"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
Romans 14 contains the recurring argument in the early church about whether or not Christians should eat meat that was sold in the meat market that had been sacrificed to idols. Paul’s argument was that meat is meat, and that it was not a sin to eat it. But that came with a serious caveat: One should not eat such meat if it would offend a “weaker” believer, probably a new believer. In the verse that comprises our text, Paul pointed out that the kingdom of God is not about arguments about what to eat or what to drink. Then he pointed out to them at least three of the main concerns of the kingdom of God: righteousness, peace and joy. In the midst of some our arguments, we would do well to remember these three words. As you have probably already guessed, these three words will comprise the rest of the article. “Righteousness” is translated from a word that also means justice, or acting justly. In essence Paul’s message is that in the kingdom of God we should be careful to do the right thing. That would relate to our own personal righteousness as well as doing the right thing in relationships with other people in and out of the church. For example, a Christian should be careful to be trustworthy in his or her dealings. One good example I always use is that one should not hesitate to buy a used car from a Christian. (Oh come on, you get my point.) It is more important to do the right thing than it is to try to win a dubious argument. “Peace” is translated from a word that can also mean “concord, unity, or love of peace.” (Analytical Greek Lexicon) In the kingdom of God we are supposed to love getting along together in spiritual unity and in not always finding something to argue about. Frankly, I think this means that we should always choose peace over disunity. At least this should be true about things that are not of doctrinal importance. I know that we are more effective in our witness when we love being at peace with our fellow Christians. “Joy” is translated from a word that means, well, primarily, joy. But the word can also be rendered “rejoicing” or “gladness.” In the kingdom of God we are supposed to be joyful people, people who love to rejoice and are just glad to be in the kingdom of God. I don’t think that a church can reach out to its community if it is made up of a bunch of “sad sacks.” If you know me well, you know that laughter is a big part of my life. That is in my daily life and in my preaching life. What we need to do in churches today is to just get glad, and let that glad leak over into our communities. After all, the kingdom of God is joy. I think that this is good advice from the Bible. Don’t you agree? Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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