tonight we turn in our bibles to romans chapter 15 we're rapidly um approaching the end of this book and tonight we begin um chapter 15 which is really a closing of his whole section here on liberty and so we'll read together the first 13 verses tonight of romans chapter 15 and that is found on page 1207 in your pew Bible. Let's give our attention tonight to the word of the Lord. Romans chapter 15 beginning at verse 1. 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. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. 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. 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. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. As it is written, therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. And again it is said, rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people. And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him. And again, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles. In him will the Gentiles hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Well, one of the things in this whole section on gratitude since Romans chapter 12 that we have repeatedly been saying in our study of Romans is that we say that we are to live out now this life of sanctification thankfully. That's something we have said a lot about, being thankful for all that the Lord has done for us. And we've emphasized a lot that we don't merit anything now. We don't merit anything toward adding to our salvation. Christ is a complete Savior, but we're simply now living and we're doing what we do to demonstrate to God that we really indeed are thankful. That's what we use as the primary driving motivation for Christian living. It's interesting how Paul is using that motivation tonight to advance behavior, to advance godly behavior. The apostle here is still very much concerned about unity among Christians. He cares about this very much because he knows that Christians love to fight over the most ridiculous of things. Stupid things. Things that they shouldn't be fighting over. Trivial things. This is what we do. And I have to always remind because we live in a day where you can't criticize anything and then this gets kind of imputed to all of that. No, no. Remember what we're talking about here. There are things that we have to fight over. There are things that will cause divisions. We know that. But Christians divide over the wrong things often, and there's no charity, and there's no love on the issues of liberty, and even beyond this, on these issues where there's freedom that we've been looking at in Romans, one will dig in his heels, and one will say, well, that's wrong. That particular thing that people are doing is wrong and expects everyone else to hold to his conviction. Expects everyone else to. While the other digs in his heel and says, that legalist, who are you to attack my liberty? And on and on this goes. And people can hear these sermons and still, they still will dig in after this. When we see this, when we see this as Christians, one of the things the pastor tries to do is the pastor tries to say, okay, okay, he needs to watch himself because he does these things very easily. But then he tries to properly motivate people to stop this. So I stand up and what does the pastor typically do? The pastor stands up and says, stop that. Jesus died for you. Jesus died for you. Jesus died for you. And we keep on saying that. That should have a powerful effect, shouldn't it? Sad to say, often it doesn't have the effect it should. It's no fault of that overwhelming truth. It's still the fault of a very corrupt human heart that we still deal with. But how much have we heard, you know, you hear this message, you hear it all the time, Jesus died for you, Jesus died for you, Jesus died for you, and I wonder if we become a little bit numb to that, and Jesus died for me, great. So then shouldn't that have some kind of effect? To have us think through how we're behaving and motivate and how we love one another. Most disputes in the history of the church we've been looking at in this section on liberty have been over issues that Christians shouldn't dispute over, and Paul is doing something tonight that I think is very unique in motivating Christian behavior. He's doing something very powerful to motivate Christian behavior. It's almost as if he's saying, let me now present Jesus Christ's work to you with a different twist, with a different aspect of his suffering, And in doing that, I want you to consider then what it really means in the whole picture of redemption and what Christ went through, that he went through to receive you. Well, then you should understand if you grasp this, how important it is for you to pursue those things that make for peace and joy. These are the things that demonstrate the coming of the kingdom, remember? The kingdom of God is not in eating or drinking. You don't have to do that. The kingdom is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So this is what we're looking at tonight. We're looking at a final call and the apostle, the way that he motivates this, which I believe is very powerful and very beautiful. Remember the context. This is liberty. There are Christians in Rome not getting along and he's helping them to think through how they're acting. And what really that is saying, and the bigger picture, and what happens when these disputes come in the life of the church. Well, you'll remember in chapter 14, the very first thing he said is, we broke into this section is, you should receive one another, but not to disputes over opinion. That's not what should divide you. When you have no direct commandment from God, when there's something that's not clear, or something that has never really been clear in the history of the church, it's an area most likely of liberty, then that is not to be a separating point. There are separating points, but there are certain things that aren't. And then he explained what typically happens. Remember, the weaker one that doesn't understand his liberty, say with alcohol, begins to beat everyone else over the head with that conviction. He judges him and renders that judgment. They are not be Christians. they must not be Christians, and then the strong one comes back, says they're traditionalists, and you've got this clash. And Paul initially handed that by saying, listen, their Lord and your Lord is the same, and you're not the Lord over them. Stop it. This is how he was addressing it. But then last week, he appealed to the strong. He appealed to the strong, and it was a real Solomon kind of wisdom moment. It was a very brilliant thing to do, obviously, because the spirit inspired it but everyone thinks they're strong and certainly there are actual strong and paul essentially said okay if you're the strong one you have this freedom then and you understand your freedom if you have faith then you have the ability to let it go you have the ability to concede you have the ability to really help your weaker brother for them it is an area have liberty of conscience too. If they believe it's wrong, guess what? For them it's wrong. Therefore, you don't do it because you have the liberty to do it or not to do it. They don't have that. Did you see how he worked with that? They can't operate with that. And you would think by this point now we're getting the point. You're probably saying, Pastor, we get it. This is your third creative sermon title on Christian liberty, part one, part two, and part three. Really creative, pastor. You would think that if God said something once, we'd get it, right? And then if he said it a second time, we would get it, right? A third time. At some point, you're realizing the Lord is really caring about this. This is a big issue for him. And God says something here to make sure it gets through these hard Jacob-like skulls. So one last time, he gives a final summary tonight of the whole thing, and then he motivates us with a remarkable motivation. Look at verse 1 of 15. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. I think that is an amazing conclusion of this whole thing. I can't help but think that paul here references himself remember in the beginning of 1 1 of romans 1 1 i'm a slave i'm a slave i'm a slave of christ a bond servant of christ and now he's applying this principle to himself i guess what i will take the position with you that i'm one of the strong and being a slave guess what i'm going to do because i understand liberty if you're with me on this being a slave being a servant then what should we do we should bear with the failings of the week now this is a really interesting verse he's not saying just put up with their goofiness i want you to notice that the verb here bear with it doesn't mean just tolerate you know um when somebody is different than us when somebody does something that we think is weird or we don't agree with, what is the typical solution? You just stay away from them. I mean, that's easy. You just sit on the opposite side of them. You know, we may not break fellowship, but we could just end up kind of tolerating it, couldn't we? So you essentially could have in a given church a whole bunch of people sitting there tolerating a bunch of things, putting up with a bunch of things, never coming to any real resolution. That's not what the Lord wants. The Lord never wants that. He wants an active pursuit of unity. I mean, that's just, in a body, that's what he tells us everywhere. So, it's not just putting up, what does Paul say here is the active obligation of the Christian. The active obligation of the Christian is, what do they actively do? What should we do? Well, put it together for a minute. Some translations use weaknesses. I really think the ESV has a good word for this. Failings. Failings really captures this. Let me give you a kind of wooden translation. We then who are really powerful ought to carry the weaknesses or failings of the powerless and not to please ourselves. Do you know what that means? You are to carry them. The imagery here is that you are to take that very big failing that they are having and put it on your back and carry it for them. And then he follows up, that is denial of the self. You never do it to please yourself. You're not doing it for your own glory. Never have that motivation. Take that failing and put it on your own back and carry it for them. It's very powerful, isn't it? Now you see this a few different places in Scripture. Remember I mentioned in Philippi, these two women were fighting, Yodia and Syntyche, and Paul basically said, stop it. You two be of the same mind. And when you get your name put in Scripture, that's not always a good thing, by the way. But it's interesting what Paul does immediately after that. I implore Yodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind. Stop your division. And then listen to this. I urge you also, true companion, with Clement also. In other words, Companion is probably a proper name. So he's thinking of individual people in the life of the church, the strong in the life of the church. I urge you, Companion and Clement, come to the aid of these women who originally labored with me in the gospel. Come to their side, and I want you to carry that. I want you to help these women through that. And you know what happens when there's disputes and divisions in the life of the church. Everyone begins to take sides. Everyone begins to gossip. And then it just separates out. And Paul's saying, no, no, no, no, no, no. Come together. And as a community, bear this. Bear this. When Paul was writing to Philemon, remember in Onesimus, probably stolen and fled after stealing remember what paul wrote to him receive him back as a brother and if he owes you anything put it on my account i'll pay it you see what he's doing he's carrying the burden do it not to please yourselves do it to lead to the building up of the edifice do it to the building of the lead the building up of the body remember we're living stones being built up a spiritual house you're actually a building project of the lord and you are part of those builders you're part of the builders of the master builder christ being the foundation and cornerstone now that's the calling what does paul then do to motivate that i really learned a lot in this passage this week this particular pursuit has to be more than well Jesus died for you. Oftentimes we do this in Reformed circles and it's right, but it doesn't have the proper effect, does it? We get into a text and immediately we're, Jesus died for you. Jesus died for you. Amen. But how does Paul do this? How does Paul motivate the obedience? Look at verse 2. Don't please yourself. And then actually verse 3. For Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproach you fell on me. Now I want to ponder that for a minute. The most devastating and the most painful act of the work of Jesus Christ was dying on the cross and suffering the intense agony and wrath of God in body and in soul. I can't imagine that. I cannot imagine that for a minute. The suffering that he went through. And the scriptures everywhere use that to motivate Christian obedience. It's right, we should. Romans 6 used that. The life, death, and resurrection. Each aspect of the death. When he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried. When he rose, I rose. And so therefore, be a new creature. But it's interesting the specific application Paul gives. a specific drive when it comes to the issue of division when it comes to the issue of squabbling when it comes to the issue of christians not getting along he says you see christ didn't even please himself how so he then quotes psalm 69 now i want to read for you a little bit of psalm 69 in the context to get an idea of what the Apostle's doing here. Just listen to this. Beginning at verse 69, verse 7. For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach. That dishonor has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers. Okay, I have become a stranger to my brothers. For zeal for your house has consumed me. And the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the talk of those who sit in the gate. And the drunkards make songs about me. Now, who is Psalm 69 talking about? Well, Paul said, you are blinded with a veil over your eyes if you don't see that the Old Testament is all speaking about Jesus. That's the characteristic of a veil being over you. Psalm 69 is describing Jesus. And Paul applies it that way. But what particular aspect of his agony is Paul describing? It's described as coming from his brothers. Did you see that? He bore their reproach. he bore all kinds of insults from them those insults fell on him and what did they say that guy's a drunkard because he eats with the drunkards and he has alcohol he sits with the tax collectors and the sinners he's a drunkard how dare he do that he breaks the law he puts up with lies he breaks the tradition of the elders i mean you could go on and on about all the reproaches that they pinned on him unjustly and the terrible things that they said about him behind his back they were constantly hurling reproaches people hated him and these were who his brothers he was a byword among them now what verse does paul cite of all verses in psalm 69 all those reproaches fell upon him you realize what that means then he carried them he carried them he he bore up those reproaches and think of the imagery of isaiah 53 he carried our sorrows he bore our sins and he carried our sorrows he put them on his back and he carried them right on up to Golgotha and extinguish them. Think of how many offenses. Now if you were to tally up the offenses of your life, where would you start? Oh boy, you don't want to start, do you? But I'll tell you what, would you ever think about starting with this? Looking down on someone who doesn't do the things the way that you do? Would you ever think about the offense of avoiding someone made in Christ's image? Would you ever tally up the offense of hating somebody in your heart? Would you ever tally up the offense of gossip? Would you ever think about the offense of somebody who walks in and they just don't look like you or act like you and they do something really to offend you and you just done do you ever put that on the list do you see what paul's doing here here's the tie here's where it comes together in verse one he says you ought to carry the failings of the weak you ought to lift them up and put those on your back why the psalm says you see they were actually your reproaches that were put on his back you're actually when you actually cause one of your brothers to stumble this is the whole application and you're not welcoming to them and you avoid them that is a form of heaping insult and those things that you're doing to your brethren are the very things that your lord carried back in 80 30 on his back he put those sins that you're doing on his back and remember what jesus said in matthew chapter 25 that when you give a cup of cold water in his name and you show love for your brethren you know you as much as you do that you're doing it to who him we'll reverse that when you keep reproach on your brother as much as you're doing that you're doing that to who him and this is the motivation tonight that's a powerful motivation not to do it look at all that he had to carry to the cross all these reproaches and instead he bore them up and he took them and he paid for them and i find this so powerful tonight that paul says you know all of the scriptures are given to you all all of the things that we study in the scriptures whatever was written before was written for your instruction and encouragement and i think that's also a way of reminding you that all along the way god didn't do that to you god encouraged you he has the whole way been encouraging you the whole time of your walk he has lifted you up the whole time and all of your failings this is what you received and the scriptures always showed this to you they always taught you that jesus would do this for you god wrote those things so that you would hear about that and that then when you pursue this that pursuit is not in vain whatever god said it's that you might learn learn the cross learn the person and the work of jesus christ that you might learn god's patience to you that he passed over the sins previously committed to demonstrate this righteousness that today you would be comforted and encouraged the old testament teaches us that our reproaches our sins would fall upon him the whole old testament tells us that and all of that was for the purpose then that we might demonstrate christ in us the hope of glory so that then something like psalm 132 becomes something that's special to me behold how good and pleasant is the site for brethren to dwell together in unity it's like a precious oil upon the head running down the beard the beard of aaron running down the edge of his garments it's like the dew of hermon descending upon the mountains of zion for there the lord commanded blessing life forevermore and as it isn't it appropriate at this point to break into a praise a benediction a blessing paul does that may the god of endurance and comfort endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with christ jesus that together notice this you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he closes this section out with something I think is very beautiful. He takes portions of Scripture from all the law and the prophets to tell you something tonight. Notice there in verse 9, Psalm 18, that the Gentiles might glorify god for his mercy as it is written i will confess to you among the gentiles and sing to your name and he goes to deuteronomy 32 which moses sang before his death that he envisioned a day when the gentiles would rejoice with god's people romans 11 taught us this and then psalm 117 that remember those two verses i i read at the beginning about the love and faithfulness of god to all the nations of the earth and then you see that in psalm 117 and then he concludes with isaiah 11 there shall be the root of jesse who shall rise to reign over the gentiles in him the gentiles shall have hope why does he do that why does he put all this string of old testament praise psalms and references to gentiles right here because he's telling you one thing tonight he's telling you it was always the purpose of god in the person in the work of jesus that he would become a servant and bring together as one jew and gentile and that he would make them one family not two one family christ became a servant to make that so that we would rejoice and praise and glorify god together and do you see how shameful it is when people with differences in the body of Christ, rip it apart. Paul is saying, do you really want to tamper with that? It was the purpose of God through all the ages to give you what you're enjoying now, O Gentile. You get to glorify God with one voice and pursue that glory as you are unified in praise to your Almighty King. This morning I mentioned two kinds of ministries. There's the ministry of condemnation. What kind of spirit is in that ministry? It's a hard, joyless, fighting spirit. That was the Sanhedrin. That was the Pharisee. Fighters. Fighters, fighters. No joy, no peace. Christ comes, gives the ministry of righteousness, the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham and fulfills it so that all those promises to the Jews would be fulfilled that he spoke to the patriarchs and then fulfilled the promise that in Abraham all the Gentiles of the earth would be blessed and he brings them together as one and what kind of spirit dominated that ministry? Joy, peace, and righteousness in the Holy Spirit. That's what he's told us. And so this is all a reminder tonight of what we're a part of. There's going to come stuff up in the life of the church. And notice how he's telling us what to remember. Bear their burdens. Bear their burdens. This is the Christian life. And the whole book of instruction here ends with a benediction. Now may the God of hope fill you, here it is, with all joy and peace believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's God's will for us tonight. That's the beauty of the Christian life and the Christian gospel. This is what He wants us to pursue. And so let us give ourselves to this kind of life. And if there's anyone we need to go embrace, anyone we need to go and love, anyone we need to make right with, anyone we need to go and carry their burden and you know about it, go carry it. And the Lord wants you to know that the whole way He's encouraged you by assuring you that He has carried all of those burdens to the cross and forgiven them. And so now, what is our calling? Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Let's pray. Oh Lord our God, we bow the head tonight and we ask that You would give us this spirit. Give us this pursuit. And we also ask for forgiveness that we have tore down your glorious building project with foolish disputes. And that we've not demonstrated the mind of Christ. And so give us, O Lord, when we think about all the reproaches that fell on Him and that He carried, that were our reproaches, let us then never, O Lord, tear down one for whom You died, keeping insult upon you in doing that. Thank you for your love that's never taken from us and give us a real conscious awareness of the burdens that need to be carried in the body and help us to fulfill the law of Christ. By your spirit, we pray these things in Jesus' name.