Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ (Part 9)
This is the ninth week of our fall sermon series, “Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ” dealing with Romans 12-16. Part 9, this week, is the third part of “The Principle of Preference” and works with Romans 15:4-13 addressing how the Scriptures are an aid us and point to Jesus, how we are to endeavor to be in harmony in Jesus’ church, and how the principle of giving up our personal preferences relates to mission. This sermon was originally preached November 16th, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
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November 16th, 2008
Pastor Duane M. Smets
Series: Viva La Vida | Romans 12-16
“The Principle of Preference” (Part 3)
Romans 15:4-13
Introduction
Personal greetings. Two weeks then advent.
Summary of last two weeks:
- Within Christian community there are areas of adiaphora/opinions due to different backgrounds and different beliefs.
- How we deal with disagreement matters because of character and care for the community. We are not to judge or destroy but seek to build up and love.
- We are to have a clean conscience and conviction but give way in order to please the other person.
- Concluded with the supreme example of Christ giving way his personal preference for us and bearing our reproach on the cross.
Let’s read our text and pray for our time together in study this morning.
Gospel-centered Exegesis
A Christotelic Approach
Today we begin with a digression of sorts. We are still talking about the principle of preference, of how to live and love one another in Christian community. But we are going to first start out by talking about how Scripture, the Bible, helps us do that.
Verse 4 begins by explaining what was just said in the previous verse. Here is what happened in the previous verse, it quoted Psalm 69:9. Romans 15:3 “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me” is a quote of Ps 69:9 written by David.
In verse 3 of Romans 15, Ps 69:9 is applied by Paul to Jesus and the cross. An explanation of this hermeneutic is in verse 4…Jesus gives the hope. The way we approach the Bible is with a principle of historical grammatical interpretation but that approach is incomplete until it lands in the gospel.
Jesus explains this in Matthew 5:17 when he says all the Bible gets fulfilled in him. And then Jesus showed an example of this in Luke 24:13-35 when he took two men and walked them through the Bible showing them how everything pointed to him. What he taught them was learning the arc of Scripture, which begins at a point in time, finds its fulfillment in Jesus, and then is brought to life in us.
Paul has been doing throughout our chapter. In our community group this week we went through this section to see how this was done. 1. (14:10-11) Not judging because Jesus is judge. 2. (14:15-17) Not grieving because of the Kingdom to come. 3. (15:3) Not self-pleasing because Jesus suffered for us on the cross. Each reason for us giving preference to one another gets connected to some core part of the gospel, who Jesus is and what he has done.
This is what it means to be gospel-centered, to begin to see all of life in how it relates or connects to the gospel. Everything, even the simple things like eating and drinking have to do with the gospel.
I did it this week in my Pastoral journal entry for us with the latest cover article from Rolling Stone about the band AC/DC titled: “The Gospel of Rock and Roll.” Now the word gospel is used in the article merely to say that AC/DC’s new album, “Black Ice” is good and that AC/DC has been cranking out good music for 35 years now.
So I asked the question, “What is the gospel of rock? Maybe it’s that one can find redemption through creating music, listening and enjoying music, or maybe that music is inherently good. Is that the gospel? Of course not. Music might soothe us or excite us at times but it cannot do anything to save our soul, to deal with our guilt and offense toward God.
But think about this. If we are saying that the true gospel says Jesus can redeem me and make me right with my Creator, then through him, through The Gospel, I get freed and enabled to enjoy music to the fullest because I am connected to the chief musician of all.
The technical word for this practice is a christotelic hermeneutic, I’m just calling it seeing the gospel in everything, in Scripture and in life. That is our what we are trying to do and be…gospel-centered.
Scripture Grounds Us and Scripture Ministers to Us
Let us look closer at verse four and see how it says the Scriptures are intended to function for us as Christians (re-read them).
Next to 2 Timothy 3:16 this is probably one of the clearest statements on the nature and purpose of the Bible for us. Two main things emerge from this verse: 1. Scripture Grounds Us. 2 Scripture Ministers to Us
Look at the phrase, “was written for our instruction.” Without the Bible we are uneducated. We are essentially lost. We may know of God’s existence, because as Romans 1:20 says, his eternal power and divine nature has been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…but God would only be a distant, transcendent far off God to us…we would know very little of his nature and his love and we would not know the depth of his holiness and justice and how offensive our sin is to him, we would know nothing of his plan of salvation and of his son Jesus.
So first Scripture grounds us. It gives us a coherent worldview or framework from which to understand life and the God who made life and redeems life in Jesus. In Scripture God reveals himself to us. We are not left to our foolish speculations. He tells us who he is, what is required of us, how we have failed, what he has done about it in Jesus, and how we are to respond. Scripture instructs us in the faith. I mean really, if we did not have a written record like the Bible how would any of us know about Jesus. The stories would not have lasted if it was just passed down verbally. It is extremely huge that God chose to reveal himself in words in a book. He gives us a lasting record.
The second this that Scripture ministers to us. It not only gives us our philosophy but it is a living and active means God has committed himself to working through. Hebrews 4:12 says the Bible is a “living and active” book, which has the ability to pierce us to deeply as if into our bones.
Look at our words in Romans…”through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
We are a people who need endurance. There are times in life when you will just feel like giving up. Where will you turn?
We are a people who need encouragement. There are times when we have no courage or strength left and we need courage to be poured into us. Nothing empowers us more than the comfort of the Holy Spirit who breathed out special words to us in the Bible.
There is a well known story of Sir Walter Scott.
Sir Walter Scott is a famous novelist and poet from Scotland in the 18th century. Most famous works include “Rob Roy” and “Ivanhoe.” Has written several books and poems now considered classics. Is considered the first English-language author to have a worldwide effect in his lifetime. The story of his death is quite interesting.
A few days before the death of Sir Walter Scott there was a lucid interval of that distressing malady which had for some time afflicted him. He had recently returned from a trip where he traveled to London, Italy, and Malta and then returned to his home in Abbotsford. He was greatly distraught having repeated aberrations of his mind, restless and uncomfortable. He asked for his son in law, John Lockhart to come to him. Mr. Lockhart came and Sir Walter Scott asked him to take him into his library and place him by the window, that he might look down upon the Tweed. Then he expressed a wish, asking that his son-in-law read to him. Mr. Lockhart replied, “From what book shall I read?” Mr. Scott replied, “How can you ask? There is but one book…bring me the good book.”
Mr. Lockhart then understood and he opened up the Bible to the fourteenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel and read to him the words of Jesus, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you…I am the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14:1-2,6).” Sir Walter Scott listened with devotion, and said when his son-in-law had done, “This is a great comfort, I have listened to you distinctly and I feel as if I were yet to be myself again.”
I have personally experienced the endurance and encouragement that comes through the Scriptures so many times. I can’t quite explain how it works but it does. Just this week I was reading in the morning from Isaiah 54 where God says, “For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the LORD, your Redeemer (Is. 54:7-8).”
The last words of that passage pierced my soul, that God addresses me as my Redeemer. His very name dictates his character and his relationship toward me. Have you ever been addressed like that? Maybe you need to hear some of the many names God tells us he has in Scripture.
He says, “I am Redeemer.” “I am Comforter.” “I am Father.”
We as Christians when we need encouragement we go to the Scriptures. We may be suffering through some trial or some disease or tragedy and we can go to God’s word and read things like 1 Peter 3:17. The Bible is self-authenticating as the Word of God because it ministers to our soul.
Sometimes you might not have the strength and like Sir Walter Scott, you might just need someone else to read to you and pray for you. I do that with other people often.
A Prayer for our Unity
God’s Nature
After talking about the greatness of the word of God, Paul just moves to prayer. Notice that, it is a prayer here. Some prayers are spontaneous and some are planned. This is a planned prayer…after stating what God’s Word does for us he then notes in his prayer that his is God’s very nature. God is one who gives endurance and who gives encouragement.
Our Harmony
Look at the next thing he prayers for in verse 5. After making all these great statement about the Bible, he then returns to the situation at hand, the principle of preference and prays for our harmony…read verse 5-6.
The unity of Jesus church is SO IMPORTANT. That is what this whole section is about truly living together as the church in com-unity as a family who truly cares and loves one another.
This goes against our nature. We usually are only attracted to those who are like us and then gossip about those who are unlike us. We tend to pride ourselves in our distinctives and minimize the things we have in common.
In Ephesians 4:3 Paul says, “Endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.” We have to fight for it at times, fight for unity.
Division and strife in Jesus church is something God hates.
- 1 Corinthians 2:25 says there are not “to be divisions in the body but members are to care for one another.”
- Titus 3:10 says, “A person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him.” Division can get you kicked out of a church!
Causing division and strife, over secondary, non-essential, opinion matters is a very serious matter. That means we are not to talk negatively about one another behind each other’s backs. That’s not love. We are not to stir up controversy and rebellion among us. Love is to drive our community. Not constantly questioning each other and everything we do.
Churches have split over things like the use of money, people speaking in tongues, some people liking or not liking a pastor, the songs that are sung, the music being too loud, too old, too rock and roll, whether wine or juice is served, how it is served…the list goes on and on.
I myself was in a situation when I was a college pastor several years ago and a new senior pastor was placed by the denomination and several people did not like him and wanted me to start a new church at that time. But I believed in the unity of Jesus church being more important with whether I liked or agreed with this new pastor, so I refused to be a cause for division in Jesus’ church.
Separating from one another in any way is always to be a last resort, only after we have tried everything we can do to get along and do things with one heart and one mind in one accord. So often it seems we are so quick to be defensive and fight and bail out on each other if things get a little tough. It is not supposed to be that way.
I’ll tell you this. Most church splits, and most of the denominations that have started out of church splits have been over secondary matters…because people who were a part of church families did not properly learn and apply Romans 14-15:13. Paul’s prayer for us, The Resolved Church is that we work hard for harmony.
The Glory Goal
Maybe we should as the question why. Why is harmony or unity so important? Verse 6 answers, “that together (we) may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The answer is so that God would get glory. Our goal is to show off how good and glorious God is.
If we are fighting and there is jealousy and power struggles and a lack of love and care and giving up preference for each other, that doesn’t make God look very good.
God is glorious and he is most glorified in us when we together work and sing and love his son Jesus together in unison. And the wonderful thing is that when caring most about what God thinks instead of us getting our way and being recognized…then we end up the most satisfied and enjoying being a part of Jesus church.
Missional Preferencing
The Jesus Example
After Paul’s prayer that we would glorify God together he makes an ingenious move, a shift. He’s been talking about the principle of preference within the Christian community. Now he’s going to take that and apply it missionally, to those who are not yet Christians.
It starts in verse 7 with the principle of hospitality, welcoming, receiving or accepting others. Verse 7, “Therefore welcome one another as Christ as welcomed you for the glory of God.” This is where in the gospel we recognize that we are far worse off than we previously knew or understood but that we are far more loved or accepted by God than we ever dreamed because Jesus died for us anyway and welcomed us into his family. That changes us. It makes us accepting of others because we have been accepted despite all our flaws and sins.
The Gentile Example
In order to help us see and understand this…Paul, our human author does what he has been doing all along and connects it again with the gospel, that gospel hermeneutic. In verse 8, Jesus missionaries gets brought up, how Jesus was a servant to the circumcised in order to show the truth of the promised gospel. So here, Jesus’ Jewishness is brought up. He was born a Jew and came to fulfill the prophecy given to the Jews of a messiah.
But Jesus was not for the Jews only. As verse 9 notes, the reason Jesus was born a Jew was not only to fulfill the promises of Scripture but so that God may extend mercy to the Gentiles, anyone who was not a Jew.
And that is exactly what we see in the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus spend time traveling in Gentile countries. Jesus eats dinner with sinners and outcasts. Jesus says he loves all the peoples of the world and came to die for them (Jn 3:16).
What we learn from this is it does not matter who you are or where you are from or what you have done or gone through in life thus far. Whatever your religious background, whatever your cultural preferences, style, dress, food…there is nothing that would cause Jesus to turn his head aside from you and not extend mercy.
Some of you may have trouble with that. You may be caught in a works driven, guilt oriented relationship with God, where you think he only loves you if you perform correctly for him. That is not the gospel, that is religion. The gospel is that you are accepted and welcomed by Jesus solely through faith in his person and work on the cross.
Supporting Scriptures
If you’re unsure of that, Paul cites four Scriptures to help you. If the Scriptures gives instruction, endurance, encouragement, and hope…then here are four to do that for us…from each of the major divisions of the Old Testament Hebrew Bible, one the Law, two from the Psalms, and one from the Prophets.
1. From Psalm 18:49 “I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing praise to your name.” This verse tells us that Gentiles and Jews can and will worship the same God together.
2. From Deuteronomy 32:43 “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” Again a verse speaking of the worship of people from two religious backgrounds, and enjoying it! Rejoicing together!
3. From Psalm 117:1 “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles and let all the peoples extol him.” Here a command for everyone to praise the Lord together.
4. From Isaiah 11:10 “The root of Jesse (that’s Jesus) will come, even he arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” And lastly a verse saying that Jesus will come and sit on the throne as king and all peoples will enjoy his rule and put their hope in him.
Missional preference. What this concluding section is teaching us, is that if this principle of giving away our preference can get a hold of us…it effects everything. Not only our community among us as the church but in our ability to love and reach out to our city.
San Diego has one of the most diverse populations in the country living in one city. What keeps many of those people from being able to hear the gospel is them not experiencing Christians giving away their preference, their secondary distinctives, so that they can hear the gospel.
We must think of ourselves as missionaries in our city. Our neighbors are often as different as us as people from the other side of the world. We’ve got to get creative in learning how we can connect with them and invite them into our lives so that can see that though we are different there can be much love between us through the gospel of Jesus.
Let me give you an example. Mark Driscoll tells the story of what happened in gay bar.
Over lunch, he informed me that he had been a closet homosexual throughout college, had joined the military after graduation, and had recently been discharged for having sex with fellow soldiers. He was presently frequenting public bathrooms throughout the city and having anonymous sex with various men. He shared that he was wrestling through whether he believed that he was a sinner and whether he still believed in God. When I invited him to attend church with me, he declined, saying that it was unfair for me to expect him to come into my Christian subculture, since I was unwilling to go with him into his homosexual subculture.
And he was right. So, feeling convicted to be like Jesus, I told him I would be happy to go into his world if he would come into mine. Seeing an evil dervish grin emerge on his face, I knew I was in trouble. He invited me to a gay country and western bar he frequented. At the time, I did not drink and disliked no one more than limp-wristed gay men and cowboys. I could not conceive of a worse purgatory than the one awaiting me.
I went home to inform my lovely bride about the mess I had gotten myself into, discovering that she was both supportive and good humored. The following week, I went out with my skinny, feminine gay buddy, who was dressed up in tight jeans, goofy boots, and a big hat for a night of country line-dancing. Walking through the front door of the queer cowboy club, I was hit with the shrill sound of country and western music and the sight of a sea of skinny men sporting tight jeans, well-groomed mustaches, and boots, even though we were in the middle of downtown Seattle and at least an hour’s drive away from the nearest horse.
My friend took me to the bar and introduced me to a number of his gay buddies, who were drinking–of course–light beer. Feeling like I was wearing someone else’s underwear, I stood there and tried to be inconspicuous, praying that no one would recognize me. Then someone I had graduated from high school with approached me with a surprised look. She asked, “What are you doing here?” And I quickly blurted, “I’m married to a woman and here with a friend, but I’m not a gay guy, so please don’t tell anyone I’m a queer.” She laughed and we chatted for a few minutes until a song she obviously liked came on, and she then shuffled off to the dance floor with her girlfriend.
Then a guy introduced himself and hit on me. Stunned, I did not immediately respond but instead stared at the poor guy, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar, how he could mistake me for a gay guy, and if I was really good looking. It then hit me and I asked him, “Are you my mailman?” He replied, “Yes, I am a mailman.” Suddenly, I wanted to kill myself and never get mail again.
My buddy had abandoned me at the bar, and I frantically searched for him in hopes that if I was with him, no one else would hit on me. I found him drinking a fruity drink and flirting with an enormous man. I asked him how long we were staying, since the first five minutes in this hell were about all I could handle. But he said, “Mark, I have to go to a special room upstairs for about an hour, so you are welcome to come up with me or stay down here until I return.” I asked what they did in that room, hoping I would not throw up my dinner after hearing his answer. Here’s how he responded: “It’s not an orgy. It’s a meeting for the gay rodeo committee.”
Gay rodeo?
Those were simply the last two words I had ever anticipated hearing together. He explained that the queer cowboys were hoping to have a rodeo and that he was on the planning committee. Not wanting to sit at the bar for an hour getting hit on, I chose to go to the planning meeting with a few dozen other guys. We all sat in a circle like we were in a home Bible study. The meeting opened with introductions, everyone giving their names and vocations.
I had prided myself on aspiring to the pastorate but now found myself in an awkward position. My buddy leaned over and whispered in my ear, “What are you going to tell them you do for a living?” Unsure, I said, “I have no idea. Maybe I’ll tell them I am a teacher or a spiritual director.”
When it came to my turn, I tried to avoid the inevitable conflict and lied to them by saying I was a spiritual something-or-other, hoping the queer cowboys would smile, nod, and ignore me. But one of the cowboys asked what my religion was. So I came out of my closet and told him I was a Bible-thumping, old-school Christian preacher, causing some of the guys to laugh, thinking I was kidding. The rest of the meeting went well and was not all that different from the boring staff meetings we had at the megachurch, where people who hadn’t done much tried to appear as if they had. The guys were very nice, so afterward when we returned downstairs, I ended up buying some of them beers. However, I did not drink that evening because I wanted to respect the church’s authority over me, which forbade alcohol consumption.
One of the guys asked if I was actually a real pastor and began explaining how his lover and many of his friends had died of AIDS. Actually, he began discipling me, articulating with great pain the loneliness and death that filled his community and explaining why he feared death. He asked what happens when someone dies and wanted to know what would happen to him, in particular. He was attentive as I sought to relate the gospel to his life: sin causes death, but Jesus is God who became a man and died–when he was about the same age as this man–in order to rise from death, forgive sin, and give eternal life to those who repent of sin and trust in him. I explained that only Jesus can take us through our own deaths and comfort us after the deaths of others, because he alone has been through death and come back.
The man was not converted during our chat, but in many ways, I was.
As I left the bar, God convicted me about my proud addiction to morality and my attempt to look like a decent guy so that others would like me. I was so insecure that I feared not only that my Christian friends would see me walking out of a gay bar with queer cowboys but also that the queer cowboys would reject me for being a Bible thumper who, deep down, believed they were running headlong to hell in their cowboy boots. I cared more about how I appeared to people than about whether I shared the passion of Jesus for those who are lost.
That night, I learned that reformission requires that Christians and their churches move forward on their knees, continually confessing their addictions to morality and the appearance of godliness, which does not penetrate the heart and transform lives. In the end, I learned that God’s mission is not to create a team of moral and decent people but rather to create a movement of holy loving missionaries who are comfortable and truthful around lost sinners and who, in this way, look more like Jesus than most of his pastors do.
Conclusion
Paul concludes this whole section about giving away our personal preference with a final prayer in verse 13, ” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. ”
The prayer recognizes that for any of us to truly change we need the power of the Holy Spirit to work in us. Our only hope is God giving us joy and peace in believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is not easy to be the church. I pray this sort of mini-series within our series has been helpful for us as a young small church plant to learn how to better be the church to one another and how to live in our city.
Here’s what we’ve learned today…
There is a way to see Jesus in everything. Do you look at Scripture merely as a guide for good moral living or do you look at the gospel as the key to the Scriptures. Do you look at your life merely as mundane occurrences or do you see how Jesus has to do with everything in your life? Where do you need to see the gospel of Jesus applied today?
We’ve learned that the Bible instructs us and ministers to us. Are you reading your Bible? Do you look to the Bible for truth, endurance, encouragement and hope? Allow God’s word to speak to you today. God gives us his word and says to you I am the God of endurance and encouragement. Find it in him this morning.
We learned we must work hard for unity. Are there things getting in the way of relationships with people that shouldn’t be? Are you holding grudges or stirring up controversy with anyone? Know how much Jesus loves you despite your idiosyncrasies and sins and allow that his acceptance of you to give you much acceptance for others so that you can just give way.
Lastly we learned that we are to be on mission. Giving away our preferences in many ways really becomes the tenor of our lives, constantly laying them down for the sake of others. When we get connected to Jesus who sacrificed everything for us it ends up making us extremely sacrificial for others. Who is God calling you to reach out to? To go out of your way to figure out a way to share the gospel with them? What are you doing to tear down the walls of separation or preference so that the gospel can get a hearing with them?
As we approach the table today I just want to conclude simply, with the prayer of Scripture here. Usually we all close our eyes and bow our head in prayer. Today, I want to do it eyes wide open and just quote verse 13 to us. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
