“Sweep Your Own Doorstep First”
Text: Romans 14:1-12
9-17-2023
In the name of Him who is our merciful, heavenly Judge, dear friends in Christ. For the past 3 ½ months our Epistle Lessons have been from the Book of Romans. I’m not sure why, but the folks who put together the lectionary decided to stop those consecutive readings here in chapter 14, even though there are two more chapters. Maybe it’s their way of encouraging you to finish reading it on your own. Anyway, as you may recall, in the last couple of chapters Paul has described for us how a believer is supposed to interact with those inside and outside the Church, and then he explains our interaction with the governing authorities whom God has placed over us. Now in chapter 14, he turns his attention to a disruptive problem that had arisen between members of that congregation. And it all has to do with the exercise of certain Christian freedoms.
You see, the Christian Church at Rome was made up of people from rather diverse backgrounds. Some of them were converted Jews. Some of them had been pagan worshipers of the various Greek gods. And within those two groups, there were other subgroups which added to the list of differences between them. The Jewish Christians had a hard time accepting that they could now eat pork, shellfish, and other formerly restricted foods with no condemnation. They also were accustomed to observing the Sabbath on Saturday, not Sunday. Then there were all the Old Testament festival days that they had faithfully observed ever since their youth. And of course, circumcision on the 8th day of life was as natural as infant Baptism is to us Lutherans. They were no longer required to keep these mandates, but it was hard to break away from that religious routine which was deeply ingrained in their minds.
On the other hand, some of the Gentile Christians had belonged to a group that had a strict, vegetarian diet so all meat was out of the question. In the church at Corinth, they had some divisive issues over buying and eating meat that had been offered to idols, which most likely also plagued the congregation at Rome. Some of them had no problem with it, while others felt that it tempted them to return to their sinful idolatry. And I’m sure that was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to their differences.
But this diversity wasn’t the problem. Their attitude about it was. You see, they were judging their fellow believers based on these practices that had nothing to do with a genuine faith in Jesus Christ. The folks who were vegetarians felt that the ones who ate meat were sinning. Some of these people felt they were more enlightened because they held onto their former religious practices along with their newfound Christianity and therefore were superior to the others. Like a teenager patting a kindergartner on the head, they hoped that these “immature” believers would eventually grow up and finally see the bigger picture like they did. In essence, each group was looking down their noses at the other. But as I said, these things had nothing to do with a genuine faith in Jesus Christ.
When I was a kid, I occasionally felt the need to go to my Dad with a complaint or a report about something naughty that my brothers and sisters were doing. “Dad! Dad! Do you know what David did? You’re gonna spank ‘em, aren’t you Dad?” And my father’s response was always the same. “Sweep your own doorstep first.” In other words, he would be the judge of what they were doing and whether it was allowed or not. I had enough of my own offenses to be worried about. So, I needed to focus on me and not them. I had to trust my father to be a fair and impartial judge. Now why would a kid want to call his dad’s attention to one of his sibling’s possible faults? Pride, self-righteousness, spite, revenge? Yes to them all. And those sinful attitudes all have a way of making you feel like you’re better than your siblings and therefore more loved by your parents.
Well, Paul was telling the Roman Christians to “Sweep your own doorstep first.” The things they were concerned about that their brothers and sisters in Christ were doing, were not commanded nor forbidden in the Scriptures. It wasn’t their job to judge the motives of their fellow members. God is the fair and impartial judge. They just needed to judge their own motives behind what they were doing and “Sweep their own doorstep first.” Obviously, there’s a great lesson for us to learn here too.
In our church terminology we have a word for these things that were disturbing the peace and unity in Rome. It’s called “adiaphora,” which is a Greek word meaning “indifferent things.” In other words, it’s stuff that you can do but are not required to do in order to have a legitimate faith. How about some modern examples to help us see what true adiaphora is? Whether we have stained glass windows with Biblical pictures and symbols on them is adiaphora. Making the sign of the cross upon yourself at different points of the service is neither commanded or forbidden. I have an ongoing, friendly debate with my grandkids over whether the end of our prayers should be pronounced “A-men” or “Ah-men.” It doesn’t matter. Some congregations use a one-year series of Bible readings, others use a three-year. Both are acceptable. Whether you choose to take the common cup or the individual cup in Communion doesn’t matter. Either way, it’s still Christ’s blood shed for you. All of these things are adiaphora. They can certainly be helpful for a Christian’s faith but they are not mandatory.
However, a word of caution is in order here. Unfortunately, this concept of adiaphora has been used by some believers over the centuries in an effort to justify the introduction of harmful teachings and practices. The argument usually goes like this, “God’s Word doesn’t say anything about such-and-such so therefore it must be acceptable.” That’s a distortion of what Paul is teaching. Christian freedom does not equal “Anything goes.” We must be discerning about these things and ask whether they might lead us into accepting a false teaching which will harm our faith or the faith of others. When it becomes a point of contention related to a doctrinal issue, then it ceases to be adiaphora.
I’ll use a hot button topic in religious circles to prove my point. Is contemporary worship adiaphora? The answer is: yes and no. It’s certainly true that God doesn’t care whether we use a pipe organ versus drums and electric guitars. He also doesn’t care if the song was written 500 years ago or yesterday. “Ah, so if we didn’t have an old fuddy-duddy Pastor, we could have contemporary worship too because it’s adiaphora, right?” No. There are solid, Biblical reasons to reject much of the contemporary Christian music that’s offered to us. And here’s why: Many of the lyrics are saturated with bad theology which militates against our confession of faith. All too often it’s filled with what “I” am doing for God by coming to worship, rather than what He is doing for us here. That’s totally opposite to the reason why God calls us to gather together for worship. And frankly, far too much of contemporary Christian music is just syrupy, sentimental songs. I once heard a speaker at a conference say, “Please! Stop with the ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ type songs!” The good news is that the ones in our hymnal have been thoroughly vetted. The theology in these songs is clear and in alignment with what we believe and confess. So, why would we want to use these other songs and import a contrary doctrine into our services that sends mixed messages to those who congregate here? It holds the potential to cause great harm as souls become confused and misled by it. And because of that, this issue is no longer adiaphora.
St. Paul makes it quite clear that this kind of stuff is serious business. Pure and true faith is a matter of eternal life and death. So, he sets forth this simple rule of thumb: If you have a hang up about something that is truly adiaphora, then keep it to yourself. Don’t disturb the faith of your neighbor by pestering them to stop or start doing some religious practice. It’s your problem and not something that you should be judgmental of others about. On the other hand, we should be patient with those who still have reservations about certain practices or rituals. It takes time and teaching in order to help them get past those hindrances. Keep in mind, they might never feel comfortable with it. But that’s okay. Jesus Christ died for both of you. That gives intrinsic value to their soul regardless of their opinions about these indifferent things which you may disagree on.
When it comes to true adiaphora, you need to, “Sweep your own doorstep first.” Worry about you, not your neighbor. Paul reminds us we’ll each have to answer for our own motives and actions, not our neighbor’s. So, let’s make sure that we ourselves are properly receiving God’s gifts of grace with humility and pure motives. Be thankful for the understanding God has given to you so that these traditions and rituals can be helpful to your faith. Rejoice in the diversity of Christian freedoms which God has given to us. Ask Him to give you the courage to confront your fellow believers when they are clearly going against God’s Word. Ask Him to give you the grace to keep silent when it’s adiaphora. And pray that God would give you the spiritual wisdom to know the difference. Then, we will learn to appreciate and value one another as souls which Jesus willingly gave His life to save. Then, we will be able to leave the judging in God’s hands who knows the true motives and faith of each and every heart. May the Lord continue to lead us to embrace only the things which foster a genuine and sincere faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!