Welcome & Glorify
Notes
Transcript
Intro
We’ve got a mixed group this morning.
Kiddos it’s great to be together with you.
We’ve got parents, parents-to-be, grandparents, singles, students, retirees.
Folks from Sumner, Lake Tapps, Edgewood, Tacoma, Puyallup.
Like a potluck, we are a mixed smorgasboard of people.
We’re not only mixed demographically, but also in other ways, too.
We have different preferences.
Specifically, in how we do church.
Some of us love the chaos of this morning. You’d prefer if we did this all the time. You love the energy of having kids in the room as they observe adults in their spiritual practices.
Some of us really struggle to concentrate on these mornings. You’d prefer a quite, subdued atmosphere for worship. Noises, for you, hinder that attentive spirit necessary for praising God.
Some of us wish the lights were brighter. Some of us wish the lights were dimmer and warmer and maybe we had a bunch of candles.
Some of us wish we only sang hymns from hymnals, some of us wish we only sang louder music and songs you hear on your Spotify playlist.
Some of us prefer taking communion from the front, some of us prefer taking communion in the back.
How does such a mixed group, full of different people and different preferences live in unity?
It’d be simpler if we were more similar.
And what is the purpose of unity in diversity?
Is it just so we have a nice group of people that we can hang out with on Sundays?
Kids - you have been working through the Old Testament, and in here we have been in the New Testament, towards the end of our Bibles in the book of Romans.
Romans was a letter that Paul wrote to the church in Rome about 2,000 years ago, a little after Jesus died and rose again.
And the church of Rome was a mixed bag. They certainly had young and old, but they also had people of different cultural backgrounds with deeply held preferences.
And this mixture created tension and Paul wanted to write and help them be united in Jesus.
And so our passage this morning is Romans 15:1-13, and it’s broken up into two parts verses 1-6, and 7-13.
And each of these parts has a similar structure, they each begin with a command, then give an example from Christ, and end with a blessing.
It’s like each part is a little 3-piece lego tower and each tower has a red, green, and blue block. They look very similar and they both reinforce one main idea and it’s this:
Welcome others so you can glorify God together.
Welcome others so you can glorify God together.
Part 1 (v. 1-6)
1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
Paul begins with a command to “the strong” to put aside their preferences and care for others.
There were people in the church in Rome who were referred to as “the strong.”
They were a large contingent of non-Jews or Gentiles who were Christians and no longer observed Jewish food laws or religious days like the Sabbath.
They rightly held to their freedom in Christ.
Then there was a smaller Jewish group referred to as “the weak” who were also Christians but still observed Jewish food laws and the Sabbath.
They honored God by still observing Jewish practices.
Even though Paul identifies with the strong, and in our passage last week said he was convinced he was right,
He does not force his opinions on others.
And this is really important for us in the church.
We will have differing opinions.
Different preferences.
What kind of music should we play? What should the building look like, feel like? How long should the service be? How should we disciple our kids?
Paul acknowledges these preferences and separates them from priorities.
Preferences are not priorities. What’s the priority? Care for others. Worshiping God. Authority of Scripture.
Why would Paul say this? Is he saying our preferences don’t matter?
3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Paul says Jesus is our example.
Jesus laid down his preferences for the priority of saving us and glorifying God.
Paul quotes Psalm 69:9 to say that Jesus chose suffering insults over a pain-free life of ease.
Why? Because his priority was not personal comfort but caring for us.
Paul then says - Psalm 69 isn’t just some old song that has nothing to do with us.
It was written to teach us and as we live life and turn to Scripture, it will encourage us and give us hope to endure the struggles of life together.
He says something very similar in 2 Tim. 3:16
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
RETHINK THIS
But Paul knows the church cannot do this in their own human strength. So he blesses them with the strength of God…
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul reiterates endurance and encouragement.
Endurance - or steadfastness. It has an emphasis on patience.
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
God is a God who gives endurance to those who are suffering, but not just general suffering, but suffering in community. Suffering under the difficulty of sticking it out with people who are different than us.
But he’s not just a God of endurance, he’s a God of
Encouragement
Over and over in the NT this word is used for comfort.
God is a God of sticking it out in suffering, and a God of comfort.
So Paul blesses the church that they may have endurance and encouragement, not just so they feel good,
But so that they can live in harmony and together glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What does it mean to glorify God?
It’s to give him praise, recognition.
And often, this comes through suffering.
We glorify God through suffering through conflict, division, strife, differences of opinions, and sticking it out together.
Jesus did this.
As one body of Christ - young and old, rich and poor, pews or chairs, republican and democrat, take communion in the front or in the back, that God would grant you the harmony to glorify him together.
The goal of gospel culture - welcoming one another, is not just to be a nice group of people who can have a potluck and a friendly bunch of people to hang out with on Sundays.
It’s so we glorify, praise, honor, adore, worship, God.
The God of endurance and encouragement.
The God who gave us his word to help us when we’re hopeless.
The God who sent us Jesus as a poor, humble servant who took our insults and gave us his life.
The God who endures our failures and bore our weakness. The God who gives us his comfort through the forgiveness of our sins.
This is the God who welcomes us.
And the degree to which we believe that, and surrender to that God, is the degree to which we can welcome one another, despite all our differences.
What might it look like for you to welcome others and glorify God together?
TRANSITION
7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Just like in verses 1-2, Paul begins here with a command.
Welcome others just as Christ welcomed you for the glory of God.
What does it mean to welcome others?
Explain
Paul once again goes from command to an example from Christ.
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
The circumcised is another name for the Jews - who circumcised all first-born males as a sign that they were a part of God’s covenant community.
So Paul is saying Christ came to serve the Jews to show God’s truthfulness - he is not a God of lies.
What does that mean?
God made promises to the Jews, namely that a Jew would come and be the great king of kings - the Christ - and establish God’s kingdom forever.
And the Jews clung to that promise. That’s why many of them despised Rome because they thought they were still waiting for the Christ to come and kill the Romans and establish God’s kingdom through physical warfare.
But some of them also forgot that Christ didn’t just come for the Jews…
9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy…
Christ did not only come to show God’s truthfulness and fulfill promises made to the Jews.
He also came for all nations.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
The promises given to the Jews were not just for them, but for all people.
Why? Because Paul says so that all people would praise God for his mercy.
He is merciful in that he does not give sinful people what they deserve but gives them himself. He gives us his righteousness and took on our sin on the cross.
Paul backs up his argument with a bunch of Scripture references.
9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”
10 And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”
Paul cites four verses.
The first is from 2 Samuel from the voice of King David.
The second is from Deuteronomy and the voice of Moses.
The third is from Psalm 117.
The fourth is from Isaiah.
Paul says welcome one another and glorify God together.
Why? Because that’s the whole point the Bible is making. Don’t believe me? Do you not believe David? Moses? The Psalmist? Isaiah?
Paul cites from each of the main sections of the Old Testament to show that it’s not just Jews who glorify God and it’s not just Gentiles. It’s all of us.
Sometimes when I listen to worship music on Spotify, it’s algorithm starts playing songs I’ve never heard before.
But sometimes it will play like a Japanese version of a worship song because that band translated one of their songs for Jesus followers in Japan.
To be honest, I usually skip it. But in that moment, there is a realization that worshiping God is bigger than me. It’s bigger than songs in English. It’s bigger than us. It’s about all of us.
And so who are we to not welcome others when it was God’s whole plan to welcome all nations through Christ?
Paul began with a command in verse 7, a reference to Christ and Scripture in verses 8-12, and then what do we know will follow? Another blessing.
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
This is the benediction I’ve been giving you the past few months.
God is a god of endurance and encouragement. And you know what happens when you mix steadfastness and comfort? Hope.
God is a God of hope.
And Paul says I pray that God would pour into you not just hope but also gladness and joy and also peace.
In what? Believing. All this comes through faith.
Not in trying harder. Not in doing better. But through trust.
May God give you all this as you trust him.
So that by the inner strength of God’s Holy Spirit you may have hope in spades.
Don’t we need that?
What a beautiful blessing.
Conclusion
We’re a mixed bag with different preferences.
Explain
Gospel culture means putting priorities over preferences.
Explain
Because Jesus did this.
Explain
Have you given your life to the God of endurance, encouragement, and hope that sent Jesus not to please himself, but to save you?
Turn from living only to please yourself and give your life to him and trust him, and he will welcome you in.
For those of us following Jesus, what would it look like to offer yourself as a living sacrifice as Paul says, and welcome others so we can glorify God together?
Like a potluck, we are a mixed group.
And that is by design. So we can welcome others and glorify God together.
