What I Do Matters...To You
What I Do Matters…To You by Rev. L. John Gable
July 8, 2018
As we were ending my study leave a week or so ago in Door County, Wisconsin, we went to Bloomington, Illinois to celebrate Kristin’s mother’s birthday. While we were there we attended her short story club, a gathering of men and women she organizes to read and discuss a short story each week. The story for the day was a selection from a novel by Frank Waters, an American author known for his works about the American Southwest, titled “The Man Who Killed the Deer”. I won’t try to explain the whole story, but it tells of a young Native American from the Hopi tribe who killed a deer out of season. His offence broke both the laws of the Government and the code of the tribal council, and it was now the responsibility of the council to determine what to do with the man who killed the deer.
The council could well have been a group of Presbyterians. They first determined that they must “move evenly together”, which sounds strikingly like our Presbyterian motto about doing everything “decently and in order”. Secondarily, they determined that the man must pay a fine to the government for his offence, which corresponds to what we read in Romans several weeks ago, about “paying taxes to whom taxes are due” or as Jesus states, “giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” It seemed like such “a simple matter, but wait,” writes Waters, “was it so simple? This man was an Indian, born in our pueblo, belonging to our tribe.” He had broken both the laws of the Government and the code of the tribe by killing the deer out of season, what is our responsibility for his actions? “There is no such thing as a simple thing. Nothing is simple and alone. We are not separate and alone – we are one, indivisible, nothing that any of us does but affects us all.” As the story unfolds, the council debates their actions regarding the man who killed the deer and without disclosing how the story ends, they resolve that they must “move evenly together.”
The timing for reading that story was perfect for me. In a sense, this is what Paul is getting at in Romans 14, the issue here is not over the slaying of an animal but of the acceptability of eating meat, particularly meat which had been sacrificed to idols. If you will recall our conversation last week we determined that Paul was giving believers freedom to eat whatever they wanted. In Christ we are set free from the myriad of Jewish dietary laws, underscoring the point that if we aren’t saved by good works, then we certainly aren’t saved by what we eat. This teaching establishes the principle we live by as Presbyterians that “persons of good character and principle may differ”, so we need not judge one another, but rather give to one another the freedom of conscience in matters of faith and the practice of the faith. That clear and unambiguous teaching about Christian freedom however is tempered by our responsibility to others.
We pick up our teaching in verse 13 where Paul furthers his point about individual rights and freedoms when he says, “Let us therefore no longer pass judgment upon one another”, but lest we misconstrue what he is saying, he continues, “but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.” He moves quite deftly from advocating for individual rights to insisting on mutual responsibility; from “I can do whatever I want because I am free in Christ”, to “What I do matters…to you.”
We live in an age in which we have tended to privatize religion, particularly our religious experience. While faith is intended to be a community affair; we have individualized it. While we are called to be a community of faith, the people of God, the Body of Christ, the Church; we have personalized our faith, our faith experience, our spirituality to “me and Jesus”, “me and my experience”, “me and my relationship with God”; such that I don’t even need you, or the Church. I am answerable to God, not to anyone of you, much less the “tribal council” of you. Can you see how a misinterpretation of the concept of Christian freedom can lead to these conclusions? While it is true that we are each individuals, each ultimately accountable and answerable to God, still we are all in this together. The life of faith was never intended to be a solo experience, but a community affair.
So this is where Paul goes in his teaching. (Just as) “we are not to pass judgment on one another”, (neither are we) “to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another”, which means, I am responsible in my behavior, my faith and my practice of the faith, not only to God, but to you as well. Just as the thumb cannot say to the rest of the body what difference does it make to you if I smash myself with a hammer, so one member of the Body of Christ can’t say to the other members of the Body of Christ that my actions, my words, my behavior, my attitudes, my theology, my using Scripture out of context for my own purposes, doesn’t affect you, because it does.
It is like the two guys who were out fishing when suddenly a snake dropped into their boat. One of them picked up a shotgun and started shooting. The other said, “What are you doing?” The guy with the gun said, “Don’t worry, it’s on my end of the boat.” It doesn’t work that way, does it? We are all in the same boat, part of the same family, members of the same body, responsible to and for one another. As comedian Lilly Tomlin put it, “We’re all in this together – by ourselves.” What I do matters…to you, and what you do matters…to me, so we must be careful not to put a stumbling block in the way of a brother or sister.
Why is this so important to Paul, and now to us? He answers that question is verse 15 when he says, “If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died.” This idea of “walking in love” is critical to our understanding of what Paul is talking about and how we apply it our lives today. Our freedom is limited, even freedom we have clearly been given by Christ, such as freedom from the dietary laws, by our concern for the well-being of a brother or sister in Christ. Such active concern for the needs or concern for another is the definition of love; not what I “want” but what they “need”; not just what is good for me, but what is good and beneficial for us, together; which means love “limits” our freedoms to do as we please.
My guess is we haven’t argued over the alrightness of eating meat sacrificed to idols for a while as Paul does here, so let’s use an example that is a little closer to home, the alrightness of drinking alcohol. There is vast disagreement across the spectrum of Christian traditions on this issue, which has often led to issues of hypocrisy on the part of adherents of traditions who teach that it is inappropriate. Our tradition says it is allowable, yet in good Presbyterian fashion, with the caveat, “all things in moderation.” I happen to believe Scripture agrees with that approach inasmuch that nothing is unclean in and of itself; but again, “persons of good character and principle may differ”, so each of us must act according to our own conscience as we seek to honor God.
So, what if we are going out to dinner with friends and I think a glass of wine sounds good, that would be my “right”; but then I realize my brother or sister is a recovering alcoholic? Is it alright to have a glass of wine? Yes, in fact, I could even flaunt it as a demonstration of my “freedom” in Christ; but is it the right thing to do, given the circumstances? Perhaps not. My “rights” and my “responsibility” for the concern and well-being of my brother or sister come in to conflict with one another. Again we read in verse 15, “If your brother or sister is being injured by what you do, you are no longer walking in love.”
Now drinking a glass of wine or eating a particular food may not be your issue today, but the principle still stands. Perhaps there is an issue that you are digging your heels in on, not an essential of the faith, but what church historians and theologians refer to as being a “thing indifferent”, a “non-essential”, that is fracturing your relationship with a brother or sister or the unity of the body, such that you are no longer “walking in love.” Given the circumstances, perhaps your insistence on being “right” is not leading you to doing the “right thing” at all. As Paul writes, “For the Kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding. Do not for the sake of food (or the issue that you think you are absolutely right on) destroy the work of God (that is the unity of His Body). Everything is indeed clean (acceptable), but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat (say, do, advocate for, insist upon as being the right and only way.)” To do so is to abuse the freedom we have been given by Christ as it damages the unity of the Body for which He died.
You see, Jesus is our model here. He didn’t exercise His own freedom or privilege, that of being God, but surrendered His “rights” by taking on human flesh and becoming like one of us. The One who was strong became weak for our sakes. He didn’t do as He pleased, but as His Father pleased. He sacrificed His own wants and desires in obedience to God for our sakes, and bore what we rightly ought to have suffered for us and our salvation. Since Christ has done this for us, we also must be willing to surrender some of our “rights”, or our need to be “right”, out of our sense of “responsibility” and concern and love for our brothers and sisters. Our responsible behavior toward others is in response to that of our Lord. I don’t always have to exercise my rights, or even my need to be in the “right” if it means I am no longer “walking in love” with my neighbor.
“There is no such thing as a simple thing”, is there? In our efforts to “walk in love” we must continually seek the balance between “our rights” and “our responsibilities”; between our convictions and our concern for the other’s well-being; because what I do matters…to you, and what you do matters…to me, so let us “move evenly together” “pursuing what makes for peace and mutual up-building.”
There is much to consider here as we try to apply this teaching to our own lives, to our own walks of faith, to our own relationships, isn’t there; so I find it appropriate that Paul inserts a benediction, a blessing, at this point in his teaching. I hear it as a word of comfort and encouragement, almost as if he is saying, “I know this is hard for you, so let me pray for you.”
Using Paul’s prayer, let me now pray for you, for us. “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen.
Rev. L. John Gable