Built Together for Worship

Introduction

Romans 15:1–7 ESV

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. 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. 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. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

We all set goals. Whether we’ve thought them out in great detail, or they’re just kind of hanging out there loosely, we’ve all got them. Before I became a pastor I worked as a systems engineer with Motorola for 11 years. And after becoming a pastor, I worked another four years part-time. Towards the end of my engineering career at Motorola, the new buzz word became having S.M.A.R.T. goals. Everybody had to meet with their manager and set smart goals. That is, goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. You had to be going somewhere with your work plan, and had to know how you were going to get there.

Build Up

Well, what we find when we turn our attention to our text this morning is that God has a goal too. Nobody has smarter goals than God. He’s got a plan and he’s going somewhere with it. He’s communicating it here to us through the apostle Paul. Paul has been leading up to this goal throughout the book of Romans. He took 11 chapters to lay out the good news of Jesus Christ in great detail. He said that this good news, this gospel was the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, Jew and Greek. He said that our ability to stand in a good position in the presence of God, our justification, is not based on what we do with our lives. It is based on faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, and it’s not based on our good works. He has explained that this is because everyone is in the same boat. It doesn’t matter what your ethnic or religious background is, everyone has sinned, everyone has thought wrong thoughts and done wrong things. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No one does good, Paul said, not even one person. Therefore, Jesus Christ is, and has to be, the hope of glory.

When you consider all of these things, Paul says at the beginning of chapter 12, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

What we find in this letter is that the goal he’s taking them toward is worship. What we see in our text is that God’s goal for us is worship. God’s goal for everyone in here is worship. That worship described is not what we usually think of when we hear the word worship. I’m not just talking about what you do on Sunday morning when you come to church. I’m talking about what characterizes your life.

The theme for your Men’s Day this year is, “Building on the things of God so that we may be fruitful to the kingdom.” The kingdom fruitfulness in our text is a lifestyle of worship that overcomes divisions and conflicts to the glory of God. I want to work through our text with these three points: Building Up, Believing the Book, Bearing Fruit.

Building Up

The apostle is talking about worship here in ch. 15 as a way of life. The first aspect of this worship that I want to hone in on is building up the weak.

He says in vv. 1-2, “But we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for good, to build him up.”

Had we been reading ch. 14 we would’ve found out that the weak he’s talking about here are those who are weak in faith. Their weakness is demonstrated by the fact that they eat only vegetables. They regard one day in the Jewish year better than another. They don’t drink wine. The strong, on the other hand, understand their freedom in Jesus Christ. They understand that Jesus has declared all foods clean. Nothing is off limits. I can drink wine as long as I’m not making myself drunk. I’m no longer bound to recognize and celebrate the special days of the Jewish year. And Paul counts himself among the strong. He says, “we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of the weak.”

Notice that I didn’t say to “bear with” the failings of the weak. The word “with” has to actually be supplied in our English translations. It’s Ok to do so, but if you think of “bearing with” somebody the way we usually think about a phrase like that, you’re missing the gravity of Paul’s point. To bear the weaknesses, the failings, of those who are not strong doesn’t simply mean to tolerate somebody - or to tolerate a group of people. He’s not talking about tolerance. He’s talking about this community of faith that is created by Jesus Christ. Not everybody is going to be in the same place when it comes to their faith. Those who are stronger in the faith are obligated, not just to tolerate their brothers and sisters who are weaker, they are obligated to carry those who are weak. They’re not simply to endure through the irritating things those who are weaker say and do.

The strong are strong, not to please themselves, but to help sustain and support those who are weak, in order to build one another up. He already set them up for this implication of their lives as Christians back in ch. 5,

Romans 5:6–8 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

ROM

When he was explaining the gospel Paul said Jesus Christ is the Strongest who gave his life for the weak ones, us. Christ has already done the bearing of the weak, and he didn’t bear with our weakness, he carried our weakness in his body on the cross. You see, what Paul is talking about is the cruciform aspect of the Christian community. He’s not making this stuff up off the top of his head. He knows that Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me.” And he knows that there are practical applications and implications of the cruciform life that Jesus calls us to.

Life outside of faith in Jesus Christ is described as weak. Weak because of sin. It doesn’t matter how physically strong you are, what your intellectual capacity is, how much influence you have in society, apart from Jesus, we’re weak! “While we were still weak,” he said, “Christ died for the ungodly.”

What about after we come to God through faith in Jesus Christ? Is that when we become strong? I’m glad you asked! Listen to what the apostle says in ch. 8:26-27 when he’s describing our lives as Christians.

Romans 8:26–27 ESV

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Who receives the Holy Spirit? Christians do! He said in 8:15, “You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Well, how are the children of God described? As weak! He says, the Spirit helps us in our weakness because we don’t even know how to pray! So there’s a sense in which, even as Christians, brothers, we’re still weak.

Here’s why I point this out. It’s because we need to be honest. When we hear a passage like , as you sit there and consider its implications for you, as you’re thinking, “how does this apply to me and my own life,” I can almost guarantee that you’re thinking of yourself in the position of the strong, not in the position of the weak. You’re not likely thinking, “I’m the one who’s weak in the faith and need other people to bear my weaknesses.” Most of us don’t do that. When y’all went to the movies to see Black Panther, and you imagine yourselves in the movie, you want to be Black Panther. We imagine ourselves in the role of the super hero. You imagine yourself being the strong. Children, when Halloween comes around, and you start bothering your parents to buy you a costume, you don’t say to them, “I want to dress up this year as that person in the movie that Black Panther saved.” We don’t fantasize about being weak.

​Can I offer you this help this morning? Would you consider the reality that no one is in the camp of the strong all the time? Paul’s particular emphasis on what he’s addressing with these Christians in Rome had to do with eating and drinking and holy days. But there are all kinds of other areas in trying to follow Jesus where we may be strong or weak. You can be in either camp depending on the issue. Let me ask you this question, brothers, where are you weak in the faith and need to be built up by others who are stronger? And if you find yourself to be strong in the faith on a particular issue, how are you using your strength to build up others who are weak? Do you see your strength as only for yourself, or for the benefit of others? You are obligated as a Christian to bear the failings of those weaker in the faith in a way that builds them up. It’s your debt.

Romans 13:8–10 ESV

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Believe the Book

Here’s the reality. The position that everyone is called to take is the position of servanthood. Let each of us please his neighbor, for his good, to build up.

Paul is reflecting what Jesus says in the gospels when he said, “Whoever wants to be great must be a servant. Whoever wants to be first must be a slave of all. Because the Son of Man didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

If you want to understand the Christian faith, you have to understand this reality. That in Jesus Christ the playing field is leveled. There are no super saints. There are no super Christians. Those who are more mature in the faith do not have some special status over those who are less mature in the faith. One group is not more Christian than the other group. That’s why Paul could say in 14:15, “For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.”

And in 14:20, “Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.”

My freedom as a Christian is much more than the freedom to eat what I want and to drink what I want. My freedom is the freedom to lay down my life for my brothers and sisters. My liberty as a Christian is the liberty to die to my own preferences, the liberty to die to my disordered desire to please myself all the time. My freedom as a Christian is the freedom to say to my brother, “I want to see you grow to maturity in Christ.” “My heart’s desire is to do everything I can to edify you, to build you up in the faith, to see you come to maturity in Christ.” And this is something that we are to pursue, building each other up, edifying one another, pleasing one another. And if we’re going to build one another up, we have to believe the book!

We’re not left to figure out what this looks like. Where do we see this bearing with the failings of the weak modeled for us? What is our example of not pleasing ourselves, or better yet, who is our example? Our example is found in the writings, Paul says, in the Scriptures ().

For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The insults of those who insulted you have fallen on me.’ (putting the words of the psalmist in the mouth of Jesus Christ) For whatever was written beforehand was written for our instruction, so that through the endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (vv. 3-4).

You’ve got to believe the book. You’ve got to believe that what’s written in its pages endures. It wasn’t just written for people living 2,000 years ago. It’s always current for life today. You’ve got to believe that it encourages in order to give us us hope! When you come to the Bible you’re not just coming to words on a page or on a screen. You’re coming to the living word of the living God.

Where do you go for hope? What is your hope? Is it… None of that endures... Do you try to muscle through and manufacture hope for the kind of obligation Paul is talking about?

Jesus did not please himself. He said that he came to do his Father’s will. In the Scriptures, those writings that were written beforehand for our instruction we find words like these from the mouth of the prophet Isaiah,

Isaiah 53:3–7 ESV

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

ISA

It was the Lord’s will, the prophet says, to crush him. Jesus is our example, living not to please himself, but doing all to please the Father so that he could bring you into God’s glory. This was written, the apostle says, for our instruction. This was written so that we might have hope. The endurance and encouragement of that Scripture is intended by God to give us hope for the here and now for our life together as his people. The hope is that God is the one who enables us to endure through the challenges of strong and weak living together in one body for the glory of God.

Bear Fruit

Let me free us up so that we’re not left with a burden that’s too heavy for us to bear. We can’t do it. This example of Jesus given to us in the Scriptures as one who was willingly afflicted and oppressed and crushed, not because he had done anything wrong or worthy of that affliction. This denying ourselves to please others, this dying to self that you might build somebody else up, this laying aside of your privileges for the benefit of others. We don’t have the love, the endurance, we don’t have the desire to do this all day, everyday. You might be inspired to be self-denying and self-sacrificing sometimes, but not all the time.

I love what the apostle does. Right after saying our hope comes through the endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, he offers up a plea to God.

Romans 15:5–7 ESV

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. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

God is a God of endurance and encouragement. He is a God who gives endurance and encouragement. He’s not only a God of endurance and encouragement, he’s a God of hope. Paul will offer his plea to God in a different way down in v. 13,

Romans 15:13 ESV

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.

​ROM5.13

Romans 5:13 ESV

13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

How does he help us to endure? It is as his Spirit works in our hearts by and through his word. The purpose behind this power, is that we might have hope. That we might have hope for what?

That we might have hope to bear kingdom fruit for a life of worship: together with one voice glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why is it that we are to live in harmony with one another? Why is it that we are to look to please our neighbor? Why are we to bear each others weaknesses and failings? Why are we to edify and build one another up? It is all so that we might glorify God. Worship is described here as having a united mind and voice. It is described here as a lifestyle of welcoming one another for the glory of God just like we were welcomed by Jesus Christ into the glorious presence of God.

Look at the verses following our passage (vv.9-12), how Paul quotes Scripture after Scripture, all focused on glorifying and praising God (2Sam22:50, Deut32:43, Ps117.1, Isa11:10).

Romans 15:9–12 ESV

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.”

Romans 15:9–11 ESV

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.”

ROM

Understand that this worship being described here is a supernatural thing.

Understand that this worship being described here is a supernatural thing.

When you see sports teams, the best teams are the ones who have a united mind and voice. They are committed to one another and to their goal. That’s what you’re going to see in the teams that hold up championship trophies at the end of the season. I first met Joe Walker about 12 years ago when we were coaching for the Howard County Terps...

As wonderful as that championship was, it not a supernatural thing. That’s something that we could accomplish in their own strength and determination. But the reason why what Paul talks about here is supernatural has everything to do with the goal. The goal is the glory of God. What’s being described here is people coming together who would have nothing to do with each other if it wasn’t for Jesus Christ; people who would check-out and be done if it wasn’t for Jesus.

You see, the goal is for the whole creation to be able to look at what is happening among those who follow Jesus and say, “Oh my goodness. How did that happen? How did those brothers with all of those differences and conflicts come together and commit to stay together, loving God and one another, even though they could easily check out?” It’s supernatural because it causes people to say, “Look at God when they look at the church.” God’s goal is His glory; he’s working by his Spirit to bring his people together across every dividing line. It has far too often and for far too long been the case that you can look at the church in our land and you scratch your head about God.

Do you hear what he says in v. 7? Therefore, since the goal is the glory of God, welcome one another just as Christ welcomed you into the glory of God. Here’s the brass tax. How do you bear the kingdom fruit of worship? Welcome one another like Christ welcomed us for the glory of God. How did Jesus Christ welcome you? Did sit back in heaven saying, “I’ll wait for you to come to your senses?” No. His welcoming was active. He pursued you...What does it look like for you to be more welcoming, especially to those you’ve got a problem with? What are we willing to give up, how are we willing to change? You cannot assume your way into this goal. In order to welcome us into the glory of God Christ had to become like us. He couldn’t do it from afar. How much are you willing to move toward those who are not like you and who you don’t like? How much are you willing to change and to be changed in order to pursue this goal?

The Spirit of Christ will empower you to move toward one another, to welcome one another. He delights to do that work. But rest assured. He’ll change you in the process. This change is good. It will make you an even more beautiful body as you glorify him together with one voice.