| Teacher: Rusty Kennedy Series: Romans (Acts) |
Rusty's Notes | |
- Paul was encouraging the strong to not overpower the weak in faith.
- Stay focused on the main thing… Jesus.
- We can easily get distracted with the side show and spend many hours in discussion/debate which only brings division.
PLEASING OTHERS, NOT OURSELVES
Romans 15:1-33
1 Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves.
- I have my opinions and beliefs.
- I have to trust the Spirit in what to unpack with others.
- I was trained to force my opinions and beliefs on others to get them to believe the way I did.
- Evangelism 101… close the deal!
- Now… I wait.
- Text at 12:49 AM – “That is a very wise way of putting it and I think you're completely right. What you just said kind of plays into what I've been sitting on today ... I've had a lot of chaos throughout the course of my life ... my parents' and their nasty divorce, an absent father, depression and anxiety .. Sure, a lot of people have had way more chaos but that doesn't devalue my own perceptions.
I have gotta relearn how to live again man.”
- I’ve only waited about 7 years for this door to open.
- But the idea that they need chaos in their life… I’m good with that.
- I seem to rally in chaos as well. I would just prefer that it is not my own chaos or that I created the chaos.
- Sometimes I still do.
- But this is where the strong in faith begin to “bear” the weight of the weak.
- And it definitely should not be for the purpose of being pleased with ourselves.
- There is a party in our cul-de-sac this Friday Night.
- I’ll feed everyone physically with the hope of building a relationship to feed them spiritually when they come to point of crisis.
- Jesus didn’t come here for the sole purpose of pleasing Himself.
- Jesus came to serve others… to include you and me in the fellowship of the Trinity.
- Mark 10:45 – “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[1]
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 - For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.[2]
- Philippians 2:5-8 - Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
- who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.
- Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,
- he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.[3]
- Sure, He is pleased in you. But He came to rescue you and show you a pattern of life that works in a fallen world.
- Think about that for a minute.
- What David said, Paul is transferring to Jesus.
- What David said was true for Paul.
- What David said is true for the believers today.
- I expect a fallen world to reject the plan/ways of God. So…
- I don’t have to defend God’s ways.
- Sadly, some people who call themselves Christians have abandoned enough of the faith, are theologically suspect enough, that it’s difficult to think of them as true brothers and sisters.
- Sadly, sometimes divisions are needed to preserve faithfulness to the truth of the gospel.[4]
- But Paul is saying that we don’t have to divide over every little difference of opinion or interpretation.
GLORIFYING GOD TOGETHER
7 Therefore welcome one another, just as Christ also welcomed you, to the glory of God. 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. As it is written,
Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and I will sing praise to your name. (2 Samuel 22:50 & Psalm 18:49)
10 Again it says, Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people! (Deuteronomy 32:43) 11 And again,
Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;
let all the peoples praise him! (Psalm 117:1)
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. (Isaiah 11:10)
13 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.
- The point of these Old Testament quotations then is to remind the believers in Rome that God’s purpose is to bring Gentile and Jew together in His end-time people, that this has all along been His plan, and they need to seek ways in which they can themselves work within that plan and seek to fulfill it as they become a Church of Jesus Christ, of Jew and Gentile together.[5]
- Greek letters in Paul’s day generally simply fell into those three parts: an introduction, conclusion, and, of course, the body in between. So with Romans 15:14, we come now to the conclusion of the letter.
- If you look at the letters of Paul, he does several usual things in the conclusions of the letters.
- He will talk about his own ministry and his plans for ministry.
- He’ll ask his readers to pray for him.
- He’ll mention some of his coworkers who are with him and send their greetings also.
- And he will greet people in the churches, praise God for their faith, and pray that God would continue to help them grow in Christ.
- The section of conclusion here in Paul’s letter to the Romans is much longer than in any of his other letters. Why is this so?
- Probably because Paul’s writing to a church he did not plant, to a church he has not even visited yet.
- He’s a bit of an unknown quantity to the Roman Christians, and so he has to spend a little bit more time talking about himself, his ministry.[6]
14 My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. 15 Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God. God’s purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
- There was still the issue of the Jews accepting the Gentiles into the faith… and the Gentiles not puffing up in what they have been given as compared to the Jews.
- Illyricum was the name of a Roman province that occupied approximately the space now occupied by Serbia, Albania. Croatia just north.
- So it kind of draws a line from Jerusalem to Illyricum through many of the places where Paul has planted churches on his first, and second, and third missionary journeys.[7]
Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand. (Isaiah 52:15)[8]
- To the Gentiles who have not been told
[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Mk 10:45). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (2 Co 8:9). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Php 2:5–8). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Moo, D. J. (2014). NT331 Book Study: Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[5] Moo, D. J. (2014). NT331 Book Study: Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Moo, D. J. (2014). NT331 Book Study: Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Moo, D. J. (2014). NT331 Book Study: Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[8] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Ro 15:1–21). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
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