August 13 Lesson: The Nature of the Kingdom

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Summer Quarter 2023: The Righteous Reign of God
Unit 3: God’s Eternal Reign
 
Sunday School Lesson for the week of August 13, 2023
By Jay Harris
 
Lesson Scripture: Romans 14:10-23
 
Key Verse: Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. (Romans 14:19)
 
Lesson Aims

• To set our scripture in the context of Paul’s emphasis on the confession “Jesus Christ is Lord”
• To take the controversy around eating meat sacrificed to idols and find applications to our time
• To hear Paul’s calls for unity anticipating when we stand together around the throne of grace
• To develop empathy for those who are at an earlier stage in their journey of faith
• To understand why eating meat from the marketplace could set some back in their faith journey 
• To learn how actions that are okay for us could push someone else to go against their conscience
• To distinguish non-essentials from the essential work of pursuing peace and mutual upbuilding
• To apply what we have learned in matters that are relevant to our day
• To consider our role as ethical decision-makers.

The Implications of the Confession: ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’
 
When we started the summer quarter’s study of “The Righteous Reign of God,” we began viewing the reign of God through the prophets, then explored Jesus’ parables of the kingdom of heaven. In last week’s study, we began our exploration of God’s reign through the teachings of Paul. 
 
If you do a search of Paul’s use of the word of the “kingdom,” you realize that Paul uses this word rarely—far less often than Jesus did. There is a simple reason for this. How Paul talks about the reign of God is tied to the story of Jesus Christ. Paul’s passion is to show how the crucified and risen Christ has become both Messiah and Lord. For Paul, the confession of faith that “Jesus Christ is Lord” is the most consequential confession a person can make. For Jews who became Christians, they were saying that their story as God’s people culminates in Jesus. Through his sacrificial life and victory over death, Jesus showed that he was and is the promised Messiah of the covenant people. Gentiles came to the same confession through another story, you might say, that had to do with the fulfillment of their greatest human needs through Christ alone.   
 
It is also important to remember that the whole Mediterranean world was a part of the Roman Empire. The empire ruled over Judea and Galilee in the east and everything between it and Rome and even areas beyond to the west. Caesar ruled over it all, and proclaimed himself to be Lord and God. The Christians, who proclaimed Jesus Christ to be Lord, did so knowing that they were living in defiance of the law of the land. They believed that although there were earthly kings and emperors whom they had to obey on many matters, they gave their heart and ultimate allegiance to Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. This conviction served as the foundation of all their other convictions. Paul’s appreciation for the reign of God is therefore much greater than the number of times he uses the phrase “kingdom of God,” as we will see through the scripture we are studying.
 
There is more context to consider in this study. First of all, our scripture is a part of a letter Paul wrote to the church in Rome from the city of Corinth. It was Paul’s hope to travel to Rome to strengthen the church there. Until he could travel in person, he had to rely on writing this letter which had to be delivered by someone else. In this letter, he is addressing matters that he thought were important to tackle. Since Rome was such a large city, the Church in Rome consisted of a number of smaller house churches. One of the purposes of Paul’s letter was to unite these Christians.
 
How can the confession “Jesus Christ is Lord” have meaning if all those who call him “Lord” are not united with each other under his reign? Caesar prided himself as the great “uniter,” although he ruled over people whose land had been conquered by Rome at some point in the past. Caesar ruled over a highly stratified society where order was maintained by everyone knowing and staying in their place. Christians were different in that they were united under the lordship of Jesus Christ and were seeking to love one another and live a life in common that spanned across social distinctions and divisions. The lordship of Jesus Christ gave them a common identity that they claimed as individuals and as fellow Christians.
 
Another important part of the context of this lesson is the general framework of the letter to the Romans. You could boil this letter down to a twin agenda: 1) building support for justification by faith and how Jesus Christ becomes our Lord, and 2) showing the implications of the lordship of Jesus Christ in the life of Christians. Romans 12 is the turning point that contains the big “therefore” where Paul starts laying out the implications for living under the same banner of Christ as our Lord.   
 
Also, in the chapter just before the chapter from which our selected scripture comes, Paul reminds the members of the church of their obligation to love one another: “The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10) You will remember from our lesson last week that Paul referred to the commandment to love our neighbor in the letter to the Galatians. (Galatians 5:14) Paul is reminding the community of believers in Rome that love of neighbor is the command that knits them together under Christ’s lordship.
 
When we get to our selected scripture passage in Romans 14, we will realize we are joining the middle of a conversation that started earlier. Paul started addressing a controversy in the beginning of the chapter. He began with the admonition to welcome the one who is weak in faith but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. The issue is whether or not to eat meat from the marketplace that may have been sacrificed to idols. This means that we will be getting deep into an issue that, on the face of it, does not seem to be relevant to today. The more we get into the controversy, however, the more we will realize how the principles we learn are very relevant to today.
 
Have you ever thought about the meaning of your confession of faith that Jesus Christ is Lord? Have you ever considered the implications of that confession in relation to the way you live out your daily life and relationships? 
 
 
Anticipating our Unity at the Judgement Throne of Grace
 
Let’s join this conversation that is already in progress, and begin to hear the words that Paul is keen on sharing with them. This involves sorting through the issues, but not for the purpose of taking sides on the issue. Paul is helping each one in the community understand all sides. He wants them to understand the deeply personal reasons that lie underneath the various sides each has taken. The issue of what is eaten around the table pales in significance to the way they regard one another around the table. How they share their common life depends on understanding what stage a person is at in their faith journey. Paul knows that if he can get them to understand their brothers and sisters in Christ in this way, then the door will open for them to show empathy and love. They will know how to treat one another so that there is unity in the body of Christ.
 
¹⁰ Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 
 
As long as people are judging each other, there will be no progress at all. When Paul refers to “you” as emphatically as he does, he is calling out each member of the community to examine their own actions. If they are so willing to enter into judgement against their brothers and sisters, don’t they on some level despise these brothers and sisters? This is a strong thing for Paul to say, but he wants them to consider this possibility.
 
Paul wants the community to anticipate the moment when they all stand before the judgment seat of God. Do they want their judging of one another to be on their conscience when they stand before God in the judgment? Let’s clarify what it will mean to stand before God at the judgment.
 
¹¹ For it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
    and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
 
The members of the church in Rome are being taught that standing before the judgment seat of God is not going to be an occasion for wrath and condemnation. Paul has proclaimed to them in the first verse of Romans 8: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” When they stand together at the judgment seat of God, their sins will be forgiven because of the atonement won for them through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, and his victory over sin and death. Paul quoted Isaiah 45:23, because this will be the moment when every knee shall bow and every tongue give praise to God. According to the Christ hymn in Philippians 2:11, this is the moment “that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 
 
¹² So then, each one of us will be accountable to God.
 
Everyone will stand before a judgment throne of grace, so why would they want to have on their conscience the fact that they judged their brothers and sisters in Christ. Each of us will be accountable to God at this moment. Paul is getting the community to anticipate in their life together on earth the way it will be when they stand before the judgment throne of grace. There will be unity around the throne in the future, so why should there be anything less in the church in the present? 
 
As you imagine what it will be like when we are at the throne of grace, lifting up Christ as Lord, does it make you less likely to judge others? If you find yourself in a situation where you might be tempted to judge others, how might you be prompted to recall that scene and interrupt that tendency welling up inside of you?
 
 
Developing Empathy at the Table
 
Paul began Romans 14 with the admonition to welcome the weak in faith. The NRSV says, “Welcome those who are weak in faith.” A more literal translation says, “Welcome the one who is weak in faith.” The NRSV recognizes that the segment of the church to which Paul is referring would be more than one person. Paul is also making the point that our care and concern should extend to the level of each individual. It should be that personal. We should care for the concerns of the minority in particular situations. Being a minority group in this situation does not mean that their experience can be ignored in favor of the majority. They should be extended extra care because there will be a natural tendency to overlook them, to dismiss their concerns, or gang up on them and select them to be despised.
 
Paul is appealing to the community’s empathy on the basis of a weakness that this minority group is experiencing. It can seem as if Paul is piling on even by calling this group weak. Let’s suspend judgment on this until we understand why they are being called weak.   
 
¹³ Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother or sister. 
 
Paul is urging the community to avoid tripping up their fellow members in the church. More is at stake than hurting people’s feelings. Putting a stumbling block or hindrance implies that a person is on a journey from weakness to strength. People are growing into maturity. This is true of every believer of course. We are all in different places on the journey. Every person starts at the beginning. Even Paul spent three years growing in the faith after his Damascus Road experience before he engaged with the leadership of the church. (Galatians 1:13-24) 
 
If every person starts at the beginning, when we do grow further along in our journey, we should all have empathy for the person who is at an earlier stage in their journey. We have all been there. We should exercise particular care that we do not put any kind of a stumbling block in a person’s path that causes them to be disillusioned, insecure, or confused.
 
Do you ever think about where a person is on their journey of faith? Can you recall times in life where you were less mature spiritually than you are now? Do you recall ways that people gave you special care? If not, do you wish people had given you special care? What would that have looked like for you?
 
 
Learning the Issues around Food
 
The next verse (verse 14) is the first verse where the issue of clean and unclean food is mentioned in the scripture passage we are studying. Before we get to it, let’s remember that Paul started naming the issue and exploring it in some of the verses preceding our scripture lesson. He wrote, “Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat, for God has welcomed them…  Those who eat, eat for the Lord, since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, abstain for the Lord and give thanks to God.” (Romans 14:2-4, 6) 
 
To understand Paul’s teaching, we have no choice but to get into the complex issues that surrounded food in the 1^stCentury Church. This issue was big enough that he also addressed it in his letters to both the Galatians and the Corinthians, in addition to the Roman Christians. 
 
We know that one division regarding food had to do with the kosher laws handed down to Jews through the law of Moses. Jewish Christians had to grapple with whether or not those laws still applied when they became Christians. Some not only thought they should still be applied, but they thought that Gentile Christians should also be made to adopt these restrictions. Others thought that Christ’s fulfillment of the law, by the atonement he made for our sins, freed them from laws such as these. 
 
This was such a big issue in the beginning of the Church that God gave Peter a vision in which a table cloth was lowered from heaven filled with creatures that Peter had been raised never to eat because he was taught that they were unclean. In the vision, a voice said, “Kill and eat,” and when Peter protested, the voice said, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” The vision was repeated so that he saw it three times in all. God sent a certain Gentile seeker, named Cornelius, to help Peter process his vision. Peter reflected on the vision and reached the conclusion that “God shows no partiality.” Peter realized that the door to the gospel was being opened to Gentiles, and he baptized Cornelius and the other Gentile seekers with him into the Christian faith. It was all very dramatic.
 
According to Paul’s letter to the Galatians, however, Paul witnessed Peter move from a table where he was about to eat with Gentile Christians when a group of Jewish Christians came into the room. Evidently, Peter was worried about what the Jewish Christians might think about him if he was not eating at a kosher table. It was a weak moment for Peter, and Paul thought it was important enough to call Peter out. Peter was a leader, and everyone was watching Peter.
 
Whether or not to eat kosher may not have been Paul’s concern for the church in Rome. Paul does not focus on divisions between Jewish and Gentile Christians. For the Roman church, the controversy was around eating meat that may have been sacrificed to idols. Meat that had been sacrificed to idols was sold in the marketplace afterward. It was often the only meat that some people could afford. 
 
In verse 14, Paul reveals his own position, but we will also see how he holds himself back from trying to impose his position on others. He chooses to do this very conscientiously. He wanted to model for others what it means not to impose certain beliefs onto every other member of the body of Christ when those beliefs can be shown not to be essential for every believer.   
 
¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.
 
Paul had to come to believe that not only was non-kosher food okay to eat, but it was also okay to eat meat from the marketplace that had recently been sacrificed to idols. His reasoning, that he expresses elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, is that idols represent gods that do not in fact exist. There is only one true God. Idols are empty symbols that hold absolutely no meaning. Since Paul knows this full well, the meat does not come with any baggage for him. He was persuaded that in the Lord Jesus neither this meat or any other meat was unclean in itself. The clear conscience of the mature Paul allowed him to eat meat from the marketplace. Paul considered himself to be a person who came at this issue from a position of strength.
 
Having said this, Paul could think of people who, for various reasons, would have considered the meat to be unclean. He said that if it felt unclean to them, then for them it really was unclean. Eating meat from the marketplace made them feel vulnerable to its effects on their conscience. Call it a weakness, but for Paul, he could not dismiss their weakness. Their weakness was not something he felt he should exploit. What was a strength for Paul was not a belief, or opinion, or position that he felt he should impose upon others in the face of their weakness.
 
As I said earlier, the weak and strong in this instance did not divide along lines between being a Jewish Christian or a Gentile Christian. The divisions were much more nuanced than that. Even Gentile Christians could (and often did) find problems with eating meat from the marketplace that had been sacrificed to idols. Many Gentile Christians had left a life of paganism and found salvation in Jesus Christ. Their lives and the lives of their families had changed dramatically for the good. If leaving that soul-killing culture involved making a conscious break with anything associated with pagan rituals, including what they ate, then it was worth them making a conscious decision to become vegetarians, especially if they could not afford other sources of meat. Paul even made the point that for them to eat meat, when it stung their conscience, would be wrong. 
 
¹⁵ 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. 
 
Paul himself made a conscious decision not injure a brother or sister by imposing his beliefs on those whose consciences did not allow them to eat meat from the marketplace. That meant choosing not to eat meat from the marketplace when he shared the table with them. His primary motivation was one of love.
 
Paul was telling those who had no problem eating meat from the marketplace to refrain from eating it or serving it if there were others present whose conscience did not allow them to eat meat. To do so would injure their conscience. To do so would bring them into too much contact with their former life of paganism. To willingly do this to a brother or sister in Christ is to choose not to walk in love. By bringing a brother or sister into contact with their former life of paganism, it could cause them to backslide. When a person is coerced into ignoring what their conscience tells them, it could undermine their growth from their former life to their new life in Christ. It could cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died.
 
¹⁶ So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. 
 
Paul recognizes that there are some actions that we can believe are good if we are only considering ourselves. If these actions, however, are causing harm to members of the body of Christ, or if our actions are forcing members of the body to sit at separate tables, then we open the door for something that we think is good to be spoken of as evil. 
 
 
Distinguishing Between Essentials and Non-Essentials in the Kingdom
 
The next two verses stand out because in them Paul refers to the kingdom of God. It is notable because he is describing what is the essence of the kingdom and what is not. 
 
¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ The one who serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and has human approval. 
 
Paul told the Christians in Rome that when it comes to each individual standing before God, it was not about what they ate or drank, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The food and drink we consume is not the essential issue. The essential issue is defined relationally between members of the body of Christ and the Christ in their midst. The essential behaviors are the ones occurring between the members of the worshiping community and around the table of Christ. The essential beliefs are being lived out where there is righteousness, peace, and joy as evidence of the Holy Spirit present with them. Being able to discern what is essential, and what is not, is vitally important.
 
Jesus, in his ministry, addressed the difference between essentials and non-essentials once in a very vivid way. He said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:23-24) The kingdom of God, or reign of God, is found where we pay attention to the weightier matters. 
 
¹⁹ Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 
 
Paul tells us outright what is the weightier matter. It is pursuing peace and mutual upbuilding among the members of the body of Christ. Notice what Paul has not said. Paul has not thrown up his hands and said, “Can’t we just stop paying attention to what we eat?” He has not suggested that the members of the church in Rome just ignore the matter of what food is eaten. We have described the instances where members of the church should abstain from serving certain foods in certain company. The details matter, but only because of what was going on beneath, above, and around the details. Respect, empathy, peace, mutual upbuilding, care, and concern were being lived out through the details.  
 
²⁰ Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong to make someone stumble by what you eat; ²¹ it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.
 
It was not just about what the members of the body of Christ were striving to do, it was about God’s work among them. God was working among them, and they needed to take special care not to undo what God was doing. It is wrong to make people stumble by coercing them to do what their conscience was telling them not to do because of their past. Paul says this course of action applies to situations beyond eating meat and drinking wine. It applies to “anything” that makes your brother or sister stumble. 
 
We have not mentioned drinking wine. As we have mentioned the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols is not an issue that is relevant to us today. Whether or not to drink wine or other spirits is a relevant issue. People are divided on whether or not they should drink alcohol. Some people are “Tea-Total-ers” preferring not to drink alcohol at all, and others believe that drinking wine and alcohol in moderation is permissible. 
 
In Psalm 104, a song of praise to God the Creator, the psalmist thanks God for giving us “wine to gladden the human heart.” Paul once suggested to Timothy that he mix a little wine with his water to settle his stomach. It should also be noted that wine was consumed in the Lord’s Supper. 
 
In the Methodist tradition, which I share, we use grape juice instead of wine for Holy Communion. We do not want to cause participants in Holy Communion to stumble due to the consumption of alcohol. It was a Methodist communion steward, Dr. Thomas B. Welch, who was also a dentist, who developed pasteurized grape juice, so that a non-alcoholic alternative could be served at communion. This developed into the Welch’s grape juice we know today. Christians are divided on the matter of being free to drink alcohol in moderation or abstaining from alcohol altogether. 
 
Applying what you have learned in this lesson, how would leave room for different perspectives on the matter of consuming alcohol? What went into your decision to drink alcohol in moderation or not to drink it at all? As you hear the perspectives of others, how might you be called to practice respect and empathy? How might the presence of alcohol being consumed cause others to stumble or suffer in any way? If you were one who sees no problem in drinking alcohol, do you see certain situations in which you would choose not to drink alcohol? If you are one who abstains from alcohol, how have you learned not to judge those who do? Is it possible to have differing opinions on alcohol and still maintain the unity of the body of Christ?
 
 
Differing Convictions, United in Love, Under One Lord
 
This scripture passage we have been studying demonstrates that there is such a thing as “situational ethics.” There are some ethical decisions that Christians make which are not so much situational. All Christians are called to act and behave in the same manner in many matters. There is no room for ambiguity. Then, there are some instances in which the situation of the person making ethical choices plays a definite role. Sometimes, it is our own situation that governs our actions, and sometimes it is the situation of other persons in our presence that governs our actions.
 
²² The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. 
 
Paul is reminding us of the responsibility we have as ethical decision-makers. Our faith understanding and our relationship with God govern our convictions. We listen to our own conscience, and we also consider the conscience of our brother and sisters when our actions affect them. We consider our brothers and sisters because we understand that God is the Father of us all. Our convictions flow from this relational understanding of who we are in Christ. We must be faithful to follow our convictions. According to Paul, we are blessed when, for the sake of a brother or sister, we have chosen not to approve a course of action for ourselves that we would normally have approved if it were only about us. We are blessed when our conscience remains clear after considering our brothers and sisters in Christ. 
 
²³ But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat because they do not act from faith, for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. 
 
Paul says the reverse is also true. We are under judgment if we engage in actions our conscience is telling us not to engage. This may be for personal reasons, because we know these actions may trip us up. Or, this may be for reasons involving our brothers and sisters to keep them stumbling. Paul seems to say, when in doubt, refrain. When we doubt, we should think it through before acting. We should use the faith understanding we have to think of all the ethical considerations. This is our responsibility as ethical decision-makers. To fail in this responsibility is sin.
 
Prayer 
Gracious God, You called your servant Paul to show the body of Christ the implications of living together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Teach and guide us to pursue peace and mutual upbuilding, that we may show the world what living under your reign as brothers and sisters in Christ looks like, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen. 
 
Dr. Jay Harris serves as the Superintendent of Clergy and District Services for the South Georgia Conference. Email him at jharris@sgaumc.com. Find his plot-driven guide to reading the Bible, the “Layered Bible Journey,” at www.layeredbiblejourney.com.