Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
The believers serve Christ and find approval in the company of God’s people by refraining from “bickering over inconsequential matters”as William MacDonald observes. He says well, “we should make every effort to maintain peace and harmony in the Christian fellowship. Instead of stumbling others by insisting on our rights, we should strive to build up others in their most holy faith.”
The believer serves Christ by living a life of holiness before God. This is what counts in God’s sight as Solomon said at the conclusion of his evaluation of life in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
When one receives Jesus Christ into his life through repentance and faith towards God through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells such a one. In the sight of God, he is righteousness, the divide before him and God has been bridged by Jesus Christ’s atonement on the cross. He receives eternal life. His spiritual eyes are opened to understand spiritual things through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. He is now a child of the kingdom of God.
The Christians are exhorted to cultivate spiritual fruit their lives – to grow in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. He urged them not to be squabbling concerning differences in the physical aspects of life, scrutinizing and taking offense over one others’ eating habits. Rather focus on cultivating a strong walk with God through self-examination, confession of sins and obedience to God’s Word.
The Apostle Paul is asking the believer to guard his testimony that he is not charged by the weaker brother for being unkind and lack grace in accommodating his weakness. The weaker brother would understand that his weakness does not warrant such harsh treatment from a fellow believer.
The Apostle Paul is exhorting the believers to exercise forbearance concerning the differences in eating preferences and eating habits amongst them. No food is ceremonially unclean for the Jewish Christian. Let it not become a reason for disunity. His reason is that Christ died for such a weak one. As such, he is precious in God’s sight. Do not tear him down because he chooses not to eat meat.
We have been given this freedom from the bondage of sin. Let us not abuse this freedom by allowing the flesh to manifest itself Gal. 5:19-21. This word “serve” is a command the believers are to do continually as a habit of life. It means “to do service, to perform services of kindness and Christian love.” [Thayer Lexicon]
To love one another is to treat others like how you would like others to treat you. And to devour describes the scheming heart to get gain by destroying the other person.
Many conflicts among believers in the church would have been averted, with peace ruling in the heart of God’s people, when believers come to the conviction not to judge one another. Be always ready to do self-examination rather than “other-examination”. Why did the Apostle Paul spend a whole chapter on this topic of exhorting believers to refrain from judging one another? It is because this was a pervading issue in the church at Rome. If not adequately addressed, it can threatened to upset the unity of the church.
It has been the theme of the Old Testament Scripture that man does not live his life without accountability. He is accountable to the God, who made him. Solomon admitted in Ecclesiastes 3:17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. Also, he urges us to fear God and keep His commandments because we will be judged one day for all our actions – Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Jesus is the One that we ought to please and serve. He deserves our all because He gave His all to save us. He sacrificed His life to save us from eternal damnation in hell fire that we may finally stand in heaven’s glory. He shall justly be the Judge to assess how we have lived to do our duty and repay our gospel. May we serve Him with great delight!