Romans Lesson 19 with Pastor Brian

Well, this is Pastor Brian, and I'm glad you're joining us as we continue in our study in the book of Romans.

We are in Romans chapter 15.

Romans 15 · chapter mention

So as we get started, let me ask you a question.

Have you ever thought about the last 24 hours of your life?

What you might do if it arrived?

And yet, we never will know that, will we?

We'll never know the last 24 hours when they're about to happen.

But there was one man who knew exactly how long he had to live.

And furthermore, he maintained absolute control over his actions and did exactly as he determined beforehand.

And we know that man was the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

In his final hours, he elected to spend most of his time with his disciples, instructing them in the word and deed in the upper room.

He washed their feet and shared his final Passover meal with them, and the remainder of his time was spent in prayer with God the Father.

And when Jesus washed his disciples' feet, he demonstrated supreme humility, modeled servant leadership by taking the role of a lowly servant, which is what Christian leadership is all about, right?

And he foreshadowed his coming sacrificial death on the cross.

In the last, as his last minutes ticked away, Jesus did exactly as he pleased.

Moreover, he repeatedly prayed for what he considered to be of the greatest importance, our oneness.

And we see this happening in John in the 17th chapter that Jesus prayed for this at least three times in John.

He says, Holy Father, you have given me your name.

Now protect them by the power of your name so that they may at will be united just as we are, which is in verse eleven.

I'm praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.

I pray that they will all be one just as you and I are one, verse 20.

And I have given them the glory that you gave me, so they may be one as we are, and we're in verse 22.

And this is a remarkable prayer, especially when you consider the array of things for which the Lord could have prayed for, but the oneness of his church was of supreme importance to him.

And there are several reasons for this.

For one, we like Jesus' original disciples are still in this world.

And what is this world?

Well, the world is a system of values typified by Satan himself, centered on power, deceit, and self-will.

And while we're in this world, Satan wants to neutralize us or destroy us.

And quite frankly, in my opinion, he sat sadly has neutralized this world very well.

They're a church in this world very well.

So in 1 John 2.16, John explains that the world is the cravings of sinful human beings, of which we all are, the lusting of the eyes and the boasting of what one has and does.

As Christ's disciples today, we are on a collision course with the world's values, aren't we?

So we need God's protection more than ever because it's so easy for us to emulate the world's character.

And we, the church, followers of Christ, also need to be united in order to recognize and resist the pervasive attractions presented to us through advertising, through self-help psychology, social media, and perverse ideologies that are contrary to God's word.

We must be sure that we allow Christ, not the influences of this world around us, to define who we are.

So Jesus, as Jesus so perfectly said in verse 23, I am in them and you are in me.

May they experience such perfect unity that the world would know that you sent me and you will love them as much as you love me.

In addition to this, the quality of our unity, the unity of the church, either attracts people to Christ or it will repel the people away from Christ.

And let me give you kind of an example of that.

Maybe you remember or don't remember the collapse of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona back in 1999.

It was the largest at the time nonprofit bankruptcy and investment scam in the United States history.

Over 11,000 investors, mostly church members, Baptists, many, were victims of this fraud.

They lost almost$600 million in what was a Ponzi scheme of hidden losses and false securities.

I mean, I know people who lost everything, their retirement accounts, everything.

And news of this went worldwide, and people everywhere began to hate Baptists and Baptist churches.

No one trusted him anymore.

And there was chaos and total disunity in some of these Baptist churches.

Everybody was blaming everybody else.

The Baptist church lost total credibility with this entire nation.

And in an effort to disassociate with this tragic fraud case, many churches rushed to release themselves of this hatred and rejection by taking the word Baptist out of their church name.

And many churches have collapsed in this nation over the past hundred years because of disunity.

I mean, unfortunately, even though the early apostolic church in the first century had some great successes regarding unity, in others, it failed miserable, miserably.

The church in Galatia was ravaged by legalism.

The church in Corinth chose up sides as to what to do about one of its members who was committing incest.

Pergamum was being divided and diluted by Christian, Christians' marriages to unbelievers, and the Lord said in effect to the church in Laodicea that it made them sick.

The apostolic church sometimes fell short of God's expectation, his explicit teachings and prayers about how they should be living their lives that would honor God.

And some scholars actually believe that the church in Rome, to which Paul addressed this plea for unity in chapter 14 and in the first 13 verses of chapter 15, failed terribly.

Theologians such as Oscar Coleman believe that some of the early Christian martyrs, including Peter and Paul, were killed because of jealous strife among the members of the church in Rome.

Rivalry was so bitter, they say, that some brethren turn in the names of their Christian opponents, naming them as traitors against the Roman Empire.

If this is true, envy among Christians help feed saints to the lions in the Colosseum and light fires under Christians who burn in Nero's garden.

And the reality is if we don't take God's word to heart, if we don't take it seriously, we also will terribly fail.

Unity is vital for the health of the church.

And churches have been known to divide over the smallest matters, such as one that split over a conflict as to where the piano ought to be placed on the podium.

There's also a story of two congregations that were located only a few blocks from each other in a small community.

They thought it would be better if they would merge and become one united, larger, and more effective body rather than two struggling churches.

And it's a good idea.

But they were not able to pull it off because the reason why?

They could not agree on how they would recite the Lord's Prayer.

One group preferred, forgive us our trespasses, while the other group demanded, forgive us our debts.

And as a local newspaper reported afterwards, one church went back to its trespasses while the other returned to its debts.

So let's get into our study tonight.

We're in Romans chapter 15, verse 1.

Romans 15:1

Verse 1.

We who are strong must be considered of those who are sensitive about things like this.

We must not just please ourselves.

So here is a call to please others and not ourselves is directed to the strong.

And who are the strong?

How would you define them?

Well, those strong in the church are those who have a broader, more biblical understanding of their freedom in Christ and Christ's expectations.

The strong believers demonstrate their spiritual strength at those moments when they are practicing compassion for those who are weaker.

In God's household, strength denotes obligation.

The strong have the responsibility to tolerate and support the weak, primarily new believers, instead of living selfishly to satisfy their own desires.

That's how we create unity.

Galatians 1.10, Paul writes, obviously I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God.

If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant.

The Christian life centers on strengthening other believers, encouraging others, and building them up.

This kind of strength modeled by Christ allowed him to put up with all our failings.

So we ought to do the same for others because we are all imperfect.

Philippians 2.3 tells us, don't be selfish, don't try to impress others, be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.

Don't look out only for your own interest, but take an interest in others.

I mean, are you doing that?

So how is it that Christ, the one who created the world, did not live to please himself while he was here?

Well, though Christ existed in describable glory for all eternity, he left all that for the sake of lost humanity.

He gave up his crown of glory for a crown of thorns.

And in John 6.38, Jesus says, For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.

And Christ was rejected and suffered because he was focused on God's purpose and plan for his life.

And God's plan for mankind's salvation, not his own.

He was despised and rejected by men.

A man of sorrow is acquainted with deepest grief.

He turned, we turned our backs on him and looked the other way.

He was despised and we did not care.

That's Isaiah 53.

And Philippians chapter 2, beginning in verse 5, tells us that you must have the same attitude that Christ had.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges.

He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

And when he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.

Christ allowed his own creation to reject him, torture him, and kill him in the most painful and humbling manner possible.

And he did it for us.

Verse 2.

We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.

The strong believer must never be self-centered, but be more concerned for the spiritual welfare of his neighbor, those who are weaker beside him or her in the congregation.

And what's the purpose of that?

Well, to encourage and build up other believers in the faith.

To help them come to a greater understanding and knowledge of who Jesus Christ is and what he's done for us and who we are in him.

We should all want to help other believers develop a healthy, mature walk with Christ in their faith journey.

It's called discipleship, and it creates unity.

Verse 3.

For even Christ didn't live to please himself, as the scriptures say.

So Christ was the strongest human who ever lived.

He did not live to please himself, but did God's will.

And certainly death on a cruel cross was not the path he would have chosen to please himself if that was his purpose.

But his mission was not to please self, but to please God.

So since we're to imitate Christ, what does a life live to please God look like?

Have you ever thought about that?

And that's a lot of what Romans is talking about in the last part of it.

So living to please God is characterized by a lifestyle of sacrificial love, obedience to Scripture, humble service, and choosing to walk with God in worship and prayer.

It involves transforming one's character to reflect Jesus through compassion, gratitude, and walking in righteousness rather than worldly sin.

Look at verse 4.

Such things were written in the scriptures long ago to teach us, and the scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled.

So there's application here for all of us.

There are two things I want you to see.

First, believers are to be well acquainted with the Old Testament scriptures as well as the New.

Now I know there are churches out there, I know who they are, that teach nothing but New Testament.

They completely leave the Old Testament all.

In fact, I know of a very, very large church on the East Coast that teaches strictly and only the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, because that's what Jesus said.

They teach nothing else.

And that's totally wrong.

That's totally inaccurate.

Because Scripture, from front cover of the Old Testament to the end of the New Testament, it's one story.

It's the story of Jesus Christ from beginning to end.

And the message here for pastors is clear, preached from both the Old and New Testaments.

Secondly, our scriptural knowledge affects our attitude towards the present and the future.

The more we know about what God has done in the past, the greater will be our confidence of what he will do in the days ahead.

Right?

We should all read our Bible diligently to increase our trust in God's will, that his will is best for us, and to be able to reproduce it, share it.

And now the last part of verse 4 reads, and the scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled.

See, there are several ways the Bible encourages us.

God's attributes and character constantly remind us in whom our hope is based.

I mean, also the biographies of saints in the Old Testament who overcame great obstacles give us examples of what can be done with God's help.

We have Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Gideon, Samson, David.

And in the New Testament, we have people like Paul and others who lived those saintly lives who overcame great struggles, great obstacles in their lives, only because God enabled them to do so.

So we need the whole Bible, the whole thing.

And in addition, the Bible's prophetic statements in the Old Testament support our hope for a wonderful future planned for us in eternity.

And lastly, we're also called to endure as Jesus endured, and God's word gives us the wisdom and patience to do so.

And what are God's promises that are yet to be fulfilled?

Well, Christ's return, the time of judgment, justice will prevail, and for the believer, a new heaven and a new earth, eternal life in the very presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, no more suffering, no more pain, no more tears.

Verse 5.

May God, who gives us patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.

You know, everybody knows that you cannot offer something to someone if you don't have it yourself.

If somebody is hungry but you have no food, they better look elsewhere.

You're of no help.

If someone needs compassion for something they're going through, but you're not a compassionate person, they're not going to get much help from you.

If someone is anxious about something, but you're also anxious about the same thing, you're not going to really be able to help them.

You and I cannot offer something to someone if we don't have it ourselves.

And so when it comes to our to to what we all need, aren't you glad that our heavenly father lacks nothing?

He lacks nothing and is able and willing to meet all of our needs.

Now, God is not obligated to give us what we want, but he promises to take care of us based on what we need.

He's our good father, and a good father does not always give his kids what they want.

If you're a parent, you know this.

You don't give your kids everything they want.

You provide for their needs.

If you gave them everything they want, they'd have a cell phone by age four.

They'd be eating ice cream at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

You don't do that.

You don't give them everything they want.

So let me ask you, have you ever been disappointed with God because you don't get what you want?

You really want this, you pray about it, and it never happens?

I mean, I have.

And after I pout a little while, I try to refocus on God as the good Father who gives me not what I want, but always, always gives me what I need.

And Paul reminds us of this in Philippians 4 19.

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Not our wants, but our needs.

He gives us our need for patience, our need for encouragement.

Some translations say comfort.

And in verse 13, God is our source of hope.

And verse 33, God is our source of peace.

We need all four of these patience, encouragement, hope, and peace.

So I want us to spend a little time looking at these tonight.

One verse that comes to mind when I think about the God of patience is 2 Peter 3.9.

He, God, is being patient for your sake.

He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to be repent.

He wants all people to come to salvation.

And I love this verse because it reminds me how patient God is, how patient God is with me.

He's a patient God waiting for all people to come to him and surrender their lives.

Now, we know that's not going to happen, not all people will, but that's what he wants.

In 1 Timothy 1, Paul wrote, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the worst of them all.

But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners.

Paul considered himself to be the worst.

He killed Christians, he'd imprisoned Christians, he was least deserving of God's grace, and yet God patiently waited and saved Paul.

And Paul became probably the greatest uh apostle of them all in the new test and wrote most of the New Testament.

But Paul is saying here, if you want to get a glimpse of God's patience, look at me, because God waited a long time for me to surrender to Him.

And today we live in a fast-paced world with movies on demand, Arizona uh excuse me, Amazon Prime, same-day delivery, and we can send and receive money instantly online.

Our society has taught us that we must have everything now, and when it doesn't deliver, we get impatient.

I mean, I remember the days before the digital camera when you had to go to the drugstore and buy a little spool of film to insert into the back of your camera.

After the film was full, you had to take it out of the camera and then take it back to the drugstore or those little photo mat kiosks to be developed.

They then sent your film somewhere in this world to be delivered, and then a week or two later they'd call you and say, hey, your pictures are ready.

So you go get them, and you look at them, and you find your finger was in the way in most of them.

Several people appeared to have pink eye or had their eyes closed, and others were just blurry and fuzzy.

Today, you can have a baby, bring the baby home, then send your child to preschool quicker than it took to develop a film or roll, uh roll film in those days.

And I know that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I have the gift of exaggeration, okay?

The point is, God is a patient God.

So if you need more patience, and I think we all do, just ask.

He gives us what we need.

Number two, God is a God of encouragement or comfort.

And obviously, we wouldn't need encouragement and comfort if we never faced hardships or the trials and storms of life.

But life is full of them, isn't it?

So Paul wants to remind his readers that God is the God of encouragement and comfort.

We all face loss of loved ones, financial problems, loss of a job, a business collapse, health problems.

These seasons can cause us to grieve or to be anxious or to be afraid or to be discouraged.

But God is the God of comfort.

He will walk you through those things.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.4, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

John Henry Joett, a British pastor in the turn of the 19th or the 20th century, said, quote, God does not comfort us to be comfortable, but to be comforters, end quote.

Paul would write the same thing in 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others when they are troubled.

We will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

So when you need encouragement or comfort, turn to God.

God walks you through all our trials in life.

He has a purpose in him, and he gives us what we need and office, and oftentimes, he gives us encouragement through other believers who've been there before us.

Number three.

Paul says God is the God of hope.

The word hope is found more times in the book of Romans than any other book in the New Testament.

If you remember former President Obama.

Campaign slogan, it was it was keep hope alive.

It's a catchy campaign slogan, but it's a terrible Christian motto, because if I can keep hope alive, then it must imply that it's on me to keep it from dying.

And I can tell you that as a follower of Christ, it's Christ who keeps hope alive in me, not myself.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

On Christ a solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, right?

Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade, once said, with God life is an endless hope.

Without God, life is hopeless.

And in the book of Job, Job was a man afflicted with tremendous difficulty and pain, and yet Job wrote in Job chapter 19, but as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will I will s and he will stand upon the earth at last.

Job 19 · chapter mention

And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God.

I will see him for myself.

Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.

I am overwhelmed at the thought.

I mean, Job lost everything, his farm, everything, his own all his children.

But he never lost what kept him going.

His hope in the living God.

Our hope is found in God, who gives us what we need.

Lastly, number four, our God is a God of peace.

I love Jesus' reminder to us in John's Gospel, chapter 14.

I am leaving you with a gift.

Peace of mind and heart.

And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give, so don't be troubled or afraid.

The peace Jesus gives cannot be found anywhere else or with anyone else.

His peace is very unique because it transcends the world's peace, which is very transitory.

The world's peace is based on whatever the circumstances are.

If it's good, times are good, you have peace.

If it's not good, you don't have peace.

But the peace that comes through faith in Jesus Christ overcomes all circumstances.

Paul even tells us in Philippians chapter 4, don't worry about anything.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

Instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He's done.

Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

We can have peace in Christ even though our world is falling apart and it is falling apart.

It's unbelievable.

And people will look at you and say, This doesn't make sense.

Why do you have peace about it?

Why is there peace in your life?

And that, my friends, is when the gospel message should come out of your mouth.

There's a Christmas carol that was written in 1863 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Most people think of Longfellow as a poet, which he was known for, but he also wrote a famous Christmas carol that was born out of his pain.

It was 1863.

The Civil War was raging.

Longfellow had already been widowed once, and his second wife died right in front of him when her gown caught fire when she got too close to a lit candle in their home.

Longfellow tried to personally save his wife's life.

He threw himself on her to try to smother the flames, but unfortunately it was too late.

His wife died and he sustained injury from the burning of himself.

He was laid up in a hospital and missed his wife's funeral.

And shortly after the incident, when he had recovered from his injuries, he attended to his son, who was a Union soldier who had gotten wounded in battle and was fighting for his life.

Longfellow was by his son's bedside nursing him back to health when on Christmas Day he heard the nearby bells ringing at a church.

I want you to hear the words that Longfellow wrote from his pain having just lost his wife and of his son fighting for his life.

Because of his circumstances, Longfellow had been questioning peace in his life when he wrote this carol.

It goes.

I couldn't find it.

Civil war is raging.

I don't see God's peace.

And the more the but the more the bells rang, the more Longfellow realized God is my source of peace, of hope and comfort.

The louder the bells rang, the more he realized his source of peace is in the Lord Himself.

Peace on earth, goodwill to men.

God is a God of peace, a God of hope, a God of encouragement and comfort, a God of patience.

And when we face the trials and tragedies of this life, he always gives us, always gives us what we need to endure them and learn from them.

And that's another part of it.

When we go through trials, we often sit there and blame God.

But that shouldn't be our attitude.

Our attitude should be this Lord, what can I learn from all this?

There's always a lesson for us.

God uses our difficulties to grow our faith and our dependence on Him.

Look at verse 6.

Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore accept each other just as Christ has accepted you, that God will be given glory.

The Roman church member that Paul's writing to was a diverse community.

It was made up of Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free people, rich and poor, who were both strong and weak in faith.

So they had difficulty accepting one another, accepting people into our homes as well as into our hearts, sharing meals and activities and avoiding racial discrimination was something they struggled with because they were from two different backgrounds.

The Jews were Jews who had gone back to Jerusalem, went to Pentecost, heard Peter preach, and went back to Rome.

Now they have the gospel, but they still have their laws and their rituals and their traditions, whereas the Gentiles have none of that.

So there was tension in the church at that time.

And that's why Paul, I think, is writing about unity.

There needs to be unity for the church to survive.

And like those believers in Rome, we must go out of our way to avoid favoritism, consciously spend time greeting those we don't normally talk to, minimize differences, and seek common ground for fellowship.

Christ is our model of what acceptance means.

And when we realize that Christ has accepted us as unlovely and sinful and immature as we are when we came to him, then we will accept our brothers and sisters in Christ no matter our differences.

I believe the world sits up and takes notice when believers of widely different backgrounds practice Christ-like acceptance.

And this brings glory to God.

Verse 8.

Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors.

Verse 9, he also came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them.

So having referred to unity again, Paul feels compelled to remind his readers that the greatest example of unity brings both Jews and Gentiles together under the Lordship of Christ.

And understand, back in those days, the Jews hated the Gentiles.

They were dogs.

But Jesus came to bring the truth to the Jews and to show that God is true to his promises and covenants that were also made to the patriarchs of the Jewish nation alone.

And God in his mercy made them also available to the Gentiles as well.

He welcomed us into his family with our many sins, prejudices, and innumerable blind spots.

He welcomed us with our psychological shortcomings and cultural naivety.

He welcomed us with our narrow-minded attitudes.

He welcomed us with our stubbornness.

And this is how we're to welcome one another.

No one knows when their last 24 hours will be.

However, we do know that we should live our life how we should live our lives, whether we live to be for another 24 hours or 24 years or 100 years.

Jesus shows us what is important in his final hours when he prayed for unity and the example he set by the life, his life backed it all up.

Christ made us one by his willingness not to please himself, and so must we.

And the last part of verse 9 says, this is what the psalmist meant when he wrote, For this I will praise you among the Gentiles.

I will praise, sing praises to your name.

This is Psalm 1849 in 2 Samuel 2250.

In these verses, David praises God for delivering him from his enemies and from King Saul, who was trying to kill him.

And David writes that he would praise God among the Gentiles, not just among his own people.

Verse 10.

In another place it is written, Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles.

This is from Deuteronomy chapter 32.

Deuteronomy 32 · chapter mention

In this chapter, sometimes called the Song of Moses, Moses poetically recites a brief history of Israel, reminds the people of their mistakes, warns them to avoid repetition of those mistakes, and offers the hope that comes only in trusting God.

Moses also calls the Gentiles to rejoice with the Hebrews.

Verse 11.

And yet again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, praise him all you peoples of earth.

This is from Psalm 117.

And the psalmist calls the Gentiles the same praises to God.

Verse 12.

And in another place, Isaiah said, The heir to David's throne will come, and he will rule over the Gentiles.

They will place their hope in him.

See, Paul is telling his Judah's readers in the church at Rome and us that the Old Testament spoke of the Gentiles being included in the Messianic kingdom.

And quite frankly, this must have been startling at times for Jews to be reminded from their own scripture that the God who had chosen them was not theirs alone.

Since God's unlimited love had been extended to all people, the Jewish Christians in Rome should accept the Gentile Christians as full-fledged participants in God's kingdom.

Verse 13.

Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So here Paul prays for believers.

He prays that the God who gives hope will give them joy as they anticipate what God has in store for them, and peace as they rest in the assurance that God will do as He has promised.

Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's by the power of the Holy Spirit that God accomplishes his care for his people, giving them endurance, encouragement, unity, hope, joy, and peace.

These come as a byproduct of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives, not from our own senses or experience.

And verse 13 is Paul's benediction in his letter, and the following points are kind of his personal plans and greetings.

So we're going to stop here.

Thank you for joining us and hope you'll join us next week as we continue in our study of Romans between now and then.

Stay focused on the Lord, glorify him, and live to serve him alone.

Amen.