The Weak and The Strong Pt 9

the civil government, to believers,
to those who want to do us harm and difficulty. And Paul is just
fleshing out seemingly every possible relationship that a
Christian could come across so that they can be well equipped
to be able to deal with those particular people. Well, in this
last section, this last group of people that he wants to deal
with, He’s dealing with the weak and the strong people that have
areas of maybe practice that they don’t find a chapter in
verse four in the Bible and yet they feel compelled to conduct
themselves in a particular way on a particular issue. Paul refers
to them as being weak they have a weak faith they don’t realize
the how much freedom that they have in Christ and so they hold
to these things tenaciously and persistently even though they
don’t have good cause for doing so. And then the other group
or the strong they’re the ones that place their faith in Christ
just as the weak. But they believe that because
they place their faith in Christ that they are free to obey the
Lord and free to walk with him according to what scripture clearly
forbids or prohibits or mandates. And so there’s this tension between
the weak and the strong. That’s what Paul’s been dealing
with. And again, for those of you who are new, we’re in the
midst of this section, which began in chapter 14, verse one
on the weak and the strong. And Paul gives a series of exhortations
and other than just the title or the The heading for each of
these sections I’m just going to do a flyover review again
for those who are just joining us. When Paul begins to talk
about the weak and the strong the first exhortation that he
gives beginning in verse one going through verse 11 of chapter
14 is an extra day an exhortation rather regarding differences.
He just says there are going to be differences. Some believe
that tattoos are OK. Some believe that they’re forbidden.
Some believe that, you know, dining out on Sunday is OK. Some
believe that that’s just wrong. Some believe that long hair for
men is OK. Others believe that that’s prohibited. And there are all kinds of these
things. And all Paul says, he doesn’t take sides. He doesn’t
point out particular issues. He just says you’re going to
have differences. You’re going to have people that look and
in the white spaces of Scripture, see things forbidden that God
really hasn’t spoken to. And that’s going to put them
in tension with those who are strong that look at scripture
in black and white and see what God has prohibited and see what
God has permitted. And there’s going to be tension,
Paul says, look. There are going to be differences,
the second section beginning in verse 12, he says, the first
thing you ought to do is make sure that you’re not offending
anyone. We don’t want to offend our brothers in Christ. And so
he gives this exhortation on offenses beginning in verse 12
coursing all the way down through verse 23. And essentially he
says look we ought to take every possible opportunity that we
have. We ought to take every precaution
not to offend our brothers even if that means setting aside one
of these liberties. We don’t want to offend our brother.
We don’t want to coerce his conscience. We don’t want him to get him
to do something he’s uncomfortable doing. The third exhortation
begins in Chapter 15 verse one. Where Paul says it’s an exhortation
to edification our main purpose in life ought to be to build
up our brothers in Christ not to tear them down. And the fourth
exhortation which exhortation we left off last Lord’s Day is
the exhortation to unity and we just found that it perfectly
fits. Obviously this is the case. You’re going to have differences.
We don’t want to offend. We want to be building up. And
the exhortation to unity is just perfectly fitted in the course
of this discussion. That we ought to be in one mind
with one another, ultimately purposing to glorify God together,
not each faction coming to God alone. Well, Paul is going to
bring the plane in. for the most beautiful landing.
I remember flying, I don’t even remember where I was flying,
but I remember years ago flying, and I remember the landing, I
didn’t even feel the wheels bump. It was one of those picture-perfect
landings that we all pray for when we start to come in. But
this deal was so perfect, I don’t think the tires smoked, we just
kind of came in, glided in, and rolled right up to the gate.
Well, that’s what Paul’s going to do here. There is a there
is a great fit here in these last verses, and I have to admit
that when I first looked at them, I said, what am I going to do
with these? How does this even fit? But there is a fit here. Paul gives us one last exhortation
to acceptance. It’s an exhortation to acceptance.
Pick it up, if you would, in verse seven. Where Paul writes,
wherefore, except one another. Just as Christ also accepted
us to the glory of God for I say that Christ has become a servant
to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm
the promises given to the fathers and for the Gentiles to glorify
God for his mercy. As it is written therefore I
will give praise to the among the Gentiles and I will sing
to thy name again He says rejoice so Gentiles with his people and
again praise the Lord all you Gentiles and let all the peoples
praise him. And again Isaiah says there shall
come the root of Jesse and he who arises to rule over the Gentiles
in him shall the Gentiles hope. Well perhaps you can even see
my dilemma as I first read through those. Why does Paul all of a
sudden revert to a discussion about Israel and the Gentiles
in the course of this discussion that has largely been about the
weak and the strong and about differences and about various
difficulties that presented themselves in the church. As I said the
landing is perfectly smooth. Wait till you see what Paul does
here. First thing that he does is say wherefore. Now that isn’t
a word that we use. We use a similar therefore which
tends to have the function of drawing a conclusion on a particular
matter. But what Paul does here is begin
to wrap up and he uses this word wherefore translated here in
the N.A.S. wherefore as a conclusion of
beginning of a conclusion for this entire section. Which began
back in Chapter 14 verse 1 with interestingly enough the same
exhortation except one another. And what Paul does is resume
the argument that he began back in 14 one and he summarizes it
and essentially restates it that we are to accept one another.
We’re not to scrutinize to the point of exclusion. We are to
receive if someone professes faith in Christ we are to receive
them in full even with all of their quirky viewpoints. And
we have them by based on everything that Paul has said the variety
that is going to come with the body of Christ, avoiding offending
others, the call to edify one another. That’s our chief calling
and not to tear down our brothers in Christ. The ultimate call
to unity, which we had just considered. Wherefore, wherefore, except
one another. And it’s the church, the greater
church that Paul addresses, he isn’t addressing Any one particular
group back in 14 one, you could even make the case that Paul
was addressing the strong. Now, look, you got a weak brother
that comes into your midst. You need to you need to accept
him. But here he points out that that goes both ways, and we’ve
seen that throughout the week. Need to accept the strong. The
strong need to accept the weak. Those with scruples. Need to
set aside those scruples with regards to their brother. They
need to come alongside and accept him in full. And they do so because
Christ has accepted them. Paul made the same point back
in Chapter 14, right? Christ has accepted them. What
are we doing excluding them? If Jesus Christ has welcomed
them into his kingdom, can’t they be in our little fellowship?
They can and they should. Colossians 3 says it this way,
as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put
on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience,
bearing with one another, forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint
against anyone. Having been forgiven by the Lord
Jesus Christ, we ought to be the most magnanimous, right?
We ought to be the most forgiving. Remember when I preached Matthew
18, I referred to that as the 10 million dollar sin. We have
this tendency to want to go out and choke our fellow slaves for
the equivalent in that parable of a 16 penny sin. When the truth
is we have just been completely forgiven. Of the amount again
in that parable, the equivalent of 10 million dollars. And we
want to go out and choke a fellow slave for 16 pennies makes no
sense. When you think of what the Lord
Jesus Christ has forgiven in your life and forgiven you, how
can we hold somebody to the wall for some petty offense against
us? We need to take them into our
company, and this word, we talked about it before, it means to
really receive them in and to draw them in to really intimate
fellowship. We have a tendency to do that
with a few people and then leave everybody else on the perimeter,
even to push some away. One pastor said, take your fellow
Christians to your hearts as well as to your homes. We were talking about hospitality
this week. It’s interesting, we’ve lived
in a number of different parts of the country. In the South,
in my particular case in Dallas. If you go to church on Sunday
you’re going home with somebody for lunch. That’s just the way
it is. In California the way it is is they’ll talk about it
for a while and then they’ll meet you at the restaurant and
they’ll pay. But they hardly ever have people. I think five
times in the entire time that we lived there people had us
into their homes. It’s just part of the culture
there. In the Midwest they’ll talk about
it for a long long long time. And then when they do have you
over on a Sunday on a Lord’s Day it’s an all day event. You
come for lunch and then you keep you sit at the table and you
fellowship and you eat and you keep eating and then you have
dessert and then you eat some more and then you have tea and
then you have early dinner and in preparation for church and
you just that’s just part of the culture. Well Paul says you
know what look it isn’t enough to have people in your home.
You can have people in your homes and have them completely excluded
from your life. Paul says, accept them, bring
them in, draw them in close. I’ll let you figure out how we
do it here in Colorado. So what this does, it has it
has the point here, the sense of really befriending those in
Christ, those in our midst. So that we don’t make the weak
feel like they’re ostracized and we don’t make the strong,
that club over there, the libertines that don’t obey all the scruples
that we have. We don’t make them feel badly
for the way that they live their lives. We accept one another.
We walk in Christ. We fellowship. We share prayer
requests. As one said it, a Christian’s
faith in many respects might be weak, immature, unstructured,
uninstructed, but he must be welcomed warmly as a Christian
and not challenged. Not debated, not criticized and
scrutinized. Paul says, accept one another
just as Christ accepted us to the glory of God, there’s a pattern
here. And he points he points us back to what Jesus has already
done. Jesus didn’t say, well, you know,
you don’t exactly measure up, you know, like the Wizard of
Oz, go back, bring me, you know, the witch’s broomstick before
you. That’s not at all in view here. Jesus Christ, when we knelt
on knees of repentance, accepted us in full. He drew us in. And he really, in drawing this conclusion,
It’s not just that he points us back to chapter 14. It’s not
just that he points us back to chapter 12 and 13. He really points us back to chapters
1 through 11 which is the entire testimony of the work of Christ.
Remember sin. That three chapters that opened
the book of Romans and then salvation, the answer to the problem, and
then the section on sanctification that grew out of that, that we’re
saved, but we’re not perfect yet, but we’re growing in grace.
That all rolls in to the argument here in this one little phrase.
Just as Christ accepted you, Christ saw you as a sinner, drew
you to himself, began the work of salvation in you and is continuing
the work of salvation in you by means of sanctification day
by day, moment by moment. The duty. That we have as Christians
to accept one another is built upon that work. That Jesus Christ
has already done that work in our lives, who are we? Who are
we to hold off and hold out from another brother in Christ? And the point that Paul makes
here is that Christ has already accepted both of these groups
that he now mentions really for the first time in this entire
section. Jews and Gentiles. And that both groups are to recognize
and accept one another. Now, I’ll land the plane very
softly at the very end, as Paul does. But this phrase that Paul
mentions here, very subtly, this phrase to the glory of God, that could technically be appended
to either one of these statements. Listen. Accept one another to
the glory of God. In other words, it’s glorifying
to God the way you treat one another. When you’re unified,
when you treat each other kindly, it glorifies God. Or it could
be this. Christ accepted us to the glory
of God. That’s the way it’s written,
but it could be translated either way. Now, it’s certainly true
that God’s great plan of redemption, that Christ has accepted us to
the glory of God. God’s great plan of redemption
brings glory to God. Listen to the book of Ephesians
just listen briefly to the portion of that great section in the
opening chapter of Ephesians where Paul writes in him we have
redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses
according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon
us in all wisdom and insight. He made known to us the mystery
of his will according to his kind intention. And then he says
this. To the end that we who were the
first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory. And he says this for the first
time or for the third time in that section. Everything that
is part of the great plan of God’s redemption of sinners is
to the praise of his glory. It brings God glory. It brought
God glory to send Christ to take on human flesh. It brought God
glory when Christ began to conduct his ministry. It brought God
glory when Christ was arrested and crucified on the cross and
buried. It brought God glory when he
was resurrected from the dead. To the praise of his glory and
as Believers began to place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
that brought God glory. But we also see. We also saw
in immediately preceding verses that a united body of Christ
brings God glory. Remember what Paul said there,
may God, who gives perseverance and encouragement, grant you
to be of the same mind toward one another according to Christ
Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify God. That too. And so these things
are both true. God’s great plan of redemption
brings glory to God and. Saints united for one purpose,
serving Christ together. also bring glory to God, there’s
no point in separating these things apart. Once said it this
way, God’s glory was promoted when Christ received us as sinners,
and it is further advanced when we who are by nature sinners
wrapped up in our own concerns instead receive our brothers
and sisters in Christ with warmth and love. Nothing glorifies God
as much as the unity of his children. A beautiful way to say it. I want you to glance, though,
at what Paul does here. He identifies, as I said, for
the first time in this entire study, all the way from 14.1
to here, for the first time, he identifies two different people
groups. And I’ll tell you why at the
end. Look at verse 8. For I say that Christ has become
a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God
to confirm the promises given to the fathers. Now, what Paul
does, he wants to zero in and he wants to give some very explicit,
very important doctrinal instruction. And basically, Paul wants to
justify the statement that he’s just made that Christ has accepted
us. By showing that Christ has accepted
both Jew and Gentile, that he’s drawn them in. As one pastor described it, Christ
came with a twofold purpose. On the one hand, with a mission
to the Jews, the chosen race, to vindicate them the truthfulness
of God. And on the other hand, with respect
to the objects of mercy of the mercy of God in rescuing the
Gentiles from their state of condemnation, God had a twofold
purpose in the mission of Christ. Now, the first group that he
mentions, and this is a strange way to refer to them, but he’s
pointing back to the Abrahamic covenant. He calls them simply
the circumcision. It’s the Jewish people that he’s
referring to. And he does this the same way in Romans chapter
3, verse 1, Romans 4, 12. He does it again in Galatians.
It’s a common way for Paul to refer to the Jewish nation, the
circumcised. And he says of them that Christ
has become, get this, a servant. It is so fascinating that this
very week, somebody that I had purposed to serve took umbrage
because I mentioned to them this little word service. All I did
was say that I intended to serve you and they took offense at
that. And in a sense you can understand
that. If I were to call you a servant
you might even be offended. If somebody was referred to refer
to me in a particular context as a servant I might be offended.
It is kind of an offensive word even though in our in our biblical
language we understand this as first and foremost the office
of deacon in the church. Same word the deacon as a servant. But he’s a servant, not of the
church, not of a building. He’s the servant of Christ himself. What better role can you have,
right? But we don’t often think. It’s
hard for us to even grasp. That the Lord Jesus Christ was
a servant. It’s one thing for us to get
over it and begin to call ourselves and refer to everything that
we do. It’s the service of Christ. I’m in the ministry. After all,
I’m serving others. I’m eager to serve you. How I’m
here to serve you. How may I serve you? It’s easy
for us. Easier, perhaps. But then to
think of Christ being a servant. Because that is the nature of
this word. It’s a lowly place. That Christ took on that lowly
place to bring salvation. And that’s what the word means
to render humble personal service, it is to be at someone’s beck
and call, it is to render them assistance most needful. This
is the Savior who came for that very purpose to labor, to serve
and to labor and serve for a nation, for a people, Israel. That’s
the testimony of the Gospels. The Gospels say that Jesus Christ
didn’t come for a position of power. Mark 10, 45 says the Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his
life as a ransom for many. That was his service. Later in his ministry, Jesus
turns To those who are around him and said who is greater the
one who reclines at the table or the one who serves. Well the
obvious answer to that is the one who is being served. That’s
the way that we look at it in our society. We refer to waiters as servants
right service people. Jesus goes on in that section
and says is it not the one who reclines at the table. He’s obviously
you look at it and you would say he’s the greater. But Jesus
goes on to say that I am among you as one who serves. I’m here
to serve you. Almost astounding, isn’t it? Jesus came for one purpose. Matthew 15, it says that that
he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
It’s those people that he came to serve first and foremost.
And I want you to note, even You can’t see it in your English,
but the form of this verb. It’s called a perfect infinitive. It means that Jesus Christ became
such. And that he remains such. We
have a tendency to think, you know, that he became a servant
and then somehow he retired or graduated on to some bigger role.
He became the servant of Israel and he remains such. that his function as the Messiah
is permanent. He not only became a servant,
but he remains the servant of this nation. What it points to,
as one said, is it implies the whole process of Christ’s service
was completed by him. It was realized ultimately in
the experience of Paul and the church and even us today. He
was born a Jew of the seed of David, according to the flesh,
living almost all of his life within the confines of Palestine,
limiting his ministry of teaching and healing almost exclusively
to Jews. He was both in his earthly life
and in his atoning death, also still is the exalted Lord, the
Messiah of Israel. He is the Messiah. And it’s fascinating
that as I read this and I was at first astounded that Paul
would suddenly take this seemingly abrupt turn and introduce two
different people groups the Jews and the Gentiles in a section
that really has never mentioned it. And then I remember the entire
context of the book of Romans is essentially a detailed analysis
of these two people. Romans 1. I’m not ashamed of
the gospel it’s the power of God for salvation to everyone
who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans
3 what advantage has the Jew great in every respect. They
were entrusted with the oracles of God and then this detailed
explanation in Romans chapters 9 through 11. So it shouldn’t
surprise us that Paul introduces this great. Division. Potential division between the
Jews and the Gentiles here at the very end of a very what has
been a very clear understandable grasp of this whole discussion
of the weak and the strong. Christ has become a servant to
the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the
promises given to the fathers that all he’s doing here this
word confirmed. fulfilled, warranted, guaranteed. He’s just saying that the whole
purpose of Christ’s coming was to drive home the point that
God is a faithful God. God is a God who upholds his
promises. Points to the reason why Christ
had become a servant of the Jewish people. It was for the sake of
God’s faithfulness. The rubber stamp that God is
indeed true to his word. God’s purpose From the very beginning
included not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. And Paul turns
his attention to them. Look at this in verse nine. Accept
one another, just as Christ has also accepted us to the glory
of God. Now that us, now we know that
it includes at least the Jews, because it says that Christ became
a servant to the circumcision. But get this. Paul expands that
us includes not only the Jews, it includes the Gentiles as well.
Look at verse nine. Christ accepted us to the glory
of God, for I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision
and for the Gentiles to glorify God for his mercy. Now. What Paul intends to imply
here? Is that the Jews had a covenant
with God, God had made a promise to them. And part of what Jesus
did in coming was a fulfillment of that promise. It was to show
God is faithful, but the Gentiles, they didn’t have a covenant.
They didn’t have a promise. It may very accurately be said
they didn’t have a prayer. They were hopeless and helpless
and godless. So the whole point that Jesus
is coming for their sake makes here is that Jesus came for the
Gentiles to show God’s mercy to them. As one said this is intended
to apply especially the main division existing at the time
in the community. I want you to know what one commentator
did. He just pointed out that though
Paul took up this issue of the weak and the strong back in chapter
14 in verse 1 and certainly he made some allusions that could
have been construed that the problem was due to a fight between
the Jews and the Gentiles. He mentioned feast days right.
He mentioned dietary loss. Some of those things certainly
in some commentators did try to trace this whole thing back
and say you know what the problem really was. The problem was trying
to blend the Jews with the Gentiles when the whole thing was new
new wine skin. And so he says this points to
the main division existing at the time in that community. Now
we know from Paul’s other writings that at times there were problems.
There were Judaizers. There were those who would come
and take Judaism and try and lay that grid onto the church. I don’t think that’s what Paul’s
doing here at all. I don’t. I don’t think that Paul in bringing
up the Jews and the Gentiles here has that particular point
at all. And I’ll tell you why. Watch
what Paul does. As he begins to support his argument.
Paul takes the scriptures and in verse nine he begins quoting
four Old Testament passages. Watch what he does. He says that not only has Christ
become a servant to the circumcision in order to confirm the promises
given to the fathers and for the Gentiles to glorify God for
his mercy as it is written. And he basically says, look at
your Old Testament scriptures, this plan has always been in
place. One said of this opening verse,
it is sometimes assumed that the series of quotations is intended
simply to support verse nine. The immediately preceding statement
regarding God’s merciful call to the Gentiles because four
times in these verses these four different quotes the Gentiles
are mentioned. Certainly the door was open to
them. But I think it’s very legitimate to say that Paul has both groups
in view as he quotes these four Old Testament scriptures and
he has four different purposes. There’s a progression here. Watch.
First of all. The praise that he mentions to
begin with is a is a quotation from Psalm 18 49. It’s praise
among the Gentiles. Not unlike what we do throw open
the windows of the church. Those about us neighbors those
who do not know Christ will hear the praise. It’s the way that
you live in the community. They will see your testimony. It’s a quote from Psalm 18 as
I said David. He’s basically acknowledging
that nonbelievers are all about them. And it has this almost
a hint of confession that I’m testifying among all the nations
of the greatness of God. Therefore, I will give praise
to thee among the Gentiles. They’re not invited to church.
They’re not participating in church. That’s not Paul’s suggestion
in quoting this at all. He’s just saying that David there
was proclaiming God’s faithfulness among all the nations. Ultimately,
this passage would be fulfilled in the Messiah. We see that now
that he is the Savior. Ultimately, the Jews and the
Gentiles would be saved through him. But that’s not Paul’s point
here. He’s just saying that God’s people
will testify before the nations. Look at verse 10. There’s a different
function here entirely in quoting this little verse. Deuteronomy
32, 43. Here the Gentiles are invited to join in praise. Now something dramatically different
has happened. Before, David was just testifying
of God’s goodness so that all could hear. And now these people
are actually invited to church. Radical. Moses Said one is represented
as calling on the nations to rejoice over the salvation of
Israel. Paul takes the words to imply
that the Gentiles and chosen people shall unite in the praise
of God. This is astounding. This is a
radical shift. Because the whole passage here
stresses the idea of joy as Moses appeals to the other nations
to join him in praise of God. That this was a praiseworthy
thing that had taken place. But there’s a third purpose. We see that in verse 11, another
verse is quoted with another purpose entirely. Says again,
praise the Lord, all you Gentiles and let all the peoples praise
him. Now they’re no longer on the outside. Now they’re no longer
just merely invited to church. Now they are actually invited
to participate in the praise offering to God. The quote is
a quote from Psalm 117, and here the entire world is called upon
to praise the God of Israel because of his faithfulness, because
of his steadfast love. And it’s addressed to the Gentile
peoples and it doesn’t restrict anybody. It just says anybody
and everybody. Remember a Gentile is anybody
outside of Israel. It’s every people group in the
world. Everybody should give praise
to God. And it stresses That little exhortation
stresses that nobody’s to be left out. Everybody is admonished
to come and give praise to God. The grace of God is open to all
and available to all. All are not only invited, but
they’re admonished. Remember when you go witnessing,
you don’t have to suggest that God might, ought to be worshipped. He demands worship. He deserves
to be worshipped. So when you go to witness to
somebody, just say, where do you worship? Well, I don’t. Why? You’re commanded to worship. God deserves worship. Come worship
with me. He quotes the fourth verse. It has
a completely different purpose. Not only on the outside are they
listening in to the worship service, not only have they been invited
to church, now they’re instructed to worship with him. And fourthly,
look at what he does here. Again, Isaiah says there shall
come the root of Jesse. He shall come. He who arises
to rule over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles hope as
they begin to sing praises. They realize that there is a
purpose to this praise. It’s the blessing that the Gentiles
receive from this praise. They’ve come. They’ve fallen
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and they come to see him
as the Savior. And there it’s legitimate to
them. Now it has purpose that has There’s
forgiveness, there’s hope. That’s something previously they
did not have. This whole reference to Jesse,
this shoot springing up out of Jesse points to the Messiah that
would come out of David’s line, and it’s a reference, it’s a
marker to the peoples. that all would see Christ this
as one said the root of Jesse a way of referring to Jesus as
the descendant of the great King David from a household that looked
far from royal. There would emerge God’s Messiah
ultimately one in whom the Gentiles hope. Oh man that is so rich
and it is. What’s the point of all that
anyway. We’re talking about the weak and the strong. Why does
Paul, although I still don’t get it, why Paul insists on inserting
this discussion into this particular section? Why does Paul bring
up Jews and Gentiles? Return to the idea that has already
been floated. This idea that Paul is just finally
now, after what, almost two chapters of detailed instruction just
finally now he’s identifying the real source of the problem
in Rome. It was those pesky Jews who didn’t
know how to get along with their Gentile brothers in Christ or
you could even say vice versa. It was those you know uninstructed
Gentiles who didn’t really understand religion and how to approach
a holy God. Here’s how one person characterized it. The natural
inference to be drawn would seem to be that the division between
the weak and the strong was also a division between Jewish and
Gentile Christians. That’s the argument. I’m telling
you that doesn’t have to be. That’s maybe the answer and I
want to be humble enough to hold out the possibility that maybe
that’s why Paul did this. that maybe there was something
to these feast days these special days. Maybe there was something
to this argument that Jews brought in a whole lot of baggage with
them or maybe the Gentiles brought in these days that they really
wanted to honor. But it’s an inference even admittedly
by this commentator it’s an inference and without almost any detail.
He doesn’t say why Paul suddenly takes a left turn and introduces
the Jews and the Gentiles in this section. And such an inference could not
only be unnecessary it could be distracting to the general
argument. It’s better to understand here
I think that Paul takes this argument from the greater to
the lesser. Here’s what I mean. That look. If part of God’s grand design.
Was to take two. Different people groups that
were entirely. Entirely distinct. One the very
chosen people of God called to be holy. And the other a heathen
godless hopeless bunch. And God in his mercy and by his
design blended them together in one. See, as James Boyce said, from
Paul’s perspective, the greatest of all possible divisions was
the one between Jews who were God’s chosen people and Gentiles
who were apart from Christ foreigners to the covenants of promise without
home, without hope, without God in this world. God makes them
into one. He argues from the greater to
the lesser here. And he says, if God’s entire
purpose was to unite such drastically different people, such as the
Jews and the Gentiles. Are there any petty issues that
remain in the church that can possibly be entertained as legitimate
to divide the church? Paul does a masterful job here.
Paul does a masterful job of saying, you know what, look,
you’re going to have differences. Take every precaution not to
offend your brother. You remember that the whole goal
is to build up your brother and not to tear him down. Oh, we
need to pray to God for unity for the church. And then he merely
points us to God’s great design. Look at what God is already in
the midst of doing. He’s already in the midst of
merging and blending two entirely distinct groups for His one grand
purpose. We’re going to separate over
hair length or over a tattoo or where somebody got their latest
piercing. We need to humble ourselves before
the throne of God. Our merciful God, we thank you
for this incredible section. We thank you for the gentle landing
that Paul provided in introducing us to this great dichotomy. That now is a testimony of the
great work of God and grace in bringing two into one. Father,
we pray for your wisdom, we submit ourselves to you as we look to
areas of our own life. Where we could be offending others,
where we could be holding to things that don’t have any biblical
warrants. where we could be striking against
the unity of the church and tearing our brothers and sisters in Christ
down. God, grant us the grace. Grant
us the grace and keep us part of the great work of God. In
cultivating a unity that ultimately glorifies you. It’s in Jesus
name that we pray. Amen. As we close, if you would
once again take your hymnals, turn to 648. And we’ll sing verses
three and four of My Jesus, I Love Thee. Let’s stand. I’ll love
Thee in life, I will love Thee in death, And praise Thee as
long as Thou wilt be present. And said, when the day is due,
I’ll score a hundred men. If ever I loved you as Jesus
did now, In mansions of glory and endless delight, I’ll sing
with the glittering blue moon on my brow.