Let’s imagine for a moment a hot, sunny day where two best friends are playing tennis. Neither of these friends are particularly good at tennis, but they are on vacation and challenged each other to a friendly match. Everything is going well until a returned ball may or may not have hit just inside the painted white line. One friend, let’s call him Peter, thought the ball was clearly in and it was his point, but Randy was adamant Peter had hit it out. Instead of giving Peter the benefit of the doubt, Randy insisted Peter lost the point. Peter got more and more flustered as Randy dug in on his correct call – how he was following the rules, and Peter was trying to cheat. The once-friendly game went south at this point; Peter couldn’t make the serve, and Randy became a little smug and didn’t relent on his right-ness. A fun morning game was ruined because one person was more concerned with winning than having fun or preserving the friendship.

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In our passage today, Paul reminds believers that there is something more  important than “winning the game” by following all the religious rules perfectly. He shifts the emphasis to the things of God’s Kingdom, which we are to seek first (Matt 6:33). God’s Kingdom is present here on Earth when believers submit to God’s sovereignty, which leads to people’s thoughts and actions aligning with his good purposes. Evidence of God’s Kingdom will be manifestations of love, justice, and mercy. One Internet definition described the Kingdom as the reign of God over all creation, where Christ rules in the hearts of the believers.  

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This tennis story came to mind after reading today’s Scripture, because sometimes our rule-following takes away the “joy in the Holy Spirit.” This is not to say we should abandon all rules; there are guardrails God put in place for our flourishing. But Paul points out here that the Jewish food laws were hindering Kingdom growth, particularly to the Gentile people. In the time of Moses, the Jewish food laws were given to the Hebrew people to set them apart from the people of surrounding nations. But in the time of the early church when Paul was writing to the churches in Rome, when the Gentile, or non-Jewish people, were welcomed into the Kingdom, the rules became a hinderance to welcoming people from different cultures to be Christ-followers.  

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Ultimately, the focus was being put on the wrong thing. Paul reminds us that the focus should be on righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. These traits will be the hallmark of a life “single-mindedly serving Christ,” as the Message says in verse 18. He calls us to value our relationship with God and others over following a set of religious rules.

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In the tennis example, Randy was putting the rules ahead of the relationship with his friend. He was creating strife instead of creating peace. Winning the game by following the rules to the letter hurt his relationship. What if he had let that one point go?  

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After the game was over, Paul’s wife showed up at the court to play. As we explained what had transpired, she let us know that in tennis, the benefit of the doubt always goes to the player who would have won the point. So essentially, you give grace to your opponent, which at the end of the day, I think would “please God” and “receive human approval.”

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How can your witness be strengthened this week in an area where you might release your grip on the rules – on winning the point or calling someone out on what they are “eating or drinking” – to show them the love, mercy, and graciousness of Christ?

Sovereign Lord, we submit our hearts and our lives to you today. We thank you for your faithfulness to us, even as we get stuck on trivial things while striving to be faithful to you. Our desire is to please you as we live lives set apart from the secular world around us. But we so often get this wrong and fall into legalism. Please give us eyes to see how we can spread your peace and joy to build your Kingdom and single-mindedly serve Christ. It is in his Holy and precious name we pray, Amen.