May we be of the same mind.
[Romans 15:1-6]
These days, I am studying Jonah 4 during the Bible study for leaders. The more I study, the more the lesson God gives me is, in one word, 'Yet not my will, but Your be done.’ God's servant, the prophet Jonah, was angry with God for turning His will to bring disaster on the people of Nineveh who repented and turned from their sins. Why? Jonah wanted his will to be done rather than God's will to be done. What was Jonah’s will? It was the destruction of the people of Nineveh. Jonah wanted God to bring disaster on the people of Nineveh with his life. Looking at Jonah like this, I thought about how to know the maturity of faith. In a word, I think the maturity of faith is to put down my own will in front of the cross and submit to the will of the Lord. In other words, a mature Christian prays the prayer Jesus offered to Heavenly Father in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He was crucified: Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Lk. 22:42). What is the Lord's will for our church?
In today's text, Romans 15:5-6, Paul prays for the Roman church as follows: “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He prayed to God for the unity of the church. The reason is because the unity of the church is the will of the Lord, who is the head of the church. What must we do for the unity of the church? Through today's text, I hope and pray that we will devote ourselves to keep the unity of the church in diversity by receiving and obeying the lessons God gives.
First, in order for us to keep the unity of the church, which is the body of the Lord, we must please our neighbors rather than please ourselves.
Look at Romans 15:1-2: “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” Paul is writing a letter to the church in Rome, admonishing its members not to share with each other due to the Christians' faith and conscience issues (the issue of adiaphora) and tolerating them, but in particular, believers with strong faith should understand and embrace those who are weak (Park). To do so, believers with strong faith must please their neighbors rather than please themselves. What does it mean? It means that the church is not to dogmatize or enforce its own standard that believers who can eat meat in the community are okay to eat meat (Park). If believers with strong faith dogmatize what they believe or force it to be the standard of the church, what will happen to believers with weak faith who believe that they should not eat meat and only eat vegetables? If those who claim to be strong in faith try to carry out their assertion within the church, how will believers with weak faith react? In the end, disputes will inevitably arise due to friction and conflict within the church. In order to guard against this very result, Paul exhorts the Roman church saints who are strong in faith to use the subject “we” (v. 1), not to please ourselves, but to please our neighbors who are weak in faith.
How can those who are strong in faith please those who are weak in faith?
- Those with strong faith must take responsibility and embrace the weaknesses of those with weak faith.
Look at Romans 15:1 – “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” The church cannot be one if those who are strong in faith look at those who are weak in faith, they despise them in their hearts, thinking, 'Why is their faith so weak?’ and think that ‘I have better faith than them’ and have a sense of superiority. In order to keep the unity of the church, the saints who think their faith is a bit strong should be wary of these sinful tendencies. Rather, those with strong faith should understand and embrace the weaknesses of those whose faith is deduced, thinking about when their faith was weak. In order to do so, the consciousness that those who have strong faith must have is the ‘debtor consciousness’. In fact, the word “ought” in verse 1has the meaning of being in debt (Park). That's why Paul already told the Roman church saints in Romans 13:8, " Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another." If those who are strong in faith help and embrace the weaknesses of those who are weak in the faith with a sense of being debtors after receiving Paul's exhortation, then the unity of the church can be maintained.
- Those with strong faith must strive to build those with weak faith up.
Look at Romans 15:2 – “Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” d
The word to build up here means to construct (Park). In other words, those who are strong in faith help those who are weak in faith with a sense of responsibility, but they must think about how they can help their faith to be firmly established. In other words, we all must become spiritual architects who build God's church. So, we need to think about how we can build each other up and move forward. I thought of 3 things: (a) Just as the foundation must be strong when building a house, those with strong faith in the church must use their strength as spiritual architects to strengthen the foundation of those with weak faith. In other words, those with strong faith must help those with weak faith to build the foundation of faith on the rock of God's word. (b) Just as there must be walls when building a house, those who are strong in faith must provide spiritual protection through prayer to those who are weak in faith. (c) Just as a roof is needed when building a house, those with strong faith in the church must convince those with weak faith about the helmet of salvation they are wearing. In other words, those with strong faith must instill assurance of salvation to those with weak faith. Therefore, those with strong faith must help those with weak faith to win the spiritual battle with the assurance of salvation.
Why should those who are strong in faith do this? Why should those who are strong in faith help and embrace the weaknesses of those who are weak in faith with a sense of responsibility, and also strive to build them up? In a word, why should we please our neighbors rather than please ourselves? The reason is because Christ did not please Himself (v. 3). The final purpose of Jesus Christ is not to please Himself, but to please Heavenly Father and do His will (Jn. 4:34; 5:30; 6:38; 8:25, 27–29; Phil. 2:6–8) (MacArthur). Like Jesus, we too must please the Lord rather than please ourselves. In fact, when we please the Lord, we also please ourselves. The reason is because the joy of the Lord becomes our joy. Therefore, we must keep the unity of the church, which is the body of the Lord.
Second, in order for us to keep the unity of the church, which is the body of the Lord, we must have hope through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures.
Look at Romans 15:4 – “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” In order for us to keep the unity of the church, we must please the Lord rather than please ourselves. How can we please the Lord? It is because we obey the will of the Lord that we can please the Lord. Then what is the will of the Lord? If we want to know the will of the Lord, we must see the words of the Scriptures. And as Paul says in verse 4, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us,” and that lesson tells us the will of the Lord in verses 4-5: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus.” It is the endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures. In order for us to keep the unity of the church, we must persevere with faith in the words of the Scriptures. We must endure with faith in the words of the Scriptures against all the works of Satan who oppose the church and try to break the unity of the church. In doing so, we can keep the unity of the church. Also, in order for us to keep the unity of the church, we must comfort each other with the words of the Scriptures. Why? The reason is to have hope in the Lord. In other words, the reason we endure the words of the Scriptures by faith and comfort each other with the words of the Scriptures is to have hope in the Lord.
When I meditated on “hope,” I remembered Romans 5:3-5: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” In order for us to keep the unity of the church, we must have hope. Because the church is persecuted, the reason why we can endure and persevere in tribulation is because we have hope. And because we have hope, we can comfort our brothers and sisters in tribulation. What is our hope? That is “the glory of God” (5:2). What does the “glory of God” that you and I hope for refer to here? The glory of God that we hope for means that on the day of Jesus’ return, we will be suddenly transformed (1 Cor. 15:51), no longer dishonored (v. 43), no longer weak (v. 43), incorruptible and immortal (v. 54), and put on “a body of glory” (Phil. 3:21). Apostle Peter refers to this as “the divine nature” in 2 Peter 1:4. Our very sure and joyful hope is to fully participate in the character of Jesus, who is God. The indwelling God the Holy Spirit is sanctifying us so that we, who are justified, can participate in the character of Jesus. Although we are not perfect now, on the day of Jesus' return, we will fully participate in the character of the Lord. This sure and joyful hope God has given to us who are justified through Jesus Christ. With this hope, we must strive to keep the unity of the church while being patient and comforting each other.
Third and last, in order to keep the unity of the church, which is the body of the Lord, we must give glory to God with one heart and one mouth.
Look at Romans 15:5-6: “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” As Paul wrote a letter to the saints in Rome, he prayed to God that all the saints would be of the same mind with one another by imitating Christ Jesus. In other words, in order for us to keep the unity of the church, which is the body of the Lord, we must pray to God, saying, ‘Please make our will the same.’ In order to offer these prayers, there is an essential condition. That is, we all imitate Jesus. The reason is because if we all fail to imitate Jesus, we cannot have one mind in the Lord. However, if we imitate Jesus, we will lay down our will in front of the cross and pray, 'Do not do my will, but do as the Lord will'. In other words, if we all imitate Jesus, we can all have one will, that is, the will of the Lord. So, Paul prayed to God for the saints of the church in Rome, asking that the God of endurance and comfort grant them to be of the same mind as Christ Jesus did (v. 5). What is its purpose? It is so that the entire church may glorify God with one heart and one mouth. That is our purpose. Our purpose is for the whole church to glorify God with one heart and one mouth. It is the purpose of our church that all of us with one accord (12:16) and with one mouth (10:9) all who confess Jesus as Lord give glory to God the Father. I hope and pray that we will be dedicated to fulfilling this purpose of the church.
A church worthy of God's sight is a church that obeys the will of the Lord who is the head of the church. A beautiful church in the sight of God is a church that keeps the oneness (unity) of the church, which is the will of the Lord. In order for us to keep the unity of the church, we must please our neighbors rather than please ourselves. Especially in the church, those who are strong in faith must please those who are weak in faith. Also, in order for us to keep the unity of the church, we must have hope through the endurance and comfort of the Scriptures. The hope of our church is the Lord. Holding on to the word of the Lord by faith, we must persevere and endure. And we must not only be comforted by the word of God, but also comfort one another with the word of God. In order for us to keep the unity of the church, we must glorify God with one heart and one mouth. When all church members put down their own will and obey the Lord's will because of following Jesus' example, we can glorify God with one heart and one mouth. I hope and pray in the name of Jesus that our church will become a church that gives glory to God.