WWUTT 1387 Boldly By Way of Reminder (Romans 15:14-16)

The Bible says we must pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.

There are going to be people in your church who will have different opinions than you, but that is not a cause for division, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the Word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of Romans, chapter 15, and for today's reading

I'm going to start in verse 14 and go to verse 21. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

But on some points I have written to you very boldly, by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the

Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the

Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then,

I have reason to be proud of my work for God, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what

Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the

Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ.

And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.

Keep in mind that what we're reading here is still in the context of everything that Paul has said over the last chapter and a half, talking about how we don't quarrel over opinions, that even in matters of conscience, we need to agree with one another, building each other up in the

Lord, holding fast to Christ, who has redeemed us and has called us to himself.

We should not be looking for ways that we can divide against one another, especially over those matters of conscience.

But those who are more mature need to bear with the failings of the weak, helping to build them up, and so we all grow together into the head of the body, who is

Jesus Christ. So as Paul says here in verse 14, he says, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

This is as if Paul is saying, everything that I've said to you over this last chapter and a half, of course it wouldn't have the chapter markers the way

Paul wrote the letter and sent it to Rome, but anyway, over the last chapter and a half, these things that I have said to you are not a rebuke.

It's not as if you're failing, and I'm over here writing from where I am, which was probably

Corinth. That was where he wrote this letter to the Romans, and I'm just hearing about what's going on there at the church in Rome, and I'm exasperated.

I just can't get over it. What's wrong with you guys? I have to teach you all this again? That's not

Paul's attitude here. He is saying this in confidence of the work that they have done among themselves and are continuing to do.

They've been doing this so far. There are people in that church who aren't quarreling over opinions.

They're building each other up in love, and Paul is saying, do that all the more. I'm satisfied about you with the stuff that I've heard about the church there in Rome.

If you go back to the beginning of the letter, Paul praised what he had heard. He rejoiced in God because of the testimony that had come from that church.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

That's Romans 1 .8. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his

Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will

I may now at last succeed in coming to you. What the church there in Rome has not had yet.

They have not had an apostle come to them and teach them more. Paul wants to be that guy.

I want to get to the capital city of the world, because if I can preach the gospel there, it's going to go out to all the rest of the world as well.

That was Paul's desire. So as he's been saying these things, even talking about not quarreling over opinions, he means to, in a very pastorly way, in a very brotherly way, share with the church,

I'm not trying to cut you down here. I rejoice in what I've heard that has come from you. I'm satisfied about the work that I've heard being done, but I'm writing this, verse 15, on some points

I've written to you very boldly by way of reminder. In other words, if it sounds like I'm being harsher here,

I'm not being more harsh. It's just by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the

Gentiles. I'm just making sure you know and you understand and you continue to grow in these things and don't think of them as unimportant points, but I say them boldly to you so that you may know this is just as important to understand and apply as any of these other essential fundamental things that I've written to you as well.

Because remember, back in chapter 14, Paul said, don't put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of a brother if you are convinced that something is not sin, but your brother thinks it's sin.

And you put a stumbling block in his way so that he falls into that thing that he thinks is sin.

Well, now he sinned because his conscience is defiled before God and you have sinned because you've not cared for your brother.

So it's true that we're talking about things that are differences of opinion, especially over the course of chapter 14.

We're talking about not quarreling over those things that are matters of conscience. Though that's what we're talking about there, we still need to take this very seriously because we're considering the conscience, the heart of a brother or a sister in the

Lord. Maybe they believe something is sin that you're absolutely convinced.

The Bible does not say that's sin. And the example, of course, that Paul gives is regarding food, right?

So there's a certain thing I can eat and I know I am not defiling myself before God if I eat this.

But a person who is weaker in their conscience thinks if I do eat that, then I'm going to be in sin.

If I do wear that shirt that does not honor God, then I'm going to be in sin. If I do watch that TV show that promotes worldly ideas,

I'm going to be in sin. If I sing along with that song that does not give glory to God, then I'm going to be in sin.

On and on it goes, okay? We can apply more examples to that. You are convinced in your maturity that these things are not sinning before God, but somebody who's weaker in faith is convinced that it's sinning.

So you need to consider the heart and the mind of your weaker brother or sister in the faith, that you may mature them and grow them up in love.

Not from the standpoint that I want to mature them so that they'll enjoy the same things that I enjoy and that way

I'm not causing my brother to sin. You want to shape and strengthen their conscience before God that they may do all things to the glory of Christ.

So it's not about I want to shape their conscience so that they'll enjoy the things that I enjoy. It's I want them to have a strong conscience before God.

I want them to not be defiled in their conscience whenever they stumble into something that the

Bible does not call a sin. And in the process of this, you grow in sanctification also because you are loving your brothers and sisters in the

Lord. There are things that you are learning as you are teaching somebody else, all according to the word of Christ and all to the praise of his glorious grace.

We serve one another, we pursue Christ together, we are building each other up. That was happening there in the church in Rome.

And so Paul is saying these things to say, we're talking about some tertiary issues here when we get to chapter 14 or maybe even some secondary matters, but that doesn't make them unimportant.

And Paul writes boldly about those things, not to chastise, not to criticize or to tear down, not because he wants them to feel bad about something.

It doesn't even appear to be a rebuke, but because he loves and cares for them. He knows that they're teaching each other and he's just encouraging them to do this more.

So let me come back and read verse 14 again and we'll go on. I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers.

Paul has a peace in his heart about what he sees going on in the church there in Rome. There are other places that Paul has written to where he does not feel that at peace with some of the things that he hears about happening in that church.

For example, the next letter that we're going to be reading when we finish Romans, that's 1

Corinthians. What is Paul's attitude toward the first Corinthians? The first Corinthians.

What is Paul's attitude toward that church there in Corinth? Well, they're doing some things okay, but a lot of problems that need to be confronted.

And then with the Galatians, Paul starts that letter by saying, I'm astonished how quickly you've deserted the gospel that was preached to you.

So there are some letters that Paul writes that are way more concerning, more rebuking.

This letter to the Romans is not that way. He teaches them about justification by faith in Christ alone.

And then how that looks in the life of a believer. Somebody who's living out that truth of the gospel.

That's the section that we're in here in the book of Romans right now. And he says to them that he's satisfied about them, what he's heard about this church, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.

So that means they have the truth and they have been so sanctified by this truth that they're able to teach each other without there being an apostle there.

So the apostle wants to come there so that he can raise them up in more truth and that they can be an encouragement to him as well.

That's what he said there in chapter one, because he wants to be strengthened, encouraged by the good word of what they've accomplished there in sharing the gospel in the capital city of the world.

He says in verse 15, but on some points I've written to you very boldly by way of reminder.

So you still know these things are important. Though we may put them in a category of tertiary, third tier doctrines, they're still incredibly important doctrines.

These are things that we still should talk about and still should come to an understanding of, but we need to be able to think in categories.

So we know those things that are fundamental, that are essential. We all hold these things together.

We affirm them, we defend them. This is what makes us Christian because we believe these things and hold fast to them.

But then there's other things that are not as essential. They're tertiary, they're third tier issues.

They are differing opinions that will exist within the same body, but we're still unified with one another because we're pursuing the same thing,

Christ, and all to the praise of his glory. We need to be careful about not flattening every issue out to being like the same tier, as if there is no such thing as a secondary or tertiary issue, like second tier, third tier, non -essential matters.

And instead what we end up doing is we flatten everything out and it's just the same. There's truth and there's untruth.

And we either agree on absolutely everything or we don't agree on anything.

When that becomes our approach, there's no way we can do church together. It's just simply not possible.

And you're going to end up being deserted. Well, let me put it another way.

You're going to end up being a deserter and alone. You will stop going to church altogether and you will not be fellowshipping with any body of Christ.

If we're not alike on everything, we're alike on nothing. And that is prideful.

That is to your shame. You're not better than everybody else. And you're the one who is going to waste away and languish because you're not part of the body.

If you've decided, I know all, I can't find a church that agrees with exactly all of this.

And therefore I'm not going to go to any church at all. You're the one who's in the wrong. As we're reading here, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves,

Romans 15 .1. You're not the one who's stronger. If you think that you're the one who's right and none of these churches are, so I must break away from everybody and just be a church unto myself.

You're the one who's weak in faith. You're the one who needs a missionary sent to you to tell you to repent of your pride and be a part of the body of Christ so that we may grow together, grow into the head who is

Christ Jesus. If you're cut off from the body, you will not survive. Pick a digit or a limb, cut it off.

And is it going to continue to grow? Will it grow into another person? You take your pinky finger and cut it off.

Is it going to grow another hand, another arm, and therefore into another body? No. What's going to happen?

Will the rest of the body die because the pinky is cut off? Well, maybe if you don't stop the bleeding. But the pinky is going to be the part that will shrivel up and die.

If you cut yourself off from the body, you cut yourself off from Christ. For Christ is the head of the body, and we're all growing each other up into the head who is

Christ. So if you're not helping others grow, and you're not letting them help you grow, you're not growing into Christ.

You're cut off from the body, and so therefore you're not in Christ. This is very important. We are not a church unto ourselves.

When you came to faith, when you believed in Jesus Christ for salvation, you were reconciled not only to God, but you're reconciled to his people.

And so you must be a part of the visible church, the body of Christ that is gathering for the purpose of praising

God together that you may build each other up in love. The church needs you, and you need the church that you may be sanctified together in Christ.

Amen? We also need to be careful not to look at those secondary and tertiary issues as unimportant.

So all we need to do is just focus on the fundamentals. What that creates is that big tent mentality where we just want to have the biggest tent possible so we can have the most number of people under this tent.

Because then what's going to end up happening is the big tent will be the value rather than the truth that needs to be proclaimed.

And even some of those fundamental or essential issues are going to start getting written off as secondary issues for the sake of preserving the big tent.

This is what's going on in the Southern Baptist Convention right now. And you also have this pursuit of pragmatism in that whatever works must be true.

So if it's helping to grow our tent, then therefore it's good, and we must use that or utilize that to bring more people underneath this body.

Then fundamental issues become unimportant as well as those secondary and tertiary issues.

So we have to be careful of that mentality as well. Paul, as he's approaching this church, is saying all of this is important.

I've spoken to you about essential fundamental things, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, being justified by faith in Christ, and therefore we have peace with God.

He talks about these more opinionated matters in chapter 14 and half of chapter 15, and he says,

I write even these things to you very boldly as a reminder because of the grace that is given me by God.

That's the rest of verse 15 there. And he spoke about in chapter one about the grace that had been given to him by God to be an apostle to the

Gentiles. That's the grace that he's referring to there. Yes, we all have grace. As believers in Jesus Christ, we have the grace of God.

By grace, we are saved through faith. And it is by this grace that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So yes, we all have the grace of God in this sense, forgiven our sins and given everlasting life with God through faith in Jesus.

But Paul has a very specific grace in mind that he's talking about here. That's the grace of God that has appointed him as an apostle, which makes him an authority on the subjects that he is speaking about.

He has an authority over the church. He's part of that foundation stone that God has laid down for the church.

Remember that as we read about in Ephesians three, even in what Jesus declared to Peter in Matthew chapter 16, the apostles are foundation stones.

Christ is the cornerstone. The other stones that are laid there as part of that foundation that the church is being built upon.

The apostles and prophets there that have been laid down as the foundation of the church.

So Paul has a very unique office in that sense. And it is by the grace of God that he's been appointed to this work and to this service.

So these things that he's talked about over chapter 14 and half of chapter 15 are according to that authority that he has to speak in the voice of Christ.

Whatever an apostle said was said as an authority, as a minister of Christ on his behalf.

So to reject an apostle is to reject Christ. To reject the apostle is to reject the very word of God that was being spoken through an apostle just like the word of God was spoken to a prophet in the

Old Testament. Now these offices are closed. There are no more prophets. There are no more apostles.

What God said to the prophets has become the Old Testament. What God said through the apostles has been the

New Testament. When the last apostle died who is John, then that is the conclusion of any new revelation that God was going to give to his people that we have written down for us in the pages of scripture.

Nothing new is going to be added to this. There are not modern day apostles. So don't believe anyone that says,

I'm an apostle of God and I've come to give you the word of the Lord. We already have that word. It's 66 books canonized in the

Bible, Genesis to Revelation. Trust this and don't believe anybody else who says that they have seen the

Lord or that the Lord appointed them to be an apostle. We don't need anything, any new revelation apart from or in addition to what we have written down in the pages of scripture.

So this is a very specific office that God has called Paul to and he speaks with that authority as he has written here to the

Romans. So once again, verses 14 and 15 again, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.

But on some points, I've written to you very boldly by way of reminder because of the grace given me by God.

Verse 16, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God so that the offering of the

Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. That's where we'll finish today and we'll come back to this teaching tomorrow.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for raising us up in the goodness of your word.

For as Jesus prayed in the high priestly prayer in John 17, Father, sanctify them in your truth.

Your word is truth. We know that it is by what we're reading here. We're being sanctified.

We're being grown up into Christ and we're even called to help strengthen and grow one another.

As Paul had praised the church in Rome for doing, so we must do with each other.

And in some of these more difficult issues, may we not write each other off. May we not start cutting off pieces of the body saying, well,

I just don't like this person here. I'm good with one arm, I don't need two. But we rather work with each other to come to an understanding of the truth that Christ may be exalted and that we may be sanctified and grown in this truth.

Give us wisdom in these matters that we may know those things that are essential and those things that we can still disagree on and call one another brothers and sisters in the

Lord. And so purify one another by the washing of water with the word.

We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.