INDISPUTABLE Faith: What Does It Mean In Our Time?

Yesterday, my mom and I hit an interesting point in conversation. This topic came up: Privacy. Is it anyone's business if you have received the Covid vaccine or is it not?

Argument #1: It could be everyone's business, because lack of vaccine could affect other people's health, and so it should be required that you show proof of vaccination.

Or... (on the flip side):

Argument #2: Each person has the responsibility to take care of his or her own body; each person has autonomy over his or her own choices, and when someone aggresses over that individual delineation, that is invasion of privacy. 

I can see both sides.

It turns out, shockingly, that my mom and I have slightly differing opinions on this. But you know what? Listen to this, this is important. In fact, I would say this is essential, in light of the national conversation.

I still love my mom. I'd do anything for her. My mom still loves me. She'd do anything for me.

We maybe don't see exactly eye to eye on this, but we can trust each other enough to understand that we have arrived at our conclusions in different ways, and here we are, still in fellowship with each other. I'm not going to unfriend my mom. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind until right now when I realized... this is actually happening to people, people I know. Families -- families! -- are being torn apart over this exact thing.

And this is a pivotal battle being fought in the church right now! We are supposed to be a family, and we. don't. trust. what each other is becoming. We are convinced that we are each right. Anyone who does not see exactly as we see are wrong. And as a result, we. are. broken.

Paul's got a lot to say about this in Romans 14. Let me try something here; give me a minute of grace, please, as I read this. Romans 14:19-23: "Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of masks and vaccines. All wearing of masks or going mask free is fine, all receiving of vaccines or deciding not to receive vaccines is fine, but it is wrong for a man to make a choice that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to wear a mask or wear a mask, it is better not to get a vaccine or get a vaccine, or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

"So whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he wears a mask when he doesn't think he should, or who doesn't wear a mask when he thinks he should. The man who doubts is condemned if he gets a vaccine when he doesn't think he should, or who doesn't get a vaccine when he thinks he should, because his action does not come from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin."

Okay, I see some of y'all squirming and pulling up your phones to look up the Scripture about adding or subtracting "words from this book," etc. (which, by the way, was an instruction regarding specifically the book of Revelation, but I fully agree, you don't add or subtract from Scripture, because it is the inspired word of God). 

The point I'm making, maybe in a clumsy way, but here it is, nevertheless: We. are. a. broken. church. who have devolved into equating disputes about masks and vaccines... with indisputable matters.

In Paul's day, these exact same arguments were happening within the church, only then, it was called: "Food sacrificed to idols. Clean meat and unclean meat."

The highlight of Paul's point is this: If you are doing these things because of your brother's judgment of you... you're doing it wrong. Paul says: "The man who has doubts is condemned if he eats [food sacrificed to idols, or unclean meat], because his eating does not come from faith; and everything that does not come from faith..." doesn't matter?

No, that's not what it says. It says: "Everything that does not come from faith... is sin."

So guys, we've got a big problem here. We've got people in the church pointing to others and saying: "Y'all should be doing this." Others are pointing back and saying, "Well, y'all should be doing that." While it's true that we don't live in a vacuum, that we're not reliant only on ourselves for survival, etc, where I think we've missed the mark is this: We're depending only on each other for survival, when our survival, our entire being, is dependent on the Lord.

Sound familiar? We need to all be vaccinated so we can beat this thing. 

Look at Romans 14:7-8: "For none of us lives to himself alone, and none of us dies to himself alone. (We don't live in that vacuum.) If we live, we live to..." uh... to each other? Nope. "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."

Paul goes on with his truth bombs: "For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life, so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written, 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.' So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

"Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way" (Romans 14:9-13).

And if we do that, church -- if we do that whole removing of stumbling blocks from each other in every situation regarding disputable matters, 99.999999% of our problems disappear right there.

Don't want to wear a mask, but your brothers and/or sisters in Christ in the same room as you think you should? It's not a big deal; stick one on your face. Doing so removes a stumbling block for them. Gathered together with a group of your brothers/sisters in Christ who believe mask mandates are an agenda killing the church and that you're kowtowing to it? Consider taking off your mask and living for a few minutes without fear. Doing so removes a stumbling block for them. 

The point, the entire point, is this: We will all, every last one of us, stand before God's judgment seat and give an account of ourselves to God. We're going to consider our actions, and we're going to have to admit whether they come from faith... or from fear: fear of others, fear of sickness, fear of death, fear of contamination.

Paul says: "Everything that does not come from faith is sin." Are we ready to look at our decisions regarding these "disputable matters" from Romans 14:1, and admit to the Lord that we made our decisions based on our faith in Him?

Y'all... I'm asking myself these exact same questions. This is not me posting from a mountaintop; I'm right down in the choppy waters with everyone else, where there's confusion and chaos and questioning. 

But guess what? Down in those choppy waters, where there's confusion and chaos and questioning, is exactly where the Lord found Peter when he was trying to walk by faith... and Peter failed -- Peter, who became one of the most well-known of all the apostles in the book of Acts, who was privileged to suffer and die for his faith in his Friend and Teacher, Jesus Christ -- that same Peter... failed.

That's just mind-blowing. He went from spectacularly flunking his faith-course to being crucified upside-down (says historical tradition) because of that same faith.

I'd say the indisputable matter present in Romans 14 is faith. "Without faith, it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6). Disputable matters aside, how is your faith? And how are you walking in it?