YouTube video sermon
Romans 15:7-13
I think it’s safe to say that those of us that watched the presidential debate Tuesday night were sorely disappointed. There’s no denying that it was the most awful interaction between two grown – supposed to be internationally influential and respectful – adults aired on national television. It was terribly sad (literally speaking). While most of us here know how to engage people in constructive and respectful dialogue when we disagree, there’s a large segment of our society that’s taking their ques and learning from that. I believe that’s what I found most upsetting. Clearly, although both men claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, neither have taken to heart the principles found in His holy Word:
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:14-21, ESV)
Anyway, while it was a horrible debate and I hope they’ll cancel the remaining two, it makes for a great sermon introduction to Romans 15. Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Romans 15:7-13. Last week we considered how the church is supposed to address disputes over non-essential matters of the faith.
We’re supposed to extend liberty; meaning that there’s room for differences of opinion on things that the Bible doesn’t specifically condemn (as wrong) or commend (as right). We need to be careful here. There are plenty of both. The Bible speaks rather forcefully about a lot of behaviors and attitudes that are clearly wrong, and on such matters, we need to see them that way. So, this isn’t an opening to make the Christian life relative to whatever whim society is embracing at the moment. At the same time, however, there are many behaviors and attitudes that the Bible is rather silent about and we need to extend liberty in non-essentials of the faith.
The example that I alluded to last week was whether Christians should mask or not mask. I hate to break it to you, but the Bible is rather silent about masking in 2020. Now, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t principles that we learn from the Bible that can help us make an informed decision. I’ve read multiple articles by pastors and theologians that argue for both positions. I’m just saying that you won’t find any explicit passage, or group of passages, that fully and finally settles the matter. Therefore, we need to be careful that we don’t quarrel over disputable matters.
Second, even when there’s disagreement, we need to respond in love and not cause harm or hurt to our brothers and sisters in Christ who aren’t quite where we are in their understanding. The stronger believer needs to be willing to lay aside his/her rights and freedoms in Christ for the sake of the weaker.
And finally, Paul told us to always look to Jesus as our example – exemplify the Lord. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. He came to give Himself as a ransom for our sin. He took upon Himself the reproaches, and criticisms, and accusations, and sins that were mine (and yours). So, when all else fails, remember Jesus. Look to Jesus. Exemplify Jesus.
And today we conclude Paul’s practical exhortations and encouragements. He’s called us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. He’s called us to submit to governing authorities. He’s called us to the urgency of evangelism – “[y]ou know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:11-12). Remember that: get up, get out, get going? He’s called us to not pass judgment on one another over disputed things, and not cause each other to stumble. And finally, Paul encourages us all (Jewish believer in Jesus and Gentile believer in Christ) to praise the Lord together.
Let me invite you to stand with me as I read our text this morning (beginning with verse 7):
7 Therefore 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, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles, and sing to Your name.” 10 And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol Him.” 12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even He who arises to rule the Gentiles; in Him will the Gentiles hope.” 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
The Goal Is the Glory and Praise of God
Paul’s goal is never merely good human relations. That’s a means to his ultimate end. Paul’s ultimate aim was the same one that Jesus had – to display the glory of God, to display the beauty of God, the greatness of God, the many-sided perfections of God. All of creation, all of redemption, all of church, all of society, all of culture exist to display God. Nothing and no one is an end in itself: only God. Remember Romans 11:36, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
Church worship services, church Sunday School classes, church committee meetings, church small groups, church evangelism, church missions – all of them exist for this one ultimate thing – to make much of the greatness of God. That’s why you and I were created. That’s why we exist – to proclaim the goodness, greatness, and glory of God.
Would you join me in prayer that God would make this the atmosphere at Mountain Hill? We won’t have succeeded if we’re known as a friendly place. And we won’t have succeeded if we’re known as an unfriendly place. On the other hand, we’ll be on our way to true success if we’re known as a people obsessed with the glory of God. If our friends speak of the glory of God. If our children and grandchildren love the glory of God more than the glory of sports or music or fashion. If our career people pursue the glory of God more than the glory of financial success. If our older people rejoice in the hope of the glory of God just over the horizon.
Almost everything in American culture threatens this radically serious, God-centered passion to see and savor and show the glory, the greatness, the beauty and worth of the full range of His perfections, His eternal being and unchanging character, His independence and self-sufficiency and holiness, His infinite power and wisdom and goodness and justice and wrath and mercy and patience and grace and love. Almost everything in American culture threatens to make our minds and our hearts and our worship shallow and casual.
I plead with you to pray with me that God stagger us with a proper sense of His greatness, and to that end that He would give us what Paul calls a “spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:17). Oh, how we need to know God and to feel something of the wonder of His glory. Oh, that we would pray the prayer of Moses in Exodus 33:18: “Show me Your glory.”
So, we know where Paul is going in this text – the same place he’s always going: the glory of God.
How Do We Glorify and Praise God?
Now how does he help us get there? How do we become the kind of people who are of one mind in denying ourselves, sacrificing legitimate freedoms to please others, and being able with one voice (in spite of all the differences between weak and strong) to glorify God together, to praise God together? How will we become that kind of people?
I want you to notice that his answer isn’t church programs or relational mechanics or external technique. There are at least four things Paul says and does here to help us become the kind of people who can joyfully build up others and make God look glorious. I’ll just mention them briefly and then close by focusing on the last one.
First, Paul draws our attention to Christ. We saw it last week, in verses 1-6, Paul points to Jesus. But he does it again (here) in verses 7-8, “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 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 other words, to become the kind of person who joyfully serves others rather than using them, consider Christ. Look at Christ. Especially look at His sin-bearing, substitutionary work on the cross. This is how we change: “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Look to Christ.
Second, Paul reminds us how essential the Scriptures are. Paul quotes from the Old Testament four times in order to demonstrate that it was always God’s plan to glorify Himself by bringing together Jews and Gentiles. The reality of a people from every nation and tribe and tongue and language worshipping and praising God and giving Him glory is rooted in the Scriptures. Would we avail ourselves to God’s holy Word? Would we allow the Scriptures to speak to us and inform us and change us? If we want to glorify and praise God we must know and live the Bible.
Third, Paul reminds us that we will never survive in the path of self-denying, sacrificial love if we don’t have hope. Hope (elpis, is the Greek) is mentioned at the end of verse 12, in the quote from Isaiah, and then Paul uses it twice in verse 13: once at the beginning (as an adjective describing who God is – He’s the God of hope), and again at the end (as a noun – that thing we possess).
If you hope in Christ today and not in money and health and friends and joy and government, that hope is the work of the Holy Spirit. You did not create it. By nature, our will is at enmity with God. We’re born depraved. And the essence of that depravity is self-exalting, self-reliant, self-determination. Therefore, if the glory of God is going to become our highest goal and treasure, then we must be born again by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Fourth (and finally), he shows by example that we must pray for all this to happen, because it’s all God’s work in us. Paul shifts from teaching and exhorting to praying in verse 13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Paul has reached the end of his ability to persuade. His longings for this church are beyond the reach of man. God must do it, or it won’t be done. If we’re going to look to Christ, God must incline our hearts to look to Christ and open our eyes to see His glory (2 Thessalonians 3:5). If we’re going to meditate on His Word, God must incline our hearts to His Word (Psalm 119:36). If we’re going to endure and be encouraged, God must give us the endurance and encouragement through His Word (2 Thessalonians 2:16). If we’re going to have hope that sustains our love, God must make it abound through the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).
And if we’re so dependent on God for Romans 14 and 15 to come true, then, Mountain Hill, let us give ourselves to the precious privilege of prayer. If Paul had to pray to see his teaching change people, so must we.