820 Rom.15.1-13 Christ Is Our Model for Selflessness
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- There are 3 essential things that people crave to know & if they don't, they go into a spin, or more accurately, spin out!
- There are 3 essential things that people crave to know & if they don't, they go into a spin, or more accurately, spin out!
- There are 3 essential things that people crave to know & if they don't, they go into a spin, or more accurately, spin out!
Date: 13-01-19 820 Echuca
- There are 3 essential things that people crave to know & if they don't, they go into a spin, or more accurately, spin out!
Who am I; Where did I come from; What is my purpose
- If you can't answer these in a full & satisfying way, then you'll live life for whatever kick you can get out of it
- Even destructive practises to yourself & to others will be permitted if there is no rhyme nor reason for your life
- These questions must be answered!
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1. Who Am I ?
- You are made in the image of the living God, creator of everything – heaven & earth, the universe & all it contains - & now that you are a Christian, you are being made into the image of the Son of God – transformed into His likeness & you belong to God
& you belong to God
2. Where Did I Come From?
- You didn't just come from your mother's womb
- You have been made by God – He knitted you together in your mother's womb
- What a joy to know that God Himself has made me & if He has made me in His image, then there is something unique & special about me
3. What Is My Purpose?
- My purpose is to glorify & to love God & to love my neighbour as myself
- He has framed this in terms of a Father & His relationship to His children
- Even to love my neighbour as myself has a very good reason behind it
- If we have been made in the image of God & He has knitted us together in our mother's womb, then it means that others are in the same position as I am – made by God, in His image & loved by God
- Others may abuse this privilege & even be rebellious & hostile toward their maker, but it doesn't take away the privilege of being in His image - & this is why we are to love our neighbour as ourselves
- It is respecting the fact that God has made them in His image
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- For the Christian, any rebellion against our maker is squashed through the coming of Jesus to rescue us from our sin & the powers of this fallen age
- The Christian is transformed & being transformed into the likeness of Christ – who is in the true/clear image of God
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- Like a smudged, dusty, dirty mirror you look into it & see just a poor & distorted reflection of God's image in it – this is what we were like, without Christ
- Instead of seeing clearly the image of our maker, we see a poor distortion of it
- But Christ has a perfectly clean mirror & when we come into Christ we have this mirror – we have it by His grace & by His on-going grace, we are, in practice, adopting the life of Christ & a better reflection of what that image is suppose to be
better reflection of what that image is suppose to be
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- This passage today, reflects strongly on the way the Christian is to seek to imitate Christ in the way we love one another
1. Bearing the Weaknesses of Others
1. Bearing the Weaknesses of Others
1. Bearing the Weaknesses of Others
1. Bearing the Weaknesses of Others
- In bearing the weakness of others, Paul is referring to what we have been addressing these last few weeks
- The person, probably the Jew, who is so bound to the law of Moses that they cannot accept that Christ has declared all food clean
- This is their weakness
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- But Christians, in general, all have their weaknesses
- Whether it be a Sabbath Day, alcoholic drink, fasting, Church traditions such as Lent & Advent – or any other non-moral or non-biblical command
- There will always be people who cannot accept that these are matters of preference
- The strong in faith are able to take or leave these things because their knowledge of the truth has grown to the point of freeing them from these strictures
—8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
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- Let me explain how knowledge helps
- I was brought up in a church where the minister called people forward to accept Christ – it was the done thing
- I always thought that this had to be done until I studied church history & found that this practise was instigated by a preacher who was also a lawyer, in the early 19th century
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- That freed me up to realise that the practise was man-made & not a command nor a practise of the NT church
- I certainly think that people need to be challenged by the Gospel of Christ but, in my study, I discovered that baptism was the biblical way of confessing Christ
- This led me to be free not to call people out to the front of the church after a Gospel message
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- Knowledge frees people to the truth but we remember that knowledge can also puff up, whereas love, builds up
- Jesus was the exemplar of both knowledge & love
- Paul says that Christ did not please Himself, but took the reproaches that were to fall on us
- Christ is the example of bearing the weakness of men & women for their good & that they may be built up
- Paul also makes this clear in his letter to the Corinthians
—33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved. 1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved. 1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
- The true source of this attitude & behaviour is Christ
- In following Christ, Paul says...
1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.
—1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.
- The obligation is on the strong to accommodate the weakness of those who cannot accept in their mind certain Gospel liberties
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- There is a point, however, where there is a line in the sand to be drawn
- The apostle took issue with those Jews who came to the Galatian churches, telling them that if they did not accept circumcision, they cannot be saved
- In other words, only Jews are saved & what marks out a Jew is circumcision & being bound to the Law
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- This has now crossed the line in the sand & Paul did not give in to them for a minute
- They were saying that you must become Jewish or else, you're out
- This attacks the heart of the Gospel which declared any man or woman just through the grace of Christ
- God went global - It was not about ethnicity
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- I am concerned that the SDA's who keep the food laws of the OT & worship on the Sabbath are crossing the line
- In an official publication it identifies the mark of the beast with the deception of worshipping on a Sunday & that the final seal of God will be the destruction of those who do not hold to the Sabbath
- I was quite surprised when I read this
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- The apostle would take serious issue with this
- It is one thing to strongly believe in Sabbath keeping, it is another thing, to say that those who do not keep it will suffer in the wrath that God will bring on the world
2. Being of the Same Mind
2. Being of the Same Mind
2. Being of the Same Mind
2. Being of the Same Mind
- What it means to be of the same mind is expressed in v.7
—7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.
7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.
- The weak believe in keeping the Sabbath while the strong see every day the same
- The weak believe in the OT food laws, the strong are happy to eat anything including sweet & sour pork
- Being of the same mind could mean bringing the weak to understand the truth as the strong already accept
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- But this would just reverse the notion of acceptance that he has just tried to get the church to do while each believe different discretionary things
- The one mind has to do with being in the one mind about what is really important – harmony in the church
- There are greater things at stake than non-essential items
- The important thing is the one voice with which we glorify our God & Father
A weary traveller arrived at the French village of Doubs on Sunday evening at twilight, and found people hurrying through the streets to church, each carrying a bronze lamp. A villager explained: “We have no other way of lighting the church.
In 1550 when the church was built, the mayor of the village decided that each member should bring his own lamp. Everyone goes there to make it brighter, for he knows that if he stays away, the church will be darker and the service sadder.”
When he entered the church, the traveller saw that on every pew was a place to hang the lighted lamp; and as the church gradually filled, the cumulative effect of the multitude of lighted lamps was startling. The whole building was illuminated with a soft radiance, indescribably beautiful and impressive.
- Together, with one voice, they glorified God – no doubt, many of them believing different things about unimportant matters
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- Now this is aimed at the strong in faith who actually see matters of food & drink & Sabbath days as discretionary matters – that is, they can take it or leave it
- Because the weak in faith do not see these things as discretionary – they see it as matters of life & death – they see it as if it belongs in the category of “thus saith the Lord”
- This is why the “strong” have to bend to cater to the weak
- The strong have to put off their preference so they do not become a stumbling block & destroy the weak
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- There is bound to be the “weak” in every church
- Someone asked me about how you get the weak to actually grow up to understand that all food is clean
- I was not sure how to answer that, except, that it would seem to be appropriate to teach them, but not to pressure or force them to follow you in your freedom (don't want them to gag on sweet & sour pork)
- Paul himself says that he is convinced that “all food is clean” & the letter would have been read out several times to the church with, no doubt, the weak in faith listening
- So it seems appropriate to teach & let your view be known
- But we are not to make it a deal breaker – we are not to be contentious about it
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- We are led to this position through the endurance & encouragement of the Scriptures & as we take note of them, we will have hope, says v.4
- The Scriptures of the OT point to Jesus in His faithfulness to God
- In , it says that He bore the reproaches of men who were reproaching God
- In other words, He did not seek to please Himself, but His God
- Therefore, with Christ as our example, we are not to please ourselves, but our fellow believers in Christ
- Acceptance is the key word in this section
3. Jesus Is Lord of Both Jews & Gentiles
3. Jesus Is Lord of Both Jews & Gentiles
3. Jesus Is Lord of Both Jew & Gentile
3. Jesus Is Lord of Both Jew & Gentile
- One of the indicators that the weak are Jews who had been under the law of Moses & the strong are the Gentiles who were not accustomed to such laws, is this section from v.8-12.
—8 For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, “THEREFORE I WILL GIVE PRAI TO YOUR NAME.”
8 For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to You among the Gentiles, And I will sing to Your name.”
- Christ has become a servant to both Jews & Gentiles, to the weak & to the strong
- Christ has become a servant to both Jews & Gentiles, to the weak & to the strong
Q. So who are we to look down on one anther if Christ has accepted each of us?
- After author Philip Yancey and his wife reached their 25th wedding anniversary, he reflected on their experience.
Before marriage, each by instinct strives to be what the other wants. The young woman desires to look sexy, and takes up interest in sports. The young man notices plants and flowers, and works at asking questions instead of just answering monosyllabically.
After marriage, the process slows and somewhat reverses. Each insists on his or her rights. Each resists bending to the other’s will.
After years, though, the process may subtly begin to reverse again. I sense a new willingness to bend back toward what the other wants—maturely, this time, not out of a desire to catch a mate but out of a desire to please a mate who has shared a quarter-century of life. I grieve for those couples who give up before reaching this stage.1
- So true, but we are reflecting here on the relationships we have within the body of Christ
- Back to v.2
2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.
—2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.
- And again, we reflect on the Scriptures which, Paul says, gives us endurance & encouragement which leads to hope
- There are a number of Scriptures all written down here one after another from v.9-12
- It is called “pearl stringing” & they are indeed pearls as they make so clear that Gentiles are very much a part of the family of God
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- Hope gives us motivation to submit fully to God
- We can put others before ourselves when we have this hope
- The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that the Gentiles have this hope – here is 1 amongst 4 that Paul quotes
12 Again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, In Him shall the Gentiles hope.”
—12 Again Isaiah says, “THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE WHO ARISES TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM SHALL THE GENTILES HOPE.”
- Jesus is by His nature & by His actions a SERVANT to the Jews & the Gentiles, but by His authority & by who He is, He is Lord & Ruler
- As the Gentiles are fully persuaded of His love for them & acceptance of them, they have encouragement to accept their Jewish brothers & sisters, in spite of their weak belief regarding days, foods & drink
- Both have been accepted by Jesus so both need to accept each other
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- Even though we may not come across, in the 21st C., these kinds of issues that they experienced in the 1st C., we will face situations of a similar nature
- I think we all have got the point that we are to accept & love each other in spite of differences on preferential matters
4. A Doxology of Hope
4. A Doxology of Hope
- A doxology is made up of two words: Doxa, meaning “glory” & logos, meaning “word”
4. A Doxology of Hope
4. A Doxology of Hope
- A doxology is made up of two words: Doxa, meaning “glory” & logos, meaning “word”
- Put them together, you have a word of glory or better, “a glorious word”
- We use many of these to close off our Service
- Put them together, you have a word of glory or better, “a glorious word”
- There, we call them “the Benediction” but it really is a doxology because we are using the doxologies of Paul & other NT writers
- A doxology is made up of two words: Doxa, meaning “glory” & logos, meaning “word”
- Put them together, you have a word of glory or better, “a glorious word”
- We use many of these to close off our Service
- We use many of these to close off our Service
- There, we call them “the Benediction” but it really is a doxology because we are using the doxologies of Paul & other NT writers
—13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Put them together, you have a word of glory or better, “a glorious word”
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- We use many of these to close off our Service
- There, we call them “the Benediction” but it really is a doxology because we are using the doxologies of Paul & other NT writers
—13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Twice in this doxology, you have mention of the word “hope”
- Twice in this doxology, you have mention of the word “hope”
- The apostle has already mentioned hope in reference to the Scriptures that give us endurance & encouragement
- Through the Scriptures, we have hope
- Through the Scriptures, we have hope
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. She was created by a god as a punishment to the race of men. She possessed a jar that contained all sorts of evils that could be inflicted on men.
When Pandora opened what is called “Pandora's Box”, she let out all the evils except one: hope. Zeus craftily put hope in a box of evils & by his will caused Pandora to close the lid so that hope did not escape
He then got to inflict the ultimate punishment on men, by withholding hope from them.
- This is one version of a disputed myth, but it is clear that hope is what makes the struggles & difficulties of life, bearable
- Hope is powerful. Perhaps the most powerful thing we have. Sometimes, it is all we have.
- God has granted to His people abundant hope in the Scriptures
- God Himself is the God of hope
- This doxology is a glorious word to us in the bestowal of joy, peace & hope – all by the power of the Holy Spirit
- This is what kingdom living is all about – this is what permeates the Christian – this is what is important in the Christian life
17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
—17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
- We live in times of hopelessness where so many people live in a state of hopelessness
- Suicides abound; addictions dominate; despair is epidemic
- Who am I; Where did I come from; What is my purpose
- The Christian can answer completely, all of these
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- In this passage today, we have seen that Jesus is the exemplar model of church relationships
- He did not come to please Himself
- He accepted us to the glory of God, in receiving both Jews & Gentiles
- He came as a servant to us all
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- In dealing with preferential matters, let us bend like bamboo & defer to the other person & not be a stumbling block to them by tearing them down over things they hold with the upmost sincerity
- Food, alcoholic drink, Sabbath days, fasting, church traditions such as advent & lent
- Let us hold to the truth & our convictions – yes - but let us not force the truth upon the weak, but gently teach & do what we can to respect their position
1. Philip Yancey, “A 25-Year Hike,” Marriage Partnership (Winter 1999), p. 68.