WWUTT 226 We Who Are Strong?

Romans 15 .1, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak.

But this word strong is not being used in such a way to be boastful or proud about how far we've come in our faith, nor is the word weak supposed to be used to look down on someone who is not as mature in the faith.

These are words used with much grace and mercy when we understand the text. You're listening to When We Understand The Text, an online

Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website, www .utt

.com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. Thank you for joining me for the broadcast today.

We are in Romans chapter 15. If you want to open up your Bibles and join with me there. We finished up chapter 14 last week.

I also finished up chapter 14 in my sermon series yesterday, and you can hear that sermon by going to our church website, firstsouthernbaptistchurch .org.

The sermon player is there on the right side of the page, and the latest sermon is at the top of the queue. I believe it's entitled

What Makes for Peace and Mutual Upbuilding. Don't quote me on that. But anyway, you listen to that sermon, you'll get a summary of everything that we talked about last week.

So Romans chapter 15, starting in verse 1, we're going to look at the first seven verses this week. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

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.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.

When I first started in a series in the book of Romans, this was over a year ago now when we began the series in Romans, at least in our church.

We've only been doing Romans on this broadcast since January, but we've been at it in church for over a year.

The first sermon that I preached in Romans was actually over these seven verses in Romans 15. I didn't begin in Romans 1.

I started with this because what I wanted to address our church with was understanding what it means to be a gospel -centered church.

And we find that theme here in these seven verses, that we are bearing with one another not for our sake, but for the sake of our brother.

For Christ himself did not do what he did to please himself, but he considered our needs and he also did all things to the glory of God the

Father, as we read about in Philippians 2 .11. So we see this motivation of being a gospel -centered, gospel -foundational church in the things that Paul is saying here in Romans 15.

And this is a continuation of what we had read in Romans 14. This is all in the same context.

You know, sometimes you have to take the chapters and verses out of the equation. That's easier said than done, because as we're reading through it with our eyes, we automatically identify the lines of demarcation that are drawn by chapter and verse markers.

In order to read things in context a little bit better, might I offer a suggestion?

And this is one that I've given to my congregation as well. Consider investing in what is called a reader's

Bible. If you read in the English Standard Version, as I do and have been reading along with me that way, perhaps you read a different translation and it's been helpful for you to see different words than what

I'm saying, maybe helps to bring you to a better understanding. There's probably a reader's Bible in the version of the translation that you read.

A reader's Bible doesn't have any verse markers in it. Now it probably still has the chapter markers, but there's no verse numbers.

A lot of times it might not even have the subtext or the notes at the bottom of the page.

It's just giving you a presentation of the scriptures read in such a way that might help you to grasp the context a little bit better.

When we got to the end here on this particular broadcast, we were going through Philippians and we went through Colossians.

I got to the end of those two studies and then read the entire letter in one sitting rather than doing this exegesis and piecing it apart, but reading the entire letter in context.

When I did that, I was reading from the reader's Bible because for me, it also helped to keep everything continuous.

Sometimes a verse break will come in the middle of a sentence and so that could cause me to stumble on what it is that I'm reading.

So it was easier for me to do that presentation through a reader's Bible instead of reading it out of my study

Bible, which I have in front of me here. Anyway, what we've read in Romans chapter 14 goes very much hand in hand with what we're looking at here in chapter 15.

At the beginning of chapter 14, we read this, as for the one who is weak in the faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

Here at the beginning of chapter 15, we read, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Now understand that as we're using this word weak. This is being said with much grace and mercy.

This is not being said like, oh, you weak people over here. We're strong, you know, pumping our chests and all that whole thing about how theological giants we are and how much more mature in the faith we are than these other people who are weak.

That's not what's being talked about here. This expression of weakness is simply an expression of those who may not be as mature or as grown in the faith as somebody else.

Now, everybody needs to mature in the faith. All of us, as we've been called to the faith, are also called to grow in the faith.

It is not enough for you to have a conversion experience. To show that that experience is genuine, there must be an indication of growth.

So you came to know the Lord Christ and then you grew in your love for the scriptures.

You grew in your love for the knowledge of God. You grew in your love for your brothers and sisters in Christ.

All of these things we get better at as we grow in the faith. There must be growth.

It is this continual progression of the work of the Spirit in our lives. So there are those who are not as far along in their faith and they would be considered weak in the faith.

But I must also present it to you this way. There are some who are simply not going to grow as much in the faith.

It may not be for the Spirit of God on their lives to become some sort of a theological giant.

Now, there still will be growth, but it just might not be the same kind of growth that you experience or the same kind of growth that your pastor experiences.

When we read those who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, that should automatically include pastors when we talk about those who are strong.

But even among pastors, there's going to be some pastors who are stronger and others who are weaker. So again, this word weak is being used with much grace and mercy.

It is not being said as a disparaging comment or a disparaging remark about a person who is not as mature in the faith.

We who are strong should know that we are strong, stronger, but again, even in that application of that word should be done with much grace and mercy and not looking down on those who are not as strong.

Understanding, and I kind of made this comparison last week, there was a time when every one of us were weak in the faith.

And there was somebody who was stronger, who was guiding us and maturing us, who had much love and patience for us as we were grown in our understanding of the word of God.

And so we must exercise that same compassion because God exercised that very same compassion for us.

Anytime we're reading any of these things about how we are to conduct ourselves among other brothers and sisters in Christ, we should understand that our ultimate example is

Christ. And he did these very things for us. So whatever we are being asked to do is something

Christ has done for us. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak as Christ who is strong, bared with us.

So we are now obligated to bear with those who are weaker in the faith. But again, as we look at these words, strong doesn't mean that you're puffing yourself up with pride as to where you are in your walk of faith, nor does weak mean that you are looking down on somebody else because of of their lesser maturity when it comes to understanding matters of the faith, regardless of how mature or immature you are.

All of us are supposed to be submissive to our elders. And I say that in a collective way, because I myself am submissive to an eldership.

You're the pastor of your church, right? In a plural eldership church. There are two other elders.

They are lay elders that have also been voted to be in charge of the teaching of the church. And I am also submissive to them.

They're submissive to me. I'm submissive to them. So this is the accountability that we have in my church.

And if those men step forward and have an instruction for me that they think that I need to pay attention to or consider or maybe humble myself in regards to, then

I am going to listen to what it is that they have to say. So even I am submissive to an eldership. All of us need to be submissive to those who have been placed as overseers of the church.

We read in 1 Thessalonians 5, 12 through 13. We ask you brothers to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the

Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Be at peace among yourselves. Hebrews 13, 7 reads, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

And then later on in verse 17, obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account.

Let them do this with joy and not groaning for that would be of no advantage to you to make things difficult on your elders and your teachers and your pastors would be of no advantage to you.

So be submissive to their instruction and their authority and their example without groaning.

We also see this instruction that is given specifically to elders and pastors in 1

Peter chapter 5. Peter says, I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you not for shameful gain, but eagerly not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders, clothe yourselves, all of you with humility toward one another for God opposes the proud, but it gives grace to the humble.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory and Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

To him be the dominion forever and ever, amen. And I can't think of a better place to conclude for today than right there.

Our Lord God, we thank you for these instructions that have been given to us and being given to us so that we might grow in knowledge and understanding of God.

That we might grow in this process of sanctification. As Peter said here, we are being established in by you.

Our salvation happened at your hand and so our sanctification happens in your hand.

And so God, we pray that you would bless us and keep us. Humble us before one another in the body of Christ that we might seek to do good to each other, not to please ourselves, but for one another's benefit.

Putting the needs of each other ahead of our own, putting their thoughts ahead of our own.

Not digging in our heels on our respective biases and viewpoints, but putting those things aside and yearning for what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.

Lead us and guide us in these things that we may all grow together into the head who is Christ Jesus, the head of this body, the church.

In the name of Christ we pray, amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.