Romans 16:17-18

I urge you, my dear family, to watch out for those who cause divisions and problems, contrary to the teaching you learned. 

Avoid them.

People like that are serving their own appetites instead of our Lord the Messiah. They deceive the hearts of simple-minded people with their smooth and flattering speech.

I love this simple sentence by commentator Douglas Moo on this passage: “The false teachers are interested in their own pleasure and ease, not in helping people know God.”

All we want in these writings is for you to be assisted and encouraged to know God, and to know God more and more deeply.

That’s it.

Because when you get closer to God with an open, ready-to-learn, and accepting heart, the Spirit will guide you into doing what you need to do. That’s why I always try to nudge people closer to God instead of telling them what to do.

But some people have their own agendas which are self serving.

Avoid them.

They disrupt unity and cause problems by presenting their own brand of the Gospel which is different than the one preached by the apostles of Jesus.

Avoid them.

They are interested in their own pleasure, not in helping people to know God. Celebrating Independence Day, we are reminded that their are many so-called Christians who put their country higher than God, screaming national pride instead of Godly humility.

Avoid them.

They use eloquence and flattery on the “simple-minded”, or we could translate as “innocent”, therefore, unsuspecting of others’ deceit because they are not given to the wiles of this craft themselves. Some people, whose worldview is not that of Christ’s, are very skilled and persuasive speakers. That does not change the content of what they’re preaching. They corrupt the purity and simplicity of the Gospel.

Avoid them.

Our goal with the Weekday Ripple is not to win a writing award, or to butter you up so you’ll listen, but to speak in the power of the Spirit who alone can penetrate the hearts of people. (1 Cor. 2:1-5)

Romans 15:25-33

I am going to Jerusalem to render service to God’s people there.

I urge you, my dear family, through our Lord Jesus the Messiah and through the love op the spirit: fight the battle for me in your prayers to God on my behalf so that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, and so that my service for Jerusalem may be welcomed gladly by God’s people.

So Paul had collected an offering from Gentile believers in Macedonia and Acahaea who wanted to gift it to the Jewish believers who were poor in Jerusalem.

In this letter, Paul is asking intensely for prayer on this journey, first off, because the unbelievers in Judea had it in for him, and that part would be dangerous. Very understandable prayer request there. He had trouble with them before.

But why ask for prayer that the Jerusalem believers would accept the Gentile offering? Why would they not?

Well, it’s all about unity and equity and the demonstration that, with God, there are no second-class Christians, for God intended the restoration of the unity of all peoples in Christ.

These Gentiles have accepted the gift of Christ brought to them via the Jewish people, for Jesus was Jewish. Their hope is to return the favor, so to speak, by attending to the Jewish Christians earthly needs, and if accepted, will show unity and equality among all of God’s people in Christ no matter what their ethnicity, for in Christ none of us has more privilege than any other.

God’s equal concern for all people, all types, runs through the entire Bible. The acceptance of this gift by the Jewish Christians will be a tacit admission that they are all, Jew and Gentile alike, on equal footing before God.

So it was kind of a big deal.

Function does not entitle one to preferential treatment before a God who treats all on the same basis: his mercy.

~Paul Achtemeier

Romans 14:1-3 & 13

Welcome someone who is weak in faith, but not in order to have disputes on difficult points. One person believes it is alright to eat anything, while the other person eats only vegetables.

The one who eats should not despise the one who does not, and the one who does not should not condemn the one who does—because God has welcomed them.

Do not, then, pass judgment on another any longer. If you want to exercise your judgment, do so on this question: how to avoid placing obstacles or stumbling blocks in front of a fellow family member.

Disputing with our brothers and sisters in Christ on difficult points, ones on par with if we should be vegetarians, or whether some days like Good Friday are holier than others (vv.5-6), serves only as distraction from focusing on God.

We are all in different places on our spiritual journey toward God, not ahead or behind mind you, just different. Who am I to “should” all over you with my personal ways of connecting with Christ. I can share them, but shame on me if I look down on you for not abiding by “my rules“.

I have definitely done this—despised others for not following like I do. How abhorrent! How often I’ve been given a spiritual insight at just the right time in my journey, then try to force it upon others before even inquiring where they are.

This chapter convicts me. Who am I to say how someone should connect to Christ? Sure, we can offer suggestions to help lead someone closer to God, especially if they ask, but may we never condemn someone for seeking God in a manner we perhaps would not do so ourselves or even in a way we don’t like.

If someone reads the King James version of the Bible only, what is that to me? They are seeking God, praise the Lord!

I’d like to reset my default system to using my impulse to judge someone’s personal convictions as a trigger to examine myself to see if I am placing any obstacles in another believer’s path to connecting with Christ.

That is the kind of judgment that is not only ok, but encouraged in Scripture.

So judge away!

Yourself.

For God’s kingdom, you see, isn’t about food and drink, but about justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.