Romans 15:4-6, 13
4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Last week I read from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and I think it goes very well with what Paul is starting off with here in verse 4.
16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
All Scripture is God-breathed – These five words to me are the heart and soul of everything else. If you haven’t put your complete faith in to what this Bible say’s, then I would say that you need to seriously sit down and pray about this. If you would say that you are a believer in God and in Christ and that you have faith that they are who they say they are, the only reason you know this is because of the Bible. This is were any information you have about them came from.
When I was a younger man I use to say that I believed in God and in Christ but thought the Bible was just a book of stories written by men in hopes of us leading a better life
My problem was that my lack of faith in the Bible was due to my ignorance in what the Bible said. I never really read it to any extent, I didn’t meditate on it, and if I did it was with so little effort that I was confusing myself about what the Bible really said and meant.
I think we can take verse 16 and 17 and just remove the center portion and stick them together and shorten it up All Scripture is God-breathed so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped. The word thoroughly in the Greek ar-tee-os means complete or perfect. All Scripture is God-breathed so that the man of God may be complete.
If you do not study and know scripture you are in some regards an incomplete Christian. If you do not study and know scripture you can not progress towards perfection, perfection being Christ which is who we are called to be like.
I want to encourage you all, no matter if you are single, married or married with kids, pick a book in the New Testament and go through it, either by yourself if you are single or together if you have a family. If you think you may need a little help with explanation pick up a good Study Bible. Life Application Study Bible or the MacArthur Study Bible.
Also if you ever have any questions about what you are studying or what I am teaching up here, come talk with me. That is what I am here for.
Romans 15:4
4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Verse 4 is telling us about the importance of Scripture and from it we will gain these three things, endurance, encouragement and hope. There are many more things that we will gain from Scripture but we will look at theses three for now.
Endurance or Patience – As we look through the Bible one thing we can’t help to notice is the overwhelming desire of the many men and women talked about, to complete the work that God has laid before them.
You have heard me say several times before that the Bible is not a book of stories about people who once were, but a testament to the fact of who Gods children are always, examples of what God can accomplish through us.
This is who we are we are loyal, enduring warriors for Christ, and no matter what comes in our path we will stop at nothing to overcome it so we can get back to doing Gods work.
At least I hope this is who we are? Does this sound like you? It should. I hope you are not one who makes excuses about not being gifted, or not being able for some reason. It is not that you are not gifted or able but it is that your faith is weak, and that’s were you need to start, by building your faith.
Encouragement – Also from this great book given to us by God we derive encouragement from the many men and woman who have gone through much worse than we ever will.
God in His unsurpassed wisdom new that if we were to read of stories that were in some way less glorious to our own then we would not be encouraged, so God insured that these servants endured the harshest of circumstances so that we could look back at them and know that we can do the same in our far less severe situation.
This word encouragement is virtually the same word used by Jesus when He described the work of the Holy Spirit among believers. It makes sense that this word is so close to the other because the fact is that it is the work of the Holy Spirit within us that helps us pick ourselves up and get the job done.
Hope – The confident, joyful anticipation of what is to come. There is no doubt in this hope, the word el-pece in the Greek is a strong word which does not allow for any doubt.
Hebrews 6:19 - We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
This hope is something we can count on, it is something we are guaranteed.
Paul in verse five prays for all of us who are believers in Christ, he says:
5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Prays for All Believers - John 17:20-23
20"My prayer is not for them alone (the disciples). I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Paul only mentions unity in his writings four times, one of these times Paul talks about the unity of understanding or doctrine in Ephesians 4:13.
Ephesians 4:13 - until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
How do we get the knowledge of the Son of God? Bible
It says: “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God.” That means there will be a time when we all come to a point when our understanding of Christ, our doctrine of Christ, is the same. Now it is talking about Christians here all coming to maturity, not those who fall outside the parameters of true Christianity, false religions, cults.
I am not sure how we get to that point but in my opinion it starts with 2 Corinthians 4:1-2.
2 Corinthians 4:1-2 - Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
That’s how it starts, by churches teaching the word of God with accuracy, not twisting it or complicating it, but setting forth the truth plainly.
That’s all I want to do. Preach it plainly with out any added complications that just confuse us.
The result of the (true) knowledge of Christ is that we attain maturity and the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
You are cheating yourselves if you are lacking the knowledge that is obtained through Gods word. You cannot experience the fullness of who God and Christ are unless you obtain this knowledge.
Do you wonder why your desire or drive for Christ is low?
Do you feel like your relationship with Christ is weak or weaker than it should be?
It takes us Back to 2 Timothy 3:16-17:
All Scripture is God-breathed so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped. (Gods word makes us complete)
13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
As we mature in our knowledge of God and Christ, and we become more and more complete as Christians, what you will find is that your life will be filled with a greater and greater joy and peace through that trust that has been built up in us. And verse 13 tells us that we will overflow with that hope that we have gained, and through that others will see Christ through us.
