[0:00] Good morning, everyone. Open up your Bibles to Romans, chapter 15. Well, I hope you've enjoyed going through Romans verse by verse.
[0:13] ! I pray it's been a minister to your soul and encouragement to you.! In these remaining chapters, there's a lot of practical application of what we've been learning in the book so far.
[0:26] But really quickly, just by way of reminder, I kind of usually like to start with where we've been and where we're going to help get people focused and know where we're at in the book.
[0:40] But a lot of people will preach duty or obedience without a doctrinal foundation. And others will preach duty without doctrine.
[0:52] And both are kind of a worthless exercise. Both are essential. And as Paul does in all his letters, he begins talking about our great salvation in Christ.
[1:03] Talking about what Christ has done on our behalf. The great grace that he's shown us. And how we can have salvation and right relationship with God. How to honor God, love God, and worship God in our lives.
[1:17] He usually starts there, our identity in him, before turning his attention to just living obedience required by those who acknowledge those truths.
[1:30] And that's important. He's done that throughout Romans. He's, for many, many, many chapters, talked about our great salvation, our great redemption, and what has been accomplished by the grace of God in Christ.
[1:43] And now he's turning attention to you. Now, in light of these things, live this way. In light of the fact that you have been chosen by God before the foundation of the world. That you have been forgiven.
[1:54] That your sins and your death that stood against you, that condemned you before God, are now canceled because of the work of Christ. That you are now justified in God's courtroom.
[2:07] That you have right standing with him because of Christ's perfect life. In light of all those things, adopted into his family. A guarantee of eternal life.
[2:20] In light of all these things, live this way. And that's where these final chapters kind of take us. In light of all that Paul has said, now live this way.
[2:30] Our maturity means that our learning translates into living. It's not just for our head knowledge or for us to debate other people or to make ourselves feel smart.
[2:42] God's saving grace leads to a new life in Christ. And so Paul begins probably the beginning of chapter 12, all the way up to where we're at today, working out practical gospel living implications.
[2:57] But knowledge has to be laid down first in many ways. Matthew Henry, the Puritan commentator, once wrote, The foundation of Christian practice must be laid in Christian knowledge and faith.
[3:13] We must first understand how we receive Christ Jesus as the Lord. And then we shall know the better how to walk in him. So that's kind of where we've been.
[3:26] And all these things. So now where we're going today in chapter 15, Nathan did a wonderful job in chapter 14. Just so you know, like as a pastor, talking to other pastors, those are hard chapters to navigate and talk through.
[3:41] They tend to invoke a lot of emotion in the congregations. And so I'm very thankful that God used him to help work us through some of the previous chapters. And so where we're at today in chapter 15, Paul just continues expounding on what the new life in Christ looks like.
[3:58] All right. Every true believer is at the same place spiritually before God. Okay. As the saying goes, the ground at the foot of the cross is level.
[4:12] Like no one is better than the other. Every true believer has been justified, regenerated, loved, and accepted by God equally. All right.
[4:23] That is true. However, they're not all equally mature as it goes to our progressive sanctification. There are some believers who are further along in their walk with Christ and have a greater maturity.
[4:39] They have more holiness in their daily life. They obey with a greater fervor than other believers. And so, so you follow me, all were equally, all believers are equally justified before God, but not all believers are equally sanctified before God.
[5:01] As it translates into Christ likeness. And, you know, all it takes is for you to remember maybe when you first became a believer and you knew some of those who were just older in the faith and you just thought, wow, like, I hope one day I can walk as they walk.
[5:17] But then you find out they have their own issues as well. But that's okay. That's a normal thing. That's the thing that's recognized in the scripture. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, 1, But brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, meaning mature, spiritual men, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
[5:40] So making this comparison that some of you are just very young. I can't address you as spiritual men or someone who has been grown up in the faith.
[5:51] So some just grow faster than others. And that's what Paul is trying to point out here. And in 14 and 15, Paul makes the distinction of those believers who are equally justified, but not equally sanctified.
[6:04] And he classifies them in two ways. There are the strong and there are the weak believers. So don't spend this whole time wondering if you're strong or weak or if the person next to you is strong or weak.
[6:18] That's not really the point of the day. But he makes a strong appeal to the strong to live in unity with those who are weak. So what is on Paul's mind in these last two chapters, chapter 14, chapter 15, is unity in the body.
[6:37] Unity makes the gospel more attractive to an unbelieving world. When they see our love and our care and our fellowship together.
[6:49] As it says in Psalm 133, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
[7:00] So unity, we would like to say, sort of adorns the gospel. And it glorifies God. On the other hand, whenever there's conflict, quibbling, and jabbing over minor secondary issues, it's repulsive to the lost world around us.
[7:22] Paul wrote to the Philippians that he longed to hear that they were standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.
[7:34] That's Philippians 1, 27. And what's very interesting, and we agree that there are some major first-tier doctrines that we cannot compromise on.
[7:46] Like if you don't believe in the virgin birth, if you don't believe in salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, if you don't believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, we probably need to part ways, right?
[7:59] But however, what's really interesting is a lot of the infighting that happens are usually over non-essential disagreements that cause conflict in the body.
[8:10] And Paul is saying here, the strong are called upon to bear with the weak. So he identifies them as strong and weak. And so as we get into this chapter 15, with that in mind, let's read 1 through 7 today.
[8:28] Paul says, We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
[8:42] Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproach you fell on me.
[8:56] For whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.
[9:09] May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[9:25] Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. Now, just some more background. I just kind of thought it would be helpful to kind of say this, particularly what Paul is addressing.
[9:40] It kind of translates maybe into some different issues. In our day, it was at this time, there were Jewish believers who were weak because they had difficulty abandoning all the rights and prohibitions that they felt compelled to follow in the Mosaic law.
[9:58] Dietary laws, certain days, Sabbath observance, circumcision, all these different things. They just had a hard time detaching from those things. Weaker Gentile believers, who were really steeped in their pagan idolatry, who worshiped the gods of Rome or the gods of Greece, Apollo, Zeus, Jupiter, Mars, take your pick.
[10:19] They had a hard time just coming in contact with anything that just reminded them of that lifestyle, like eating meat that had been offered up to pagan deities, and celebrating certain festivals or days, or just observing certain days that were tainted by idolatry, and immorality and adultery.
[10:42] So they just had to pull away from those things, but both had very sensitive consciences as new believers. They weren't mature enough to be free from those convictions at that time.
[10:53] However, the strong Jewish believer, who knew their freedom in Christ, understood that the ceremonial requirements of the law, the Mosaic law, were no longer binding on them.
[11:05] Mature Gentile Christians understood that these idols, that they had been offering up meat to, weren't real. Like, they could be knocked over. They weren't a live thing. So they could, therefore, eat that meat that had been worthlessly offered to them.
[11:21] Right? But saying, Paul is saying, act in accordance with your conscience on matters that are not specifically commanded or prohibited in the Scripture.
[11:32] So whether weak or strong, the motive behind the weak or the strong believer, that the motive is to please the Lord and for them to bear with one another. So that is the context, I guess, in which he's addressing these specific things.
[11:46] He doesn't want them to quibble and fight and divide over such issues. Again, it's those non-essential issues that often cause us to do that. And so, he addresses the strong and the weak.
[12:01] So in this first set of heartfelt appeals to the saints in Rome, Paul calls them to please one another, looking to Christ as the example.
[12:13] So there's just, I think there's just five different points for you today. But number one, just to help us walk through this, this could have been two different points, but I was just, as a good reform guy, I was trying to have five points.
[12:24] But the first point is, look to others and away from self. Look to others and away from self. That's verses 1 and 2.
[12:36] Let's read. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.
[12:49] So this is an exhortation. We see this distinction of those who are strong. So, I guess you could define those who are strong as those who are strong in faith, strong in truth, strong in their convictions, and in their character before God.
[13:06] He says, That word obligation that we see here means like an owing of debt.
[13:17] Someone that you are bound to repay. It's also used in John 4, the same word, 1 John 4, Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought, there's the same word, to love one another.
[13:34] We have an obligation to love one another. And then you see the word that's used here, bear. We have an obligation to bear, which means picking something up to carry a heavy burden.
[13:48] It's used of carrying a pitcher of water in Mark and carrying a man in Acts 21. But those of us in the body who are strong have an obligation.
[13:59] We must bear for those who are weak. Paul wrote in Galatians 6 something very similar. He said, Bear one another's burdens and moral faults, and in this way fulfill perfectly the law of Christ, complete what is lacking.
[14:16] So the strong have a non-negotiable obligation, responsibility to graciously support those who are weak instead of making fun of them or belittling them or selfishly just trying to satisfy their own desires.
[14:35] So Christian living focuses on honoring God by serving others, by serving our brothers and sisters particularly.
[14:47] All right? So he says, that's the exhortation. Strong should bear the failings of the weak. Then if you notice, he says, pleasing ourselves.
[14:58] Man, there is a verse that wraps up what sin kind of does to us. This could be a good one. Our sin has corrupted us in such a way where we have a fallen inclination always to please ourselves.
[15:14] It is what we wake up with every day. It's what follows us around. And I'm not saying it's wrong for you to have, you know, desires that are God-given, but we're speaking in terms of those things where we seek to please ourselves at the expense of someone else.
[15:32] Some people, just without remorse, will stomp or ride right over the interest of others and pursue their own fallen selfish desires.
[15:45] Maybe others may use their intellect to maybe put on a cloak of humility, but in the end of the day, they use their intellect to manipulate the other person to get their own desires served in the end, pleasing themselves.
[16:02] And in a world that yells at us, you know, protect yourself, preserve yourself, promote yourself, entertain yourself, and comfort yourself, Christ comes along and He says, deny yourself, slay yourself, and follow Me.
[16:20] That doesn't just mean to not do certain things. It's this idea of relinquishing absolute control of our lives to Christ. And this includes that fallen desire to always please ourselves at the expense of others.
[16:38] All right? And so, the other side of that is, don't seek to please yourself, but please others. All right? If you look in the next part of this, but you see that the gospel beckons us, the us is connected to the strong, if you look at your pronouns and who he's referring to there.
[16:59] The us refers to the strong, the we, in verse 1. To please his neighbor. The neighbor is the weak believer here. For his good, to build him up.
[17:11] I love that word. The old word, if you have an older Bible, New American Standard, King James, or something like that, I use the word edification. Good old word.
[17:22] But it really just means this idea of almost building up a house, like building, strengthening, to build someone up. Instead of tearing something down, you should seek to build them up, to edify them.
[17:37] And this is done through teaching, through discipling, by humbly serving them, loving them, sacrificing them. So, sin causes us to please ourselves, but the gospel brings about this revolution in our understanding, our relationships, where we think of ourselves with humility.
[17:57] As Paul wrote earlier, if you just want to look back at chapter 12, verse 3, he just says, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment.
[18:13] To not have an over-inflated view of ourselves, but to think of ourselves in humility in light of what Christ has done for us. So, God has graciously sought our greatest good in Christ, so the goal of all true believers should be seeking the good of others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.
[18:37] Paul kind of echoes that in Philippians chapter 2. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, we're all familiar with this, but also to the interests of others.
[18:49] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. So, this is this idea of being built up such that believers will one day be conformed to the likeness of Christ.
[19:01] That's what the good is. That's what Christ's likeness is what Paul talks about as being the good in Romans 8. And so, we're not to merely just tolerate, that can be very like us, right?
[19:20] We may tolerate the failings of the weak, but we're not really helping them. Some people, I've done it myself, we can be just critical, condescending, rather than showing respect for their sincere views that they hold by not being that way and just agreeing like, it's alright, you know, we don't have to quite see eye to eye on things.
[19:44] We tend to like put our stake in the ground and want to show that they're wrong about everything. Rather than doing that, we genuinely love them in Christ.
[19:55] The way that Christ loves us is 1 Corinthians 13 is love, Christ-like love is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way.
[20:06] It is not irritable or resentful. So, there's a lot in all this, but I think Nathan just covered so much of this so well that I've been just thinking through this.
[20:17] And if Paul is continuing to write about this, it's because he knows it's a serious thing that you should pay attention. some of you are older enough in the faith to witness divisions in churches and splits in churches.
[20:33] And most of the time, they're founded in like very non-essential things. It's people's pride being wounded is quivling over just earthly things that are in the church.
[20:48] and God is telling us to not act that way. So, that's why there's instruction on these things. A lot of these modern day things that believers may have disagreeing things on, I mean, the big one, obviously, is just alcohol, things like that.
[21:07] I personally don't drink alcohol. I think it's kind of gross. I just don't like it. It's just nasty to me. I've had it before in the past. But, there are, I kind of grew up in the, what you might call the young, restless, reformed movement.
[21:25] And, there was like this movement where they wanted to replace the Christian man who was like, kind of like quiet, meek, and dead fish, handshake, and didn't cuss, didn't drink, you know, and never fought anything.
[21:45] They wanted to replace him with the loud, beer drinking, cigarette smoking, or, you know, cigar smoking, you know, and cussing, you know, kind of guy.
[21:58] And, I just felt like something was just not right about either one of those. Like, wait a minute, this is not how Christ has called us. Eve had liberty in Christ to drink.
[22:09] they were like flaunting it around. They were like boasting about it. And wounding the consciences of a lot of other believers who still had an issue with it.
[22:22] Right? But I had, you know, one particular friend who did do that. He kind of boasted about his liberty a lot. And, another friend, a different friend, who was, I would classify as a strong believer, a mature believer, who liked to drink on occasion, usually just at home.
[22:42] We were out, we were out meeting with another brother who was just younger in the faith. He was a new Christian, but he had had kind of a past with alcohol, with addiction.
[22:53] And, before we actually went to meet up with him, I just told the strong brother, hey, like, let's not tonight. You know, let's just not, don't order, don't order a beer.
[23:04] Because, like, he, one, he may be tempted by it, but two, his consciousness isn't in a good place to see things like that. And, he was just like, no problem. Like, I'll gladly just throw it all away if that would help him.
[23:16] You know, just a mature response. Not like, well, I'm a, I'm gonna, I'm in liberty, so I'm gonna drink, you know, and do what I want to do. But, he, he easily just said, no big deal.
[23:28] I'll, I'll seek to please him, you know, more than myself here. And, like, that's, those are the examples. They extend beyond a lot of things. But, we must please others.
[23:40] We must seek to please others. We can't control the weak or difficult brothers, but with God's help, we can, he can help control us as we react to them.
[23:51] And, God often uses difficult, weak brothers or sisters to reveal sin in our own life. how much patience we lack, how angry and irritable we can be with their issues.
[24:06] It keeps us dependent on God. So, that's the first one, is look to others and away from ourselves. Number two, you knew this was coming, look to Christ.
[24:21] Look to Christ. See this in verse three. Now, this is the reason, right? For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.
[24:34] So, it would be great to know what this looks like. But, in Christ, we have the perfect pattern to follow, the perfect example in Christ.
[24:45] Believers are to follow the self-denying example of Christ and thereby live in harmony with one another. And, get what Paul is saying here.
[24:57] This isn't just a random, just be like Jesus kind of exhortation. He really means this. So, why is he pointing this out? He's trying to say that someone who was the strongest bore the weaknesses of those without strength.
[25:17] No one was as strong, perfect, and innocent as Jesus. And, no one was more weaker, broken, and guilty than us.
[25:28] And, Christ denied himself. He didn't seek to please himself, but to please the Father. You see that in John 5, verse 30. John 8, 39.
[25:40] My desire is to do the will of him who sent me. It was extremely difficult and painful and eventually cost Jesus' his own life on the cross to seek to honor and please his Father.
[25:54] So, both in his life and in his agonizing death, we vividly see his utmost concern to please the Father and to seek our good and accomplishing the work of redemption.
[26:09] He didn't look to his own desires. He didn't look out for his own benefit. Christ, I mean, the ultimate example of that is in Gethsemane where he basically just prays like God, Father, with drops of blood, right?
[26:25] If there is any other way for this cup to pass from me, nonetheless, let your will be done and not mine.
[26:35] He has submitted himself to that. So, Christ is the highest, supreme example of living for God's glory under hardship. And showing that, he quotes a messianic psalm, Psalm 69, verse 9, which reads, in its context, For zeal for your house has consumed me, or eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproached and insulted you have fallen upon me.
[27:05] So, reproach means reviled, persecuted, insulted. That's what reproach means. And Paul applies this text to Jesus, expressing those words of a righteous man who endures insults and scorn for the sake of God's glory.
[27:25] We need to understand that it was Christ's zeal and passion for God that brought suffering upon him. Passion actually means the degree of difficulty that you're willing to go through to accomplish the goal.
[27:40] That's what a passion means. It isn't like rah-rah or passionate. It's like whatever you say, that thing is worth everything, worth sacrificing for, worth dying for. And for Christ, it was zeal and love for his father, and that brought great suffering upon him.
[27:59] And that's what Paul is challenging us with here, for us to bear the weaknesses of others in living to please God by pleasing our neighbor, and making real everyday choices of self-denial, even limiting our liberties if necessary, giving them up for the spiritual good of those who are weak.
[28:21] But it's almost sort of laughable though, to be honest. It's yet, when it comes to us, by comparison, that scale is like Christ gave up all he had to suffer and endure for our good.
[28:37] It just makes what he's asking us to give up, just a little bit of liberty, kind of seems like trifling a little bit. Almost just like, yeah, I don't have any excuse to complain because of all that he sacrificed for me.
[28:51] The scale of his personal passion and sacrifice in comparison to the restriction of our liberty for the sake of weaker brothers is a trifling thing, really.
[29:04] But he's highlighting that, like follow Christ's example. But how many of you just the, I kind of grew up as a really early Christian wearing the WWJD bracelet, and then it just kind of donged at me, I really, really stink at doing what Jesus does.
[29:25] And it kind of occurred to you that it's not just be like him and that's it. It can be discouraging. We all have failed to live like Christ day after day.
[29:39] And an encouraging word for those of you who may feel that way is that it's been said by Wiser Man that Christ is first our Savior before he's our example.
[29:51] All right? So he, we come to him as broken sinners in need of his saving grace. And he transforms us and promises never to leave us or forsake us.
[30:03] And he gives us his resurrection life. Give us what we need to serve him as we come to him daily. So if you're having an issue with that, he's provided a way for you to follow him by going to him.
[30:19] So look to Christ. Then number three, look to the scripture. Verse four. For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
[30:35] So as it is with all things in the Christian life, we are to look upon God's glory in his word and be transformed by it. I think I fell into a habit maybe in the last few months of just more or less reading the scripture out of duty rather than delight, more out of obligation than desire, and failing to recognize that God will use this to help make me more like Christ.
[31:08] God will use this to help strengthen my heart. So although the New Testament is inspired by God, that's a whole other message. Paul specifically has in mind the Old Testament scriptures here.
[31:19] He says, for whatever is written in the former days, and I mean, just read Romans, right? Like he references the Old Testament many, many, many times to prove his point, and he just did by quoting Psalm 69.
[31:35] He's reminding us of this importance, that full confidence that the Old Testament was written down for our instruction in the encouragement of God's people.
[31:46] Sort of indirectly implying that all of God's words scriptures are God's words. He inspired them. He put them down for us. And those things that were written a long time ago don't just serve the needs of those people, but continue on to serve the needs of his people today.
[32:04] It goes on for later centuries. So, saying to the strong believer, then, go back and read the scriptures. If you're struggling with being patient, if you're struggling with being discouraged at the growth of these weaker brothers or sisters, if you're struggling with that, if you feel faint-hearted, go to the scriptures.
[32:29] If you're feeling exasperated, in the scriptures you will find instruction. That means like teaching, training, to help us know how to bear with the weaker believers.
[32:42] And then, that will also help us establish endurance, which this word endurance means to bear up under extreme difficulty and to persevere.
[32:55] So, just think about it. Does the Bible have any stories like that? Many, many. Noah, Joseph, Moses, David.
[33:08] Take your pick. Like, all stories of God helping His people bear up under extreme difficulty. So, look to those in the scripture who look to God to go through difficult times.
[33:23] And then, beside that, if you're feeling disheartened, like massively discouraged, it says that the scriptures can give you encouragement. That means comfort, strength, consolation.
[33:35] So, far beyond the limited value just for Christians, the record of all God's dealings with His people in the past have been deliberately preserved for our good, our encouragement, spiritual benefit.
[33:49] There's just one place I have for you to turn today. Well, actually two, but before we close, but look at Psalm, hold your hand in Romans, but look at Psalm 119. Look at Psalm 119, verse 49.
[34:04] Psalm 119. The psalmist, speaking of the goodness of God's Word, God's law, he says in verse 49, remember your word to your servant in which you have made me hope.
[34:22] So, God's voice, God's Word incites real hope in His people. Verse 50, this is my comfort and affliction that your promise gives me life.
[34:37] Maybe go down to verse 52, the whole thing, but really just for sake of time. Verse 52, when I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O Lord. The saying that God's Word gives us genuine comfort and life.
[34:53] Verse 54, your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning. So, God's Word is the song that we sing as we travel through this foreign land called earth.
[35:08] This life that gives us joy and hope to press forward. It's to our H81. My soul longs for your salvation. I hope in your Word.
[35:19] So, if you're feeling discouraged, you feel like your endurance is wavering, God's Word is meant to give us hope, to hold fast, to cherish hope, so that we will believe that those weaker brothers or sisters may one day mature, overcome.
[35:35] Fourthly, back in Romans, verse 5, and he goes from talking about the Scriptures to prayer, and Paul says, may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus.
[35:56] So, there is a dependence on God's power here. This cannot be done. Have you ever just tried putting up with somebody in your own strength? Putting up with your own friends or family that can sometimes just be hard to deal with, or just a weaker brother in the Lord?
[36:13] Try doing it in your own strength, and you'll be pulling your hair out and throwing things. But God gives us what we need. He alone can give us what we need to patiently endure and persevere.
[36:26] Whatever He requires of us in His commandments, He gives us the grace to follow. That famous prayer by St. Augustine, Lord, grant, command what you will, but grant what you command.
[36:39] Give us the grace to follow your commands. So, God grants, you see this word, graciously supplies us the ability to live in such mutual harmony and understanding with one another in accord with Christ Jesus.
[36:56] So, Christ is that unifying point. We all come back to Him. So, just sort of stating it very plainly to wrap this up here, your hope and mine is not found in our ability or our willingness or our resolve to endure, but in God's unshakable enduring commitment never to turn from the work of grace in us.
[37:18] our hope to be faithful is that we have been welcomed into communion with the one who will endure no matter what. Right?
[37:28] So, why is that important to learn? It's important because at best, our endurance is just spotty. We forget who we are and we think that grace is just not essential throughout our daily lives.
[37:42] We get discouraged and throw in the towel on doing good things and serving people. We rebel. There are times that we, myself, I fail and I attack those around me.
[37:55] Not because I don't know it's wrong, but just in that moment, I just don't care. Sin has caused me to forget. So, our hope of endurance is not found in our own strength and character, but in God's alone.
[38:09] So, Paul wrote that to the Colossians that he prayed that they would be strengthened with all power. according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.
[38:20] Colossians 1, 11. So, may that be our prayer. So, Paul is sort of wrapping that up saying to the believers, despite your differing views on some of these things, be loving and live in harmony with one another with the common Savior Jesus Christ.
[38:38] Right? So, what's the goal of everything we've just said? What's the purpose? That leads to the last point. Look to God's glory, verse 6 and 7. He says, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[38:58] Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. And so, Paul continues praying, says, main purpose here being Christian unity, the main point of unity, being just for the sake of other believers.
[39:13] That's important. But, the purpose is to honor and please God both in our individual, public, corporate lives. So, here's the beautiful thing.
[39:25] When we love one another in Christ, when we bear with the failings of the weak, when we bear patiently their failings and their issues, when we endure with those who are difficult to live with, and when we love each other despite minor differences, it reflects God's unity in Himself and it brings Him glory.
[39:49] And this is the last thing I wanted you to turn to. This was Christ's prayer for us. He prayed this. You could say one of His dying prayers, one of His dying desires was for unity.
[40:03] John 17 verse 21. John 17 verse 21. He's praying for all future believers here, including us, and He prays in verse 21, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in us, so the world may believe that You have sent Me.
[40:31] You see, that idea of our unity reflects the relationship between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. Verse 22, the glory that You have given Me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one.
[40:47] I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfectly one, so that the world may know that You have sent Me, and love them even as You have loved Me.
[40:59] So in conclusion, when God's people live together in one accord and we worship Him together with one voice, we can truly glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[41:14] He's promising to empower us to do that, and therefore He wraps it up. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.
[41:26] God. So whether we're strong, whether we're weak, whether we need help, we all ought to seek to please one another. The mutual acceptance of one another will bring glory to God.
[41:41] Let's pray together.