December 9, 2001 Romans 15:4-13
4 For 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.
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs 9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written:
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.”
10 Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.”
12 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.”
13 May 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.
Dear friends awaiting the Coming of Christ,
As you look at this cup, is it half empty or half full? This kind of question is made it have you reflect upon the way you look at life. Are you an optimistic person or a pessimistic person? With many of us I think it depends on the time of year, what kind of day, or what period of life we are in. Whereas we would like to be optimistic all of the time, it’s a difficult attitude to achieve.
Maybe that’s what made Paul such an interesting person. Even in just reading his letters you can sense an over riding attitude of optimism, joy, and hope. And in this letter to the Romans, he prayed that they might have the same kind of hope. The exact phrase that he uses is, “that we might have hope”.
Is that what Advent is all about? It’s about hope. Looking forward to not only the first coming of Christ, but also the second coming of Christ. And so as we look at this letter to the Romans, we will also pray with Paul, that
We Might Have Hope
I. In a hopeless situation
When Paul wrote this letter to the Romans, he wasn’t writing it with the intention of staying in Rome long. He had actually planned on making Rome his basis for going farther west - to Spain. This congregation in Rome would only be his stepping stone to the west. But when you cross a river, you need to pick stones that won’t give way while you’re stepping on them. This congregation in Rome was already well founded. The only problem with it was that it was an odd shaped rock. It seemed to be made up of different kind of sediments and crushed together - in an almost fragile manner. Paul wasn’t ready to step on it yet. So he wrote this letter to shore up the base at Rome - to make sure they were a solid church.
What made this congregation so strange? It was made up of an odd combination of Jews and Gentiles. This would be like putting K-State and Nebraska fans in the same stadium to cheer for the same team. One would want to call the name the Huskers, while the other would want to wear purple. How could they ever come together? It wouldn’t be easy. The same was true of these Jews and Gentiles. The Jews were used to living under their Old Testament regulations - with circumcision being the norm, and the well known worship forms from their synagogues. But the Gentiles, on the other hand, had a totally different background. They were used to worshiping idols, and had grown up in sexual immorality and violence. Now that both were converted to Christianity, it was a virtual hodgepodge of backgrounds and experiences. How would they put all this together?
A very specific problem came to head when it came to the eating of meat that had been sacrificed to idols. They would take the leftover meat from these sacrifices and sell it at the marketplace. Somehow the markets would designate what meat was leftover from idol sacrifice and what was not. The Jewish Christians knew that these so called idols were fake anyway, so they didn’t have any problem buying and eating that meat. But the Gentile Christians were converted away from this idol worship, and they hated anything to do with that meat - their consciences were very against eating it. And so here was a case where the Gentiles didn’t like it when the Jews ate the meat, but the Jews didn’t have any qualms about it. God’s Word didn’t say there was anything wrong in and of itself with eating this meat. It was, what we call adiaphoron - something neither commanded nor forbidden by God, and yet it was causing problems in the congregation.
You could see how Paul would have had problems getting Jews and Gentiles to worship together in the same congregation. But isn’t it sad when a congregation still can’t get along even with a common heritage and customs? How many times have you heard of members leaving a church because they didn’t like the personality of the pastor, the melody of a song, the color of the carpeting, or the amount of money that was spent on a new copying machine? I can recall serving at a congregation which inherited a large amount of money from one of it’s members. But what happened as a result? There seemed to be a power struggle over who would get the money and where it would go! It was just money. There were no souls at stake! But they squabbled and politicked until they got what they wanted. It’s ok to get excited over doctrinal and spiritual matters. But to allow something that is neither forbidden nor commanded by God to come between you and your God or your fellow Christian? If I told you that one of our members hasn’t been here for three months, how would you react? But if I then said we will be installing pink carpeting in the church next week, how would you react? What’s more important? It isn’t right. It’s actually sinfully weak to allow adiapohora to effect your relationship with God.
So Paul prayed that there would be a “spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He wanted them to be of one heart - with the same faith - and of one mouth - with the same confession - as they follow Christ Jesus. He asked for the Jews to put up with the weakness of the Gentiles’ faith, and for the Gentiles also to make provisions for the customs and practices of the Jews. He wanted them to accept each other for the way they were, when it came to matters of adiaphora - how they worshiped and what they ate, etc., things that were neither commanded nor forbidden by God. And he wants the same for us!
II. With the encouragement of Scriptures
But how would this peace come about? How would they be able to accept one another? First of all, look at the prayer that Paul prayed. May God . . . give you a spirit of unity. He prayed that God would GIVE them this spirit of unity. Isn’t that a neat concept in and of itself? The idea that we can’t get along unless the Holy Spirit gives us this gift! It shows how utterly weak we are - that we can’t even get along unless God gives us the ability to do so!
Just as we don’t have our gifts fall out of the sky on Christmas, so also God just doesn’t drop unity in our laps. God uses ways of bringing this peace to us. But how does God DELIVER this peace? Through the encouragement of Scriptures. The literal word for “encouragement” is parakaleo. It also means to comfort someone in bereavement or in temptation. When my children aren’t getting along, I will usually raise my voice and say, “knock it off.” I might even have to get up, physically drag them apart, and then make them say they’re sorry in order that they can get along. He would have every right to just thwap us in the head and say, “knock it off. But what does God do? Instead of dragging us by the arm and saying, “come on, get along!”, he encourages us - comforts us to do it with His Word.
For instance, just look at how Paul encourages the Jews and Greeks to get along. He says, Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you. Why did Christ accept the Romans? Why does he accept you? Is it because you are better than other people? Is it because you have more money than other people? No. Paul said in Ephesians 2, when we were dead in our transgressions and sin, God made us alive in Christ. Christ accepted us because He died for us, paid for our sins, and bought us to be His children. His total basis for acceptance is based on HIS grace, HIS mercy, and HIS will, with no merit or worthiness in us. We are all sons of God through FAITH in Christ Jesus. Not because of how we look or what we do. We know that we are acceptable in God’s sight because Jesus lived a perfect life and died an innocent death in our place. Every day God puts up with our weaknesses and lives with us and in us even though we aren’t perfect as he is!
So Paul said to the Romans, let that be your motivation to accept others. Think of how patient God was with the Israelites. Time and again they kept rebelling against him. But instead of wiping them out, he disciplined them. He sent them into slavery. He punished them. But he didn’t wipe them off the face of the earth. He saved for himself a remnant to still have the Savior. And even though the Gentiles tried to thwart God’s plan of salvation by murdering and wiping out the Israelites, God still had a plan for them. Paul quoted the Old Testament which said,
Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.”
10 Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.”
12 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.”
These passages proved that the Gentiles weren’t just an afterthought in God’s plan of salvation. He had always planned to bring them into his kingdom even through the Old Testament. Therefore, if God was willing to put up with both races, they should be willing to put up with each other.
What’s the lesson for you? Do you find yourself growing impatient with your pastor? Your spouse? Your child? Your fellow church member over things that have nothing to do with the truth of God’s Word? Say to yourself, “If the HOLY Spirit can put up with my lustful thoughts, my short temper, or my greed, then I can surely put up with my spouse. If the Holy Spirit can put up with my temper, then I can live with my bosses temper. If the Holy Spirit can live with my laziness, then I can endure my child’s laziness. If God can forgive me for my weaknesses, then I can forgive them.” That doesn’t mean that you are supposed to accept all behavior or let everything go. But it does mean that you accept their WEAKNESSES or their actions that are neither commanded nor forbidden by God. Just because your spouse snores is no reason to get divorced. Just because you may not like the decision that a fellow Christian has made, it’s no reason to stop talking to him or hold a grudge. You may not like some things about the WELS. You may not like our style of liturgy. You may not like the new sign out front or the doors or the midweek school. But as long as we’re teaching God’s Word in it’s truth, and practicing what we preach, is it worth getting that worked up over? Paul said to accept each other as Christ accepted you.
III. For the unity and growth of His kingdom
Why should we do this? In grade school I used to stop by at my neighbor’s house to go to school. It seemed like every morning I did this the mother was angry with the kids for not getting up in time. Someone was always yelling at someone. It was complete chaos. So I really kind of dreaded walking in the door. Their disharmony kept me from wanting to come there. Why would anyone want to come to a church where no one got along?
So Paul wanted the Romans to be in unity with each other, “in order to bring praise to God,” and also “so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” If they were able to get along with each other, then they would be able to concentrate on praising God - and overflow with hope as the Holy Spirit filled their souls with the Word of God. This would attract people into His kingdom, and enable Him to work in more souls then! And if we are able to get along in the minor things - like how to build the kitchen downstairs or how many potluck dinners to have, then we can concentrate on growing in God’s Word and attracting others.
Do you see, then, how this idea of acceptance and unity connects with the whole Advent theme? When Jesus came the first time, He set us free from our prison of sin, from our slavery to the devil, and from this corrupt world. He did this by serving us - giving up his freedoms of power and might to be confined to the flesh on an infant. He gave up the freedom to live forever to be nailed to a tree. By this one crucifixion Jesus destroyed whatever differences there are between Jew and Gentile. All are sinners made holy by the sacrifice of Christ. When Jesus died for us and gave us faith in him, he then enabled us to serve him in freedom. He made us want to praise him for all that he did for us. And if we praise him, then we will draw more people into His kingdom and prepare them for His second coming. All this, that we might have hope and they might have hope for this future kingdom.
Have you ever talked to a pessimistic person about their future? You know, the kind that when you ask how they’re doing they say, “oh, not to good. My doctor said I’ve got to have my nose roto-rootered, my kid has a drooling problem, I might lose my job, and chances are I’m going to catch an infectious skin disease in the next year.” It makes you wonder how they can live with so many negative thoughts.
Paul doesn’t want us to live like that. He prayed that the Romans and we “might have hope.” Are you God’s answer to Paul’s prayers? Do you live with that hope - knowing that every day you live, God loves you and forgives you and accepts you through the blood of Christ - knowing that when Jesus comes He’ll take you home to heaven? It’s not easy to do, always looking forward to the future, and not being pessimistic. Especially when there’s so many negatives in this world. So there’s only one way to have it. Stay in the Word. Keep listening to the gospel of Christ. Through it, you will live with each other in peace. And through it, God will encourage you to have that hope of salvation, and endure until Christ comes again. Amen.
