Romans 16. People from every background are together in Christ. (united in the gospel)

Romans 16.

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After that reading you might be thinking: a whole sermon on a list of names? Seriously? That’s boring!

Well, hopefully not. Because you see, it’s not just a list of names.

For example, in this church there is a Samual and a Jerusalem, an Eyobed and a Sara, a Christian and a Johanna, a ‘Tori and a Peter, there’s Robyn, and Kolton, Kaleb, Jack, Marit, Glen Egil, Birthe, Mia, LJ, Torgeir, Eirik etc. What do all these names tell you about this church?

We’re an international church! People from all over with nothing in common except Jesus. We are united in the gospel.
And that’s what Paul is doing here. Showing just what he’s been talking about for 15 chapters! That the gospel is by grace for EVERYONE. For Jews and Gentiles, for women and for men, for slaves and free, for the rich and poor, no matter what your background – even if you’re from King Herod’s family, or you work for the Emperor of Rome – you can be saved by Jesus Christ.
You belong.
Isn’t that cool?

People from completely different backgrounds all with one common purpose: to live for Christ. To glorify him with their lives, and to spread the message of the good news, the gospel! That was them then and that is us now.

Not unity for unity’s sake. But unity IN THE GOSPEL.

1. Who’s who in the early church: a celebration of diversity

2. United in the gospel: together for Christ

1. Who’s who in the early church: a celebration of diversity

Remember that this letter was written by Paul to ask the church in Rome to support him. But they didn’t know him and he didn’t know them. So he tells them his message, in great detail, his gospel message which he will be preaching in Spain so that they are on the same page as him. United with him in the gospel. But then he also lists an unusually long greeting to 26 people in all. For two reasons.
1 to commend himself to them. They can vouch for Paul. He’s worth supporting.
2. To show the power of the gospel message. For all. Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, male, female, slave, free, and whatever your political affiliation! Amazing diversity. United in Christ.

Let’s have a look at these names

First, surprisingly, is Phoebe – v1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea.
What?! A church leader in the 1^st century is a WOMAN? And Paul mentions her FIRST?
Actually, Paul mentions NINE women in this greeting! Misogyny (prejudice against women or hating women) is entirely non-Christian. In fact according to Genesis 3 it is Satanic! In Christ men and women are equal. So she is a church leader.

But God made us different, with different roles and responsibilities. We are equal, but not the same! And we are to honour those differences and respect them. There is a great deal of disrespect and hurt done to women in our society. Women are told that the only good woman is one who acts like a traditional man. How disrespectful and dishonouring can you get? To both men and women. Men and women, praise God, are different. We complement each other. Fulfil each other. Also in the church. We need each other.

So Phoebe is a church leader, but she is a deacon and not an elder. Deacons can be men or women, but elders are only men. What’s the difference? Elders have the overall responsibility for leading the church, and they MUST be men who regularly teach and preach the Bible. Because it is God who actually runs the church through His words. We’re just the messengers. So just like the husband is called to lead the family like Christ, self-sacrificially, and his wife partners him in that – equal, but different roles - so elders are called to carry the burden of leading the church, self-sacrificially, like Christ, and the deacons help the elders in that. Together the elders and deacons make up the leadership of the church, but if things go wrong, it’s the elders’ fault! Like if your family’s a mess – don’t blame your wife – roll up your sleeves and get to work! And pray for grace!

So, Phoebe, a church leader, who is to be v2 welcomed in the Lord as one who is worthy of honour among God’s people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me.

The word “helpful” is patron or guardian, indicating someone with wealth and power.
So Phoebe is a powerful and rich businesswoman who is happy to “just” be a deacon.
And she carried this letter from Paul to the Roman church. No “posten” those days! If you wanted to send a letter you had to find someone that you could trust who was going there! So Paul trusted Phoebe.

Next on the list is a fantastic Christian husband and wife team. 3 Give my greetings to Priscilla (or Priska) and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. 4 In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. 5 Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.

We meet them first in Acts 18 in Corinth. They went with Paul on his missionary journey for a while, travelling to Cenchreae (where Phoebe is from). They were leaders of the church. When Apollos came to Corinth Ac 18:26 says “When Priscilla and Aquila heard [Apollos] preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately. Apollos was later one of the elders at Corinth together with Paul! They lived for Christ, even risking their lives to save Paul. The church met in their home. They are always mentioned together, never apart. Their marriage glorified God.

So we have Phoebe, the powerful and wealthy Gentile single woman, and Priscilla and Aquila, the Jewish husband and wife team, also businesspeople (tent-makers, like Paul).
Paul then goes on to name v5 Epenetus, a Gentile name, the first convert of many, still going strong in the Lord. Mary, or Miriam, a Jewish name, a hard-working woman. Andronicus and Junia, another married couple, fellow Jews who were imprisoned together with Paul for the sake of the gospel. v7 says they are highly respected among the apostles or more accurately “outstanding among the apostles” that is, those who were eye-witnesses to Jesus. How cool is that?

v8 Ampliatus and v9 Urbanus and Stachys and v10 Apelles are Latin (Roman) names. Gentiles.
Aristobulus was probably the grandson of King Herod the Great and Heriodion is also a name indicating a link to Herod.
So even amongst the household and family of the king of the Jews, who had rejected Jesus (Herod the Great tried to kill Jesus as a baby, his son Herod Antipas killed John the Baptist and mocked Jesus when Pilate sent him to him at his trial) – even in that horrible family and household – there are believers. Even Herodians can come to Christ!

In v12 we meet the sisters Tryphena and Tryphosa, the Lord’s workers. Their names indicate aristocracy (rich, upper class). Giving that up for the sake of the gospel.
Then “dear Persis”, another single lady, who has worked so hard for the Lord.

v13 I love. Greet Rufus, whom the Lord picked out to be his very own. If we turn back to Mark 15:21 we read A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.).
Isn’t that cool? The man who carried Jesus’ cross believed. And his whole family. Here is Rufus, faithful in Rome. Here is his wife, Rufus’ mother, who has been a mother to Paul! Isn’t God’s mercy amazing?

14 Give my greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who meet with them. 15 Give my greetings to Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and to Olympas and all the believers who meet with them. 16 Greet each other with a sacred kiss. All the churches of Christ send you their greetings.

So, not a boring list of names, but a mighty celebration of the power of the gospel to bring people together! “Come as you are” indeed.

Those names tell us a lot about the early church:

· its surprising diversity: Jews, Gentiles, men women, singles, marrieds, rich, poor, slaves, free

· its surprising equality: men and women described as leaders in the church, husbands and wives mentioned together, women praised, Jews and Gentiles mentioned with equal love, and

· its surprising unity: all in different ways serving the same mission: to glorify God. Some through leading churches, some in business, some risking prison, some carrying letters. Living for Jesus and spreading the gospel.

Who’s who in the early church: a celebration of diversity

What does that then mean for us? How can we apply this passage? First: Anyone can be saved. No matter your background or religion or politics – you can be saved! So who do we think can’t be saved? Who do you know that you’ve written off because they’re Rødt or they’re Fremskrittsparti or Muslim or Hindu or atheist or pansexual or Filipino or too old or too young or… whatever.
We know what the gospel says – and this list of names is proof. There is always hope.
Perhaps there is someone you’d like to pray for during the communion.

Second: No matter who we are we can be used for Christ. It’s not only the rich, or the men, or the women, or the Jews, or those who’ve grown up in Christian families or… whatever excuse you use to think that God can’t use YOU.

Each of us with a part to play, like a puzzle piece – we’ve all got our spot, our gift, our service.

So what is it that holding you back? What excuse are you using?
Decide today to serve. Start where you are and use what you’ve got. How can I serve God in my home, at work, at school, in my family, at church? Do something, and see what happens. No matter how small. Start. And see.

We need each other. For we stand together for Christ.

2. United in the gospel: together for Christ

17 And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. 18 Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.

The church is fantastically diverse! And unity is so important. But that unity is not just unity for unity’s sake. It is unity in the gospel. And that needs to be defended.

That’s why Paul outlines the gospel so clearly. As he says in 15:15 “I have written to you quite boldly!”. And why after the celebration of unity in diversity of the past 16 verses, the Holy Spirit inspires him to warn us to protect that unity.
Watch out. Stay away. Strong words! They cause division. They deceive.

Because unity can be evil. Think about the Tower of Babel: humanity united against God. And that lead to judgement. Chaos and confusion.

If we want true unity, we need to know the Gospel. We need, as Romans has shown us, clear teaching. We need to know and live out the Gospel: we need to obey the words of the Lord, we need to be quick to forgive each other as Christ as forgiven us, to love each other as He has loved us – true, real, unity flows out from the gospel.

And that means rejecting or silencing or disciplining false teachers or sinful ideas. So if you see us doing that as leaders in this church, be thankful. And if we are accused of not being united, of being divisive, thank the Lord, for we are contending for the gospel.
And pray for us, that we ARE contending for the gospel, and not just being arrogant!

I must point out that this is difficult for us as Norwegians for we are very consensus-driven. Unity at all costs. But that is not what we believe as Christians. And this has damaged the church so much when we have not protected gospel unity and instead had fake unity.

18 Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.

We must listen to what people are actually saying. What are they teaching, and how does that affect their life? Are they living for Christ, or for themselves? Do their sermons bring glory to them. Put the focus on them as the gurus, the holy people?
Do they speak clearly and plainly, or is it confusing and mysterious and secretive? Smooth talk and glowing words. Watch out for teachers and preachers who make you feel good but say nothing! Those who tell you of their experiences and use that as an authority for teaching. No. We need God’s word, not someone else’s. Tell me what He thinks, not you. And tell me clearly and plainly in a way that I can understand, and that I can see where you get it from in the Bible.

19 But everyone knows that you are obedient to the Lord. This makes me very happy. I want you to be wise in doing right and to stay innocent of any wrong. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

We are in a battle. But as we remain faithful to God and His gospel, Satan is “soon” or “swiftly” crushed. If we are not swayed from our secure foundation, Satan has no way to get us. He is defeated.

So, we are united in the gospel: together for Christ. And the final remarks show that

21 Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you his greetings, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow Jews. 22 I, Tertius, the one writing this letter for Paul, send my greetings, too, as one of the Lord’s followers. 23 Gaius says hello to you. He is my host and also serves as host to the whole church. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you his greetings, and so does our brother Quartus.
25 Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. 26 But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him. 27 All glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.

Amen indeed. What a letter this has been. And what a reminder right at the end that whether Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, upper class or lower class, single or married, woman or man: we are equal in Christ, united in the proclamation of the gospel. Fantastic.

So - are we united in the gospel? Is our church showing this gospel diversity and gospel unity. Where can we be better at crossing those difficult social and cultural boundaries?
I want to ask you: are there ways we can be better? Do you feel side-lined or marginalised. Think about how things can be better, and then come with some ideas and we can see if we can do it together. Don’t just sit and feel lonely or out. Because we don’t know how you feel or why because we are not you. Not your culture, not your background. So speak. But not just moaning - think about possible solutions. Because you’re also the best for that!
The more we can stand united in our diversity, united in Christ, the better. And people will notice. Not just surface unity. But real unity.

1. Who’s who in the early church: a celebration of diversity.
Anyone can be saved. Who do you need to pray for?
Everyone has a part to play. What’s your excuse. What’s holding you back? Ask God to help you get started.

2. United in the gospel: together for Christ
How can we get more inclusive in this church? Pray for wisdom.

Romans 15 We live for Christ

Romans 15

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Hooray. We’re back in Romans for the next three weeks. And today we finally see why Paul wrote Romans. Any guesses?

Have a look at v24: I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.

Romans is a letter to ask for money!
But what a letter! It’s a magnificent summary of what we believe as Christians, a glorious celebration of the gospel. Not by law, by morals, by efforts not by ME – but by Christ, by his death and resurrection, for His glory, by the power of His Spirit waking us to life so that we trust in the cross of Christ and nothing else, and live like it. Amen!

But why such a detailed letter? Why not just write “I’m the great apostle. Going on a mission trip. Support me.”

That’s because they didn’t know him. He hadn’t been to Rome. Rome wasn’t one of the churches he planted. And he wanted to be sure they were on board with him. He needed partners in the gospel. And so he writes “this is the gospel I preach” so that they know what they’re getting themselves in for. So that after a few months of work in Spain they won’t just suddenly go “oh, I didn’t know you’d talk about sin” or “eew, judgement, the kids won’t like that”.
(By the way, if ever anyone says “eew, the kids won’t like that”, they actually mean “eew, I don’t like it”. Kids never have a problem with God’s judgement, or the fact that we are sinners. They know it all too well, and haven’t got good enough at fooling themselves yet!).

So Paul writes to say “this is what we believe” – are you with me?! Let’s get out there and LIVE it, here in Rome, out in Spain, let’s live out loud, man!

We live for Christ, Everything we do say and think should be for his glory. The glory of our God.
We were made for his good pleasure, saved by his good pleasure, and live for his good pleasure.

And so we love each other- the church, our brothers and sisters in the faith - both in the local church and beyond. We love each other like Christ.

And so we reach out with the message of Christ. We love non-Christians whether Jew, Gentile, or anything in between. Proclaiming the great gospel to anyone who will hear.

And those are our two points today:

1. Live for Christ in fellowship with your church 1-13

2. Live for Christ and win the lost 14-33

1. Live for Christ in fellowship with your church 1-13

1 We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. 2 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. 3 For even Christ didn’t live to please himself.

This is chapter 14. Treat each other the way Jesus treated you.
Be considerate, not self-focussed. Because it’s easy to be arrogant, especially when you’re right!
Chapter 14 uses the example of some brothers being very uptight about the Sabbath and holy days. Others concerned about food. You can’t eat blood. You can’t mow the lawn on Sunday. That’s working! Or the example my Dad used when he preached: buying alcohol.

Now we know that what we eat or drink does not matter. All foods are clean for we who are in Christ. Every day is the same: a day to glorify God. There are no holier days.
There is no Sabbath because we are not Jews!

But we who understand that, we who are strong, we who know the freedom we have in Christ – we are not to abuse that freedom. We are free to… love.
So if you have a brother who struggles, don’t eat a halaal burger in his face. Or fire up the chainsaw on Sunday at his house. Gently allow the Spirit to do His work through his Word. He will convince them when they are ready to hear. We are all at different stages in our understanding, and so we need to bear with each other.

2 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.

I want to take a short moment to talk about the “cage stage” Calvinist ie they should be in a cage because they’re snarling at everyone “totally depraved”, “irresistible grace” etc. Many have fallen into the trap of becoming insufferable when they’ve discovered the amazing doctrine of God’s sovereign power and grace. And get angry when others reduce God’s sovereignty because they – correctly – see it as stealing God’s glory.

But is that the right attitude? If you are strong – your strength is given to you to carry your brother, not to beat him over the head!. Be gentle. Be humble. Be like Jesus. Don’t be overbearing but let the Bible do the work. We don’t need to browbeat people into belief. The Spirit is good at that job.

And I want to apologise when I have been too overbearing, too “strong”. I know I have been guilty of this in the past. Forgive me for not being more like Christ!

3 For even Christ didn’t live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.” 4 Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled. 5 May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.

This living together in harmony, bearing with one another. It’s costly. But Jesus is our example.

In v3 notice that Paul quotes from Scripture. It’s from Psalm 69 which is about the righteous king of Israel (David) being persecuted because of his love for God. If Christ suffered that, we can suffer to hold our tongue and not criticise, to be gentle and patient, to decide to love these our brothers and sisters, so that we can live v5 in harmony, as we v4 patiently wait for the promised return of Christ.

And if our church is loving and caring for each other as v6 says with one voice, that will result in us v6 continues giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.

God is glorified when we in the church look after each other like we should. And that’s not directed at the leaders of the church. That’s us. All of us. We have an obligation to our family to love, to care for, to look after. And that love is so attractive. People notice it! When we get together as a church people SEE the love we have for each other. I have heard non-Christians remark on the love and care we show each other. It speaks volumes. And God is glorified.

Of course, the opposite is also true. A church divided into factions, where everyone is in little groups vying for power, trying to shout loudest to get their viewpoint through. When people care more about their reputation and being liked that what God says in the Bible. Oh dear. That does not bring glory to God does it? Nor is it attractive.

Now the big divide in the Roman church was that between Jew and Gentile (non-Jew). “We Jews are God’s chosen people – of course we’re better than you Gentiles. You need to listen to us”. The Holy Spirit through Paul addresses that in v8 and v9: 8 Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors. 9 He also came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them.

Jesus came for the Jews and the Gentiles. For both. Equally. And then he proves it by quoting from Psalm 18:49 which has David, the King of Israel saying: “For this, I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing praises to your name.” and in v10 Deut 32:43 “Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles.” And Ps117, the shortest Psalm, “Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles. Praise him, all you people of the earth.” And ends off with the great promise of the coming Messiah, the Saviour, the Christ Isaiah 11:10 “The heir to David’s throne will come, and he will rule over the Gentiles. They will place their hope on him.”

There is no division, no hierarchy in the Kingdom of God. The Pope and the newest convert are equally saved by grace, if they are saved at all. The pastor or preacher is not more holy than the tea-maker! Because we are saved by grace. So let’s remember that as we look at our brothers and sisters. We are saved by grace. Be gentle. Rebuke and correct in love, not in arrogance. And point people to Jesus, to His word, not to your great intellect. We have no gurus here. We have one Teacher, and his name is Jesus.

Live for Christ in fellowship with your church.

2. Live for Christ and win the lost 14-33

24 I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.

29 And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together. 30 Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit.

As Christians saved by grace we want to share what we have received with others. The word gospel means “good news” – that’s how it is translated in the NLT. Good news. Great news. Momentous news like “the war is over!”. Of course we will want to share it with others. But we need to share GOD’S Good News – not something we’ve made up or something wrong. Sin creeps in and distorts the message so easily. So quickly it can become about us. So quickly we can change the message to make it “nicer” more acceptable, better.

14 I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. 15 Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God’s grace, 16 I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit.

Even though we know the gospel, we need to keep being reminded. The word changes us because we are made holy by the Holy Spirit. This church is evidence of that. I SEE you being made holy as the Word is taught and the Holy Spirit takes these words and makes them come alive. It is an incredible miracle. It’s like watching plants grow as they are watered. So cool.

17 So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God.
Me too!

18 Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. 19 They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit.

In other words, not by clever words or twisting the message. Paul presented the message of the gospel of a crucified man who rose from the dead – absolutely ludicrous. We do have a ridiculous message. But it is true. And is backed by the Spirit’s power. And so we can be confident. We don’t need tricks or to hide the gospel or be embarrassed by it. Be confident because the Spirit is at work. Signs and wonders we have seen in this church. And I don’t just mean amazing healings and incredible answers to prayer – because that we believe in and that we have seen many times because we serve an awesome God. But the real miracles are you lot sitting here! Releasing Jerusalem’s brother from prison is easy. Healing Isabella. Simple. Saving you? That took the cross and all the Spirit’s life-giving power! Put your name there in v19 [Daniel] was convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit.

So Paul knew the power of the Spirit. But he had a special calling, a special drive from God. After his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus, God gave him the task: to be the apostles to the Gentiles. To take the gospel into the whole world. And you can feel his passion for the lost in these verses

19 In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum. 20 My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. 21 I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says, “Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.” 22 In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places. 23 But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you.
Why? There’s already a church in Rome.

24 I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.

“Why should we do that?” they may be thinking. Well, why should we provide for Paul, or Mischeck, or McDonald, our missionaries? I mean we struggle with providing for this church and we can see them and touch and feel what we get for our money. And we don’t have enough as it is. Why should we give to those we don’t even see?

Because we are partners together. Even Gentiles in Macedonia and Achaia were giving to Jews in Jerusalem. Wow! What an example of Christian love. That’s powerful.

27 They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially.

As Christians, we are part of God’s work in the world. And our generosity is one way we show it. So Paul asks “do you want to be part of my missionary work to Spain?” It’s awesome!

28 As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain. 29 And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together. 30 Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit. 31 Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the donation I am taking to Jerusalem. 32 Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other. 33 And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all. Amen.

We’re all still on the same mission as Paul. We want to magnify the name of Jesus. Here in Notodden amongst us we want to show the love of Christ to each other. We want to proclaim his name so that those around us can hear the gospel and be saved! O glorious day!

And we give generously so that this church can keep going, yes, but also to support our brothers in Kenya, in Zambia, and in South Africa. For we are all part of God’s worldwide family. They are our brothers and we owe them support. Why? Because of the love of Christ, given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Cool, hey? Praise God for His work in and through us. Oh Lord, magnify your glory and grace and love through us. Make us more and more like Jesus. Less selfish, less arrogant, more gentle, more kind, more full of truth, more full of the Spirit, more generous, more on God’s mission than our own.

Let’s live for Christ. That is, I will do, say, think what Jesus wants me to do, say, think, at every moment, rather than what I want to do, say, think. Not great deeds. But everyday moments.
Not duty but joy. Living naturally. Living out what God has placed in. With our church family. And out in the world. Amen.

Romerne 15. Vi lever for Kristus

Romerne 15.

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Hurra! Vi er tilbake i Romerbrevet for de neste tre ukene. Og i dag ser vi endelig hvorfor Paulus skrev Romerbrevet. Noen som vill gjette?

Ta en titt på v24: og så dra videre til Spania. Jeg håper at jeg får se dere på gjennomreisen, og at dere vil utruste meg for reisen dit

Romerne er et tigge-brev! Paulus ber om pengestøtte!

Men for et brev! Det er en fantastisk oppsummering av hva vi som kristne tror på, en jublene feiring av evangeliet. Ikke ved loven, ved moral, ved prestasjon, ikke av meg - men av Kristus, ved hans død og oppstandelse, for Hans ære, ved Åndens kraft som vekker oss til livet slik at vi hviler på Kristi kors og ingenting annet, og leve deretter. Amen!

Men hvorfor et så detaljert brev? Hvorfor ikke bare skrive «Jeg er den store apostelen. Skal på misjonsreise. Støtt meg.»

Det er fordi de kjente ham ikke. Han hadde ikke vært i Roma. Roma var ikke en av de (få) menighetene han ikke hadde plantet.
Han ville være sikre seg på at de var «om bord» med ham. Han trengte partnere i evangeliet. Og så skriver han «dette er evangeliet jeg forkynner» slik at de vet hva dette partnerskap innebærer. For å unngå at etter noen måneders arbeid i Spania de plutselig sier «Å, nei, jeg visste ikke at du ville snakke om synd» eller «uff, Guds dommen, nei, fy, barn tåler ikke det!».

(Forresten, hvis noen sier «uff nei, det er ikke noe for barn. De tåler ikke sånt. Det må være postiv» betyr det egentlig «uff, nei, jeg tåler ikke slik. Endre evangeliet til noe jeg liker». Barn har aldri problemer med Guds dom, eller det at vi er syndere. De vet det alt for godt, og er ikke gammel nok til å lure seg selv ennå!).

Derfor skriver Paulus Romerbrevet. «Dette tror på - er du med meg ?! La oss komme oss ut og leve det ut, her i Roma, borte i Spania, - la oss leve høylytt, mann!» Noe sånt.

Vi lever for Kristus, alt vi sier, gjøre og tenker er til hans ære. Vi ble skapt for hans glede, frelst for hans glede, og vi lever for å glede ham.

Og så elsker vi hverandre – menigheten, kirken, våre brødre og søstre i troen - både i den lokale menighet og utover. Vi elsker hverandre som Kristus.

Og så kommer vi ut med Kristi budskap. Vi elsker ikke-kristne, om de er jøde, hedning eller noe imellom! Roper ut det store evangeliet til alle som har ører!

Og det er våre to punkter i dag:

1. Lev for Kristus i fellesskap med din menighet 1-13

2. Lev for Kristus og vinn de som går fortapt 14-33

1. Lev for Kristus i fellesskap med din menighet 1-13

1 Vi som er sterke, må bære de svakes svakheter og ikke tenke på oss selv. 2 Hver enkelt av oss skal tenke på det som er godt for vår neste, det som bygger opp. 3 For Kristus tenkte ikke på seg selv.

Dette er kapittel 14. Behandle hverandre slik Jesus behandlet deg.

Vær hensynsfull, ikke selvfokusert. Fordi det er lett å være arrogant, spesielt når du har rett!
Kapittel 14 brukte som eksempel noen brødre som veldig opptatte av sabbaten og de «hellige dager». Andre bekymret for mat. «Du kan ikke spise blod». «Du kan ikke klippe plenen på søndag. Det er å jobbe!» Eller som min far sa «oi, du kan ikke kjøpe alkohol som kristen!».

Vi vet jo at det som vi spiser eller drikker spiller ingen rolle. All mat er ren for oss som er i Kristus (Markus 7:19). Og alle dager er like: dagen er til for å ære Gud. Det er ingen «helligere» dager! Og det er ikke noe sabbat… fordi vi er ikke jøder!

Men vi som forstår dette, vi som er sterke, vi som kjenner friheten vi har i Kristus - vi skal ikke misbruke denne friheten. Vi er fri til å ... elske.

Så hvis du har en bror som sliter, ikke spis en halaal burger opp i ansiktet hans! Eller slå til med motorsag utenfor huset hans på en søndag.
Vær omtenksom, og la Ånden gjøre Hans arbeid gjennom Hans Ord. Han vil overbevise dem når de er moden nok til å høre og forstå. Husk at vi er alle på forskjellige stadier i vår forståelse, og vi bære over med hverandre.

2 Hver enkelt av oss skal tenke på det som er godt for vår neste, det som bygger opp.

Før vi går videre vil jeg ta et kort øyeblikk for å snakke om «cage stage Calvinism» vs. ny kalvinister som burde huses i et bur fordi de er bjeffer på alle «totalt syndeforderv», «uimotståelig nåde» osv. Mange har falt i fellen av å bli overivrige når de har oppdaget den fantastiske læren om Guds suverene makt og nåde. Og de blir sint når andre minske Guds suverenitet fordi de – riktig nok - ser det som å stjele æren fra Gud.

Men er det riktig holdning? Hvis du er sterk - din styrke er gitt til deg til å bære din bror, ikke til å banke ham opp! Vær ydmyk. Vær mild. Vær som Jesus. Ikke overbærende, men la Bibelen gjør jobben. Vi trenger ikke å tvinge folk til tro. Den Hellige Ånden vet hva han gjør. Trenger ikke vår «hjelp».

Jeg vil bruke anledning til be om unnskyldning når jeg har vært for overbærende, for «sterk». For jeg er veldig klar over at jeg har gjort det! Tilgi meg for at jeg ikke var mer Kristus lik!

3 For Kristus tenkte ikke på seg selv. Slik står det skrevet: På meg falt hånsordene fra dem som håner deg. 4 Og alt som før er skrevet, er skrevet for at vi skal lære av det: Vi skal ha håp gjennom den tålmodighet og trøst som skriftene gir. 5 Må tålmodighetens og trøstens Gud hjelpe dere alle til å vise enighet, etter Jesu Kristi vilje.

Det å leve sammen i enighet og bærer med hverandre – det koster. Men Jesus er vårt eksempel.

I v3 siterer Paulus fra Skriften, fra Salme 69. Det handler om Israels rettferdige konge (David) som blir forfulgt på grunn av sin kjærlighet til Gud. Hvis Kristus led slik, kan vi «lide» i det å tenke oss godt om før vi åpne munnen, før vi kritisere. Mens vi vente på Jesu gjenkomst i tålmodighet, kan vi være snill mot hverandre slik at vi kan leve v5 i enighet (harmoni). Og hvis menigheten vår er full av kjærlighet og omsorg for hverandre da står vi v6 samstemt og med én munn og vi prise Gud, vår Herre Jesu Kristi Far. Vi gi ros og ære til Gud i måten vi behandler hverandre på. 7 Ta derfor imot hverandre slik Kristus har tatt imot dere, til Guds ære.

Gud er herliggjort når vi i menigheten ta vare på hverandre som vi burde. Og dette er ikke rettet mot kirkeledere. Det er til oss. Alle sammen. Hver eneste. Vi har en forpliktelse til familien vår å elske, å ta vare på. Og slik kjærlighet legger folk merke til! Når vi samles som en menighet SER de andre den kjærligheten vi har for hverandre. Jeg har hørt flere ganger om ikke-kristne som beundre seg over omsorg vi viser hverandre. Det taler høyt. Og Gud er herliggjort.

Dessverre er det motsatte også sant. En menighet delt i faksjoner, hvor små grupper kjemper mot hverandre for makt, den som skriker høyest vinner. Når folk bryr seg mer om sitt rykte og å bli likt enn det som Gud sier i Bibelen.
Det gir ikke noe ære til Gud. Og det er lite tiltrekkende.

Den store splittelsen i den romerske kirken var mellom jøder og ikke-jøder (hedninger). «Vi jøder er jo Guds utvalgte - selvfølgelig er vi bedre enn dere. Dere må lytte til oss»
Den Hellige Ånd gjennom Paulus knuser en slik arrogant holdning i v8 og v9: 8 For det sier jeg dere: Kristus ble en tjener for de omskårne for å vise at Gud taler sant, og for å stadfeste løftene til fedrene, 9 men også for at hedningfolkene skal ære Gud for hans barmhjertighet.

Jesus kom for jødene og hedningene. For begge. Likt. Og da beviser han det ved å sitere fra Salme 18:49 hvor David, Israels konge, sier: «Derfor vil jeg prise deg blant folkene (hedninger) og lovsynge ditt navn» og i v10 5. Mosebok 32:43 «Gled dere, folkeslag (hedninger), sammen med hans folk» Og Ps117, den korteste salmen: «Lovsyng Herren, alle folk, pris ham, alle folkeslag.» Og han avslutter med det store løftet om den kommende Messias, Frelseren, Kristus: Jesaja 11:10 Isais (Davids far) rotskudd skal komme, han som reiser seg for å herske over folkene, til ham skal folkeslagene (hedninger) sette sitt håp

Det er ingen splittelse, ingen hierarki i Guds rike. Paven og den nyfrelste er begge like mye frelst av nåde, hvis de er i det hele tatt frelst. Pastoren eller predikanten er ikke mer hellig enn de som lager kaffe! Fordi vi er frelst av nåde. Det er Guds verk.
La oss da huske dette i måte vi behandler og ser på våre brødre og søstre. Vi er frelst av nåde. Vær forsiktig. Irettesette og korrigere i kjærlighet, ikke i hovmod. Og pek folk mot Jesus, mot hans ord, ikke mot din store intellekt. Vi har ingen guruer her. Vi har èn Lærer, og Hans navn er Jesus.

Lev for Kristus i fellesskap med din menighet.

2. Lev for Kristus og vinn de som går fortapt 14-33

24 og så dra videre til Spania. Jeg håper at jeg får se dere på gjennomreisen, og at dere vil utruste meg for reisen dit, når jeg først har fått glede meg over å være sammen med dere en stund.

29 Og jeg vet at når jeg kommer til dere, vil jeg komme med en rikdom av Kristi velsignelse. 30 Jeg ber dere, søsken, ved vår Herre Jesus Kristus og ved den kjærlighet som Ånden gir: Kjemp sammen med meg ved å be til Gud for meg.

Som kristne frelst av nåde vil vi dele det vi har mottatt med andre. Ordet evangeliet betyr «gode nyheter» - slik er det oversatt i NLT. Gode ​​nyheter. Glade ​​nyheter. Fantastisk stor nyheter - som «krigen er over!» Selvfølgelig vil vi dele det med andre! Men vi må dele Guds gode nyheter - ikke noe vi har funnet opp. Ikke noe galt. Synd sniker seg inn og vrir så lett på budskapet vårt. Så lett handler evangeliet plutselig om oss. Så lett endrer vi budskapet for å gjøre det «hyggeligere», mer akseptabelt, «bedre».

14 Mine søsken, jeg for min del er overbevist om at dere er fylt av godhet og har kunnskap nok, slik at dere også kan rettlede hverandre. 15 Likevel har jeg noen steder skrevet ganske åpent og direkte, for å minne dere om det dere før har hørt. Jeg gjør det ved den nåde Gud har gitt meg 16 til å være Kristi Jesu tjener blant folkeslagene. Min prestetjeneste er å forkynne evangeliet så folkeslagene blir et offer Gud gjerne tar imot, innviet ved Den hellige ånd.

Selv om vi kjenner evangeliet, trenger vi å bli minnet på det. Guds Ord fornyer oss fordi vi blir helliggjort av Den Hellige Ånd gjennom det. Denne menigheten er bevis på dette. Jeg SER at dere blir gjort hellig mens Ordet blir forkynt. Den Hellige Ånd tar disse ordene og gjør dem levende. Det er en utrolig mirakel!

17 I Kristus Jesus kan jeg være stolt over å ha denne tjenesten for Gud.
Jeg og!

18 Og jeg våger bare å tale om det Kristus har gjort gjennom meg for å lede folkeslagene til lydighet. Dette har jeg fått gjøre i ord og gjerning, 19 ved mektige tegn og under og ved Åndens kraft, slik at jeg nå har fullført forkynnelsen av Kristi evangelium vidt omkring, fra Jerusalem og helt til Illyria.

Med andre ord, ikke med flinke ord eller forvridning av budskapet. Paulus la bare frem evangeliet: budskapet om en korsfestet mann som sto opp fra de døde - helt latterlig! Vi har en latterlig budskap. Men det er sant. Og Åndens makt ligger bak. Derfor kan vi være trygge. Vi trenger ikke triks eller å skjule evangeliet eller bli flau av det. Vær trygg på at Ånden er på jobb. Tegn og under har vi sett gang på gang her på Rock. Og jeg snakke ikke bare om fantastiske helbredelser og utrolige svar på bønn - fordi det tror vi på, og vi har opplevd mange ganger fordi vi tjener en fantastisk Gud. Men de virkelige store mirakler er dere som sitte her! Å frigjøre Jerusalems bror fra fengsel er lett. Helbrede Isabella. Enkel. Å frelse deg? Det tok korset og all Åndens livgivende kraft!
Er det ikke helt utrolig - det Gud har gjort gjennom oss, akkurat slik han gjorde gjennom Paulus? Lede folkeslagene (her er vi fra forskjellige land) til lydighet i ord og gjerning ved mektig tegn og under og ved Åndens kraft. For en Gud vi tjener!

Og Paulus kjente evangeliets kraft! Fordi han hadde et spesielt kall, en spesiell befaling fra Gud. Etter sitt møte med Jesus på veien til Damaskus ga Gud ham oppgaven: å være apostel til hedningene (oss). Å ta evangeliet til hele verden. Og du merke hans lidenskap hans drivkraft for de som trenger å høre om Jesus i disse versene

20 Jeg har alltid satt min ære i å forkynne evangeliet bare der Kristi navn ikke er kjent, for at jeg ikke skal bygge på en grunnvoll som andre har lagt. 21 For som det står skrevet: De som ikke har fått budskap om ham, skal se, og de som ikke har hørt, skal forstå. 22 Det er dette som gang på gang har hindret meg i å komme til dere. 23 Men nå har jeg gjort det jeg skulle i landene her, og jeg har i flere år ønsket å komme til dere.

Hvorfor? Det er allerede en menighet i Roma.

24 og så dra videre til Spania. Jeg håper at jeg får se dere på gjennomreisen, og at dere vil utruste meg for reisen dit

«Hvorfor skal vi det?» tenkte de kanskje. Ja, hvorfor skal vi sørge for Paul eller Mischeck, eller McDonald, våre misjonærer? Hallo. Vi sliter nok med å sørge for denne menigheten, hvor vi kan både se og ta på og merke hva vi får for pengene våre! Vi har ikke råd til å gi. Hvorfor skal vi gi til de vi ikke engang se?

Fordi vi er partnere sammen. Selv hedningene i Makedonia og Akaia gav til jøder i Jerusalem. OI! For et eksempel av kristen kjærlighet. Det er kraftig.

26 For menighetene i Makedonia og Akaia har bestemt at de vil samle inn en gave til de fattige blant de hellige i Jerusalem. 27 De har selv bestemt dette og står jo også i gjeld til dem. De skylder å hjelpe dem med materielle gaver når de selv, som hedninger, har fått del i deres åndelige gaver.

Å gi til jøder. Jøder de hadde ikke en gang møtte. Det kan bare være Guds kjærlighet i dem!
Og for oss: som kristne er vi en del av Guds arbeid i verden. Og vår sjenerøsitet og gavmildhet er en måte vi delta på. Så Paulus spørre de i Roma: «Vil du være en del av mitt misjonsarbeid i Spania?»

28 Når jeg har avsluttet dette og fruktene av innsamlingen er vel forvart hos dem, reiser jeg til Spania og legger veien om dere. 29 Og jeg vet at når jeg kommer til dere, vil jeg komme med en rikdom av Kristi velsignelse. 30 Jeg ber dere, søsken, ved vår Herre Jesus Kristus og ved den kjærlighet som Ånden gir: Kjemp sammen med meg ved å be til Gud for meg. 31 Be om at jeg må bli berget fra de vantro i Judea, og om at de hellige i Jerusalem må ta godt imot hjelpen jeg bringer. 32 Da kan jeg, om Gud vil, komme til dere med glede og få hvile ut sammen med dere. 33 Fredens Gud være med dere alle! Amen.

Vi er alle fortsatt på samme oppdrag som Paulus. Vi ønsker å gjøre navnet Jesus kjent og æret. Her i Notodden blant oss ønsker vi å vise Kristi kjærlighet til hverandre. Vi vil forkynne hans navn slik at de rundt oss kan høre evangeliet og bli frelst! Amen!

Og vi er gavmild og gir slik at denne menigheten kan fortsette, ja, men også for å støtte våre brødre i Kenya, i Zambia, og i Sør-Afrika. For vi er alle en del av Guds verdensomspennende familie. De er våre brødre, og vi skylder dem vår støtte. Hvorfor? På grunn av Kristi kjærlighet, satt i oss av Den Hellige Ånd.

Knallbra ikke sant! Pris Herren for hans arbeid i og gjennom oss! Herre, gjør din herlighet og nåde og kjærlighet stor gjennom oss! Gjør oss mer og mer Jesus lik. Mindre egoistisk, mindre arrogant, mer mild, mer snill, mer full av sannhet, mer full av Ånden, mer sjenerøs, mer på Guds oppdrag enn vår egen!
La oss leve for Kristus. Jeg vil gjøre, si, tenke det Jesus vil at jeg skal gjøre, si, tenke, i hvert øyeblikk, i stedet for det jeg vil gjøre, si, tenke. Ikke store gjerninger, men hverdagslige øyeblikk. Ikke plikt, men glede. Leve naturlig som Guds barn. Lev ut det Gud har lagt i oss. Med vår kirkefamilie. Og ute i verden. Amen.

Romans 12. Live together in love.

Romans 12.

Link to MP3

What can you offer God? What can you give him to get right with him?

If you’re thinking “well, I can give him myself as a living sacrifice” you are – WRONG!

Wrong – but it says so right there. There in the passage.

No. What does it say?

Ro 12 And so (therefore), dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God – why? because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable.

ESV I appeal to you therefore by the mercies of God, to offer yourselves as a living sacrifice.

The Bible clearly tells us that there is nothing we can do to get right with God. Nothing. We are dead in our sins. We are in Adam, we rebel against God, choose our own way. And nothing we do can make us right. Rom 3:10 there is no-one righteous. Therefore the gospel is not “this is what you can do to get right with God” – that is the way of every other religion! The gospel is GOOD NEWS. It is bad news if this chapter was what we had to do to get right with God! We’d be in big trouble. No it’s not the bad news, it is good news. In light of God’s mercy – as v1 because of all he has done for you.

The gospel is that when we were in rebellion, when we were dead, when we rejected God – God came for us. Why us? We don’t know. There was certainly nothing special about us. But it is because of God’s great mercy. Because he is full of love he decided to take rebels, sinners, and make them – you and I (if we are in Christ) – make us trophies of grace.

We do not sacrifice to get mercy. We have mercy, therefore we offer sacrifice. And it has always been this way. It was the same with Israel. They were God’s people, chosen by God. Therefore they offered sacrifices – praise offerings, thank offerings, and sin offerings. Now, because of Jesus, we no longer offer sin offerings. Our sin offering was given and accepted once and for all when Jesus gave his life for us on the cross. But we do still offer praise and thank offerings. And we do that by living! Being living sacrifices, living for the glory of God.

My Dad for years hated v1. “I don’t want to be a sacrifice”. Sacrifice has to do with altars and blood and flesh and flies and death. I don’t want that. Then one day as he was reading he suddenly noticed a word he’d never noticed before: living! A LIVING sacrifice. Our sacrifice is to LIVE fully for God. We are called to LIVE for God. To be truly alive. To be what we were born to be.
We were created to reflect God’s glory, his beauty, his love, his power, his love. And in Christ that is what we are called to. We have been remade, renewed, restored, from the inside out. We have the Holy Spirit of God within us. Now, in light of God’s mercies, because of all he has done for you, people chosen, loved, and kept by God: LIVE!

You see, it is one of the great truths of Christianity that death brings life. Christ died that he might win life for all, and proved it by rising form the dead. And for us death brings life. As we die to self we find we live. As we obey we find blessing and truth. As we do what seems unwise we find wisdom.

Ro 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

It is very important for us to remember that as we start looking at how we are to live that we remember what has come before. Otherwise we might think that all this is how we impress God so that he will like us and let us in to heaven. No! In light of God’s mercies. We have been forgiven, we have everything!

Now some might argue “but where’s the motivation then? If God has given me everything, if I know I’m saved, if I know I’m going to heaven. Why do anything? Why sacrifice? It takes away the motivation.”

Well, let me tell you about two teachers I had at school. One was called Mr Shone, who I had in the 6^th grade. And one was Mr Liddle, my 7^th grade teacher. Mr Shone was a cruel man. He was petty and vindictive and took particular pleasure in making certain pupils miserable and breaking them down. We were all afraid of him. When he was in the class, everyone obeyed! In fear of what he would do. But when his back was turned…. We hated him. We called him names. We stuck our tongue out at him. Our motivation to obedience only lasted as long as his eyes were on us.
Mr Liddle was the opposite. He loved us and cared about us. Those who had been crushed by Mr Shone Mr Liddle built up again over the year. You know we loved to obey Mr Liddle – even when he wasn’t in the room. We loved him because he loved us. Love is more powerful than fear as a motivation.

What view do you have of God? Do you see a stern taskmaster who demands the impossible. And you’ve got to somehow impress him? If that is the way you think of God, that is the God you will meet. But in the gospel we meet a God who demands the impossible – and then says what is impossible with man, is possible with God, and GIVES us his righteousness, purchased through laying aside his majesty, becoming one of us, suffering with us, dying for us, and then rising to new life. That is the God we serve. A God of such love. If we have met him, if we know him and are known by him, that is motivation enough to live for his glory.

You know, I don’t have to force myself to be married to my wife. I don’t think “oh no, I’m bound by this horrible contract”. It is a JOY to be with her. I know her and she knows me and so I want to please her, to bring her glory and joy.

So that’s what this passage is about. It’s about knowing God so that we can know what pleases him. Just like I know my wife and study her so that I can know what pleases her, we study the Lord to know what pleases him and what brings him joy. Let us delight our Father’s heart in the way that we live.
And, of course, living that way brings us great joy too, because it is the way we were made to live. And our motivation is love. We are loved by God. Rom 8:39 nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is what we need to keep in mind as we look at tonight’s passage, and indeed chapters 12-16.

So that was the first point: In light of God’s mercy, live. Be a living sacrifice because he loves you.

The second point is this: To be a living sacrifice you need a renewed mind – and our mind is renewed through the church.

And the third is: A living sacrifice lives a life of sacrificial God-glorifying love

1. Live 2. together 3. in love.

So, how do we live as living sacrifices for God? How do we give glory to God in everything we do? How do we reflect his beauty and love and glory and joy in our lives?

Well, it starts here – in our minds.

2 Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

ESV Do not conform to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.

Our minds need to be changed. We need to think God’s thoughts so that we can do what God wants.

And how do we do that? Need to know Him. Need his word. The Bible.

Now v1 and 2 I’ve known very well. Read it lots of times. But I haven’t really paid so much attention to the context. I know. So in preparing this I was amazed to see something that I’ve never seen before. The Holy Spirit through Paul after telling us that our minds need to be renewed – what does he immediately talk about? The church! The church is where we go to renew our minds.

3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. 6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.

I found that fascinating. Because I’m such an individualistic Westerner I think “renew my mind, yes, I’ll lock myself away in my room and read the word.” If I know the Bible. Or if I’m a bit more “spiritual” I might say “I’ll go and seek God and wait for him to speak to me”. Or religious “I’ll go to a monastery”. But it’s all me on my own.
But our brothers and sisters from Africa and the East will be laughing at us now going “duh, no we do this as a COMMUNITY: the church”. We do it together! In the church most importantly we hear God’s word - but we also see it lived out. That’s why we have a body, not just a mouth! 6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. We need each other.

It’s like the Law. I’ve been reading the Pentateuch recently (the first five books of the Bible). And there’s a lot of law. Do this do that. And it’s not arranged logically. It’s all mixed up together. Stuff you had to do in everyday life with stuff the priests had to do with rules for the government. All mixed up. It’s impossible to remember. But not if you see it lived out. You’d watch your parents and go “oh that’s how it’s done”. Watch your neighbours. Oh yes, I’m supposed to do that. See the priests doing their duties “Oh that’s what it means”. The Law of God, his word, was lived out, on display, every day.

Likewise in the church. I have learnt so much by watching how my brothers and sister in Christ do things. I remember staying for a few weeks with our friends Paul and Penny Dawson and their five kids. I learned so much about Christian living just watching how they did things. How they balanced ministry and family demands, what they prioritised as important, how they spoke to their kids, how they taught them the Bible at their different ages. Wisdom on display.

Debby and I were both privileged to grow up in Christian families and we have gained much practical wisdom in how to live as a Christian. I know many of you did not – but that’s why we have the church! So watch godly people and see what they do. Ask. A number of people in this church will phone me up and say “I have an ethical dilemma, what should I do”. That’s brilliant. That’s Christian living.

And note that no-one has all the gifts. We need each other. Some teach, some prophecy (that is apply the Bible to everyday life), some exhort, some lead, some are generous, some kind, and so on. We are a team together, helping each other.

I want you to notice something. It is not just that God saves us. But he also gives us gifts and he decides the level of faith we have! 3 Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
God is not only sovereign over our salvation, but also our sanctification (being holy). So see yourself as you are by how much faith you’ve been given. And if you want more – ask.
Because it is God who even gives us our faith, we cannot be proud. But humble. And as for us leaders – we have been given much, so much is asked. Not pride but humility and responsibility.

Some of you are highly gifted. And we will develop those gifts. How? In submission to Gods word. The more gifted you are the more essential it is that you know the Bible! A prophet needs to know Gods word. A leader needs to know Gods word. That’s why the leaders of the church are elder because an elder is one who teaches the word. We all need each other. The church needs you! Because we are called to be a living sacrifice. And to be a living sacrifice you need a renewed mind – and our mind is renewed through the church.

So then, third point, A living sacrifice lives a live of sacrificial God-glorifying love. As a church, how do we live in a way that glorifies God. How do we live together in love?

Well, the rest of the chapter! There’s a lot here, so I’m just going to read it, make a few comments, and leave it up to each of us before God to repent! Different things will challenge us!

So, brothers and sisters, in light of Gods mercy, because we are forgiven, because we are chosen by God, because nothing can separate us from his love, because we have heaven as our inheritance and because the Spirit of God lives in us – this then is how we are to live, reflecting God’s glory:

9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other.

See, if we see ourselves as we really are, by the FAITH God has GIVEN us, then we will be humble, delighting in others. Let us be quick to praise each other, to honour each other, to thank each other, to admire. When you think about the church, do you think “wow” or do you think “uh, why isn’t that done, why didn’t they do this”. Complaining comes so easy, complimenting so hard. Let’s delight in honouring each other.

11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
Like Christian and Johanna, and my parents. But not just church events. Invite people home from church. Invite non-Christians. Open you home. People SEE Jesus in your home life. Don’t underestimate the work of the Spirit in and through you. Many things we take for granted just the way we do things, for others is ground-breaking.

14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Christian spoke two weeks ago on forgiveness from Philemon. Have you forgiven?
We sin against the Lord and deeply hurt him and others – yet we are forgiven. Therefore can we not forgive others who have hurt us?
This is not easy, and some of you may need help because of deep hurts. But we’ll do it together. Let’s take the ice that is in our hearts and melt it together in the furnace of God’s love.

15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. Odd translation! It’s “don’t be too proud to associate with those you think are beneath you”. I want this church to be full of “losers” outcasts, the “rubbish” of society. Because God is very good at taking those who are least and making them glorious. Let’s see what God can do! Because that’s the heart of Jesus. He was always hanging around with the lowly, the “sinners”.

And don’t think you know it all! 17 Never pay back evil with more evil. (oh how easily that comes to us. Revenge! No. Let GOD handle things). Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. 19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. 20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” 21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

Isn’t that the very heart of God? We who are evil have been conquered by good. So let’s do the same thing! Never forget that we were enemies of God. And He has transformed us. He can do the same with that person who makes our life miserable, with that bully, with that pervert, that threat, that grumpy neighbour.
Never forget that we are sinners. But by the grace of God that is us. Perhaps if we’d grown up like them we’d be the same. Maybe all they’ve ever experienced is hatred, attacks, maybe that’s why they’re so hard and messed up. So ask the Lord for his strength, ask Him for His love, His compassion, see them through His eyes, and treat them how Christ has treated you. And see what God will do. Conquer evil with good. And if they are mean and horrible and unchanged – well, leave them in the Lord’s hands. He will pay them back much more than you can with your petty revenge. Leave it to Him.

Right. Wow. Well, aren’t we glad and overjoyed that this isn’t a list of rules to keep in order to be right with God! Praise the Lord that it is because we have been forgiven, renewed, transformed, we are called to live like Christ.
So let’s do it. Together. Let’s encourage each other. Let’s watch each other to see how to live. As they are following God, let us follow. And let’s encourage each other, pick each other up when we fall, carry each others burdens, help each other, push each other, work together until that great day when we see our saviour face to face.

1. In light of God’s mercy, live. Be a living sacrifice because he loves you.

2. To be a living sacrifice you need a renewed mind – and our mind is renewed through the church.

3. A living sacrifice lives a life of sacrificial God-glorifying love

1. Live 2. together 3. in love.

Romans 9. The wonderful doctrine of predestination

Romans 9

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Predestination. A doctrine that makes some people very angry, and others of us confused and worried. But it is a doctrine that is of great comfort and should bring us great joy!

How do I know I’m saved? Because God has chosen you and his mercy is upon you like it was on Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The same promises are ours in Christ.

I know from personal experience that this passage can be difficult. But I hope it will also be deeply encouraging as we see how great and powerful and scary and full of mercy our God is!

Three points tonight:

1. I would save my people if I were God – but I’m not

2. I did not save myself – God did.

3. The difficult and wonderful doctrine of predestination

1. I would save my people if I were God – but I’m not

9:1 With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.

Paul’s desire is for the Jews to be saved. But he knows that even if he offered to be cut off forever – such a dramatic gesture – that would not be enough. Only God can save. And Paul must himself bow the knee before God’s sovereign rule.

You can feel the passion. The anguish for his people. Especially when he reminds us that everything that now belongs to the Christian, as he’s shown us in the past few chapters, used to belong to Israel.

4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

That’s what we have in Christ. All that was Israel’s is ours. The covenants, his glory, and adopted as His children – all ours in Christ. And so we worship him. In Christ we are God’s people.

5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

Look at all that they had. But Paul’s heart is broken because they have thrown it all away. They have stumbled over Christ the stumbling stone. They rejected him and they have fallen.

Being Jewish is not enough. It is Christ and faith in him that is required, not your bloodline.

But this throws up a question in our mind: if the Jews had all these promises before me, but the gospel now says they don’t apply to them anymore, but to me – how do I know that the same won’t happen to me?

If God’s people, the Jews, have been rejected by God… can I trust God?

6 Well then, has God failed to fulfil his promise to Israel?

And the answer is simple: 6 No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people!

Throughout the Bible there is Israel – those born a Jew - and then there is a smaller group: True Israel or the “remnant”. And the Holy Spirit now shows us through Paul’s words that the remnant or True Israel were those chosen by God. This has always been the case, and still is. If you are chosen by God his wonderful promises apply to you, and nothing you do can change that. His favour rests upon you like it did upon Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.

But if you are not chosen, then everything you do will lead you away from God and confirm your hardness of heart.

Remember what we have already learnt: We all are sinners without hope. All in Adam. No-one does good, not even one. Condemned. There is no way for us to save ourselves. Morality judges us. The law condemns us. We’re in trouble. Hard heart. We are the source of our condemnation. We do not choose God. We choose, in a sense, hell. That’s what the Jews are doing and Paul is grieving. They reject Jesus, God’s righteousness, and try to earn their own righteousness. And so they stumble.

But, oh glory!, remember 3:21 But now a righteousness FROM God is revealed in Christ. God is the source of salvation. And His Spirit brings new life, new life from within. Not by doing good deeds, not by following the law, but by trusting in Christ’s death and resurrection on the Cross. And tonight’s passage shows that faith comes not from within, but from God’s choice to include us in the promise. And so now there is no condemnation, we are God’s children, we are heirs, and nothing can separate us from God’s love because his promise stands.

We know this, and it brings us unspeakable joy. But it does mean that we cannot MAKE those we love accept the Lord, and we cannot MAKE the Lord accept them either. Even if we were to be cut off for their sake – it would make no difference. We have to simply trust God.

I would save my people if I were God – but I’m not.

2. I did not save myself – God did.

15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” 16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.

This is the one point that tonight’s passage is making: Salvation is God’s domain. Salvation is God’s domain. We can no more choose it or work for it than a dead person can choose it or work for it. Without Christ we are spiritually dead. And it is God who raises us to life.

And this has always been the case. Just like in chapter 4 we are reminded that salvation has always been through faith – Abraham believed God and God credited to him as righteousness – now we are reminded that God’s word has all along promised salvation only to those whom God sovereignly chose. And the Holy Spirit through Paul uses two examples from Israel’s history to show that belonging to God’s people depends not on birth or on anything a person does, but on God’s call.

6 Well then, has God failed to fulfil his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too.

The word translated “counted” is kaleo and means named or called, and is key to this section. It is the same word in v12 “he calls people” and in v24 we are among those whom he selected and v26 “there they will be called ‘children of the living God’”

A call is not an invitation. An invitation is “Would you like to come?”. A call is “Come here”. An invitation is your friend saying “Do you want to come to my house after school”. A call is your Dad saying “Come here we need to talk”!
In salvation God does not invite. God calls. He compels.

7b For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. 8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” 10 This son was our ancestor Isaac.

Do you see the point Paul is making? As God called only some from among Abraham’s descendants to be his people (6b–13), so now he calls even some Gentiles (v24 Those not my people I will now call my people) and the remnant of the Jews 27 Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved. That’s the argument. God has always sovereignly chosen some to be saved, some to be “of the promise” and others not. Abraham had Ishmael and Isaac. But Isaac was the son of the promise, not Ishmael.

10 When he (Isaac) married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. 11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” 13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”

Can we be sure we are saved? Yes. If God has chosen us, then we are saved, as surely as he chose Isaac and Jacob. If His favour rests upon you then your calling and election is sure. Your good or bad works matter nothing – what matters is the purposes of God.

And this is always the way God has worked. He has not been unfaithful to Israel because he had always made clear that a remnant would be saved, not every Israelite. That is, the mark of salvation was faith in God’s word, and the obedient life that followed from that, not being born a Jew.
Same as being born to Christian parents is not a mark of salvation. I needed to be born again by the Spirit of God. I was called by God out of darkness and into the light. I was on my way to abandoning the faith my parents held. I was following my heart into the darkness. My birth counted for nothing. What counts is God’s mercy.

I did not save myself, God did. You did not save yourself, God did. And if you think you saved yourself, then there is a very real danger that you are not saved. Because that’s what Romans 1-8 has shown us. There is no-one righteous. No-one seeks God, not even one. Not even you. Not until the Spirit breathes life into you.
By the way, if you’re thinking “but I’m seeking God” then praise God, because that means the Spirit is at work in you!

I did not save myself, no more than Isaac chose himself to be the son of the promise, or Jacob chose himself to be greater than his twin brother Esau. I did not save myself – God did.

And that’s what we call predestination or election. That God is sovereign over salvation.

3. The wonderful doctrine of predestination

What is predestination? Article 17 of the 39 articles of faith of the Church of England defines it like this:

Predestination to life belongs to God’s everlasting purpose. Before the foundation of the world, it is his unchangeable decree, in accordance with his secret counsel, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he has chosen in Christ, and to bring them by him to everlasting salvation, as vessels of his mercy.

In other words God has chosen who will be saved. He did this in eternity before even creating us.

14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair?

Isn’t that our main objection to predestination. It’s unfair. We have a VERY strong sense of “fairness” in our Norwegian society. Everyone has to get same opportunity. Everyone has to get the same. If one gets a sweet, everyone has to get a sweet. So much so that sweets were banned in my daughter’s class because not everyone could get and some people might feel bad if some had an others didn’t. So no sweets, cakes or biscuits for anyone. Got to be “fair”.

But the gospel is not fair. If the gospel was fair it wouldn’t be good news because we would get what we deserve – eternal judgement.
Is God unfair? No, because he is God he can show mercy to anyone he chooses! 15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” 16 So it is God who decides to show mercy.

Just like it is perfectly fair for me to take my kids out on a Daddy date, and not take someone else’s kids out with me. Because I’m my kids Dad. I love my kids. No-one would say “that’s not fair”.
Same with God. He has mercy on those whom he loves. And what mercy! God goes on a rescue mission that involved being born a man, suffering and dying on a cross, in order to rescue us!

Now if you’re struggling with this, let me give you some comfort. You’re struggling because of your culture, not your morality. It is your cultural bias that is being challenged, not necessarily what is good and bad. If you were born in a different place or different time you would have no problem now. So let’s not give our gut reaction too much weight. Our culture is good, but has many flaws.

But our struggle is real. So let’s try to understand this. Because we often misinterpret this as “So you’re saying that I’m a robot!”.
No, the Bible is very clear that we are not robots, that our choices are real and that they matter. In fact it is our choice to reject God that sends us to hell. But the fact that we have real choice (sometimes called “free will”) does not mean that God cannot be sovereign over all things.

But how does that work? I don’t know. How is light a stream of photons and a wave at the same time. No-one knows. But it is. Start reading up on quantum physics. Weird stuff. Impossible stuff. But it happens every day all around us. We live in a complex world where things that seem to contradict and cancel each other out… don’t. Two things that we think should be exclusive aren’t. God’s sovereignty does not change our free choice, and our free choice does not exclude predestination.

Salvation is like a door: we see “Come and choose to be saved” but as we go through the door we see behind us “predestined from before time”. These are two sides of the same coin.

Predestination is fundamental to a gospel of grace. The gospel does not work otherwise. Our very concept of God does not work.
If we throw out predestination we throw out grace. Because grace is by its very nature “unfair”.
We deserve hell (Romans chapter 1,2 and 3) – that is what we chose by the exercise of our free will. But God in his mercy overrides our choice. Predestination. We who did not choose God are chosen by God… and so we then choose God. God changes our hearts so that we love Him and choose to follow him instead of reject him. Instead of us getting what we chose, what we deserve, Jesus takes it. He goes through death and hell so that we don’t have to. He is treated like us. And we are treated like him. Children of God. Eternal inheritance. No condemnation. Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Without predestination none of that is possible. If you want grace you want predestination. If you want grace you want God’s sovereignty. It is not possible otherwise. This is a wonderful doctrine.

And then Paul goes and ruins it with v17!

17 For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” 18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

Woah dude. God hardens people as well? I didn’t sign up for this! God is a loving God!

Well, maybe it’s time we get rid of the idea that our God is a loving God?

God is a loving God to those whom he loves. But to those whom he does not love, he is not. In the end He is a terrifying judge bringing destruction and eternal damnation. If you don’t know Jesus as Lord and Saviour then be afraid! Fall to your knees and plead for mercy. Maybe He will hear your prayer.

19 Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

Well, if God is sovereign over everything, then what’s the point? How can he judge us? How can I have free will, free choice? And the answer is…. God is God, trust him.

20 No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? 22 In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. 23 He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. 24 And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

This is both terrifying and greatly comforting. The world is divided up into two groups: those chosen in Christ to bring eternal glory to God. Those not chosen who are garbage. Ouch.
But if you’re in Christ, be free. Your salvation rests on God’s election, his eternal choice. You are secure!

Now the annoying thing is that God has not told us why or how he chooses some and not others, and how that lines up with his desire that all men should be saved. We are simply called to trust him, and trust his character revealed in our Lord Jesus, particularly in his death on the cross. When we see Him one day we will understand, and we will praise him.

See how the passage makes us focus on God and on his sovereign choice: over Isaac, over Jacob, over Israel, and over us.
Now there’s a very tempting theory out there called Arminianism which is not happy with God not revealing the reason why some are given saving faith and not others. Arminianism says that God looked into the future and saw our choices. That how he chooses who is saved and who isn’t. It fits well with our culture, it seems to solve the problem of God being a big bad who sends people to hell. Unfortunately it also removes assurance of salvation and puts us squarely in the centre of salvation. Oh, God chose me because I chose him. There’s three reasons why it doesn’t work:

1. God is not bound by time. He’s not looking ahead to see our choices. He’s already there, in the moment. And he’s at the end of time with those he has glorified (Rom 8:30)

2. He made us. He designed every part of us and the world we live in. it’s not like he doesn’t know the factors that will influence our decisions. So you still end up with the same problem: God designed some people in a way that meant they would choose him, but others were designed to reject him.

3. It rejects the Biblical teaching on sin. Rom 3:10 No-one seeks God. Eph 2:1 We are dead in our sins. Rom 5:12 death spread to all men because all sinned. Gen 6:5 every inclination of the heart of man is only evil all the time.
There is no way we can save ourselves because we are dead in sin. We cannot choose. Some people then respond “Ah, but Jesus’ death opened the way for everyone to choose”. But that’s makes all the clear teaching on sin nonsense: if Jesus’ death opens the way for everyone so that everyone can choose, then everyone can seek God – but the Bible says “no-one seeks God”.

4. And here’s a bonus reason: that not what tonight’s passage says! It’s very clear that God decides. Not us. He is the source, not us, no matter how much time is involved.

30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. 31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. 33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”

Don’t stumble over the stumbling stone of Jesus. Trust him, not in yourself.

See, the doctrine of predestination is wonderful! As the 17^th article says: The reverent consideration of our predestination and election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable strength to godly persons, who feel the working in themselves of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly passions and drawing their thoughts upward to high and heavenly realities. This teaching is welcome to us both because it strongly establishes and confirms our assurance of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, and also because it kindles in us a fervent love to God.

Predestination is fundamental to the gospel and to our understanding of God. It is liberating. It is freeing. God is God and am not and his undeserved favour resets upon me so I’m free to serve him and love him and ador him and when I fail I am not worried because he loves me and has already glorified me – so secure am I!

Praise the Lord.

To end off, I want to give us a gentle push to those of us who are still struggling with this doctrine.

1. You already believe it. You believe that in the beginning God created everything from nothing. He is awesome in power, sovereign over all things. The God who speaks and things are from nothing, is supremely powerful! Of course he’s sovereign over our salvation too.

2. It goes against our culture. Be suspicous of doctrines that tell us what we want to hear.

3. It gives glory to God. We are small, God is big.

4. The greatest theologians of the church throughout history believe in predestination as the clear teaching of Scripture: The Apostle Paul certainly did. So did Augustine, Calvin and Luther, guys who took the Bible very seriously and changed the world.

5. No cults believe in predestination. None of them. Every single cult, whether Jehovah’s Witnesses or Iglasio ni Christo all reject the sovereignty of God and predestination. So does unbiblical nonsense like the prosperity gospel. Why? Because then I can’t get power over you. If salvation comes from God then you don’t need me! But if I can convince you that salvation comes from your own efforts, then I can say “and you need me to coach you, now give me your money”. Predestination protects us from dependence on sinners for salvation.

Brothers and sisters, we serve an awesomely powerful God. And for some reason he has chosen to lavish his love on us. Why, I do not know. But I am so grateful. He called me out of darkness to light, and he has called you. Praise God. Praise him with great praise!

And because He is sovereign, then anyone can be saved. There is always hope, because maybe your family member, your work colleague, your friend, or that stranger on the bus, is elect. Left to our own devices we all reject God. But God has mercy on whom he will have mercy. Amen.

Romans 8.15 to 39 suffering and glory and perfect love

Rom 8:15-39

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“Crucify him!”

The crowd that only days before had been shouting his praises were now baying for his blood.

“Crucify him! Kill him! Away with this pretender!”
Faces filled with hatred, they cheered as he was beaten, they spat at him as he carried his cross, they mocked him as his hands and feet were nailed to the cross and as he hung there dying.

Christ suffered for our sake.
Why do we think that we will not suffer for his?

For Jesus, the path to glory was through suffering, through the cross, through death to self – why do we think it will be any different for us?

Suffering. It is the big problem of the 21st century Westerner. It is a problem for the atheist who has no answers. “Oh well, that’s the way things are. Hope it doesn’t happen to you!” It is a problem for well-meaning Christians who twist themselves in all sorts of knots trying to push the blame away from God.
And it is a problem for us who know the Bible, but have sneaking doubts. Does God really love me? Do I really belong to God? What’s the point? Why am I suffering?

That is what tonight passage answers. Suffering for the Christian is not meaningless – it is the road to glory. It is the birth pangs of glory.

Tonight I want to change your perspective on suffering. Because the way we view suffering depends on what it produces. And for the Christian it produces endurance, strength of character, and a confident hope of salvation.

Suffering does not mean we do not belong to God, no it is a sign that we are his because we experience the Spirit helping us in our weakness as he cries out to God for us.

And suffering does not mean that God does not love us. Instead we are more than conquerors because even in the darkest moment, in the foulest dungeon, in the deepest pit, we experience God’s love. Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

1. The birth pangs of suffering are… good?

2. We belong to God

3. We are loved by God

1. The birth pangs of suffering are… good?

17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. 18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.

Suffering. It is a word we hate. It is wrong. Morally wrong, says our society. But is it?

Whether we view suffering as good or bad depends strongly on the outcome we want to achieve. For example, lifting heavy weights at the gym is a form of suffering! Sweating and grunting and shouting rrargh! But the outcome is strength and health. That’s worthwhile suffering.

We all “suffer” at work. We do things we don’t want to do because the outcome is worthwhile. Money!

When I broke my wrist I had to work hard to rehabilitate it. I suffered greatly! Sweat was pouring down my face and I was in extreme pain as I tried get my wrist to rotate. But the goal was full functionality, which I achieved. The suffering was worth it.

See, there is good suffering and bad suffering – depends on the outcome. And for the Christian all suffering is good – because God is able to turn it to our good, to make us more like Jesus.

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

All creation is groaning. When we (mankind, Adam and Eve) fell, all creation fell. When we sinned God’s curse affected all of creation. And so creation is angry with us. Earthquakes and storms and floods and drought are all of a creation that is angry that we sinned, angry that it is bound, subjected to God’s curse. But it is eagerly looking forward to our day – Christians – when we are redeemed, transformed, and all creation with it. Can you imagine that day? Not only us being transformed, but everything. Renewed. Re-forged. This world as it’s truly meant to be. Wow! It will be amazing!

That’s why the picture of childbirth is used here with regard to suffering now. Because I remember when Debby was in extreme pain and I was extremely happy! And so was she! Why? Because they were birth pangs – and those painful contractions meant that our baby was on her way! Every stab of pain was a promise of the happiness to come that was just around the corner. Every stab of pain was a promise of the happiness to come.

And that’s the perspective we should have with suffering. Every time we suffer it is not without hope, it’s not meaningless, it is a reminder of the glory that lies ahead. It reminds us that this is not our home. It reminds us of the inheritance that we have, the glory that is ours in Christ.

Suffering reminds us of the joy to come. The birth pangs of suffering are good.

By the way, this is why the prosperity preachers are so wrong. it’s not content but timing. We will have perfect health and wealth – then. Not now. We’re not promised that now. In fact, what are we promised? V17 suffering!
Why? Because the birth pangs reminding us of what is to come. That’s where our focus must be. That’s where we draw strength from.

But the prosperity gospel, name it and claim it, health and wealth is focused… where? Here. It is dumb and it is wrong.

For example, my dad is not healed. Prosperity gospel says “lack of faith”. How stupid can you get?
The Bible says “it’s a reminder of true treasure in heaven. Look ahead to perfect hearing and no dizziness.”

One thing I’ve noticed about prosperity preachers: they all get sick, they all get old, and they all die. Kenneth Copeland is old. Bill Johnson wears glasses for goodness sake! He’s wrong. They’re all wrong. Their theology is wrong. It is greed and worldliness dressed up in Church language, and we like it because it tells us what we want to hear. But it’s a lie.

This is the truth. There is suffering. We know that. We live in a world under judgement (Romans 1). But as Christians our suffering is not wasted. No-one rejoices over a headache. But everyone is excited when the birth pangs come! Even though birth pangs are much worse pain than a headache - we rejoice! Why ? Because of hope. That sure hope of the promise that’s to come. That new life. A son or daughter in your arms. And for us who belong to Jesus we have a glorious hope that we will see him face to face. And suffering reminds us of that hope.

Suffering reminds us of the joy to come. The birth pangs of suffering are good.

2. We belong to God

22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

Suffering does not mean we don’t belong to God because God has never promised that we won’t suffer in this life. In fact, he’s promised that we will! But we look forward to a secure future where all suffering is no more. It’s now-not yet.
We are saved – it happened;
we are being saved, as we are changed by the Spirit from the inside out to be more like Jesus;
we are going to be saved, when we are finally released from sin and suffering. What a great day that will be!

That’s why v 23 says we have a foretaste (or “firstfruits” in some translations) of the glory that is to come in the Holy Spirit. We experience His power within us – especially when we are suffering.

26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

We are weak. We cry out to God. And God hears us. How can this be? How can our prayers be suitable for the King of heaven? Because of the Spirit, who takes our prayers and makes them suitable! He intercedes for us in our weakness. He prays for us, even groaning for us, perfectly in our weakness, and the Father hears the prayers of the Spirit on our behalf. Amazing. So we can pray with great freedom, knowing that the Spirit takes our prayers and makes them righteous, and we pray in Jesus name to our “Abba, father” so we know he hears us, even if our prayers are incoherent, groans, moans or even wrong! He hears us. And answers correctly, according to His own Spirit. So pray in great confidence.

In our weakness we experience the Holy Spirit helping us. But not just in prayer. In all things. Look at these amazing verses:

28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Everything. God causes everything to work together for good. Man, that doesn’t make sense unless you see suffering in its proper light. I mean, how can God make my illness work for good. Illness is bad, right? But God causes everything to work together for good. Maybe you’ve been mistreated, abused. I know people even in this church who have been abused physically and sexually. And people who’ve sinned against others in this way.

Can God really use that for good?

Well, what does it say in v28? And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

How? Because he is in control. But his goal with us is not our comfort or our happiness – at least not immediately. His goal is v29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

His goal is to make us like Jesus. Everything that happens in your life is to make you more like him. Now that leads to ultimate happiness, but may not lead to happiness in the moment! As Jesus himself prayed “Abba, father, take this cup of suffering from me. But not my will but yours be done.” That is the goal for our life.

As we said a few weeks ago the chief end of man, the reason why we were created is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Who did that more than Jesus?

It’s like being a top athlete. Whatever it takes to get to the top. Wake early, watch your diet, - suffering. But the reward is the glory. Now that glory fades and is fleeting and there is no guarantee that you’ll even make it – most don’t. But this! This is guaranteed. We will be glorified! We will be like Christ. Therefore these really are light and momentary sacrifices – even jail, even being tortured for your faith – compared to the glory awaiting us.

Now we are not even close to that level of suffering. How easy it should be for us to rejoice in our light suffering, our light burden. But I find the opposite. We struggle more it seems because we have more to lose. Because we are so comfortable. Prosperity is dangerous for us. It is no coincidence that the rapid decline in the church in Norway happened when we became stinking rich.

We need to put suffering in its right perspective. We need these reminders that this world is not our home otherwise we will be tempted! We will go off the path and follow it. We need these reminders so that we will keep our eyes on the glory to come.

I said last week that I wished I had known that Debby was in my future. Because it would have been so much easier to avoid and ignore other temptations that came my way. Why play around with rubbish when pure gold awaits?

That is where we are. Don’t play with rubbish when glory is just around the corner. And suffering reminds us of this. We are chosen by God, loved by God. We have the Spirit of God in us, praying for us, giving us strength when we are weak. And it is when we are weak and suffering that we really experience the power of the Spirit to carry us through. Everything works together to make us more like Christ Jesus. Everything. We belong to God. Chosen by him to become like his Son. And nothing can stop that.

3. We are loved by God

29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Brothers and sisters we are chosen by God, in His great mercy. We are not chosen because we are better, but because he is better. And Christ is now at God’s right hand pleading for us! We are secure! No condemnation. No one can stand against us.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

Why? Because we will be glorified. Because in our weakness he is strong. Because when we are battered the Spirit lifts us up.

You know, I struggle to see suffering as anything positive. But reading this chapter has rattled me. It has shifted my perspective. It has been like a hammer blow to my way of thinking and I hope it is to yours too. Birth pangs! I remember how excited that pain made us. Because of the joy set before us the pain seemed light. Or at least bearable!

Sufferings as birth pangs which remind us of the joy to come. So as we suffer, perhaps we can get excited about the world to come? As my toe is in pain where I injured it 3 years ago and it still hurts. Or my C7 vertebrae in my neck which is degenerating or my asthma is acting up – all reminders that this world is not my home. 18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.

And then I’m reminded that my times of greatest growth have come in my times of greatest suffering. My deepest experiences of God have come in those times of darkness and storm, and I would not swap them for anything. Because in my weakness and helplessness when I was not able to do anything for God, when I was angry and rude with God – I experienced his love.

Just one final note: this is only for Christians. If you’re not a Christian, your suffering is a waste. There is no glory but only terror and pain in your future. So ask God to have mercy. Otherwise.. this is as good as it gets. But for us in Christ – this is the worst it gets!

The birth pangs of suffering are… good?
We belong to God
We are loved by God

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen.

Let’s take a moment now to think through what we are suffering with and bring that to God in prayer.