I Am Third Series

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

ENGAGE

Many years ago Max Lucado wrote a book titled “A Gentle Thunder” that included this story:

Sometime ago I came upon a fellow on a trip who was carrying a Bible.

“Are you a believer,” I asked him?

“Yes,” he said excitedly.

I’ve learned that you can’t be too careful.

“Virgin birth?” I asked.

“I accept it.”

“Deity of Jesus?”

“No doubt.”

“Death of Jesus on the cross?”

“He died for all people.”

Could it be that I was face to face with a Christian? Perhaps.

Nonetheless, I continued my checklist.

“Status of man?”

“Sinner in need of grace.”

“Definition of grace?”

“God doing for man what man can’t do.”

“Return of Christ?”

“Imminent.”

“Bible?”

“Inspired.”

“The church?”

“The body of Christ.”

I started getting excited. “Are you a conservative or a liberal?”

He was getting interested too. “Conservative.”

My heart began to beat faster,

“Heritage?”

“Southern Congregationalist Holy Son of God Dispensationalist Triune Convention.”

That was mine!

“Branch?”

“Pre-millennial, post tribulation, non-charismatic, King James, one-cup communion”

My eyes misted over. I had only one other question.

“Is your pulpit wooden or fiberglass?”

“Fiberglass,” he responded.

I withdrew my hand and stiffened my neck. “Heretic,” I said and walked away.

TENSION

Obviously that story is made up, but unfortunately it may not be quite as far fetched as we might think. I know that over the years I’ve seen Christians who have become estranged from each other over issues that are just as trivial as what material the pulpit is made of.

But this story does raise a couple of important questions, ones that we’ve discussed during the Bible Roundtable recently:

• How far should I go to make sure that I don’t judge my brother or sister in Christ for their convictions or become a stumbling block?

• Are there some beliefs and/or convictions that are so important that I need to hold tight to them even if they do cause division? If so, what are they?

TRUTH

Fortunately for us, Paul is going to help us answer those questions as we continue our study of his letter to the churches in Rome.

If we were in a courtroom, the passage we’ll look at this morning would essentially be Paul’s closing argument for his entire letter. Although he continues to write another chapter and a half and those words are important and related to the rest of the letter, Paul concludes his main argument in the first half of Romans 15.

Starting at the beginning of chapter 14, Paul has been writing about the relationship between love and Christian liberty and how to handle the conflict that has arisen in the church due to differing convictions.

In chapter 14, he approaches this from more of a negative perspective. We are not to judge our fellow disciples for their convictions or exercise our liberty in a way that becomes a stumbling block for them.

Today, in chapter 15, he will approach that same idea from a more positive perspective.

[Read Romans 15:1-13]

For our main idea today, I’m going to borrow from the words of the great Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers:

I promote unity in the church when

God is first,

others are second,

and I am third

I want to make a few general observations about the text, but then I want to spend most of our time this morning making this really practical for all of us by answering the two questions I posed earlier:

• How far should I go to make sure that I don’t judge my brother or sister in Christ for their convictions or become a stumbling block?

• Are there some beliefs and/or convictions that are so important that I need to hold tight to them even if they do cause division? If so, what are they?

It is easy for us to look at this section of Paul’s letter and conclude that Paul is concerned about healthy relationships so that we could be happy. But Paul’s ultimate concern here is that God would be glorified through those relationships. Three times in this passage, he writes about the glory of God:

that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (v. 6)

…for the glory of God. (v. 7)

… that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. (v. 9)

When we love others with the kind of uncommon love that Paul is writing about here – a love that puts the interests of others ahead of our own – that brings glory to God because only God can make that happen. When outsiders look at the church, they ought to marvel at the kind of love we have towards each other and ask “How can that be?” And when we answer, “It is because God has changed our naturally selfish hearts”, then God is glorified. And when God’s glory is our main focus, guess what? We will see unity in the church.