HOPE FOR JOY AND PEACE (2)

“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE and JOY in the Holy Spirit” – Romans 14:17

The revelation of God’s Kingdom in His Word gives us HOPE for JOY and PEACE: “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE and JOY in the Holy Spirit” (Rom.14:17). Righteousness, Peace and Joy are key constituents of God’s Kingdom. Romans 14 is essentially a call for the strong to love and care for the weak, rather than flaunt their freedom and cause the weak to stumble. It goes the other way also: “Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him” (v.3). Both those who are strong and free in their conscience to eat, and those who aren’t should learn how to love each other rather than judge or despise each other.

Exhortations to the strong run through the chapter: “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way” (v.13); “Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died” (v.15b); “Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food” (v.20a); and “It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak” (v.21). Paul’s positive summary exhortation was: “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for PEACE and the things by which one may edify another” (v.19). Paul was saying: Don’t use your good to hurt your brother! Walk in Love!

In essence, Paul instructed the Believers to obey God by refraining from judging one another concerning the physical aspects of life such as their eating habits. Rather they were to cultivate spiritual virtues of RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, and JOY in the Holy Spirit. The spiritual man ought to esteem spiritual virtues above the physical things of life. Our Lord Jesus said: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that procee.ds out of the mouth of God” (Mt.4:4). This was when Satan tested Him to turn stone to bread, after His 40 days and 40 nights wilderness trial. Getting bread is not the most important thing in life. Obedience to every word of God is. Since Jesus had received no instructions from the Father to turn stones into bread, He would not act on His own and thus obey Satan, no matter how intense His hunger!

By the “Kingdom of God,” Paul meant the Reign of God, not just the realm of God. We tend to think of a kingdom as a place. But for Jesus and for Paul, it meant God’s Reign or Rule. Here, Paul emphasized that the Redemptive Reign of God is manifested where the Holy Spirit brings about Righteousness, Peace and Joy! In a sense God reigns providentially over all, but Paul’s primary focus is on God’s Saving Reign. Jesus taught us to pray: “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt.6:10). There is a future dimension to His kingdom, which unbelievers cannot inherit (1Cor.6:9). However, there is a “Now” reality of His Reign in hearts and lives of Believers: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us to the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col.1:13).

The coming of the Kingdom is the extent of God’s Rule where His name is hallowed and His Will is done obediently and joyfully. The saving, redeeming Rule of God has ‘invaded’ this world through Jesus Christ, the Messiah – the King. The present tense reality of His rule in our lives is not eating and drinking, but Righteousness, Peace, and Joy in the Holy Spirit! Romans 5: 1-2 expresses this same truth: “Therefore, having been justified by faith [declared righteous], we have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and REJOICE in HOPE of the glory of God”!