Good and Evil Reversed

It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. (Romans 14:21)

As I pondered this morning over this passage again I noticed a contrast that I had not caught before. In this verse Paul is targeting an attitude that is a source of division within the body of Christ that he wants us to correct for the sake of cooperating with the work that God is doing in building up community. In this verse he is addressing those who might be termed “stronger in faith” to go beyond their supposed superiority and advanced insights and learn to truly think of others first. He wants them to pay attention to the condition of the spirit of those around them.

In a previous post I talked about a scenario that would likely have happened based on the hot-button issues that Paul used in this chapter as illustrations to make his point. A believer who is more advanced in his faith and has more confidence in the power of God as well as a realization that false gods are nothing more than man-made carvings out of lifeless materials will have no problem worrying about whether or not the meat he might eat at a friend's house has been made “unclean” by being previously offered to some idol. He is not concerned that by eating it he could become infected in his spirit with demonic influence and control because he supposedly gave permission for them to have authority in his life by eating this meat. He believes that just because meat was offered to idols does not make it unclean; that clean and unclean is not a definition determined by demons or idols but by the true Creator of all things who is the only authority to be recognized in our life.

But a fellow believer who is “weaker in faith”, who has a long history of superstitions about idols, who has seen first-hand the terrible manipulation and degradation that demons can effect over helpless victims who have allowed them to have control in their lives – this new believer still has a great deal of unresolved fear in his heart and is not yet matured in his faith to the point of believing from his heart that food offered to idols has no power to affect the protection of his spirit from demonic influence. And that very weakness of faith itself could possibly be a loophole that demonic forces just might try to exploit to reinforce his fears, for demons operate totally in the realm of fear and deception. If anyone is basing their actions or beliefs on fear then they are still susceptible to the devices of Satan.

So in this scenario, if these two kinds of believers find themselves at the same meal, Paul is insisting here that for the stronger believer to ignore the fears and superstitions of the weaker one, no matter how unfounded those fears may be, by choosing to intentionally eat food that is offered to idols in order to force his point and accentuate their differences by contrast, he is actually tearing down the work of God going on in the heart of the weaker believer and by doing so he is actually committing an act of evil.

Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. (Romans 14:20)

The believer with “stronger faith”, at least as he fancies himself to have, is still missing the most important point taught and demonstrated by Jesus so explicitly all throughout His life while here on earth.

Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." (Mark 9:35)

And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called 'Benefactors.' But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant." (Luke 22:25-26)

So God puts higher priority on the attitude of our spirit in how we treat fellow believers, even more so than how accurate our beliefs are upon a particular subject. And ironically we may find ourselves at times in situations where we are committing evil, in the opinion of God, by insisting on acting out of our superior knowledge of truth. This, according to Paul, may happen if we fail to take into account the effect that our actions have on others who are not in a place in their own experience that gives them the level of confidence and assurance that we may presently enjoy.

In explaining this whole situation, Paul is actually up-ending some of our suppositions about what is good and what is evil. We may often assume that exercising our freedoms in Christ is a good thing, and that is true as long as doing so is not tearing down the work of God in someone else's life in the process. But as soon as we indulge in exercising our “rights” when we know that it is offending a fellow believer and is causing them discouragement and amplifying their fears, then what was formerly a good thing for us has now become something evil for us. For in God's eyes, good and evil are not as much based on technicalities of factual truth but is deeply rooted in the condition of our spirit and how our spirit chooses to relate and affects those around us.

Once again I am challenged to examine my own heart and become much more sensitive to how my actions and words may amplify someone else's fears instead of attracting them to the perfect love of the God I am getting to know better. I do not think it is necessary to fall into the trap of constantly stressing about whether or not anything I might have said or done may have troubled someone else without my knowing about it; that is going beyond acting responsibly to encouraging paranoia. I have also lived a number of years under that enslavement and have no desire to be controlled by that demon again.

But it is clear here that I do have a responsibility to adjust or limit my actions and choices when it is clear to me that to exercise my freedoms would become an occasion of stumbling for a fellow struggling soul that is weaker in that area than I am. In fact, this is the exact point that Paul makes emphatically just a few verses later. Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. (Romans 15:1)

Father, thank-you for this most important teaching. But it is not enough to just learn about this with my head as important as that is. Please take me to a much deeper level with this most important truth and integrate it deeply into my heart. Thank-you for providing Your Spirit to convict me and catch my attention whenever I am in danger of pleasing myself at the expense of others. I do not have the wisdom myself to know when it is good and when it is evil for me to do the very same things, but You know. Thank-you for Your words, for Your training, and for Your Spirit to apply and mentor me these things as part of my transformation. Help me to mature much more so that I can be a source of strength for those who are weaker than I am, so that I can be a channel of courage and hope and life that You desire to provide for others. I praise You for Your faithful, patient love, for Your kindness and gentleness.

You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great. (Psalms 18:35)

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