I Will Do My Best To Not Offend You

Sometimes it is inevitable. If you are offended by a core belief that I have, I will do my best to handle that with grace, kindness, and compassion but sometimes offense is inevitable. Jesus taught this very thing when He said, “if the world hates you, understand it hated me first.” John 15: 18

That being said, I believe there are some things I can do to limit the amount of times that I offend you. This is the lesson the Apostle Paul is teaching in Romans 14. He is writing about how we avoid offense over “disputable matters.” In other words, matters of opinion. In this text he is talking about eating food sacrificed to idols. It was a hotly debated issue that Paul believed was a matter of conscience. I’ll get into this more on Sunday morning. He writes a beautiful passage that I call The Pauline Oath. It teaches us how to avoid offense:

¹³ Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. ¹⁴ I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. ¹⁵ If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, ¹⁸ because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

¹⁹ Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. ²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. ²¹ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

²² So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. ²³ But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

The Pauline Oath says, on matters of opinion and conscience:

I will not pass judgment on another person:

Because matters of conscience should be kept as matters of conscience. I will allow more people to have their opinion while keeping mine. This agree to disagree mentality is so important and is disappearing from our culture.

I will not hurt another person by intentionally leading them into sin:

I will not intentionally make anyone really angry. I will not agitate by rubbing salt into an argument. I will not be divisive over things that really are not that important.

I will make every effort to do what leads to peace because I will not destroy the work of God over any disputable matters:  

I will understand that, regardless of the situation, I am bound by God’s law to love. So, I will put on my gloves and get into the arena and figure out how to fight for love. If I am a Democrat I will figure out how to love Republicans. If I am a Republican, I will figure out how to love Democrats. If I cam a Cubs fan I will figure out how to love Cardinals fans. If I’m a Cardinals fan I will stop condescending to Cubs fans. Why? The work of God is too important to break relationship over sports or politics. So, I will strive for peace, search for unity, and fight for love.

I will keep more matters between myself and God:

I will realize that I don’t need to publicly share every opinion I have. Some things are between me and God.

As I have worked through a bunch of passages on being offended for a sermon series we are in, Romans 14 spoke to me in a unique way. I think Paul was on to something. What would happen if, as a culture, we all took the Pauline Oath?