There’s a basic question that our passage seeks to address. What does it mean to live as a Christian? In these verses, we see three possible answers.

Jews who belong to the church in Rome in Paul’s day would say that we need to live in a way that is clearly dedicated to God. For them that meant focusing on detailed observance of the law, such as eating Kosher, observing the Sabbath, being clearly dedicated.

Gentiles, on the other hand, would say that the Christian life is about freedom. They, correctly, believed that Christ has brought a new freedom from having to observe these detailed OT laws. So they visibly and frequently enjoyed things like eating meat whenever they wanted to. This had a disadvantage. Some Jews, being swayed by the good smell of hamburgers and the peer pressure of Gentile Christians, ate the meat with them, even while these Jews believed they were doing something wrong. They felt guilty about that; it made it difficult to pray, But Gentiles just went ahead living out their freedom, because that’s what the Christian life is about.

Paul, we’ll see, says they are both right. And they are both wrong. 

I believe these tendencies of emphasizing either dedication or freedom continue to influence us today. What do I mean by that? Well, let’s start with dedication. 

When I was a teenager, I remember one time in youth group, my youth pastor, all serious, looked us in the eye, one at a time, and asked us a question. “If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Which was a very youth pastory thing to say, right? A way to wake us up and ask questions about our faith. And, for those of you who were part of a youth group in the last century, you’ll know that it was also a very 80’s evangelical thing to say. 

For much of the previous two centuries  American evangelical Christians have answered the question, “How do I live the Christian life well,”  by focusing on dedication. We live well as a Christian when our lives clearly show that we are dedicated to God.

What does this emphasis look like? Well, often, there is a tendency to focus on externals. Which makes sense: how do you show others and even yourself that you are truly dedicated? It has to be visible. You need to be distinctly different in a way that can be seen. You don’t drink, smoke or swear. Instead if you’re truly dedicated, you become ridiculously busy with Christian activity: church, Bible study, service ministry, and when you speak you regularly speak in Christianese #blessed. Because this is how you live in a way that is clearly dedicated to God. 

Another common aspect to this emphasis on dedication is the expectation that in every matter, in every decision, there is a specific will of God that we need to try to follow. I saw this a lot in the Christian college I went to. Yes, of course we need to obey God’s commandments—that’s Christianity 101. Dedication meant asking “What does God want me to major in? What job does he want me to take? Is it his will for me to marry?” How would you know this? You would pray for a sign from God, you would wait for an internal feeling, a sense of peace that you thought was God’s guidance, so that you know you are always obeying him. Now, if you got it wrong, you were disobedient, “outside of his will.”

And let me mention one other aspect to this emphasis on being dedicated to God. How do you show that you really care, that you’re radically dedicated to Jesus? Through sacrifice. Through giving up things that you might really want or enjoy to show how much you care about God. This might mean not wasting time on worldly things like sports or movies; not spending money on vain things like nice clothes; foregoing any sort of ideas of normal jobs but instead going into missions. The greater the pain, the more dedicated you are.

Let me say, if you’re trying to live life well as a Christian, there can be much good in this focus on being dedicated to God. We need to take seriously the call to love God with all of our being. And yet, we can some problems with it, right? With externalism comes  judgmentalism: look at how we’re different. There’s something clearly off about equating pleasing God with suffering and it breeds resentment: why is it that God doesn’t ever want us to enjoy the good things he made? And there is not just one right God-pleasing way of obedience in every choice. To believe there is leads to all sorts of problems with anxiety and troubled consciences as we wonder, “Am I living outside of God’s will?” 

It’s not a mistake to be dedicated to God. But it is a mistake to put our dedication at the center of our lives. This intense focus on one aspect of Christianity hides from our view something else very important. We have freedom in Christ.

In Romans 8 Paul says that when someone comes to faith in Jesus, they are brought into a new relationship with God. And when Paul describes this relationship, he says this is not the kind of relationship that feels like slavery and is bound by fear. Rather, the relationship we are given is that we are now a free daughter or son of God.  

That means that we are now secure in God’s love for us. Theologian John Calvin illustrates it this way: if you’re a slave, and your master has given you a list of things to do, until you have done everything he says, and not just that, but until you’ve done it well, you won’t dare to come into the presence of your master. And that’s often times how we might think of the relationship we have with God. But, he says, with a child it’s very different. 

I remember when I was first taught to make my bed by my mom. The next morning when I got up, I tried to make it—this might have been the only time I ever willingly did this as a kid, and it wasn’t very good: it was still all wrinkly and kind of messy; even I as 4 year old could see that. But still I wanted to show my mom, because I knew she would be happy just because I was trying and I wanted to obey her.

Calvin says, that’s how things are for anyone who has placed their trust in Christ: we have a freedom of security and confidence. We still don’t get things right; we often make a mess of things. And yet because we know that we are children of God through Jesus, we can still appear before him with our flawed works and even halfhearted obedience and know that even still our God smiles on us and his pleased with our efforts. There is freedom of security in Jesus.

Not only are secure, but as sons of God, we now we are given the freedom to use our judgment. If you have spent time reading the Old Testament, you’ll know that there is a really detailed list of commands for how the people of Israel were to live on all sorts of external things, such as diet, feasts, gardening, clothing, governing, how days are celebrated, and so on. But in the New Testament that changes. Something new has happened because of Jesus: when it comes to externals, we are given the freedom of using our judgment. The Christian life is not following a divine recipe that specifies exactly what to eat or how to spend our free time or whatever. We are called to use our biblically trained wisdom and judgment to discern what is good. We are sons, not slaves.

The Jews in the Roman church were struggling to take hold of these things. They still felt the need to prove their dedication, rather than trusting that they were children of God. They were stuck in thinking that they needed to follow the very specific recipe rules from Moses for how to please God rather than believing they were given choices. They were, as Paul says, weak in faith, unable to accept the freedom we have in Jesus. 

There’s a similar problem, isn’t there, with this emphasis on dedication. We who have trusted in Jesus don’t need to prove our dedication to God to ensure that we’re okay. We don’t need to impress God with our great acts of sacrifice. If we somehow think that God is especially pleased when we are especially miserable, we’ve clearly misunderstood something significant. In Christ we are loved. With our feeble efforts we somehow bring pleasure to our heavenly Father. We are secure as free sons and daughters of God. Nothing needs to be proven.

And faithfulness to God does not mean figuring out one very specific pathway, discerning a narrow and very detailed “right will of God.” Part of being children of God in Christ is the capacity we are given to make choices. As our minds are renewed by the gospel, we have the freedom to think carefully and use biblically-shaped wisdom. Is it better to become a lawyer or a plumber? Both can be really great, both can be honoring to God; you, through prayerful deliberation use your wisdom and choose. Was it right to vote for this guy or that person? Well, it’s really complicated. Prayerfully use your judgment. Because this is what it is like to be a child of God who is free in Christ.

Liberty

So if what we’ve been describing is not the quite right way to approach the Christian life, what is? Well, in the past few decades, it seems that many American Christians have reacted against the errors of focusing on dedication by pushing in the opposite direction, by instead seeking to live the Christian life well is by focusing on our freedom. It’s a mistake, it is said, to be overly strict. It’s a sin to be joyless. We need to understand that God made us the way we are with the desires we have. We should find fulfillment by allowing ourselves to enjoy and experience all the good things God has made. We should be free.

By this view, the real enemy is legalism. The real danger to living well is worrying too much about rules and expectations placed upon us, the details of obedience. Do we really think that God cares about the minutia of our lives? Is the Eternal Creator, the God of love, really that concerned with how we spend our money or even who we sleep with? 

By this view, the idea that we should ever deny ourselves of good things is just an archaic leftover of an unhappy period of Christianity. God made the things of this world, and God made us the way we are with the desires we have—and when we seek to fulfill those desires and enjoy life, that’s what makes God happy.  

And again, there are some good things here. Yes, God loves us as a Father loves his son and desires our joy. Yes, Jesus saved us into freedom. But a really important detail is missing. We have freedom. But what kind of freedom?

See, the mistake people often make is thinking of freedom only in terms of escaping restraints. Of having no master. But ther reality is that we always need some master that calls the shots on our decisions, even if that’s your own reason or sense of duty or desires. Something has to be what guides you. Freedom is about moving from a bad master to a good master, from exploitation and misery to flourishing and joy. 

The understanding of Christian living that emphasizes freedom has at its root the belief that we are most free when we do what we want. That true freedom is “freedom for” following our desires, meaning that our desires are our master.   

But are we really free when the ultimate master of our lives, the thing driving us, is our desire? 

Say I have a goal of becoming physically fit—I decide I want to try to run a half marathon. I start training, and it goes well, for a little while. But then one morning when I’m scheduled to run, I find a strong desire to stay in bed. Let me ask you: is following my desire there really freedom? Or maybe I’m in an argument with a family member, and I know in my mind that I should be kind, because I  love this person. But I also am feeling really defensive, and I find within myself a powerful desire to say something that I know will hurt this family member. Is it freedom to follow my desires? Or, again, let’s say that I desire to be a good husband and a good father, but then in a time of loneliness, when I’m away on a business trip, I strike up a conversation with a woman at a bar, and I find in myself desire to take this relationship further. Is it freedom to follow my desires?

Desires are a good thing. Desiring is part of what it means to be human. But desires are not good masters. When our desires are in control, they lead us to places we don’t want to go and remain unsatisfied.  

What this 2nd way of understanding the Christian life misses is that the freedom we have been given is not just generic freedom, not just freedom to do what we want. The freedom we have been given is much better, much fuller, much more joyful than this. It’s the freedom of Christ. It’s the freedom of God’s kingdom.

Verse 17 tells us “The kingdom of God is a matter of righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Do you want experience the freedom of righteousness—to be able to live a life that is truly good? It’s found in the kingdom of God. Do you want to experience the freedom of peace, harmony, a sense of connection to others and to God? It’s found in belonging to Jesus. Do you want the freedom of joy? It’s what you find as you serve your king. This is the way of freedom. It’s freedom IN CHRIST.

And this is what we see Paul telling the Gentiles in our passage. Paul is saying, you are right that you have freedom. You don’t need to focus on meals or special days or whatever. You’re free in Jesus. And that means you are free to serve your king, Jesus.

Both of these ways of understanding the Christian life took one true aspect, dedication, or freedom, but lost sight of the rest. In Jesus it all comes together. You have been freed in Jesus. You are secure before God in his love. You have been given the capacity to make judgments. And with that freedom, you get to do something wonderful. You get to serve your king. The way to live the Christian life well comes in learning how to use our Christ-given freedom in service to Christ. Not out of fear or uncertainty, but now in courage and confidence we can ask, “How can I serve Jesus with all of my life?” 

This is different from the first way of living we described, because it starts from the place of security and it also invites our creativity and our thoughtfulness. This isn’t a recipe kind of living, where we’re looking for the exact measurement: step one, eat these foods. Step 2, spend this amount of time in prayer, and so on. But it’s also different from just doing what we want. As Nick has said before, it’s more like jazz. We listen to Jesus, we seek to understand the tune he’s playing, the rhythm he’s using, and as we understand, we begin to join in.  

Look first at verse 13: “Let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather, decide” or, more literally, use your judgment to never put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.” Use your judgment—here’s how to use your freedom. To make sure you’re not hurting the spiritual growth of your brother, not, as verse 15 “destroying them,” but instead, as verse 19 says, to pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.

Why? Because that’s how the freedom of serving Jesus looks. When you understand what Jesus wants and what Jesus is doing, you join in his song. Notice how he grounds everything here in Jesus.

First, verse 14: “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.” Yes, he says, serving Jesus as king means we are free in these external matters. No question.

Secondly, verse 15: “By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.” Do you see that last part? What is Jesus doing? What song is he playing? He died so that this fellow member of your church can be right with God. Which means, obviously, you don’t with your choices want to tear down the very one that Jesus is building up. That’s not what it looks like to join in with Jesus.  

Instead, because, as verse 17 says: “The kingdom of God—that is, Jesus’ project, is about righteousness and peace and joy” then the way we join in is verse 19: “Let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.” 

Do you see that? No multi-chapter detailed description of exactly what you are to do in every situation. Look, you have freedom. But seeing your freedom as just a way of doing what you want, that’s a dead end. Freedom is about joining in with your king, learning what he’s doing and joining in. And what’s that ?He’s given his life to bring people to God; Jesus is establishing a new community of peace and joy and righteousness. Guess what—you get to be a part of that! We are most free when we serve our king, when we willingly, freely set aside our own personal preferences to pursue the spiritual well-being of others that matters so much to our king. 

• True freedom in Jesus means that if I don’t like a particular tune, and yet I know that this song is encouraging and strengthening to others in the church, I get to choose to sing it joyfully. 

• True freedom means when our SDA brothers and sisters have convictions about things like the use of alcohol or how Saturdays should be spent, we get to show respect for them and their consciences by using their property in ways that fit with that. 

• True freedom meant in the past some of us not letting our annoyance with masks get in the way but choosing to wear one so that our brothers and sisters could worship with us.

• True freedom means sometimes saying no to good things, like sports activities or whatever, because we desire to join with Jesus in encouraging and helping our fellow believers by gathering with them on Sunday mornings or discipleship groups.

• Again, true freedom means we get to do what so many people don’t do these days: we get to sometimes say no to our own personal desires so that Jesus can lead us into something better and more beautiful than that.

Do you see why this is a truly good way to live, why it’s the way we want to live? Without security or confidence in God’s love, we will always be enslaved by fear. But without a master who leads us into what is good, we will always feel purposeless. But we are given a better way. We are loved, free sons of God. And we get to use this freedom to serve our king.