Love and Unity in the Community
Romans 14:1-15:13
INTRO: A man said: I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. I immediately ran over and said, “Stop! Don’t jump!”
“Why shouldn’t I?” he said. I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!” “Like what?”
“Well ... are you religious or atheist?” “Religious.” “Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish?” “Christian.”
“Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?” “Protestant.” “Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?” “Baptist.”
“Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?” “Baptist Church of God.”
“Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?” “Reformed Baptist Church of God.”
“Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?” “Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!” To which I said, “Die, you heretic scum!” and pushed him off.
Have you ever had an issue with another brother or sister in Christ? If you said no to this question, I would suggest that you are not being completely truthful. I don’t know of any Christian who hasn’t had an issue with another Christian.
However getting along with one another is an important part of the Christian life. Jesus prayed for the unity of believers in John 17:20-23 in which He prayed in verse 20, “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” And in verse 23, “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.”
It’s important to have unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ so that the world may come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without this unity we find the world in confusion of who Jesus really is and just how us having a relationship with Him would make their life any better.
If those who are Christian can’t get along, then why would any non-Christian have a desire to be a Christian. Their life has enough problems already and to them, if Christians don’t get along, why would they want to add that to their lives?
In our text today Paul is telling the Christians at Rome to accept each other. The weak accept the strong and the strong accept the weak. To the Corinthian church Paul condemned the division among Christians in 1 Cor. 1:10, “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”
But unity doesn’t come easily. It didn’t come easily in the early church and it doesn’t come easily for the church today.
In the early church the Jewish Christian were reluctant to accept the Gentile Christians, Acts. 15:1-5 and the knowledgeable Christians weren’t always considerate as seen in 1 Cor. 8:10-12.
In the church today there are people from all different kinds of religious backgrounds which at times cause strife and divisions. Some come from no religious background and come with backgrounds of certain sins that are appealing to many long time Christians. Sometimes those in the church don’t want to accept those who have tattoos, or body piercing, or maybe those who just kind of look different to them. You name it and many times us Christians can have a problem with almost anything.
ILLUS: The story is told of two struggling churches in a small town who decided it would be better for the two churches to join together so they could make one strong church however the merger never happen. The people in the church had a controversy over the Lord’s Prayer.
One group preferred, “forgive us our trespasses” while the other group preferred, “forgive us our debts.” Because of this they two churches didn’t join into one church. Eventually both churches ended up closing.
Christians often get into disputes over things that really are meaningless, things that are not salvation issues and the church becomes unappealing to those outside the church and to many in the church, as I said last week, millions of Christians have left the church in the last 20 years.
Most, if not all of our issues arise when we talk about “what” we believe rather that in “whom” we believe.
ILLUS: In the Holman New Testament Commentary on Romans it says, “Generally speaking, when Christians get their focus off the center of their faith, Jesus Christ, and get it onto peripheral matters, disunity sets in. On the mission field, where the greatest priority is telling people about Jesus, it is much easier to stay focused than it is in congregations where evangelism and discipleship have lost their priority. Once institutionalism sets in, the church finds lots of things to disagree about.”
Now you might think that the church in Rome wasn’t institutionalized yet. It hasn’t been around that long. But in fact the church at Rome probably existed at the time of Paul’s writing for about 20 years.
How many churches have you seen in their first 20 years go through problem after problem after problem? And Paul is dealing with some problems in the Christian church at Rome in our text today. Paul’s ultimate goal in addressing these issues is there may be love and unity in their community of Christians.
In his effort to restore love and unity in their Christian community Paul asked the Christians at Rome to do 4 things.
Stop Fighting (14:1-12)
Read Romans 14:1-12
What was it that they were fighting about? Well clearly they were making judgements about what each other were doing. The weak had not yet come to the maturity of the stronger hence there were differences over several issues.
The two main issues they were fighting about is concerning food and days. Some felt that certain foods shouldn’t be eaten, some others or likely the same felt that some days should be reserved as special days. On the surface of this argument you might say that this is a classic argument between the Gentile Christians and the Jewish Christians. You might even say that this is an argument that you would find the Judaizers making. But is not necessarily the case.
As our text indicates this argument stems from some of the Christians being weak and some being strong. The weaker ones, especially the weaker Jewish Christians would have had a hard time turning from what the law told them about the observing certain days and abstaining from certain meats. While the stronger Christians would have already matured past these issues.
The weaker Christians certainly knew that in Christ they were free from observing special days and they could eat all meats or any food for that matter, that God created. Jesus declared all foods clean in Mark 7:18-19, “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)”
Paul also declared to the Galatians that observing special days were part of the old way of life, before they were Christians. Gal. 4:9-11, “Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.”
Even though these weak Christians at Rome knew they were free from these things it’s still hard to stop following a way of life that you have followed all of your life.
ILLUS: How many of you have known an older couple who got married? By older I mean past the age that we normally see people getting married. You could include those in their 30’s and up. It’s not always a pretty picture at first is it?
Matter of fact sometime people who get married young have difficulty sometimes as well as they join their two lives together.
ILLUS: When I got married it was hard getting used to the way Maria did things. The main thing was food. I was used to the way my mom fixed food. When Maria would fix something like mom fixed I would always like mom’s better. I said that a few times, but then I learned it was better to keep my opinions to myself.
That’s just a small thing. But when we’ve had even a longer time living a certain way of life it’s even harder isn’t it?
It’s not only when an older couple gets married that there can be issues or fighting in a marriage. I’ve heard of multiple couples having problems adjusting to life after their husband or wife retires from their job. Those who have dealt with that adjustment know what I’m talking about.
So for these newer, weaker Christian to have issues with these things is understandable to most of us. The problem or the fight begins when these Christians make judgments concerning each other. The weak are judging the strong while the strong are despising the weak and all of this is over disputable matters.
What are disputable matters? Well another word that can be used in the place of “disputable matters” is “opinions”. Matter of fact that is the way the NASB reads.
Now how many times in your life have you had an issue, problem, or fight over your opinion? I would venture to say that you couldn’t, if you tried, remember how many times issues, problems, or fights have occurred over your opinion.
In the church an easy way to curb the issues and the arguments is like what I said before. Talk about “what” you believe and you have disunity. Talk about “who” you believe and you have unity.
The second thing Paul ask the Christians at Rome to do in order to restore love and unity in their community is…
Stop Overemphasizing Your Freedom (14:13-23)
Read Romans 14:13-23
While verses 1-12 emphasized that they stop their fighting over each others opinions, verse 13-23 are to those who are strong. Verse 13 says, “make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.”
Let me just open this up to everyone here (have the congregation respond). What are some obstacles, things that we (Christians) are free to do, that could be stumbling blocks to weaker Christians or to others coming to Christ?
Christian lingo
Having all of our programs only in the church building
Christian traditions which new Christians and non-Christian don’t understand
Some thing we abstain from
Dancing
Card playing
Having a little alcohol
Movies
Going into places that are generally not for Christians (Jesus was a friend of sinners)
ILLUS: I’ve asked this of some here before. What would you think if you saw me going into the bar up on the loop? Would you immediately judge me, would it make you stumble in your faith, or would you think I was going in there with a purpose of making friends with those who are non-Christian?
Should I not go there because I would get judged? Should I not go there because it might cause someone weaker to stumble? Or should I go in there because I’m trying to be like Jesus and be a friend of sinners? Maybe after the service you can answer those questions for me privately.
Here in this text, Paul is telling the stronger Christians that if you are doing something that has the potential to cause one of your weaker brothers or sisters to fall away then it is better not to do it. If their weaker brother or sister has an issue with the stronger brother or sister eating pork then don’t eat pork in the presence of that weaker brother or sister. If the weaker has a problem with strong drinking a little wine then don’t drink wine in the presence of the weaker.
In other words, don’t flaunt the thing you know you can do without stumbling because in the process of exercising your freedoms you may very well be causing your weaker brother or sister to fall away from the faith.
Do the things you know you can do that will not negatively effect your faith, but don’t do them in the presence of others whose faith will fail. Don’t overemphasize your freedoms.
The third thing Paul is asking the Christians at Rome to do in order restore love and unity in their community is…
To Understand And Tolerate The Weak (15:1-6)
Read Romans 15:1-6
I have been avoiding this subject not only in this sermon, but also for a while now concerning some of the things we are doing as a church. It’s the subject of music.
Why do you think we have moved over the years to the music we have today in this church? Maybe some think it is because we are just ignoring what the older generation and we don’t really care about what you think. To that I say that is not the case at all, we absolutely love everyone in the church, that includes from the youngest baby here to the oldest person here. We love and care about each one of you.
But let’s be honest, who are, or should be, the most mature, the strongest Christians in our presence today. Should it not be the Christians of the oldest generations?
Who are the less mature or weaker Christians in general? (This is not an all inclusive statement.) In general it is the younger Christians.
In addition, what generation of non-Christians are most likely to accept the life changing message of the Gospel and come to the church service? (Notice I said most likely, because anyone of any age can accept the message.) But most likely they will be younger and possibly with a family of young children who like the newer contemporary music.
The music we do as a church is for the purpose of being attractive to those who are younger and often weaker (but not always) and to be attractive to those coming from other churches (who may have just moved here) and to be attractive to those non-Christians who might come to our service.
I know that we have those here who do not like our music because you love the old hymns. I love those old hymns too, I very much enjoyed singing all of those old Christmas song on Christmas Eve as I know a lot of you did too. That’s part of the reason for singing so many of them.
But our Scripture today in Romans 15:1-3a, “We who are strong ought to bear with the failing of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself…”
I love the faith of our older generations who have stuck with us even though you are not enjoying everything in our Worship Service because you are living out this passage of Scripture. And for me it serves to make my faith stronger. For the church as a whole it make us united toward the goal of building each other up.
ILLUS: I once heard Ben Merold say that if the band at his church did the songs he liked, they wouldn’t be doing their job.
So the strong are called to give some things up so that others may be built up. So they can come to have a strong relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
But what do we do about some of the things the stronger Christian can do because of our freedom that may cause the weaker to fall away? Do we just give them up forever? No, because that is bound to cause division between the weaker and the stronger.
But here are some things we don’t do. We don’t despise the weaker as the Christians at Rome were doing. We don’t just blow the weaker one off and do them anyway. We don’t just try to exercise our freedom in secret.
Here is what we should do. We should try to build the weaker up. We talk to them in the love and will of Christ and loving explain the reason for our freedoms. We take them along side of us and mentor them.
In the case of me going into the bar on the loop (which I haven’t by the way), I might take the weaker Christian with me so he can see that I’m doing nothing wrong and am just trying to be like Jesus and be a friend of sinners.
In this way we build each other up in the unity of Christ.
The fourth thing Paul ask the Christians at Rome to do in order to restore love and unity in their community is…
To Accept One Another (15:7-13)
Read Romans 15:7-13
As Christ accepted the stronger Christian, He also accepts the weaker. As now God through Christ also accepts Jews and Gentiles He also accepts you without partiality of what your past is, or what your race is, or what your gender is, or what your past religion is. He accepts everyone who accepts the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But He calls for every Christian to live in the love and unity of the community of which you are placed so that the world may come to believe in the One and Only Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION:
Love and Unity in the Community, that is the hope of Paul for the Christians at Rome and that’s the hope of Christ for our Christian community today.
CHALLENGE:
This weeks challenge is to seek to restore love and unity with someone with whom you have lost love and unity with. Seek them out and do your best to restore that relationship.
I would love to hear if you are doing these challenges. I would also love to hear your story and to see it written out for others to see as well. I hope you are making an effort to write that. I would also love to hear if anyone was able to read through the Gospels last week, if you did please let me know.
Let’s pray.
