The
God of Hope And Endurance
[Romans
15, verses 1-13]
For
this week's Bible study I will begin with the first 13 verses of
Romans chapter 15. In these verses, the apostle Paul is talking about
how Christians should be building each other up, and of being
supportive of one another in the face of all kinds of trials. As you
know, daily living is filled with all kinds of trouble and conflict,
and everybody has days like these from time to time, including
myself. The important thing we should understand about this is that
God sometimes allows these trials and tribulations to happen in our
lives to build up our character so that we can become stronger in
Christ. He allows us to be placed into stressful situations so we can
be refined in the fire of the Holy Spirit, and so that He can mold us
and sharpen us into becoming the worshipful Christians that we are
all meant to be. When iron is being forged and crafted to make a
sword, it must first be heated up to very high temperatures and then
hammered into shape. So it is when God molds and shapes human beings
into instruments for performing God's work and living according to
his will. Furthermore, we as Christ followers are to uphold one
another and pray for each other during this sometimes difficult
process. Paul explains this beginning in verse 1.
“We
who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to
please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good,
to build him up. For even Christ did not please Himself but, as it is
written, 'The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me'. For
everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so
that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we
might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement
give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ
Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15: verses 1-6 NIV)
“We
who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to
please ourselves”.
In this opening statement of Romans 15, Paul is talking about
different people who happen to be Christians who may be at one stage
or another of their development in Christ. Those who are further
along in their lives in Christ should not look down on those who may
be new believers or recent converts. It is wrong to take too much
pride in our development as Christians, especially when it is done at
the expense of new believers. We should never make the assumption
that just because we are at a different stage of maturity than
others, it may be that we are somehow better than others who may not
be. Instead, we are to minister to one another with faithfulness and
empathy as Paul writes, “Each
of us should please his neighbor, to build him (or her) up”.
We are to encourage one another so that the entire body of Christ and
all the people therein can be lifted up in order to build up and
strengthen the church as a whole. Also, we should take every
opportunity to do this in the sight of non-believers in order to make
the best possible impression on them, hopefully motivating them to
follow our example. After all, one never knows when doing so will
inspire non-believers to become Christians, thereby saving their
souls from eternal judgment. God gives us credit for this when we do
so, and it counts heavily in our favor.
“...[E]verything
that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through
endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have
hope”.
I will use going to school as an example. Schools do not put students
with learning disabilities into college any more than they would put
someone with a 3.9 average into a high school class. So it is in our
walk with Christ. Different people are at various stages of their
faith and growth in Him, but Jesus gives us equal credit for all our
efforts regardless of how they compare to one another. The Spiritual
credit we receive for this is distributed equally by the Lord, and
without qualification, provided that we are faithful and obedient to
Christ. Paul then continues with this train of thought in verse 7.
“Accept
one another then, as Christ has accepted you, in order to bring
praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the
Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the
patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy, as it
is written, 'Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will
sing hymns to your name'. Again it says, 'Rejoice O Gentiles with His
people'. And again, 'Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and sing
praises to Him all you peoples'. And again Isaiah says, 'The root of
Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations;
the Gentiles will hope in Him'. May the God of hope fill you with all
joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit”. (Romans 15: verses 7-13 NIV)
“Accept
one another then, as Christ has accepted you, in order to bring
praise to God”.
We are to emulate Christ's example that He set for each of us when He
died on the cross of Calvary. When He died for our sins, He did so
with no particular preference to any group of people. Paul uses the
Jews of his day as an example. The Jewish faith at the time of the
early church was one of being God's chosen people, based on the fact
that God led the Jewish nation out of Egypt and out of slavery to
deliver and guide them to the promised land that is modern Israel.
This is based on the Law of Moses which we now call the Old
Testament, so the Bible does say that the nation of Israel is the
chosen people of the Lord. But the purpose of Christ's ministry was
to unite all of mankind under the banner of being a chosen people, as
Paul writes further: “For
I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of
God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that
the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy...”
In a modern context, Paul is talking about the fact that while once
upon a time it was exclusively the Jews who were regarded as God's
chosen people, as a result of Christ's death on the cross and His
subsequent resurrection on the morning of the third day, Jews and
Gentiles have become equals and peers in the sight of God. This free
offer of salvation is now being made equally to all people regardless
of their religion, or sometimes the lack thereof.
This Scriptural equality, which is unconditional and
freely offered to all who confess and repent of their past sins and
become new believers in Christ, is the true Gospel that has been
preached throughout the world from the time of the early church up
until the present day. And this Scriptural equality is not confined
to religion – far from it. This is an equality that transcends
social and economic status, race, religion, nationality, gender, age,
sexual orientation or disability, and has no regard for what has
happened in the past. Jesus doesn't care about who you are, where you
are from, what you have done or where you have been. Thanks to Jesus'
death and resurrection, all can come to Him equally and become new
believers, and all believers can grow and mature in their faith at
their own pace without having to worry about whether their efforts
are going to be good enough in God's sight. The shedding of His blood
on the cross has already paid for it all. All Christ is asking of us
is faith, honesty and diligence.
So let us ask ourselves these few basic questions.
First, have we truly given ourselves and our hearts and minds to
Jesus Christ so that we may obtain eternal salvation in Him? Second,
if we have done this, have we developed our faith freely and
independently of those around us, knowing that we are to please God
first and not worry about what others might think of us? And third,
are we using our faith and growing maturity in Christ as a good
example for non-believers by the way we conduct ourselves in order to
win them over to Christ? Finally, are we using our growing faith and
good works to help along and to encourage new Christians in their
walk with the Lord? We can only do the will of God and only make
manifest our belief in the salvation of Christ if we are doing all
these things on a daily basis, having formed these practices into a
habit of daily devotion in order to give praise, honor and glory to
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I want to encourage and motivate
each and every one of my readers to do this starting today. Follow my
example as I follow the example of Christ, so that together we can
all better imitate Jesus, the One who has saved us all.
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