Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Romans

Romans 15:1-6

Sermon Title: 'God's Church is a Ministering Church: The Ministry of Edification pt.1       Sermon Text: Romans 15:1-6

Intro: The story is told of 2 small struggling congregations that were located only a few blocks from each other in a small community. They thought it might be better if they merged and became one united, larger more effective body rather than two struggling churches. Good idea... but it never happened. They we not able to pull it off. the problem?  They could not agree on how they were to recite the Lord's Prayer. One group preferred 'forgive us our debts' while the other demanded 'forgive us our trespasses'.  So the local newspaper reported 'One church went back to it's trespasses while the other returned to its debts'. Neither of those two churches brought glory to God by their behavior.

      Jesus in John chapter 17, prayed that Christians, the children of God, would be one. He prayed this at least three times.
The oneness of the church was of great importance to Jesus, especially when you think of all the other things He could have emphasized in his prayer to the Father.

EXP: However, striving for oneness is not high on our list of priorities. In fact one of the greatest motivational factors, psychologists tell us, is the built in desire that all people have to please themselves. This is supported in the preamble to our constitution. ....man is endowed with certain unalienable rights. ....including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'  When taken to the extreme, which is often the case, this motivation leads to selfishness.

      Yet, Paul told us how to overcome this natural tendency  in Rom. 12. The Believer is to have a renewed mind, one focused on Christ and bent toward his or her brother.  When this happens a different motivating factor is developed, a ministering mentality. One of the key words in Chapter 15  is ministry, as Paul uses it three different ways. So the theme of the next few messages in chapter 15 is 'God's church is a ministering church'.

      Some of you may be thinking, are we on a new topic? Has Paul gone in another direction? I thought we were talking about oneness in the church and the stronger/weaker brother? Well, no, Paul has not changed his direction.  Remember I said that Paul was going to tell us how the weaker brother becomes stronger? Well this is his answer. It is through the ministry of the church...not the haranguing of any one individual.

    Romans 15 can be divided up into 4 parts or ministries that will contribute to oneness in the church of God and will help the weak in faith become strong.

Rom. 15:1-13 is found the ministry of edification
Rom. 15:14-21 is found the ministry of proclamation
Rom. 15:22-29 is found the ministry of administration
Rom. 15:30-33 is found the ministry of intercession.

      When a church actively pursues these 4 ministries, they will find the weak becoming stronger and the strong exercising their liberty in love. They will experience the oneness Jesus prayed for in John 17.  When a church actively pursues these 4 ministries it will grow! Spiritually to the mature man and woman in Christ and numerically because people will want to be part of such a nurturing and biblically centered fellowship.

Trans: For the next two weeks we will examine the church's ministry of edification and how this ministry helps develop oneness in God's church.

  Turn in your Bibles to Rom. 15:1 where we will find that the ministry of edification involves...

1. The strong  encouraging the weak (Rom. 15:1-3)
    Read: Rom. 15:1-3
      How do the strong encourage the weak? 3 ways.

  A. The strong bear the weaknesses of others. (vs. 1a)
      The first thing Paul tells us about how the ministry of edification works is that the strong ought to bear the burdens or weakness of those not as strong.

DEF:
      1. 'Ought': Does not mean , 'it would be a nice idea' or 'it is something you can do if you want'. It means to pay a debt. Paul is saying that we owe the weak the help they need by bearing their load, their weakness with them.

      2. 'To bear': Do not mean 'to put up with'. It means to support, to carry  along as a father or mother would carry a young child, in love and tenderness, with understanding and care.'

      The strong lovingly walks with the weak and helps to keep them from stumbling. A second way the strong encourages the weak is
  B. By striving to please the other (vs. 1b-2)

      1. Each of us please the other, Paul says. He includes both the weak and the strong here. They are both to strive, to work at pleasing the other.  We are not to just please ourselves, the text says. Now, he is not saying that we don't do anything that will please us, God wants us to have pleasure  and happiness in life. But in our relations with others in God's family, when a decision needs to be made, when someone has to relinquish their rights,  you be the first. Do it willingly and gladly.

  2. And do it for their good, for their edification. It is not to please their own personal desire of getting you to change for them. No!  This is to be a determined constant adjustment of your lifestyle to whatever will contribute to the spiritual growth of another, especially as it relates to Christian liberty, since that is what Paul has been talking about.

  Strive to please one another for their good. A third way the strong encourage the  weak is by remembering that

  C. Jesus Christ is our example of pleasing others. (vs. 3)
  Paul is so concerned about our oneness, our willingness to forget our rights in favor of building up others that he does something he has not done to this point in the letter to the Romans.  He holds up Christ as an example to enforce his argument. He talked about Christ, but until now he did not use Him as an example for us to follow in practical theology...for daily Christian life. He wants us to know that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice when he gave Himself for you and I.  That Jesus gave up His personal rights on Calvary for our benefit.   His devotion to selflessness is our example.  How glorious God's church would be if we followed Christ's example.

Trans: The weak become strong when the strong encourage the weak. Paul also tells us that the ministry  of edification in the church not only includes encouragement, it involves...

II. Everyone studying the Scriptures (Rom. 15:4)
    Read: Rom. 15:4

      1. One of the reasons there is so much division and pettiness in the church today is because many churches have not given God's Word it's rightful place in ministry.  Perhaps they read a scripture or two but when it comes to the message each Sunday, they speak more from psychology and ethics than the foundational truth of God's Holy, inerrant and infallible Word.

      2. This is a great verse on the purpose of Holy Scripture.  Scripture was written for our learning, instruction, direction and guidance which will lead us to  patience, encouragement and hope.

    For as we faithfully study God's Word, we will know and better understand the things of the Faith.

    We will learn to be patient with each other, the weak and the strong.

    We will be encouraged as we see the deeper truths of God and the reality of our freedom in Christ.

     And we will experience hope when we face that next struggle because we are fixed on God's Word.

      3. Christianity is a teaching religion. We grow by both our relationship with Jesus Christ and by our knowledge of Him found in God's Word, the Bible.  If we want to grow in our faith, if we want the weak to become strong, we must all be in the Word, reading, studying, memorizing and sharing with others what we have found..and listening to what others have found as they have faithfully searched the Scriptures.

Trans: The ministry of edification in the church involves both the strong encouraging the weak and everyone studying the Scriptures. It also involves ...

III. Everyone striving for oneness (Rom. 15:5-6)
    Read: Rom. 15:5-6

  Paul takes time here to offer up a prayer to God on behalf of the Roman Christians. He calls out to the God who gives perseverance and encouragement.

    1. That the Roman Believer , both Jew and Gentile alike, may be of the same mind, in Jesus Christ.

Note: Same mind does not mean they agree on everything. Only one thing is needful, only one thing is important...that they bring honor to God through their personal and corporate relationship with Jesus Christ.

  Not uniformity in lifestyle but unity in purpose.

    2. Be of one voice

ILL: John Calvin once said 'The unity of his servants is so much esteemed by God that He will not have His glory sounded forth amidst discord and contention.'

      Whether you are a strong or weak believer in regard to the issue of liberty, you must agree that the reason we gather together is for worship and  service to God through Jesus Christ. We must agree not only in our minds but with our voices as well.  Therefore let us with one voice as if we were one mouth  praise God and seek to bring glory to His name in all we say and do.

      Such a united witness and testimony of praise to the Lord from the heart of the Roman Christians would  go a long way to promote the furtherance of the Gospel in the Roman Empire. And to the community we live in.  Because our one voice will bring glory to God.

    3. That is the purpose of oneness in the church. It is not only to make the church a great place to be where everyone is nice to each other. The primary purpose is that we may glorify God TOGETHER....wholly together strong and weak alike.

          Disunity and division do not glorify God, in fact they rob God of glory. We impoverish our worship and offer poor praise to God by our stubbornness and lack of love for one another.

          When we worship in disunity, our worship does not bring glory to God and He will not accept it.....Whoa!   But oh how beautiful worship is when we approach the throne of grace...as one.

Ps. 133:1  'Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.'

      God longs for our pure worship and praise. This is not a one time thing. The text says 'with one voice glorify God' but because of the Greek grammar it is better translated 'with one voice keep on glorifying God'.  Each Sunday, or whenever we meet, we ought to strive to be one in worship and praise to God.

Conclusion:
  As children in the family of God we are one body in Christ, so the great law of love binds us to act in all things with tenderness and consideration for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

 Brothers and sisters, strong and weak, are you willing to follow Christ's example and live to please others , to bear one another's burdens for the good of the other, to build each other up in the faith?

 Are you willing to strive for oneness in mind and voice,  that we may individually and corporately bring glory to God by our united worship?