Living in Harmony
Righteousness Revealed: An Exposition of Romans

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Good morning church! We’re continuing our series today, through the book of Romans. We began this journey four years ago, taking four chapters per year. We’re coming up on the end; we’re in chapter 15 today, with just two more chapters to go. We’re excited to be talking to you today about this message on “Living in Harmony.” We’ll be looking at Romans, chapter 15, verses one through 13.

This word, “harmony,” is the word that we want to use as a synonym for unity. However, we prefer the word, “harmony,” in this case because unity is not uniformity. Unity doesn’t mean that we’re exactly alike. It means that we get along as one, but we come from diverse backgrounds and so, harmony has more of the sense of it. We really need this harmony today. We live in a world today that is perhaps the most divided and the most divisive of any time, at least in my memory.

Yet, the church is supposed to be different. We’re supposed to be known as a place of harmony, a place of oneness and unity. I like this word, “harmony.” I have a background in music and so, I love music. The word, “harmony,” speaks to that, which puts chill bumps on my arms when I hear a good vocal harmony. You might not know this if you don’t have a musical background, but those of you that do know what I’m talking about, in harmony, you sing the same song, you sing the same words, but you don’t sing the same notes. They sound great together if you’re harmonizing. One of the basics of western music is that we have seven notes in the major key; eight, if you count the octave note. There are three notes that make a triad or a chord; when you put those together, it’s a beautiful harmony. I can’t do all three of them together, though; I need at least two of you to come up here and sing with me. That’s what harmony is. You can’t do it by yourself. It requires other people not singing the exact same note, but a note that harmonizes with the other note. It’s not uniformity. It’s harmony; it’s unity–singing the same song, singing the same words but with a unique voice so that we sound like one voice.

I wonder, are you living in harmony in your life today? Is there harmony in your family, harmony in your house between you and your spouse? Is there harmony with your children? Is there harmony at work with your boss and with your coworkers? Is there harmony where you attend school with your teachers and your fellow students or is there trouble there? Is there disharmony, disunity?

It really tears us up because disunity and disharmony is like poison to our peace. It’s like acid to our souls. There’s something about us that wants peace, wants harmony, wants oneness. Yet, our social media is plastered with disagreements and arguments over every conceivable topic you can imagine. We tune in to the news and we see “talking heads” yelling their arguments, but no one seems to be listening. People are divided. Don’t you see it? Don’t you feel it? Yet, the church is supposed to be different. We’re supposed to live in harmony. Don’t you want some harmony in your life today?

As we look in the book of Romans, chapter 15, the apostle Paul prayed that God would grant the believers in Rome to be able to live in harmony in Christ Jesus, so God would get the glory for it. I believe today that, in Christ, we too can live in harmony and God can receive the glory for our oneness in Christ. As we look at the text today, I think we’ll see four reasons that we can live in harmony with one another. So let’s look at the text.

Romans 15:1-13 (ESV) 1 “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to thecircumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” 10 And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” 12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” 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.” This is God’s word. Amen.

WE CAN LIVE IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE IN CHRIST WE CAN…

1. Seek the good of others before ourselves.

Because Christ is in us, because we are in Christ, we can seek the good of others before ourselves because we have Christ living in us. As believers, we can seek that which is better for others, ahead of ourselves, before ourselves.

Look at verse five and you’ll see the topic for today; Paul talks about living in harmony. In verse five, he writes this as a prayer. It’s one of two prayers that you’ll see in these 13 verses; verse 5 and verse 13. Paul preaches a little bit and then he starts praying. He says, 5 “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus.” He had just talked in verse four about the old testament and how it gives us endurance and encouragement. He comes out of that and prays a prayer, 5 “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He says that this is my prayer for you believers, that you would live in harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus. That’s where we get our title for this message today. It comes out of Paul’s prayer in verse five.

I want you to look at verse two. I hope you have your bulletin notes there and hope you have an ink pen in your hand and you are taking notes. It’s helpful when we take notes because it deepens our understanding; it helps our minds to stay focused.

Circle the word, “good,” in verse two, You see that in verse two,”Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” The first reason that in Christ, we can be in harmony with one another is because Christ didn’t seek to please Himself. Do you see it in verse three? “For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” Because we have the mind of Christ, we are in Christ.

Now, remember we have to go all the way back to chapter 12 to remember where we’re at here in Paul’s letter. He says, ’That because of the gospel, because we’ve received Christ, we no longer conform our thinking to the world, but we have this new mind, this new way of thinking that’s transformed.’ We have a transformed mind. We talked about how this new mind has a new operating system, which is love. We have this new operating system of love that motivates us and moves us. Now that we have this new mind of Christ, this new way of thinking, we are to seek the good of others instead of pleasing ourselves, which is the old nature.

If you understand what sin is, it begins with an attitude of the heart that says, ‘I want to do it my way. I want to please myself.’ That is where sin begins and it begins with seeking self, but this new mind says, ‘No, I live live to please God, and I live to please others.’ This pleasing of others is to seek their good in order to build them up.

Now, let’s look and see what he’s talking about here, because he’s still talking about what he was talking about all the way through chapter 14. He refers to these two categories of people, in verse one, who are strong and then later are to bear with the failings of the weak, Who are the strong and the weak? We worked on this in chapter 14. It might be your first time here this morning, or you might have missed the last couple of weeks. So let’s back up and talk about who Paul means. Does he mean physically strong? No, he’s not talking about physical strength. What is he talking about? He’s talking about where you’re at in your Christian walk. How far along are you? The strong are those that are more mature in Christ. They’ve been a Christian for a while and they’ve grown to understand the gospel and how it’s to be worked out in their life. They recognize that they can live according to the law of love, the operating system of love rather than legalism or rather than license. They’re traveling on the road of love, the operating system of love and they have a liberty about them, so they recognize that they live by grace through faith in Christ alone. It’s not about rule keeping.

The weak is a new believer that has just received Christ or just learning or growing up. the weak. This person still hasn’t quite brought to bear on their thinking of the Gospel. They might still be struggling with not being sure if they are pleasing God. They are not sure if God really loves them. They’re trying to keep certain rules and if they don’t keep them, they feel as if God’s not pleased with them. They’re stumbling into one of two ditches, not on the road of love and liberty, but overhearing legalism, so they think rule keeping is somehow going to please God or because they’ve become so beat up by trying to do rule keeping. Nobody can keep even their own rules. All you have to do is check with people about the third week of January or just go to a local gym and try to get in the first week of January. You can’t get in the gym. People are lined up inside the door. Just wait until the end of the month. You’ll be able to get any machine you want, because people can’t even keep their own rules, their own ideas of what they want to do for the year. Once they get burned out trying to do rule keeping, they often just think, Well, I’m just going to do this. I guess that’s the way God made me. They fall into the license ditch.

There’s a better way. There’s the transformed mind and that’s the way of love. He says that, according to the way of love, the strong are not to look down their noses at the weak but they have an obligation. There’s a word that goes all the way back to chapter 13, where he said, if you owe taxes, pay taxes, if you honor, pay honor. Then, he says to owe no man anything except to love them. That’s the ongoing debt that we will never repay.

So that word “owe” was back there at the end of chapter 13. He’s brought it back and he says we owe the weak something. What do we owe the weak?

If you’re a more mature Christian, you’ve been a Christian for a while and you’ve grown in the Gospel, you understand who you are in Christ, who your identity is in Christ; you have a debt to love others. That’s chapter 13. But, you also have a debt to watch out for the weak and to bear with their failings and to put up with and bear up.

He goes on and says, in verse 3 ‘For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” If He can bear our sins, then we can certainly bear with the failings of the weak.

What does that look like? Well, let’s think about it, with grown ups and children, for a second. As grown ups, we support our children. We recognize that they’re younger than us and they need our encouragement and so, we accept them. We just know to do that because we’re adults. Yet, we don’t seem to know how to do that spiritually speaking. We look down our noses at someone who’s younger in the Lord or maybe they don’t know the Lord yet.

Maybe you’re visiting today and you’re just checking out this whole God thing. I want you to know something. This is a safe place for you to check out and find out who God is and what the bible says for you. It’s also a safe place for you to grow. I want us to be the kind of church, where the strong bear up and bear the failings of the weak, not just putting up with, but seeking to please them in order to do good for them; to build them up and not to tear them down. Don’t you want our church to be this kind of church, that lives in such harmony and is marked by the way Jesus didn’t seek to please Himself, but sought to please God and to do what was best for us.

When I first started studying how Paul was talking about pleasing your neighbor and pleasing others, it disturbed me. Paul, did you have to use the word, “please,” because I know in these other places in the scripture, you wrote some things and some other people wrote some things that said not to be men pleasers? Don’t live to please men, live to please God? Here you are saying, and you said it three times here, not to please ourselves and to let each of us please his neighbor? Then, you said Christ did not live to please Himself. Three times, Paul used the word “please.” It disturbed me at first. Then, I began to think, ‘Is there a difference between neighbor pleasing and men pleasing?’ There certainly is referred to last week where we’re to walk with discernment. You have to discern the difference here. The bible is not contradicting itself, so dig deeper.

Let’s think about it for a second here; he qualifies his statement to please our neighbor. In verse two, he qualifies it. He says, “for his good to build him up.” It’s not just please, agree with everything your neighbor does. No. Have a view here of doing that which is best for your neighbor.

You might be thinking, ‘What do I mean by “men please?” I’ll give you one verse that contrasts with neighbor pleasing. Neighbor pleasing means to seek to do that which would please your neighbor, ultimately to help them grow up. Whereas, men pleasing means that you just try to get along and not let them know who you really are and you don’t really love them. You just don’t want to argue that day; that’s men pleasing.

It says in Galatians 1:10 (ESV) “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Here, he was talking about man pleasing people; being a people pleaser. That’s not what he means by neighbor pleasing. I hope that’s helpful because I needed to hear that when I was studying He means something different here; to build up that person that might be weaker in the faith than you.

Then, he quotes the Old Testament here, in verse 3, “For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” Paul is quoting Psalm 69:9 (HCSB), “Zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me.” A reproach is an insult; it’s an offense. Here, Paul is looking at that verse and he sees Jesus in that verse, that’s written way back there in the book of Psalms.

If you remember, in other places, you’ll see in the gospels that the gospel writers saw “zeal for your house has consumed me “ as descriptive of Jesus cleansing the temple. They referred to that verse when Jesus was overturning the money changer’s tables. Paul didn’t include that part of the verse when he quoted it. “…the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me,” those of you that have offended God, insulted God. The reproach is against God’ He took that offense on Himself. If He could leave Heaven, do you think it was pleasing to Him to do that? Do you think it was for Himself that he did that? No. He did it to please His father and to please us, that He might do it for our good and to build us up. He didn’t do it for His own pleasure. He emptied himself and poured Himself out and died on the cross. The reproaches, the insults that were against God fell on Him. This is why Paul is quoting Psalm 69:9 here; he’s helping us understand this is the Christ that now lives in us as believers. We are to not be copying Him because we can’t do it, but to yield to Him inside of us, so that we yield our thinking to Him.

This is huge. This is the strong will; it’s not copying an effort and human effort, but it’s yielding to the spirit of Christ so that your mind is transformed, that you seek the good of others rather and in front of your own self. It says this in 1 Corinthians 10:23-24(ESV) 23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” To have the transformed mind of Christ, to live in harmony means that you seek the other ahead of yourself, not to please yourself, but to please your neighbor. This is the first reason that we can live in harmony in Christ Jesus as a church.

Here’s the second:

WE CAN LIVE IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE IN CHRIST WE CAN…

2. Worship with one voice for God’s glory.

Paul continues to use Christ as the reason that we can live in harmony. The first was, Christ didn’t live to please Himself, therefore, we can let Christ in us help us put others first. We can live in harmony because, in Christ, we are now one body with one voice. It’s because of Christ that we live for God’s glory.

We are in verses four through six now. Look down at verse six, it says, 6 “that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We can, with one voice, glorify God. We can have this oneness, this harmony.

Let’s back up and look at a few things. One thing I would say is that verse four is a digression. I do this, sometimes, to myself, In Paul’s preaching. He quotes Psalm 69:9 to make the case that the reason we can seek other people’s good rather than trying to please ourselves is because Christ in us did it. Then, he quotes the Psalm and he wants us to know why he did that. It’s like he digresses for a second. He wants us to know why he quoted the Old Testament. Verse four is this little pearl that sits in the middle of these thirteen verses. It tells us the purpose and nature of the Old Testament. It is there to say, ‘Do you know why you need the Old Testament in the bible, that you don’t just have a New Testament, but you also have an Old Testament? Here’s why.’ He gives it to you in verse four. Here’s the first reason, because you can find Christ on every page. He says, “for Christ did not please Himself, as it is written.” The zeal for your house was about Christ; the reproaches that were against you have fallen on Me. That was about Christ.

Paul, when he looks at the Old Testament, is always looking through the lens of Jesus. He’s looking for Jesus on every page. He wants us to know how to understand the Old Testament. Look for Jesus; look for Christ. Besides, when you read the Old Testament, don’t start from the beginning. Start from the back; read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament, because the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. We need the Old Testament, but it’s not just because of that.

One of the reasons you should affirm the Old Testament, study the Old Testament and preach the Old Testament is because we should look for Jesus there. The second reason is that he begins to number them for whatever was written in former days. The Old Testament was written for our instruction, so it’s there to instruct us. Practically speaking, read the book of Proverbs; there are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. If you don’t know what chapter to read, just look at the day of the month. Okay, today is the 30th, let’s read Proverbs 30. You’ve heard it said, “An apple a day will keep the doctor away.” Well, maybe “A proverb a day will keep the devil away.”

Paul says that the Old Testament was written for your instruction. It has practical help; it was written for your endurance. You read the stories and you see how the saints went through what they went through and how God was faithful. It helps you be able to endure and persevere. It’s for your encouragement. The scriptures are to encourage you and to build you up.

Paul is not finished –that you might have hope. So, there’s five reasons for the Old Testament: (1) because you can find Christ (2) because it gives instruction (3) because it’ll help you persevere (4) because it will encourage you and (5) because it’ll give you hope . Now, that’s all in verse four. I wasn’t preaching that and neither was Paul. That was a digression; that was a “sidebar.”

As Paul continues, he is working out this prayer. 5 “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus.” As I said before, this is his first prayer. He’s been talking about endurance and encouragement from the Old Testament. Then, he decides, I’m going to pray out what I just said. I’m now going to turn it into a prayer. The scripture will give you endurance and encouragement and hope. I pray that you will have endurance and encouragement. That the God of endurance and encouragement would grant you to live in such harmony. Not just a little bit of harmony ; “such” harmony. “…such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus.” He’s the head and you’ll be in accord. It will be according to Him in you, so that God gets the glory.

Which God are we talking about? We’re talking about God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will get the glory. I want you to worship like that. I want you to worship in harmony. I want you to be a church, that is one; that is in harmony with one another.

It wasn’t just Paul that prayed this; it really originates with Jesus. Do you remember what Jesus prayed? Do you know the Lord’s prayer? It’s the Lord’s teaching prayer. The disciples said, “Lord teach us to pray,” and then, Jesus said, “Pray like this, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed, be Thy name …” That’s Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray. But, if you want to know a recorded prayer from Jesus, go to John 17. This is the last prayer He prayed before His crucifixion In the Garden of Gethsemane. Do you know what He prayed for, of all the things He could have prayed for? He prayed that we would be in harmony, in unity, in oneness with each other because He knew that that would mark us as unique on planet Earth. Here’s a little taste of that prayer John chapter 17: John 17:20-22 (NLT) 20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. 22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one.”

Do you know what the greatest advertisement for faith in Jesus is? It is harmony in the church; oneness. That we are one; that we are different from the rest of the world. That harmony is not something you can just make happen. There, first, must be peace in your own soul. You must, first, have peace with God through Jesus Christ because that’s where all warfare comes from.

James 4:1 (NIV) “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” All you’re doing is just carrying it from the inside out. So, he’s praying for oneness. Worshiping together Is wonderful, pleasant and beautiful when we worship together in harmony; when we’re the church in harmony. It’s a pleasant fragrance to God, but also to the world.

Look what it says in Psalms. I want you to think about this picture with me for a second. Psalm 133:1-2 (NLT) 1 “How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! 2 For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe.” Now that’s a little bit alien to us. We are not used to that kind of language. The psalmist here is saying that harmony, unity among the brethren is as pleasant and wonderful as the fragrance that filled the temple.

Whenever Moses was commanded by the Lord (you can find this over in the book of Exodus, chapter 30) the Lord gave a recipe for this anointing oil that was a special anointing oil. It had spices in it like frankincense, that had a certain odiferous beauty to it, that a lot of modern day perfumes are based on. It had this mixture with olive oil and other spices. God tells Moses, I want you to anoint Aaron, who is his brother from the tribe of Levi. He’s the first high priest of Israel. I want you to anoint his head and I don’t want you just to put a couple of drops. I want you to pour it out on his head so that it runs down his hair and runs through his long beard and runs down his robe all the way down to the tassels at the border of his robe. The psalmist here is imagining that fragrance, that oil running down is like a picture of the unity of the brethren when they are filled with the Holy Spirit.

I want to “unpack” that with you just for a second and to think about, to reflect on what that’s like. If you think about “oil” in the bible, it’s a picture of the Holy Spirit; it’s a symbol of the Holy Spirit. If you think about the word, “anointing” in the Hebrew, the word “anointing” gives us the word “Messiah.” In the Greek, in the New Testament, gives us the word “Christos,” Christ, the anointed one.

I want you to think about how Aaron was a picture of Christ and think about how the Holy Spirit poured down upon the head and how the body is the church, so that this harmony, this oneness, this fragrance of the anointing oil is pouring down all the way to the bottom of his robe. We are the church and so it marks us as being part of the body of Christ, so that we have this beautiful fragrance in the world that makes us different, that we are at one with each other and the world wants to know why and they want to know this Jesus. This is the second reason that we’re to live in harmony because it gives glory to God because there’s no other way we could live in such a way as husbands and wives, as families, as the church is because we have Christ as the head.

Here’s the third:

WE CAN LIVE IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE IN CHRIST WE CAN…

3. Welcome one another as Christ welcomed us.

We can welcome one another as Christ welcomed us. We’re to live in harmony and we’re able to, because in Christ we can welcome one another as Christ welcomed us.

We’re in verse seven. There are really only two imperatives here in this passage of 13 verses. The first imperative was to please your neighbor. The second was to welcome one another. We started to name this message, “Good Manners,” because it’s just good manners to to say “please” and “you’re welcome.” These are the two commands here.

Why do we welcome one another? Because Christ welcomed us and He lives in us. We have a transformed mind. We have the mind of Christ now as believers. As we’re growing up to maturity, more and more, we’re like Jesus. We become a people that welcomes others. We are to be a welcoming church.

This goes all the way back to the first part of chapter 14. You might not know this about the Bible, but when it was originally written, it didn’t have chapter markings and verse markings. These were added, so you could find the section you were looking for. So, chapter 14 just goes right into chapter 15 and really concludes with verse 13 of chapter 15.



Paul is bringing back this idea that he began in chapter 14, verse one. I’ll read it to you just to remind you, Romans 14:1-3 (ESV) 1 “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.” You can go back and watch that sermon from a couple of weeks ago. What I’m telling you is, contextually, he’s still in this conversation. It’s connected.

Paul is saying that one of the marks of this harmony is living together in harmony as a church, that you’re a welcoming church. The way that you can tell that you are a welcoming church is how you treat strangers. We’re good at welcoming people from our small group. Oh, brother, I haven’t seen you since Wednesday night. You know, we prayed together Wednesday night. No one has to urge us to do that; that comes naturally. What doesn’t come naturally is to welcome someone that’s different than you. Their t-shirt has a different college team on it than yours. They like a different barbecue than you do. They voted for a different president than you did. I could go on. It’s that stranger; the one that’s different.

Jesus told a parable in Matthew, chapter 25 where He talked about a king and how, in the end of time, there would be a throne that would separate the sheep from the goats and the way he would know the sheep is by how they had responded in this way. Let’s look at it. Matthew 25:35-40 (ESV) “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me… Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you..? And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Who knows what the stranger might represent? Jesus says to treat the stranger as if it were Me knocking at your door.

I was reading a book this past week, written by Pastor Jim Cymbala. He is the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. He was telling a story about how he preached six times that weekend – three times on Saturday and three times on Sunday. He was sitting on the front of his platform. He’d already prayed with people down front and he was utterly wrung out and exhausted. He had completely poured out every ounce of energy; he even poured out next week’s energy. He was exhausted and sitting on the front stage. Everybody had left, except there was one guy standing in the middle of the room. He looked at the guy and he could tell the guy was homeless. He thought to himself, I could smell him from there. I thought to myself, ‘Oh come on, Lord, haven’t I done enough? Haven’t I poured out enough?’ He walked over to him and said, “Can I help you buddy?” And he started reaching for his wallet to see if he could find some money to give him. Normally, he didn’t give money to people. If I give him money and the guy’s an addict, I’m just helping his addiction. So normally, he didn’t give money but he was just running out and he was going to break his own policy. The homeless man pushed his hand away and the smell of the guy as he got closer to him made him have to cover his nose. He said, “Well, what can I do to help you, brother?” He just wanted to get rid of him. The man said, “I was laying outside in front of your building and you have those loudspeakers out there. I want to know this Jesus you’ve been bragging about.” The pastor said that the Holy Spirit fell on him and he felt his heart pricked and he felt tears coming down his face. He realized, this man just wants to hear the gospel and then look at me. Immediately, he said, he didn’t care what he smelled like. He hugged him and took him home with him and fed him dinner. Long story short, he said five or six years later, this man met his future wife at our church. We gave him a little job at the church and helped him get on his feet. He says, “I was standing at the front of the church doing his wedding. I thought he was an old “codger;” he was just in his late twenties. He had been beaten up by the streets and his beard and hair was so long. It turned out, he was a fairly good looking guy, a young guy. There I was getting ready to say ’Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of these many witnesses.’ I just started to “boo hoo.” The man starts patting me on the shoulder, saying, “It’s okay, pastor. It’s okay.” He said, “I couldn’t stop thinking about how I almost blew it with this guy because I didn’t welcome the stranger.”

Christ in us; remember, He welcomed us. We were all strangers before He did. Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us.

Here’s the 4th:

WE CAN LIVE IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE IN CHRIST WE CAN…

4. Serve together as one people with the same hope.

Notice, in verse eight, “For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,” Do you see that word “servant?” In Christ, we are to become servants.

To what kind of servant was He? Well, first of all, He was a servant to the circumcised, the Jews. That’s another way of referring to the Jews. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the Jews. Why? “…to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.” Now we’re back in the Old Testament again. Who are the “patriarchs?” A “patriarch” has to do with someone that’s the founder of a family or a tribe. Who would that be? He’s referring to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He’s referring to those Old Testament figures that were the founders, if you will, the fathers of the Jewish tribe. He says that there were promises given to them that Christ became a servant in order to prove those promises true; to confirm them. There were promises made to Abraham that he would be like a nation that was so big that it would be like the sands of the beach at the sea. It would be like the stars of the sky and that, through his seed, referring to Christ , that the nations would be blessed so that even the Gentiles would be blessed. Those promises were given all the way back there and they hadn’t been fulfilled yet until we got over here and Paul is referring to that.

Christ became a servant to fulfill that for the circumcised, but not only them, because he’s not finished. Verse nine, “and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” Now, he’s going to throw four more Old Testament readings at us in order to build up the Gentiles, which is most of us. I don’t know if anybody here has a Jewish background; most of us have a Gentile background. Paul is talking to this church in Rome; they come from these different places. They have these different holidays, these different diets and these different ways of dressing. He’s basically saying that way back here , God was already promising that He was sending one that would be the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah. He would come and He would come for the Jews and the Gentiles. Now, he’s getting ready to make his case for the Gentiles and how they can serve together with the circumcised, with the Jews.

In verse nine, he quotes, “As it is written, ” (Here we go again) “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.” That’s Psalm 18:49 that Paul has quoted.Then, in verse 10, “And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” Rejoice, oh Gentiles with the Jews; that’s Deuteronomy 32:43. He’s saying this for the Jews, too. Now your book ain’t just your book. It’s also a book for the Gentiles. Did you know that jews? It’s also for them. It’s not just the Hebrew bible. It’s for us, too. It’s for the whole world that would believe in Jesus. “Rejoice, O Gentiles with his people;” Deuteronomy 32:43.

Verse 11, And again, “Praise the Lord,all
Then, he’s got one more for us in verse 12, And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” He decides to quote the prophet here by name. I don’t know if Paul had forgotten the addresses of the others. I doubt it because I don’t think he was carrying a backpack around with all those scrolls. The scroll of Isaiah by itself, if you were to unroll it, it would go all the way to the back of the room. It was a big scroll; that’s a big old scroll. The scroll of Isaiah would lay out on a table this wide. If you rolled it out, you’d have to have help and there was no chapter and verse markings there. But, the thing about the apostle Paul is that he studied under Rabbi Gamaliel. I’m thinking that Paul memorized the whole Hebrew bible. I think he had it committed to memory. I think he could just quote it like this, “As it is written as it is written, as it is written…”

From the Isaiah scroll, it says this; he saved the best for last–“The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” Who is Jesse? Jesse is the father of David who became king, whom God promised that he would have a son on the everlasting throne and he would never fail from being on that throne. He’s talking about the Messiah. It would look like the Jews were cut off, that there was a stump of Jesse, that a chute would come out of the root of Jesse. He’s talking about the Messiah there. “…even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him…” Who is “him?” This is Christ Jesus. “…with the Gentiles hope.”

Paul is going to do what he did earlier, when he started talking about encouragement and to start talking about endurance. He wants to pray for that. Then he says the word, hope, and he thinks, Well, let me pray for that now, so then he closes with verse 13.

Here’s his benediction, 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.” “May the God of hope…” earlier it was the God of endurance and the God of encouragement. Now, the God of hope. He has already put his text out there; he’s got his Isaiah text out there. He turns it into a prayer. “May the God of hope fill you….” Who is that? That’s us. That’s the church with all joy, not watered down at all. Just pure joy and peace in believing, so that’s a result clause coming our way by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“You may abound in hope.” Not just a little bit of hope. That’s a superlative in Greek. It has the idea of “full and overflowing more than the cup can contain.” It reminds me, again, of that oil running down from Aaron’s head all the way to the border and the tassels of his robe, that this kind of hope would be ours in harmony with Christ. God wants unity not uniformity.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (NLT) 4 “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.” So, we’re to work together around King Jesus. He’s our unifying Lord, but we have different gifts and we sing different notes, but we sing the same song. When we serve together in harmony, it makes the Lord famous. It doesn’t make us famous; it makes Him famous.

Psalm 102:21-22 (NLV) 21 “So the name of the Lord will be made known in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem, 22 when the people gather together and the nations gather to serve the Lord.” It’s going to make Jesus famous when we serve together in harmony. That’s the way we’re to be known in this world.

Tomorrow evening, we’ll be serving in Rocky Mount, at our Rocky Mount campus, doing a little thing called “Trunk or Treat.” We do this to try to reach our community. We are collaborating with another local church in Rocky Mount; I’ll be one of a couple of other pastors. How are you going to dress up for Trunk or Treat? Well, l I’m going to be dressed up as me, but I’ll be wearing an orange t-shirt that says, “How can I pray for you?” We’re going to be looking for opportunities for people that are far from God to come that celebrate the holiday so that we can just talk to them about Jesus and pray with them. We’ll be serving there tomorrow.

This coming weekend, at our Wilson campus, we will be setting up a booth downtown for the Whirligig festival, on Saturday and Sunday. Why do we do that? It’s so that the city will see us serving together. We will be making cotton candy, painting people’s hair and doing all kinds of things, but mostly, we’ll be doing it so that we can give all the proceeds to the Hope Station to feed the hungry so that we can celebrate jesus in our city and let them see us serving together in harmony for one Lord and one hope. I think it makes a difference if we get out there and do those things. I hope you’ll sign up for those things as you contemplate how you’re going to spend your next few days. As we close, I would remind you of this– Paul is praying and Jesus is praying that we would live in harmony with our brethren with one another. That’s how we’ll give glory to God,

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, first, I pray for that person who’s not in harmony with you. You know who you are. If you would just admit that and say, “ Lord, I know that I have not lived pleasing to You. I’ve been living to please myself, but I want to change this morning. I’m tired of the disunity and the brokenness in my life and I want to give my life to You. I pray now, Lord, admitting that I’m a sinner. Lord Jesus, I know I know that You died on the cross for me and that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. I believe that. Come and live in me. Forgive me of my sin and make me a child of God. I want You as my Lord and Savior.” If you’re praying that prayer, believing, He will save you. He will make you right with the Father. Others are here today and you’ve received the Lord as your Lord and Savior. You’ve received Jesus. But this message has really troubled your heart. You’re thinking of that stranger that you’ve turned away. That person that you’re not right with. That family member or that church member that you’re not in harmony with. Would you hear the word of the Lord today that says to you that in Christ, we are to bear one another’s burdens. We are to bear with one another’s failings. We are to live in order to live for the good of others. Would you just right now say, “Lord, forgive me. Give me the mind of Christ and help me to live as Christ would have me live.” We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.