The Weak and The Strong Pt 7

If you would take your Bible
and turn to Romans chapter 15 Romans chapter 15 And as you’re turning, I will
begin just with a very brief review. We are in this section
that we have entitled Life with Others. It began all the way
back in Chapter 12, where we began considering Paul’s admonition
to really relate and be able to relate as Christians with
a great variety of people, everybody from believers to civil governments. We’ve seen Spent no little time
on that, but in this particular section, which began in Chapter
14, he’s dealing with the relationship between the weak and the strong.
And both are in view. Both are under consideration.
Paul has had both advice and counsel and admonition to both
groups of people. And what I have suggested is
that there are a series of exhortations woven throughout this section,
which began in chapter 14, verse one, and carries all the way
down through 1512. We saw and spent time looking
at the fact that the first exhortation is an exhortation regarding differences,
that there are going to be differences, differences of viewpoints. And
what Paul was talking about there is not things that for which
we have chapter and verse, things that are absolutely clear in
the scriptures. Rather, those things that aren’t
so clear and yet things about which people develop strong viewpoints,
opinions, convictions, and they live accordingly. Paul would
call them weaker brothers. They can’t find chapter and verse
on it, but for them it is a conviction. We call them scrupulous or perhaps
even over scrupulous. They see things that aren’t there
and they hold and live accordingly. Well, that creates a little bit
of a tension between the stronger brothers who don’t see that they
don’t see those things in Scripture and they don’t live accordingly. That creates tension in the church.
And so not only does Paul exhort on the matter that there will
be differences, but he takes up the matter of offenses in
verse 12. And that carries all the way down through chapter
14, verse 23, where he just says that there are going to be these
tendencies to offend. We may not intend to. That may
not be our heart. But even in holding back in the
practice of certain things, we are making others uncomfortable.
Even in practicing certain things, which we do not find any biblical
prohibition, we may be making another brother uncomfortable.
There are going to be a tendency Toward offending others and what
Paul writes in that section is we need to minimize that. We
need to take steps every step possible not to offend our brother. The third exhortation we found
in chapter 15, the opening four verses, which was an exhortation
to edification that we are to be all about building up our
brothers and sisters in Christ. And it doesn’t just happen This
is supposed to be an effort on our behalf that really takes
our brother as being valid and and valuable and takes as our
calling. Part of his development in Christ,
we who are weak, Paul says, ought to bear the weaknesses of those
without strength and not just please ourselves. He doesn’t
say that taking care of your Physical frame is a bad thing,
but we ought to be about it ought to be a focus, a priority for
us to please our brothers and sisters in Christ. Well, Paul
is stringing these things together that there are going to be differences.
There is going to be a tendency for offenses and we must avoid
those at all costs. Instead, we ought to be about
the great goal of building others up. And that leads to a very
logical. Conclusion. Exhortation number
four is an exhortation to unity that even the building project
is not just an end in itself, the end is the glory of God and
what most glorifies God is the oneness of God’s people. In order that we could take a
running start, I’m not going to go all the way back to the
beginning, but I will go back to the beginning of chapter 15.
Look, if you would, at verse 1 of chapter 15 as we consider
this passage this morning. Now, we who are strong ought
to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just
please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor
for his good to his edification. For even Christ did not please
himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached
thee fell upon me. For whatever was written in earlier
times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and
the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now, may
the God who gives perseverance and encouragement Grant you to
be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus
that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we have said throughout. We don’t know exactly what the
issues were in Rome. In fact it would probably be
wrong to identify any one issue and say that that was Even the
primary issue, because what Paul is doing, what we’ve talked about
from the very beginning, Paul is laying down a series of precepts
for dealing with any kind of potential disunifying element,
any kind of difficulty or difference of opinion that leads to disunity,
a breach in the fellowship, a crack, if you will, in the foundation
of the church. Paul said that eating and dietary habits were
some of those things. The honoring of special days
were some of those other things. For us, as we have seen, there
are different issues that come into play in our day and age.
Piercings, the hair length, whether you play cards or not, whether
you go on vacation, whether you watch TV, do you do sports? Do you do sports on the Lord’s
Day? Those things all have a tendency. Those differences. And the fact
of how we handle what is written in the white spaces of our Bible.
How do we handle our areas of scrupulousness? Those all have
a tendency to produce potential disunity in the church. And Paul’s
fourth exhortation deals with that potential. Paul wants to
address the issue of unity in the church, and it is one of
the most important subjects that Paul ever takes up. And you would
know that because in almost every epistle that Paul writes, Paul
takes up the issue of unity and disunity. What I would like the
saints to consider this morning is what I would title this exhortation,
The Magnificent Blessing of Christian Unity. The magnificent blessing
of Christian unity and what Paul will give us is five particulars.
First of all. Consider that. Even as Paul starts. In verse five, you see this word
now. And essentially, it draws to
a conclusion, the previous paragraph and and issues forth a conclusion,
Paul has made his point And now he turns to another, and it could
be just a grammatical transition. But what Paul does here is is
beautiful in its simplicity. Because he moves from this idea
of patience with one another, consolation or comfort, as we
have seen. And he goes immediately to what
he considers is a duty in the church. And that of what I would
refer to as affectionate harmony, affectionate unity in the church,
that it’s not just to be a mindless unity, as we’ll see in a moment,
but it is supposed to be a unity that is not just a thin veneer,
a smiling greeting at the door, but it is supposed to be deep
fellowship, affectionate fellowship. intimate fellowship. As one said,
the stronger the sense of peace and hope in each individual believer,
the more would be the believing community lifted above the bitterness
and littleness of secondary controversies. That’s Paul’s angle as he advances
now this fourth exhortation in the study of these differences. Now, Paul frequently does this,
where he’ll be in the midst of teaching and he’ll suddenly offer
up a prayer to God. There are these frequent what
I would call eruptions of prayer in Paul’s writings. You’ll see
another one in just a few verses, Romans 15, 13. You can flip there. As he wraps up this section,
he says, Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace. in believing so that you will
abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s in a
very real sense, a prayer on the behalf of the Roman church,
he does it again at the end of chapter 15, look at verse 33.
Now the God of peace be with you all. But it isn’t just the
book of Romans that he does this now three times in a row here
in chapter 15. He does it near the end of second
Corinthians. He’s writing, he’s communicating
a series of crucial things to the Corinthians, and in chapter
13, verse 7, he says, Now we pray to God that you do no wrong,
not that we ourselves may appear approved, but you may do right
even though we may appear unapproved. He prays for them even in the
midst of an exhortation. He does the same thing to the
Thessalonians. Now may our God and Father himself
and Jesus, our Lord, direct our way to you. He does the same
thing in 1 Thessalonians 5.23. He does it again in 2 Thessalonians
three different times. 2.16, 3.5 and 3.16. At the end,
this is the last one that he does in 2 Thessalonians 3.16. Now may the Lord of peace himself
continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord
be with you all. So Paul, it’s almost like He
is living out this idea of praying without ceasing that here he
is in the midst of a detailed exhortation, the fourth of which
he is about to address. He sees a potential problem that
we are going to have differences. He knows that people have been
offended because it’s only natural. He knows that he has already
given them the road map for navigating these differences. What’s left
but to pray, what’s left but to look up to God and to plead
for him to intervene and grant grace where it is so desperately
needed. It certainly reminds us. At the
end of three lengthy chapters in Ephesians, you recall. At the end of three lengthy chapters
of doctrine in Ephesians and just before Paul gets into all
those detailed practical matters on how we are to prosecute our
Christian walk. Paul, Paul can’t wait till the
end to pray. And so he interjects in Ephesians
chapter 3, verse 20, one of the most beautiful prayers that any
Christian would acknowledge. where Paul says, now to Him who
is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think
according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and
ever. That’s essentially what Paul does here. He seizes hold
of the very throne of grace and he appeals to the God of grace
to do what is so desperately needed in the church of Rome. That God would intervene and
grant grace and give what the saints of Rome so desperately
needed. What did they need? Look at the
prayer. We’re considering the magnificent blessing of Christian
unity. And if you note, first of all,
the unity in the church is bestowed as with all of God’s graces.
That’s why Paul asked for it. Look at verse 5. It is bestowed
now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you. This was no divine right. This
was not something that we could drum up from within. This is not something that we
could manufacture among ourselves. Apart from God. Paul moves immediately
from this idea of the scriptures, which are the means of these
things, as as he had just mentioned, that through the scriptures and
our interaction with them, we would have perseverance and the
encouragement that scripture provides. But without God, without
God adding to that his grace, without the Holy Spirit coming
and applying those things to our life. It would be empty and
Paul knew it. So Paul pleads, Paul pleads that
God would bestow those things. Paul recognizes that God is the
source ultimately of patience and consolation. The scriptures
are the means, but ultimately they come from God. It’s fascinating, though, the
way that this has been translated and the way that it’s literally
written. It literally is here The God
of perseverance and the God of encouragement. And this is a
frequent device by Paul. Paul is basically saying that
God is the God of perseverance and the God of encouragement,
and that if we need those things, there’s only one place to go.
He does it a lot of different ways. He calls God the God of
peace. Romans 15, 33, 2 Corinthians
13, 11. Philippians 4, 9, several other
places. He doesn’t just mean that God
is the God of peace, that he’s up there enjoying peace, he means
ultimately that if we are disunified, disjoined from God himself, God
is a peaceable God. God longs to be reconciled to
us. God is a God of peace. And if
we are at odds with others, God is about that problem. God is
able to step in and to bring about peace where there is no
peace and only God. When he calls God in 2 Corinthians
1 3, the God of comfort, it doesn’t mean that God is sitting back
on an easy chair with his feet up, comfortable and relaxing. It means that God is the God
of all comfort and that where we are lacking in comfort, where
we are in the midst of life’s difficulties and griefs, where
we are in the midst of trials, where we are broken hearted.
God himself, the God of comfort. Can. And will, if we ask of it,
provide us that same comfort that is the opening chapter of
2nd Corinthians, remember? When it is said. The God is the
God of love. Second Corinthians 1311. It doesn’t
just mean that God is sitting back enjoying himself. It means
that God is loving. God does everything he does out
of a heart of love. God is love perfectly, and if
we lack love, if we lack love of God, if we lack love for one
another, God is the God of love and to him we must go. If our
heart is to be changed, if we are to be stirred, if we are
going to be kindly affection towards one another, there is
no source for that. It certainly isn’t our own heart.
There is no source other than God. In 1513, when it says that God
is the God of hope. It isn’t that. God is pictured
as sitting there twiddling his thumbs, whittling away wistfully,
hoping that things come together as he would like. God is the
one that imparts the great grace of hope, confidence, a settled
confidence in the soul that things are going to be well. Not just
wishful thinking. That’s our misunderstanding of
that very word. It’s a biblical word. And it
doesn’t mean that we are wishful, that we’re hopeful in the world’s
sense. When it talks about God being
the God of hope, what it points to is the fact that there is
no other place, there is no other source that we can go to have
our confidence restored, to have our faith built up so that we
can look up into heaven and unto glory with hopefulness. No other
source. God is the God of peace. He’s
the God of comfort. He’s the God of love. He’s the
God of hope. He’s the God of grace. It doesn’t mean that God
is just sitting back basking in his own goodness and gracious
demeanor. It means that if we lack grace,
which is precisely what the Scriptures point us to, if we lack the means,
if we lack the ability, if we lack the desire, If we lack anything,
we are to go to the God of all grace who is able to give what
we lack, who is able to supply what we don’t have. And so when Paul calls God the
God of perseverance and the God of encouragement, If we lack
perseverance, if we are tempted to quit, if we’re tempted to
cash in our Christian life, if we’re tempted to leave off to
get off the path. If we’re tempted to be discouraged
and. To leave off following Christ. Paul says, look, there’s one
one source for that. There’s one place to go. It’s
to go to the God of all perseverance, to go to the God of all encouragement
and to be shored up. As one said, the implication
of all this is that God is the giver of steadfastness and encouragement. Paul is not exhorting believers
to pull themselves together and to manifest these qualities,
but rejoicing in the God who gives them. They are always. the gift of God, not the result
of human achievement. Do you hear what Paul says? May God, who is already the God
who gives perseverance and encouragement. He’s the only source for those
things. May God grant you. Paul goes to him. And he lifts
up his hands as it were to heaven, and he pleads for God to give
what is lacking. Unity in the church, as with all of God’s graces,
is bestowed. It’s bestowed. It’s not cultivated. It’s not manufactured. It’s not,
you know, as if we could get together and sing long enough
to cultivate a spirit of unity in the church, it’s bestowed,
it’s given. And where it’s lacking, it must
be God who grants it. No wonder Paul asks. He pleads
with God for that which was obviously already beginning to wane in
the church of Rome. That God would encourage them
that God would grant them perseverance, but God would give them one other
thing. Secondly, in the consideration of the magnificent blessing of
Christian unity, you note that unity in the church is not only
bestowed, as with all of God’s graces, it is oriented in our
mental faculties. And I want you to note that unity
in the church is oriented in our mental faculties, how we
think, how we use our mind, how we process things in our mind. Look at verse five. Now, may
the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to
be of the same mind with one another. Now, it’s no coincidence. that
Paul zeroes in on the mind as being the driving force of unity
in the church. It’s what we think. It’s how
we think. It’s how we process life with
others. It’s how we process things that
occur, offenses that we take in. things that we experience. It’s how we process those things
that makes or breaks the peace or harmony in the church. Did
you hear me? It’s how we think. It’s what we think of others.
It’s how we process those offenses that makes or breaks the peace
and harmony in the church. That’s where it starts. We might
be offended in our spirit. We might have our hearts broken,
but it’s what we do with our minds that really matters. and this peace and harmony, it’s
supposed to characterize the church. We’ll come to that in
a moment. It’s supposed to be our calling card. It’s supposed to be what the
world sees when they see the church. They’re supposed to see
unity and peace and harmony in the church. It’s not a coincidence that Paul
starts with the mind. Paul is absolutely fascinated
with the mind He sees it alternately either as a force for good or
for evil. Listen to this. Outside of the
influence of the Spirit of Christ, this is how Paul sees the mind.
In 2 Corinthians 4.4, he speaks of the mind as the sphere in
where The God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving
so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory
of Christ, who is the image of God. It is the playground of
the devil himself. And he blinds them over in their
mind, they can’t cultivate, they can’t cogitate, they can’t really
mull over the things of God because the devil blinds them. Paul is fascinated with the mind. In Ephesians 2.3, Paul looks
back on his life outside of Christ and he notes this. Among them,
among the heathen, we all too formerly lived in the lust of
our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind. You know what? The mind is not
only the playground of the devil, it is the playground of the sinner
himself. That’s where sin lodges itself,
plants itself as a seed and begins. We’ve just begin to mull over
and we enjoy it and what sins we are plotting. We’re replaying
the ones that we’ve already committed. Paul says it’s evil. This mind outside of Christ,
it is it is the sinner’s playground. Not only is it is it blind and
indulgent, he goes on in Ephesians chapter four. He says this, I
say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer
as the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind. Now, when he talks
about futility, he talks about utterly meaningless things. These things that we mull over
on our mind, these things that we They have no positive good
at all. These arguments that we have
that we never verbalize these discussions, these attitudes
towards others, these hateful sentiments. They’re futile, they’re
absolutely worthless. Takes up the same argument. He
takes up the same argument in Philippians 319. Talks about
those whose end is destruction, whose God is their appetite,
whose glory is their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. Not only are they blinded and
indulgent and futile, they’re earthly. They’re just all about all the
simple things of life. They’re all the ways that we
can please ourselves, all the little earthly battles, all the
little base arguments. Not only that, not only blinded,
indulgent, futile, earthly. Colossians 121 adds one. You
were formerly alienated and hostile in mind. Paul, as I said, he’s
fascinated with the mind. He’s fascinated with the thought
processes. And he says, not only here are
they constantly cultivating these futile arguments, these futile
thoughts, These earthly things, ultimately, they end in hostility.
Hostility first and foremost to God, but ultimately it comes
out and it touches everyone around them. No wonder Paul is concerned
with unity in the church as touching the mind. Hostile, hostile in mind. He adds one more in the next
chapter of Colossians. Let no one defraud you of your
prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of angels taking
a stand on the visions he has seen inflated without cause by
his fleshly mind. That’s what these false teachers
were doing. They were just coming up with all these ideas. And
this is absolutely germane to the discussion in Romans. Because
you have these people, they come up with these ideas that we must
comply. Remember, no candy corn. We must comply, and if we don’t,
they’re fleshly, he says. They’re wrestling with earthly
things. Those who make that a matter
of salvation, Paul refers to as false teachers. Paul goes on and talks about
those of depraved minds. James mentions double-minded
men. Jude mentions worldly-minded
men. You see, the beauty is that once
a sinner is touched by the grace of God, once they place their
faith in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, once they are indwelled
by the Holy Spirit, the mind becomes a powerful force for
good, for purity. That’s what Paul was talking
about earlier in this book, in chapter 8. When he said the mind
set on the Spirit is life and peace, it’s been changed. It’s focused upon the Spirit
and the Spirit’s good. It’s focused on the things of
God. And it leads to life, eternal
life and peace, not just with peace with God primarily, but
peace with others. That’s where it comes from. No wonder Paul is starting this
great section back in Chapter 12 said be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. The mind is a crucial element
in this whole picture. No wonder Paul would conclude
to the. To the Corinthians that they
be made complete, be comforted, be like minded. He would open
with similar words to the Philippians. Similar to the ones even before
us today, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel
of Christ so that whether I come to see you or remain absent,
I will hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind
striving together for the faith of the gospel. Paul knew that
the mind was absolutely crucial to the unity of the church. Absolutely
crucial, and it must be a saved mind. It must be a sanctified
mind. It must be a mind that is absolutely
focused and intent on the Holy Spirit. You see, this mind, or
we might even refer to as our inner self, inner disposition. It has to be touched by the Spirit
of God, and once it has, It cultivates issues forth in a unity, in a
oneness, in an attitude of love towards others. It’s changed. So this idea of the unity of
mind, a unity of interest. Which can be easily damaged.
It can be easily troubled if these differences of opinion
are allowed to affect our personal relations. Paul Paul reminds them that the
mind is a powerful tool. It’s a powerful weapon in the
hands of God. It’s a absolutely destructive
weapon in our own hands. I read one commentator that had
one simple little thought. He said, beware of two extremes
that cause divisions. Captivity to custom. And the
affectation of novelty, let me explain. He basically points
to the fact that, look, you have two different things that could
potentially tear any church apart. They get into people’s minds
and the mind starts to wander and the mind twists those things. into justifying almost any destructive
action. One of them is captivity to custom.
That’s just the way we’ve always done things, right? I can’t show
you chapter and verse. I don’t know where it’s written,
but this is how we’ve always done it. And that can lead to
absolute destruction in the church. But he also goes to another thing,
affectation of novelty. This is the other extreme. This
is somebody who always wants to come along and they just want
to try something new just for newness sake. They don’t have
chapter and verse either, they don’t have a divine mandate behind
them, they just want to do something new just to do something new. And so Paul, Paul here issues
forth this this plea to God, now may the God who gives and
has already, in a very real sense, given perseverance and encouragement. He’s there. Those graces are
there for the taking. All we have to do is ask. May
He grant you one more. May He grant you to be of the
same mind with one another. What does He mean? What is He
talking about? To be of the same mind? Does
it mean that we all have to be able to sign explicitly the same
doctrinal statement on every point? It isn’t having an identical
doctrinal statement that Paul’s talking about here. We ought
to be generally agreed. And there are some things that
are absolutely deal breakers. If you come into this church
and you tell us you don’t believe that Jesus Christ is God, this
isn’t the place for you. But there are many particulars
that are, you know, less defined, much more diverse As one said, it is not based
on our limited and even mistaken understate understandings rather
of God’s truth. We ought to be humble enough
to come to Scripture and to say, I believe this is what it teaches.
But to say without any question at all. That this is absolutely,
I think I described it one other time when I said that I expect
to get to heaven and be Corrected. Don’t you? I’m afraid of people
that aren’t. If somebody thinks that they’ve
got all the answers in the here and now, just through their little
system, they frighten me. It isn’t that every Christian
is supposed to think exactly alike on every subject. That’s not what Paul means by
being of the same mind. He’s not talking about unanimity
of our opinions as if nobody can have a diverse opinion. Some
of these weak areas, some of these gray areas that they’ve
adopted. It isn’t our doctrinal views, it’s
unanimity of heart. It’s a oneness of spirit. There’s
two different kinds, two different ways really in The New Testament
that this word is used, one is talking about doctrinal unity,
and that is absolutely a goal. First Corinthians 110. We ought
to be working towards those things. We ought to be wrestling in the
Scriptures and examining everything carefully and holding fast to
that which is good. But in the meantime, there must
be unity. There must still be unity. There
must still be peace and harmony in the church. You can’t wait
until you arrive at some perfect doctrinal statement in order
to enjoy Christian unity. But Paul’s talking about here.
It’s exactly those things that he’s been talking about since
chapter 14, verse one. It’s the things that the Bible
isn’t so clear on that we should have unity even in the midst
of those differences, we should have unity even in the midst
of those uncomfortable moments. It’s about those non essentials,
right? As one said, this thinking the
same thing is not confined to any sphere of opinion, but to
all that might occupy their minds or to all that pertain to the
church, not in trade or politics or the common concerns of life,
but in all things on which As members of the church, they might
be expected to form a judgment. They were to think the same thing,
they were to come to a unanimous decision. You see, here’s what
happens. Is that people hold off these
judgments, they hold off these these differences and they the
church believes that it moves forward in oneness and then and
then the difficulties come. What Paul is talking about is
a peaceableness. Peaceableness about the mission
of the church. A peaceableness about the positions
of the church. A peaceableness about the directions
of the church. Paul isn’t talking here that
we’ve all got to sign with explicit clarity one single doctrinal
statement. What he points to is having the
same thoughts, having a harmonious feeling, have a having a peaceable
sentiment with one another. I hesitated whether to include
this. Because it’s difficult thinking. Robert Haldane, one
of the great commentators on the Book of Romans. Put together
a very fascinating thought and if you if the Saints would bear
with me I think that we can get through this. He said it this
way. Christians should labor to effect
union of belief in all matters because it is their duty to endeavor
to know whatever God has revealed and not merely for the purpose
of union of sentiment. What he says is we should try
to be on the same page doctrinally and where we have differences,
we should dig into the scriptures and look to those and wrestle
with those and work towards doctrinal unity. It is their duty to endeavor
to know whatever God has revealed, that’s truth with which we’re
wrestling, right? Then he goes on. Says, but not
for the purpose of union of sentiment in order to walk together in
church fellowship. Says it’s not just about unity.
OK, I agree now we can be at peace now we can have unity.
He’s not talking about dumbing down things and dulling our minds
and agreeing with things that we obviously don’t agree with.
Goes on and he says it is true that union of belief in all things
tends much to harmony. In other words, where you have
a whole bunch of people that agree on exactly the same thing,
there tends to be harmony. But it is likewise true that
difference of sentiment in some things tends more to manifest
the degree of advancement in the things of God. In other words,
sometimes you come across an area of difference that just
might need to be studied. It might needs to be considered,
and it might end up advancing the kingdom of God as the people
of God come together on that one point of doctrine. There
are some things, he says, that are worth studying. It’s not
just that we take up a harmonious position and we turn off our
minds, our brains. I love this. Then he says this.
There may be harmony from perfect agreement in belief When there
is not only error. But little of the true principle
of harmony. He says that it’s possible that
you have this so-called harmony where you think that you all
believe the same thing, or at least you pretend that you do
in the. Spirit of harmony. Because he says, ultimately,
the true principle of harmony is to love Christ’s people for
Christ’s sake. It’s not just to love them because
they believe the same thing that you do. Paul says, look, we are to be
of the same mind. We are to be unified. We are
to be one. We are to be harmonious. Doesn’t mean that we’re going
to believe exactly the same thing on every point. The third point
this morning. In the magnificent blessings
of Christian unity, The third point is that unity in the church
is not only bestowed and oriented in our mental faculties, but
it is mutually required. Here’s what I mean by this, it’s
required of all by all. Look at the passage. Now, may
the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to
be of the same mind with one another. It’s not just that one
group is supposed to acquiesce and capitulate and, OK, I’ll
be at peace. Everybody is called. To peace
ability. It is a mutual admonition, it’s
not just the stronger brothers, it’s not the weaker, it’s everybody
in the church in some of the most beautiful words ever written. Paul, after three chapters of
doctrine, These are the words that follow that prayer. Paul
strongly admonished the Ephesian church. I, therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling
with which you’ve been called, with all humility and gentleness
and patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being
diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. There is one body, one Spirit, You were called in one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. We’re all called to preserve
the unity of the Spirit. Every single one of us. Paul
gave the same exhortation to the beloved Philippian church,
a church he planted See, Paul looked at the Philippian
church and he knew that it was in real danger of being torn
apart from within. He said, if there is any encouragement
in Christ. If there is any consolation of
love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection
and compassion, he says, In other words, if God even has just begun
to work in your life, if you haven’t walked with Christ for
even a week. Make my joy complete by being
of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit,
intent on one purpose. Paul gave the same exhortation
to the Corinthian church, one of the greatest tragedies in
all of the New Testament was that ongoing contentious spirit
in the Corinthian church. They were always at war about
something, right? And he ended his second epistle
to them by saying, finally, brethren, rejoice. Be made complete, be
comforted, be like-minded, live in peace. That’s what we’re called
to. There’s a fourth. feature in
this magnificent blessing of Christian unity, the unity of
the church is bestowed, it’s oriented in our mental faculties,
it’s mutually required, and it fulfills the desire of our Savior. It fulfills the desire of our
Savior. You know what? And looking at
the clock, I’m going to let you meditate on that for a week.
Let me just say it this way. Paul said it simply, now may
the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to
be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus. If you need a place to meditate
this next week on how the call to unity squares with our Savior’s
desires, consider if you would John chapter 17. To bow with
me in a word of prayer. Our merciful God. We humble ourselves. Before you in. In great humility. And even with sadness and brokenness
of heart at the ways that we have torn at the unity of this
church. And sometimes demanding things
sometimes spreading things we shouldn’t have spread, sometimes
pushing things. Lord God, we come before you
and we acknowledge that this institution, Christ’s Church,
is the greatest and most precious institution ever. Lord, we would be greatly wrong
to harm such an institution. Lord, the local church is precious
in your sight. How could we, how could we take
such a careless attitude and tear apart the very thing that
you love? Our merciful God, we pray have
mercy on us. and cultivate in us the spirit
of like-mindedness, oneness of heart and purpose, that You truly
would be glorified in this place. We thank You and we praise You
in Jesus’ name.