Romans 15:1-13
“He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother”
Vs. 1-2 True mark of maturity
Vs. 3-13 No hopeless situations
Intro
The fifteenth chapter continues on the theme of Christian ethics dealing with how to handle the grey areas that we so commonly disagree on. The summation of what has already been written is found in the first verse of chapter 15, “We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” If Paul was to use today’s wording he might have started out by saying, “Lighten up”. The church can become so rigid and pessimistic that to the people outside the Church we don’t seem to believe what we preach that God wins! At a church board meeting the men gathered in prayer extolling the virtues of God, His power, presence and provision but no sooner had they said amen, than the pastor said, “Men the situation in the church is completely hopeless and nothing can be done!”
One board member boldly spoke up; “Pastor, before we go on with the situation I must say that either our prayer was full of meaningless words or your statement is untrue, because both can’t be true!” Dear saints, there are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them! In 1969 the Hollies adapted a Boy’s Town slogan into a hit with the words that sang, “The road is long with many a winding turn that leads to who knows where. But I’m strong, strong enough to carry him. He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.” That’s the heart attitude we should have towards our fellow believers that we see as weak!
Vs. 1-2 True mark of maturity
Vs. 1 Christians are to bear, not just forbear with patience the weaknesses of their fellow believers. The idea behind the word “bear with,” isn’t to put up with the person because they are such a burden but rather support them because you are stronger than they are. The word “ought” is a word that can be rendered “we owe it to them”. One of the most debilitating diseases in all of humanity is selfishness! It knows no limitations and has seemed to affect all of us at some time. That’s the illness Paul has been addressing with regards to Christians aesthetics. The true mark of maturity is not to be found in our liberties alone; Paul says, but in our ability to love, seen in laying those liberties aside for the benefit of others.
Vs. 2 So when you have to make a decision about some grey area you have the freedom to practice, you needed to ask yourself two questions:
Does this action please my neighbor? That is what Love is concerned with even if it means laying down our rights. J.B. Philips renders this: “We who have strong faith ought to shoulder the burden of the doubts and qualms of the weak, and not just to go our own sweet way. ” He has asked each of us to judge ourselves and to seek to please others before self. He has told us that instead of insisting on our rights we need to bear others’ wrongs , instructing them instead of insisting on our way. We are not to just endure those whom we consider weaker, we are to encourage them by cheering them on.
Does my giving up my freedom entrench my neighbor’s immaturity? Paul is not talking about being a “Man-Pleaser” as this wouldn’t fit under the definition of being “for their good or for their building up into maturity”. We need to make sure that we don’t give up when we give in, as we are called to please our neighbor but for their own good, leaving them room to grow beyond their insecurity.
Vs. 3-13 No hopeless situations
Vs. 3-12 These kinds of decisions are difficult to navigate to say the least. In the 1978 song by Kenny Rogers (The Gambler), he offered this advice, “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em! Know when to fold ’em! Know when to walk away! Know when to run!” So to encourage us Paul gives his readers four things that will help to “Know when to hold ‘em! When to fold ‘em, when to walk away and when to run”.
Vs. 3 The first example is Jesus who often encountered this problem. According to Psalm 69:9 Jesus was willing to pay a tremendous price in order to serve us. Have you ever felt that you were unfairly being called upon to make a sacrifice by having to give up something that you felt was your right? Listen how Paul speaks of this in the NLT translation Philip. 2:5-8 “Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.” The first thing to note with regard to Jesus is to realize that His compromise never involved displeasing or disrupting His relationship to the Father; as He said in John 8:29 (I always live to please Him). Laying down our rights doesn’t include laying aside our relationship to the Lord! The 2nd point Paul makes is that our decision mustn’t be predicated upon or motivated by people’s response or bullying. In other words when push came to shove Jesus was willing to please people but never at the expense of pleasing the Father!
You will see how Jesus practiced this in Luke 14:1-4, when the Pharisees took issue with Jesus healing on the Sabbath. He didn’t stop what he was doing. He continued, ignoring their protest and finally took the time to correct their misunderstanding of the truth with regard to the Sabbath. Yet on another time when they accused Him of not paying His taxes He sent Peter to catch a fish and when he would open the mouth he would find a coin to pay the taxes for both Peter and Himself and He said he was doing that so as to not to offend them. At another time in Luke 7:34 Jesus said there was no way to please some folks as they were upset at John the Baptist because he didn’t eat and drink and they were mad at Him because He did so with sinners. A person’s maturity is best measured not by how many years they have walked this earth with the personal knowledge of Jesus but rather how many times they have been willing to lay down their rights and privileges that they may be a blessing to someone else! So always seek to first please the Lord, Never let people’s reactions hinder you from pleasing the Lord, Realize some folks just can’t be pleased
Vs. 4 The 2nd thing we can count on to help us sort things out as it relates to behaving towards our fellow Christians in grey areas is the examples found in the scriptures, as the things written were done so for our learning. You can read of people like Moses, who according to Hebrews 11:25 “chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin”. There is the story of Jonathan, Saul’s son who took off his robe and yielded his right to the throne to David because he knew that God had given it to him. The key in all of these examples is that their actions were always motivated out of achieving the objective that God be glorified even if it meant they were not.
Vs. 5-6 The third thing we can count on to help guide us in our use of liberties is the Holy Spirit. No matter what the situation, the God of Patience and comfort will enable you to be like-minded (patient and full of comfort) towards one another. Often I find the biggest obstacle that needs to be overcome for me to discern the right way of handling my liberty is ME! Our almost 4 year old granddaughter Hannah is struggling with patience and has begun the habit of nagging every few minutes to see if she can get what she has requested a little faster. It isn’t working but it is annoying. I started to realize that’s probably what I sound like to the Lord, “Dad, can I, can I PLEASE, PLEASE, HURRY, HURRY!” Paul couches this in words of a prayer which suggest to me that the first place to start with when there is disunity is to bow your heart before the Lord and ask Him to grant unity where discord exists. Paul says, “pray for like-mindedness”. Two people with different opinions on non essentials will only come together if they first agree on the essentials and that is what we ought to be praying for. How do you know when you have achieved this unity in the Spirit? Well the outcome according to verse 6 will be praise to the Lord. Unity isn’t about compromising liberties it’s all about surrendering these up so that He alone will be praised. How often we fail to recognize that our chief aim is to glorify the Lord in all we say and do no matter what the cost to ourselves! Prayer is what starts the ball rolling which leads us to see our similarities instead of our differences which leads to our praising the Lord that He loves us in spite of us!
Vs. 7-12 The final thing that helps us sort through our decisions is to realize that God’s side is always on reconciliation and never on separation. The key word in this closing section is the word “ministry,” it appears 4 times and Paul uses three different Greek words in English it appears as “servant, minister and service”. The first word describes who we are, the 2nd word describes what we do and the third word describes how we are to do it! That was the purpose of Jesus’ sacrifice that in His body that through faith in Him that He would reconcile both mankind to God and people to people! In Isaiah 58:12 the prophet referred to Jesus saying, “Those from among you shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.” Our God has always been a missionary, God, One whose heart is always to put together what we are so prone to tear apart! Looking at these quotations it is not immediately apparent that there is a progression in the promises listed but there is:
Vs. 13 Paul concludes with a beautiful benediction of what you have available to achieve unity amongst the brethren. All the great words of our faith appear here: Hope twice, joy, peace, believing, abounding and of course the Holy Spirit by Whom all the above are appropriated to us to bring about this unity in the body of Christ. Saints, let’s try something new in our Christian life: “Let’s start believing our beliefs and doubting our doubts!” Instead of “Believing our doubts and doubting our beliefs!” Disunity and disagreement do not glorify God, in fact they rob Him of it. In Genesis 13:8 Abram talked it over with Lot over a disagreement and said, “This arguing between our herdsmen has got to stop,” he said. “After all, we are close relatives!” I might add another two reasons to Abram’s words, “It breaks Dad’s heart!” and “The neighbors are watching!”
Romans 15:14-33
“Nothing I asked for; but everything I hoped for” (part a)
Vs. 14-16 The Church at Rome
Intro
In most of the New Testament letters you want to look for the purpose the author had in writing and you will find it in Romans 1:11 where Paul wrote that he, “longing to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established.” He further clarified that in 16-17 as being; “the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Here in the last half of the 15th chapter Paul again brings this up having just written about the practical implications of this spiritual truth. He wasn’t writing because he felt the Roman Christians didn’t know what was right; he wrote to them because they needed to be reminded to do what they knew was right. In the 2nd part of this text that we will look at next, Paul will use himself as the example to follow as he refers to his own ministry.
A confederate soldier wrote in his diary these words:
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve and I was made weak, that I may learn to obey.
I asked God for health, that I may do great things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked God for riches, that I may be happy; I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked God for power, that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness, that I might feel the need for God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing I asked for; but everything I hoped for. And despite myself, all my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men, most richly blessed.
Looking at that Paul could have said, “I got nothing I asked for but everything I wanted!
Vs. 14-16 The Church at Rome
Vs. 14-16 Paul didn’t just preach the gospel he instructed believers how to live before God. Notice how Paul makes reference to the Godhead in verse 16, as he is a minister of Jesus Christ, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the gentiles would be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In verses 26-27 Paul is going to bring up to the Roman believers the financial commitment the Church provided so that he could bring an offering to Jerusalem to help the famine plagued believers living there. But before he does that he wants to mention that the greatest offering we can give is our lives, that always seeks to glorify God in every way. That is done by the continual work of the Holy Spirit who sets us apart for a holy purpose.
The final verses of the 15th chapter of Romans have two themes:
Vs. 14-16 The Church at Rome
Vs. 17-33 Paul’s ministry
Concerning the Church Paul started this letter by saying in Romans 1:8, “their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world.” Now in the 14th verse Paul elaborates on three reasons this was true;
Full of goodness: Paul says that this Church was effective throughout the whole world because they had the right motives. They were motivated by goodness; it acted the way it did because they were acting the way their Master had acted towards them. There was no ulterior motive behind their actions, just pure goodness!
Filled with all knowledge: This is a remarkable statement when we consider that the book of Romans is the most complete theological and doctrinal book in the New Testament. What he is saying here is that the Roman believers didn’t lack any spiritual understanding doctrinally; they had “all knowledge” in this regard. Now immediately we ought to begin to question why Paul wrote so much on “justification, sanctification, salvation etc.” if these believers already knew all this. I’ll leave you with that question to answer in a minute as we look at three things this church needed.
Able to admonish each other: Finally they were competent to counsel each other with regard to spiritual truth. I believe one of the characteristics of a healthy Church is that the pastoral staff of weekly counseling will be at a minimal amount! The reason for this is that the body of Christ will be acting as its own counselors and will be encouraging and coming alongside their brothers and sisters as they exercise their spiritual gifts. There are far too many Churches that have adopted an over dependence upon a select few folks instead of finding their place to serve.
Vs. 15-16 Yet with Paul’s observation as to the reason why this church’s faith was being spoken of throughout the world he also has three things they lack, hence the letter in the first place. Now you would think that a Church that was characterized by “all goodness, full knowledge, and as a body of complete counseling,” would not have anything it lacked but they did.
Vs. 15 Reminded of the truth: Now we can answer that question I first posed as to “why did Paul feel obligated to write about what he proclaimed they already knew?” The answer is that they leaked! Their problem wasn’t that they had never learned these great doctrinal truths but that having learned them they had forgotten what applying them would produce in their lives! In 2 Cor. 4 Paul writes of the fact we Christian’s are designed by God to be containers and as such we are to contain the “Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6). Having declared this truth he goes on to speak of a remarkable fact that such a priceless treasure of the Glory of God as seen in Jesus has been placed in “clay pots”! Ordinary every day, fragile hardened dirt. Paul goes on to inform us “Terracotta Pots” that this was designed so that all other clay pots in the world will see that the value of mankind isn’t in the pot but rather in Who it contains. Finally in this same section Paul goes on to say that not only do we hardened dirt pots contain the greatest treasure there has ever been but that God then allows our pot’s to be “hard-pressed, perplexed, persecuted and struck-down.” Hey, wait a minute, if we are “hard-pressed, perplexed, persecuted and struck-down,” we will crack and break and what’s in us will spill out and as a container we will be in constant need to be refilled. You got it! We were by design of the Master called to contain Jesus and leak! That is why in Romans 12:2 Paul tells his readers that being a living sacrifice involves the constant need to have our mind renewed. It never ceases to amaze me how I have no problem remembering worthless information but can’t remember people’s names. God knows this about our condition and repeats Himself to keep calling us back to reality. In 2 Peter 1:12 Peter wrote something similar saying, “I plan to keep on reminding you of these things—even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth.”
Vs. 16a A leader to follow: The 2nd thing this Church needed was someone they could look up to and follow as a pattern. Notice that Paul puts himself in that position as a servant that they could follow in being an offering that was acceptable. They could follow Paul’s example of how to behave in certain situations. I’m so thankful that when you put things together, you can look at the box and not just read the instructions, aren’t you? Paul was the picture on the box that they could look at in order to see how things ought to look when assembled correctly. It may sound a bit egotistical to suggest to folks; “Hey follow me if you want a pattern!” But when you consider Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 11:1 where he admonished them saying, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ”, then it makes perfect sense. We all need someone to point us up to Jesus when we are kicking at the dirt as we tend to forget that Jesus is still the undefeated Champ and nothing or no one will ever be able to dislodge Him from the throne!
Vs. 16b Sanctified by the Spirit: The final thing this church lacked is the completed sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. This isn’t a putdown; we all lack this and will until we are seeing Jesus face to face. We can be busy with the Holy Spirit working THROUGH us but the greater work is always the Holy Spirit’s work IN us. Furthermore we can fall into the trap of thinking that what the Holy Spirit is able to accomplish “through” us equals what He is accomplishing “in” us but this isn’t always the case. Because of the greatness and power of God, He is able to do amazing things through our lives but that has everything to do with Him and nothing to do with us. It isn’t the “gifts of the Spirit” that indicate the sanctification of the Spirit, it is the “fruit of the Spirit” that does!
Romans 15:14-33
“Nothing I asked for; but everything I hoped for” (part b)
Vs. 17-33 Paul’s ministry
Intro
We conclude with the 2nd half of these verses where Paul uses himself as the example to follow as he refers to his own ministry. He tells them in essence, “I got nothing I asked for but everything I wanted! Looking at Paul’s life and ministry reminds me of a more modern example in David Livingstone when he applied to the London Missionary Society they asked him where he would like to go and he replied “Anywhere, as long as it is forward!” Oh if we all could have such a heart!
Vs. 17-33 Paul’s ministry
Vs. 17-20 In the Spirit of a “leader to follow”, Paul now moves to the 2nd part of this chapter which was his own ministry.
He starts out with four examples they could apply:
Vs. 17 The first has to do with how he viewed success: Paul didn’t attach numbers or events as the keys to determine if he was being successful. Instead he looked to the basis of Who got the glory! How much better the church would be if all adapted Paul’s view of success and stopped the world’s definition of success based upon popularity. What matters is not what man thinks of my performance, what matters is what God thinks of my performance, and if I’m doing what He has called me to do in His power for His glory.And if He has declared it a success and of value. But if not; even if men praise it, sell books and gather from the four corners of the earth to marvel at my work, it is an utter failure!
Paul lists three things that kept him defining it that way:
Vs. 18 Paul only remembered what God had done: He kept the perspective that we are only instruments in the hand of the Master and can’t play a tune apart from Him playing masterfully through us. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t receive some flyer inviting me to go to some seminar with a lineup of Christian “superstars” that will be performing! We Christians seem to be very impressed with the instrument that God uses and not very impressed with the Master who can pick up any instrument and play perfectly not because of the quality of the instrument but rather because of the skill of the Master! Paul would have never allowed such a bio to be placed as a basis of enticing believers to come and hear him speak. When questioned by the Church in Corinth, asked for letters of recommendations he simply said that they were his letters! God doesn’t need my brilliant mind, dashing good looks, and eloquent oratory skills; thank God because as you have noticed I don’t possess any of these qualities. What He wants is my availability and brokenness and He uses me in spite of me! Dear ones, there is no limit to what God can do through any person who is willing to allow God to get all the glory for the work only He can do through them!
Vs. 19a Paul was reminded that any and all work that was accomplished was because of the Power of the Holy Spirit: The 2nd thing Paul could point to was that what He did was all powered by God! Too many folks in the Church today view the Holy Spirit as the horn on a locomotive, “It’s just there to toot, make some commotion; bring in some excitement, clear the tracks!” But the Holy Spirit isn’t for “commotion” He’s there for “locomotion!” The only correct way to speak to an instrument that moves you is to say, “Man the Master sure made you sound good!” There is a power from the Spirit of God that is unmistakable that at times people try to mimic with emotionalism or shouting and all kinds of theatrics but these aren’t the hallmarks of the Spirit’s power, transformation is!
Vs. 19b-21 Paul was reminded that success was not an isolated event: In the geographical list of “from Jerusalem to Illyricum” (further clarified in verse 26 where Paul also traveled and received an offering for the suffering believers in Jerusalem listing Macedonia and Achaia), Is Israel, Turkey, Greece, and Yugoslavia; well over 1,400 miles radius with varied cultures and traditions yet the gospel worked each and every time. In other words the gospel wasn’t limited to one culture through one servant which was a testimony not of Paul but of the power of the gospel to change lives. He saw his calling not to fish in other peoples aquariums but instead to go out to the untapped oceans of humanity where he could truly be a fisher of men. It was for this reason that he continued his practice to go to where no man has gone before. Paul knew that the power lay not with the messenger but with the Holy Spirit, as the scriptures testified. Right here in these two verses I believe we can see two reasons why the westernized church doesn’t resemble the early church found in our Bibles:
The church today relies upon human power and ingenuity to accomplish what only the Holy Spirit can produce; changed lives. Often when the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Church He is viewed as a whistle not the engine that He is.
Second, the Church has spent most of its energy and resources fishing in aquariums where the fish are already caught and they are just releasing them into their own tanks, only to be caught by other fishermen to be released into their aquarium.
Vs. 22-24 The 2nd thing Paul could point to in a leader to follow is seen on how Paul planned.
Based upon the text four things they could glean:
The first thing to note in this section is that Paul was a planner: Paul had plans to go to them in Rome; from there he had plans to go to Spain. There are those who think that making plans is somehow diminishing the work of the Holy Spirit to guide us but God is a God of order. I believe that if you plan for nothing you will always accomplish your plan!
The 2nd thing I note is that in his plans Paul remained flexible: He longed to go to Rome and then Spain but he had been much hindered in doing so, the timing had to change and then later the way in which God would accomplish this would change. Christian planning is never about telling God what to do or when to do it, instead it is about letting your heart be directed by the Holy Spirit and trusting that He will work out what He has spoken.
The 3rd thing I see is that Paul remained persistent: Having to adjust to the timing and the way Paul didn’t give up on what he believed the Lord had spoken to him with regard to going to Rome and then Spain. I’m afraid that far too many times we believers give up on God’s direction when He doesn’t follow our script. His ways aren’t our ways but that doesn’t mean that we should fold up and not follow what He has spoken to us!
The final thing I notice with regards to God’s direction is that Paul saw this as a team effort not an individual one: He hoped to see them but involved others in achieving the plan when it took place. There are far too many of us that see ourselves as the “Lone Ranger” but remember that even the “Lone Ranger” wasn’t alone as he had Tonto and Silver! Paul was purposefully dependent upon others to accomplish the plans that the Lord had set before him. Why Spain?
First , Spain was at the very Western end of Europe, the limit of the known civilized world and Paul wished to take the gospel as far as he could take it to the ends of the earth!
Second, Spain was going through an intellectual revolution at the time as the greatest thinkers were Spaniards and as such perhaps Paul wanted to have an opportunity to touch not only his generations but future generations by reaching Spain.
Vs. 25-29 The third aspect of Paul’s ministry that they could adopt has to do with faithfulness in keeping his promises. Even though Paul’s future was somewhat uncertain he still planned but even more important than the plan for the future was the faithfulness to finish what he had started in the past. Promises were made and regardless of what he faced he was going to finish what he started and he encouraged the others to adopt this same principle in ministry. Not knowing what God has for you in the future never negates what He has for you to do in the present! Far too many Christian’s never finish the things they have started but are very eager to go to the next exciting thing.
In the 27th verse Paul takes time to instruct these Roman believers in the principles of giving that: “If you have been blessed with spiritual things then one way to thank a church or a ministry is to make sure they can continue to do so for others and contribute financially to further them down the road to bless someone else.” Notice that Paul says in verse 28 that going on to Rome rather than Spain was only after he had finished the task of collecting the offering for the famine relief in Jerusalem.
Vs. 30-33 The final part of this chapter is Paul requesting that they would pray for him and this leads us to the final example of his ministry they could apply. Paul trusted in and relied upon the power of God to accomplish the purpose and plans of God. Though God may very well prompt people to participate with Paul, his trust was not upon people to join him but upon God to empower Him! One way every Christian can and should participate in ministry is to under gird God’s servants in prayer and Paul expected and asked for such prayers to be made upon his behalf. Prayer is born of the Spirit of God, awakened by a desire to help and a sense of love and compassion. Paul says, “Join me in the battle by praying for me as I fight the good fight!”
Notice here that three things about Paul’s request for prayer:
Vs. 31a It was for protection from unbelievers: According to Acts 21 he was beaten so badly that they were using him as the rope in a game of tug of war. Had it not been for the Roman guard that took him into protective custody they would have killed him. Have you ever prayed something and having done so experienced the opposite of what you had prayed for? Well Paul could relate but it doesn’t mean that God didn’t hear him; it meant that God had a plan that differed from Paul’s.
Vs. 31b It was for acceptance from believers: This doesn’t appear to be the situation either as he brought the offering from the gentiles but never seemed to thank him. And during the next two years, according to 2 Tim. 4:16-17 while in protective custody, “no one stood with me, but all forsook me.”
Vs. 32-33 He expected to see results: This happened but not the way he thought it would as he went in chains as a prisoner. The purpose and power of prayer isn’t about us getting what we think is best from God, it is about God getting His best out of us!
Let us cease chiding people for failing to bring folks to hear the gospel, instead let us encourage each other to obey the Lord and bring the gospel to the world!