"for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit."
-Romans 14:17
I was raised in a very Irish Roman Catholic family. After my life-changing born-again encounter with Christ Jesus through the preaching of the Gospel, It took several years for my folks to digest, but they eventually accepted my "Protestantism" after I graduated from seminary with my M.Div. and began serving as the Senior Pastor of a historically Southern Baptist church in a very rural part of Texas.
Ever since then, my dad has felt compelled to share one of his favorite jokes with me a few dozen times:
Dad: "Know why you never bring just one Baptist fishing?"
Me: "No, Dad. Why?"
Dad: "If you bring just one, he'll drink all your beer. If you bring more, they won't drink any!"
Our culture today feigns disgust for such generalizations. In doing so, because of our delicate sensibilities, we miss Paul's point in Romans: the sin of self-righteousness.
Right or wrong, Southern Baptists are culturally notorious for their judgmental hypocrisy. Church deacons (in their Sunday suits, ties, and sanctimonious judgments) out drinking and carousing just a few hours before service at local pubs and gentlemen's clubs. The deacons' and pastors' wives (in their fancy Sunday dresses, hats, and hairdos) continually engaged in hateful gossip with forked tongues that simultaneously and condescendingly hiss, "Blessss your heart!"
Don't get me wrong, Southern Baptists haven't cornered the market on church hypocrisy. They're just one of the easier targets. The hypocrisy of self-righteousness is precisely what Paul was addressing in Romans 14.
Cultural preferences and human traditions inevitably invade the local church. It happens because the local church is a hodge-podged conglomeration of broken, dysfunctional, misguided, and prideful people redeemed by God's grace.
But rather than focusing on the only thing of any real value that we have in common, i.e. the gift of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to Scripture alone to the glory of God alone... we twist, pervert, and mangle it into something very different. We somehow manage to turn everything we touch into idolatrous opportunities for self-glorification. Like the Pharisee in Luke 18:11, our self-righteous indignation exposes that we don't really believe we are saved by grace alone.
"The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector."
Oftentimes times we turn Christ's Body & Bride into a gossip-fest and self-righteous and judgmental free-for-all. We turn walking out our faith into judging people based on all the externals: what they eat, drink, drive and wear - rather than acknowledging, trusting, and abiding in the truth and power of God's Word, which states in Romans 14:13, "Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead, decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister." When we choose to live according to the flesh, as Paul states in 14:15, "...you are no longer walking according to love."
Absenteeism isn't a solution. The worst kind of Christian hypocrite is the one who says, "I don't go to church because of all the hypocrisy." Scripture commands us, "Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching." That fine line between absenteeism, disconnectedness, gossip, and judgment is impossible for us to navigate alone. What we need is the power and presence of God to take up residence within us. What we need is something infinitely greater than human plans, building projects, and social justice endeavors.
Thankfully, King Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit. Thankfully, He's commissioned us as His global witnesses and ambassadors. Thankfully, the acts of the flesh are obvious (as revealed throughout Scripture) so we are not unaware of the enemy's schemes.
The Apostle Paul stated, "Whoever serves Christ in this way (in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit) is acceptable to God and receives human approval. So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another. Do not tear down God's work because of food."
When we move beyond our prideful judgments and realize we have absolutely nothing to boast of, then the LORD Jesus Christ can actually use us to accomplish great things for His kingdom and eternal glory.
Blessings,
Kevin M. Kelley
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