Well let me invite you now please to take your copy of God’s Word in hand and turn back to Paul’s letter to the Romans to chapter 15. We’ve been working through Romans in the month of January, morning and evening on Sundays and on Wednesday evenings, and we come tonight to the concluding part of Paul’s argument in the last major section of the letter. It began, this section began in chapter 12, focusing on the Christian life in the church under the gaze of the watching world. That means, of course, that we only have one more message to go on Wednesday evening looking at Paul’s closing remarks and greetings in chapter 16. And I hope, like me, you’ve found the overview of Paul’s teaching to be refreshing and helpful in aiding you to better understand the letter as a whole.
Now this morning we saw in chapter 14 that mutual forbearance and the voluntary sacrifice of Christian freedom for the sake of the weaker brother is one of the keys to the unity of the church. Our passage tonight, chapter 15, takes that theme of Christian unity and shows in turn how it serves Paul’s wider agenda as he promotes his missionary efforts among the Gentiles, especially his ambition to reach Spain with the Gospel. If you look with me for a moment at the text I want you to see the stair step structure of Paul’s argument. You can see step one in verses 1 through 7 where Paul says, in summary, Christian unity rooted in the Gospel leads to worship. Verses 1 through 7 – Christian unity rooted in the Gospel leads to worship. Then step two, verses 8 through 13, Christian worship rooted in the Gospel is the goal of mission. So Christian unity rooted in the Gospel leads to worship. Christian worship rooted in the Gospel is the goal of mission. And then step three, 14 through 33, Christian mission rooted in the Gospel is the church’s calling. So you see the stair step structure? Each step, at the base of each step is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Gospel of God in Jesus Christ. And as the goal of each step, ultimately, is the exaltation of the living God in the salvation of the world. It’s a brilliant chain of reasoning and it is intended to lead the Romans, to lead us to renewed commitment to unity, leading to worship, that motivates mission.
And so those are our three points. I hope you’ve got them. Verses 1 through 7 – unity rooted in the Gospel leads to worship. Eight through 13 – worship rooted in the Gospel is the goal of mission. And 14 through 33 – mission rooted in the Gospel is the calling of the church. That’s where we’re going. Before we get into all of that, let’s bow our heads as we pray and then we’ll read a portion of the chapter. Let us pray together.
O Lord our God, at the end of a Lord’s Day, perhaps the demands of the week ahead are beginning to press upon us. Perhaps we’re feeling our weariness a little. We ask You now, please, to meet with us in such a way that whatever other voices may be clamoring for our attention, we might be locked on to the voice of God speaking in holy Scripture. Give us attentiveness, receptivity, teachability. Plow up the fallow ground of our hearts that it might be fertile soil for the seed of Your holy Word. For we ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.
Romans 15 at verse 1. This is the Word of God:
“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.
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, 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.’
And again it is said,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.’
And again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.’
And again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.’
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.”
Amen and we praise God for His holy Word.
I was reading The Guardian newspaper this week about guerilla gardening. Have you come across guerilla gardening? It’s a global movement in which ordinary people covertly, usually illegally, plant flowers or plant plants for food in under-utilized public land. In London, Richard Reynolds lives in the drab, gray, concrete neighborhood of Elephant and Castle in the city of London. It’s a rough, urban landscape, but Reynolds sneaks out at night to plant gardens with donated flowers and shrubs and has turned drab traffic islands and lifeless roundabouts into stunning displays. Flowers bloom under road signs, lavender wafts across intersections. The gardens are illegal, but at least in Reynolds case, the authorities don’t seem to mind too much as land that was growing nothing but weeds now blooms instead with flowers. At one point, he even managed to convince Transport for London, the authority that manages the sidewalks, to fill the pits under the trees that line the roads with fresh soil as a part of a campaign to encourage local people to plant their own flowers and beautify their streets.
The image of concrete, urban spaces blooming with color rather gripped my imagination. And I think it’s an apt metaphor, actually, for the vision that Romans 15 paints for us. The Gospel, Paul says, makes unity in the church blossom, and unity, in turn, makes worship flower, which then drives mission forward until soon, like seed-bombing at lifeless traffic island until it erupts with new life when once, in the drab, concrete gray of spiritual indifference no one worshiped the Lord, now praises to God in Jesus Christ flourish and bear fruit all over the world. The image of ordinary people taking direct action to make beautiful what was ugly and bring life to what was desolate echoes wonderfully, I think, the radical ambition of the apostle Paul who wants to mobilize the whole church to sow Gospel seeds among the nations. It is really a breathtaking vision that he has.
The first part of it you can see in verses 1 through 7, would you look there please, where Paul shows us how unity in the church, rooted in the Gospel, leads to worship. Unity rooted in the Gospel leads to worship. You will have noticed of course that verses 1 and 2 essentially repeat and summarize Paul’s teaching from chapter 14. Really he is concluding his argument begun in chapter 14. “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.” Unity is a priority, indeed an obligation, resting especially on the strong; that is those whose consciences allow them to enjoy the fullness of Christian liberty. “It is so easy for a man whose conscience is quite clear about some course of action,” writes F.F. Bruce, “to snap his fingers at his critics and say, ‘I’ll please myself!’ He has every right to do so, but that is not the way of Christ.” “I’ll please myself” – that is not the way of Christ. Christ calls us to sacrifice our freedoms where necessary for the sake of our brothers and sisters. It is simply the practical reality of living Christian unity. This is what it takes.
But do notice carefully how Paul grounds his exhortation to unity, sacrificial unity, he grounds it in the Gospel. Do you see that in verse 3? “For Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.’” He points to Jesus’ example in the Gospel. He did not come to please Himself, did He? He came to please His Father and to save His people. Instead of pleasing Himself, Paul says, quoting Psalm 69 verse 9, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” The hatred they had for God fell upon His Son for our sakes. He bore reproach for us. And Paul’s point in reminding us of all of that is that people with the Gospel in their spiritual DNA resemble Christ in His setting aside of personal privilege and prerogatives in order to secure our eternal welfare. One of the signs that the Gospel has gone beyond a set of abstract ideas in your head and has really begun to change your heart is when you willingly, gladly humble yourself in order to be a blessing to someone else, to your brothers and sisters.
And by the way, don’t overlook Paul’s little aside there in verse 4. Do you see it? He sort of takes a bit of a detour. He quotes Psalm 69 verse 9 from the Old Testament scriptures, and having double-clicked on Psalm 69 verse 9, a whole folder opens that really isn’t directly germane to everything else he is going teach us in this part of the chapter, but it’s worth noticing along the way. Verse 4 – a little side comment about the Bible – “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.” John Stott, in his commentary on the passage, highlights five truths about Scripture from verse 4 that are just too good to ignore before we move on to Paul’s main point. This really is an entirely parenthetical little moment, but these five points are really helpful and I don’t want you to miss them. So here they are; let me just rehearse them for you.
First of all from verse 4, Stott notes the contemporaneity of the Bible. That is, the Scriptures were written in former days, but for all of that they are nevertheless written for our instruction. This ancient book is for your instruction. It is always, of course, rooted in the historical context in which it was penned, but it always, nevertheless, speaks with contemporary relevance and power to you and to me right now, today. The contemporaneity of the Bible.
Secondly, the inclusivity of the Bible. Paul says, “Whatever was written was written for our instruction.” Or as he puts it in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and useful.” We don’t get to pick and choose which parts are relevant and which are not. It’s all useful. Contemporaneity; the inclusivity.
Thirdly, the Christ-centeredness of the Bible. Paul shows us how Psalm 69 verse 9 points us to Jesus. He is going to do it again in just a few verses with verses, citations taken from Deuteronomy, from the Psalms, and from Isaiah. From the law and the prophets and the writings – the three parts of the Old Testament scriptures – to show us that the whole thing, all of it is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. The contemporaneity, the inclusivity, the Christ-centeredness.
And fourthly, the practicality of the Bible. Paul says it brings endurance and encouragement resulting ultimately in hope. We need those things – endurance, encouragement, hope. Where do you find them? You get them in the book. That’s why God has given us His holy and inerrant words. Contemporaneity, inclusivity, Christ-centeredness, practicality.
And then fifthly, the divine origin of the Bible. The endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures mentioned in verse 4 are then immediately, endurance and encouragement are then immediately ascribed to God Himself in verse 5. Do you see that? The point should be clear. The Bible conveys endurance and encouragement to us from their divine source. God gives to us grace through this book. God is the one speaking here. This is the instrument of God, the mouth of God, the very Word of God.
Now all of that, as you look at verse 4, all of that may seem, frankly, like a complete tangent from the flow, the main flow of Paul’s thinking about unity and worship. And it is an aside, to be sure, but it is a very helpful aside that reminds us that the Gospel about Jesus to which Paul points as he calls us to live in unity with one another can be accessed nowhere else but in holy Scripture. The instrument of endurance and encouragement and hope that we all need, if like Jesus we are going to put ourselves to death and serve each other, the instrument of that is the Word of God. Endurance and encouragement – God gives us those things in the Bible. Then look at the text.
To this primary means of grace, the Word of God, Paul adds another. He prays for us. So there is the Word and then there is prayer. Do you see that in verse 5? “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.” The endurance and encouragement that God gives us by His Word are ultimately sourced in God Himself. He is the God of endurance and encouragement.
And while He is praying to this God of endurance and encouragement he makes the connection now for us. Do you see it? Between unity and worship. Look at what he says. He prays that the Romans might have such harmony, such unity with one another, that their worship might arise, as it were, from one voice, literally from one mouth. We are to welcome one another, he says, verse 7, “for the glory of God.” Unity serves doxology. That’s the point. Unity serves doxology. A divided church is a church where worship is undermined by petty squabbles and interpersonal conflicts; a church where old wounds fester and resentments build and our grievances become our preoccupation, not the praise of our God and Father the Lord Jesus Christ. But in a united church were people are gripped by the sacrifice of Christ and then the members in turn sacrificially serve one another, in such a church there is harmony and our attention falls not on distracting debates about secondary issues but upon the God who has joined us one to another in His Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus. We worship with one mouth because God has made us one in heart. Unity serves doxology. And so first, do you see Paul’s first point? Unity rooted in the Gospel serves worship.
But then secondly look down at verses 8 through 13 and the next step in Paul’s stair step arguments. First he says unity rooted in the Gospel serves worship, but now, 8 through 13, worship rooted in the Gospel motivates mission. And again, make sure you see the Gospel root of Paul’s teaching. Verse 8. “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, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.” Verse 7 ended by telling us unity is about the glory of God. Now Paul tells us Jesus came into the world to extend that unity beyond the walls of the local church in Rome till it reaches the very ends of the earth with the great design that Jews and Gentiles alike would come and join our worship to the glory of the triune God. Jesus came with a missionary purpose – to reach Jews and Gentiles and to turn them into worshipers.
And the string of Old Testament quotations that follows backs up that point. The first in verse 9 comes from Psalm 18 verse 49. “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.” King David, the speaker in the psalm, is declaring his purpose to worship God before the nations. Paul reads the verse messianically, speaking about Jesus, and envisions a great congregation, an assembly made up not just of Jews but of Gentiles too now also in whose midst Jesus Himself will be our song leader. The second quotation in verse 10, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people,” comes from Deuteronomy 32:43 from the mouth of Moses, calling the Gentile nations to join the covenant community in adoring the living God. The third quotation, Psalm 117 verse 1, makes the same point, although it highlights especially the scope of God’s design to reach the Gentiles. The Gospel is for all people. “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles and let all peoples extol him.” And then the last quotation from Isaiah 11:10 speaks about Christ’s mission to rule the nations. “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles. In him the Gentiles will hope.”
Now just think a bit for a moment about the vision of global worship reaching the nations, the Gentiles, all peoples, that these quotations afford us. Just try and take in the scale of this. They tell us Jesus is the song leader in the great congregation of the redeemed. They tell us that the reign of Christ over all the nations has the glory and praise of God in view. They tell us that worship among every tribe and language and nation is the reason Jesus came. Worship, do you see it now, worship is central to the plan of God for the evangelization of the world.
Now in view of that fact, don’t you think it’s worth pausing for a moment to ask ourselves about how central worship is in our own Christian lives? Jesus died to make us worshipers. The mission of the Gospel sent into all the world is to gather in more worshipers. And yet for many of us, frankly, worship is far too low a priority on our list. The praise of God’s name with one mouth in the assembly of the Lord on the Sabbath Day is for too many of us, frankly, mere routine. It is formulaic, maybe even passe. Jesus sings among the Gentiles, verse 9. The Gentiles sing along with Jews, verse 10. All peoples sing, verse 11. Sing, the Scriptures are saying to us! Sing the glory of your redeemer! Sing the praises of his God and Father! Sing for joy that you are welcomed in to His kingdom, and along with you a vast multitude greater than anyone could number from every tribe and people and language. And understand as you do that singing praise is not peripheral or proparitory or incidental, either in a worship service or in your Christian life. It is the work you were redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ to spend your eternity engaged in, and so we had better give ourselves so it. We had better give ourselves to it.
Before we move on, do notice the second benediction of the chapter there in verse 13. Do you see it? The quotation from Isaiah 11:1 that we read in verse 12 ends, “in Him the Gentiles will hope.” And so now Paul prays for that very reality in the Roman Christians’ own hearts and lives. God has promised that the Gentiles will hope in Jesus and so now Paul prays the promise of God, which by the way is a model for how to pray. We said that, didn’t we, in the children’s catechism. What is it? How did it go? “Prayer is praising God, giving thanks for all His blessings, and asking Him for the things He has promised in the Bible.” That’s what Paul is doing right here – praying the promise of God. The Gentiles will hope, and so he prays, “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.” It’s a beautiful benediction. I wish we had the time fully to unpack it here, but I do want you to see at least that behind the benediction itself is the subtle point Paul is making that the Romans themselves are already the proof of God keeping His Word and fulfilling this grand missionary purpose that all the Gentiles will hope in Him.
The promises of Psalm 18 and Deuteronomy 32 and Psalm 117 and Isaiah 11 that Paul has been quoting for us, they are about the worship of the Gentile nations, but they’re not holding out some distant, longed for dream. They are becoming, Paul is implying here, they are becoming right now a present reality. “In him the Gentiles hope. May the God of hope make you, Romans, abound in hope. You are part of this, already part of what God is doing in fulfilling His grand missionary design. God is at work doing this in your lives. You are involved. God is keeping His promises right in our midst.” You see, Paul wants to do more than simply instruct them and instruct us on general matters related to worship and mission. He wants to enlist them and he wants to enlist us as missionary partners along with him. And so he shows them and he shows us how God is at work in His own grand missionary purpose and we are already being swept up into it.
Which brings us neatly to the third thing to see here. First, unity rooted in the Gospel leads to worship. Secondly, worship rooted in the Gospel is the goal of mission – and now, secondly, worship is the goal of mission. And now thirdly, mission rooted in the Gospel is the calling of the church. This is where Paul has been leading all along. He is seeking to enlist the Romans. He wants to enlist us as missionary partners. Look at verses 14 through 33. First of all, 14 to 21, we have an overview of Paul’s own work as a missionary. He pictures himself like a priest, verse 16, offering sacrifices to the glory of God, only the sacrifices Paul offers are Gentile lives transformed by grace through faith in Jesus Christ through the Gospel. This is Paul’s own great act of priestly devotion and worship to gather in the offering of the Gentiles. And this he has done, verses 18 through 19 explain, in the power of the Holy Spirit from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. It’s a remarkable achievement.
All over the Mediterranean world, Paul has planted churches, but his particular driving ambition in all that he has been doing for Jesus, he states for us in verses 20 and 21. “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.’” So Paul wants to get the Gospel to people who have never heard about Jesus. He wants to be a pioneering missionary evangelist because the Scriptures promise that those who have never heard will understand, they will believe, they will come to know Jesus. Paul wants desperately to be a part of that. It’s an inspiring little moment of autobiography that would repay prayerful attention if you are beginning to wonder if perhaps God is calling you to serve Him in the great work of global mission. Read over Paul’s example carefully and see if perhaps God will not plant the same seed of burning zeal to make Christ known among those who have never yet heard.
And so Paul outlines his own missionary work and then he tells the Romans – notice in verse 24 – that he plans to visit them on his way to Spain in order “to be helped on my journey there by you.” He has been delayed in making the trip before now he says, because he has been busy delivering an aid package to the famine stricken church in Jerusalem raised by the brothers and sisters in the churches of Achaia and Macedonia, verse 26. But verse 28, “When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.”
Now I’m sure that all sounds really like housekeeping, doesn’t it? Some mundane travel plans, some arrangements to meet up soon, and so on and so forth. But don’t skip over it too quickly, because along the way as Paul is giving us his travel plans, he actually shows us four ways in which Christians and churches ought to partner with missionaries and engage in the extension of the global missionary project for which Jesus Christ was sent into the world. Let me quickly summarize the four ways and then we’re done.
First of all, as I said a moment ago, there is the great example of the apostle Paul himself – a passionate evangelist seeking to bring the promise of God to fulfillment that the nations would come to Christ and those who have never been told about Jesus will believe. Too many of us too quickly assume that the call to full time Gospel work is for someone else. The call to give your life in the service of global mission is for someone else. But it may be that the Lord is actually calling you to go with the Gospel, to go plant churches, to even preach the Word or participate in some way in the great work of evangelism. Do not shrug and assume you have no responsibility to weigh the Lord’s call on your life. You must meekly submit to it if He calls you to go with the Gospel, whether across the street or around the world. Read Paul’s example prayerfully and see if it does not ignite a flame of zeal for the lost in your own heart also.
Secondly, you can support the work of global mission by your giving. Paul has been traveling through the churches he has planted raising support for believers who are suffering in Jerusalem. Gospel work takes people going, but it also takes money. Paul mentions the churches of Achaia and Macedonia there in verse 26. In 2 Corinthians 8:2, he tells us more about the radical, sacrificial generosity of the Macedonia Christians. He says, “In a severe test of affliction their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part, for they gave according to their means as I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.” Our mission conference is coming up in February. I wonder if you would begin now prayerfully reviewing your giving specifically to the work of global mission and plan ways to give generously and sacrificially.
Number three, Paul wants their fellowship and their refreshment. Verse 23, he says he has longed for years to visit them. Verse 24, he wants to enjoy their company. Verse 32, he looks forward to visiting with joy and being refreshed in their company. So not even the mighty apostle Paul is beyond the need of fellowship and encouragement and refreshment and support. He has been harping, hasn’t he, on the duty of mutual love and unity and interdependence in the body of Christ, in one form or another now, since chapter 12. But here we see Paul does not exempt himself from that duty or from that need. “I need you,” he’s saying to them. “I need you. If I am going to make it and be faithful in my onward journey, I need to stop and receive the encouragement and refreshment of your dear fellowship.” We need each other and our ministers and evangelists and church planters and global missionaries are greatly helped simply by your interest and your love, your kindness, your friendship, your hospitality.
And finally, Paul says we can fulfill our calling to bring the Gospel to the world by prayer, by prayer. Look at verse 30. “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.” Striving together with him in the cause of global mission, we do that by prayer. You partner in the hard work of Gospel advance with your brothers and sisters all over the world, on the front line, by your prayers.
Do you remember what William Carey told his friends, John Ryland and John Sutcliffe and Andrew Fuller when they formed together the Baptist Missionary Society in 1792? The plan was for Carey to go to Calcutta, India. John Ryland recorded the moment. “Our undertaking to India really appeared to me on its commencement to be somewhat like a few men who were deliberating about the importance of penetrating into a deep mine which had never before been explored. We had no one to guide us, and while we were thus deliberating, Carey, as it were, said, ‘Well, I will go down if you will hold the rope.’ But before he went down, he, as it seemed to me, took an oath from each of us at the mouth of the pit to this effect, that while we lived, we should never let go of the rope.”
It may just be that some here are called themselves to go down into the pit in answer to the call of God on your life – to preach the Gospel and make disciples of the nations. But if you’re not called personally to go, you are called to hold the rope by your giving, by your fellowship, and by striving together in your prayers. Unity rooted in the Gospel leads to worship. Worship rooted in the Gospel is the fuel of mission. It’s what mission is for. And mission rooted in the Gospel is the whole church’s calling, yours and mine, either to go down the pit ourselves or to hold the rope for those who do. Let’s pray together.
Father, would You set our hearts ablaze with wonder, love and praise because of what You have done for us in Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we find our hearts delighting in Him and adoring Him, would You awaken in us a longing to see many more join us in wonder, love and praise in adoring Jesus Christ. May worship be for us the fuel of mission. Perhaps someone here is being called to go with the Gospel to some hard place and to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ. O Lord, grip their hearts. Make Your call plain to them and equip and strengthen them as they go. And for the rest of us, please, O God, give us grace that while we live we might never let go the rope that we might be a church that prays and gives, that supports and cares, that goes with the Gospel and with an encouraging word. Do it, O Lord, that Your promise might be fulfilled that the nations, that the Gentiles might praise Your name, for Jesus’ sake, amen.