ROMANS 15: 7-13 [CHRISTIAN RELATING SERIES]
REJOICE IN OUR MUTUAL SALVATION
[John 17:20-26 / Hebrews 6:11-19]
The previous section summed up the call to bear with and build up one another in Christ. The Holy Spirit is using the Holy Scriptures to bring us together in Christ. As we surrender to the leadership of the Spirit and the Word God brings about like-mindedness in Christ Jesus. When a body of believes is so unite it results in the glorifying of God in their worship.
The passage before us tonight begins to close the major applied theology section of the letter to Rome. It reveals still another principle for promoting unity in the church.
The mutual responsibilities of all believers is that we glorify God together in the local church, but that is not all that the true praise and rejoicing in God bring about. Not only does corporate praise and rejoicing unified the local church, it encourages them in their mission to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of God (CIT).
So the local church is to rejoice together in worship because of their common sharing in God's eternal plan of redemption. As we unite together to glorify God and reach His world we find joy & peace in believing.
I. MUTUAL ACCEPTANCE, 7.
II. GLORY IN HIS PRAISE, 8-12.
II. ABOUNDING IN HOPE, 13.
Verse 7 justifies why God expects us to accept one another in Christ. "Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God."
This declaration summarizes and justifies why the local church should be unified together by the Word and by the Spirit for the greater praise and glory of God. As unacceptable as we were [and are] with all our sin and problems, "Christ accepted us." The Greek word accept (proslambano) means move to receive something or someone with special concern [MacArthur, John. The NT Com. Romans 9-16. 1994. Moody. p. 318]. Believers must accept one another by allowing Christ's indwelling love to overcoming their reservations and judgments.
The justification for the command to receive each other is again grounded in the actions of Christ. We are thus commanded to accept one another because of the gracious way that Christ has accepted us. If we cannot accept a person as is, accept the Christ that lives within him. Remember that the Holy Spirt strives to assist each of us [believers] to grow in Christ-likeness.
The call is for all believers within the local church to accept one another, including new believers, as a mandatory necessity. The admonition is to treat each other with love and understanding just as Christ reached out to us. If the perfect, sinless Son of God has accepted us into the divine family, we should accept others despite the fact that we all still carry our old nature's sinful trappings. We are not to put ourselves above our divine Master and Teacher. Let us take His yoke upon us and learn from Him for He is gentle and humble in heart (Mt. 11:29).
Notice that Christ's acceptance of us brought us into the glory of God, and we should give Him glory. God is worthy of all glory and honor. God has established His eternal plan of redemption to glorify Himself. Everything He does is to His glory and everything His children do should be to His glory [MacArthur, p. 322].
The glory of God in Scripture has to do with the manifestation of the presence of God. God's self-disclosure is a disclosure of His Glory. God is intrinsically glorious, and when He manifests Himself, glory is present. When we manifest the presence of God in our lives and in our worship, we manifest the glory of God. [When you insult His glory, which is displayed by His manifested presence, you insult Him].
When Christ accepted us, He introduced us to God. When you know God, know who and what He is through a personal relationship with Him, you know the glory of God. God's glory is revealed by His manifested presence.
II. GLORY IN HIS PRAISE, 8-12.
The call for unity now expands beyond the diversity of believers with their weaknesses and strengths to include unity for Gentiles and Jews also. All four Old Testament quotations in this section are from the Greek Septuagint. Having pointed to the Lord Jesus as the Model for Christians, verse 8 moves the thought toward Jesus' ministry and its objective of reaching the gentile world with the good news. "For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers."
Jesus Christ was born a Jew to fulfill God's Word. Jesus lived as a Jew in order to ministered to His fellow Jews. He brought understanding of the truth to them. Although He came to bring a new covenant, He did not come "to abolish the law or the prophets-but to fulfill" them (Mt. 5:17). He fulfilled the law by keeping it perfectly. [By His life and death He established the promises of Scripture.]
To demonstrate the validity of his statement concerning the ministry of Christ and its purposes, particularly that Jesus came to the Gentiles as well, the Apostle Paul quoted four Old Testament passages, introducing the series with the formula "it stands written for all time" in verse 9. "And for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy: For it is written, ‘Therefore I will give praise to Thee among the Gentiles, and I will sing to Thy Name.'" (Ps. 18:49).
Here Paul underlines the unity God desires in worship. If God expects Jews and Gentiles to be unified in worship with all their differences, He certainly expects a local body of Gentiles to be unified.
All of us should praise God for His mercy. For all of us stand in need of mercy. He invited those who were not His people, who were not born of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to enter into the salvation which came from the Jews (Jn. 4:22). The Gentiles should praise Him for such great mercy.
The Jews had been chosen under the old covenant to go among the Gentiles and minister to them, but instead the Jews turned to the Gentiles' idolatrous ways. Instead of giving the Jews the judgment they deserved God offered them mercy in Christ Jesus also. If God has shown mercy to different folk we should praise Him for it. Praise God for His mercy [for "not receiving what we deserve"], which He provides in Christ! Bless His name for God has extended His kingdom to us as well.
Notice that Jesus is among the Gentiles —you and me. So when we sing, "Father, I adore You," guess who's joining in? Guess who's in the midst of our praise? Jesus is not only the object of our praise—but He's in the midst of our praise, participating with us [Courson, Jon: Jon Courson's Application Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003, S. 993].
Verse 10 is a from Deuteronomy 32:43. "And again He says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles with His people."
Unconverted sinners do nothing to glorify God, but one who has grace working in His life has an urging to speak and do all to the glory of God. God intends to reap a rich harvest of Glory from the Gentiles so He commands them to rejoice with His people.
When Gentiles were given equal status with the Jews they could then praise God together. The messianic kingdom is made up of all kinds of diverse people, with diverse opinions and backgrounds. But because of common belief, because of common acceptance by God, and common goal to glorify God, they could worship His glory in His glory together.
Verse 11 is from Psalm 117:1. "And again, "Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him."
Again the command for Gentiles to praise God. The grace that saves also sets people to praising God. Grace gives fullness to the heart and the heart in tune to God overflows with praise. All peoples are to praise Him, no matter their race, creed, color or personality. All peoples no matter where they live or where they come from are commanded to praise the Lord God Almighty.
[PRAISE FROM THE RUBBLE] J. K. Gressett writes about a man named Samuel S. Scull who settled on A FARM IN ARIZONA with his wife and children. One night a fierce desert storm struck with rain, hail, and high wind. At daybreak, feeling sick and fearing what he might find, Samuel went to survey their loss.
The hail had beaten the garden and truck patch into the ground; the house was partially unroofed; the henhouse had blown away, and dead chickens were scattered about. Destruction and devastation were everywhere.
While standing dazed, evaluating the mess and wondering about the future, he heard a stirring in the lumber pile that was the remains of the henhouse. A rooster was climbing up through the debris, and he didn't stop climbing until he had mounted the highest board in the pile. The old rooster was dripping wet, and most of his feathers were blown away. But as the sun came over the eastern horizon, he flapped his bony wings and crowed with all he had.
That old, wet, bare rooster could still crow when he saw the morning sun. And like that rooster, our world may be falling apart, we may have lost everything, but if we trust in God, we'll be able to see the light of God's goodness, pick ourselves out of the rubble, and sing the Lord's praise.
The quotations in this section are from the Psalms in verse 9, from Deuteronomy in verse 10, and now from Isaiah (11:10) in verse 12. Thus, the three categories of the Jewish Bible—the Psalms, the Law, and the Prophets—are all represented in this brief section as Paul drives home the fact that Jesus came for the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Verse 12, "And again Isaiah says, ‘There shall come (be) the Root of Jesse, and He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, in Him shall the Gentiles hope.'"
The Messiah, who comes from the Root of Jesse, the father of David, will rule over both His ancient people Israel and over the Gentiles. The Messiah is the hope of the nations. At one time the Gentiles were without hope (Eph.2:12) but now because of Christ's life, death and resurrection for all men, all men may have hope.
[All men who come under Messiah's rule have hope, both now and at Jesus' glorious return when He comes to rule the nations. This hope is the hope of redemption, in this hope the church is to be unified and united. This hope demands patient expectation. The essence of hope is that we and/or situations will be changed from bad to good, and eventually all will be changed for our eternal good.]
[There is a beautiful progression in the promises that Paul quoted in Romans 15:9-12.
* The Jews glorify God among the Gentiles (15:9, quoting Ps. 18:49).
* The Gentiles rejoice with the Jews (15:10, quoting Deut. 32:43).
* All the Jews and Gentiles together praise God, (15:11) quoting Ps. 117:1.
* Christ shall reign over both Jews and Gentiles (15:12, quoting Isa. 11:10).
In light of the magnificent, gracious, and sovereign plan of God–disclosed in part in His ancient revelation to Israel–Jews can have no grudge against Gentiles, because their calling, their very purpose for existing, was to reach Gentiles for the glory of the Lord. The Gentiles can have no grudge against Jews, because it was through the Jews that God brought them salvation.]
III. ABOUNDING IN HOPE, 13.
As we join with the working of the Lord Himself to reach His world we will receive the exhilarating benediction found in verse 13. "Now may the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
A beautiful prayer of blessing closes this passage. This intercession is for all the family of God, the entire unified Body of Jesus Christ. His petition is to "The God of Hope." God is so titled because He is the author of all true hope and specifically has given mankind hope for a bright eternal future in Jesus Christ.
This God of Hope fills His servants with joy and peace through faith or believing. ["Hope, joy, and peace" are ingredients needed in great measure by those whose commitment is to edifying those who are trying to bring unity to a church in conflict.] This means that faith in God as a source of hope causes joy and peace to grow within us. Let the joy and peace of your hope pour forth on your friends and neighbors. Let your joyful and peaceful nature grow more expansive and expressive. Be a person who knows that eternal good is in store for you. Believe in God's good and perfect purpose for you and walk on, shine on, and every one you know will want to go with you.
Genuine faith also results in an overflowing of hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Here is the supreme need of men. It is not that we do not know the right thing, but we have trouble doing it. Our hopes, our good intentions, and aspiration remain unattainable without Holy Spirit power. We cannot overflow with hope until Christ's Holy Spirit power fills our weaknesses and masters our dreams. By ourselves our visions are delusions but through Christ we can accomplish all things.
"What is hope? Hope is the solid expectation of coming good. Hope is the antidote for divisiveness and defensiveness. And throughout Scripture, hope is most often referred to in conjunction with the coming of Jesus Christ. The culmination of hope is the fullness of time, the parousia, the glory of a new universe which all believers will inherit together. Those filled with such hope of Christ's return will overflow with joy, peace and hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. [Therefore, why divisively argue and debate here on earth, for soon we'll be in heaven with Jesus, where all questions will be answered, all divisions will cease].
[After spending the first half of chapter 15 talking about unity in the body, Paul put in the clutch and shift gears to discuss ministry in the world. Why? Because the two are very closely related. When does unity in the church happen? When people are ministering in the world. Check out a Billy Graham Crusade. It's amazing who's on the platform. Ministers and denominations that normally wouldn't speak to one another are brought together for one purpose: to let folks know that heaven is around the bend and that there's hope in Jesus Christ.
A tourist approached a farmer in Iowa and said, "Don't you think all these fences ruin the beauty of the fields out here?"
"Yep," said the farmer—"until the corn starts growing. When the corn starts growing you don't even see the fences."
When are fences seen in the church? When there's no fruit. That's when the divisions become real and pronounced. But when there's growth and fruit, evangelism and ministry, the fences of factionalism disappear. That is why the more evangelistic a church is, the less divided it becomes." [Courson, S. 993]
CONCLUSION
Yes, there is real hope. It is easy in light of personal experience to despair in one's life. It is easy in light of current events to despair for the world. When we surrender to Jesus' rightful rule in our life and let Him unite us into a local body of believers, who are glowing in faith and in the praise of His glory, we experience the hope we need to turn sadness and depression into joy, to turn frustration and turmoil into peace.
Will you come unite with us and let the Lord of Hope fill you with joy and peace in your believing, so that you may overflow in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit? Come experience the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, who makes us one in the Lord Jesus Christ.
