Christ Came To Bring Us Together (Romans 15:1-13)
I was watching the news this past week and grew disheartened at a few points. I believe my journal entry for one day said something about doom and gloom, or maybe it was a few of them. I began to read about the struggles some Christians would likely face because of the marriage changes. And I even thought through the ACLU coming to town over the Conway School Board Meetings.
As bad as all of this is. It led me somewhere important. And it is to our local body of believers. It brought me to the importance of the local church. As believers, it is going to be necessary to band together to make it through. And then I read this passage of Scripture, which is a typical Advent passage about faith. Specifically, it is about how faith unites the Church together in the Lord.
What a powerful thought!
Because Christ came, He has brought us together in Him. We have this in common and it is this that holds us together. This is the common bond that unites us and holds us together. The very thing we think about and celebrate at Christmas time, is the very thing that unites us.
And I want to begin today by saying that I have seen what happens when a church loses sight of this commonality.
One day I got to my office at around 9am, which was my custom. I didn’t have set office hours, but this worked well for me and the family. I was the student pastor. And on this day the pastor called me to his office and showed me a list that had friends on one side and enemies on the other with a line drawn right between the two sets of names.
You see, there had been an outbreak of fighting in that church. Words had been said in the pastor’s office that left the pastor’s office and should not have. In reality, they should not have been spoken in the first place. But they were spoken in confidence, by the pastor to a ministry head and it got out of the room. He was telling a ministry head to watch a few of the ladies that worked in his ministry because they were troublemakers. And rather than talking to the pastor about what he had said, he decided to go and tell the ladies that the pastor thought they were troublemakers. And boy, did things get ugly.
There were meetings about words that were said, and we even had a meeting about a meeting that had gone really bad. I remember that one because it went as bad as the original bad meeting, except this one involved more people. The pastor was at fault for saying what he said. The ministry head was at fault for being a blabbermouth. And the whole church devolved into a crazy mess.
Anyway, the pastor approached me with a friends and enemies list and began to explain how he was going to approach this conflict. He was preparing for war and drew the line down the middle of it. I cut him off and said, “if you’re going to be faithful here, then you’re gonna need to get rid of that list and just do the right thing.” And to his credit, he listened, and I never saw or heard about the list again. But the story does not have a happy ending.
The meeting was ugly. I was sitting by my pastor while the children’s teachers unleashed on him. A few people apologized. The pastor was one of them. But it was too little, too late. And about half the church left to start a church just down the road.
There was a buildup of hostility that led to this moment. The pastor had made some changes that folks did not like. Then he said something about the character of these church members. And then things got insane. I felt like I was stuck in the middle of something horrific, probably because I was. I wanted the people involved to make amends. But they couldn’t unite again.
As I studied for the sermon today, I thought a lot about that time in my life. We loved the people that left deeply. We had eaten meals in their homes and had taught their children in our youth program. Some of them had even been volunteers for the student ministry. It was devastating. The pastor was bitter about their leaving and fighting, and never forgave them for it. And the stress of it all led to him having heart problems that led to his retirement. And the people of the splinter church still meet together and have not reconciled with the other church. That was about ten year’s ago, and as I look back on that time it still saddens me to think about it.
Now, here is why I told that story.
The meaning of that second Advent Candle is faith. And Romans 15 deals with our common faith, emboldened by our common Savior, common Scriptures, and the fact that we have all been welcomed by Jesus.
As I sat by the pastor in that awful meeting, terrible things were said from both sides. And I wanted to crawl under the table. But it was the result of something. For years people had forgotten their common faith and common salvation in Christ. Everything was personal for them. Christ had saved them personally, but they never thought about the tremendous commonality they had in Christ. And it culminated in a very heartbreaking time for that church. It is a time that I don’t believe it has recovered from in a decade.
Christmas, when rightly understood, leads us to be united as brothers and sisters in Christ by our common faith.
We all know that we are to strive for unity, but it becomes an empty phrase if we leave Christ out of it. This is because our unity is not just some idea out there in the atmosphere. Our unity is in Christ. Unity is possible because God sent His Son. Our unity is strengthened by the Word. And unity is possible because of the common faith we have in Christ. And here, at Christmastime, we celebrate the fact that God gave us His Son and made this all possible.
The church in Rome had a few different struggles. There were fights and dissentions taking place in a few different areas that Paul deals with in Romans 14-15 as he closes out this letter. The first was judgment of one another over food and drink. Paul sided with those that saw no problem with eating meat sacrificed to idols and drank wine. And he went so far as to call those that had a problem with these things, “weak”. But he called them all to live with grace toward one another. And they could walk graciously toward one another because God had been gracious to them. The second issue was that both Jew and Gentile existed in this church side by side with some sort of division. They were to be united as one because God sent His Son to bring them together.
God the Son became man to bring us together in Him.
Because Christ Came, We Have An Example Of Love For One Another (Romans 15:1-7)
This text begins with a rather straightforward command. We have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak among us (Romans 15:1). And it comes to this. Life is not just about pleasing ourselves (Romans 15:1).
This conversation has been very focused on food and drink (Romans 14). There were some who were against eating food sacrificed to idols (Romans 14) and drinking wine (Romans 14:21). Paul landed firmly on the side of those who ate the food and drank the wine (Romans 14:14). He even calls those who have a problem with these things “weak” (Romans 14:1-2, 15:1). But because their conscience is weak, the strong are to bear with them and not divide over such issues. The stronger was commanded to bear with the weaknesses of the weaker and even lay down things that he could lawfully do.
This is a general principle that is to be applied to a lot of different situations. We are commanded, as believers, to bear with the weaknesses of our brothers and sisters. This plays out in a lot of different situations. Some people have struggles that we need to bear with. Some have personalities that we need to bear with. Sometimes people give small slights, problems, and other things that we should generally overlook. We bear with one another.
When we think in this manner about others, it allows us to bear with one another rather than constantly judge every action of those around us. It allows us to live and function with each other in a lasting and meaningful way that would otherwise be impossible.
I was talking about this with my wife and we both agreed that I have a lot of failings that she must bear with on daily basis in order for us to both function as husband and wife and to remain strong. And we both also agreed that it went the other way around. But it is that way for every relationship. If you are not willing to bear with the weaknesses of others, you will not have close relationships. You won’t tolerate people long enough to have them. And here, Christ is the example of this.
God the Son, rather than please Himself and stay away from all of the bad behavior that He would live around on earth, took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He could have stayed in Heaven and avoided all of it. But He did what we celebrate at Christmas time. He took on human flesh and dwelt among us. Mankind had fallen into sin and rebellion. We earned for ourselves God’s wrath and justice. And that is the way mankind lived. Nonetheless, God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He did not please Himself but came to Earth to bear our burdens. We rebelled against God. We committed treason against the King of the Universe and God the Son bore it Himself. Those reproaches fell upon Him (Romans 15:3). The punishment that was due us fell upon Him instead. He didn’t have to do that. He could have lived forever despising our behavior, but He took on human flesh and died in our place.
What an astounding bit of love and mercy that we see here in the life of Christ! Rather than please Himself, God the Son took on human flesh and died in our place.
And we have this written in God’s Word for our encouragement and instruction (Romans 15:4). We see in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ how we are to treat one another. And we see in the instruction of Scripture what it means to bear with one another and to love one another. And this gives us hope.
It gives us hope of how beautiful things can be when we treat each other as Christ treated us. It gives us hope of the glorious things that are to come.
Paul follows this up with a prayer for God to give them encouragement and endurance so that they will live in harmony with one another by living according to Jesus (Romans 15:5, so that they will glorify God together (Romans 15:6) and “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).
This harmony and peace with one another is found only in Christ. And Paul prayed that they would have this harmony with one another so that they would glorify God together and welcome each other. That welcoming is not a greeting. And it is not just a warm greeting. It is not a fake peacefulness toward another person. It is welcoming them as Christ has welcomed you, as family united to Him.
You are a sinful and wicked wretch who rebelled against God. Rather than obey Him, you rebelled against Him. You disrespected the King of Glory with your insolence and, as R.C. Sproul rather famously stated, “sin is cosmic treason.” And you deserved a traitor’s death. But, if you are a Christian, that is not what you received. You received the grace and mercy of God found in Jesus Christ. You received being united to God. You received a family.
Who are we to not accept our brothers and sisters in Christ? Who are we to hold every little thing against those we worship with every week? Who are we to harbor harsh feelings toward someone else in this room?
We all have faults that you hope and expect others to bear with. Who are you to not do so with others, especially considering that Jesus has not cast you off because of your shortcomings?
Jesus is your example in this. He did not please Himself but bore our sins rather than leave us in our sins. God didn’t just despise us as we committed treason against Him. Who are you to harbor animosity toward your brother or sister for much less?
When sin and rebelliousness is the issue then we deal with it. We do what we are supposed to do, as a church, according to God’s Word. And there may even be a time when we need to kick someone out of the church. But even at that point, the goal is not separation but restoration. The goal is to bring the person back to unity.
A terrific example of this is in 1 Corinthians 5. Sexual immorality was being tolerated in the Church and they were to kick the person out of the Church. Notice what Paul says,
“When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 5:4-5 ESV)
Notice that the reason and purpose for it is that their spirit will be saved. It seems that the church at Corinth didn’t get the message. They kicked him out of the church but failed to restore him when he repented.
“Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure–not to put it too severely–to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” (2 Corinthians 2:5-11 ESV)
Even when we must deal with the sin of another within the body of Christ, it is not done out of a high and mighty righteousness held over another. It is done out of love and care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. And the end goal is unity with God and with one another.
Christ came and gave to us an example of love for one another. Now we go forth and do it.
Christ Came To Bring Us Together (Romans 15:8-12)
God had long promised that He would bring Jew and Gentile together to glorify Him. Notice how Paul words this. He made promises to the Patriarchs (Romans 15:8). And God made promises to the Gentiles that they would come to Him (Romans 15:9). And to prove this point, Paul quoted three passages of Scripture to the church at Rome.
The three passages of Scripture seem to build in intensity. In the first we don’t know if there is going to be cooperation among the Gentiles or if the people of God would just be singing among the corpses of the slain gentiles (Romans 15:9, 1 Samuel 22:50, Psalm 18:49). And then we have a quotation from Moses that states that Jew and Gentile would rejoice together (Romans 15:10, Deuteronomy 32:43). This, and the following three passages are quotations form the LXX. That is the Greek translation of the Old Testament text and what we read as “nations” is quoted as “gentiles” in the LXX. That is the reason for the difference, but the point is clear. The gentiles and Jews would come together and praise the Lord. Again, David is quoted but this time it is the gentiles who are praising the Lord (Romans 15:11, Psalm 117:10). And lastly, Isaiah is quoted to show that Jesus would rule over the Gentiles and that they would hope in Him (Romans 15:12, Isaiah 11:12).
So, what is the point?
Christmas happened so that Jew and Gentile would be brought together. God the Son took on human flesh, and we celebrate that every Christmas, so that He could live, die, and rise to bring us to God and unite us together in Him. Jesus broke down the wall of hostility hat existed between believers.
“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:14-18 ESV)
You must remember that there was no greater division that existed in the ancient world than what existed between Jew and Gentile. This division between Jew and Gentile is not the only division that Christ eradicated. All the divisions among us have been destroyed and we have been brought together as one. The wall of hostility is gone, Christ destroyed it with the gospel.
Why would we even consider rebuilding those walls of hostility? And if you have rebuilt walls of hostility with your brothers and sisters, you must stop.
Christ came to bring us together. Would you attempt to tear us apart?
Because Christ Came, Together We May Be Filled With Hope (Romans 15:13)
Paul ends this section with a prayer for the people. He prays for them to be filled with “all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit” they “may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13 ESV).
It seems strange and almost unrelated to the text above. But it’s not.
What is eternal life? Jesus defines it this way.
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3 ESV)
Eternal life is not just living forever. It is primarily about being united to God. And because we are united to God, we are united to one another. And this gives us joy and peace. And we live that way for eternity.
Christ didn’t die so that you could sullenly live forever, angry at brothers and sisters in Christ. He died to bring us to God and to one another. God has made us one in Him. And if we are united to God, we will be united to our brothers and sisters in Christ for eternity.
Conclusion
The application of this message is simple, but that does not mean that it is easy. It is easily understood, but it might take a lot of humility to do what you’re commanded to do.
Bear with the weakness you see in others. And you should understand that, as a general rule, those that think they’ve made it far enough in the faith to judge others are about a hair’s breadth away from falling their self.
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 ESV)
Knowing this about ourselves, we take Paul’s warning seriously.
“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12 ESV)
I often turn to the Lenski commentaries for New Testament passages of Scripture. It is just a really good set of commentaries. But in it he said something that went along with this.
“Many a brother, who thinks himself an asset is, nevertheless, a liability, and is often more trying than he thinks.”[1]
He is on to something big here that we should take notice of in the conclusion of this text. The pride of many blinds them to the reality of their own sin. If you are sitting in your seat right now making excuses for your behavior and think that you have it all together, then there is likely a big problem. If you are constantly judgmental toward the people here, and not giving them grace, then I am guessing you have a lot more problems than you think. And so, you have all the more motivation to repent and follow the example of Christ and bear with one another.
Christ came to bring us together. He lived and died to unite us to God and to one another. And we keep that in mind as we live alongside one another. We bear with the shortcomings of one another. And we live united to one another because of the finished work of Christ.
As we celebrate Christmas, we don’t want to forget why He came. Jesus came to unite us to God and to unite us to one another. And a Christian who holds on to animosity toward another Christian hasn’t begun to apply the lessons we learn in the holidays to their life personally.
I want to end simply by reading part of the prayer that Jesus prayed for His people.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”” (John 17:20-26 ESV)
God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us to achieve this. And He prayed that it would exist in us. Now, go live it.
R. Dwain Minor
[1] R.C.H. Lenski, “Interpretation of Romans”, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1961, p. 857.