Be Encouraged in the Lord

Scripture: Romans 15:1-13

 

Introduction

• As this slide illustrates, the battle of evil against good today rages all over the world.
• Our world is a powder keg ready to erupt into World War III at any minute it seems.
• I’m not worried because I’ve kind of given up on this world and started focusing on the next one.
• Let’s talk about that one – next slide please Rachel.
• Jesus covered this world when He died on the cross.
• God promised to never again flood the world with water.
• But He didn’t mention that the blood of His Son would flood the world and drown all sin.
• Jesus summed up my future in John 14:1-3:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

• That right there is the future I am counting on – I just hope He sees my name in His book.
• So, I come before you as your pastor to encourage you down the same path.
• I especially recognize and encourage all your hard work because I think this is the way to win others to Christ.
• I know it gets tough sometimes and we get tired and frustrated but doesn’t it get easier thinking we are doing something for Christ and He really appreciates our efforts?
• Trust me when I say to you that we are working for Christ and He DOES appreciate it.
• I know this because of His behavior: He is actively blessing us and that is how you know.
• I believe Paul is giving us strong advice about encouragement in these three points:

1. Put others first
2. Be a servant
3. Reach the Gentiles

1. Put others first

• Paul begins the chapter today by saying:

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

• We have been studying this matter very thoroughly over the past five years.
• We have watched church members and close friends of this church die from Fentanyl.
• If you watched the last presidential debate, you may have heard the distinction that was made about Fentanyl.
• Many want to say Fentanyl overdose is the cause of death, but it’s not overdose – it’s poisoning.
• Fentanyl is being laced into other drugs like marijuana.
• It’s been a tough education for me: I loved Robbie Villalpando; my good friend Yvonne’s son, and Debbie Sparks just to name a few.
• It’s been a real education for me to be exposed to some of the failings of others.
• I still have some connections with local drug users who will be honest with me and I am hearing that they are seeing a big increase in Fentanyl-laced marijuana.
• I was so concerned about this that I texted all my kids to warn them. In this age of weed-acceptance, there is risk for just about anyone.
• Paul says in verse 2:

Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.

• We have developed our mission and ministry at this church by focusing on building up others.
• One of the ways we do this is by providing for the most basic human needs like food and clothing.
• Furthermore, another way we provide for others is by opening everything we have up to them including our hearts.
• We have befriended and embraced many people through clothes closet interactions as well as our community meals and gatherings.
• Even our yard sales have been a great source of interaction with the community.
• We don’t do this for our own gain, but would you admit that you really do get a great deal of satisfaction from what we have done?
• Paul reminds us in verse 3 that as Christians, we need to remember what it means to serve

For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

• Christ took the worse abuse on Himself even though He didn’t deserve any of it.
• I suppose we shouldn’t complain as much about difficult clothes closet customers.
• All of this is a learning experience that is refining us to be better and better.
• We can find great encouragement in God’s word. Paul says in verse 4:

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

• Encouragement is so very important for all of us, but what about endurance?
• Can we gain endurance from the Scriptures? YES
• God encourages us through His Word in so many ways and when we feel encouraged, we feel stronger and more motivated.
• This is the magic, the “secret sauce” here at Biltmore that makes the miracles happen.
• It explains how we do what we do for all the time we have been doing it.
• Paul shows us how putting others first leads to encouragement in verse 5:

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Be a servant

• If we are going to be Christians, then we need to become servants.
• We must have the attitude of mind toward each other that Christ had – the attitude of a servant.
• Jesus was a servant in all that He did. In Mark 10:45, Jesus said:

“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.”

• Then we have the scene from the last supper in John’s Gospel 13:12-17:

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.  “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

• Jesus consistently modeled for us what it means to be a servant.
• It starts by accepting others and respecting them. As Paul says in verse 7:

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, to bring praise to God.

• Our program here believes in accepting everyone.
• I see that people seem to feel accepted here.
• Paul tells us in verse 8 that God sent Jesus to first reach the Jews:

For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed.

• We have learned the real joy that comes from serving others.
• And in that joy, we have received great encouragement to carry on and try harder.

3. Reach the Gentiles

• Paul quotes 2 Samuel 22:50 when he writes in verses 9 and 10:

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.”

• What does this mean for us? Because we are all Gentiles since we are non-Jews.
• The King James translation of 2 Samuel 22:50 may help:

Therefore, I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

• King James calls them heathens, but for us, the Gentiles means those who are unsaved – those who don’t yet know Christ as their Savior.
• As you know, it was Paul’s mission to expand the mission of Christ to the Gentiles.
• It is why Paul is tying this message to the Romans to include the Gentiles.
• Romans was written to the new self-established Christian church in Rome.
• Likely, these first Roman Christians were motivated by Peter’s speech at Pentecost.
• So, Paul is writing them a letter to cover every possible aspect of Christianity.
• He always hoped to preach to them in person, but it never happened.
• This is possibly his one shot at reaching them with everything he thought they needed.
• In verse 11, Paul emphasizes this point when he says:
• And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples extol him.”
• Paul quotes Isaiah 11:10 in verse 12:

The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.

• I will leave you with Paul’s words in verse 13:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

• The hope for our encouragement will come from how well we can reach others for Christ.