Chapter # 14 Paragraph # 1 Study # 4
February 28, 2021
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: God has made a way for His household servants to make their choices about the details of their daily affairs when there is a "dispute" over what pleases Him.
Introduction: In
1 Thessalonians 4:1 Paul told the Thessalonians that he had taught them "how you ought to walk and please God" (NASB). In
Philippians 3:15 he told the Philippians to "go with" the mindset of "pressing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God" (NASB) and that if they were not aware of a fault in this mindset that was hindering them, God would bring that to mind, and that the practice was to "go with their current understanding of the issues" until God brought greater clarity to them.
It is to this inescapable reality of man's partial grasp of God's Truth that Paul has turned in his 14th chapter of Romans. We have already considered some of the aspects of his instructions here, but we are going to continue to dig into those instructions so that we might "know how to walk and please God" while looking for His greater illumination as it comes along.
- I. A Brief Review of God's Larger Plan.
- A. God has, from the foundation of the world, always had in mind the creation of a very large "Household" which is to contain a very large number of "vessels" which are identified as His household servants.
- B. In such a household there will be a large gamut of differences between the quality and function of those 'vessels', whose existence in the household and whose function for the household have been planned from the beginning.
- C. It is a "firm" plan that will reveal the Householder's commitment to "make sure that each vessel 'stands' when it is subjected to His "judgment".
- D. That "judgment" will be made on the basis of His mysterious and individual "purpose" for each vessel and each will be established in the Household according to that "purpose".
- II. Paul's Further Instructions.
- A. His "example": the observance of "days".
- 1. This example follows the earlier one that had to do with the questions of diet.
- 2. This example, like the dietary issue, has its roots in two very dominant realities.
- a. The first dominant reality is the fact that there came to be a time in history when God's actions took a very significant turn in direction.
- 1) For several centuries God's direction of His action was focused upon the production of a "nation" among the nations through which He would reveal His identity to the world of men: the God of Israel is the only true God.
- a) During the time of this particular direction, there were instructions of restriction (as in the dietary code) and there were other instructions of insistence (as in the observances of "memorial days").
- b) The issues of both of these sets of instruction came to a head at the time when God sent Judah into captivity to Babylon for seventy years.
- i. The stated cause of this captivity had its roots in God's nation ignoring His insistence upon the observance of a primary "day" that regarded the Sabbath.
- ii. The illustrated attitude that was to be taken in those days of divine discipline was first given in Daniel's loyalty to the "dietary code".
- 2) After those centuries, when the fulness of time was come, God's direction of action shifted to a new "Production": a "Church" of individuals from every nation, language, and genealogy by which He would reveal His identity to the world of men: The God of Israel has become The Savior of the World.
- b. The second dominant reality is the fact that this "very significant turn in direction" created an enormous level of confusion in the minds and hearts of men in respect to their personal interactions with The God Who Became The Savior.
- 1) Those whose background was in the details of the first major production were thrown into confusion because, all of a sudden, diet and observances of days were of little to no consequence.
- 2) Those whose background was in the details of being strangers to the first major production found themselves in a new relationship with The God of The Jews through faith in His grace and they simply did not understand any "need" for dietary rules or observances of memorial days.
- B. His instructions regarding these "memorial days".
- 1. He acknowledges that "some, indeed, "judge a day above a day" and others "judge every day (as having the same quality in respect to relating to God)".
- 2. He establishes a "bottom line" because of the complexity of finite life under an infinite plan.
- a. This "bottom line" is for every person to live within the boundaries of his own mental comfort zone in respect to his/her relationship with The God of The Jews As The Savior of The World.
- b. This "bottom line" is rooted in God's plan to bring everyone to the completion that his/her place in God's "purpose" for His large Household requires.
- 1) Paul's choice of the word translated "be fully convinced" is a key issue.
- a) The word is used in only six texts of the New Testament and all exist under the strong influence of Paul's apostleship.
- b) The uses by Paul (five) and Luke (one) all communicate a process of "movement to completion".
- c) A couple of Paul's uses focus upon situations where it is the "completion of the faith of one of the members of the household" that is in mind (as in Romans 4:21 and Colossians 4:12).
- d) The issue in this "completion of the faith" is the "process" involved in how a person moves from misunderstanding into understanding.
- 2) Since it is God's highly individualized "purpose" for each person that is in view, the idea of "being brought to completion" differs according to the "purpose".
- a) This verb is a present tense (on-going) action verb.
- b) This verb is a passive voice (subject being acted upon) action verb.
- c. This "bottom line" is not as much about specific theological accuracy in all details as it is about specific attitudinal legitimacy.
- 1) The attitudes that have legitimacy are patient tolerance in the interim and being faithful to one's own "mindset" regarding "pleasing God" as the primary requirement of living.
- 2) God presses us for a mind that is at rest in the question of relating to Him, not for a mind that is full of details and distinctions.
- 3) As long as the root issue is "pleasing God", it will be God's actions that bring greater clarity regarding accurate understanding to pass.
