Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (Matthew 14:13-21 Message)

     This morning I gave a message on Jesus feeding the five thousand, which I am posting here. I hope you find encouragement through this word.
     Today we’re going to learn about a passage that is familiar to most if not all of us. We’ve probably read this passage tens if not hundreds of times before. Interesting, the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand is found in all four gospels. This means that all of the gospel writers all saw something significant in the feeding of the five thousand. Hopefully this morning we can all reflect on this passage and see what it is that the gospel writers found so important in this miracle. The key verse I chose for today is verse 16. Let’s read that together please. “Jesus replied, ‘they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat (Matthew 14:16).’”
     I want to focus on the disciples of Jesus and their actions during this miracle. I’d like to see how they respond to the situation in this passage, and relate their progression to our lives today. To begin, let’s read verse 15 together. “As evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said, ‘this is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food (Matthew 14:15).’” The first thing the disciples do is recognize that there is a need. The disciples noticed that the crowd had been with Jesus for a long time, and that they were in a remote place. The disciples probably noticed that the people in the crowd were tired because of the lack of food. They may have even heard people complain of the fact that they had no food. The disciples also realized that they themselves were hungry. Whatever it was, the disciples recognized that there was a need that had to be met. This seems like such a basic thing for someone to realize, but it’s an important step for action. When we look at people today, it should be obvious to us that there is a need. Perhaps we notice that people are tired from a lack of spiritual food. Or perhaps we notice that people complain about a lack of purpose and meaning in life. Or maybe our own spiritual hunger makes us realize that others are hungry as well. Whatever it may be, we have to recognize that there is a need that has to be met. If we simply ignore the fact that people need Jesus, we will never take any steps in meeting their need.
     The second thing that the disciples do is realize that there is nothing they can do to satisfy the overwhelming needs of the crowd. If you read the version of this parable written in John, you will immediately notice the disciple’s inability to satisfy the crowd’s hunger. John 6:7 says, “Philip answered Him, ‘it would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’”. Verse 21 tells us that the number of people who were present were 5000, not including women and children. This means there were likely well over 5000 people crowded around Jesus and His disciples. The disciples looked around and realized that there was no way they could provide enough food for all of these people. You can ask the people who cook lunch for us on Sunday- preparing food for a lot of people is not easy. Imagine having to prepare or buy food for all of these people. To put this in perspective, the Xfinity Center at the University of Maryland seats 17,950 people. Imagine trying to feed everyone in Xfinity Center when it is full. Philip calculated that it would have taken half of a year’s wages for everyone to have a bite. Clearly the disciples did not have this kind of money on them. The disciples suggested that Jesus send the crowd away so that they could just buy their own food, since providing them with food would be impossible. Are the disciples wrong for thinking in this way? Actually, not really. The disciples realized that even if they wanted to feed all of these people, it would be impossible. They did not have that kind of money. The disciples very practically suggested that the crowd just buy food for themselves. It is fair for the disciples to think that there was no way to feed the crowd, since they really couldn’t. Compare this to our lives. After we recognize that there is a spiritual need in people around us, can we do anything to fill it? Is there anything we can do to satisfy the need of the multitudes of people around us? The answer is no. We actually can’t even satisfy the spiritual need of one person. Just like the disciples, we come to the realization that there is nothing we can do to satisfy the needs of others. Of course, I am talking about when we try to fill the need on our own.
     So what is the next step the disciples take in this passage? Let’s read verses 16 and 17 together. “Jesus replied, ‘they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’ ‘We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,’ they answered (Matthew 14:16-17).” The disciples offered whatever they had in obedience to Jesus’ command. If we look at John’s gospel again, we find that it is actually the disciple Andrew who offers Jesus the five loves and two fish. He says to Jesus, “here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many (John 6:9)?” We see that Andrew offered Jesus some bread and fish that he took from a boy. I wonder if it was socially acceptable in Jesus’ time to take a little boy’s dinner in order to feed others. In any case, we see that the disciples offered what little they had to Jesus. They did this in obedience to Jesus’ command for them to give the crowd something to eat. Andrew offers Jesus the small amount of food, but is still confused as to how Jesus plans to feed the huge crowd. Andrew probably felt foolish offering such a small amount of food to such a large crowd. He asks Jesus, “how far will they go among so many?” Often times, this is our attitude towards offering what we have to Jesus. When Jesus commands us to go and make disciples, we think to ourselves, “there are so many people who need Jesus, how far will my effort go among so many?” We have so little to offer Jesus, and we might even think it’s foolish to offer such a small amount to fulfill such a great need. However, Jesus’ command to us is to “give them something to eat”. Therefore, offer whatever you have, in obedience to Jesus’ command.
     Let’s read verses 18-20 together please. “‘Bring them here to me,’ He said. And He directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over (Matthew 14:18-20).” The next thing the disciples did was let Jesus multiply what they offered Him, and let Jesus work through them. How many loaves of bread did the disciples have? And how many fish? Five loaves and two fish. How many people were in the crowd? Well over 5,000. However, we just read that Jesus and the disciples were able to feed all of them until they were full. Not only did everyone eat, everyone was satisfied. Jesus took the small amount of food that the disciples offered Him, and He used it to feed over 5,000 people. Jesus did something that was impossible for the disciples to do on their own. An interesting thing to notice in the verses we just read is that Jesus worked through His disciples. Jesus easily could have just made food magically appear in everyone’s lap, but He instead let the disciples distribute the food among the people. What does this tell us? This reveals that Jesus wants to work through us. He wants us to offer whatever we have, and He wants to use us to satisfy the needs of those around us. He doesn’t want to us sit back and watch Him work, He wants us to be working right alongside Him. A key step in our faith is to let Jesus multiply what we offer to Him, and to let Him work through us.
     There is more step that I believe the disciples took, or they should have taken. None of the gospels actually record this last step, which is unfortunate. They last thing the disciples did should have been to marvel at Jesus’ work and to give thanks God. I assume that the disciples must have been amazed at Jesus’ ability to multiply such a small amount of food to feed such a large amount of people. I’ve reiterated this many times already, but it was impossible for the disciples to have fed the multitude of people on their own. The five loaves and two fish would have barely been enough to feed themselves. However, Jesus took the bread and fish and was able to not only feed the multitude, but to satisfy them. What is more amazing is that there were twelve basketfuls of bread left over! I’m pretty sure that was more than the disciples started off with. The disciples must have marveled at this amazing miracle that Jesus performed in their midst. It’s clear that all of the gospel writers were amazed at this miracle. What is unfortunate is that the disciples don’t seem to give thanks to God for this miracle. If we see how Jesus was able to multiply the bread, we find that He actually prayed and gave thanks to God. The disciples should have followed suit, and given thanks to God for feeding the crowd of people. Perhaps the disciples were too amazed to understand what had happened, but they should have given thanks to God. This applies to us too. When we see Jesus work in a powerful way, our response should be gratitude to God. God is the ultimate provider, and we should thank Him for all the ways He works in our lives.
     I want to take some time to talk about Jesus. He is the main character of the gospel, is He not? The first logical question to ask about Jesus is- “why did He want to feed the crowd?” Let’s read verse 14 together please. “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14).” Jesus was trying to withdraw to a solitary place, because He had just heard that John the Baptist was beheaded. However, when He stepped out of His boat, He saw a great crowd around Him. A natural response would have been to be upset at the crowd, since Jesus was trying to spend some time alone. Was Jesus upset? No. In fact, He had compassion on the crowd, and started healing the sick. Jesus’ compassion is further seen when He tells the disciples to feed the crowd. Like I said earlier, it was completely logical for Jesus to take the disciples’ suggestion and send the crowd away to buy their own food. Jesus understood that. However, Jesus saw the crowd who had been with Him all day until evening, and He had compassion on them. They probably could have gotten their own food, but they were all tired from being around Jesus all day. Jesus didn’t want them to have to spend more energy in order to get food. Jesus wanted them to be fed here and now. Sometimes, when I contemplate whether or not to go fishing, I will ask myself- “why do I have to do this?” To be honest, I do not really like talking to other people about Jesus. Often times, I feel like the disciple Andrew. It seems like the little amount I have to offer is not nearly enough to satisfy. I even sometimes feel foolish for offering so little. However, this passage reminds me that Jesus wants me to minister to others because He has compassion on them. Jesus doesn’t want them to stay hungry and to never be satisfied. Another thing to note is that the crowd did nothing to deserve the food that Jesus provided. Jesus simply fed them because He had compassion. Nothing the crowd did made them deserve food from Jesus. In fact, they probably deserved to be dismissed because they bothered Jesus all day. It’s tempting to give up on others because we think they don’t deserve Jesus. This is indeed true, they don’t deserve Jesus, but Jesus still has compassion on them.
     We talked earlier about the fact that Jesus wanted to work with the disciples. Jesus invited His disciples to participate in His work. Why? Jesus easily could have done everything on His own. Interestingly, I think the answer to this is the same as the answer to why Jesus fed the crowd. Jesus had compassion on them. The disciples didn’t have a lot of faith at this point of their lives. Even though were with Jesus a lot, they didn’t fully understand the full extent of His power. They also didn’t fully understand the full extent of His love and compassion. Think about what would have happened if Jesus fed the crowd without the help of the disciples. The disciples would have just been a part of the crowd. They would be amazed at the miracle, but they wouldn’t really grow in faith. Jesus had compassion on the disciples for their lack of faith, and He wanted to help them grow. This why Jesus tells the disciples to give the crowd something to eat. He is testing their faith. When the disciples start to doubt themselves because they have so little to offer Jesus, Jesus multiplies what they offered Him. Jesus then tells the disciples to distribute the food, so they would be part of His ministry. This helps the disciples grow in their faith. Sometimes we think that Jesus’ compassion is reserved only for those of little or no faith. We think that Jesus only has compassion on those who are part of the crowd. However, Jesus has compassion on all people, including us. He wants to help us grow in our faith, no matter the amount of faith we have now. He wants us to work alongside Him to bring others spiritual food to fill their spiritual hunger. This not only so that others come to know Jesus, but that we would experience Jesus more, and grow in our faith.
     Let’s recap the steps of faith that the disciples took in this passage. The first step was to recognize a need. This is always the first step, and is the easiest as well. The need for Jesus is evident in people around us. We have to recognize this need if we are to grow in our faith. The second step was to realize that there is nothing they could do to satisfy the overwhelming needs of the crowd. This realization naturally happens when we understand the spiritual need of others, and our inability to fulfill that need. An important thing to remember is that this is not a bad realization to have; it forces us to depend on Jesus and not on ourselves. The next step they took was to offer Jesus whatever they had, in obedience to His command. While the disciples knew that the small amount of food they found was nowhere near what was required to feed the crowd, they still offered it to Jesus. They obeyed Jesus’ command to feed the multitude to the best of their ability, by offering whatever they could find. The disciples then let Jesus multiply what they offered, and they let Jesus work through them. Jesus took the bread and the fish, multiplied them, and commanded the disciples to distribute the food among the crowd. Jesus did not feed the crowd on His own, He worked with the disciples. Jesus wants to work with us and through us. He is able to multiply what we offer Him, and is able to satisfy the needs of others through us. The last step was to give thanks to God. The disciples may or may not have done this, but it is not recorded in the passage. Regardless of whether they thanked God or not, we should always give thanks to God for what He does through us. Just as Jesus gave thanks for the bread, we should give thanks for what God gives to us.
     There are multitudes of people who need Jesus today. The amount of people who need Jesus far exceeds the 5,000 found in the passage we studied today. It’s easy for us to think like the disciples and to have a dismissive attitude towards the needy. However, Jesus commands us to “go and make disciples”. We should offer whatever we have in obedience to His command. Jesus has compassion on the needy. This not only includes the crowd, but His disciples, which extends to us today. If we offer what we have, Jesus will multiply our efforts, and our faith will grow as a result. The Spring Bible Conference is in five days. Let’s pray that through the conference Jesus would work through the messengers and life testimony speakers, and multiply their efforts to touch everyone who attends. Let us offer to Jesus whatever we have, and let Him work through us. He is able to do so much more than we could ever imagine, so let’s put our faith in Him. Let’s read the key verse again, verse 16. “Jesus replied, ‘they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat (Matthew 14:16).”
-Smart

Accept one Another (Romans 14-15:13 Message Part 2)

Verse 15 gives us another reason we should accept others. Let’s read it. “If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for who Christ died (Romans 14:15).” Christ died for all of us. He didn’t just die for those who are strong in faith, or who live a certain lifestyle. John 3:16 says “whoever believes in Me shall not perish but have eternal life”, meaning the only requirement for salvation is that we believe. How precious is someone if Christ was willing to die for them? How can we not accept someone that Jesus has died for? Our worth is not found in how we act, but in Jesus Christ.
Let’s read verse 17. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17)”. I just said earlier that our salvation is only based on our belief. We don’t have to be circumcised, or have a certain diet, we just have to believe. God’s main concern isn’t with these trivial matters. His main concern is that we believe in Him. How many of you have seen the movie “Moneyball”? It’s an alright movie, if you like baseball. The premise of the movie is that the Oakland A’s don’t have a lot of money, and therefore cannot afford quality players. The manager, Billy Beane, really wants to have a winning team, so he decides to team up with Peter Brand, an economics major. Peter Brand has a radically new way of assessing a player’s value. Most mangers choose players based on what they see; how good the players form is, how athletic they are, and things like that. Peter Brand’s idea is to not look at the player’s attributes, but at their numbers. One example is when they are looking for a pitcher. The pitcher that Brand recommends to Beane has very unconventional and awkward form when he pitches. However, Brand tells Beane that if you look strictly at the numbers, this is a good pitcher who can get a decent amount of strikes. Sometimes we are like the managers who are focusing on the wrong things. At the end of the day, what matters is that the pitcher can throw the ball over the plate well. His form shouldn’t be an issue if he is able to pitch. In the same way, nothing others do should be an issue, if they are saved. The only time we should be concerned is if someone is sinning against God, but other than that, we should accept each other.
Let’s keep trucking along here. Read verse 19 with me. “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification (Romans 14:19).” The next reason we should accept one another is so that we encourage peace and unity. Why is unity important? Jesus told the people who thought He drove out demons because He was a demon gave them this response- “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand (Matthew 12:25)”. If we are not united, the church cannot stand. Let’s also read chapter 15 verse 2. “Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up (Romans 15:2)”. When we are accepting of others, we encourage their growth. How many of you babysit or have babysat in the past? How many of you abandon the baby because he or she was not able to walk without your help? If any of you said yes, I’d have to tell that baby’s parents. We don’t get upset at the baby because they can’t walk, we hold their hand and help them walk. We accept that they are not as strong as we are, and cannot walk on their own. We help them walk so they learn how to walk on their own. We encourage their growth. We shouldn’t get upset at others who are not as spiritually mature as us, we should make an effort to help them grow by building them up.
Verse 3 tells us that “for even Christ did not please Himself but, as it is written: ‘the insults of those who insult you have fallen on Me’ (Romans 15:3).” If you think about how Jesus should have come to this earth, it was as a king. He is the Lord over everything, so everyone should have served Him. Instead: Jesus, “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8)”. Jesus came not as a king, but as a servant. What does Paul desire in verse 5? That “the God who gives endurance and encouragement (would) give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had (Romans 15:5)”. In others words, we should be a servant to each other. Now, before you all start ordering me to serve you, we should also remember that Jesus never asked anyone to serve Him. We should take the same attitude that Jesus had for us. He could have easily judged us and left us to die, yet He chose to love. We also should choose to love, not to judge. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters (1 John 14-16)”. So let us “accept one another, just as Christ accepted us (Romans 15:7)”.
The last reason that we should accept one another is that we bring glory to God. Read verse 6 with me. “So that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 15:6)”. Accepting each other in love brings glory to God. Ephesians 2:21-22 tell us that “in him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” God wants us to be united so that His spirit can dwell within us. How can we have unity if we do not accept one another? How can we bring glory to God if we do not accept one another? Like I said earlier, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we do it for the glory of God. Accept one another because it brings praise and glory to God.
Now we have all of the reasons that we should accept one another. I want to talk about what the last part of the passage has to do with what we’ve learned today. Paul suddenly just starts writing about the Jews and Gentiles. Or so it seems. This letter was written to Rome, where there were both Jewish and Gentile Christians. The Jews considered themselves to be God’s chosen people, who had to uphold the law. These were the people who abstained from certain foods, and regarded some days as sacred. Even though they knew about Jesus, they still held on to their old traditions. The Gentile believers were a lot freer, since they did not have any traditions regarding God. They understood God in a different way than the Jews did. These conflicting views of how to live as a Christian caused tensions between the Jews and Gentiles. The Jews thought the Gentiles were unclean because they ate meat and treated all days alike. The Gentiles thought the Jews were weaker in faith because they followed old traditions and restricted their own freedom found in Christ.
Earlier I quoted a verse from Ephesians chapter two. I’d like to read more of the chapter to give you some context. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (Ephesians 2:14-22).” God’s plan was not to have two separate groups of people worshipping Him, but that everyone would worship Him as one. The Jews had to accept the Gentiles, and the Gentiles had to accept the Jews.
Today we learned a lot of different things about accepting our fellow believers. We’ve learned that accepting means receiving others without judging them, in order to build each other up. We’ve also learned many reasons to accept one another: God is our Master, everything we do is for the Lord, only God is Judge, Christ died for all people, the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, we build one another up, Christ has accepted us, and we bring praise and glory to God. I think the most important reason to remember is that Christ died for us to accept us, so we should extend that to others by accepting them. Christ died for all of us, not just the strong in faith. Sometimes we let trivial matters break our unity. It can be very difficult to accept certain people we don’t agree with, or we don’t like. How can we accept them? We have to follow Jesus’ example. He had every right to abandon us in our sins, but He chose to become a servant and to die for us. He humbled Himself. This is the key to accepting others. We have to humble ourselves, as Christ did. If we’re able to accept one another, God will fill us with joy, peace, and hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s read the key verse, chapter 15 verse 7 again. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God (Romans 15:7).”

-Smart

Accept One Another (Romans 14-15:13 Message Part 1)

This is my message I gave for the youth group at my church. I hope you enjoy reading it.
     Today we’re going to be talking about Romans chapters fourteen and fifteen. It’s a long passage, so you might think there a lot of different topics, but Paul focuses on one main theme throughout. Before we start to look into the passage, let me ask you all this- raise your hand if you are in middle school. Keep your hand up if you are in the eighth grade. Now raise your hand if you are in high school. Keep your hands up, but put it down if you are a freshman or sophomore. What is the main thing that everyone who has their hand up going to be worried about? Getting accepted to a high school or college. The whole reason high school students work hard is so that they can be accepted to college. Am I correct? The colleges decide whether or not you qualify for acceptance through your GPA, after school activities, essays, SAT score, and other qualifications. They compare you to other students, and if you are not as good as others, your chance of being accepted gets smaller. What is my point in telling you this? Today the theme is accepting one another. Sometimes we are like college recruiters; we decide whether to accept others based on their so-called qualifications. Or sometimes we compare people to each other, and only accept those we like. Paul tells us in this passage that this shouldn’t be our attitude. Think about what happens when someone doesn’t get accepted into college. How do they feel? They feel awful. Now think about when someone gets accepted into their dream college. How do they feel? They are super happy and joyful, and everyone celebrates with them. This is how our Christian relationships should be. We should accept each other because we bring happiness and joy to the church. So if you haven’t already guessed, today we’ll be talking about accepting one another. It’s was hard to pick a key verse since the passage is quite long, but I chose Romans 15:7. Let’s read that together. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God (Romans 15:7).” Pray.
   Let’s read Romans 14 verse 1 together. “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters (Romans 14:1).” The first question we have to ask ourselves is, “what does accept one another mean?” The word acceptance means receiving something or someone favorably. The word “accept” is normally used when talking about giving. The first person to raise their hand I will give a dollar! (Give money). Like I was saying, name happily accepted the money that I gave. Acceptance can be used in other ways as well though. For example, you could choose to accept that you lost a chance to get a dollar, or you could get upset and leave worship service. Paul is talking about this kind of acceptance- when we are presented with our fellow Christians, do we choose to accept them? Or do we get upset at them?
Let’s move on and read verse 3. “The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them (Romans 14:3)”. This verse is telling us that the strong and weak must accept one another. First of all, what does it mean to be “strong” or “weak”? A person whose faith is strong refers to those who have solid doctrine, and have had a relationship with God for a while. In our church I would consider all of our leaders and missionaries to be strong in faith. On the flip side, a person who has weak faith is someone who has recently come to know Christ, and whose doctrine may not be as solid. They still have questions about their faith, since they have not known God for a long period of time. I’ll talk about strong and weak faith later on, but let’s focus on what verse 3 says. “The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not” means that the person with strong faith should accept those with weaker faith. The verse also says that “the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does”, meaning that the weak should accept the strong. It’s everyone’s job to accept one another, not just the people with strong faith. Some of you all play soccer with us on Sundays after church. Those of us who play can see who is a “strong” soccer player and who is a “weak” player. We would probably consider Abraham Song and John Lee “strong” players, since they are athletic and skilled. We would also probably consider people like Anthony or Peter to be “weak” players, since although they are athletic, they are not as skilled. For a team to be successful, the players have to accept one another. If the strong players simply ignored the weaker players, we wouldn’t have enough people to play a soccer game. The stronger players have to accept that the weaker players are limited by their skill and athleticism, but are still members of the team. The weak players also have to accept the stronger players. Peter could easily get upset that no one passes him the ball, but he chooses to accept that the stronger players know what they are doing. I’m just joking, clearly. The point remains though; the weak have to accept the strong, just as the strong accept the weak.
Let’s read verse 13 together. “Therefore let us stop passing judgement on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister (Romans 14:13)” One thing that kills our ability to accept is judging one another. If we are always looking to point out the faults of others, we will never accept them, since no one is perfect. In verse 19 Paul urges us to make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification. If we judge others, we immediately are setting ourselves up for failure. How can we edify each other if we keep judging them on their faults? No one is faultless, and we should realize that. We should make every effort to go against our nature to judge. Another key element to acceptance is to remove any stumbling blocks, even at our own expense. Let’s read verse 21 together. “It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall (Romans 14:21).” Paul was willing to forgo some of his liberties if it would cause his fellow Christians to stumble. We should also be willing to do what it takes to remove stumbling blocks for our fellow believers.
The next question you might have is how this applies practically for us. What are the “disputable matters” that Paul is talking about? Paul mentions some for us, such as food and sacred days. The issue of food is not so much an issue for us today, since most of us eat everything without any issue of conscience. However, sacred days can sometimes be an issue. I don’t think it is for you guys specifically, but I do know some people regard Saturday as the Sabbath day, where they cannot do any work. Is it wrong to think that? Not necessarily. It’s also not wrong to work on a Saturday, if you believe you are free to use your day to work. What is wrong is to judge someone else because they refrain from working on Saturdays, or vice versa. Perhaps this example is still not very relevant for you. Let’s talk about something in a bit more of a gray area- alcohol. Now, none of you drink (I hope), but as you get closer to 21, like myself, people around you may drink alcohol. Is drinking alcohol wrong? No, not in itself. However, some people think that Christians shouldn’t drink. Also, legally you cannot drink until you are 21 years old. For these people, I think those who do drink should not drink while around them. While drinking is not bad, it shouldn’t be done if it makes others uncomfortable. There are plenty of other examples of things that are not sin, yet should be avoided if it makes others uncomfortable.
Now that we have an idea of what it means to accept others, the next question is why we should accept one another. The bulk of this passage actually gives answers to this question. Let’s take a look at verse 4 and read it together. “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand (Romans 14:4).” Let me get this out of the way right away, who is the Master? God is. We are not in a position to judge God’s servants. Also, the strong in faith are not the masters of the weak. The weaker Christians have no obligation to serve the strong. Verse three says that God has accepted everyone, and He is our master. Therefore we shouldn’t treat others as our servants, and we shouldn’t think of others as masters over us.
The next reason is found in verse 6. Let’s read that. “Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God (Romans 14:6).” Whatever we choose to do, whether it be abstaining from foods, or regarding certain days as sacred, we should be intentional about it. We shouldn’t treat the things we do lightly. We have to remember that whatever we do is for the Lord. Simple things like abstaining from foods may seem trivial, but if we do it for God, it has significance. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says “so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” How can we not accept someone who is doing something for the Lord? No one would judge someone for doing missions for God, and we should also not judge someone who chooses to abstain from food, if it is for the Lord.
Let’s read verse 10 now. “You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgement seat (Romans 14:10).” Another easy question for you all- who is the ultimate judge? God is. If I went to a courthouse during a trial, and I pronounced someone guilty, no one would listen to me. My judgement has no impact on the case. Why? I am not the judge of the court. The only one with authority to judge the accused person is the judge of that court. No one else is able to convict that person of a crime. When we judge others, it really has no impact on their eternity. God is the judge; only He decides our eternity. The only thing that happens when we judge others is that we break our relationship with them. Paul is telling us to leave judgement to God, and accept those that God has placed around us.

-Smart

Reconciliation in Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22)

"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone."
-Ephesians 2:19-20
     Last week we studied the second half of Ephesians chapter 2. I've really been enjoying our Ephesians Bible studies in YDJ. In the first two chapters, Ephesians talks a lot about how Christ changed our situation. In chapter one, Paul talks about how we were unwanted, but in Christ we are chosen. In chapter two we learn about how we were dead, but are made alive in Christ. In the latter part of Ephesians, we will learn about how we were once separated, but are now reconciled in Christ.      Paul wrote the letter of Ephesians at a time when Gentiles and Jews did not get along. This was not a small matter; the Jews and Gentiles did not even like to associate with each other. The Jews knew that they were the chosen people of God, and they did not share that with others. They excluded anyone who was not a Jew from God's covenant. They saw Gentiles as unclean people who could never be a part of God's chosen people. The Jews took all of God's blessings for themselves, and made sure that the Gentiles knew that they were not included. You can imagine that this caused hostility between Jews and Gentiles.
     We see in this passage that Paul is writing to Gentiles. He reminds them of the fact that they were not included in all of God's blessings, since they are not Jewish. Paul tells them of how the Jews treated them. The Gentiles were separated from the Jews, and therefore did not have the hope of God that the Jews enjoyed. The Gentiles probably thought that there was no way that they could enter into God's covenant. However, Paul reminds them that in Christ, all can enter into God's promises.
     Paul says that Jesus has brought us peace through the cross. All hostility between the two groups is destroyed in the power of the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil separating the most holy place from people was torn in two. This signified the removal of the barrier between God and man. I believe that this also signified the removal of the barrier between Jew and Gentile. Now that the veil was torn, anyone could enter into the most holy place, where God was. In Christ, everyone has access to the Father, regardless of who they are.
     This idea that Jew and Gentile both had access to God would probably have been hard for them to accept. How could they reconcile two groups who were so hostile to each other for so long? They have to learn to accept each other in Christ. They probably could never accept each other outside of Christ. There was simply too much separating them. However, think about what Christ has done on the cross. Think about how much separated us from God. We are sinners, unholy and unclean, but God is holy. There is no way God could accept us, except through Christ. In the same way, the only way the Jews could accept the Gentiles is through Christ. Christ has allowed everyone into His Kingdom, as long as they believe.
     So how does this apply to us? Simply put, we cannot exclude anyone from God's blessings. All of the blessings that I've talked about in Ephesians one and two are for all people. God has no requirements except that we believe. We can't let our differences separate us from each other. We were all lost at one point, but through Christ we are all God's children. Romans three says it best, "This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." The cross was not only to reconcile us to God, which it certainly has, but to reconcile us to each other.
-Smart