A. The story is told of a little boy who got into an argument with two boys twice his size.
1. The little boy drew a line in the sand and dared the two boys to cross it.
2. The two bigger boys accepted the challenge and crossed over the line.
3. Immediately, the little boy’s face lit up with a smile and he said, “I knew I could get you to come over to my side of the argument!”
4. Don’t you wish it was that easy to move people over to our side?
5. Don’t you wish that conflict resolution was that easy?
B. I don’t like conflict! How about you?
1. I much prefer to get along with the people in my life, don’t you?
2. But it seems to me that I could get along with everyone much easier if everyone was more like me and thought like me, don’t you think?
3. It’s our differences that account for our disagreements, right?
4. The truth of the matter is that we all have different backgrounds and have had different experiences.
5. This leads to different ideas, different opinions, different perspectives, and different values.
6. And, of course, most of us are convinced that our way of looking at things is right.
7. So when we encounter people who don’t agree with us, we may feel obligated to try to convert them to our way of thinking, and the result is often conflict.
8. And let me say it again, it seems that we would all be able to get along with each other much more easily if everyone thought like I think…just sayin’!
C. Even though I am joking about the fact that if everyone thought like me we could get along better, one of Paul’s challenges to the Romans in Romans 15 is that they should have one mind and heart – God’s.
1. In the first 11 chapters of Romans, Paul laid a theological foundation of the need of salvation for everyone, both Jew and Gentile.
2. And then, since chapter 12, Paul has been focusing on the call of discipleship that includes a complete spiritual offering of ourselves to God expressed in a sincere love for each other.
3. In chapter 14, Paul directly addressed the conflicts and divisions in the church at Rome.
4. Paul challenged them not to judge or look down on each other, nor do anything that would cause other Christians to stumble and fall into sin, but to do what builds others up.
5. As we turn to chapter 15, we see that Paul is not only wrapping up this discussion of handling differences in the body, but he is bringing his entire letter to a conclusion.
6. We will see that Paul encourages all of us to follow the example of our Lord in putting the good of others before our own interest, and he encourages us to seek a unity that will enable us to effectively praise God with one heart and one voice.
7. Let’s work our way, verse by verse, through today’s section and then draw some applications for our lives and for the body of Christ as a whole.
D. Paul wrote: 1 Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. 2 Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself. On the contrary, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” (Romans 15:1-3)
1. Although Paul had already indicated his agreement with the thinking of the strong group in Rome (14:14, 20), here in verse 1, we see that he identifies himself with them by using the first person plural.
a. He says, “we who are strong have an obligation” and so he includes himself in the strong group and obligates himself along with them to bear with the concerns of the weak.
b. Paul and others at Rome don’t see any problem with eating meat or drinking wine, and so forth, but there are those whose consciences are weak and will not allow them to do so.
2. When Paul says that the strong should bear the weaknesses of the weak, he is not asking them simply to be “put up with.”
a. The verb “bear” has the same force here that it does in Galatians 6:2, where Paul urged believers to “bear one another’s burdens” – not just put up with, but help carry.
b. The strong are to moderate their own conduct to accommodate the needs of the weak.
3. Why would or should the strong do that? Because the mature in Christ understand that the main goal is not pleasing themselves, but doing what is best for others.
a. That mature attitude mimics the example of Jesus who “did not seek to please himself.”
b. As you know, Christ didn’t hold on to His powerful position, but let go of it for our sake.
4. Paul quotes Psalm 69:9 and puts those words on Christ’s lips “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
a. “Me” in the quotation refers to Christ and “you” refers to God.
b. Jesus received the scorn that people were directing at God.
c. As Paul challenges the Romans with Jesus’ example, I wonder if he has in mind the insults that the weak believers in Rome may have been heaping on the strong.
d. Like Jesus, the strong in Rome should be willing to lovingly serve even those who are being harsh or nasty toward them.
E. Paul briefly inserts something here in verse 4: For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures (Romans 15:4).
1. Paul pauses for a second to remind us why he can cite the Old Testament the way he does.
2. “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us.”
3. While we are no longer under the Old Testament, and while it is no longer a direct source of our instruction, it continues to play a central role in helping us understand salvation history and our responsibilities in following God’s commands.
4. The ultimate goal of the instruction is “hope” and that “hope” comes through endurance and encouragement.
5. The Old Testament is full of stories of godly men and women who stood fast in the midst of persecution and apostasy and received God’s blessings and rewards – they are our faith heroes.
a. The example of others who endured and remained faithful is a great stimulus for our own perseverance.
6. The Old Testament also gives us encouragement and comfort as we witness God’s faithfulness to His people.
a. It is so encouraging and comforting to know that God keeps His promises and remains committed to His people even when they are not as faithful as they should be.
b. We, like the people of old, often stumble and fall, and often fail to love as we should, or we put too high a priority on our own pleasure or comfort.
c. God is not pleased with our failures, but He is always willing to forgive us and never turns His back on His own children, when we repent.
d. The Old Testament helps us to know this is true which gives us hope.
F. Next, Paul prays a beautiful prayer: 5 Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice (Romans 15:5-6).
1. In verse 4, Paul cited that the Scriptures give “endurance” and “encouragement” that leads to hope, and now in verse 5, Paul repeats those two words saying that they come from God and lead to unity.
2. Paul prays specifically that God Himself will grant them the ability to live in harmony.
a. Literally to “think the same way.” The NIV says, “to have a spirit of unity.”
3. In light of the fact that nowhere in Romans 14 did Paul insist that the weak should change their mind, it is unlikely that Paul is praying here that all the Roman believers would come to the same opinion on the matters that were dividing them.
a. Rather, Paul was praying that they may possess a unity of purpose that transcends those differences.
b. And we notice that it is a unity and way of thinking that is “according to Christ Jesus” – that is a unity founded on and modeled after Christ.
4. And that unity based on Christ and focused on Christ will enable everyone to glorify God with one mind and one voice.
G. In verse 7, Paul signals that he is concluding his plea for unity in the church at Rome by returning to the same message he began with in chapter 14, when he exhorted the strong to accept the weak, and the weak to accept the strong.
1. Paul wrote: Therefore accept one another, just as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God. (Romans 15:7)
2. As I have mentioned previously, to “accept” one another means not just to tolerate other believers but to welcome them as brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.
3. We are to welcome one another because Christ has welcomed each one of us.
4. What right do we have to refuse fellowship with the person whom Christ Himself has accepted into the body?
5. Christ accepted us to the glory of God, so we should accept each other so that God is glorified.
H. Paul draws attention to the significance of what he says next by using the rhetorical opening: “For I say…”
1. Paul wrote: 8 For I say that Christ became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers, 9 and so that Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy (Romans 15:8-9a).
2. Here Paul summarizes one of the key theological teachings of his letter – how the fulfillment of God’s promises in the gospel brings blessing to both Jews and Gentiles.
3. Here we see how Paul perfectly balanced the priority of the Jews and the full inclusion of the Gentiles.
4. Christ’s ministry to the Jews fulfills God’s promises and so enables Gentiles to “glorify God for his mercy.”
5. This thought takes us all the way back to chapter 1 where Paul declared his main theme: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. (Rom. 1:16)
6. The weak, mainly Jewish Christians, must accept the Gentile Christians because God’s ultimate purpose is to include them.
7. And the strong, mainly Gentile Christians, must accept the Jewish Christians and remember that the Jews have always been at the center of God’s concerns and promises.
I. Paul then supports what he says in verses 8-9a with a series of Old Testament quotations: As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praise to your name.” 10 Again it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people!” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples praise him!” 12 And again, Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will appear, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; the Gentiles will hope in him.” (Romans 15:9b-12)
1. The quotations point to the fact that God intends for His mercy to Israel to spill over to the Gentiles so that they can join together in praising His name.
2. The quotes Paul used come from 3 sections of the Jewish Scriptures: the Torah (Dt. 32:43, in v. 10), the Prophets (Isa. 11:10, in v. 12), and the Writings (Ps 18:49, in v. 9b; Ps. 117:1, in v. 11).
3. Each quotation refers to the Gentiles, and two of them make clear that the presence of the Gentiles in the people of God depends on the Jews, and two of them speak of praising God.
J. Paul concludes the section with a prayer: Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13).
1. Paul appeals to God to work among the Romans in such a way that the unity He urges on them becomes a reality and fills them with hope.
2. Only when the Christian Jews and Gentiles at Rome rejoice together in their common hope will they be able to praise God as God wants to be praised – with united hearts and voices.
K. So, as we bring today’s sermon to a conclusion, and as we conclude these three sermons on “The Cure for Conflict” (from Romans 14 and 15), how can we summarize the things we can do to avoid conflict and bring unity in the body of Christ?
L. First, let’s make it our goal to bear with one another.
1. That’s Paul’s prescription in 15:1: Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves.
2. The strong whose consciences might allow them freedoms in certain areas, must work to understand and accommodate the weak whose consciences don’t allow them such freedom.
3. The strong must not flaunt their liberty in front of the weak, and must not encourage them to do anything that would cause them to stumble and fall.
4. The strong must be more concerned about other people’s well-being than they are with their own comforts and pleasures, and freedoms.
5. This is following the example of Jesus and is showing Christ-like love.
M. Second, let’s make it our goal to please others.
1. That’s Paul’s prescription in 15:2-3: Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself.
2. Maybe you heard the fable about the old man who was traveling with a child and a donkey.
a. As they passed through a village, the man was leading the donkey and the child was walking behind.
1. The townspeople said that the old man was a fool for not riding on the donkey, so to please them he climbed on the donkey.
b. When he came to the next village, the people said that he was being cruel to make the child walk while he enjoyed the ride.
1. So to please them, he got off the donkey and set the boy on the animal’s back.
c. When they got to the third village, the people accused the child of being lazy for making the old man walk and suggested that they both ride.
1. So the man climbed back on and they set off again.
d. At the fourth village, the townspeople were indignant because the poor donkey was being overworked having to carry two people at the same time.
e. When last seen, the old man was carrying the donkey.
3. We can’t please everybody in everything, and Paul is not suggesting that we try.
a. But he wants us to be careful about pleasing ourselves without regard for how our actions affect other Christians.
4. That’s the point that Paul was trying to make with the Romans.
a. None of us is an island unto himself or herself.
b. We’re a family; a fellowship; a community.
c. And what we do affects others in the fellowship, so we must look out for their good, and do what will build them up and strengthen them in their faith.
d. That should be much more important to us than just doing what we want to selfishly do.
N. Third, let’s make it our goal to accept one another.
1. That’s Paul’s prescription in 15:7: Therefore accept one another, just as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God.
2. This is the same word and prescription that Paul gave when he first introduced this subject back in Romans 14:1.
3. The word means to receive, and to welcome warmly.
4. Both the weak and the strong are to accept each other into their fellowship and their favor.
5. We must not just put up with each other with suspicious glances; keeping each other at arm’s length, but we need to truly accept each other freely and enthusiastically, to reach out cordially and endeavor to make one another feel welcome and feel like an important part of the body.
6. We can have our differences of opinion, and we will have them - nothing can change that.
7. But we need to respect each others’s opinions even when we disagree.
8. And we need to let each other know that people and relationships are more important to us than pet peeves and cherished opinions.
9. When was the last time you reached out with warmth and affection to someone who is distinctly different from you, who holds an opinion clearly contrary to yours?
10. Do you now understand that that is required of you as a believer, because it is God’s command?
O. Fourth and finally, let’s make it our goal to live in harmony with one another so we can glorify God with one mind and one voice.
1. The phrase “live in harmony” translates a Greek word that means to “be of the same mind” or to be “likeminded.”
2. The New Living Translation calls it “complete harmony.”
3. I like that because harmony is what results when many different people sing different parts and yet because they are in proper relationship with each other it produces a pleasing sound.
a. Every choir contains different parts (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), and at any given moment, many people may be singing many different notes.
b. Yet, when done correctly, every note has a precise relationship to every other note so that the total sound produced is exactly what the composer intended.
c. The result is beautiful harmony.
4. True unity comes when everyone in the church is singing the same song even if our parts and notes are different, we sing them in a way that produces a united effort and beautiful harmony.
5. Another cool thing that came to my attention this week is the idea the hallelujah is a word that is sung the same way in every language, and everyone knows it means “praise the Lord.”
6. One American preacher went to France on a speaking engagement and arrived at the church before the scheduled service, and before the interpreter had arrived.
a. The French preacher was there and he and the American shook hands.
b. The American asked, “Do you speak English?”
c. The Frenchman shook his head and said in French, “Sorry, I don’t speak English.”
d. The two men awkwardly stood in silence, until the American remembered that hallelujah is a universal word, and he said, “Hallelujah!” and the Frenchman responded, “Hallelujah.”
e. The two men smiled at each other, although they did not speak the same earthly language, they could communicate spiritually, and the universal praise of God knit their hearts together as one.
P. So, with God’s help, let’s bear with one another, let’s seek to please others, let’s accept and welcome each other, and let’s live in harmony, being of one mind, heart, and voice in praise to God.
Resources:
Romans, The NIV Application Commentary, by Douglas Moo
Dealing with Differences, by Dr. Richard Strauss
God’s Multicultural Church, by Ray Pritchard
Inside the Wedding Ring, by Ray Pritchard
