Romans 15- Receive One Another

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Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Romans 15:7-12

I recently saw a survey that stated, over half of “American Christians” haven’t been to Church in a year. Now I have to wonder what the laundry list of excuses “Christians” make for forsaking the assembly? The Pastor is no good, the songs are not right, the people are not holy enough….Have you ever examined yourself with such precision? To think your going to find the perfect Church is a clear misunderstanding of the human condition. There are no perfect people or perfect Pastors, including yourself! These are not real excuses to forsake the assembly of the Church (Hebrews 10:26)

The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says “receive or accept one another, as Chirst also received us to the glory of God”  Have you received or accepted your brothers and sisters in Christ? The harness of your hearts will say “I’m better than these people”, “these people are not real Christians” You are consumed by the flesh and not the Holy Spirit, this is why you forsake the assembly of the Church. Christ forgave us, so we should forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32) Don’t be like the Pharisees who believe they will sit at the high seat at the Wedding Feast, only to be thrown out! (Matthew 22:1-14)

The body of Christ, The Church is made up of many different people, Jew and Gentile, this is the New Covenant in Christ. I’m sure the Jew will say, they don’t do this right, and I’m sure the Gentile will say, they are legalist, however we are all saved by grace through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9) Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, black and white, male and female, you are only a Child of God through Christ (Galatians 3:26) 

The Apostle Paul quotes several Messianic Prophecies of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ fulfilled them all. As the prophet Isaiah fortold “There shall be a root of Jesse (Christ) and He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles , In Him (Christ) The Gentiles shall hope!” (Isaiah 11:10, Romans 15:12) The New Covenant in Christ was foretold since the beginning of time, has been fulfilled and accomplished by Jesus Christ, we are the Church through Christ, receive one another because Christ has received You! Amen!

Romans 15- Bear Each Others Burdens

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We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:1-6

One of the many purposes of the Church, is to “Bear each others burdens” (Galatians 6:2) The Church is a community of believers, the family of God, that is there to help and support one another during this long road as a Christian. This is why being part of a local Church, is essential to your walk with Christ. Most who forsake the assembly of believers (Hebrews 10:25) typically fall away from the faith. Why? Because you were never meant to go this path alone, this is why Christ built His Church, and the gates of Hell will never prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, not to please ourselves” Now we can look at this a couple different ways, we can look at it spiritually and physically. Those who are weak in the faith, you can be an anchor for them. Maybe someone at Church is going through a personal crisis, help guide them through with the Word of God, the prayers of the Church, and the Holy Spirit. One day we will need emotional support also, this is a function of the Church, to bear each others burdens, to be there for one another. Also the Church should watch out for the physically ill, the shut ins, maybe somebody hasn’t been to Church in awhile, visit them and make sure they are alright. A simple phone call can change someons day. You are brothers and sisters in Christ as the Church, we need to act like it!

“Let us please his neighbors for his good, to his edification, for even Christ pleased not himself” We need to have a servant mentality like our Lord Jesus, who washed the feet of his own disciples.(John 13)We shouldn’t have the attitude, that we are too important or the problem is too little, to help these people. If they are part of your Church, they are your brother and sister in Christ, serve your Church just as Christ served the Church! 

“So that through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” The Word of God is alive and active (Hebrews 4:12) Share the scriptures to comfort your brothers and sisters, and also come to Church to hear the Word of God preached. The Sunday Sermon is manna for your soul, feed your soul with the Word of God, be edified by your brothers and sisters in Christ, pray for one another (James 5:16) Because the Church is the body of Christ, we serve because He served us, we love because He loved us first, we forgive because Christ has forgiven us , Amen!

Romans 14- Edify The Church

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Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Romans 14:19-23

Satan wants to divide and destroy the Church, the Apostle Peter described him as “a roaring lion looking to devour” (1 Peter 5:8) Be careful of divisions started over non-essential issues, don’t allow them to destroy the local Church. With that being said, we must also be careful not to cause divisions ourselves. Satan is looking for any reason to destroy your Church, destroy your family and destroy you! 

The Apostle Paul instructs us here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “let us therefor follow pursue after these things which make for peace, and things which one may edify one another” The Church should be edifying one another, are you edifying to your Church or causing division? The word edification in the Bible, greek word “oikodomes” means to build up one another.  The Apostle Paul said to the Church of Thessalonia “Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

I’m going to give an example again at my local Church, there is a family that chooses not to celebrate Christmas, another family brought it to my attention that we should try to correct them. Based on Romans 14, I told them back then everyone has the freedom in Christ whether to celebrate Christmas or not. If they don’t want to celebrate Christmas that’s OK, and if they do want to celebrate Christmas, that’s OK also, everyone will be lead by their own conscience. When I said this, the other family was like, yeah that makes sense. And so we moved on without making an issue or division about it. We could have easily blown this up into a bigger issue, and probably caused division within the Church, however its not necessary. Let us edify one another as the body of Christ and not try to destroy one another

The root of the problem, Paul addresses with a question “Do you have faith?” (v22) Is your salvation so weak that eating pork or celebrating Christmas will send you to Hell? Or is our salvation in the works of Christ on the cross? When Jesus said “It Is Finished” (John 19:30) Do you not believe him? Many of these issues are due to weakness in faith, we must truly put our salvation in Christ alone and nothing else!

As the Apostle Paul ends with a strong rebuke, “for whatever is not from faith is a sin” If we are not living by faith in Christ, then we are trying to live by works, which will not save us! Edify your brothers and sisters in The Lord because Christ Is Risen! The debt has been paid, repent and become Born Again by faith in Christ, Amen!