Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / We Are One . . . or Are We │ Msg 3744

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We Are One . . . or Are We │ Msg 3744 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: The 15th chapter of the letter to the Romans holds
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Speaker 1: the text for this morning's message. Let me read for
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Speaker 1: you the first seven verses and then end with verse 13.
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Speaker 1: Romans 15, beginning at verse 1, down through verse 7
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Speaker 1: and then verse 13. May we stand together as we
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Speaker 1: hear the reading of the word of God. Now we
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Speaker 1: who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those
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Speaker 1: without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us
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Speaker 1: is to please his neighbor for his good to his edification.
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Speaker 1: For even Christ did not please himself. But as it
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Speaker 1: is written, the reproaches of those who reproach you fell
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Speaker 1: on me. For whatever was written in earlier times was
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Speaker 1: written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the
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Speaker 1: encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now may
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Speaker 1: the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to
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Speaker 1: be of the same mind with one another according to
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus so that with one accord, you may with
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Speaker 1: one voice Glorify the God and Father of our Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also
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Speaker 1: accepted us to the glory of God. Verse 13. Now
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Speaker 1: may the God of hope fill you with all joy
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Speaker 1: and peace in believing, so that you will abound in
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Speaker 1: hope by the power of of the Holy Spirit. May
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Speaker 1: our God bless the reading of his word and most
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Speaker 1: importantly now the living out of it is our prayer.
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Speaker 1: You may be seated. An outline for today's message is
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Speaker 1: found in your folder and this may be a good
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Speaker 1: time to place it here in the section that was
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Speaker 1: just read to us. There is a book I would
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Speaker 1: highly recommend your reading. If you can find one still
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Speaker 1: in print, that would be good. It's entitled Through Gates
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Speaker 1: of Splendor. Elizabeth Elliot wrote the book following the loss
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Speaker 1: of her husband. She, with four other colleagues, ladies who
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Speaker 1: are wives of men who were committed to the mission
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Speaker 1: of reaching the Alka Indians and leading them ultimately to
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Speaker 1: a knowledge of Christ. All five ladies became widows in
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Speaker 1: that mission as their husbands were killed by the Indians,
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Speaker 1: as the natives misunderstood their purpose and misjudged their plan.
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Speaker 1: The story was a tragedy in the mid-50s, and Betty
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Speaker 1: lived on beyond it, In the book is a magnificent
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Speaker 1: photograph of the five widows as they're sitting in a
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Speaker 1: room with their mouths open. The photographer snaps the shot
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Speaker 1: as those who had been on the site had found
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Speaker 1: each of their husbands, some of them floating in the
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Speaker 1: Cureri River in Ecuador, one with a spear still in
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Speaker 1: his hip and side. Heartbreaking. What the general public doesn't
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Speaker 1: know is just before the five men left their wives
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Speaker 1: to go on this mission, they together sang what our
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Speaker 1: choir sang earlier. Listen to the words that commonly are
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Speaker 1: known to us as Finlandia and imagine their lives singing
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Speaker 1: these words later reflecting on what they had sung. Be still,
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Speaker 1: my soul, the Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently
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Speaker 1: the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God
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Speaker 1: to order and provide. In every change, he faithful will remain.
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Speaker 1: Be still, my soul. Thy best, thy heavenly friend, through
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Speaker 1: thorny ways, leads to a joyful end. The five ladies
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Speaker 1: went on to marry other godly men and their lives,
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Speaker 1: serving Christ in different capacities. But that blow struck a
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Speaker 1: major blow to the hearts of so many of us.
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Speaker 1: That book transformed my life. God used it to turn
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Speaker 1: my attention and get me engaged in ministry. And I
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Speaker 1: have my brother to thank for introducing the book to me,
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Speaker 1: Through Gates of Splendor. You do not know what the
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Speaker 1: year will hold. Hopefully, you ladies who are married will
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Speaker 1: not be widows by the end of this year, though
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Speaker 1: you may be. Hopefully, you will not know the loss
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Speaker 1: of a child if you are a couple with children. Hopefully,
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Speaker 1: you will have good health, but that may occur. You
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Speaker 1: may this year face the largest test of your life.
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Speaker 1: Times like this are good moments to be still and
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Speaker 1: to steel ourselves for whatever may be before us. May
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Speaker 1: we pray. Enable us, our Father, in the quietness of
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Speaker 1: these next few moments, not only to release to you
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Speaker 1: our gifts, which we give with grateful hearts, But release
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Speaker 1: to you the control of our lives. We do not
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Speaker 1: know what a day will bring forth. And so we
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Speaker 1: rest in you. Our shield. And our defender. Our trust
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Speaker 1: is in the living Christ. Who will one day be
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Speaker 1: crowned with many crowns. As the lamb upon the throne.
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Speaker 1: Still our souls. Our father. As we worship him together.
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Speaker 1: In his magnificent name we pray. Everyone said. The absence
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Speaker 1: of unity in local churches around the country is table talk,
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Speaker 1: even in the homes of those who don't attend those churches.
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Speaker 1: Isn't it amazing when there are church squabbles and church splits,
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Speaker 1: it makes the community rounds. In fact, it sometimes finds
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Speaker 1: its way into the local newspapers. Always amazing to me
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Speaker 1: that church difficulties are not a secret to people who
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Speaker 1: don't even go to those churches. A motorist asked a
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Speaker 1: boy on his bike where the Reformed Church was located.
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Speaker 1: The boy said, well, you go one block further on,
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Speaker 1: and on the left, on the corner, you'll see the
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Speaker 1: United Church. Go one more block, and you'll come to
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Speaker 1: a church on the corner on the right-hand side. That
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Speaker 1: one's not United. That's it. A group of theologians were
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Speaker 1: discussing predestination as opposed to free will. And the argument
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Speaker 1: became heated and the dissidents split into two groups. One
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Speaker 1: younger man who didn't know which group he ought to
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Speaker 1: go to sort of drifted into the predestination crowd. Someone said,
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Speaker 1: why are you here? He said, I came of my
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Speaker 1: own free will. Free will? You can't join us. You
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Speaker 1: belong in that group. So he wanders over to the
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Speaker 1: other group and they ask, why are you here? He said,
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Speaker 1: I'm here because I was sent. Sent? You can't come
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Speaker 1: unless you come of your own free will. Guy wound
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Speaker 1: up joining Stonebriar Community Church, as I recall. One wag
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Speaker 1: tells the story of three churches located on the same intersection.
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Speaker 1: They were all singing at the same time. One church
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Speaker 1: was singing, will there be any stars in my crown?
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Speaker 1: Across the street, the other church, not knowing what they
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Speaker 1: were singing, were singing, no, not one. The third church
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Speaker 1: was singing, oh, that will be glory for me. And
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Speaker 1: on and on the stories go. Admittedly, one church cannot
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Speaker 1: contain all of the people in the body of Christ,
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Speaker 1: nor should we ever think we would or should. There
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Speaker 1: will always be disagreements. There will always be those who
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Speaker 1: hold to differing opinions. It has nothing to do with
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Speaker 1: our love for one another, or at least it should not.
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Speaker 1: The Lord did not pray that we would be uniformed,
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Speaker 1: but unified. There's a difference. Uniformity means we all look alike,
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Speaker 1: think alike, even dress alike. We all agree on everything,
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Speaker 1: and if everybody agrees on everything, many people aren't thinking.
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Speaker 1: So obviously there will always be differing opinions and different
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Speaker 1: beliefs regarding various doctrines, but that should have nothing to
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Speaker 1: do with our love for one another. Paul and Barnabas
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Speaker 1: worked together in the first missionary journey in the first century,
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Speaker 1: and they made great headway for the cause of Christ.
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Speaker 1: They took with them John Mark, who didn't stay with them.
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Speaker 1: When he got to the rigors of the coastline of Pamphylia,
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Speaker 1: he turned tail and went home. One writer says he
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Speaker 1: wanted to go home to Mama. We don't know why
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Speaker 1: he went home. The point was it was too rugged
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Speaker 1: for him, or maybe he fell ill. But whatever, he left.
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Speaker 1: When Paul and Barnabas made plans to do the second
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Speaker 1: missionary journey, Barnabas said to Paul, let's bring John Mark
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Speaker 1: with us. And Paul said to Barnabas, there's no way.
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Speaker 1: He defected at one time. He could very likely defect again.
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Speaker 1: Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is
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Speaker 1: like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint.
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Speaker 1: Paul could have quoted to Barnabas that proverb. Barnabas says, look,
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Speaker 1: I'm the one who helped introduce you to the disciples
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Speaker 1: and No one believed in you at the time. And
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Speaker 1: thanks to me, you're among us and let's have a hard,
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Speaker 1: let's let John Mark. And you know what? They had
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Speaker 1: such a disagreement between them. The Greek word is paroxysm.
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Speaker 1: They had such a paroxysm between them that they turned
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Speaker 1: Barnabas left with John Mark and set sail for Cyprus or,
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Speaker 1: or Crete where he was, uh, uh, Cyprus. It was
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Speaker 1: for the island and, and, and Paul and, uh, And
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Speaker 1: Silas took the inland route, went north and then west
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Speaker 1: across Turkey, across the northern part of the Aegean and
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Speaker 1: into Europe for a very successful missionary journey. But they
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Speaker 1: worked separate from one another. I don't believe they stopped
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Speaker 1: loving each other. They just couldn't work together. Luther and
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Speaker 1: Erasmus in the 16th century had their arguments with each other.
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Speaker 1: In fact, their arguments turned into public debates. both of
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Speaker 1: them very learned men, both of them very interested in
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Speaker 1: the things of God, but they could not agree. Evangelist
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Speaker 1: George Whitefield, evangelist John Wesley, had great disagreements and their
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Speaker 1: theology could never work together. But there was a love
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Speaker 1: and respect for one another that was, well, even notorious
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Speaker 1: for those days. In the 20th century, when you got
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Speaker 1: to the fall of 1929, the longstanding Princeton Theological Seminary
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Speaker 1: had split. Conservative faculty led by J. Gratia Machen went
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Speaker 1: to Philadelphia and they set up a new school that
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Speaker 1: they named Westminster Theological Seminary. Princeton Seminary remained on and
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Speaker 1: to this day continues, as does Westminster. There would never
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Speaker 1: have been a Westminster had there not been a split.
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Speaker 1: in the school at Princeton. Back in the first century,
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Speaker 1: they argued over the issue of meat offered to idols
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Speaker 1: and days in the week. Some believed that certain days
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Speaker 1: were more significant than other days. Many in the church
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Speaker 1: at Rome believed all days were the same. Some in
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Speaker 1: the church believed that if meat had once been on
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Speaker 1: an idol's altar, you had no business eating that meat.
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Speaker 1: Others believe there's nothing wrong with the meat because there's
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Speaker 1: nothing to an idol. It's just a carved piece of
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Speaker 1: wood or stone or whatever may be the element. It's
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Speaker 1: just an idol. The meat's good. The church at Rome
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Speaker 1: was at odds with each other because of disagreement over
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Speaker 1: that particular issue. Now, I've said before, and I'll say
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Speaker 1: again today, that's not our battle today. As far as
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Speaker 1: I know, nobody in our church argues over whether you
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Speaker 1: can eat meat or not eat meat, unless you're one
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Speaker 1: of the vegetarians in our midst. My answer to you
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Speaker 1: is you don't know what you're missing. But that's another subject,
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Speaker 1: and I don't want to go there. You can see
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Speaker 1: what camp I'm in. Interesting, Paul states that the strong
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Speaker 1: are to have a heart when they are with the weak.
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Speaker 1: In other words, if you see no problem eating meat
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Speaker 1: at any time, you're to realize there are those around
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Speaker 1: you who do see a problem with it. So when
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Speaker 1: you find yourself in a public gathering, when you're in
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Speaker 1: a place where that kind of thing can become an issue,
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Speaker 1: have a heart. Don't ignore. Don't flaunt your liberty. Back away.
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Speaker 1: Get a to-go box. And take it home and enjoy
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Speaker 1: it there. But before we get into that issue, I
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Speaker 1: want you to go back up into the last three
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Speaker 1: verses of chapter 14. This is one of those passages
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Speaker 1: that where I regret that there's a chapter break. Now,
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Speaker 1: when I say that, some folks look at me like, Chuck,
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Speaker 1: you can't change the Bible. You get hit with lightning. Well, actually,
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Speaker 1: when you change the verses and the chapter breaks, you're
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Speaker 1: not changing the Bible. Because the numbers in our Bibles
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Speaker 1: are not inspired. For years, people read the Bible with
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Speaker 1: no break in chapters or verses. And can you imagine
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Speaker 1: how difficult it was to locate verses before that practical
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Speaker 1: change answer came in giving chapters numbers and giving verses numbers.
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Speaker 1: But here's a case where I wish there were verse
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Speaker 1: 24 and verse 25 and on down through verse 13
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Speaker 1: of chapter 15, all part of chapter 14 because he's
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Speaker 1: still in the same subject. But there is a chapter
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Speaker 1: break and we'll get into chapter 15 in a moment.
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Speaker 1: Let me go back to verses 21, 22, and 23.
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Speaker 1: See those verses at the end of chapter 14? For
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Speaker 1: the sake of God's work, Paul writes to the people
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Speaker 1: of Rome words of unity, encouraging love for one another.
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Speaker 1: And he leaves them with three very simple guidelines. And
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Speaker 1: I've left room on your outline for you to place
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Speaker 1: them right here with your own hand. Verse 21, he's saying,
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Speaker 1: be considerate. Just be considerate of one another. It's good
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Speaker 1: not to eat meat or to drink wine or do
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Speaker 1: anything by which your brother stumbles. So have a heart.
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Speaker 1: If you're going to serve a couple that you love
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Speaker 1: in your home and you're going to provide a meal
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Speaker 1: for them, and let's say the husband in the family
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Speaker 1: is allergic to certain foods, your friends will probably tell you,
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Speaker 1: you know, if we're going to come over, we'd love
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Speaker 1: to be with you, but he's allergic to melons and
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Speaker 1: he's also allergic to onions. So you don't say when
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Speaker 1: you hear that, I don't care what he's allergic to.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to put melons in the salad. I'm going
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Speaker 1: to put onions in. No, you right away say, no problem.
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Speaker 1: What are you doing? You're being considerate. You're saying, I'll adjust.
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Speaker 1: I'll make allowance for the fact so that it doesn't
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Speaker 1: create an allergic reaction. Paul is saying that here in
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Speaker 1: the spiritual realm, be considerate. Now, verse 22 is saying,
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Speaker 1: be convinced. The faith which you have, have as your
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Speaker 1: own conviction before the Lord. I'm looking into the faces
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Speaker 1: of some folks who aren't yet convinced as to where
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Speaker 1: you stand on some things. Maybe many things. You may
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Speaker 1: be brand new to the family of God. You're still
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Speaker 1: sort of learning what it's all about. And you come
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Speaker 1: into situations and you don't know where you stand. So
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Speaker 1: you feel insecure and uneasy. As time passes, you will
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Speaker 1: grow and you will learn where you are on these issues,
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Speaker 1: whatever may be the issues in question. But you must
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Speaker 1: come to terms with where you stand and you're convinced
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Speaker 1: of that. And thirdly is the word consistent. Be consistent.
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Speaker 1: He who doubts is condemned if he eats because whatever
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Speaker 1: he's not eating of faith is sin. So you live
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Speaker 1: with guilt and and an uneasiness because you're not sure
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Speaker 1: and so you're inconsistent. Let me say to all parents
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Speaker 1: listening to me right now, if there's one thing your
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Speaker 1: teenager wants from you, it's consistency. You know that. It's
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Speaker 1: one of the hardest things to live out. Teenagers are
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Speaker 1: the first people on the planet to call us hypocrites.
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Speaker 1: Most adults will not look over at us and say,
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Speaker 1: you know, you're a hypocrite. I can't remember the last
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Speaker 1: time I've said that to somebody. Maybe never. But when
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Speaker 1: you've got young people in your home, they're looking for
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Speaker 1: you to be the same. And let me say to you,
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Speaker 1: the weak are looking to the strong to be the same.
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Speaker 1: Be consistent. Be consistent. Consistently considerate. Consistently convinced of where
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Speaker 1: you stand. No extra charge for this warning label on
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Speaker 1: the can, if I may. Our adversary, the devil, would
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Speaker 1: like nothing more than to split this church and any
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Speaker 1: church apart based on whatever may be the issue, because
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Speaker 1: a broken church is a weakened church. Weakened church. If
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Speaker 1: you've ever fought in the military, you know that when
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Speaker 1: morale goes down and the soldiers begin to have different
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Speaker 1: feelings about the words of the commander or the plan
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Speaker 1: of attack, you know that you're on your way to defeat.
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Speaker 1: A unified squad wins a battle. A unified team is
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Speaker 1: more likely to win a game than a team that's disunified.
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Speaker 1: That's true of whether the church is new or old,
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Speaker 1: whether it's large or small, whether it's rural or urban.
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Speaker 1: Mainly the enemy works to bring disunity to If you
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Speaker 1: see people and hear people sowing discord among the church,
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Speaker 1: you know they are breaking down the unity in the church.
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Speaker 1: There are ways to deal with things that you don't
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Speaker 1: agree with. Spreading discord is not one of them. It's
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Speaker 1: the goal of every pastor worth his salt to help
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Speaker 1: keep the unity of the congregation. And it's the same
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Speaker 1: for all who are members of that church. Speaking of that,
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Speaker 1: and I turn now to God's people, verse 1, we
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Speaker 1: who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those
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Speaker 1: who are weak, the weaknesses of those without strength, and
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Speaker 1: not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please
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Speaker 1: his neighbor for his good. This is a strong, strong exhortation,
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Speaker 1: and there's both positive and negative. It's addressed to people
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Speaker 1: in the Roman church. First, we are to bear with them.
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Speaker 1: See the word bear with them. Bastazo is the Greek word.
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Speaker 1: And bastazo does not mean just tolerate or put up with.
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Speaker 1: It means to hear, it means to carry, to support,
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Speaker 1: to be of support to them. It's a little tender illustration,
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Speaker 1: but let me say to you who are adults, we
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Speaker 1: all have friends who have children that perhaps live with
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Speaker 1: congenital problems. Maybe there are neurological difficulties. They may be autistic,
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Speaker 1: or there may be other characteristics of a disability of
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Speaker 1: some kind. You're very careful with them. Parents are very,
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Speaker 1: they treat them with special care, and we should. We should.
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Speaker 1: We are, it's called having a heart. We feel for them.
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Speaker 1: Our hearts go out to them. And in that sense,
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Speaker 1: we support them. We help carry them, if you will.
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Speaker 1: So you see, one person's strength is to compensate for
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Speaker 1: the other's weaknesses. Now, you know what that takes, don't you?
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Speaker 1: It takes unselfishness. And that works against our nature. Everything
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Speaker 1: within us wants our own way. But he says, verse 2,
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Speaker 1: each of us is to please the other person for
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Speaker 1: his good and for his edification. Now, this needs a disclaimer.
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Speaker 1: Because if you take just verse 2, you'll spend your
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Speaker 1: entire life pleasing people. And you and I know that
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Speaker 1: there's more to the Christian life than that. Because there
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Speaker 1: are some people who have no business being pleased. There
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Speaker 1: are some people who are doing wrong. and they want
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Speaker 1: your approval. Or, to make matters more complicated, they want
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Speaker 1: to control you. And by dominating you to move into
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Speaker 1: their sphere or their realm in agreement is to compromise
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Speaker 1: your principles. Remember, Whitefield couldn't move there for Wesley. Luther
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Speaker 1: wouldn't go there for Erasmus. Paul wouldn't do that for Barnabas.
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Speaker 1: And you will find, as a person that learns to
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Speaker 1: stand on his own two feet, there will be people
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Speaker 1: you will have to say no to. And you won't
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Speaker 1: be popular, not only with them, but with their friends
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Speaker 1: and their spouse and others. But nevertheless, you must answer
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Speaker 1: to Christ, not them. And you understand why I'm clarifying
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Speaker 1: this with a disclaimer. And let me show you a
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Speaker 1: verse that's helped me. Hold your place and just a
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Speaker 1: quick glance. Galatians 1. verse 10. Galatians 1.10. Let me
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Speaker 1: tell you the dilemma I was in at another church
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Speaker 1: at another time, and it's been decades ago, so don't
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Speaker 1: try to figure out where it was, okay? I was
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Speaker 1: serving on a board, and half the board was persuaded
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Speaker 1: of one thing, and the other half was persuaded of
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Speaker 1: something else, and my vote was the swing vote. Now,
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Speaker 1: isn't that fun? So whichever way I voted, I've got
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Speaker 1: the other ones against me, and I've got some of
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Speaker 1: them for me. And it was driving me crazy. I
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Speaker 1: was young. I was too much of a man-pleaser back then.
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Speaker 1: I wanted to make them all happy, which is impossible.
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Speaker 1: I decided I need some time alone and I decided
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Speaker 1: I would go into Galatians and I didn't even get
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Speaker 1: past verse 10 and I had my answer. Look at
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Speaker 1: verse 10 of chapter 1. Am I now seeking the
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Speaker 1: favor of men or of God? Great question. Or am
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Speaker 1: I striving to please others, men or women? Am I
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Speaker 1: striving to please men? He adds, if I were still
25:17
Speaker 1: striving or trying to please men, I would not be
25:21
Speaker 1: a bondservant of Christ. That tells me two things. One,
25:25
Speaker 1: Paul was once a man pleaser. The word still tells
25:29
Speaker 1: us that. If I were still engaged in pleasing people,
25:35
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be a servant of Christ. Which says there
25:39
Speaker 1: are times that you must simply please. Stand against those
25:42
Speaker 1: who want you to stand with them. Now, if you
25:46
Speaker 1: have to be accepted and if you have to be
25:49
Speaker 1: popular more than you must be right, then you'll live
25:53
Speaker 1: in a dilemma. But I can tell you, when I
25:57
Speaker 1: went back and cast my vote, my face was on
26:02
Speaker 1: the dartboard of the other guys that didn't agree with
26:05
Speaker 1: my decisions. And I learned then, you know, three great
26:10
Speaker 1: words for every pastor to memorize. You can't win. Very helpful.
26:15
Speaker 1: Very helpful. And when you live with that, you live
26:18
Speaker 1: a lot more easily. You sleep a lot better. So
26:21
Speaker 1: I'm responsible to stand behind my convictions and let the
26:26
Speaker 1: chips fall where they may. Doesn't mean I run roughshod over.
26:30
Speaker 1: It means I make my position clear and I stand there.
26:34
Speaker 1: And I take whatever comes as a result. This isn't
26:39
Speaker 1: about me. This is about us as a family. I'm
26:41
Speaker 1: using myself as an illustration because I don't know a
26:44
Speaker 1: story about you. Or I could be using one of
26:46
Speaker 1: your stories instead of my own. So understand back to
26:49
Speaker 1: Romans chapter 15. The best illustration is not me or you.
26:54
Speaker 1: Verse 3 is the perfect illustration. And that's Christ himself.
26:59
Speaker 1: I love it. Even Christ himself. did not please himself.
27:04
Speaker 1: Now I've got to ask you, well, if there's ever
27:06
Speaker 1: lived a person that had the right to please himself,
27:09
Speaker 1: who do you think it might've been? Why, you know,
27:12
Speaker 1: it's Christ. He was perfect. Perfect. Never. Well, he knew
27:17
Speaker 1: no sin. He did no sin. He had no sin.
27:19
Speaker 1: He came from a sinless past and he stepped into
27:22
Speaker 1: the father's presence at the Ascension sinless. Still He was
27:27
Speaker 1: in the resplendent glory of the Godhead before there ever
27:31
Speaker 1: was matter or world or time or humanity or anything
27:36
Speaker 1: living on this earth or in any of the planets.
27:40
Speaker 1: He was there with the father and there came the
27:42
Speaker 1: time in the passing of the eras when it was
27:46
Speaker 1: his occasion to come to this earth and to become
27:49
Speaker 1: a man and to die for the sins of the world.
27:52
Speaker 1: He didn't please himself. Had he pleased himself, he would
27:55
Speaker 1: have never left heaven. which is the whole point of
27:58
Speaker 1: Philippians 2, 5 through 8. Have this mind be in you,
28:02
Speaker 1: which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he existed
28:05
Speaker 1: in the form of God, did not consider equality with
28:10
Speaker 1: God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself,
28:13
Speaker 1: became a servant, took upon himself the form of a bondservant,
28:17
Speaker 1: and was made in the likeness of men. And being
28:19
Speaker 1: found in fashion as a man, he became obedient unto death,
28:22
Speaker 1: even a cross death. You realize what a condescending passage
28:29
Speaker 1: of scripture that is from the glories of heaven to
28:34
Speaker 1: a bloody cross from the glory and worship and honor
28:39
Speaker 1: of the angels to the insults and mistreatment and torture
28:44
Speaker 1: and saliva of men who crucified him he didn't please
28:53
Speaker 1: himself Paul quotes from Psalm 69, the reproaches of those
29:00
Speaker 1: who reproached you fell on me. And he puts that
29:05
Speaker 1: Psalm in the lips of Jesus. In doing what the
29:09
Speaker 1: Father pleased, he bore the reproaches of humanity. With that,
29:17
Speaker 1: he suddenly has a sidebar of insight regarding the scriptures.
29:26
Speaker 1: I love this about Paul. You'll be reading along and
29:30
Speaker 1: you're following the thought and one weaves into the other
29:32
Speaker 1: like teeth in gears. And suddenly you come to an
29:37
Speaker 1: independent statement that stands out. Here is one. of them.
29:41
Speaker 1: Look at this. Having quoted Psalm 69, he realizes the
29:46
Speaker 1: value of Scripture. And so he adds, Whatever was written
29:49
Speaker 1: in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that
29:53
Speaker 1: through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might
29:56
Speaker 1: have hope. Wonderful verse. I want you to look at it.
30:01
Speaker 1: Look closer. First of all, there's an inclusive value in
30:04
Speaker 1: the scriptures. Whatever, whatever was written, Genesis, the Psalms, one
30:11
Speaker 1: of the prophets, a statement out of first or second Samuel,
30:17
Speaker 1: all the way to Malachi, whatever was written in earlier times.
30:21
Speaker 1: And in those days, they only had the Old Testament.
30:25
Speaker 1: Today it would apply to all the Bible, but back
30:27
Speaker 1: then it would be the Old Testament. Notice not only
30:30
Speaker 1: inclusive value, but the contemporary relevance. It was written for
30:35
Speaker 1: our instruction. Look at it like this. See this sheet
30:39
Speaker 1: of paper? That represents what was written in earlier times.
30:43
Speaker 1: Over a period of about 1,500, 1,600 years, the scriptures
30:46
Speaker 1: were completed and compiled. All of those scriptures are relevant
30:52
Speaker 1: to our 21st century. They are written for our instruction.
30:59
Speaker 1: What verses appear then apply now. What promises have been
31:05
Speaker 1: preserved then can be claimed now. Finally, notice the practical purpose.
31:13
Speaker 1: Look at this. Through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures,
31:18
Speaker 1: we gain hope. Don't you love it? Look at the
31:21
Speaker 1: practical value of that. Ultimately, The scriptures give you hope.
31:26
Speaker 1: We live in a day where people have lost hope.
31:29
Speaker 1: Depression is all around us. There is despair of life.
31:34
Speaker 1: There are all kinds of naysayers and doomsday people running
31:39
Speaker 1: around making predictions and warning us. And perhaps some of
31:43
Speaker 1: it is worth a casual thought. But if you want
31:46
Speaker 1: to be encouraged, you don't read the morning newspaper. You
31:51
Speaker 1: read the Bible. You hear it. You read it. You
31:55
Speaker 1: study it. You memorize it. You meditate on it. You
31:58
Speaker 1: apply it. You respect it. You draw strength from it.
32:02
Speaker 1: If the Bible says it, it's going to help you.
32:06
Speaker 1: It's going to give you endurance and it's going to
32:09
Speaker 1: give you encouragement. So read its verses and remember its
32:15
Speaker 1: stories and call to mind and study its characters and
32:21
Speaker 1: Reconnect with its events and use its prayers and claim
32:25
Speaker 1: its promises and heed its warnings and obey its commands.
32:30
Speaker 1: The scriptures will keep giving you hope. Believe me, you're
32:36
Speaker 1: not going to get it from the Dallas Morning News.
32:39
Speaker 1: And if you decide the problem is the Dallas Morning News,
32:42
Speaker 1: shifting to the Fort Worth Telegram won't help you. And
32:46
Speaker 1: if you give up both and go to the Wall
32:48
Speaker 1: Street Journal, it won't help you. What you're going to
32:53
Speaker 1: get is man's opinion, man's direction, people's predictions. But if
33:01
Speaker 1: you want hope, you're going to have to link it
33:03
Speaker 1: with the scriptures. So make it a point. Make it
33:08
Speaker 1: a point to be a woman or man of the scriptures.
33:12
Speaker 1: If it means personal study in a particular small group,
33:16
Speaker 1: get engaged in it. If it means joining Bible study fellowship,
33:20
Speaker 1: get into Bible study fellowship. If it's the men's gathering
33:24
Speaker 1: or the women's gathering, wherever the scriptures are taught, you
33:28
Speaker 1: need that to keep up your hope. I think I
33:32
Speaker 1: have made my point. Now, verse 5. Verse 5 is
33:37
Speaker 1: what I call a preacher's benediction. By that I mean,
33:42
Speaker 1: it sounds like the end of the message, but don't
33:45
Speaker 1: let that fool you. It is a moment of praise,
33:48
Speaker 1: but there's going to be more that follows. Listen to
33:50
Speaker 1: the way it reads. Now may the God of peace
33:52
Speaker 1: who gives perseverance and encourage. Sounds like a benediction, doesn't it?
33:56
Speaker 1: Now may the God of peace who gives perseverance and encourage.
33:59
Speaker 1: But don't be fooled. There's a whole chapter yet to
34:02
Speaker 1: be delivered here. But I love it that he ties
34:05
Speaker 1: in with two words out of verse four. So like Paul.
34:08
Speaker 1: Through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures give you hope.
34:12
Speaker 1: Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement give
34:18
Speaker 1: grant you to be of the same mind with one another,
34:23
Speaker 1: according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord, you,
34:27
Speaker 1: with one voice, glorify the God and Father of our
34:32
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my friends, accept one another. Accept
34:42
Speaker 1: one another. Just as Christ also accepted us to the
34:50
Speaker 1: glory of God. I think I've studied this enough to
34:54
Speaker 1: know why we don't accept each other easily. It's because
35:00
Speaker 1: we are so different. Duh. We are all so different.
35:09
Speaker 1: You've heard me say it before. We're reared differently. We
35:13
Speaker 1: have different tastes. We like different colors, different foods. We
35:17
Speaker 1: like different music. We are all so different. We're at
35:21
Speaker 1: different levels of maturity. And here we are, assembled here
35:28
Speaker 1: in one place and under one roof, and we're all different.
35:34
Speaker 1: And he says, be of the same mind. Now, can
35:38
Speaker 1: I be if that person next to me is so different? Well,
35:44
Speaker 1: the secret, of course, is that we claim the same
35:48
Speaker 1: one in common. Christ. I've never known Christ to bring
35:55
Speaker 1: disunity in a body of Christ, in the local body. Now,
36:00
Speaker 1: those that don't want to follow him, of course there
36:02
Speaker 1: will be disunity. But I mean, if Christ is the
36:05
Speaker 1: center and Christ is being glorified and Christ is the
36:08
Speaker 1: head and Christ is the model, there is unity. One
36:13
Speaker 1: doesn't come out predominant over the other. Last Christmas, my
36:19
Speaker 1: family and I went down to hear the Dallas Symphony
36:22
Speaker 1: Orchestra and the Christmas musical that they did. It was
36:26
Speaker 1: just magnificent. And the chorale sang, and it was colorful.
36:31
Speaker 1: There were children, and there were people dressed like the
36:34
Speaker 1: old English group that would go to street corners and sing.
36:39
Speaker 1: It was just really a great evening, and the music
36:42
Speaker 1: was marvelous. We listened to this symphony. We listened to
36:46
Speaker 1: the chorale. And nobody in our family left saying, boy,
36:51
Speaker 1: that cellist was magnificent. We didn't go to hear the cellist.
36:57
Speaker 1: There were several cellos, and they were all doing a
36:59
Speaker 1: great job, but it was like one great orchestra. That's
37:01
Speaker 1: what we heard. Or in the chorale, did you hear
37:06
Speaker 1: that soprano? Boy, she belts it out. No, I heard
37:10
Speaker 1: the chorale. It was like one voice. In fact, they
37:13
Speaker 1: almost sang in antiphonal voice across from one another. It
37:16
Speaker 1: was wonderful. Now, let me give you a tip, having
37:20
Speaker 1: played in orchestras before. And I played the reed instruments,
37:23
Speaker 1: and so I was always thinking if I played trumpet,
37:27
Speaker 1: I could be louder than everybody else. But I played clarinet.
37:32
Speaker 1: And you put ten trumpets up against ten clarinets, and
37:36
Speaker 1: you let them really blow, you'll never hear the clarinets
37:39
Speaker 1: because the brass has the ability to take control. Or
37:45
Speaker 1: the percussion instruments. I mean, that could just be the
37:50
Speaker 1: whole thing, and you don't hear an orchestra. You hear
37:54
Speaker 1: a guy beating on a timpani or banging on the drums.
37:58
Speaker 1: So what do you have to do? You have to
38:00
Speaker 1: hold back. Okay. Conductor says, you guys, you people in
38:04
Speaker 1: the trumpet section, hold back. So he starts, he says, nope,
38:08
Speaker 1: hold back. Hold back more.
38:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.
38:11
Speaker 1: So the trombones are blasting. Trombones, hold back. We've got
38:14
Speaker 1: to be able to hear the violins. We've got to
38:15
Speaker 1: be able to hear the oboe. We need to hear
38:17
Speaker 1: the violas. It's all an orchestra. Friends, this is the church.
38:24
Speaker 1: This is the church. It doesn't get better than this.
38:28
Speaker 1: It doesn't get worse than this. This is the church.
38:34
Speaker 1: People of all ages, from all backgrounds. Some of you
38:38
Speaker 1: play trumpet. Some of us play clarinet. Some of you
38:43
Speaker 1: play piccolo. Some of you beat the drums. But we're
38:49
Speaker 1: an orchestra. Our conductor is Christ. And so as he
38:54
Speaker 1: blends us into one voice, he said, be sure you're
38:59
Speaker 1: listening to the others. And you're not overshadowing or underplaying.
39:05
Speaker 1: That's what he means by accepting Christ. one another to
39:11
Speaker 1: the glory of God. And then he turns again to
39:14
Speaker 1: Christ and gives the classic example, Jesus Christ. What did
39:20
Speaker 1: he become? Because this is what it requires. Verse 8,
39:23
Speaker 1: he became a servant. You've got to have a servant's
39:27
Speaker 1: mentality to hold back. your instrument, if you will. You
39:32
Speaker 1: have to have a servant's heart not to push for
39:35
Speaker 1: your way. When you're under the control of the Holy Spirit,
39:40
Speaker 1: you listen. You work with. You give. You take. You blend.
39:47
Speaker 1: You harmonize. Christ came as a servant, and who were
39:52
Speaker 1: those people for whom he came? Well, first there was
39:55
Speaker 1: a circumcision, a reference to the Jews, verse 8. And
39:59
Speaker 1: then he also came for the Gentiles, verses 9 through 12.
40:05
Speaker 1: And there are even five verses where Gentiles are mentioned
40:07
Speaker 1: in each one. Think of the difference. Jews with all
40:11
Speaker 1: their traditional roots, Gentiles, zero tradition, no spiritual roots. Jews
40:16
Speaker 1: with the law and all the requirements, Gentiles, pagan background, mythology,
40:22
Speaker 1: no law. Jews with tightly held views toward a monotheistic
40:26
Speaker 1: concept of God, Gentiles with polytheism and many of them
40:31
Speaker 1: with no God whatsoever. Jews with their rituals and liturgy
40:36
Speaker 1: and diet, Gentiles with none of the above. And he
40:40
Speaker 1: called us all into one body called the church. All
40:45
Speaker 1: of us together in one church. Which leads him to
40:49
Speaker 1: a benediction. Now he says. Verse 13. May the God
40:53
Speaker 1: of hope. There he is again with our word. Fill
40:56
Speaker 1: you with all joy and peace. So that you will
41:01
Speaker 1: abound in hope. By the power. Of the Holy Spirit.
41:05
Speaker 1: We are filled with joy and peace. And we abound
41:08
Speaker 1: in triumphant. Hope. Let me tell you what happens. When
41:14
Speaker 1: that kind of. Endurance, when that kind of peace, when
41:19
Speaker 1: that kind of hope works its way out of our
41:22
Speaker 1: love for one another, the neighbors notice. The greatest tool
41:32
Speaker 1: of evangelism is the love of believers for one another.
41:39
Speaker 1: You know that? In closing, I mean that. John chapter 13.
41:46
Speaker 1: I didn't want you to think I was doing a
41:48
Speaker 1: Pauline benediction there. John 13. Jesus is alone with his disciples.
41:54
Speaker 1: I do not hear any pages turning. Some of you
41:56
Speaker 1: are already checking into the ballgame this afternoon. It doesn't
41:59
Speaker 1: start until 2 o'clock. So turn to John 13. Okay?
42:06
Speaker 1: Let's look at it together. Jesus is alone with his disciples.
42:10
Speaker 1: They're at the last meal together. They've been arguing over
42:14
Speaker 1: who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom. How's
42:16
Speaker 1: that for postgraduate work, having been with Jesus for three
42:18
Speaker 1: and a half years? And they want to know who's
42:20
Speaker 1: going to be out, who's going to be on top.
42:22
Speaker 1: So Jesus simply pushes back from the table, girds himself
42:26
Speaker 1: with a towel, gets a pitcher and a bowl, and
42:30
Speaker 1: kneels down and washes the disciples' feet. It's a whole
42:36
Speaker 1: story in itself. I won't take time for it. Look
42:41
Speaker 1: at verse 14 of John 13. I'm going somewhere with this,
42:44
Speaker 1: so link it up with me. 13, 14. If I then,
42:47
Speaker 1: the Lord and the teacher, washed your feet. Now, before
42:54
Speaker 1: you look any further, wait, wait, wait, look up, look up.
42:55
Speaker 1: Before you look at it, what do you think would
42:57
Speaker 1: come next? If I've washed your feet, then you wash
43:03
Speaker 1: my feet, right? I mean, he's washed all of their,
43:05
Speaker 1: they're all got clean feet. Then if I've done that
43:09
Speaker 1: to you, then what would you do? You wash my feet.
43:13
Speaker 1: And let me tell you what. We as believers would
43:16
Speaker 1: stand in line for days to wash Jesus' feet. I
43:19
Speaker 1: consider it one of the greatest privileges on the planet
43:23
Speaker 1: to be able to wash his feet. But he doesn't
43:26
Speaker 1: tell me to do that. Because that's easy. What does
43:30
Speaker 1: he tell you? Now look, 14. You ought also to
43:33
Speaker 1: wash one another's feet. Blech!
43:37
Speaker 2: Blech!
43:38
Speaker 1: Have you seen the other person? Look at the other
43:40
Speaker 1: person's foot. No, they're all covered with shoes. You can't tell.
43:45
Speaker 1: Have you smelled? You know what it takes to wash
43:51
Speaker 1: the other person's feet? It takes humility. Stay with me.
43:54
Speaker 1: It takes humility. And when you love them, you have
43:59
Speaker 1: that kind of humility. It takes humility. Love overlooks the
44:06
Speaker 1: smell of Overlooks the color. Overlooks the size. Love washes feet.
44:16
Speaker 1: It's humility. Verse 21. I just got this this weekend,
44:23
Speaker 1: so it's kind of fresh off the fire. 1321. When
44:27
Speaker 1: Jesus had said this, he became troubled in spirit and
44:30
Speaker 1: he testified saying, truly, truly, I say to you that
44:33
Speaker 1: none of you will be that one of you will
44:35
Speaker 1: betray me. That's the first time the disciples heard that
44:39
Speaker 1: at that meal. One of you will betray me. Look closely.
44:43
Speaker 1: The disciples began looking at one another at a loss
44:50
Speaker 1: to know of which one he was speaking. You know
44:54
Speaker 1: what that is? That's vulnerability. When you wash feet, that's humility. Humility.
45:03
Speaker 1: When you really began to see one another as potential betrayers,
45:07
Speaker 1: that's vulnerability. That's real vulnerability. Could it be you, John? Andrew? Matthew? Peter? Judas?
45:27
Speaker 1: So all on the same level, they have finished With
45:30
Speaker 1: the thought of washing one another's feet. Now they're looking
45:33
Speaker 1: at one another. Look at now verse 34. A new
45:41
Speaker 1: commandment I give to you that you love one another.
45:45
Speaker 1: Even as I have loved you that you also love
45:47
Speaker 1: one another. That's called unity. Washing feet takes humility. Looking
45:55
Speaker 1: at one another on the same level takes vulnerability. When
45:58
Speaker 1: you link those two together and apply them, you have unity.
46:04
Speaker 1: Love one another. Look at 35. Here's the evangelism. By this,
46:10
Speaker 1: all will know that you're my disciples if you have
46:13
Speaker 1: love for one another. If my love for you is
46:19
Speaker 1: so great that I live out that love in a
46:23
Speaker 1: humble and vulnerable manner, I want to tell you there
46:30
Speaker 1: isn't a neighbor who is lost who doesn't want to
46:33
Speaker 1: know how could that guy do that? How could that be?
46:38
Speaker 1: And when you multiply that by church our side, loving
46:43
Speaker 1: each other, working alongside each other, humble before one another,
46:49
Speaker 1: vulnerable in the midst of each other, I'll tell you
46:52
Speaker 1: the impact is such we become an enormous human being.
46:57
Speaker 1: magnet to the communities around us. Don't you want to
47:04
Speaker 1: be a part of something unified? Haven't you had enough
47:08
Speaker 1: of disunity where you work? Don't answer out loud. Or
47:13
Speaker 1: maybe even where you live. Or churches you've survived through
47:18
Speaker 1: and now you've come out of. You know what this
47:24
Speaker 1: gives us? This gives us enormous hope. My son and
47:34
Speaker 1: I walked through the new building and its current stage,
47:37
Speaker 1: and I was pretty quiet a couple or three times
47:40
Speaker 1: and kind of lost in my own thoughts in that
47:42
Speaker 1: cold winter day as we stood there. I looked out
47:46
Speaker 1: over the scaffolding and the vastness of that worship center,
47:53
Speaker 1: that sanctuary that will someday be filled with people. You
47:57
Speaker 1: know what I thought?
47:59
Speaker 2: Lord.
48:02
Speaker 1: Hold us together. Keep us together. Don't let me mess
48:13
Speaker 1: this up. Don't let anybody mess this up. Lord, don't
48:20
Speaker 1: let that happen. I didn't hear any voices. I didn't
48:24
Speaker 1: hear any music. Though I have to admit, sometimes I
48:27
Speaker 1: do hear the pipe organ. Sometimes it just kind of
48:30
Speaker 1: drowns everything out. But I stood there and I thought,
48:34
Speaker 1: you are the God of all grace, and I'm going
48:37
Speaker 1: to trust you not to let that happen. Start with me.
48:46
Speaker 1: Start with me. Please bow your head and close your eyes.
49:04
Speaker 1: You've heard a lot of things today, and I know
49:06
Speaker 1: that a few of you, as you've listened, have begun
49:11
Speaker 1: to realize. I think he's talking to somebody else. because
49:21
Speaker 1: I'm not a Christian. I don't know about that Jew-Gentile
49:25
Speaker 1: stuff and I don't know about that vulnerability and all
49:30
Speaker 1: that stuff about unity and caring about one another. It's
49:34
Speaker 1: not the world I live in. Mine's a dog-eat-dog world
49:38
Speaker 1: where only the fit survive So you're the ones I
49:42
Speaker 1: have on my heart as I close. You know that
49:47
Speaker 1: life needs to be more than that. But you'll never
49:52
Speaker 1: find more than that without the help of God and
49:58
Speaker 1: a vital personal relationship with his son, Jesus. I invite
50:05
Speaker 1: you to trust him now. Right now. Simple prayer. Lord,
50:14
Speaker 1: I'm a sinner and you and I are separated from
50:17
Speaker 1: each other. And it's going to stay like that until
50:20
Speaker 1: I reach out in faith to take your offer of salvation.
50:27
Speaker 1: So I'm reaching right now. I give you my life.
50:32
Speaker 1: I give you my heart. Please forgive my sins. Please
50:38
Speaker 1: accept me into your family. I believe Jesus died and
50:43
Speaker 1: paid the whole penalty for my sins. I believe he's alive.
50:47
Speaker 1: I believe he was raised from the dead. And I
50:51
Speaker 1: want a relationship with him. I want to be a
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Speaker 1: part of something that's unified for a change. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for coming into my life. Let us help you in
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Speaker 1: our prayer room. It's here for you, our soul care people.
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Speaker 1: Exist for you. They would love to talk with you
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Speaker 1: and minister to you. When the meeting is over, just
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Speaker 1: come on in. You're welcome. May the mind of Christ,
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Speaker 1: our Savior, live in us, our Father. May the word
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Speaker 1: of God dwell richly in our hearts from hour to hour.
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Speaker 1: May the love of Jesus fill us as the waters
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Speaker 1: fill the sea. May others forget the channel, seeing only you.
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Speaker 1: May your beauty rest upon us as we seek the
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Speaker 1: lost to win. May those who've never come to Christ
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Speaker 1: come now, today. Hold us close, Lord, in these vulnerable
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Speaker 1: and tenuous days as we grow and learn together. Through
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, I pray. And all the people said, Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, We Are One, or Are We?, was
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Speaker 2: copyrighted in 2008, 2010, and 2025, and the sound recording
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Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2025, by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All
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Speaker 2: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
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Speaker 2: use is strictly prohibited.