard, and I'm going to put it
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up on the screen for you.
Next.
The kingdom of God is the rangeof God's effective will.
The kingdom of God is the rangeof God's effective will.
This means that wherever God'sdesires are carried through,
wherever they are respected andfollowed out freely by our
(34:42):
agency, that's where God'skingdom has arrived.
That's where God's kingdom hasbeen revealed.
So, church, insofar as we feaston righteousness, receiving
Christ's justification for us,insofar as we choose to feast on
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peace, walking in love for oneanother's mutual upbuilding,
insofar as we choose to feast onjoy, recognizing that we can
celebrate God's invitation tothe table together, then we
proclaim God's living reign.
We proclaim God's living reignof grace and love everywhere we
(35:24):
go.
When we come to this table, weexercise God's effective will
and uplift the kingdom of heavenhere on earth.
That's what happens when wefeast on righteousness, when we
feast on peace, when we feast onjoy.
We are exercising the effectivewill of God.
I invite the worship teamforward.
(35:45):
I want to ask you for check-in.
Number three what would it meanfor you to come to this table
this morning?
This is a core value atEcclesia.
Come to the table just likelife in the spirit, and we got
both of them in one verse.
Come to the table just likelife in the Spirit, and we got
both of them in one verse.
Yeah, what would it mean foryou to come to the table this
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morning?
We have an actual table.
This is one of the things thatwe do in our rituals of worship
as Christians.
We have a table that we setevery week, one that Christ set
for us literally in history, in33 AD.
Set a table on Thursday, thenight before Passover, in
celebration of that holiday,with his friends said this is my
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body broken.
For you, what would it mean foryou to come to this table this
morning?
What would it mean for you tocome to this wedding feast this
morning To be with Christ,sovereign and alive?
Would it be an authenticexpression of your faith?
Maybe it is and you feel deepjoy and peace and righteousness
(36:48):
in the opportunity toparticipate in this act of
worship.
If that's you, that's awesome.
I'm happy for you.
That's where the strong were inRome and that's what Paul was
exhorting.
Maybe.
Maybe you're feeling sort oflike there's righteousness and
peace and joy at the table, butyou really are just longing for
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a reminder of Christ'sforgiveness and grace this
morning.
That's okay too.
Or maybe coming to the tablefeels inauthentic, something
you're just not quite in themood for, or you don't really
believe in fully right now.
After all, do not for the sakeof food Paul writes Not for the
sake of food Destroy the work ofGod, the work that God's doing
(37:32):
in you.
You are welcome to come to thetable if you feel it is God's
will working something out inyou.
You also are not compelled tocome if it would not be to your
benefit.
You can and should discerncarefully if it is the right
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table for you to come to.
That's an act of faith, friends,maybe this morning you've never
come to the table, maybe you'venever had faith in Christ, and
if that's you again, the tableis for you.
But it doesn't have to be foryou right now.
God's patient with you.
God's eternal.
So either way, ecclesia, ourLord Jesus, has prepared a feast
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for you.
God has prepared a feast foryou in his kingdom.
It is one of righteousness andpeace and joy, and I pray that
you can partake of it, so far asyour faith encourages you to do
so.
Thank you so much, church.
Peace and grace to you.
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