“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
Romans 14:1-4 ESV
Lou Holtz once coached Notre Dame to an NCAA national football title. He later coached the University of South Carolina too but they were mired in mediocrity because it’ll take a literal act of God for them to win a title. Just saying.
Anyway, Holtz had an interesting way of seeing the game. At the first team meeting he told everyone that the ultimate goal was to win the national title. Elemental as this seemed, Holtz believed that this put everything else into perspective. He called it the W.I.N. principle – which stood for “what’s important now.” This goal provided order and structure for literally everything the players did.
To win a national title required certain things to be in place. Of course, they were college students so they had to go to class or they’d get expelled. You can’t win if you aren’t playing, right? They had to take care of their course work and get to bed on time so as to keep their grades up. They had to eat right. They had to do all the little things in the service of the big thing. The WIN principle guided their small daily decisions and this is exactly like the Christian life only that Lou’s team may or may not have won a title (the outcome wasn’t guaranteed). Christians, on the other hand, know that they can’t lose (Romans 8:1). No one is able to snatch a believer from the hand of the Lord (John 10:28). Our victory, through Him alone, is assured. It’s absolute. It’s irrevocable. Christ, our King, will never be dethroned. Thus, every single Christian on this earth is a son/daughter of the most High God. Everyone who has faith in Jesus Christ is an immortal.
Setting our minds on this simple truth should be our life’s fuel.
Holtz did something else that was nearly radical. He had the seniors take care of the freshman. Not just that, but he had the freshman blindfolded so that they were completely helpless. In lesser programs, in losing ones, the seniors would haze and humiliate the freshman. But Holtz’s philosophy was that teammates were more than brothers. They were in essential need of one another and under battle conditions trust was the single thing. The strong didn’t just bear with the weak, they built them up. Holtz never allowed a teammate to ridicule or tear down another teammate. Ever. That was a one-way ticket off the team.
Everyone was accountable. But no one was critical except the coaches. Everyone was responsible…to his teammates. Holtz taught that demeaning your teammate made the team weaker. How much more can we see this as Christians since our “coach” is the Lord Himself. Who are we to level charges against those He died for? Is my teammate too slow? Is he not very athletic? Does he have some quirk or another? It’s none of my business. We shall all live better together when we remember that we are – the church – the Lord’s team. The “seniors” of the faith should and must guide and build up the freshman.
A teammate who’s cheating on his wife (adultery) needs to be confronted. That’s not the context of this passage. That subject was already covered in Romans 13. Romans 14 isn’t talking about so-called carnal-Christianity or antinomianism. We’re talking about aspects of Christian living that are left to the individual conscience. And the thing to know is that no Christian has the authority to bind the conscience of another. Only the Lord’s word/law can do that. If it isn’t specifically spelled out in Scripture (like adultery for instance) then we aren’t to quarrel over opinions. If your fellow Christian doesn’t eat meat and they’re a deluded vegan (sorry, couldn’t help myself), then leave them to it insofar as they abstain in faith. They have no authority over your diet and neither should you bother with theirs. Freedom is the principle.
Personally, there are plenty of little quirks I have that I’m forbidden from placing on others.
For example, I never place my Bible on the floor nor put anything on top of it. I’ll never place another book or even a church program on top of my Bible. That’s just me. I see others do it all the time. It’s none of my business just as what I do is none of theirs. How I handle my Bible and how you handle yours doesn’t prove what’s in our hearts anyway…and that’s the danger of legalism. It would be easy for me to feel superior about my faith due to such a small external thing such as this. Or worse, to pass judgment on you if you don’t do what I’m doing. The thing is, Scripture doesn’t say anything about what we should or should not place upon our Bibles.
I also hate, absolutely hate, being late for something. Others tend to live dangerously and get places at the last minute. I don’t drink alcohol. I don’t smoke. But, again, the Scripture gives me no moral authority, nor the church, to bind the conscience of other believers. If I invite you over to my house for dinner and you like a little wine with your meal, I should have some available. We mustn’t confuse this issue with “politeness” and consider it a worldly virtue. Such consideration for others is a Christian virtue and can only be practiced consistently from within the principles of Scripture. Outside of Christ we will begin to impose our personal preferences on others. (Just look and see how violently our supposed modern apostles of tolerance oppose those who disagree with them).
Only the Bible has the authority to bind the consciences of men and women. Whatever subjects the Bible is silent on – and in Romans 14 Paul mentions observances of holy days and diet specifically but this is the principle – is a matter of personal faith. It’s between the individual and the Lord. Whatever isn’t of faith is sin. A big mess is made of the church and fellowship when we focus on non-moral and non-biblical quirks rather than the obedience of faith in sound doctrine. Christians who are more worried about what other Christians think rather than the Scripture are in a precarious place spiritually. The Christian life is a great and amazing freedom in the Lord.
God alone is our judge.
A Christian should see his brothers and sisters in Christ as the ultimate teammates. Would a personal trainer who’s helping a client lose 100 pounds worry about what their trainee is wearing or what they’re eating? Sound doctrine and fidelity to the Son of God in faith will always be the same in truth and varied in application. There’s no Christian way of fashion; there’s modesty. There’s no Christian music; there’s music that’s uplifting and of excellence (Philippians 4:8). The Kingdom of Heaven isn’t a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). When we’re critical of things/people we show what’s important to us. The point of Romans 14 is to say that Christians should be focused on the big thing – our mutual salvation by faith alone and all that it means – rather than minor things.
Lou Holtz was a great leader because he taught his team how to focus. By reminding them of the main thing, he showed them how to organize the minor things. This is the context for our passage. The main thing is that our brother already has a God and He’s not us. Should we notice more our brother or sister’s hairstyle then their doctrine then we’re proving our own shallowness. What matters isn’t what’s on the head, but in it.
Instead of looking for every little flaw in one another, let’s preach the gospel to ourselves first and then to others. Always. A team that rejoices in the end zone after the victory forgets all the mistakes of the game. Likewise, when we see one another it’s through eyes that behold heaven’s crown upon every saint.
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