Author: David Short

Romans 16:17-18

Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

Personal Challenge

In the early church, Paul and the other church fathers had to deal with those who were bent on causing divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrines of the church. We still have this problem today in our churches. For many years it was the pew hoppers that would go from congregation to congregation in their denominational preference always trying to either find that one thing that tickled their ears or trying to make their new church conform to how they wanted the church to be. When that did not work, they would jump again. Today we are seeing people jump from one faith practice to another with the intent to make the new one that they end up in like the one they have just left. This is not how it is supposed to be and Paul is telling us to avoid these people. There are times when we should turn away those who are not willing to accept aid embrace the teachings and ways of the church. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Romans 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Encouraging Words

Who do we put our hope in? God, the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Where does this hope come from? God, the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. These are encouraging words. God fills us with hope in Him. He fills us with joy and peace as we act upon that gift of hope by trusting in Him. This is why Jesus promised us the filling of the Holy Spirit when He ascended into heaven. Glory be to God!

Romans 15:1-3

We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”

Personal Challenge

Living in a community can be difficult. We believe in Orthodoxy that our salvation is worked out, or exercised in community, in our church family. Part of this entails observing and understanding the weaknesses of our brothers and sisters and then giving up some of what we want or desire in order to meet their needs. This is clearly loving our neighbor and putting their needs above ours. Where the difficulty comes in this is when those who are weak have needs and desires that are leading to error or heresy. At this point there is no room for allowing those errors or heresies to take root. In love we must confront those going down the wrong path. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Romans 14:19

Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

Personal Challenge

Why should we be doing the things that God calls us to do in our lives? Initially it is because we love our God and desire to please Him and in our own way give back to Him some of the gift He has given us. It is never possible to repay Him for His great mercy and love that He has poured out on us. As we continue to live this way, we begin to understand that part of this way of living also ends up edifying those around us because our love for God overflows for love for those whom we come into contact. This whole section in the book of Romans talks about food and how eating certain foods at certain times can be a stumbling block to others. This was so important in the time when much of the food available was leftover from sacrifices to pagan gods. We do not have that situation today, but for those of us who practice fasting in our church life, there are similar issues, for both those who fast according to very strict rules and those who fast according to more flexible rules. Both parties can have a tendency to look down on the other if they take their eyes off of God and set them on their brothers and sisters. This is why Paul teaches us to pursue the things which make for peace and which edify one another. It is the things of God that are important and not the things of man. This applies to so many other things in our church life other than food. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Romans 14:12-13

So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

Personal Challenge

In our desire to follow Christ we strive to love our neighbor for by doing this we glorify God and bring His light into the world. This is the reason that we are not to judge others but to be prepared to give an account of ourselves to God. Not only are we not to judge our fellow human, but we should strive to live our lives in such a way so as to not be a stumbling block to another causing them to fall. Glory be to God!

Romans 14:7-10

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Personal Challenge

We are not alone in this life that we live. We are synergistically connected to everyone else on this earth. Our actions, and inactions, behave as a pebble dropped in a lake that sends out a ripple to the extremities of the lake, touching every inch of the shoreline. In all of this, we are also not our own, we are the Lords, which is why Christ died for us. If we are all His, both the living and the dead, then it makes sense that only He has the right to be the judge over our actions and inactions. Again, it is not our responsibility, or right, to be judge jury, and executioner. Glory be to God alone!

Romans 14:3-4

Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Personal Challenge

Every single person that I know, especially me, has enough “bad” stuff that we are mixed up in with our lives that we have no room to be judging another. As my former priest would often say, “Look at your own plate.” We have many disciplines in the Orthodox church that we practice to try to teach ourselves to submit fully to our God. One of these is fasting. We do not fast to check off a box in the godliness checklist. We do it to discipline our bodies and our minds to hunger after our Lord. It is easy to look at those around us during our fasting times and accuse them of breaking the fast. By doing this, we have just broken our own discipline by judging our brother. We are not to judge one another. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!