To God Be the Glory

Recap Endurance and Encouragement

We continue with our sermon series on the early church. We have almost made it through Romans. For the last few weeks, we have been talking about what it means to be a living sacrifice. Typically when it comes to making a sacrifice, we think of shedding blood and death. Of course, we see that regularly in the Old Testament. However, not all sacrifice comes with death. Sometimes a sacrifice just comes with giving something up or not doing something that we want to do. Paul has given the admonition that as believers, we are supposed to be living sacrifices for God. We have been looking at how that is demonstrated in our lives. We act as living sacrifices when we love our neighbor. Those neighbors are not just the neighbors that go to church. Instead, those neighbors are also people that have very divergent beliefs than we do. These neighbors might even be our enemies. However, as living sacrifices, we are called to love those people.

Living like that is not possible unless we have been radically transformed by Jesus. When we come to know Jesus as LORD and Savior, the Holy Spirit moves in and He starts changing us from the inside out. The more we walk with Jesus and the more we mature in our faith, the more we will strive to be like Him and to love others the way that He does. When this happens, the entire group is united and unified toward advancing the Gospel. Jesus gave us the Great Commission before He ascended to the Father, commanding us to go and make disciples of all nations. When the church gets hung up on disputable matters and focuses inward, it takes its eyes off the true enemy. That’s the issue that Paul is addressing here. They are concerned about arguing over things that have no real bearing on the Kingdom of God. Frankly, that’s where the enemy wants the church to be. If he can get a church to fight amongst itself over the small stuff, then he doesn’t have to worry about the church fighting the big stuff.

Last week we looked at the fact that we are all called to be servants, not to be served. We also looked at the fact that the Bible should be our go to place for gaining insight in gaining knowledge. There’s an adage going around these days, along the lines of “I watch the news to understand what is going on in the world. I read the Bible to understand why it is happening.” The Bible is good for instruction. It has the highest production rate of any book. However, it still remains one of the least read books out there. I hope and pray that it is not true for us. I hope and pray that we do go to the Bible.

The Bible also helps us to endure. We see that God always delivers on His promises. There are Christians out there that are in need of that hope and encouraging word to endure the onslaught of worldly attacks. Out here in the US, we have our time where people can come and ask to become members. It’s essentially a matter of coming and presenting asking to become members where a semi formal vote takes place. However, there are churches in the middle east that have a very different way of bringing new folks in. These churches have a covenant that the new convert must read and sign, stating they know that they will face legal trouble, rejection from family members, and possible imprisonment or death because of this confession. I dare say that in these churches, folks are not coming to Jesus flippantly or because they feel pressured by family members or friends. Instead, they come because they know the truth of Jesus and they would rather forsake their former life and face these problems than spend their lives away from Jesus. These folks are probably super committed to the Gospel. So there are those problems.

However, I think the church here in the States has a problem as well. I think one of the biggest issues we have is the issue of consumerism. Consumerism is everywhere in American culture. Since it is everywhere else, this consumerism idea hit the church as well. The problem with consumerism is it builds up this idea that there must be the ideal church out there that is going to meet every single need of a potential member. So it keeps people searching for that perfect church and then there is disappointment when there is no perfection. Then they are on to the next place. The problem there is that this hypothetical person, rather than sticking around and serving in a capacity to make the place better, just go someplace else where someone else will do the work. That’s a huge problem throughout North American churches. The church cannot survive without willing servants.

Romans 15:7–13 CSB

Therefore welcome one another, just as Christ also welcomed you, to the glory of God. For I say that Christ became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers, and so that Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praise to your name. Again it says, Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people! And again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples praise him! And again, Isaiah says, The root of Jesse will appear, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; the Gentiles will hope in him. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

If they are to put away their issues over disputable matters, then they will glorify God. When the church is united and unified, it glorifies God. That’s the point of the church. The church exists to glorify God. At least it should. We run into problems when the church begins to serve and glorify itself. So they are called to welcome each other, just like Christ welcomed them. We see that there was very much so the idea that some of the believers within the church were keeping an arm’s distance from others. There were some folks in the church that thought others did not belong there. There were some that thought that when it comes to the church, only certain types of people should be allowed in. They want the other believers to look like them and dress like them and talk like them. Now, I am a big fan of uniformity. I spent three years of my life working long hours teaching civilians how to walk, dress, and talk like a Sailor. We wanted everyone to be uniform. When people acted differently or did not show up in the proper uniform, they stood out like a sore thumb.

In one particular instance, I was working a funeral detail at Quantico National Cemetery. I was there with my flag detail. It was in October and we had already transitioned to our dress blues. My team was uniform. However, the chaplain assigned to the funeral did not ask the Chief to see what uniform was prescribed. So he showed up in his summer white uniform. It was not ideal. The chaplain was visibly distressed that he was not in the proper uniform. However, there was no time to change and even if there was, he did not have his blues with him. From a military standpoint, it was not correct. However, this lack of uniformity did not stop him from doing his ministerial duties. Just because people look different or speak differently from us does not bar them from entering the gates of heaven. Jesus did not just come to die for a select few individuals that look exactly alike. He came to save everyone. John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Everyone means everyone. The Scripture doesn’t say He just came for the Jews, nor does it say He came for the Gentiles only. It doesn’t say He just came for the people in the Middle East or in North America or South America or anything like that. It says He came for everyone.

I am certain there were some Jews that were looking at these pagan converts thinking that they just did not belong in the fold. They lived such terrible lives devoted to pagans that they should not be given access to heaven. At the same time, there were pagan converts that probably looked at some of these Jewish converts and decided they had no right to be in the kingdom of God. The problem with that mentality is it creates an us versus them kind of mentality.

So Paul reminds them here that Jesus came first to serve the circumcised Israelites. Jesus came to them first. He came as a baby and He grew up Jewish. He learned to speak the language, He learned to read the Torah, He grew up as a Jew. He attended Shabbat services and followed the Old Testament commands, at the Seder meal, etc. What happened to Him? What happened to the servant of these people? They turned on Him and had Him crucified. But it was all part of the plan. The plan of salvation had been there from the beginning. This plan of salvation was not just for the Jews, but all the nations. 1 John 2:2 “He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.”

We have talked before about how the Gentiles were always supposed to be included in the salvation story. God tells Abraham that he and his descendants will be a blessing to ALL nations, not just the Jewish nations. However, this promise of blessing from Judaism does not stop there. Paul quotes from various Old Testament texts to prove his point. This of course also bolsters his argument that they should not abandon the Old Testament, but continue to study the OT Scriptures. The first in the list is 2 Samuel 22:48–50 “God—he grants me vengeance and casts down peoples under me. He frees me from my enemies. You exalt me above my adversaries; you rescue me from violent men. Therefore I will give thanks to you among the nations, Lord; I will sing praises about your name.” This Scripture here is also used in Psalm 18, by David. David is the one speaking here. God has just granted David a strong victory over his enemies. That is why he is so happy here. What does he do with that happiness? He doesn’t go home and tell the Jews about this great victory and give God praise there. Instead, David gives praise in public so that all nations, including the Gentiles, will see just how powerful and how mighty God is. Rather than taking that praise and keeping it to himself, he lets everyone around him know just how good and powerful God is.

We’ve also got Deuteronomy 32:43 “Rejoice, you nations, concerning his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries; he will purify his land and his people.” In the letter, Paul just uses the first part. The other nations, the Gentiles, are called to rejoice. They are called to rejoice because God is going to bring His vengeance against the enemies of His servants. In the Deuteronomy text, they are also warned that God is going to take vengeance on His adversaries, He is going to purify His land and His people. On the surface, these words seem to be pretty terrifying. Here the other nations are being told that God is going to take vengeance on His enemies. However, right before this, the Gentiles are told that they should rejoice. What this speaks of is the ability for the Gentiles to come to be His people. If God was looking to keep the Gentiles out, He would not have given them this word of hope right before He issues a severe warning.

Paul also brings up the prophecy about the Messiah found in Isaiah 11:10 “On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will look to him for guidance, and his resting place will be glorious.” At the beginning of Isaiah 11, it is noted that a branch is going to rise out of the stump of Jesse. Of course, this stump being referred to here is Jesus. Jesus is a descendant of David. David was the best king that Israel had ever seen, well prior to Jesus. Save for the one indiscretion with Bathsheba, David was an upright man and led the people with integrity. God made the covenant with David that he would always have a descendant on the the throne.

One interesting thing about David is how he came to be king. Saul, the wicked first king of Jerusalem, is hunting David down. He knows that David has been anointed to be the next king and Saul’s dynasty is coming to an end. Rather than just repent and accept God’s decision, which would have been smart, He goes after David with fury trying to kill him. Meanwhile, David is on the run. While on the run, he acquires 400 other men that are willing to serve alongside him. 1 Samuel 22:2 “In addition, every man who was desperate, in debt, or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.” So David is surrounded by men that are desperate, in debt, or discontent. He doesn’t send them away, instead, he takes them along. He welcomes them. Setting a great example.

Jesus gives us the same example as He walks the earth. We see Him go into Samaria rather than going around it. What’s more, when Jesus gets there, He doesn’t even talk to the men. Instead, He talks to a woman. Throughout His time on earth the religious elite complain about the fact that He spends His time hanging out with tax collectors and prostitutes. Well, one of the reasons Jesus spent His time with those folks is because the religious elite had written that group of people off as unloveable. Jesus comes into their environment and breaks bread with them. Now, we should not get confused here. Jesus does not go to them and endorse their sordid lifestyles. Instead, He comes and shows them love and tells them to go off and sin no more. Jesus did not come to them so that they could remain the same, He came to them so that they could be forever changed.

We see one story of conversion in Zaccheus. We all know the song, right? Zaccheus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he, he climbed up into the Sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. And as the Savior passed that way He looked up in the tree and He said, “Zaccheus, you come down, for I’m going to your house today. Yes, I’m going to your house today.”

Zaccheus was a tax collector. These guys were scum as far as the Israelites were concerned. Jesus sees him trying to get a glimpse of the Savior and Jesus informs everyone in the crowd that He is going to Zaccheus’ house. We tend to focus on just that little song there about the hiding in the tree, but we tend to gloss over what happens when Jesus goes and meets with him. Back then tax collectors were considered super bad because they worked for the Romans. What’s more is that the Romans did not really regulate what the tax collectors could charge, they just told them how much the tax collectors how much money they needed to bring to the Roman Empire. Which means if the Romans only wanted 100 denarii from the tax collectors, they had to bring the 100. However, they could charge more on top of that. So rather than charge 100 people one denarius a piece, a tax collector could require everyone to pay two denarii. Essentially a “one for the Romans and one for me” kind of concept. So it was not just that these tax collectors were working for the horrible Roman Empire, they were also swindling their fellow Jews. Odds are Zaccheus was just like that. This is how Luke introduces him in Luke 19:2 “There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.”

Zaccheus has a meeting with Jesus and he is forever changed. Zaccheus comes down from the tree and welcomes Jesus into his house. Luke 19:8–10 “But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much.” “Today salvation has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.””

Talk about conversion. Zaccheus, a rich man is going to take half of his possessions and give them to the poor. What’s more is that after half of his wealth his gone, he is going to go and pay back four times to anyone that he was swindled. He is putting himself at great financial risk because he has come face to face with the Savior. How did that meeting happen? Because Jesus called to him, Jesus welcomed him with no judgment for his past.

Just as Jesus welcomes the lost, so too should we welcome the lost. We should welcome one another. Why? Because Christ welcomed us! Jesus welcomed us despite our sin and our shame. He welcomed us and made us new. As believers, we don’t have the power to make someone new. We cannot create a new heart in the life of anyone, but we can introduce people to the One that can. That might take us getting uncomfortable. It might mean we have to welcome folks we otherwise wouldn’t have anything to do with.

I had a pastor buddy that at one point had a church member wear a burka into the worship service one morning. He wanted to see how the church would react. Sadly, no one went over to talk to the lady in the burka. Of course, no one could see who she was because of the nature of the outfit. Ironic that an actual member of the church was rejected by the body because of the outfit she was wearing. How would we do? There’s the story of the pastor that was being brought in as a candidate. On the same day that he was supposed to give his trial sermon, a homeless man sat on the front pew. When it came time to introduce the candidate, the homeless man went behind the pulpit and said, “Well, I’m not homeless, I just dressed this way to see how welcoming this group is before I commit. Well, since no one addressed me until now, I guess I’ll go someplace else.”

Our goal here at FBC is to be as welcoming as possible. Our goal is to go and love the lost. It might be uncomfortable, but that’s no excuse not to. Tom Rainer once said that as soon as a church is more concerned with maintaining the comfort of those within the walls of the church than they are with seeking the lost in the community, the church might as well close up shop now because it is essentially dead. My hope and prayer is that our comfort comes secondary to doing the work that God has called us to do. If we aren’t going to do it, who will?