That Christ Might be Lord

Romans 14:5-9 ESV

“One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

Under the Old Covenant God had with his people Israel, of that time period, the Lord had all kinds of liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification and dietary laws and restrictions that the people had to follow. But ever since Jesus Christ died on that cross for our sins, and he was resurrected from the dead, and he ascended back to heaven, and he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his followers, we have been under the New Covenant. And under the New Covenant we don’t have all those old ceremonial and dietary laws, etc.

Now, a lot of Jews who believed in Jesus Christ had a difficult time transitioning from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant because they had always done things a certain way, and certain things had always been right or wrong, not saying that wrong and right don’t still exist, though, but that their specific right and wrong had now changed in some areas. For example, they could now eat certain foods that they were not allowed to eat before, and so some believers were still holding on to those old dietary laws.

And then there was the matter of the keeping of the Sabbath. The New Covenant does not teach that we have to have one day that we keep holy above all the rest. Under the New Covenant we are to keep all days holy unto the Lord. And now we can, through Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, and by faith in him, enter into God’s holy presence, and we no longer must go to a particular place to worship God, but we can worship God now in spirit and in truth no matter what day or what hour or what location.

But there, again, there were those Jews who felt they must still cling to having to have one day sacred above the rest, and so they continued to keep one day holy unto God and to not do anything physical or secular on that day. So, what this passage of Scripture is addressing is that Christians were passing judgment against other Christians either because they did or they did not still hold on to the old dietary laws and to keeping the Sabbath as one day a week that was to be holy above all the other days.

So, what this is teaching us is that it is not a sin to not follow the Old Covenant dietary laws, and it is not a sin if someone feels he must still keep those dietary restrictions, for it does not impact our salvation one way or the other. And it is also not a sin to raise up one day a week as more sacred than all the rest, and it is not a sin to consider all days alike. And so we are not to judge one another in these matters. And we are not to quarrel over such things. For they are not moral nor immoral.

But what does matter here? It is that we are to be honoring our Lord in all that we do and say, and in all that we are and think, and all the time, every day of the week. We are not called to have just one day a week where we think we are giving honor to God if the rest of the week we are convinced is ours to be lived however we want, for that is not honoring God, but it is dishonoring to God. But it is what many people do who profess faith in Jesus Christ. For that is what they had modeled to them at home, probably.

And what else matters here is that we are to be living our lives to the Lord 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And whether we live or we die, we are to be the Lord’s, but not in name only, and not in form only, but in truth and in righteousness and in holy living and in walks of obedience to our Lord. For Jesus Christ died that horrible death on that cross and rose from the dead that he might be Lord of all, that he would be the one directing our lives, and not us, and that he would be “boss” of our lives, and not us.

For what we eat or don’t eat will not make us less or more holy unless the Lord has personally restricted any of us from eating something that is going to cause us harm and then we resist him and we choose our own path, instead. But under the New Covenant we do not have dietary laws we must follow. But keeping a healthy diet will help us to live longer and to be more productive in this life, but that has to be between us and God to determine those things, and perhaps our doctor, too.

And the same applies with keeping the Sabbath. Following that Old Covenant law will not make us less or more holy in God’s sight, especially if we are living the other 6 days of the week for ourselves and not for the Lord. So going to an institutional “church” service on a Saturday night or on a Sunday morning will not gain you points with God. What he is looking for are lives surrendered to him all the time, obeying his commands, living holy lives, loving our neighbors, and us not living in sin.

And then let me add here that just because we are not under the Old Covenant law it does not mean we are to be lawless or that we no longer have to obey our Lord and his commands under the New Covenant. We still have to obey our Lord. We are not free to live however we want and then claim that we are in Christ and that heaven is secured us. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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