The Filling Station
Text: Romans, Chapter 15
The last two Sundays, Larry Grounds and I have gone to Palestine and preached in prison in prison and worshipped God with the congregation of the Lord’s people at the Powledge Unit. It has been a great two weeks.
The first Sunday we preached there—December 29th—Larry and I started back home, and I knew I was running low on gasoline and that we needed to stop at a station and fill up the tank.
Now from Powledge to Frankston—a distance of about 45 miles—there are NO places to get any gas. There was one little place outside of Palestine that has a sign saying “Discount Gas”. There were two little pumps outside a pitiful building that looks as though it was built out of cardboard boxes.
As I passed it by, I said, “No. I don’t need any bad gas for my little truck!”, even though the gas was probably just fine. I thought to myself, “I think I have enough gas to get to Frankston.” I thought that Larry was blissfully unaware of our gas shortage.
About the time I was thinking that, Larry piped up and said, “Doug, are we about to run out of gas?” To which I replied, “Larry, we’re running on fumes, but I think we can make it to Frankston.”
I knew Larry was probably thinking about having to walk on his bad leg joint, so I reassured him that if we didn’t make it, I would walk for gas and he could sit in the truck while I did.
Well, we made it—riding on fumes!
I got to thinking about the value of gas stations on the roadside and even got to thinking about the history of service stations.
When Henry Ford started to mass-produce cars, he changed our world. When he first built the car, we could finally go long distances in a relatively short time. So, next came the need for “real” roads for the cars to ride on.
Some of you are old enough to remember what roads were like at first—dirt wagon trails with plenty of holes, and plenty of obstacles—not at all like we have today. Anyway, we could go farther faster, but now we needed places to fill the cars up with gasoline or we would run out of energy. So gasoline service stations started to pop up all over the country.
There was another name for them though, before we started referring to them as “service stations” or “gas stations”. Again, the older folks remember and the younger people probably don’t know they were called “filling stations”. They were the place we went to “fill-up” with gasoline.
We called that “progress”. In a few years, we progressed from “filling stations” to “service stations”. That’s because they “serviced” the needs of the automobile. You would stop at a “service station” and a guy would come out. You would tell him to “fill it up”, and he would—plus, he would wash your windows, check your water and oil level, check your tires for air, and then take your money. Oh, one more thing he would do—he would say, “We appreciate your business! Come back again!”
Now I can hear the younger people say, “I don’t believe that!” However, it really did happen that way…long, long ago.
Then “progress” came along again. The service stations started a “special” line called “self service”, which sold you gas a little cheaper if you pumped it yourself—no windshield washing, no checking water, oil, or the air in your tires.
Oh, best of all, we’ve finally “progressed” so far that the price of gasoline is now about $1.25 more per gallon than it was when you actually got “SERVICE”. And forget about, “We appreciate your business and come back again!” Boy—that’s progress…
I think we might feel like the Native Americans. They hunted and fished all day until the white man came along with “civilization”. Now they work all day and night and only get to fish once every 2 months! Yep—that’s progress!
In the Book of Romans, the apostle Paul is telling us about the “TRUE” progress of mankind. Paul tells us about how we came from nothing TO something! He tells us how we came to a filling station—a place where we can fill up with all the energy we need for this life—and for eternity too!
Paul now comes to the end of his letter, which we call the Book of Romans. This is the next to last chapter in the book, and Paul will save the last chapter for a special purpose—a personal purpose of his own. We’ll talk about that next week.
But for now, let’s think back over the past few weeks—
· Think about how Paul has brought us to the knowledge of who we were—
· about the knowledge of what we have become—
· and about how we are now expected to perform!
Paul will explain how we have all been brought together at the “filling station”.
We began this series of lessons saying that the apostle Paul was a man on a mission to bring mankind a message from God—
· A message that has existed for almost 2000 years!
· A message that has been read and analyzed by Billions of people…
· A message that the apostle Paul and others have risked everything, including their lives, to bring to all of us…
These men and women were fulfilling the commission Jesus gave them in Mark 16:15…
---15---He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
Jesus was saying, “Go fill the world up with the Gospel.”
Paul centered his message around Romans 1:16 & 17. He prefaced this statement with his comments in verses 14 and 15.
1:14 & 15
---14---“I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
---15---Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the Gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
Then, in verse 16, he said…
---16---“I am not ashamed of the Gospel, it is God’s power unto salvation….”
---17---“For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith…”
In Romans, Chapter 1, Paul described the most vile of men—the one who thinks he doesn’t need God. This man will live just like he wants to, and Paul said that God’s wrath will be revealed to this man.
Then Paul talked about the “good moral man” who attempts to save himself based on his own righteousness. However, this man is also lost, because he can never be righteousness enough.
Then there is the “religious man”. Paul said this man lived by the Law, but he too is lost, because no one could keep the Law perfectly, and that is what salvation would demand.
Then Paul asks, “Who needs the Gospel?” The answer is “Everybody!”
· The man who lives the worst kind of life needs it!
· The “good moral man” needs it!
· The “religious man” needs it!
Why?
Romans 3:23
---23---“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
Why?
Well, it goes back to the Garden of Eden—to Adam and Eve—and they sinned. A Holy God cannot tolerate sin, so man is separated from his creator. At this point, mankind was “out of gas”—his engine was about to die…forever!
But God—there’s my favorite phrase in the Bible again—but God loved His creation, so He had a plan to reconcile man back to Himself. In other words, God would “fill man up with salvation gasoline”. And God planned to do this through His only begotten Son who would take on the sins of the world.
And through Jesus Christ, man could be justified and redeemed, and propitiation would be made for his sins. Jesus Christ would be the “filling station” for all who would come unto Him.
When we are brought to Jesus, we become a part of His body—the Body of Christ—which we call “the Lord’s Church”.
Some men thought God would save them based on the works of the Law. So, Paul asks the question in chapter 3, verse 1…
---1---“What advantage has the Jew?”
Paul then answers his own question by saying the Jew has a great advantage in every respect, because they were given the oracles of God. So, the Gospel went first to the Jew, but now they have no advantage.
Romans 3:9-10
---9---“What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are under sin;
---10---As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one.”
The Jews thought their car would run forever, because of who they were. But Paul tells them, “No”…they need to fill up with the same gasoline as everyone else—Jesus Christ.
Some Jews thought they would be saved because they descended from Father Abraham, but Paul told them Abraham was acceptable to God because of his Faith. He told them God promised Abraham all the descendants of the earth would be blessed through his seed—not all Jews.
The answer was that all mankind was blessed through the seed of Abraham—and that was because Jesus was of the seed of Abraham and all spiritual blessing was found in Him.
Yes, the Jews thought their car would run forever because of who they were and where they came from, according to the flesh. Paul told them they needed to fill up the same place everyone would—in the Body of Christ.
Paul explained that all mankind can have hope—Christian Hope—that comes through Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1-2
---1---“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
---2---Through whom also we have obtained our introduction by Faith into this Grace in which we stand; and we exult in HOPE of the glory of God.”
Paul goes on to explain that when Adam sinned, death came into the world, because all have sinned. This was the legacy left by the one—Adam.
We were running out of gas with no hope. As Adam left the legacy of death, so Jesus Christ brought the legacy of life through his name. We all need hope—hope that comes only when we are filled with Christ. We are to live a life in the Spirit.
We are to no longer to live in sin, because sin is contrary to our baptism according to Romans, chapter 6. We are buried with Christ in baptism to rise and walk in the newness of life—that’s life in the Spirit. That’s the energy God provides us to “drive” through this life and through eternity.
And what should Christians say?
The answer is found in Romans, chapter 7.
---7---“Thank God we are free at last!”
We are free from the bondage of sin and death.
Romans 5:5
---5---“Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy spirit who was given to us.”
“…God’s love poured into our hearts…”—we are filled up.
As the glory of God came to the tabernacle in the days of Moses—
As His Glory descended on His temple that King Solomon built, and the temple would be rebuilt by Zerubabel after the Babylonian captivity—
Now God’s glory is brought to his people!
Paul explains in 1st Corinthians 6:19.
---19---“…or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God?”
We have been “filled up” by God’s glory, and since we have been shown mercy by God, Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-2—
---1---“I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies, a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
---2---And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Yes. We have been graced—“Grafted & Gifted”—and since we have received this fuel, we are expected to “drive our car” in a certain way. A way that serves as an example to all those around us. We are to use our gifts and abilities to serve and edify each other, as we live and grow in the body of Christ.
Paul says every one of us is important in the Body, and we all need each other to function correctly. We come from diverse backgrounds—some Jew, some Greek, some men, some women, some slave, some free. But we are all one in the Body—we are to love and get along with each other.
In the Lord’s church, Paul tells us in Romans, Chapter 14, that some might be strong and some might be weak. But, as servants of Christ, both are acceptable to God and should love and accept each other. This is accomplished with the Law of Love, wherein each does what is necessary to build each other up.
Unity.
Now, as Paul brings this letter to its conclusion in Romans, chapter 15, he begins with the thought of the strong and weak Christian. In the first three verses, Paul tells us we are to be “filled up” with the Spirit of Unity in the body of Christ and he tells us how to do that.
Romans 15:1-3
---1---Now we who are strong ought to bear the weakness of those without strength and not just please ourselves.
---2---Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.
---3---For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached Thee fell upon Me.’
We should deny our self-serving interest and, “bear the weakness of those without strength”, and we must not and cannot “please ourselves”. Jesus set the example because Jesus did not please Himself.
Paul told us to do it and in 1st Corinthians 10:31-33, he tells us that he did it himself.
“Whether, then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the Church of God; just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.”
In Romans 15:2, Paul says, “Let each of us please his neighbor….”. Who is our neighbor? The Greek word for neighbor translates to “whoever is near”. Paul tells us we need to please our “neighbor for his good”. This “good” should not be confused with our neighbor’s comfort or his pleasure.
What does our neighbor need the most? He needs salvation—he needs to know God through the person of Jesus Christ.
We need to be filled up with unity, and it comes as we look after the interests of others and not ourselves.
Perseverance and Encouragements.
Paul says we need to be filled up with perseverance and encouragement, and that comes through the Word of God.
---4---“for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scripture we might have hope.
---5---Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus.”
Filled With Glory.
---6---“…that with one accord, you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
---7---Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the Glory of God.”
We need to be filled with the “Covenant Lord”…
· Acts 7:2 “…the God of Glory…”
· Romans 15:13 “…the God of Hope…”
· Romans 15:33 “…the God of peace…”
· 2nd Corinthians 13:11 “…the God of Love and peace…”
· 1st Peter 5:10 “…the God of all Grace…”
Hope.
Romans 15:13
“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.”
The world tells us to “fill up” with what they think is important—a new & better job—a better location—a different doctor—a different church, or no church at all—better behaved children or a better spouse. But, this is not the filling station we need. This does not give us Hope!
Paul tells us we need to be filled with the right things. In the last part of Romans 15, Paul says…
Romans 15:24
---24---“Whenever I go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you…”
What is Paul saying?
He is saying, “I want to be filled up by my brethren in Christ on my way to Spain.” Paul needed to receive that gas fill up too!
Conclusion.
We need to be filled with the right things—
· Unity
· Love
· God’s Glory
· Hope
· Joy
· Peace.
And we will live in the fullness of the blessings in Christ, which provides us with every spiritual blessing. Jesus said, “I come to give you life more abundantly.” That’s the life Paul speaks of when he talks about life in Christ’s body—our filling station!
Ephesians 1:23
---23---“…which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
Ephesians 3:19
---19---“…and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
Invitation.
There is a story of a COW that best illustrates how important it is to be completely filled up with Jesus Christ.
A city slicker moved to a farm and bought a cow from one of the local farmers. Shortly thereafter, the cow went dry. The framer got word and he was completely surprised.
The city man said he was surprised to, because he had been so considered of the cow. He said , “ If I needed a quart of milk then I just took a quart, and if I didn’t need any milk that day, well, I just didn’t milk her at all.”
The farmer had to explain to the city man that the only way to keep the milk flowing was not to take as little as possible from the cow, but to take as much as possible.
God is willing to fill us up with every thing we need , so we need to accept it all.
Is your tank full this morning? It starts with Jesus Christ,because He is the Christian’s “FIILING STATION.”
