Living in One Accord

Transcript

GR 2268
03/21/2021
Living in One Accord
Romans 15:1-13
Gil Rugh

Turn in your Bibles if you will, to the book of Romans chapter 15. I just want to review some key points that we looked at in the end of chapter 14 of Romans. We looked at verses 13-23, and it really goes together, all of chapter 14 and down through verse 13 of chapter 15. The subject matter is about functioning together in unity. Just a word of reminder, God saves us individually, that’s always been the case, salvation is a personal, individual matter. That was true in the nation Israel. We talk about how God elected and chose the nation to be the nation that would belong to Him, but then it required also individuals in the nation to come to the salvation that God provided by grace through faith. So it is with the church, God saves us individually, but now we’re just not individuals in our own walk and relationship with the Lord, out here doing our own thing. That’s why we’re gathered together as a local church. What Christ is doing is building our church. The book of Ephesians is about the church. The church is comprised of every individual believer from Acts 2 down to the yet-climax for the church when it is raptured into the presence of Christ and taken to the presence of His Father in heaven. We become part of the church, as such, we are a testimony of God’s work, we are God’s family in this place. The universal church includes everyone from the last 2,000 years who has placed their faith in Christ. The bride of Christ we see in Revelation 19, for example; we’ll see it in the end of Ephesians as well.

But the local church is the manifestation of the universal church. He brings us together in local fellowships, like we’re studying the letter to the church in Rome, or the letter to the church in Ephesus, or in Revelation the seven churches in different cities in Asia Minor. Local churches are the focal point. Within those local churches we have the opportunity to manifest God’s work in our lives. He has brought us together. One of his analogies of the church is a body, reflecting like our human body with all the parts, but it is one body with Christ as the head. So as we individually submit to Christ, we as a corporate body function with a harmony and unity just like our physical body. Sometimes there’s a breakdown. Our physical body manifests this. Something goes wrong in a part of the body and then part of the body’s not functioning as it should, and that has its impact on the whole body. That’s the way it is with us as a local church.

So Paul’s concerned in this section on unity and appreciating one another with our differing levels of growth, maturity and immaturity. He wants us to be sure that we’re functioning as a unified body. It fractures our testimony in the world, it hinders the work of the Spirit, when our body is working against itself. When something in our body is not working as it should, it impacts the whole body. So that’s the picture here. God’s intention is not that you start churches on external things. We’d be in a different region, obviously; we have the church in these different places and so on. But you know, they’re not based on, well, what kind of music do you like, what race are you. When we were in Colorado, we’d look out our window and there’s a Korean church across the street. That’s fine. There are many military people there and I’m sure a number with Korean backgrounds are drawn there. But you know, we want to be careful about building churches around racial distinctions. That’s what Paul has to deal with and it’s behind some of what’s going on in our section in Romans, Jews and Gentiles. God did not intend to establish a Jewish church and a Gentile church. That would have dealt with some of the issues in trying to bring those two differing peoples together. They ate different foods, they had different practices. Why didn’t you just do a Jewish church and a Gentile church? Because we’re gathered around the work of the Spirit of God in joining us in a relationship with one another because of our relationship with God, so we are gathered as the family of God. We want to be careful about these distinctions and that means we are always making adjustments, because we all have our opinions, as we’ve been talking about through chapter 14, and it’ll come up in chapter 15. But we want to be careful our opinions and our differences, what manifests what God has done for us before the watching world, as well as enabling the Spirit of God to produce the necessary growth in us, is the unity and harmony we have that goes beyond these external differences. We can live with those. We can appreciate that. When we see differences in one another, we appreciate how God has worked, and that’s what Paul’s going to talk about in chapter 15.

But let me walk you through a summary of the end of chapter 14, verses 13-23, and then we’ll look into chapter 15. The first thing, just as review, (and I’ve put the verses on here as we won’t take time to look at those) we should do nothing that may hinder the growth of another believer, brought up particularly in those two verses. Obviously, it’s behind everything that he’s saying. We don’t want to hinder the growth of one another, so that has to be in my mind. What I do, what I say, how I act - how will that impact another believer, will that hinder them from growing? So you see, we’re others-centered, not self-centered.

Secondly, as far as foods go, no created thing is unclean, no created thing is unclean. We have two verses of that, verses 14 and 20. We want to be careful about these external things. They become very important to some people. For the Jews, they were part of their life from birth, if you will. Now they get saved, maybe as mature adults. I’m mentally conditioned, I just don’t stop and change tomorrow. Well, we have to be sensitive to that and we appreciate… But be careful, we can have our likes and dislikes, but no created thing is unclean, we’ve elaborated on that.

Number three, created things can be unclean to an individual, you note that. There are three verses that I’ve put together with that. A created thing can be unclean to an individual. You’ll note it’s not the created thing in itself, but for an individual it can be unclean because your conscience is defiled if you do it. In other words, you shouldn’t violate your conscience. So there’s an individual decision here, I can choose not to eat something. Why? Right now, I choose not to. If you push me, I might say I’m not comfortable doing it; it’s another way of saying my conscience just would trouble me if I did that. I’m not saying you shouldn’t, because we’ve already established no material thing is unclean in and of itself. That’s where the individual aspect comes in, and we want to respect that. We don’t think, well, I don’t want to get too close to them or I don’t want to hang around them because they’re different. Well, praise the Lord they’re different, because where we are the same is we have the same Savior, the same Lord, we have the same Spirit. And that’s what unites us, not because we all like the same kind of food. We’re together as part of our family dinner at lunch, and they said here’s something for you to try. I was suspicious. Oh, yeah, you’ll probably like it. Ever see a baby when you put something in his mouth that he doesn’t like? I didn’t get that beyond my tongue. Bla-a-ah, what is this? Some of them liked it! They just don’t have good taste buds. No, there’s a difference. Fine, we can be a family together and they had things I like, they didn’t have anything Marilyn didn’t like; but they have a variety and that’s fine. We wouldn’t think that for our family, if you don’t like this then you can’t be part of your family and we don’t want to get along. But spiritually… these kind of things, that’s what Paul’s dealing with.

Point four, the wrong use of liberty is sin and causes great harm, so I have to be careful. Again, it’s not all about me, it’s a consideration for others. If I use my liberty in a wrong way and want to push you without maybe saying it, but in my practice it makes you feel like you’re not really a mature believer, that might move you to do something that violates your conscience. I never want to do anything that I don’t think God wants me to do personally; I just don’t want to do what I don’t think God would have me do. I’ve used examples of that. So we want to be careful.

Fifth, liberty is a matter of conscience, not conduct. Don’t misunderstand that in the context we’re talking about. The area of conduct can be neutral, but if my conscience troubles me, it’s not neutral for me. So the conduct isn’t the problem, but my conscience might be a problem and that’s where it can vary. So liberty is a matter of conscience, not conduct. That doesn’t mean I’m free to do anything I want because I get to sin freely, obviously. But in these areas, what we call grey areas, neutral areas the Scripture doesn’t talk about, then it’s a matter of conscience, not conduct. That’s why one believer can do something but the other believer would not be comfortable doing it. We try to accept that and appreciate it; as much as possible we’ll adjust to that.

And lastly, we must walk by faith. In verse 23 which closed that chapter, “Whatever is not from faith is sin.” So that gets to my conscience. Again, what the Word says, that clarifies it. If I go to the Scripture and it says here, this is what you must do, this is what you must not do, then it’s clear. In these other areas, it’s a personal decision, and I want to act and be comfortable and confident with what I can do or what I can’t do. You should do that. We want to have liberty in that.

Alright, we’re coming through to chapter 15, and really, when we come down through verse 13 that’s the end of the body of the letter. Then with chapter 15, verse 14 moved us in concluding remarks which are extensive… but really the body of the letter. What he is emphasizing in all of chapter 14 and down through verse 13 of chapter 15 are about the same subject. Ephesians chapter 4, we’ll get there someday, Ephesians 4:3, we are to be “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit,” the Holy Spirit, the unity that the Holy Spirit has produced, “in the bond of peace.” God does not want conflict in His family, just like in your physical family, you’re raising your children and you don’t want it to be a battleground. That’s what God wants among His children in His family, and each local church is a reflection of that. It’s not just He saved me and I’m just this individual here and I’m part of the universal church, that’s what really matters, local church is optional. No, we don’t forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is Hebrews 10 (verse 25) tells us. Already some had begun to back off from the importance of fellowship. When for one reason or another perhaps we’re not able to get together as we’d like, as we’ve had to come through the virus and had issues on that, but our desire is to get back together. Well, we could be a church and maybe just everybody stays at home and we won’t even need a building, just do it over video. But it’s not what God established. He intends His people to come together for mutual encouragement and fellowship whenever possible. Obviously, certain physical conditions for some will make that impossible. There are other reasons, but the basic plan of God is the body functioning together. It seems like he’s belaboring this. Think, well, he could have said this in two of three verses as we have it. But it’s important! He takes what we have as a chapter and a half and then in Corinthians he took several chapters, and it keeps coming up, it’ll come up in Ephesians. God wants peace in His family, not peace at any cost, but peace.

There are two things dealt with here. We’re going to cover thirteen verses and if you put the morning service and sermon together with the evening, we’re really moving through verses, because we’ll do thirteen and that’s offset by the one we did this morning, so we really did fourteen verses today, seven and seven, so we’re doing well. Two divisions here, number one being the first six verses are about not pleasing ourselves because Christ did not please Himself, what happens here, the ultimate example for us. We’re not saved by the example of Christ, but when we’re saved, we want to manifest His character in our relationships with one another. So the first six verses use Christ and He’s the example, He did not please Himself. So when I’m involved in pleasing myself I’m out of step. And then the second half of the section, verses 7-13, He is the example in accepting others, that breaks down the barriers. So I want to be like Christ because I belong to Him. As Ephesians 4 will talk about, we are growing up into Christ who is the head. The goal is we become more and more like Him, more conformed to His will, His character.

So we pick up with verse 1, “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.” Then you see the word ‘just’ is italicized, but we don’t have to put that in. We already have a head-start in being worried about us; we get sidetracked to please ourselves. What he says is we ought to be careful here, we ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, the less mature believer, as we talked about. It’s like your children, the younger they are, the less flexibility they have, so you hold your older children to a higher standard. We’ve used the example, you’ll say things like, “We expect more out of you, you’re older, you should know better.” That’s what God is saying here to His older, more mature children, I expect more out of you, so you can help the younger, immature, newer believers and weaker believers to grow to maturity. If you use your maturity and additional strength to beat them down, you’re going to hinder their growth. So “those without strength,” he puts it. So I can’t use my strength to misuse it because they’re weaker. That’s the way the world functions, they look for weakness and then they pound it down. We’re not pleasing ourselves. When I find myself in my thinking focused on me, I need to get a hold of that sooner rather than later; the longer I harbor that, the more entangled in it I get. It’s not about pleasing me.

Turn over to Galatians, some of these verses I’ll quote for time, but turn over to Galatians 6. You see this permeates Paul’s writings, permeates Scripture, because this is the Spirit of God guiding what God intends. Verse 2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” This comes out of verse 1, “If anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness,” and watching that you stay on track. And we bear one another’s burdens, so someone in weakness stumbles, sins, that’s a trespass, it goes contrary to God’s will. We don’t jump all over them, we want to help them get stabilized again, that’s the law of Christ. It’s not the Mosaic Law, but that’s the law of God’s family, if you will, the church. We bear one another’s burdens. Be careful, “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” And then a reminder, be checking yourself, be sure of what you ought to be, and so on. Back in 1 Corinthians 10, and we won’t go there, but 1 Corinthians 10:33, if you want to write it down, Paul says I don’t please myself, I please other men, I make the adjustments, whatever will make a ministry to them more effective that’s not compromising truth or compromising conduct in the wrong way. It’s just being sensitive. How could I help them grow? I get my eyes off myself and on to them and what would be best for them.

Come back to Romans 15 (verse 2), “Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.” Verse 19 of chapter 14, “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another,” that’s the edification, building up others, so verse 2. We’re not men-pleasers. We could look at verses on that; you’re familiar with that. We please them for their good. It wouldn’t be for their good if I compromised truth, and so on. But what could I do for them, what would be helpful for them, what would contribute to their growth, how could I help them along? Instead of the attitude that they ought to be stronger by now, or they ought to be doing better. Well, what can I do, how can I help? We’re aware of this as our body has been together and we’ve been privileged to work like this, and we want to work like this better. Self is still there, and I have to deal with that regularly, every situation may provide a little different challenge for me. Then I find out I thought I would handle that better, I thought I’d handle that differently than I did. I sort of was caught off-guard, I didn’t expect it and I didn’t think I would react that way. I want to be careful for those situations, each of us. That’s an individual thing within the body, and if we’re doing that, each of us is concerned about what is good for the other person, we’re functioning selflessly. If that’s true of everyone in our body, well, that takes care of a lot of the potential conflict.

“For even Christ,” and here’s where the example comes in, “did not please Himself.” This is where our testimony can be dramatically impacted. Yes, I’ve trusted Christ. Yes, I know, but my life becomes about my being pleased. Christ didn’t please Himself. Am I better than Him, do I deserve more than Him? He didn’t please Himself, but I deserve to be pleased. And this is a quote, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me,” that’s from Psalm 69:9. Christ didn’t have a life centered on Himself, He had a life pleasing His Father, that’s what the point is. Those who were reproaching God, the reproaches fell on Him. There were things that people were displeased about Him but it wasn’t because He was selfish, those reproaches He took. Life’s short, I want to get the most out of it I can, I want to enjoy it, I expected better… Well, wait a minute, Christ didn’t please Himself.

Then again, after my messages someone said I’m never coming to you for counseling. I’m fine with that. No, we want to encourage and counsel one another in a good sense, but you know, if we’re honest, most of our problems come when we get caught up with ourselves, and then we’re frustrated and we’re unsettled. Christ, even Christ, the way he puts that, “even Christ did not please Himself.” What am I thinking when I think I ought to be pleased? I thought it was about Christ, not me, just like for Christ it was about His Father and pleasing Him. The reproaches came, yet He didn’t have any complaint, He took those reproaches. What was important was to please His Father. What is to be important to us? Pleasing me? No.

And then we are told, and he’s quoted that Old Testament Scripture, and then he says in verse 4, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” You know, we’re not under the Mosaic Law, but all the Old Testament Scriptures, all that had been written before, have been preserved for our learning. So we have less excuse if we don’t function properly, because we have that whole Old Testament of Scripture given and recorded for us. I learn. How often we go to the book of Job so I can learn a little bit about real suffering and the tragedies that come and something about the spiritual battle that’s going on in the spirit world, and I’m caught up in that even as Job was. That can bring terrible personal tragedies, loss of dear children, loss of health, friends that really are not friends at all. I want to learn, I want to see the hall of faith, as we call it, in Hebrews 11, those that walked by faith. They were written for our instruction.

Note, “through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” You know what happens when I get my focus on me? I lose scriptural perspective. Scripture gives me perseverance. That word ‘perseverance’ is a compound word, hupomone. And hupo is ‘under’ and mone is ‘to live,’ that’s living under pressure. Perseverance comes when you’re living under pressure. If you just had a great day, you’re at the beach somewhere and it’s relaxing, and if you say oh, I’m persevering, you’re saying it in a joking way, because you don’t have anything to persevere today, this is just life at ease. But it’s the pressure and that pressure may go on, and again, we think of Job. It wasn’t just one day or two days; it wasn’t just one child or two children who died, it wasn’t just the loss of the wealth, it was also the loss of the health. The Scripture gives perseverance and encouragement so that we might have hope. We don’t give up, we’re not going to bail.

Let me read you S. Lewis Johnson. He wrote, he also taught this in the church that he pastored, in addition to being a seminary professor. But on this verse he wrote this, ”Practical value of the word of God cannot be more strongly emphasized. It’s the Scriptures; they give us the power to endure affliction and temptation. And too often our contemporary believers have neglected their benefit. In difficulty we flee to our counselors, some amateur, others professional. But they can never do the work of the word of God. It is possible through the Scriptures to have the Lord Jesus Christ as our constant companion and permanent, moment-by-moment Counselor. Let us not run to men, but to Him.”

That was done in 1981, how much more so today. The world’s solution is I can’t handle it. Note how everybody has become a victim, everybody’s a victim. It seems the wealthier you are, the more of a victim you are. It is a mark of honor to talk about your counselor, and “I’m in counseling.” Well, yeah, the world’s a mess, people are a mess. But we as Christians, it’s like the psalmist wrote in Psalm 119, Your words are my counselors, where do I go? You know, sometimes I go to the Word and find out I’m out of step, I’m not functioning like I should be. Lord, I’m off-track. Sometimes I don’t want to hear the Word because I don’t want to change, I want you to change, I want the circumstances to change, so the Word becomes an irritation rather than an encouragement. If I come to the Word with a wrong attitude, I get upset when I hear it. I have to come to the Word, it was written for our perseverance, not to remove unpleasantness, but to enable us to keep going under it. And to be encouraged, not dragging through it. The encouragement of the Scripture… the Scripture encourages me. When I’m discouraged, something the best for me is get apart, open the Word up, and read it. Sometimes I’m laying in bed, frustrated, and I look at the clock and it’s 2:00 in the morning and now I got to get some sleep, but then I’m more frustrated. Then it’s 3:00 in the morning and I’m frustrated and frustration’s had another hour to grow. So I say this is not going anywhere, I’ll just think I’ll get up and go look into the Word of God, remind myself that God has this under control, make sure I’m where I ought to be. And sometimes I have to be frank, Lord, I’m not where I ought to be, I need an adjustment here, I need to bring myself in line with Your word, and I want the Spirit to do that and I want to apply myself to doing it. You don’t win by fighting against God. The Scripture brings… and that gives you hope, I keep going, well, I have hope, I know the outcome, God will see me through.

Verse 5, “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement.” You know where it comes from -- through the Word. We want it to come directly, it comes directly through the Word, He just told us that the Scriptures give us perseverance and encouragement. “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement.” How does He give it? Through the Word, invariably this is the solution. So it’s too simplistic. Yes, the world can’t understand this, it’s supernatural. The word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, it pierces into the inner recesses of our inner being (Hebrews 4:12). God gives perseverance and encouragement. Where do I get it? From the Word. Some of our most difficult problems are solved, and this is where a believer may be a help. They point out you’re not functioning according to the Word, here’s what the Scripture says, do it. It’s not that easy. Well, then I back up, God didn’t say it’s easy, but it’s not difficult. Now are you a believer? Yes, I’m a believer. Do you want to do what God says He wants you to do? Ah, maybe. Let’s back up, are you a Christian, do you want to do what God wants you to do? If I don’t want to do what He wants me to do, I’ve got to back up and wonder am I really a believer. Remember, I’ve shared with you, Dr. Herman Hoyde was my theology professor. “Gentlemen, when you are saved, God changes your ‘want-er.’ ” I took years of Greek to get that point. God changes your want-er, now you want to do what He wants you to do. Sometimes I don’t, that’s where I have to bring myself in line, Lord, I want to do… At heart I want to be the person You want me to be, I want to do it even though, Lord, You know I’m struggling, because there’s pleasure in sin for a season. Moses had to give that up in his hall of faith in Hebrews 11 (verse 25), rather than endure the pleasures of sin for a season. Nobody would sin if there wasn’t a certain pleasure and satisfaction in it, but it comes with a whole bucket of misery, and we as believers can confuse ourselves and pretty soon we’re sitting in a pile of misery like the world around us. What happened?

“May the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus.” You see now the unity, that we learn to deal with one another. I can persevere, I’m encouraged… We have to have the same mind. Remember we got into Romans 12 after all that great theology on the work of God in our salvation? “Therefore, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifices… which is your reasonable service of worship.” He goes on to talk about the renewing of our mind, we’re to have the mind of Christ, we’ll have the same mind with one another. Because if the Spirit of God is controlling me, what’s the problem? We ought to be able to get along unless one of us is in sin, one of us is unwilling to do what the word of God says, then there’s going to be conflict. But on these things that the word of God does not address, we have the same mind. I want to please God and you want to please God, I want to honor Him and you want to honor Him. You eat this and I eat this. You observe a day so that, look at verse 6, “So that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Very similar to Ephesians chapter 1. You note this, we are “to be of the same mind with one another, according to Christ Jesus,” that’s the key. If we’re out of sync, wait a minute, we have to look here, am I out of orientation with Christ? “According to Christ Jesus,” He’s the standard here, back to the Word of God, so when “we are with one accord, we (you) may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” that’s what we are to do.

So our church will never have any internal conflicts or disagreements? Well, no. We’re all growing and we’re at different stages of growth. But you know, we want to be careful, the hardest thing when we get into disagreements is we have to stop here, what does the Scripture say? Now that’s what we will do as a body. That comes back; we’re individuals in the body. Now, I have to decide what does the Scripture say, that’s what I must do. Well, I still don’t… Wait a minute, what does the Scripture say? You have to adjust, I have to adjust. Otherwise, I’m not doing according to Christ Jesus any longer, it’s not His mind controlling my mind. It’s not complicated, it’s just not always easy, but we won’t be able to excuse ourselves by saying it was too complicated and we couldn’t understand it. Now it may be it wasn’t complicated but I just didn’t want to do it, and we all hit those points, I don’t want to do it. We’re like the stubborn little kid, I don’t want to do it. Well, what happens when you tell God I don’t want to do it? If you’re really His child, there are consequences.

Our goal is with one accord. You see how important the unity of the body is? The local church, the body, together with one accord? “You may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What happened to Israel with their eternal problems? It just shattered their testimony, in the world they were to be a light. The God of Israel… But they got to a point where God couldn’t tolerate and put up with them anymore and He had to bring a severity of judgment that the nation Israel is still under. What about the church? Remember Jesus walking among the candlesticks (Revelation)? Fix it, or I’ll remove your candlestick. God is serious about this. It’s not my church and it’s not your church. It’s our church in the sense we belong to it, and we have one goal in this—“with one voice to glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Those first six verses show Christ didn’t please Himself, so that helps me a lot. Once I get off of being pleased and be concerned about pleasing myself, I can be concerned about getting in line with how Christ functioned.

Now verses 7-13, He accepted others, that’s the point. Now we move out, I’m going to get off of my self-centeredness. What does he say in verse 7? “Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.” It’s amazing how we have professed to be believers and Jesus Christ is my Savior, my life belongs to Him, and we have all this theology and it’s going nowhere. I mean, he keeps telling us this is what Christ did and you are the body of Christ, the church over which Christ is the head. We’ll get into that at the end of Ephesians 1. “Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.” With our differences, with whatever, He “accepted us to the glory of God,” that’s what He was doing, that’s what His life was about. He bore reproaches back in verse 3. It wasn’t about pleasing Himself, and He functioned for the good of others and accepted us because that brought glory to God. He didn’t get anything out of this personally. That old saying, you’re so valuable Christ died for you, that’s sort of… I hope died away, I don’t read it as much anymore. It was such bad theology it should have never started. It’s to glorify God, “with one accord… therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.”

Explanation, verse 8, “For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy.” You’ll note here, the church at Rome is a Gentile church, but it would have had Jews in it. We talk about our racial divide, you could not get any stronger racial divide than Jews and non-Jews. And when God established Israel as the nation, He purposely separated them from the other nations. So all those laws and rules made it difficult for them because God didn’t intend for them to be mixed in with the other nations. But when He established the church, He’s doing something unique and totally different, (we’ll get to this in Ephesians), it’s unique. But you see what Christ did, He did what was best for the Jews and what was best for the Gentiles, so now you’re going to bring these two racial groups, so different, and they’re going to be one group. That’s why verse 7 says, “Accept one another.” A major area for them would be…

In our day we have racially different churches, we have the black church and the white church. We have different churches. We have young people’s church because they like this kind of music and we have old people’s church because they like this kind of music, and then we have churches that don’t like music. We get all these external things and what does that say to the world? They’re just like us! They like people just like them and they don’t want people who aren’t just like them. We say, well, it works better this way. Well, it doesn’t work God’s way that way, that’s the point. Christ became a servant to the circumcision, that’s the Jews, circumcision marked them off from the Gentiles, that was the uncircumcised Philistines, they are not part of those separated to God. He did it, “on behalf of the truth of God.” You see, it comes back to the Scripture, this is what the Scripture says God’s plan for Israel is and He had to “confirm the promises.” So His concern was as a man to function according to God’s revealed will for Israel and for the Gentiles so they could glorify God for His mercy.

That was written in the Old Testament scriptures, so you have these quotes. We won’t go back to those for time but, “ ‘Therefore I will give praise to You among the Gentiles, and I will sing to Your name.’ Again he says, ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.’ And again. ‘Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him.’ Again Isaiah says, ‘There shall come the root of Jesse, and He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, in Him shall the Gentiles hope.’ ” The Old Testament promised salvation for the Gentiles, but it was seen in the context of God working with Israel. Through Israel blessings would come to the Gentile world and they did. But then the church is mixing Jews and Gentiles in a new and unique way. When we get into the kingdom we’re going to be back to the separation of nations. Israel will be Israel and Israel will be the focal nation among the nations. The nations will still exist and they will bring their offerings up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be the capital of the world both in the millennial phase and then in the eternal phase of the kingdom, but this is a unique time (the Church Age). We ought to appreciate that in God saving Gentiles it is consistent with what He said in the Old Testament scriptures.

That the Jews tended to overlook because they thought they were so important. Then when God was saving Gentiles they thought God’s done with the Jews, they don’t deserve salvation because they crucified their Messiah. And we have all these kinds of problems that have come down through church history all because we don’t go back to the Scriptures. What did Christ do? He became a servant of all of them for their salvation, the Jews and the Gentiles. He had to pay a terrible price for that in a life of being hated and rejected, culminating with His crucifixion, but Christ has accepted us. If you are a believer and of this race… You see, the division of races was brought about by God because of what? As long as they were unified they wanted a unified worship system which is where the world will go after the rapture of the church as you are aware. In the church there are none of these divisions that matter; it doesn’t matter what your race is, it doesn’t matter what your social status is, it doesn’t matter if you are a master or a slave.

That’s why we don’t use titles. Early in the ministry, the early years, someone with a doctor’s degree I just introduced first name. One of his kids said to me, you know, my dad was a little offended by that, he says I worked for that degree. I said we appreciate that but in the church he is no more important than anyone else. Titles are given to make a separation. You go to a college class and have a professor. He may be Dr. So-and-so, that’s just to let you know you are not on his level. You go to a medical doctor and he’s Dr. So-and-so just so you know who knows and who doesn’t know. Titles are for that purpose. They serve a purpose like that and we give honor to those whom honor is due. That would include elected officials and Paul showed that, he called them honorable, that’s fine. In the church you might have a slave who was an elder and a master who wasn’t. How does that work in a body? Works fine if everybody is doing what is biblical. These external things, Christ has accepted them, that’s it.

One of the old Puritans put it very bluntly. He said it’s a terrible sin against Christ to reject someone that He has accepted. And of course! What do you say? Christ loved them, died for them, brought them in to personal relationship with Him for time and eternity, they are precious to Him. In Matthew 18 (verse 14) Jesus said that God His Father is not willing that one of these little ones would perish. He’s concerned for their well-being and I don’t accept them, I don’t think they’re that important? So you see how this becomes the body functioning together becomes very, very important. We individually have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us but then we as a body have the Spirit here enabling all of us as individuals to function in a coordinated way by the provision of the gifts He has given as they are exercised under His control. There is a unity and it becomes so important but it’s played down and we fail to appreciate so there are church splits and over nothings that are relatively indifferent. Doctrinal things they have to be dealt with. No one dealt with them more firmly and harshly than Paul except Christ when He rebuked the religious leaders of His day. We are talking about things, do they really matter, does it really matter?

We joked about the carpet and I remember I reminded you that we weren’t going to divide over carpet. Then when I saw the carpet I said we can’t live with that. Oh, that’s not what you said. You know what I had to do? I had to hurry and get back and tell the carpenters to get back to work. Who has to adjust? Well, I’m the pastor here, it has to please me. Who said? Who said I was in charge of colors? Look around, be thankful I’m not! They go together.

Maybe the Lord brings you to a church and you don’t care for the style of music. He brought you here so you could learn to adjust and appreciate. You know, all I’m concerned about with the music? The words are good and we do it to the best quality we can. I appreciate, when we were gone and watching the service, I said we are so blessed. So many people that give of themselves in that area of our ministry and it’s so well done, the truth is so clearly evident. That’s what we look at. We get caught up in do I like this style or do I like this style. If the truth is being proclaimed we can learn to appreciate one another.

Let me give you some summary points. I want to fit these in because we’ll move to a new section next week. What we have just looked at in verses 1 to 13. Number one, and we won’t go to the verses particularly, you have them there, we must live our lives for the benefit of others, that’s verse 2. “Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.” So if we’re all doing that, we’re all about the other person, none of us get our feelings hurt, none of us are upset because of what was done to us because we’re all about the other person. I keep reminding Marilyn it’s all about me; no, it’s all about her for me and it’s all about me for her.

Point two, Christ did not live for Himself, there’s the example, remember these thirteen verses were about Christ as our example. We are not saved by following the example of Christ. Now that I belong to Him I want to be like Him. He’s meek and humble in spirit, He was selfless, He gave His life for me. How could I be so self-centered?

Point three, the Scriptures are the means God uses to nurture His children. That’s why one of the works of the devil is to maybe little by little move churches away from the serious study of the word of God. Because if he can get God’s people away from God’s word, they get removed from the power of God to work in their lives, to encourage them, to give them perseverance. Then they get weak and they don’t persevere, then they get discouraged. He just keeps working, we think he keeps at it for good reasons; evangelism to broaden our outreach, to make a greater impact. And the truth, we move subtly away, but it doesn’t take long until we move away from the Scriptures. They are the means God uses to nurture His children.

Point four, it is in unity that the church can glorify God; in the kind of unity we are talking about with each of us functioning as God would have us function. God is not at odds with Himself so really if each of us are functioning under the control of the Spirit, the Spirit is not at odds, God’s purpose for us is not. So it’s when we are unified that we show that we are different than the world. We’ve got enough division over everything you can imagine and think about in the world. But in the church it’s a different place, people that have so many differences are brought together because of a supernatural work of God.

Number five, we are to welcome one another, we’re glad. It doesn’t matter your race, what your status is, your social, all these things. We want to welcome. What matters is do you know the Savior.

Christ has welcomed Jew and Gentiles, that’s why I am opposed to starting churches around external physical things. I can see people come from another country, they don’t speak English. I could see when I’ve been in other countries and sat in services and I didn’t understand. I can understand I would like to be where I could learn, I could understand. But you know, if they are going to live here they’re going to need to learn the language, I would want eventually for them to be brought in. We want people with different nationalities, different races along with all the other differences. God has welcomed them, His goal is to put them into one body. Perhaps the giving of the Greek language which became somewhat universal was part of God’s preparation for that because Jew and Gentile alike could speak Greek, that helped break that down and bring them together in that language.

Point seven, joy, peace, and hope are given by God to His people, so personally, I have to look at this because I’m not going to help promote this in the body if I don’t have it within me. Joy, peace, and hope are given by God to His people. Verse 13, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope,” now note this is “by the power of the Holy Spirit.” So the beginning point is with me as an individual. We find out when I’m unsettled I find reasons to be critical of the congregation. I have to get myself in line. Sometimes you have turmoil and you’ll come home… you had a bad day at work, then you come home and you’re upset and you’ve got the family upset. Wait a minute, if I’m not where I need to be, do I have joy in my heart, the joy that the Holy Spirit produces? We’re talking about the fruit of the Spirit, peace, the peace of God will stand guard at your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Is that where my heart and mind is, at peace, anticipating and looking at the hope God has given me? These are given by God to His people. When the power of the Spirit, when each of us are enjoying this, then we have unity and harmony, and we function as a testimony to the world of the amazing thing that God does taking people who are so different and putting them together in such a unique way. They are a testimony of what God does with His supernatural power.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for Your Word, thank you, Lord, that it is a clear Word. It was given to us as Your people in a way that we could understand it. We are responsible to take it in, to understand it, and obey it. Lord, may these truths be personal to each one of us. That’s where we begin, our relationship individually with You. We want these truths to be true of us personally and then, Lord, we want to help one another, we want to be open to be used of You in good and positive and encouraging ways in one another’s lives doing all we can to help weaker believers grow, to help the body together grow. Because in all of that You will be honored, You will be glorified, and we’ll be a testimony of Your grace at work in our lives. Bless the week before us. Lord, wherever You choose to put us, whatever circumstances, whatever situations, whatever trials, whatever good times, in all of those may we be all that You would have us be because Your Spirit is directing us. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.