What needs to be fixed? A judgmental spirit on disputable matters.

What should a person wear to church? With which political party should a Christian align himself? Is contemporary or traditional worship more God pleasing? Can a Christian practice birth control? Should a Christian family send their child through secular education when their church has a Lutheran elementary school? Does God want us to give at least 10 percent of our income to him for gospel outreach? Should we cut staff at our church, school, or in the pastoral office? Should we close a prep school or not?

All of these questions at one time or another have divided Christians and upset church unity. And all of these questions are about disputable matters. The Bible does not settle them clearly. We shouldn’t either. We are certainly entitled to our opinion, but we cannot judge our siblings in Christ if they choose differently. Our unity comes from the love of Jesus that purchased our souls on Calvary, not on agreement on disputable matters.

The apostle Paul helped the church in Rome come together in Christian unity although they had differing opinions about eating meat. In his words we have a compass to help us navigate the waters of disagreement on disputable matters.

¹Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. ²One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. ⁴Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand (Romans 14:1-4).

Familiarize yourself with the tool

• How can a person who has a more strict personal habit have the weaker faith?
• How is it that two people can have faith in Jesus but their faith will not allow them the same freedoms?
• Reread verse 3. What reason did Paul give to people on both sides of the argument so they would not look down on each other?
• Look at verse 4. What is really happening when we judge another Christian because he disagrees with us on a disputable matter?

Use the tool