The Romance of Romans-Part 97

Romans Chapter 14 cont'd

I know by personal revelation from the Lord Jesus, that no material thing is intrinsically evil, but to the person who views it as unholy, it really is for him. If your fellow believer's heart is grieved by observing your liberty to eat anything, then you're not doing what love would dictate. Don't crush another believer's spirit by your not sacrificing a petty liberty when Christ sacrificed his very life for him! Be concerned about even good things you do that are easily misconstrued as being improper.
For the Kingdom of God cannot be reduced to personal and cultural preferences like habits of eating and drinking, but it is defined by the transcendent realities of righteousness, peace and joy which are inseparably linked to the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.
If you will embrace these values in your service for Christ, you will have favor with and affirmation from both God and others.

Comments:

Romans 14 is the apostolic manifesto on liberty and freedom in Christ. In order for us to enjoy the liberty Christ has purchased for us, we need to have our minds renewed and our consciences strengthened regarding the nature of true spirituality.

This necessarily begins with an exposure of "dualism". Dualism is the philosophy of life based in fear-driven and man-made religion that presumes that the visible/material world is intrinsically evil, while the invisible/immaterial world is intrinsically holy. Out of this philosophical goop come all sorts of weird religious practices, rituals, sacrifices, forms or worship and, ironically, both extreme abstinences and indulgences. The goal of dualism is to find ways to either escape or ignore the visible realm in order to connect with the invisible realm and be "spiritual". Thank God, there is no hint of dualism, or the superstitions that spin off from it, in the minds of Christ and his apostles.

The spiritual disciplines of Scripture that encourage the reasonable, temporary, healthy, rhythmic and graceful denial of earthly pleasures in order to "make more room" for the pursuit of transcendent pleasures in Christ, is trampled upon and overrun by a conscious or repressed, yet guilt-driven and toxic, religious extremism. Dualism is found in many religions of the world, but it has also assaulted the Church from her earliest days. Both Paul and John fought against the insidious encroachments of dualism (specifically...gnosticism) upon the believing communities in their epistles.

True spirituality in Christ, gratefully acknowledges that all that God has made is good and that the proper use of the material world to further the goal of loving, in concrete ways, both God and neighbor is holy by nature. It acknowledges that both the visible and invisible realms have been infected by sin. It acknowledges that Jesus Christ came to purge both realms of evil through his birth, life, ministry, death on the cross, resurrection, ascension and gift of the Holy Spirit. It acknowledges that Jesus Christ has inaugurated a new creation...a new heavens wedded to a new earth...that is, mysteriously, already present, though not yet fully realized.

The blessings and pleasures that flow from the proper use...and cultivation...of God's creation are to become sources of inspiration for thanksgiving to and joy before our Creator without a fear of falling into idolization of the creation. Such "priestly" human lives become both a living witness and a sure prophecy to the entire cosmos of the reality of the renewed creation that will ultimately swallow up sin and death...in all it forms. We are called to worship the Giver and enjoy his good gifts. This honors God, our souls, our bodies and our human relations.

1 Tim 4:4
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving....

Col 2:20-23
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits (i.e. superstitions) of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Luke 1:74-75
(God brought his Son into the world)...to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.