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July 31, 2016
Vince Johnson (North Campus) | Romans 15:1-7
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.—Romans 15:1–7
You might notice that our text is part of the text that Andy Naselli preached on in May. His sermon was entitled, “How Should You Relate to Fellow Christians When Your Consciences Disagree About Disputable Matters?” As I listened, listened again, and then prayed, I was so captured by the compelling vision of a body of believers that might increasingly “with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”! I was excited to see the logical connection to a Christ-like welcome and acceptance of one another. I came away wanting to hang out in Romans 15:1–7 a bit more with you to see if God might use the principles of Christ-like love for unity and God’s glory, to develop our culture of welcoming each other at North Campus.
But was Paul really dealing with the culture of welcoming in a local body of believers? Yes. Will our issues and obstacles be the same? Yes and no. Andy showed us that and made relevant application to issues of conscience we might deal with. Andy and I didn’t communicate a lot, but we both agree that we will not glorify God as a unified body if we do not practice the principles and welcome from Romans 14–15:7. If we pan out to the greater context and vision Paul speaks of and wants for the Roman church, we can see that a main theme is loving one another as Jesus has loved us, for the grand purpose of the glory of God. From the first chapter of Romans, Paul speaks of the highest priority of God being glorified. Then, as he moves from doctrine to practice starting in chapter 12, his first message is to love one another—to pursue harmony and unity. Even though in chapter 14 Paul has moved into some pretty specific obstacles to unity in the church, I believe this passage can also provide a mini blueprint for a God-glorifying culture of mutual love and acceptance—of welcoming—in a local body of believers. That’s where we are going.
Look at verse 7 with me: “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” Even though Paul has been zeroing in on some pretty specific disputable differences of conscience, Schreiner from Southern Seminary, in his comments on this verse, says this is “a return to the fundamental baseline of the gospel. Believers should accept one another because Christ has accepted us, despite our hostility to him, in order to bring glory to God.” Again, “Believers should accept one another because Christ has accepted us, despite our hostility to him, in order to bring glory to God.”
What if God was pleased to develop our culture of loving welcome and acceptance of one another so that we see an ever-increasing intensity and quality of praise of him? I believe that’s what we all want!
Let’s pray. God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, please help us to grow to be more like you: passionate for your glory, loving like you love. Use your word now for this. In Jesus, Amen.
The Lord has already gifted us with an incredibly loving Welcome Team. This Team consists of leaders of different ministries, which Lynda Hansen helps me administrate …
So God has led us in some wise programming for loving welcome! But this morning, I want to declare an “all-play” for the fullest and most effective welcome culture. That is what I believe passages like Romans 15:1–7, Philippians 2:1–11, and Ephesians 5 would instruct us to do.
Here’s the flow of our passage: Again, Chapter 14:1–15:7 is the broader context of our passage. We should really include Romans 12–13 with that. In May, Andy explained the solution for when believers in a local body differ over disputable matters. I really want to recommend that you listen to his sermon again. So in our passage, in 15:1–4, Paul summarizes how the Roman believers are to love each other in the way of Christ’s love. In verses 5–7 he shows us why unity and harmony are so important.
And so because I believe verses 5–7 present the awesome vision and reason for our welcoming each other, I want us to start here in the passage. We do what we do because we want what we want. Paul prays for them in verses 5–6. That’s what a blessing is. And then in our last verse, he simply exhorts them in this loving welcome—for this ultimate and good purpose: “the glory of God.”
Look at verses 5–7: “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
These verses explain the colorful and compelling picture of a potential future reality—“if you were living in a supernatural love and harmony—in the midst of being so incredibly unique and different in many aspects and ways—you could be side-by-side praising our Father, in a crystal clear unison that would be the loudest and most beautiful!” The essential question is do we want that—the maximum praise flowing to him? Paul is praying in verses 5–6 that they would want this and do this.
Throughout Romans, Paul has made a big deal out of how both Jews and Greeks have been included into the people of God. This in and of itself has presented huge challenges for unity and harmony—for a “one voice” praise of God’s glory. Then, to throw in what Andy dealt with in for his sermon—how there was an additional divide—the disagreements over the necessity of keeping some Old Testament laws concerning food, drink and respect for days—we see just how insurmountable the prospect of unity might be. Of course, the greater the obstacle to unity, the more compelling any realized unity! And so, then match that with an agreement about God’s awesomeness! And what we have is the greatest praise and honor for the object of that praise and honor—the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. What an amazing story God has written for people’s joy and his pleasure! And by way of application, for our joy and his glory.
In a minute, we’re going to look at verses 1–4, again, and 3 ingredients of a loving welcome that Paul exhorts the Romans in. We’ll find how each is a ingredient of Christ’s true love for us that we can then follow. But, how about this vision in Romans 15? Is this Christ’s vision and passion. Can we rightly look to the example of Christ in this way?
I have a daily prayer list that I don’t pray daily, exactly. But the first request is “Live for God’s Praise.” The first verse I have written to guide me in praying for this is John 12:28. Jesus knows he was to soon die for us. He says in prayer, “For this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
Jesus’ heart passion was for His Father’s name to be praised. He is our supreme example in having a passion for God’s glory.
Paul now says in summary—related to differing over disputable matters, and the wider context of Romans and obeying all the points of Christian practice from chapters 12–13—do it all from a heart desire to see him praised.
In 1 Corinthians 10:31, from the parallel passage to 14:1-15:7, “So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Do we want his glory above all?
Okay, here’s the deal—if we truly want that joyful, God-glorifying experience, when we with one voice are cheering and praising Him, we must understand and apply this Christ-like love and welcome of each other found in verses 1–4, for true unity and harmony.
In verses 1–4 I believe we see 3 important ingredients of a Christ-like love: other-focused, other-honoring and other-edifying. But it starts by saying “we have and obligation” to love like this. In 12:5, Paul wrote, “we…are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” And then in 13:8, “Owe no one anything except to love each other.” In other words, this is God’s command for family members. We must obey and love our brothers and sisters like this. We get to!
The first ingredient is “other-focused” love. It’s about you (if I want to love you). I’m looking at you.
When we walk in the commons, are with our small group, are talking with a neighbor or work mate, who are we thinking about and focusing on? And just because I’m talking with a new person, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m focused on them!
As Andy took us through 14 and this passage, we saw this quality of love in a big way:
I simply must focus on you for this kind of love to work! So, are we getting our eyes off of self onto others.
I love Jesus’ other-focused love when talking with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 and with his disciples in 13–16. He knew how to focus—to ask questions and speak to their hearts. He’s our example!
Question: Isn’t seeking to please one another “people pleasing?” Isn’t that bad? I’m glad you asked. This is actually a big growth area for me. People pleasing or fear of man is actually motivated by pride most of the time. It’s when we care so much about what people think of us because we think so highly or critically of ourselves. We think we deserve and want better opinions from others. I think this constitutes a huge barrier to our Christ-like welcome at North. If I am struggling with over-concern about others’ opinions of me of course that will hinder me from focusing on another. I’m simply too preoccupied with my ego – which takes being very self-focused. Let’s pray God gets our eyes off of us and onto others.
The fix for this problem is the gospel. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:4, “It is the Lord who judges me.” Therefore, Paul tells the Corinthians, “It is a very small thing that I should be judged by you.” Paul wrote in Romans 5:5, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” For Paul, what people thought of him could never change the peace with God and eternal joy of heaven. He was confident in this most important thing, his salvation, and could now freely focus on others to love them. (What do I have to lose if they have a bad opinion of me?) Don’t you want that? I’m confident that as we grow in certainty of our justification and relationship with our Father, we’ll actually freely love one another as Christ.
Paul wrote in Galatians 1:10, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
What could this other-focused love and welcome look like for North? To be honest, this is where the all-play gets going. What if on the average, each of us initiated on Sunday morning with one person we don’t remember having met? We do this with the next two ingredients of love in mind, but even just the other-focus it takes to initiate with someone is a game-changer. We choose to look away from ourselves: to Jesus as our example of supreme other-focused love and then to a new brother or sister. “Hi. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Vince. Glad to meet you. Where do you live? How long have you been coming?”
The second ingredient is to not please yourself - to have a “humble” or other-honoring love.
You might be saying, “Isn’t this the same as the first ingredient?” This is the Christ-like quality of humility. We can choose to focus on another, even sacrifice something, but still have a prideful and selfish motive. What is the true heart motive? Who is more important? Who gets the stage?
In verses 3–4 we find Psalm 69:9 quoted, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” Schreiner, in his comments on this passage writes, “This psalm was widely used in the NT to interpret and explain the death of Jesus. His passion is the supreme example of one who forsakes his own pleasures in order to advance the honor of God.”
I can’t think of a better passage from Paul that sums up an other-focused and other-honoring love than Philippians 2:3–4 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.” Paul continues with Jesus’ gospel love—that “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
So this other-honoring love is going low—in the sense that you are choosing to suffer in some ways big or small for this other persons good. Your attitude is, “I don’t need to be lifted up, to shine, to be noticed, to get something … because I want this person to be loved.” That is what Jesus did for us in the gospel. This is what we are to emulate. That’s what will help make our welcome at North effective in love.
Question: Can one be humble and joyful at the same time? What we also know, is that “Jesus … for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2).
We believe at BBC that our joy and God’s glory are not mutually exclusive, for God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied/happy/joyful in Him. Jesus was longing for and desiring the joyful experience of intimate relationship with His Father, even while enduring suffering for the love of us. Isn’t it a joyful memory, actually, when you think of times when you made the choice to go low in serving others, and witnessed some happiness in them – and imagined the smile on your Father’s face? Of course.
What could this look like? I feel like sometimes it looks like a steadfast and enduring love or service, where you’ve ceased to be noticed. I see this in Barry Onufrock continuing to head up the usher ministry for decades, going back to DT days. You know what I mean? A sustained loving effort where the newness has worn off. But, it could be giving a new ministry a shot, knowing that it could fail, leaving you looking foolish – for the love of others.
Finally, the 3rd ingredient: not only other-focused and honoring, but Christ’s love is a desire to build up – for another’s good. It is an other-edifying love.
So, we’re focused on our neighbor, with a truly humble heart, and then what? Paul makes it clear what we are to want for our neighbor. Look at verses 1&2 again …
So, we are to love with a desire for their good and edification. We’re commanded to love one another, and Paul is helping us to see that this means wanting their growth in Christlikeness. One principle this hits on is that God uses us in discipling and developing each other in our Christian faith walk.
Here is how Jesus embodied this other-edifying love: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). We were weak, not strong, not righteous in any way. We were on death row, in fact. And, he died for us. This is the supreme example for us of the spirit of “please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” What Christ did was for our good—to build us up—in the ultimate sense of giving us life! Amen?
Each of us is a sanctification project. The goal is Christ-likeness. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29). We are to individually work, while God is working. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13). And he enlists others to help. “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24).
Is it hard for you to be honest with a brother or sister—to rebuke someone for love’s sake?
Here’s what the Bible says …
I feel that a culture of “rebuke fear” or fear of man (fear of both receiving and giving rebukes) is very detrimental to our growth toward maturity in Christ! We just cannot see our sin and need others to point it out! Chapter 12 in Paul Tripp’s book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands has helped me start to speak truth in love. A shout out to Tim, Russ, and my wife Kathy for being honest help in this process!
What might this look like? It can look like speaking the truth, which always runs the risk of relationship friction or being disliked. It can look like talking honestly with each other about areas of needed growth: gossip, impurity, anger, etc.
What if each of us had 1 or 2 others who loved and knew us enough to speak the truth—both rebuke and affirmation?
A couple weeks ago Brian was bold to ask me a couple of tough theological questions. To be honest, in the end I think we were both edified—just thinking through the things of God together brought us both to a better place.
I love it when a friend like Tim, Dustin, or Kurt call or initiate with no agenda other than they like me, care about me, want me to be encouraged. What if we regularly engaged with each other inside and outside of North Campus with the motive to build up brothers and sisters toward maturity in Christ?
In Ephesians 5:1–2, after having given some specific examples of what it might look like to love others, Paul sums up these three ingredients of welcoming and loving our neighbors: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
This is for another sermon, but Paul goes on in Ephesians 5 to exhort the church to “be filled with the Spirit—that it is the Spirit of God who will empower this unified worship of God. In our passage, Paul prays that God might grant the encouragement and endurance for this relational harmony and welcoming. This shows who Paul believes can and will empower this love. So yes, we are to move forward striving to love each other in these ways—but in the power that God supplies, so that he gets the glory. This reminds me of 1 Peter 4:11—“whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
One more time: let’s welcome one another with focus on them, choosing to honor them, and with the goal of their edification—just as Christ has welcomed us—or the glory of God!
Let’s pray.