Live to the Lord

Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35

I may have already shared this tid-bit with you, but I was a tremendous fan of Dr. Seuss growing up. Still am. This week I’m reminded of his story about the star-bellied Sneeches, who had bellies with stars, while the plain-bellied Sneeches had none upon thars. And those who had believed themselves to be better than those who had not, in fact they believed themselves to be the “best kind of Sneech on the beaches.”

Even though the stars were quite small they made quite an impact. The lack of a star became a source of shame for those without. The plain-bellied Sneeches were so used to being treated as less, that some of them began to actually believe that they were less. So vulnerable were they in their self-loathing, that they were prime targets for the scam of one Professor McMonkey McBean: “You say you want stars like the Star-Belly Sneech? My friends you can have them for three dollars each!”

Well, when the withouts started showing up with, you better believe the previous withs were rather perturbed. “Good grief!” said the ones who had stars at the first. “We’re still the best Sneeches and they are the worst.” So they paid their money and they changed their stars and they changed their tune about what it meant to belong and be great. Turns out the problem with the Sneeches wasn’t whether they had or not, but how they handled what they had. It wasn’t having or not having stars that was ultimately important, you see: it was having or not having a means of elevating oneself above others, having exclusive access to power, having exclusive rights to happiness and comfort. This is a tale about the danger of self-righteousness. And whether one has or whether one doesn’t, does not determine whether one is vulnerable to becoming self-righteous.

“All the rest of that day, on those wild screaming beaches,

the Fix-It-Up Chappie kept fixing up Sneeches.

Off again! On again!

In again! Out again!

Through the machines they raced round and about again,

Changing their stars ever minute or two.

They kept paying money. They kept running through

Until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew

Whether this one was that one…or that one was this one

Or which one was what one…or what one was who.”

Paul’s lesson to the Romans in the 14th chapter of the letter, is essentially a warning against the dangers of self-righteousness and self-idolatry—of putting oneself and one’s preferences in the place of God.[1] What is self-righteousness, really? Or, first off, what is righteousness? Simply put, righteousness has to do with being in “right” relationship with God, and God’s creation. As we saw last week in Romans 13, the righteous relationship is governed by love of God and love of neighbor. That we belong to a God who knows and loves us is at the center of the Gospel to which we are called to respond in faith. But there are many ways to respond to this Good News—many ways to be convicted by it. “The danger of self-righteousness lies in the tendency to make one’s own convictions the measure of the validity of the convictions of others.”[2]

In Paul’s case, or in the case of the Romans to whom he wrote, there were major differences in opinion over how one should appropriately respond to the Gospel. Paul picks the issue of dietary laws as an example of one way their self-righteousness was getting in the way of truly loving one another. Some believed it unrighteous to eat certain foods, others felt it foolish in the eyes of God’s freeing grace. Whether they ate or didn’t eat meat really isn’t the issue Paul is getting at here, rather Paul is concerned with how their own differing opinions on the matter tend to pit members of this community against one another.

I don’t need to get specific here, but I’m sure you can think of many issues on which our opinions pit us against one another. It really doesn’t matter whether we come down on the left or the right of the issue, we are all just as vulnerable to self-righteousness. We love to think we’re right and they’re wrong. Like the Sneeches, we’re easily convinced that the only thing that matters is what is already on our bellies. It doesn’t matter how many times our opinions go through the machines to be warped and flip-flopped, we’re still, somehow, convinced that the opinion we hold right now is the only one that’s correct.

Paul’s advice to both groups is the same: “respect the convictions of the other group.”[3] We belong to God and serve God, and it is through God’s convictions that we belong to one another. It would be easy to take this advice out of context and mistakenly understand Paul to be telling us that “anything goes.”

Similarly, Jesus lesson on forgiveness can be taken out of context and mistakenly understood to mean, “Just keep forgiving people.” Jesus conditions his statement on forgiveness with a parable about a man who is forgiven but then refuses to forgive another. Simply put, there are wrong and inappropriate ways to respond to Grace. And if you remember last week, when Jesus taught about how to deal with someone who sins against you, there is a point at which we must not allow ourselves to be walked all over.

For Paul, too, there are wrong and inappropriate ways to respond to the Gospel of grace. And remember last week, when Paul gives the context by which our response should be governed. Our primary objective as Christians is to love our neighbor. If our conviction to our opinions leads us a self-righteousness which diminishes or dismisses them for holding their own opinions, then we come up short of that objective. If anyone behaves, on account of their convictions, in ways which harass, harm, or hurt others, then that is not to be tolerated.

There is a line that can be crossed. Respecting the convictions of others is a warning against become self-righteous, and putting our own opinions and convictions before the convictions of God. But when a person or a group’s convictions actively oppose the conviction of God, the objective of love which does no harm to a neighbor, then that is intolerable.

To live to the Lord, is to live according to God’s convictions for us, for our neighbor, and for the world. It’s easy to get caught up in the importance of that task and become self-important. I’ve certainly been guilty of holding strong opinions, and I’ve gone so far, sometimes, as to allow those opinions to influence my interpretation of God’s opinion—crafting God’s opinions in my imagination, rather than allowing my imagination to be inspired and influenced by God’s truth and wisdom.

Old McMonkey McBean laughed to himself as he drove down the beaches, in his wake were all matter of star-studded Sneeches. They had been altered so many times that no one even remember where they had all begun. “They’ll never learn,” chuckled McBean.

“But McBean was quite wrong. I’m quite happy to say

That the Sneeches got really quite smart on that day.”

Last week, Paul spoke of “putting on the Lord Jesus Christ,” and this week he says that we are to “Live to the Lord.”

In other words, Paul saw us flipping and flopping.

Our opinions keep changing with no sign of stopping.

And he knew that we would, without proper instruction,

Use our own faith convictions as means of destruction

Of the Body of Christ to which we belong.

An ear might tell others, “You’re doing it wrong.

By being a foot or a hand or a knee

You’re not listening enough, and you’re nothing like me.”

The elbow retorts to the ear, “Listen friend,

All that matters is whether you’re able to bend.”

Says the eye to the rest, “No that’s really not it,

You must look and see!” Says the butt, “you must sit!”

“You must speak of the truth,” said the mouth, quite insisting.

“You must point to the truth,” said the finger, resisting.

Says the hand, “You must hold.” Says the back, “Stand up tall!”

“Oh hush,” says the head, “I depend you all.”

“Your convictions are swollen, infected with pride.

And you must work together with me as your guide.

My convictions alone are the ones which unite us,

Your opinions and pride only work to divide us.

We must work together, the parts big and small,

If we don’t we’re not much of a body at all.

Learn to value each other,” the head did implore,

“For the parts that you think matter less matter more.”

Just so, Paul insists, all of us must unite

And stop all the fighting about who’s wrong or right.

We belong to the head, and in Christ we are one.

Without that conviction, we’ll get nothing done.

We must learn to let go of the things that divide:

Of convictions to selfishness, jealousy, pride,

Of self-righteous opinions that cut like a sword.

Let that go, and instead learn to “live to the Lord.”

[1] Achtemeier, Paul. “Romans” Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. 217.

[2] Ibid. 215.

[3] Ibid. 216.