It’s About the Kingdom
Romans 15:1-6
Max Lucado in his book A Gentle Thunder, tells a story about a man who encountered
another man carrying a Bible. “Are you a believer?” “Yes,” he said excitedly. I've learned that you can't be too careful who you fellowship with, so I began to ask him some questions. “Do you believe in the virgin birth?” “I do.” “Do you believe in the deity of Christ?” “No doubt.” Could it be that I was face-to-face with a real Christian brother? Nonetheless, I continued my checklist. “Do you believe in the return of Christ?” “I believe it is imminent.” “What about the Bible?” “It is inspired,” was his immediate answer. I was getting excited. “Are you a conservative or a liberal?”
He was getting interested in me, too. “I'm a conservative.” I asked him as my heart began to beat faster, “What denomination are you a part of?” He said, “I am a member of the Southern Congregationalist Holy Son of God Dispensationalist Triune Convention.” I was excited, because that was my denomination. I asked him,
“Which branch of that denomination are you?” He said, “I'm a part of the pre-millennial, post-tribulation, non-charismatic, King James, one-cup communion branch.” My eyes misted over. That was my branch as well. I had only one other question. “Is your pulpit wooden or Plexiglas?” “Plexiglas,” he replied.
I recoiled in horror. “Get away from me, you heretic,”
Is that what God is all about?
Is that what being a follower of Jesus is all about?
Someone asked the experts about what kind of church is going to be most effective today. Listen to some of the answers: The church must be more missional, more contemporary, more media savvy, more emerging, more social-justice focused, more seeker sensitive, more liturgical. We have been told that the church of the future will be multisite, small and organic, simple, large, conservative, liberal, postmodern, ancient-future, Celtic, cellular, neomonastic and incarnational.
I’ve got to tell you, about half of those words didn’t make it through spell check
on my computer. And before you complain about the big words, I didn’t understand what they meant either. In other words, I don’t know what the experts are trying to tell us. But, when I turn to God’s Word, I don’t have that problem.
Look beginning in Romans 15:1ff.
1. Under Obligation
Paul starts by saying for those of us who are mature Christians. He is speaking to those who are trained in righteousness. Then he uses a very interesting word. In the NASB it is rendered “ought.” But the Greek word is better interpreted as “under obligation.” For those of us who are mature, trained in righteousness, we are under obligation to bear the weaknesses of those who are not mature. The word bear means to literally carry. For those of us who are mature, trained in righteousness, we are under obligation to bear the weaknesses of those who are mature. And it doesn’t mean just a few of us. It means everybody among the mature. Our focus, which is the focus of the “Kingdom of God,” is not to please ourselves. We are obligated by God Himself to build up those who are not as far along in the Christian journey as we are.
I’ll tell you, we have people who have been trained to the nth degree. We’ve taken all the classes, we have studied the Bible, we have learned how to walk with God, we have sought God first understanding that He is in control of all of our circumstances.
2. Cater to the needs
of those who are not mature.
Look at verse 2: READ
Boy this really doesn’t sound like most churches today. Too many people today believe that the church exists to provide them with comfort. And if anyone infringes upon my comfort, well, they better get ready for a fight!
Isn’t it ridiculous the things we quarrel over. In another church I had a man come to me and say that he left his previous church because they changed the words to the hymn “Amazing Grace.” He said they would start singing, “Praise God, praise God, praise God, praise God, praise God, praise God, praise God.”
A couple of weeks ago, we were at 1st Bapt. San Angelo and the worship leader
began singing Amazing Grace. In the middle of it, the music changed and we sang:
My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior
has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace
My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below
Will be forever mine
Will be forever mine
You are forever mine
As we sang, I thought, how utterly ridiculous to quibble over the words of a song when the lyrics were just as meaningful and powerful. Oh how those words
expressed my heart cry to God.
Many churches today are quibbling over non-essentials when people are lost and dying and going straight to hell. And they look to the church and the church is spending all its time and energy talking about what side of the church the piano ought to be on and how many rolls of toilet paper we ought to buy and who authorized buying those light bulbs.
I didn’t have the heart to share the Amazing Grace trilogy with that guy.
(Amazing Grace words to the tunes of Gilligan’s Island, Brady Bunch, Coca cola.)
The story is told of two congregations that were located only a few blocks from each other in a small community. They thought it might be better if they would merge and become one united, larger, and more effective body rather than two struggling churches. Good idea … but they were not able to pull it off. The problem? They could not agree on how they would recite “The Lord’s Prayer.” One group preferred “forgive us our trespasses,” while the other group demanded “forgive us our debts.”
So, as the local newspaper reported, “One church went back to its trespasses while the other returned to its debts.”
Paul said, we ought to be concentrating on building up those who aren’t like us. He said, “let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.” That means that it’s not about me. It’s not about my comfort. It’s not about my rights. It’s all about the Kingdom of God. It’s all about making someone else comfortable and making whatever sacrifice it takes to do that.
Somewhere along the line, we have forgotten that Jesus said, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt 10:38). Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt 16:24). And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).
Can someone please tell me where Jesus said, “Don’t worry about anybody but yourself. Hey, you give your money to the church and you ought to have the right
to make sure that you are comfortable.” Folks, there’s nothing comfortable about a cross.
3. Follow Me
Why should we do what this verse is saying?
In Rom 15:3 Paul says, “For even Christ did not please Himself…”
Now think about this: the God of the universe, in the form of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, Who had every right as God to have everyone cater to His every need, Who rightfully should expect every single person on the face of the earth to provide Him
with every pleasure, honor and glory, did not please Himself.
What did He say was His purpose in coming to earth? John 4:34 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.” What was God’s will and God’s work for Him? To live a perfect life, a life without sin, and to take on your sin and my sin, to take on our penalty of death, and after laying in the grave, to rise again to live eternally.
And for those who believe this, who receive this, who are willing to give up every right, every privilege, every honor; His will and work for your life and my life is to serve Him, the Master, as His devoted slave. Everything He ever did, was not for Himself, but for you and for me. And Paul says, “If you are going to follow Him, you’re going to have to give up every right, every privilege, every comfort, and you’re going to have to risk everything without any idea of safety, without any expectation of honor and glory.” That’s what it means to follow Him.
Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage.
Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross. (Php 2:5-8, HCSB).
The next time you feel out of sorts because you don’t like the songs or volume or someone seated in what you have grown to believe as your place, you need to understand, you are not we who are strong.
I don’t care how long you have attended church, or how old you are, or how much money you give, if you are someone who believes you have the right to comfort in this church, you are self-deluded. Paul wrote to the church at Galatia: Gal 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
You are not your own!
You have no rights!
This church exists for one reason and one reason only, to magnify Christ through your sacrifice in order that those who don’t know Him, who are not strong, can be made strong. Our only expectation is crucifixion and folks that’s not comfortable.
My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior
has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace
We are free from the chains of sin. Those bonds are broken through the shed blood of Christ. But folks, the Bible clearly teaches, we just exchanged one set of chains for another. We now have the chains of our Master Christ. And we are not “free” to do as we please. Because it’s not our life … it’s His!
