Romans 15:7-13

In Essentials Unit, in Non-Essentials Charity, in All things Jesus Christ":
Part 4

by Pastor Jim Lincoln on May 20, 2007

 

This morning we come to the last piece of Paul's sermon to the young church at Rome to love each other and welcome each other in the face of strong but secondary differences (14:1). A credible witness to the power of the gospel was at stake. The way we love each other says far more about the reality of our worship (12:1-2) than anything else. Also, the extent to which Paul went to teach about this way of love says something about how challenging it is and how intentional the church must be to advance it. Paganism produced no church or community of faith where people were called to love each other. Paganism was a loveless religion; that's all it could be. Pagan gods themselves were often loveless, jealous, immoral and self-centered. It was highly individualistic. The kind of selfless love Jesus spoke about was relatively unheard of in Rome. Paul called the church to lay hold of Christ's love and to bear a credible witness to it in Rome for the glory of God and their own joy.

But that witness was threatened because their love for each other was threatened. And the issue that threatened to divide this church was a dispute over the practice of kosher food laws and other Scriptural ceremonial laws that historically distinguished Israel from the nations as the chosen people of God.

Some thought Christians ought to abstain from eating meat that had been offered to idols. Others thought it was perfectly legitimate to eat such meat. For several weeks we've studied the details of that debate, so I won't cover all that ground again this morning. However, it is critical to know that the division ran primarily along the fault line of ethnicity. Those Christians who saw the dietary laws of Israel critical to their identity as the people of God abstained; those who didn't ate¹ . It seems to us a trivial issue, however it was really a question of really are the people of God and how are they distinguished from those who aren't. This division had the potential of tearing the church apart and ruining the credibility of the gospel. Beloved, the gospel is the gospel of reconciliation. If the gospel is so powerless that it can't reconcile Jew and Gentile how could the message that it reconciles man to God be credible? If it can't prevail over the natural barriers that polarize people how can it be credible to claim it reconciles man to God?

Jesus expressed a similar logic when He prayed, "Father may they all be one, just as You are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that You have sent me." (Jn.17:21) The credibility of the gospel is established by its supernatural power to make people who would normally be polarized by racial, socio-economic, age, political and gender differences into a unified, loving and welcoming covenant community of faith. Jesus never mentioned the size of a church, the numbers of baptism, its budget, its popularity or its success as the evidence of the power of the gospel. But He did say that the capacity to be unified community of faith bound together by God's covenant love in Christ is the credible evidence His Holy presence in the world. Ethnic division was threatening that witness. This was not the first time ethnic divisions had threatened to undo the church's witness² . Paul didn't want to see the same thing happen in the Roman church -in reverse- which had taken place in Jerusalem and Antioch. Again, the credibility of the gospel was at stake.

So, Paul dedicates almost two full chapters to address the issue (14:1-15:13). The major charge to welcome each other is given at the beginning 14:1 and at the end in 15:7 of the sermon. To welcome means to receive or to accept another into your friendship network or to welcome another into your home. It doesn't mean to tolerate or put up with. It means to extend the hand of hospitality. I imagine because one of the first things to go in conflict is hospitality³ . His point is that the racial and cultural differences that divided the church at Rome were not sufficient reasons for their divisions.

I have a question. If Paul calls the early church to overcome ethnic and culture differences by the power of God's love so that they with one voice they could worship God, how much more should we overcome the socio-economic, demographic preferences, secondary theological differences that are increasingly pulling Christians apart today? One of the great moments in Free Church history in America occurred when the Norwegians and the Swedes decided to lay down their cultural differences in order to worship together. Both groups made huge sacrifices. Both gave up their native language and united to glorify God with one voice for the advancement of the gospel. Some churches continued to use their native languages in the evening service, but for the sake of unity they sacrificed their cultural identities and anchored their identity in Christ. That trend has been reversed. Today, instead of sacrificing our differences for unity we are making our differences the basis of growing churches. Selah.

A Summary of Paul's Exhortations (14:1-15:7)

Now, Paul wrote much about how to get along and how to love in the presence of their differences. The specific differences he addressed were not essential to the gospel. He told them not to judge each other or look down on each other. He told them honor and respect each other. He told them to be sensitive to the moral scruples of each other and try not to trip each other up on these issues. He taught that in and of itself there is no sin in eating meat offered to idols. But if a brother thinks it is and he eats anyway, then he is sinning. Oh, not because eating meat was sin per se, but when you violate your conscience you are showing a willingness to betray the Lord and do wrong. Therein lays the sin. So, if your conscience is strong on things like eating meat or drinking wine that's fine, however be sensitive to your brother; show mercy and grace. Equally, the brother who thinks it wrong to eat meat or drink wine needs to recognize that is not sin per se. Jesus declared all foods clean and taught that it isn't what goes into a man that makes him unclean but what comes out of his mouth that does.

And beginning in chapter 15 he tells them that their love for each other is an obligation and calls them to bear or carry the weaknesses of each other. He says to please our neighbor not ourselves. Nothing could be more counter-intuitive to us than this. He appeals to Christ's example: Jesus didn't please himself. By implication he calls us to forego pleasing ourselves and follow Christ's example. Christians will bear a witness to Christ's love in a self consumed and self serving world by the way they make pleasing their neighbor a controlling motivation. Jesus said that he came not to be served but to serve. A consumer approach to doing church is an oxymoron. It works for growth but it robs the church of authentic worship.

Paul's Final Appeal to Unity (15:7-13): THE WAY OF THE GOSPEL

Today we come to his last piece on welcoming and loving each other. He lists several reasons why this is so critical. Why should we abandon serving ourselves first and love and serve others first? Why should we honor and respect each other in love? Why should we make every effort to be united in the bonds of peace? Why should lay aside our differences that aren't essential to the gospel and forebear with each other, forgive each other, consider each other as more important than ourselves, welcome and serve each other? Paul gives this fundamental answer: We should do all of this because this is what the gospel is about. This is an essential. In the gospel Jesus came to serve Jew and Gentile so graciously, so selflessly, so acceptingly, and so sacrificially. In the gospel Jesus welcomes us and with a huge welcome with outstretched arms. And this gospel is the basis of our unity. It demonstrates God's faithfulness to Israel and to the Gentiles who would also come to glorify God for his mercy. That is what the gospel is all about.

Why should we lay aside our secondary differences? Why should we please other before we please ourselves? Why should we make building up others a priority before we seek to build ourselves up? Why should we not judge others? Why should we seek unity at great cost to our own preferences and pleasures? Why give so much effort to this when it is so much easier to retreat into our own private world of serving ourselves, our preferences and doing what pleases ourselves? Why not forget about this business of trying to get along with people who are not like us and making life easy for us all? Why didn't Paul say, "Look, I want you start a carnivorous church and a vegetarian church and be done with it. Forget about attempting to put square pegs in round holes." Would not that have been much simpler advice?

Here's Paul's reason. The gospel is about reconciliation. In the gospel God was in Christ reconciling an irreconcilable world unto Himself. Beloved, it is this gospel that we want to see advance before anything else. Let me show you how Paul reveals this how this gospel unites and reconciles people.

This Unifying and Reconciling Gospel is Israel's Message and Heritage!

In v. 7-8, Paul writes, "Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy."

In Gal. 3:8 Paul wrote that the gospel was announced before hand to Abraham.

"...foreseeing that the God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham."

In Rom.15:8 Paul writes that Christ came to be faithful to Israel by confirming the promises He made to the patriarchs. God's promise to the patriarchs was that through them a Messiah would come who would bring the nations and reconcile the nations into the one family of God and into the realm of his complete blessing. When Christ came he came to fulfill the promises that God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that through their seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. This is the gospel.

Their identity as the people of God was no longer defined by ethnic or national Israel. This was a huge thing to accept. Ethnic practices like kosher food laws that distinguish them as the people of God no longer work to distinguish God's people. Now what distinguishes those as the people of God is faith in God's promised Messiah Jesus! What unites us is the faithfulness of God to the promise he made to the Patriarchs. And that promise was that Gentiles would also receive the mercy of God and then glorify God for that mercy through faith in His Messiah.

What unites them is God's faithfulness, Christ's selfless and sacrificial service to us all and his mercy that brings all of us under the banner of His mercy and grace. That is an essential! What we eat or drink, on what day we worship, what kind of music we sing, what we wear, drive, what education we have or don't have or how much money we have or don't have ... all of this is entirely irrelevant to this gospel power that has the capicity to smash the barriers that we have erected to keep ourselves apart. If the Jewish believer wants to appeal to his great heritage of faith, Paul says, "Look to your Scriptures and this is the heritage you'll find. You'll find your heritage proclaiming the good news that all the nations of the earth will praise the Lord. Jew and Gentile believes in Christ will be folded together and with one voice will praise God for His mercy. God's people will no longer be one ethnic people. And to prove his case he quotes four passages of Scripture.

First, 2Samuel 22:50 (Psalm 18:49)

Now, Jewish tradition arranged the Scriptures into three parts. The Torah: the Law of Moses; the Prophets and their histories, and the Writings: the Psalms, Job and others. In Hebrew it's called the TANAK. The T stands for (torah); the N stands for the (navim) or the Prophets. The K stand (ketuvim) stands for the writings or the Psalms and other writings. Paul took a passage from each of the three pieces of the Jewish scriptures to make his point. He is not proof texting. He is implying that this is what the Scriptures are all about. They are about the mercy of God in Christ being extended to Jew and Gentile alike.

First, The hope of David: 2Sam 22:50 (Ps. 18:49) David says, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name." David said this just after God had given him victory and rest over all the nations surrounding him. In v. 43 David said, "You made me head of the nations people whom I had not known now serve me."

David was the forerunner of the Messiah. He was the earthly representation of what the eternal Messiah. Not only did God promise the gospel to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed in him, He promised to David that he would praise God along with the Gentiles. That was a thousand year old promise rich in Jewish heritage. God promised to bring Gentiles into the praise of Jehovah God. And he did just that. This is Israel's great heritage.

Second, The hope of Moses (10):

The second passage Paul brings forward is from the Torah or the Law of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:43. He reaches back to place where God established His covenant with Israel at the top of the dead sead just before they went into the Promised Land. That covenant had an interesting feature to it. It predicted that Israel would fail to keep the covenant it was making with God and spoke of a new covenant where God would circumcise their hearts and cause them to follow him. He told them in Deut.30:6 that after they failed to keep the terms of the covenant, their judgment would come but, He would also come to them in mercy and that He would circumcise their hearts so that they would then love the Lord with all their heart, soul and strength.

"And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."

This is the gospel. And then in 32:43 God calls the Gentiles to "Rejoice, Gentiles with His people." for this same mercy. This is the great heritage Israel enjoys: through His promise to Abraham, David and Moses the Gentiles are to be one with Israel in praise and joy because of God's mercy to both.

Third: The Hope of Israel's Hymnal (Ps.117:1)

The third verse Paul quotes in verse 11 is from Ps. 117:1. He's quoted from the Torah, and from the Law, now he quotes from the Psalms or Israel's hymnal. "Praise the Lord all ye nations Extol Him all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever." This reconciliation of the Gentiles into the people of God was not only a promise given to Abraham, to Moses and to David. It is also a part of Israel worship where she was called to anticipate this gospel of reconciliation.

Fourth: The Hope of the Prophets:

His final quote is in verse 12 and is from Isaiah 11. "And again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will come even he who arises to rule the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope." Of course Jesse was David's father and the root of Jesse was a designation for the coming Messiah, the hope of Israel who would come and put all things to rights.

So, Paul has taken four verses of the Hebrew Scriptures to demonstrate to both Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians that it is the great heritage of God's promise to Israel that Jew and Gentile would alike receive the mercy of God and be folded in together as the one people of God. He says this was the hope of Abraham, Moses, David and Isaiah. He is citing references from every major division of the Hebrew Scriptures to let everyone know that this is Israel's Scriptural hope if they have ears to hear it.

Adam and Eve failed and the consequences of that fall were severe. God's promise to Abraham was His answer to that devastating fall. This is the gospel. Where all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God in Christ, all can be forgiven and made alive in Him, ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven: Jew and Gentile alike brought under one banner -the banner of God's mercy and grace.

It's a gospel of justification or acceptance by faith from beginning to end. We are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God lest anyone should boast. It has always been that way.

What defines the people of God and distinguishes them is no longer kosher food laws, or feast days, or wearing clothes without mixing wool and cotton. What unites us is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the praise we give Him for His mercy.

Israel does have an historic advantage. God chose Israel to give her the promises and enter into his covenants to reveal his ways to all the earth. But Israel found herself like all the other nations...by nature she too was rebellious and sinful and in great need of a savior just like the other nations.

By His mercy and grace God has been true to the promises He made to Israel. By His mercy and in the gospel God would circumcise her heart and by mercy and in the gospel of Christ, God would give Gentiles a new heart as well.

Now, to the Gentiles (in the gospel and in Christ) God says,

"You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Why should believers welcome each other? Why should we deny ourselves and please one another? Why should we make the sometimes painful and costly effort to live in peace with each other? Why should we work hard and sacrifice much to pursue peace and unity? Why should we forego judging each other and looking down on each other? Why should we lay aside matters of indifferent and things unnecessary to the gospel? Why should we love one another as Christ has loved us, forgive each other and serve each other and build up each other?

We should because this is what the gospel does!

The gospel takes unworthy people and pours out grace upon grace.
It takes weak people and pours out forebearance and compassion.
It takes ornery people and pours out patience.
It takes sinful people and pours out forgiveness.
It takes people puffed up with pride and gently show us the way of humility.
It takes people who know nothing of covenant love and stays with them through thick and thin.

This gospel takes people who would by nature, culture, heritage, ethnicity may have nothing in common and reconciles them and brings them together under the banner of the gospel that gives them so much to be united around that is glorious, wondrous and beautiful that their differences melt and fade away. Why? Because the gospel is about reconciliation. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself."

The credibility of the gospel is at stake. The world is as polarized and fragmented as it has ever been. It desperately needs a witness to a people who have laid hold of a grace to live in harmony and peace. It will take great courage and faith and humility to serve each other in unity. Unless the Holy Spirit grants such grace we will continue to fragment into a billion pieces. So, beloved, for the glory of God and the advance of the gospel, welcome one another and worship by loving each other. Let the glories of the gospel fill your hearts and minds and let that which we share in common that is eternal, good, redeeming, edifying, and sanctifying rule your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Let's be an answer to Jesus' prayer for unity and not miss the blessing. If you haven't... receive Jesus and begin to feast upon the banquet table of His amazing grace. There are more blessings in this gospel than you will ever be able to count.