Nuts and Bolts of Unity

Introduction

As you probably know, we’ve used this as our annual theme, our family focus this year, the idea of being rooted and built up. The purpose of that focus for this year is to intentionally counteract the forces that might be working against us to do otherwise. Satan can use circumstances, whether negative or positive circumstances, Satan can use those to weaken our faith and to weaken our fellowship with one another. And so we’ve been trying, despite our circumstances, despite Satan’s temptation, to do just the opposite, to be rooted and built up. But rooted in what? We talked about the parable of the sower recently, and of course, the seed is to be implanted in our hearts and to grow up in our lives of faith. The context of our theme verse, Colossians 2, verses 6 and 7, tells us that we’re to be rooted in Christ.

Rooted in our fellowship with him, and we might additionally add that I believe we’re to be rooted in one another. You could say that the theme of Scripture is fellowship. About a reconciliation of fellowship with God. And then this fellowship. The fellowship with one another. If you think about it, think about how much of the New Testament, of how much text of the epistles has to do with fellowship. Sometimes in a negative way, by saying, don’t have fellowship with that one. But largely in talking about those with whom we are to have blessed fellowship. How that’s supposed to look. And how that’s supposed to work even when it’s difficult. This morning I’d like for us to use a text from our Bible readings that I believe coincides with our theme this morning in Romans chapter 15.

So if you’ll get your New Testaments and go with us to Romans chapter 15, and as you’re turning there in your Bible or scrolling there on your digital device, I’ll use this time as another shameless plug for our Bible reading. These charts are available on our website at Bumby.org. They’re also available in the foyer on your way out. This is our Bible reading. We’re spending a year in the epistles, and I know you may be getting tired of hearing this, but I’m going to say it again. It’s a different kind of Bible reading. We have one reading per week that comprises usually two, sometimes just three chapters. The purpose of that is not to be a lazy Bible reading, but to be a deep Bible reading.

Then rather than just checking a box that I read that verse or that chapter or that multiple chapters this week to be able to spend some time in those chapters. This past week we read Romans 15 and 16. And I hope you were able to read those or to listen to them. Some of our men of the congregation here are reading those, and you can listen to them again on our website. But I hope you’re also able to spend some time in that text, meditating about it, praying about it, and studying what God’s word has to say for us in places like Romans chapter 15, where he talks about the idea of unity of our fellowship. Again, much of the New Testament speaks to that subject of how we are to be with one another, and how we’re to be with one another when that’s difficult, when there are challenges and obstacles to that fellowship and to our unity.

It describes unity, it explains unity, but it also tells us how we’re to do it. God doesn’t just enjoin unity upon us.

And again, how we can achieve it by overcoming obstacles to that.

At least the first 13 verses of Romans 15 are really a continuation of the verses of Romans chapter 14 that talk about unity. And we might wonder at the outset of our lesson this morning why so much text devoted to unity and to the struggles of fellowship. And the answer should be obvious because that’s a constant issue. We can be cantankerous people.

In God’s church. Go all the way back to the first century. Unity was a problem. But it was an overcomerable problem, wasn’t it? Think about the things in the first century that made unity a challenge. There was, as in our text we’re going to look at this morning, the idea of those who thought it was all right to eat meat, and those who thought you should be a vegetarian. There were those who felt like it was proper to observe certain days, and others who said you shouldn’t observe those days.

That we read about in the struggle of unity in the church at Careth. There were masters and slaves in the same congregation. And undergirding all of those struggles for unity, and maybe at the heart of all of those struggles for unity, was the ever-recurring problem of Jew and Gentile. How were they to get along? The Bible tells us. And in telling us, it applies to us in the 21st century about every struggle of unity that we might have and how it might be overcome. Let’s look at our text in Romans chapter 15, which again is a continuation of Romans chapter 14 in the argument. And let’s just begin by asking some questions. Number one, what was the issue? What was the particular issue in Romans 14 and 15 that became a struggle that needed to be overcome in order to maintain unity?

And if you’ve read our Bible reading, or as I know you’ve read this text before, you know that the particular issue here, the main issue was again the eating of meats. Was a New Testament Christian allowed to eat meat.

The clean versus the unclean. And a dietary restriction that they had not only observed for their entire life, but their entire heritage had made a pretty big deal about what you eat and what you can’t eat. Layered on top of that were Gentiles who were coming out of the Gentile idolatrous world and becoming Christians and their old lifestyle, their old Gentile idolatrous lifestyle, the idea of eating and drinking at a meal was often attached to the idea of the worship of an idol, of meat that was sacrificed to that idol, and eating the feast with that meat was a form of honoring and worshiping that idol. So now that I’ve become a Christian, I don’t know that I can do that. And I don’t know that I can eat any kind of meat, because what if that meat had previously been sacrificed to an idol and now it’s being sold to me in the marketplace?

Me secondarily eating that meat, will it somehow still attach me to that idol? And so maybe I just shouldn’t eat. Others said it’s okay. Eat it. That was the issue. Some felt one way, some felt the other. Some were weak as Paul describes them, and some were strong. One of the contextual arguments or discussions we might have in Romans 14 and 15 is who was weak and who was strong. I think the evidence from this context that comparing it to some passages in 1 Corinthians 8 and 1 Corinthians 10, leads me to the conclusion that the Jewish brethren were probably the stronger ones, and the Gentile brethren were the weaker ones. The Gentiles who had come out of that idolatrous lifestyle and still had some problems with attaching meat to the idea of the sacrifice and the worship of idols.

But what’s interesting in all of this discussion in Romans 14 and 15 is what was Paul’s main objective, or we might more properly say what was the Holy Spirit’s main objective. Paul spends a chapter and a half in the book of Romans talking about this issue. But his objective, interestingly enough, is not really to solve the issue of eating of meats.

When there’s a disagreement about the eating of meats.

Problem solved. But that’s not what the Holy Spirit did. The Holy Spirit said, you disagree about these things. But here’s how we can maintain unity despite those differences. And aren’t we glad and aren’t we blessed today that that’s what the Holy Spirit did? Because while that may not be the particular issue for us, the application and the lesson still rings true because there’s going to be things in which you and I don’t see eye to eye. There are going to be issues that might otherwise divide us. But Paul says, here’s how you can maintain unity despite those differences. Will you read the text with me? Go to Romans chapter 15. And let’s take the time this morning to read the first 13 verses, and then we’ll make some more application as we go.

Romans chapter 15, read with me beginning in verse 1 says, We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please himself, but as it was written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. For whatever things were written before, were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded, to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, receive one another, just as Christ has also received us to the glory of God. Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm these promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written, for this reason I will confess to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. And again, he says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, lawed him, all you peoples. And again, Isaiah says, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall rise to reign over the Gentiles. In him the Gentiles shall hope. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we were to boil all of that down to just basically one or two sentences, it would be this.

1. Primary Responsibility for Unity Lies with the Strong

Jew and Gentiles. Now get along. We’re all in this to be unified and to work together in the body of Christ. And so let’s look at some of the nuts and bolts of unity that we learn from this section. The first thing that I learn from Romans 14 and 15 is that the primary responsibility for unity lies with the strong. That’s not to say the weak didn’t have some responsibility. They do, and Paul talks about that. But I don’t think we can deny the obvious point in the first two, the first verses of these two chapters, that the primary responsibility lies with the strong. Go back to chapter 14 and read verse 1, where he says, receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.

Now, if he’s telling you to receive the weak, who’s he talking to? The strong.

And that kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? If you think about it, who can best accommodate the other? Who can best help the other? It’s going to be the spiritually strong. And if you think about it, that’s a theme that runs throughout scripture. Hold your finger here or put a bookmark here and go to some other places, like Galatians chapter 6.

Who bears the weight in this reconciliation, even the reconciliation between a lost soul and God. Galatians 6, verse 1, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. It is the spiritual who have the greater responsibility to the weak. Look in the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and the responsibilities that we have to one another.

Comfort the faint hearted. Uphold the weak, and be patient with all.

Who is that spoken to? To the strong. And so a responsibility lies with those who are more spiritually mature, those who are more well versed in the scripture to help the weak and to maintain unity while doing that. Now, what’s interesting to me in our text in Romans 14 and 15 is again who’s weak and who’s strong. We talked about the Jew-Gentile issue that I think underlies all of this disagreement they were having. But the weak in Romans 14 and 15 were those who were more restrictive in their scruples. And the strong who are the ones who were less restrictive. We sometimes look at that in the converse, don’t we?

2. The Main Hindrance to Unity Is Selfishness

But Paul says, you who have a better understanding of how we can use this world’s resources to glorify God. Help the weak. But not only help them, but don’t allow their weakness to be an impediment to unity. Another lesson that we learn from our text is the main hindrance to unity is selfishness. Let’s just be honest about that.

Writers would say, if someone does this, mark them and avoid them. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. I’m not talking about those kind of disagreements that should bring about a break in fellowship. But when it comes to true Christian unity, the main hindrance is selfishness. And that was the point of Romans 14 and 15. You’re going to insist on your way and destroy the work of God. Paul, in another place, in another context, really talking about worship in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 says, let all things be done for the building up of the body.

Not getting my way, not, and here’s where I’m preaching to myself and just letting you listen, not proving that I’m right. But when my main objective is to build up the body, my selfishness goes away.

Using again the example of Jesus Christ that we’re going to talk about, when he says, let nothing be done out of selfish conceit. I truly learn the meaning of the word submission and how it applies. Go with me back to Romans chapters 14 and 15. I want to quickly make a survey. I mean a quick survey of these two chapters or this chapter and a half as it applies to unity and how it applies to this idea of ridding myself of selfishness. I want us to notice some verses here in talking about this context, and again, a context where he’s not really solving the problem of the eating of meats, but he’s solving the problem of unity. How that problem is solved largely is by how I view my brethren.

Notice the language. In chapter 14 in verse 3, he says that this weak brother, this other brother with whom I have a disagreement, is one whom God has received. That changes things, doesn’t it?

In chapter 14 in verse 4, he says that he is another’s servant.

He’s not my servant.

In verse 10 of chapter 14, reminiscent of the father’s statement to the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son, he says, your brother. In chapter 14, in verse 15, and maybe the most impactful way that I can view this brother with whom I might otherwise have problems in unity, he says he is one for whom Christ has died. Do you see how every one of those statements is a statement of selflessness and a statement really of humility in viewing my brethren? In chapter 14 in verse 20, he refers to the work of God. Now, is the work of God the entire unit of people, or is he talking about the individual? Either way, there’s implications, isn’t there? Of how I treat you because you are either a work of God, or you and I collectively are the work of God.

3. The Key to Unity Is Imitating Jesus Christ

That’s going to change how I view you and treat you. Chapter 15 and in verse 2, he refers to them as my neighbor. And go to that verse, chapter 15 and verse 2, and look what he says there. Let each one of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. That’s my objective, if that’s my work, that changes everything. That I’m pleasing you, not self. And in so doing, more importantly, I’m pleasing God. Now, the last point I think we can see from our text, the last point we’re going to look at this morning anyway, is we’ve seen that the primary responsibility for unity lies with the strong. We’ve seen that the main hindrance to unity is selfishness, and now we’re going to see the key to unity is just imitating Jesus Christ.

As he’s often done, Jesus is put as our example. Our example of love, of humility, of how we treat those who we view as weaker than us, and how we maintain unity. Look at a few verses in our text, Romans 15, verse 3. For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproach you fell on me. Verse 5, now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus. And then in verse 7, he says, Therefore, receive one another just as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Jesus is our example of how to maintain unity. And how the key to maintaining unity is eradicating selfishness and putting myself in my own self-interest first.

You know, there was an old saying that maybe became a little trite.

And that was what would Jesus do? Remember that when that was popular, the bracelets, the t-shirts, the car tags, and all that came. What would Jesus do? If I’d have been in charge of that campaign, I might have reworded it a little bit. Instead of what would Jesus do, I might have said, what did Jesus do? Because it’s not really left up speculation for me. I know what he did. I know what he did, as Rob said for his friends. I know what he did when faced with his enemies. I know what he did for me. And in that scenario, there’s no denying I’m the weak one. And when I put it in that context, at that example, all of my objections melt away. Objections like, well, why should I have to be the bigger person?

Why do I have to accommodate you? Why do I always have to be the one? All of those objections just melt away when I do what Paul said, and I consider Jesus. That changes how I view you and how I treat you.

Conclusion

And how important I see that maintaining unity truly is. May God help us to have the Spirit of Christ, to be like-minded with Jesus Christ, so that we might, as Paul says, with one heart and one mouth, glorify God in Christ Jesus. May God help us to maintain that unity. He’s told us how. It’s up to us to take up the challenge and do it. To be rooted and built up in Him in our faith and in our fellowship. Would you become a child of God this morning? Knowing that you’re going to have brothers and sisters, some weak, some strong, but we’re all struggling and working together in maintaining unity and in glorifying God. And more important than that, you have a Father in heaven who wants to have unity and fellowship with you.

And he sent his only begotten Son. And he sent his Holy Spirit to give us the instructions of what we can do in order to become a child of God. Would you obey that gospel this morning? Would you become one with him this morning? If we can help you, and we want to help you, if we can help you in any way, let it be known right now, as together we stand and as we sing.