In Romans 12, Paul starts with the word “Therefore.” Pastor Arthur Pace, the pastor I served under in my first year in the ministry, used to say, “When you come to the word ‘therefore’ in a biblical text, you need to stop and see what it’s ‘there for.” Paul was summing up the entire first half of Romans. He was saying, “Therefore, because we’re all sinners who are redeemed by the incredible love of God, and because He has empowered us to live new lives in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are to offer God our bodies as living sacrifices. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Finally, we are to live as members of the body of Jesus Christ by going all in for Him. Whatever our gifts and skills, we are to use them for Him, and invest our lives in serving God’s Kingdom.
Romans 13 offers us Paul’s command to obey the governing authorities. As I have often written regarding this passage, Paul tells us to obey the governing authorities, and yet church tradition tells us he was executed for disobeying the governing authorities. The conclusion we draw from that is: We must obey the governing authorities except when to do so is to go against the clear word of God. The rest of the chapter focuses on our responsibility to love one another.
Romans 14 focuses on how we are to respond to those around us who are “weaker” in the faith than we are. Following Jesus was a new matter in Paul’s day, and some believed you had to follow the Jewish law to follow Jesus. Others believed you couldn’t eat anything that had anything to do with idols, if you were following Jesus. Paul simplified it: Nothing we eat is a problem. However, if what we eat causes a brother or sister for whom Jesus died to sin, then we ought to be more concerned about the brother or sister’s well-being than our own comfort. I have used these words of Paul to take a position of not drinking alcohol. The Bible doesn’t say a believer can’t drink alcohol, but if someone who is “weaker” than I am sees me drinking alcohol, then they might assume, “If it’s okay for Pastor Chris, then it is for me, too.” That person might end up addicted to alcohol. That might seem an extreme position to you, but having worked with 100’s of people recovering from addiction, one of the questions I’ve asked is, “How many people do you know who don’t drink any alcohol?” The answer is always the same, “None. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t drink or do drugs.” I raise my hand and say, “Now, you know one.” I want people to know no one has to smoke or drink alcohol, and I never want to be the one who causes a person who is “weaker” in the faith to stumble, because of me.
As we return to Matthew 14, we read of King Herod’s execution of John the Baptist. As we know he did it because of his wife’s cruel request, and because He didn’t want to appear to go back on his words in front of his dinner guests. After this, Matthew records the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus walking on water, and Jesus healing people in Gennesaret. Each of these events was powerful and in its own way impacted the lives of many people. John’s death shows us those who are righteous don’t always receive justice in this life. Jesus feeding the 5,000 shows us He is not limited in any way by “limited” resources. His walking on water shows us He was not limited by the laws of nature. His healing people in Gennesaret shows us, He was concerned for more people than the local Jews with whom He grew up. He was concerned for everyone. While Jesus never ventured beyond Israel during His time on the earth, He did help people who weren’t Jews. The world-wide mission to offer salvation to everyone was left to His disciples and to us, but Jesus’ love for the world knows no limits.