THE CHRISTIAN LIFE - UNITY IN THE BODY - PART 5 (Romans 15:1-6)
INTRODUCTION:
The unity of believers has always been a concern of our Lord, both the Old and New Testaments bear this out. When God brought about His plan of salvation there was a oneness in that salvation in that we all come to Christ in the same way and we are all made God’s children through faith in Christ, not only that but we all share in the same eternal life purchased for us by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. These truths should have an effect on the church that would drive us to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Paul in writing to the believers in Galatia said in Galatians 3:26-28, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26–28, NASB95)[1] Paul is saying it does not matter our race, our social status, or our gender when we come to Christ in faith, we are one in Christ. That is a fact that cannot be changed, because of this Paul is saying that we need to be united outwardly as we are united inwardly. We looked at Ephesians 4 a couple of weeks ago where Paul teaches us doctrines that unite us, those truths that we agree upon as believers that are the universal truths of the Gospel. Before giving us those 7 basic doctrines which we need to agree upon to have unity and fellowship, he teaches us the attitude that we need to have toward one another to preserve the unity of the Spirit. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1-3, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1–3, NASB95)[2] This is what Paul has been writing about in Romans 14, especially zeroing in on the unity that needs to exist between strong and weak believers in the faith. Paul understands that apart from outright sin, there is nothing that destroys the fellowship, the spiritual growth, the witness of the church in its community more than disharmony or disunity among those who attend that local assembly. Once that happens it takes a long time for it to heal and to restore its witness.
Paul continues in chapter 15 to teach on the crucial importance of unity in the church. This teaching will take us through verse 13 of this chapter where Paul lays out two more principles for the church to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The first principle that we will look at this morning is pleasing one another, and we do this by following the example given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Then next week, Lord willing, we will learn to rejoice with one another in God’s eternal plan of salvation and redemption.
This morning we will look at the first principle of pleasing one another in verses 1-6, where Paul teaches us that we must have concern for others, we must please others and not just ourselves, we do this by following Christ’s example following what is recorded for us in God’s Word and by relying on God’s power which will result in glorifying God in unified worship. Let’s pray and then get into our passage.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:1-6, our passage of Scripture for this morning. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 15:1-6,
“Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.’ For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15:1–6, NASB95)[3]
CONCERN FOR OTHERS (Romans 15:1a)
Having just written in chapter 14 about receiving one another into fellowship without judging or condemning or showing contempt for where a person is spiritually in the faith and then last week, we looked at Paul’s words about building one another up without offending or causing our brother to stumble. Paul now begins to write about our responsibility to please one another, to show concern for others in the church, this is a responsibility for all believers, but it is a responsibility that mainly falls on those who are strong in the faith and that is who Paul addresses it to in this first verse. He writes that those who are strong, and he includes himself in this category by writing, “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength...” (Romans 15:1a, NASB95)[4] The Greek word that is translated “ought” is a word that means “owing a debt” or “having a strong obligation to fulfill.” It was a word that was used of Israel’s priests who were obligated to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people as well as their own sins. John uses this word three times in his first epistle to show the obligation that we have to follow God’s example. For example, in 1 John 2:6 John writes, “…the one who says he abides in Him [Christ] ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” (1 John 2:6, NASB95)[5] or in 1 John 3:16, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16, NASB95)[6] or as he uses it in 1 John 4:11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:11, NASB95)[7] Paul is saying here in Romans 15 that we who are strong in the faith have an obligation to those who are weak.
The Greek word translated “to bear” is a word that literally means to pick up a burden and carry it. It can refer to picking up and carrying a literal burden, like a bucket of water or carrying a person, but it is also used figuratively of carrying an obligation.
When Paul writes that we ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, he is saying that we must do more than just tolerate the weaknesses of fellow believers, but we are to help them bear them by not being critical, or condescending. Instead, we are to show respect for views or practices that fellow believers hold as convictions of conscience that we may not agree with. Paul put it this way to the Philippians in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3–4, NASB95)[8] In other words, we are to show consideration for others in a loving and practical way. We do not argue or condemn minor issues that are not commanded or forbidden in Scripture, those are freedoms that we must make a decision about before God. We do not take a critical or condescending attitude toward fellow believers who may be sensitive about some practice from their upbringing or something that they cannot in good conscience do. Paul is calling on those who are strong believers to refrain from exercising their freedoms in such a way that it might offend or cause a brother or sister in Christ to stumble because they are without strength, they still need to grow. And we are not to refrain from our freedoms begrudgingly but in a loving and voluntary manner because of our concern for our weaker brothers and sisters in Christ.
PLEASE OTHERS, NOT YOURSELF (Romans 15:1b-2)
As strong believers our purpose should be to please Christ and we can do this in part by bearing the weaknesses of those without strength and we should understand that to do this may require some self-sacrifice, the relinquishing of some freedoms at least for a time. These freedoms that we have were lovingly given to us by the Lord and He grants us these freedoms for our sakes, to release us from the bonds of religious practices or things considered taboo formerly. We are even freed from the ceremonial externals and restrictions that the Lord himself had introduced as symbols, but now under the New Covenant are no longer valid having been fulfilled in Him. Aside from that which is in itself sinful, and those things which are neither commanded nor forbidden in Scripture are freedoms which we have in Christ and we can practice them as we please. But these freedoms from Christ are not given to us so that we can just selfishly please ourselves. These are freedoms that are for the benefit of the entire church. We each who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ have the same freedoms, but because each of us is at a different place spiritually, some immature, some mature in the faith, the careless use of a freedom by a mature believer can do serious harm to the conscience and the spiritual well-being of a weaker believer or to the well-being of the entire congregation.
Paul writes do not just please yourself, instead, “Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.” (Romans 15:2, NASB95)[9] The phrase “each of us” includes everyone in the church, strong or weak we are to please our neighbor and we are to please him or her for their good, for edification, for building them up in the faith, we are to do this even if it requires sacrifice on our part, giving up some of our own welfare and pleasure. Paul made this same appeal in chapter 14 when he wrote in verse 19, “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” (Romans 14:19, NASB95)[10] When we desire to please the Lord Jesus and do good for our brothers and sisters and seek to edify or build them up in Christ then we are doing what Paul wrote in Philippians 2:1-5, “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 2:1–5, NASB95)[11] This is the attitude that we must have if we are to please our neighbor for his good, for his edification. Paul then immediately tells us to follow the example set for us by Christ.
FOLLOW CHRIST’S EXAMPLE (Romans 15:3)
Paul goes on in the Philippians passage to explain the attitude of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His attitude was not to please Himself, but to please the One who sent Him and the One for whom He willingly came. Going back to Romans 15 Paul here also holds out to us Jesus Christ as our example to follow in pleasing our neighbor. Paul writes, “For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.’” (Romans 15:3, NASB95)[12] The example that Paul uses to show us that Christ did not please Himself is a quote from Psalm 69:9 which is a Messianic psalm written hundreds of years before Christ came to this earth. Jesus came to earth and suffered the insults and railings of those who did not believe He was the Messiah, who did not believe He was God in human flesh. So, because of this these were insults against God Himself which fell upon Jesus. If Jesus Christ wanted to please Himself, He would never have left glory, he would never laid aside His glory to become a man. But He willingly did this to please the Father and to accomplish His Father’s will and He is seen in the Gospels making this fact clearly understood. Jesus Christ came into the world to fulfill God’s wonderful plan to make salvation available to the world and to bring the redeemed to glory.
Paul’s point in holding up the Lord Jesus Christ as our example of someone who did not please Himself is that by the indwelling Spirit’s power we are able to be conformed to Christ and to follow His example by having the same selfless attitude in ourselves which was in Christ. When we are conformed to Christ then we will have a willingness to please God no matter the cost. When we have this attitude in ourselves, we will desire to please our neighbor, our brothers and sisters in Christ.
FOLLOW THE WORD’S INSTRUCTION (Romans 15:4)
Not only does Paul tells us to follow the Lord’s example of not pleasing Himself, but he also reminds us that God’s Word was preserved for us for our instruction. In other words, we have God’s Word as our instruction manual and if we submit ourselves to its teaching the Holy Spirit will use it to conform us to Christ so that we have the same attitude of pleasing others as Christ did of pleasing His Father. When Paul speaks of those things that were written in earlier times, he is referring to the Old Testament, that was the only Scriptures that the early church had because the New Testament was just being written. Paul reminded the believers in Corinth of this same truth, in speaking of Moses and the exodus from Egypt Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:6, “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.” (1 Corinthians 10:6, NASB95)[13] Then he goes on in verse 11 of the same chapter and writes, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11, NASB95)[14] Every part of God’s revelation is still valuable for our instruction. Even though we are no longer bound under the Old Covenant with its regulations and requirements we can learn so much about God and ourselves from the knowledge of all Scriptures. It is from the Old Testament that we understand the origin of sin and the need for the Son of God to take on human flesh to die as our substitute because we are helpless to do anything about our sin. In the pages of the Old Testament, we learn the character of God seen in His judgments and in His mercy and grace. It is through the Old Testament that we can trace the line of the Savior through all of history.
Paul says that this was written for our instruction so that as we persevere in this life, we do so through the encouragement that we receive through the pages of Scripture that give us comfort and hope. Through the pages of God’s Word we find all the reasons to keep believing and to keep persevering in our faith because within those pages we find that our hope is in Christ who will bring about our glorious future. We find theses truths in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and we learn that the living Word of God is the Lord Jesus Christ who is our hope which is made know to us in God’s written Word. (1 Timothy 1:1)
RELY ON GOD’S POWER (Romans 15:5)
Paul goes on to tells that the perseverance and encouragement that God demands we have is provided for us by God Himself. Paul writes in verse 5, “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,” (Romans 15:5, NASB95)[15] God never demands something of us that He does not graciously supply for us. Just as verse four was a call to rely on God through His Word, verse 5 is a call to rely on God through prayer.
This verse and the next are Paul’s prayer and benediction to this principle of pleasing others. He prays that God would bestow on believers the unity of the Spirit, that we would be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus. As God is the provider of perseverance and encouragement, God also is the provider of the unity that He calls for among believers. In this prayer of Paul’s in his call to believers to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, he is again speaking of unity in those matters on which God’s Word is silent or on those regulations and restrictions that are no longer valid having been fulfilled in Christ. It is these very nonessential matters and disagreement on them that cause conflict between weak and strong believers. Paul is calling them to put their disagreements with one another aside and to come together in unity according to their common Savior and Lord, Christ Jesus. This commandment can be fulfilled by relying on God’s power to bring it about in each of their lives.
GLORIFY GOD IN UNITY (Romans 15:6)
Why does Paul pray for God to grant to us to be of one mind, united according to Christ Jesus? Understand that the chief purpose of man and the chief purpose of our unity of the Spirit is not to please other believers, as important and essential as that is, our chief purpose is to please the Lord by glorifying Him. We are to do this both inwardly and outwardly, we are to do this both individually and corporately. When we come together in one accord and worship Him with one voice then we truly and fully glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In calling us to glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in one accord with one voice, Paul was emphasizing the deity of Jesus Christ, the truth that Jesus Christ is God, He is not the adopted Son of God as we are who believe in Him. He is the unique and only begotten Son from the Father, Who was with God the Father before time began and who was active in creation. Jesus Christ possesses all the attributes of the Father, He is the exact representation of the Father and He is the promised Messiah, the Christ, and is our Lord completely equal to God the Father in deity.
The New Testament clearly speaks over and over about the relationship of God the Father and God the Son, a relationship that is unique and incomprehensible for us. Paul in writing to the church in Ephesus after his initial greeting erupts with these words, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” (Ephesians 1:3, NASB95)[16] Showing us Their equality in blessing us with every spiritual blessing. In his letter to the church in Philippi Paul wrote that one day, “… at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10–11, NASB95)[17] Showing us that God the Father is glorified by the Son’s glorification. Peter uses these words to describe this relationship in 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Peter 1:3, NASB95)[18] Showing us that both the Father and the Son are active in our salvation. John opened his second letter with these words to his readers, “Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” (2 John 3, NASB95)[19] John was clearly declaring that grace, mercy, and peace are from both God the Father and God the Son equally.
CONCLUSION:
Paul in this passage clearly expresses the principle that unity in the church is a result of our concern for others and a desire to please our neighbor for his good, to his edification. When we live like this in the church there will be unity and that unity will bring us together in one voice to glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is man’s chief purpose in life to do whatever we can to glorify God.
I said in the beginning of this message that the unity of believers has always been a concern for our Lord, and I want to end this message with a portion of His High Priestly prayer in which He prayed for us to be one, unified. Why is this so important to the Lord? Because He understands to fellowship, the joy, the glory that comes from being one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus prayed in John 17:21-23, “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20–23, NASB95)[20]
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[16]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[17]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[18]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[19]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[20]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.