¶ Doctrine's Importance and Tertiary Issues
He's basically making this point like listen , there are things that really matter and there are things that don't actually matter that much .
Welcome back to the move where we are vibing with the book 10 minutes at a time .
Not only we've been vibing with the book , but we've been doing some stuff on the board .
On the board . You see a sentence that was I forget what the name of that thing is like deconstructed or something anyway . But it's there because we're on set on location .
On location .
Doing some meetings with the Love Reality tour and we used that big old white board to explain some things and that's what we did last night and you wanted to leave it up because you're going to build on that tonight , Just in case you're wondering why is that there ?
That's why it's there Anyway today's episode we're going to be on Romans , chapter 14 , verses one through 12 . And the question that we like to ask is have you read it ? It's important to read it . We actually tried to shoot this episode before and we realized we missed the point of the text .
Yeah , we needed to read it several times , so go read it , maybe even consider rereading it yes and we'll be here .
It's worth it . Ready for you to go ? 10 minutes on the clock starting now . Let's go , let's go . Okay , so what we did was that we had a lengthy discussion over the foods and we were going to eventually move over to the day . But after sitting through that and rereading the text , we're like that's not Paul's point .
We had a lengthy discussion in the first take of this Correct 10 minutes .
Yeah .
And we got . I like the phrase you use we got caught up in the weeds .
Yes , Paul's using those two things as examples of a different thing .
What two things .
He's talking about the person who only eats vegetables , or the person who worships on a particular day Like he's using these examples and we can go into the weeds as to , well , which one's right . Should we eat the vegetables , should we eat the meat ? Should we worship on this day or that day ?
All that's an interesting thought experiment , but Paul's actually not trying to make that point .
So let me frame for me . So what you're telling me is that there is a group of believers , maybe in Rome , that have some folks who abstain from meats and others who eat meats , and the background here seems to be meat sacrificed to idols or some sort of .
We know that that was definitely the case in Corinth . Yeah , maybe it's there in Romans too .
And there's strong textual links that it is given the Greek usage of certain words , but there's also room for others who interpret that that is clean versus unclean foods .
That could be that , as well , or it could just be meat and zero meat , it's just vegetarian is only .
There's a lot of ways that we could approach it , but all of those things fall short because given that context , Paul is just taking that as an opportunity to make a point that we can apply to any and every of those situations Correct and that point there is in verse one except the one who's weak in the faith , not for the purpose of quarreling quarreling over
opinions , and I like that , that , that phrase .
In quarreling over over opinions , he's basically making this point like , listen , there are things that really matter , yeah , and there are things that don't actually matter that much doctrine . Doctrine matters a lot . Paul talks a lot .
I make sure no one preaches another gospel , you know , don't the anti crisis , the one who confesses that Jesus is not Lord , or whatever the case is right . So doctrine matters a lot to Paul . It's kind of the whole thing he's been doing the last 13 chapters . But there are other categories of things that just Not as big a deal .
Why so ?
like .
Paul , can I have sex with this person and that person ? No doctrine . Right that that one matters , Paul you should have let that person eat that meat , because that meat was sold at a market where they sacrificed it to idols .
Apparently that doesn't matter to him as much . At least the force of this argument is like hey , if that person feels that way , let him .
Why .
Why ? Because because at the end of the day how do I want to say this ? At the end of the day , things there are certain things that matter . There are certain things we could say are primary issues and tertiary issues . This is one of those tertiary issues . It's an important thing to know primary secondary . I'm making this going all the way down .
Oh , you're going down , you're skipping secondary .
And yeah , I'm saying it's just not even the secondary issue .
Okay , got it .
And this is one of those issues for him . Why do you think that to him , this doesn't equate doctrine ? Because culturally , it matters a lot , so much to the extent that in Corinthians he actually makes the conclusion hey , yeah , don't eat the idols , abstain from those things , avoid the appearances of evil .
Right , but why does he seem to still make that distinction ?
Again in Corinth . He protects it because he's dealing with a specific situation in Corinth where it seems as though Corinthians man they're taking some liberalities , they're not just eating meat , they're out there eating meat and drinking and then rising up to play and that play is a very specific word .
And Paul's like oh so y'all think y'all can eat meat , drink the drink and then rise up and play , y'all participating with demons ?
don't do that right , that's a whole other thing . That is another thing .
In regards to somebody who might take some meat home from the market . Or they sit down with a brother and it's like well that was sacrificed to an idol because they didn't market .
I mean it was sacrificed to an idol , but like you and I know that there's only one true god and those other things are just statues .
it's not a big deal , it's like we're not over here having orgies like the Corinthians we just out here on this picnic dude .
Did you hear about that church down the street ? What their Sunday afternoon activity was Like dang Paul's ?
just like listen when you partake . You're both partaking in thankfulness to the Lord . Eat with gratitude that the giver of good gifts has given you these good gifts .
Yeah , he talks about who are you to judge another person's servants , and it's this imagery . Imagine the message . Does this very ?
very , very well . Brilliant . What a godly man . I'm looking for him in heaven one day , oh yeah , I need to meet that guy .
The picture that he paints is listen , you and I are invited to the Lord's table to eat . I'm a vegetarian and you're not , or we could just I like rice and you like beans , or whatever the thing is . That's racist and true .
No , I like rice and beans . I'm Dominican , fair enough .
So there's food on the table and then , because I'm a vegetarian or because I like this food and I don't like that food , here's a real example I don't like eggplant . Do you like eggplant ? No , okay , we got to find some controversy here . Either way , let's say you did like eggplants Eggplants on the table . And I start yelling at you oh eggplants .
We start fighting Jesus sitting right next to us . We're guests at his table . What are you guys doing ? Why are you fighting over this thing when you're both guests at the table ? Why are you judging one another so harshly ? That is good .
We are both guests at the master's table and if we're both guests at the master's table . How rude and how impolite such a violation of decorum to actually elevate your opinion over somebody else and use it as the justifying point in order to judge them and plot them on a lower rung of a lot of ladder of value . Right .
All the while , while you're in the master's home and in the house that you've been inviting in , you're positioning yourself as master Right and him as just bystander .
Yeah , I read something earlier that was saying that this is why judging someone else is the worst of all sins . Judging a brother is the worst sin that you can commit , because it places you in the position of the master , as though you had the right to make that judgment call on someone else .
I gotta be honest with you , man . I was that man .
Really , I'll be honest with you as well . I am that man at many times in my life still .
And I was that man in the sense that my identity was derived from correct theology .
I've been there before .
¶ Discovering Humility and Grace in Faith
If I can prove that my idea is better than your idea , then I must be better , and I would use my ability to pull on words from some sort of mental lexicon and overwhelm you with definitions and terms and argumentations , and I would appeal to certain thinkers in history that thought the same and I would relate myself to them in order to prove to you that not
only do I read more books , but I'm smarter in the force of my argument is greater . Sit down , I've done that one too many times .
And I would elevate my opinion as a club , because all the while , while I'm doing all this arguing , I know in the innermost parts of me that I'm just constructing an argument that I myself either don't believe or I'm not fully convinced of . But my goal is to you know you're wrong .
I'm right , you know . So I operate in the same space , trying to prove myself right Above and beyond other people , and I really felt like I was correct . So my journey changed when I realized there's some stuff that I believe about God that's wrong . But the problem is I don't know what I'm wrong about .
Hmm , because the converse is this either I am a or B right . There's no C . Either you have everything right about God or you don't . Hmm , I'm never gonna be arrogant enough to say that I understand God completely , that he's the infinite and my finite mind can comprehend him . So clearly I must be wrong about something .
But if I knew what I was wrong about , then I would just change my mind about that thing . So there are things that I believe that are wrong , but I don't know which ones are wrong .
So treating others with this type of arrogant attitude , as so everything that I'm gonna beat you down with my truth is a really Terrible place to live , because how does God reach my heart ? How does God change and mold me , if that's the way that I look , if I'm here to coral over opinions and to brow beat someone else ?
and that's good , because , as I hear you saying that , what you're telling me is that , or what I'm hearing is that you would fall into this thing as I would as well , that my posturing is that I'm master and . Lord , I understand and I know , and I am the criterion of truth , and in doing that , we don't correctly see ourselves as invited guests .
Yeah , and what the gospel did for me is that he invited me in , set the table and said my son , sit down . And when I sat down , I saw others who I didn't think were there . Oh , oh man , we're all included in this thing .
And to then have grace for people from a position of Having a place in your father's house , right to have a grace because I have a seat at my father's table , because I am who he says I am , and don't let somebody else's eating Lesson . You are , more importantly , less than them .
We're all children . I've got at the table , that's right . See you guys in the next 10 minutes .