I was 16. It was Sallah, and I was hungry.

Our Muslim friends brought over a hot plate of the most beautiful roasted meat I’d ever seen. Yet an argument broke out between the Christians in the room. Theological arguments ensued and each person had a case to make. Some said we were dishonoring Jesus Christ by sharing a meal with those who differ in our beliefs. Others made a case for the freedom of the believer in Christ, after all, they argued we’d eaten suya many a night at Aboki stands.

I won’t tell you who I sided with, but let’s just say my final decision was delicious!

It’s been a few decades since that conversation, yet I find myself today trying to help Christians (and pastors, ironically) resolve this discussion as Salah season draws near here in Nigeria.

So, can Christians eat SalLah meat?

The straight and direct answer to that question is that Christians are FREE to make their own decisions in those situations guided by biblical wisdom and the leading of the Holy Spirit. However, no one Christian lives in isolation. We live in community.

In other words, whereas my conscience may say on certain issues, “Don’t do that. Don’t touch that. Don’t join that club. Don’t take that job.” Your conscience may be completely fine with doing those things with no guilt and no shame because it doesn’t violate any explicit Biblical command.

The apostle Paul actually addresses this very issue in 1 Corinthians 10:25-33. For this blog post, however, I want to focus on what he has to say in Romans 14:13-23 to give us a better understanding how we as Christians can do life together without my actions causing you to violate your conscience or create division in the Church.

Starting in verse 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.”

Here’s the big idea that flows from this passage: DON’T ALLOW YOUR FREEDOM IN CHRIST TO CAUSE HARM TO A FELLOW CHRISTIAN.

There are three biblical principles to consider in light of this and I’ll walk you through each one.

#1. DON’T ALLOW YOUR EATING OF SALAH MEAT CAUSE OTHERS TO STUMBLE .

Verse 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.”

Definitions are helpful here. Stumbling blocks and obstacles are not the same thing as a preferences or personal scruples.

Some of you may have an issue with pastors wearing Jeans (that’s a preference, not a stumbling block). Some of you think that the music in church is too loud, or that the choir should wear robes, not skirts (that’s a style issues, not a stumbling block). Each of those examples and a hundred more along those same lines are personal religious preferences and are NOT what Paul has in mind in Romans 14.

A STUMBLING BLOCK OR AN OBSTACLE IS WHEN MY ACTIONS LEADS OR CAUSES ANOTHER CHRISTIAN TO TRIP INTO SIN.

So, let’s talk about what was becoming a stumbling block and an obstacle among the Christians in the Church in Rome. The Church consisted of two groups of people. One group was made up of Messianic Jews. They were trying to avoid any association with paganism by abstaining from eating meat and wine that was purchased through vendors who had dedicated them in pagan temples.

The other group was Gentile Christians. This group felt a lot more free in their faith to eat and drink anything, even food from the temple. They took to heart passages like Mark 7:19 where it says, “Jesus declared all foods clean.” And so, in their freedom, they were eating up “Salah meat, Suya, and Ram Shawarmas” to the detriment of the less mature Jewish Christians who equated eating those meats with idol worship.

Interestingly, Paul refers to the Gentile Christians who had no problem eating the meat as the “stronger” believers, and the Jews (who’s conscience didn’t allow them to eat the food) as the “weaker” ones. And so, he focuses this passage on the responsibility of the stronger Christians toward the weaker ones. He’s essentially saying to them, “Hey, I know and agree that eating meat previously offered to idols is not in itself forbidden, but your choice to eat it is not only offending your less mature brothers and sisters in Christ, but it is going to provoke them to violate their conscience if they too start eating what they’re convinced is wrong for them to do. So, don’t entice them into doing something that their conscience condemns.”

In fact, in his letter to the Church in Corinth, Paul set an example through his own life when he says, “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall…” (1 Corinthians 8:13). Yes, as Christians, our lives are no longer defined by rigid rules and regulations of the law, however, in the exercise of our Christian liberty, remember the big idea: Don’t allow your freedom in Christ to harm a fellow Christian!

The second principle to keep in mind as you stare at that plate of Sallah meat is…

#2. YOUR FREEDOM AFFECTS OTHERS

Verse 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.”

The case being made here is that because salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace, nothing we do or eat or don’t do or don’t eat can make us any more saved or less saved than we already are. That means you are now free to eat whatever you like. That’s Paul’s point in verse 14. If you want Alligator head with a side of Salah suya, go for it! If you want to remove anything with pig from your your diet as part of your spiritual disciplines, you’re free to do it!

The same principle goes for other areas in life as a Christian (as long as you are not engaged in sin):

You’re free to get married or stay single.
You are free to observe a holiday or skip it.
You are free to drink wine or abstain from wine.
You are free to eat bacon or to remain a vegetarian.

However, the whole point here is that the Christian life is not lived in isolation. It is lived in the context of community, which means, your freedom affects others. If your exercising of your freedom in Christ presents a “stumbling block” for a less mature Christian in the community of believers God has place you in, then you are to abstain from making that choice. REMEMBER: A stumbling block is when my actions lead or causes otherChristians to trip into sin, and we want to avoid that at all cost!

In verse 15, Paul says, “Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.”

That warning is even more serious and sobering than the first part because the word he uses for “destroy” in that passage doesn’t merely refer to distress, but to eternal destruction. Paul is referring here to someone who is NOT yet a Christian. In other words, if my exercising of freedom causes an unsaved person “for whom Christ died” to reject Christ, then I am playing a part in their loss. In the same manner, if my freedom of choice causes another Christian to violate his conscience and sin, then I play a part in their sin.

Make sense? So that brings us to some honest introspection:

Are there behaviors or attitudes that you display that is a stumbling block or an obstacle to other Christians? Or are there behaviors and attitudes in your life that might discourage a seeker from coming to Christ?
Sure you can eat all the Sallah meat and jollof rice you want, but if by so doing, your fellow Christians are now confused and distraught spiritually, was that deliciousness even worth it?

Yes, you have freedom in Christ, but at what COST are you enjoying those freedoms? Perhaps for many of us, the issue is that some of our freedoms have become too precious to us? Why not sacrifice your comfort for the sake of Christ and the welfare of less mature Christians around you?

Paul’s charge to us again is this: Do Not Allow Your Freedom In Christ To Harm A Fellow Christian. That leads to the third principle…

#3. WHAT OTHERS THINK MATTERS

Verse 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.”

The Holy Spirit is working in the life of every single Christian at a different pace. Some of you are much further ahead in your faith than your fellow brother or sister in Christ living beside you. Others are just starting out tasting and seeing the goodness of God. So, their conscience may be a little more, “raw” than yours. Which means, what you may consider a non-issue in your Christian walk (that isn’t explicitly addressed in the Bible) may be a central issue for them! So, as the mature believer, you don’t want to be dismissive about their experience in their journey with Christ, especially if for them, the issue at hand is a stumbling block or an obstacle.

Let me give you another non-Salah meat example. Even though I am not a drinker, I have the freedom in Christ to have a glass of wine in my own home whenever I want (though I DON’T have the freedom to get drunk). Yet, if I am out publicly at a restaurant eating or hosting a party at my house, I will choose NOT to have any alcohol because there very well may be some Christians present who may have struggled with alcoholism in their past. And even if I don’t know that for a fact, I won’t drink at all because I am purposely being sensitive to the fact that there may be someone watching me who looks up to me as a pastor and for whom my consumption of a drink would be a detriment to their faith. See how that works?

The fact is that the unity, peace and joy of the body of Christ always takes precedence over my personal liberties. Yes, enjoy the liberties you have in Christ, but be willing AT TIMES to lovingly forego the exercise of your freedom for the benefit of others. I think it is safe to say that the last thing any of us wants to hear when we stand before The Judgment Seat of Christ is for Jesus to say, “Look at all the people you hurt because you exercised carelessly the freedom I gave to you! All because of Salah meat?!?”

So, think about your circle of friends, the Christians you do life with regularly. What are some liberties that you might need to forego out of concern for their spiritual well-being? Please and please, don’t allow your freedom in Christ to harm a fellow Christian.

The last and yet not the least principle to consider is that….

#4. AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT’S NOT ABOUT ONLY YOU!

Verse 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.”

It’s tempting to read a blog post like this and angrily conclude, “If I can’t enjoy my freedom without having to worry about other people’s wahala, then I’ll just do the Christian life on my own! I’ll listen to podcasts and do online Church, or I just won’t even come to Church anymore!”

Okay, first of all (and this may shock you), BUT JESUS DIDN’T JUST DIE FOR YOU! He died for the Church, for a community of His followers from every neighborhood, nation, tongue, and tribe (of which you are a part of). In the book of Revelation, when Jesus writes the 7 letters, He addresses them to Church congregations, not just individuals.

The point is this - though Christ WILL someday call you to give an individual account of your life at His judgment seat, while you’re here on earth, He sees you as part of a congregation!

So, it’s not just about you! That’s the message Paul is trying to get across when he says in verse 19, Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification (within the Church God has placed you in). Jesus has not called you to be a seat warmer at your church. If all you ever do is come each week to hear your pastor speak, you’re doing Christianity wrong! Get in the habit of seeing the Church NOT as a service you attend every week, but a missional movement that Jesus has called you to play a role in.

Ask yourself: In what ways has Jesus uniquely gifted me to build His Church in the congregation I am a part of? In what ways can I be of encouragement to those you walk through our church doors weekly? How can I creatively foster peace with other Christians in this body of believers?

If you are honestly asking yourself and pondering this questions, then you won’t even have space to get in an argument with others over which meat or which plate of rice is permissible to God for you to eat!