Romans No.31 Togetherness

The epistle of Paul to the Romans, shall we? And we're going to be looking at the first 13 verses or so of that chapter, Romans Chapter 15. We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs, so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy as it is written. Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles.

I will sing hymns to your name. Again it says, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.

And again, Isaiah says, The root of Jesse will spring up, the one who will arise to rule over the nations. The Gentiles will hope in him. Now together the last verse, which is a doxology.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you were to turn to the letter of Paul to the Corinthians, you will discover him saying in the first chapter there, and the tenth verse, that he wants Christian people, wherever they meet, whether it's in Rome, as in the case that we're going to be studying in a moment, or here in Corinth, he wants Christian people always to be united.

It's a very interesting way that he expresses this concept, because he plunders the language of fishermen. I appeal to you brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another, so that there may be no divisions among you, and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. That term, perfectly united, is exactly the same expression as is discovered in the Gospels when you remember our Lord was walking down the seashore of Galilee, and he found fishermen mending their nets.

Now here the apostle is using that same idea, only he's asking that the mending may be relationships amongst Christian communities, if it is the case that those relationships are in any way severed. Now, this follows plainly the desire of our Lord Jesus, because you recall that the last prayer, the last long prayer, at any rate, that he uttered in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John, has our Lord Jesus saying that he prays for the unity of his followers. Verse 22 of John 17, I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are.

I in them, verse 23, and you in me, may they be brought to complete unity, to let the world know that you sent me. So here, as we come to Romans 15, we discover the apostle taking up the same thread of the argument as you found him engaged in in the fourteenth chapter, and emphasizing once more the need for Christian unity. I find that very often when I'm involved in mission work abroad, addressing conference of missionaries, that I spend a great deal of my so-called free time, not given over to public ministry, but in counseling missionaries, who sometimes find it very difficult to get on with one another.

Now, you may find that's a horrifying thing, aren't missionaries like pastors so saintly that they never have any disagreements whatsoever? And the answer is no, pastors nor missionaries are exclusively saintly, though they try to be as everyone in the Church of Jesus Christ should. And when you get people together in a team with a lot of pressures on them, probably trying to do two persons' work in the compass of one day, then often disagreement and discord comes about. And there needs to be the attending to relationships and the repairing of the breaches.

Well, this is what the apostle Paul is enjoining here in this fifteenth chapter. He is so concerned about unity, not unity at any price. He won't get on with those who disagree with him if it's a doctrinal business, but if it's in terms of your peculiar personality or my peculiar personality, then the apostle thinks that we ought to be able to square up to each other and bring about that mending in relationships so that we can get on with the job of serving our Lord Jesus.

So the opening verses, you see, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of others and not to please ourselves, et cetera. Why? Because the apostle Paul wants us to be united in our Lord Jesus and in our service for him. So our subject matter for this evening, which, as I say, I'll take fairly quickly, is emphasized in the title that I've given it, the one word, togetherness, togetherness.

To what degree are you and I as Christian people in this church fulfilling the role emphasized by our Lord Jesus in the Beatitudes when he says, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the peacemakers. I hope you find yourself in that role. Now, what is it that was causing division in Paul's day that he writes this particular piece of scripture to deal with the situation? Well, it seems to me there are two things.

And the first really is an overflow from the 14th chapter. I point out in the notes that these chapter divisions are somewhat artificial and there are occasions when I think that whoever did them took out a pin, closed his eyes, and just decided that he'd make the division where the pin actually hit the page. Because it's pretty obvious from the latter part of the 14th chapter that what is being dealt with in the 15th chapter is exactly the same.

In other words, he's dealing with this matter of the weak, so-called, and the strong. Look at verse 1 of the 15th chapter. We who are strong, he's talking about spiritually strong, ought to be able to bear with the failings of the weak.

And there he's talking about those whose consciences are so sensitive that there are areas in their Christian behavior where they don't feel particular freedom. You remember, some wouldn't go down to the local Sainsbury's to get some meat because that meat had been offered to idols and that was a problem to them. There are other Christians who said, well, idols don't exist, so it doesn't really matter if the meat's been offered.

You can eat it with a good and a clear conscience. Well, not everybody could see it like that. And so the apostle is saying that when there are Christian people who seem stronger in the faith and those who feel weaker in the faith, then the strong ought to bear with, ought to cope with the failings of those who are weak.

Now, whatever the division is in between strong and weak, that's not really important. What is important is that the category in which you find yourself in, in any subject that might bring controversy, you nonetheless have to try to see the viewpoint of the other person so that you can preserve unity within the body of Christ. Now, the apostle spells it out with three particular aspects to his argument.

He first of all tells us that we ought to empathize with others, doesn't he? In that first verse, we are strong, ought to bear with the failings of the weak, a sympathetic relationship with other brothers and sisters. Now, don't just read it. Ask yourself, have I got it? Don't just ask yourself, have I got it? But am I positively using it? Because that's what the apostle wants us to do with his instructions, to apply them practically.

We are to empathize with others and we are to disregard self. Okay, so you like one particular hymn over against another hymn or one type of singing over against another type of singing. You've every right to your opinion.

Of course you have. But you've also every right to disregard self in the interest of empathizing with others if the matter isn't so crucial that it involves doctrinal disagreement. And the net result of doing all this, of course, is that you will be contributing to the up-building of ordinary people in the local church.

Each of us, verse 2, should please his neighbor for his good in order to build him up. Now, we've got a back reference to building people up, have we not, in the 19th verse of the previous chapter. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

Again, that word in the original is the idea of building. So what ought to give you the greatest joy or be one of the factors that brings you greatest joy in the Christian church? And the answer is this, to see people becoming mature. And I think that to some degree that is the case here at the Taub.

Aren't we just thrilled when we hear of a person confessing the Lord Jesus as our savior and to see the radical change that comes about in his lifestyle? We had a very blessed time on Monday in our new discipleship class. I was saying to some folks earlier today that little foyer, well, not so little, that foyer area where we met became, at least to me, a very, very holy place as three men, two of whom were divorcees, confessed as to how the Lord Jesus had entered into their lives and the difference that it's made even as far as one of them was concerned in the last five days since they made that commitment. And another fellow was saying just the change that's come back into his life as he's responded to the gospel, having been a backslider for some time.

And that was tremendous. I mean, as far as I was concerned, I'd rather be listening to testimonies of that nature than speaking to 500 Christian people who actually are already mature and not making any particular testimony to a recent development or deepening in grace in their spiritual lives. It's so wonderful to see young converts going on with the Lord, isn't it? That's what it's all about.

That's why we want to see our youth work and our Sunday school work and every aspect of the tab being so blessed by the Lord that people are perceptibly growing in grace. Well, this is what the apostle says, we're to empathize with others, disregard self, encourage growth. Now what is to be the stimuli? What are the three things especially or four things especially that stimulate this, that cause us to want to produce this spirit of togetherness? Well, an example, first of all, is our Lord, the conduct of the Lord himself.

Look at verse three, for even Christ did not please himself, which if scripture can ever have an understatement, that's it. He was constantly living his life in a most disinterested fashion, wasn't he? As far as self-concern was, as far as self-concern is taken into reckoning. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus, how that though he was rich, yet for your sake became poor.

Always the self-emptying Jesus. Well, says the apostle, do this because this is what the Lord Jesus did. The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me, says our Lord in effect, looking back on prophetic scriptures, highlighting the way that he conduct himself in this world during his earthly pilgrimage.

But not only the conduct of the Lord encourages us to strive for togetherness, but also the content of scripture. Verse four, everything that was written in the past was written to teachers, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. When you think of Job, what word immediately springs to your mind? How about patience? And don't you need patience to get on with people? Well, here's Job telling you how he managed to make it with those three cynically referred to comforters who were a pain in the neck as far as Job was concerned.

The scriptures in the Old Testament, those characters that they often are recorded, incidents in their lives to help us to be able to learn from them in terms of patience when that quality is part of their personality and the example that they give us. The conduct of the Lord, the content of scripture, and indeed verse five, the character of God. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus.

There's no disquiet in the Godhead. God doesn't have an argument with the Son. The Holy Spirit doesn't refuse to speak to God the Father because he himself has his own distinct personality.

Whenever you think of the Godhead, you think of tranquility and that's how you ideally think of the church. Is that the way that we think of the tab? Somebody said there's more unity in my golf club than what there is in the local church and the response was, well, the devil's not so interested in your golf club but he does have his sights on the local church and in one sense that's true but that does not cause us to lose the challenge the best that we can to ensure that unity perseveres, is preserved amongst us. So the apostle makes reference to the strong and the weak and the way that each is to get on with the other and what will be the results of this.

Well, the apostle makes out that there will be two consequences, one that we've touched on already. When this happens, there will be the strengthening of believers, verse 2. Each one will be built up, each one will be strong in the faith. And then surprisingly, another byproduct of all this is in verse 6, see how it starts with a little word so, a word that introduces consequence.

A byproduct of all this will be that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. A united choir singing harmoniously is impressive but when the choristers decide to do their own thing, to follow their own melody and not to be in tune with one another, then the consequence is disastrous. Now the apostle is suggesting that as we have unity, so we have the right psychological and spiritual temperament from which we can lay this foundation and praise to our God can emerge that's acceptable to him.

So the two consequences of unity that Paul works through in these verses are strength and also an ability to worship the Lord in a full-throated fashion. Now there was another cleavage if you like, another area in which there were difficulties within the church in Rome. You've got to realize that although Rome is the capital of the Gentile world, there was the members of the Jewish diaspora.

Those are the Jews that were dispersed around the world and there were Jews at Rome and Jews became Christians and they mingled with Gentiles who become Christians and the problem was that the Jew and the Gentile would not make it together. They would not get on with one another. Now there can't be any apartheid in the church, it doesn't work in South Africa, it doesn't work in the Soviet Union, political apartheid in the latter case, racial apartheid in the former case, neither does it work in the church.

So the apostle says, accept one another, verse 7, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God. Isn't it interesting that when our Lord came on earth, immediately at his nativity, there is the coming together of Jew and Gentile, the shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night, they were informed that in Bethlehem, in David's town was born this day a saviour and so they left their sheep and they went to worship him. And following the shepherds, perhaps not next week, perhaps in two or three years time, if some of the commentators are right, but nonetheless, following the shepherds were the Magi, the Gentile possible kings, certainly wise men, they came to do obeisance to the Lord and as I say, the beginning of a life of Jesus, there is the merging of Jew and Gentile and you know full well because the apostle tells you in this glorious Roman epistle that the gospel is to be preached to the Jew and the Gentile.

Why? Well, because there is only one gospel, there is not one way for the Jew and one way for the Gentile to be reconciled to God. God makes of both categories of humanity one new redeemed people and that is the reason why we have to accept one another as Christ has accepted us. So drop down to the 8th verse and what do we discover there? I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews, that's the first thing in his portfolio so to speak.

Secondly, he's an ambassador, he's a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth. Thirdly, he's a fulfiller of the prophecies to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs and fourthly, so that he can make possible the glory of God amongst the Gentiles. Now, with regard to the third thing, the fulfillment of prophecy, the apostle quotes from three different places in the Old Testament scriptures that indicate that our Lord Jesus when he comes on earth will have a ministry to the Gentiles.

You see, there used to be people who taught that the gospel that Jesus preached was really contrived by God to get him out of the problem. This is the old dispensational teaching. The idea was this, that God somehow didn't anticipate fully the rejection of his son, the Messiah, by the Jews and so he decided to bring in a sort of interlude in the prophetic program in which the gospel could be proclaimed to the Gentiles.

This is something completely new. It's a great mystery, you see, that God had got somehow locked in the back of his mind but it's all brought into being because of the failure of the Jews. If you like, God was in a flap and so he allows the Gentiles to be brought into a relationship with him because Jesus died and of course that's a load of foolishness.

It really is utterly stupid theologizing because in the Old Testament you get these great verses that indicate that in the heart of God from the beginning of time was not just a concern for the Jew but also for the Gentile. So I say it's not accidental that the apostle brings together three or four verses of scripture from differing parts of the Old Testament which all refer to God redeeming through the Messiah the Gentile people. It was his intention from the beginning of time to bring Jews to himself and also to bring Gentiles to himself to make one people to praise the Lord.

And therefore the whole business about praising the Lord to which I've just made mention it comes out in these prophetic scriptures that have been quoted. Rejoice, O Gentiles, verse 10, with his people. Verse 11, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles.

The Gentiles, verse 13, verse 12 rather, will hope in him. Worship, I say in my notes, is giving to God the glory due to his name. And when man comes on earth according to St. Augustine he's got two specific goals.

One is to know God and the second one is to enjoy God forever. Well how do we express, how do we enter into our enjoyment of God? And the answer is through the scriptures that the apostle has selected here also backtracking into what he has to say in the early verses. We enjoy God as we praise him.

This is why you see the praise of God when Christian people come together ought to be a very glorious thing. It can't be perfunctory, not to be acceptable. I know that not everyone has got a voice like me and therefore you should be very grateful.

Not everyone has got the same sort of extrovert personalities as others may have. But there is a sort of maximum that all of us can rise to when we're praising the Lord. And sometimes, brothers and sisters, we don't always reach the maximum.

Sometimes because I think we're slovenly. Or sometimes perhaps because the love that we have for the Lord is not as intense as it should be. And the apostle is very concerned here that the praise of God is made glorious as people realize what God has done reconciling Jew and Gentile to himself through the Messiah and therefore they ought to engage in infectious praise that sweeps through the whole of the body of Christ in that locality as they come together to worship the living God.

Now, I ask you, is that the way that we go about it here at the TAB? I trust it is to some degree. We don't have Jews here, though we would be very happy to have converted Jewish people worshipping with us. But as a Gentile community, we should, along with converted Jews and Gentiles throughout the world, be offering our praise to the Lord.

And the inspiration behind our praise is, well, the root of Jesse, verse 12, David's own greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has come. He is the one who is the savior of the world and we do hope in him.

And therefore we want to express our praise to the Lord. So the Apostle Paul now concludes this little section with this great benediction. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's the metaphor of the fountain. We have been stimulated in the very depths of our being. The Holy Spirit has come within our hearts.

He comes as a bubbling stream. He comes as a spring that gets higher and higher and higher. And not only does he bring praise into being as one of the most exquisite things that we can enter into, but alongside that praise, because we're not mindless people, is this tremendous hope, this tremendous sense of tranquility that this God has moved not just into time and space, not just amongst Gentiles and Jews, but he's moved into our hearts, into your heart, into my heart, and he's filled us with peace.

So the Apostles concern to underline unity in the church and to say that when we're together, weak and strong, Jew and Gentile, when we're loving one another, we have a foundation from which we can offer unqualified praise with full-throated enthusiasm to this great God who has done all things well for us. Let's bow our heads in prayer for a moment.