Life in Belief: Joy, Peace & Hope To Build On

INTRODUCTION:

*Open your Bibles to Romans 15:

While you are finding your place, let me ask you a question: What foundation are you building your life on?

In our world today, there are many examples of those who try to build on another’s foundation

Look at the last two coaches of my Florida Gators

Both men won division titles one year before getting fired

Neither man could keep that consistency

Both were fired because they couldn’t run the kingdom built by Spurrier and Meyer

Tim Cook has done a lot of significant work at Apple as their CEO

But his successes are swallowed in the success of Steve Jobs, who built the empire

All that will be remembered in the end are the ways that he wasn’t Jobs

Steve Ballmer and Satya Nadella together have more years as CEO of Microsoft than Bill Gates

Gates’ last day at Microsoft was 14 years ago

But when Microsoft is in the news, you think of Gates

Nick Saban has won more national titles than any other coach

He has raised up many other coaches who have gone out to have some level of success

But none have reached the one who lay the foundation-Georgia may be getting close, we’ll see

When he retires, pitty the man who follows

Any success will be Sabans

Any failure will be all his own

As it turns out, it is really hard to build on another man’s foundation!

Over the last few chapters in Romans, Paul has been leading us on a road toward growing in Christ

We’ve been dealing with foundational issues

not judging one another

not being a stumbling block to others

learning how to die to ourselves for the sake of others

All of these things are leading up to building on the foundation of Christ in our lives

And it is in this vein that we turn back to Romans 15, beginning in verse 13:

Romans 15:13–21 NASB95

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another. But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; but as it is written, “They who had no news of Him shall see, And they who have not heard shall understand.”

PRAY, Invite the church to sit

*Listening Guides Out

What kind of foundation are you building your life on?

Are you building on your own foundation?

Maybe you are building on the foundation of another man

You saw his success or something in his life you wanted, and your life is built on that

Well, today, I want you to understand that Jesus Christ wants to lay a sure foundation in your life

If you are a follower of Jesus, that foundation was lain on the day that you decided to follow Him!

You were dead in your sins and trespasses on a wreck of a foundation you laid yourself

By the power of God in the blood of Jesus death, you were cleansed of your sins, forgiven and blameless

By the power of God in the resurrection of Jesus, you were given new life and a hope of eternity with Him in heaven

If you are saved, Jesus already lay this foundation in you. If you have not followed Christ yet, He is ready to lay this foundation today

But what both of you need to understand is that the foundation is just the beginning.

God wants to build something incredible upon the foundation of salvation in your life.

You may remember this from last year’s VBS:

Philippians 1:6 NASB95

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

God is ready to build something incredible in your life

Let me ask you friend, what foundation are you building on?

What are you building towards?

When it is built, how long will it endure?

When it is built, will it be your completion?

When it is built, who will be glorified?

This morning, we are going to see three reasons in this passage to make Jesus the foundation of our life’s building. Let’s look at them together:

Romans 15:13–14 NASB95

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.

The first reason that we have in this passage for building on the foundation of Jesus is:

You can build your life on a lot of different foundations

You can keep building on the foundation that you made (And it will continue to lead you to sin and death)

You can build on someone else’s foundation

Maybe you’ll have some moderate success

More than likely, you’ll encounter problems you are unprepared for (you don’t know the foundation)

Ultimately, you will find a collapse

But only the foundation that Jesus builds promises that you will have what you need for what lies ahead

When your life is built on Jesus, you will have JOY

Joy for the forgiveness of your sins

Joy for the new life that only He can give

Joy for His love in your life through His Word

Joy for His love in the body of Christ

You will have the JOY of JESUS!

And the joy of His love will bring you His peace

Peace in the storm, knowing you are secure

For what can be taken from you that is greater than Christ

What in all of creation can take you from the love of God?

Romans 8:37–39 NASB95

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And as you persevere in His joy and peace through the trials of life, you will find in Him the hope that will drive you onward

The hope that the God who didn’t spare His Son will also give us all things

The hope that the glory of His eternal rein is worth this present suffering

And His hope is the hope you need to continue through this present darkness in perseverence

What foundation are you building on?

Isn’t it interesting that Paul writes that He is convinced they are full of these things

Isn’t it interesting he says they can admonish one another

They can keep each other from stumbling

They can help each other to walk on the right path, why?

They are building on the right foundation!

You see joy, peace, and love are of the character of Christ

As the character of Christ grows more and more in you, you begin to look more and more like Him

And as you look more and more like Him, and your neighbor looks more and more like Him, you will recognize in yourselves and each other those things that are not like Jesus

And as you help each other to be more like Jesus, you are able to lean on each other so that no one falls

And this leads us towards the next point. Look at verse 15

Romans 15:15–19 NASB95

But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

The second reason we have in this passage for building on the foundation of Jesus is this:

Living life in belief, God will give you the grace of knowing Him and making Him known

The book of Romans is considered to be “strong meat of Scripture”

There are many things that are radical calls to obedience

There are many things that are not easy to understand

And yet, Paul is able to teach the Romans these things with boldness...

Because his purpose was not his own, but God’s, who sent him!

When Paul came to Christ, he was given a purpose…so were you!

God equipped Paul in Christ to do the things He was calling Paul to do

He has also equipped you!

And the more Paul grew in Christ, the more effective He became in God’s purpose for him.

For Paul, it was for reaching the Gentiles

For you, it may be...

Reaching people on your street

or throughout Live Oak

or Suwannee county,

or elsewhere in Florida,

or even in Idaho with us in planting a church among the Basque

But regardless, Christ has saved you to the purpose of knowing Him and making Him known

Christ was able to accomplish astounding works because Paul was recklessly abandoned to all but the causes of Christ in his life.

Jesus did these things, not Paul

And because it was Christ and not Paul, things that were thought impossible, Gentiles following the Lord, became a reality!

God has given you the purpose to know Him and to make Him known!

And when, and only when, you are fulfilling that purpose will you be able to stand with Paul before Christ and say

“ I have reason to boast in Jesus...For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience”

Tell me friend, what foundation are you building on?

Look quickly at verse 20:

Romans 15:20–21 NASB95

And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; but as it is written, “They who had no news of Him shall see, And they who have not heard shall understand.”

The last reason we will consider this morning in this passage for building on the foundation of Jesus is this:

Living life in belief, God will lead you to Kingdom dreams only God can build so that God gets the glory

I bet that no one could have imagined the impact that Paul would have for the Kingdom when he started

Paul’s Kingdom dreams were big because his pursuit of Christ was all-in!

He wanted to glorify God in the most glorifying way

He didn’t want to work where a man might get some of the glory

He wanted to try hard things only God could do

He went to work in places where only God could grow fruit

And because He stepped out where only God could do it, God showed up-And did mighty things!

This is the definition of a Kingdom dream- stepping out to do things that will utterly fail if God doesn’t show up!

Starting new churches

sharing the Gospel with those who have never heard

loving those who hate God

Stepping out without resources into His calling, believing He will provide-these things are the heartbeat of God’s Kingdom

OUR GOAL IS NOT TO BUILD HIS KINGDOM BY PLOWING THE SAME FIELD AGAIN AND AGAIN

When this is done, the soil is stripped and nothing will grow

We must plow the new field...

and trust in hope that the God of hope and the Lord of the harvest will bring the growth He promised to those who live to know Him and make Him known

INVITATION:

Tell me, friend, what foundation are you building on this morning?

-Maybe you’re plowing the same old field over and over, because that’s the only field you’ve ever seen ploughed.

-It was fertile for the one God sent there, but you need to plow a new one!

-Maybe you’re still building on your foundation. And you can’t figure out why there isn’t any fruit, and it’s because you need to start building on the foundation that Christ has lain for you

-Or maybe, you’re building on your own foundation because you have yet to allow Christ to start His work in you.

This morning, there is room for you, wherever you are, at the foot of the cross.

There is room for you to know Jesus and to make Him known

Won’t you come, and be filled with joy, peace, and hope for the journey!

Pray