Living Well (During These Times)

Being Gracious in our Differences

When I was growing up I thought everyone grew up like me.  Middle class Christian family, siblings, father who worked hard, mom who pushed you to be the best, siblings, and hard work ethic.

It was the lens that I saw everything through and still at times see through.

Our formative years as children are just that formative.  They form a lens that we see through.

The problem is that we think everyone has the same set of lens and nothing could be further from the truth.  Our lives, family, experiences, customs, culture, each give us a different set of lens that we see through and we have to learn to be gracious in our differences. 

It is the way that we will march forward and live well during these uncertain times.

It was we see difference in the gospels though they all talked about Jesus they saw through different lens.  Mark was gathering assuming Christ would come back soon.  Matthew was writing to convince the Jews, Luke writing from the perspective of social justice not just the poor in spirit but the outright poor, and John writes from the seat of Jesus’s best friend which gives him accreditation to others but also a completely different lens to examine Jesus with.

And so we dig into Romans 14.

Now we have to understand Paul’s intent in writing Romans.  It was to unify us to Christ but also in the last four chapters to unify us to each other knowing that our differences could be the very things that would divide the cause of Christ. AND THAT CAN’T HAPPEN.

Not then, and not now.

So Paul bring us two issues that are relevant to the church in that day.  Eating.  Holy Days.

Now these might seem sort of strange now but even before COVID 19 we had our differences.

Some think if you don’t homeschool your children you are negligent.

Others are King James Only…and anyone who reads another version is a pitiful sinner.

Or perhaps Sunday is for dressing in your Sunday Best only.

And we can go on and on, band no band, children’s church or none, and they are all just opinions.

Notice Paul is not talking about doctrinal issues like salvation, resurrection, sin issues, he is merely talking about opinions of man and these things can not be the things that divide us.

-Paul is talking here about matters between believers who are all seeking to please the Lord

-Paul is very concerned that we believers get along with one another in spite of inevitable difference between us.

-Paul acknowledges there will always be difference among believers

-To refrain from wrongly judging my brother, I must remember that God is the Savior, Sanctifier, and Lord; I’m not

Romans 14:1-12

14 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. ² One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³ Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. ⁴ Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master^[a]that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵ One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸ For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. ⁹ For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰ Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; ¹¹ for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
    and every tongue shall confess^[b]to God.”

There is a difference in disagreeing and being disagreeable.

We must learn to be gracious in our differences.  Our difference is what make it exciting.

How mundane and boring it would be if we were all the same and thought the same.

No one eats just one type of food all day every day.  We appreciate difference. 

Gracious tolerance means a willingness to distinguish between people and their ideas.  Most of us could stand to be more gracious, patient, and humble.  What we think today could likely change in ten years and our goal should be to see through the lens of Christ.

Our family has been reading through books of the bible during this Quarantine and there is nothing more convicting than reading though James with you kids and looking at your life and saying am I really doing that? 

Am I viewing that through the lens of Christ or my preconceived notions and culture?

Here are some questions to ask yourself.

Am I truly listening?  Am I Treating others with dignity and respect?  Give your full attention.

Be Graciousto those who have lost their jobs and are worried about money.

Be Graciousto those who are concerned about the economy.

Be Graciousto those who wear a mask.

Be Graciousto those who do not.

Be Graciousto those who have been following a strict quarantine.

Listen with dignity and respect.

Be Graciousto those who have not.

Listen with dignity and respect.

Be Graciousto those who look different

Be Graciousto those who have different thought process

Be Graciousto those who see through different lens.

Learn to not be disagreeable.

Make sure that our number one goal is still our number one goal.

To know Christ and make him known.

That is why we remain gracious.

Because we know that the goal is always the same to be united and MAKE HIM KNOWN.