The Book of Romans XXIV, the Power of Acceptance

Romans 15, I need to, we'll be addressing this passage, so I won't bother reading it right at the moment, but we'll pick up most of it as we go through. Are you there? Romans 15. On a warm summer day of August 28, 1963, a dynamic young leader assembled an enormous crowd on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and his words have rung through modern history. What were they? I have a dream, let's say it. I have a dream. His dream was for a vision of an integrated and just and compassionate society, and with his words, listeners were struck to the core and have been so and considered those words over the last almost three decades now. As we come to the end of Romans, near the end, we hear Paul saying, in essence, I have a dream. Since Christ has entered my life, everything's changed, and I now have a dream. And in this chapter, Paul spells out parts of that dream. He says in Romans 15, verse 20, that part of his dream is to go where no one else has gone to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to be a pioneer, not a settler, to be one who was on the cutting edge of what God was doing, to be one who was willing to endure how many of you know what he did, shipwreck, torture, fastings, I mean, he had a rough time of it, jail, beatings, imprisonment, for the sake of fulfilling his dream. He says in verse 24 that part of his dream was that he would be able to go to Spain. I don't know, maybe like Mexican food, I don't know. He wanted to go to Spain, right? Spain was a 1,600-mile trip, and in those days, that was a long, long way to go. He had a dream. He says in verse 23, I want to visit you. I've been longing for many years to see you and then go on to Spain. But all of chapter 15, as we're going to see, as far as I'm concerned, is an expression of Paul's dream for the church in these last days. He says, I can't wait to see you, to check out the characteristics that are in your life to see if you're fulfilling the dream that I have for you. And dear ones, may I say that no one ever loved the church more than Jesus, but Paul was a close second. And I believe if we could have checked in with Paul at the very end, he would have told us that his dream was in the process of coming true. In fact, he said in 2 Timothy 4, verses 7 and 8, I've fought the good fight of faith. I've done everything I could to bring my dream to pass. I'm going to ask you a question. Are you doing that? Are you giving everything you can to see your dream? Do you have a dream? What is your dream? To make a buck? To get married? To see your kids through college? To make it to Thursday? You see, what higher call is there in life than seeing the church of Jesus Christ be all that God the Father intended it to be? What more could you do with your energies? What higher thing? Think about it now. Get out of the realm of corporate America and everyday life. What higher thing is there in all the world than the church? Paul Billheimer writes convincingly that the church is the vortex, the center of all history, secular and sacred. What higher thing can you invest your life in than the church of Jesus Christ? One businessman that I know was telling me not too long ago that he is finally getting his job down pat. I mean, he can hit the bullseye every time he steps up to the plate in his job and in his sales and so on. And he's saying, now it's just sort of a matter of sitting down and doing my stuff and seeing how high I can ring up the score. Kind of an interesting dilemma, wouldn't you say? I wonder how many people realize that they kind of hit their stride and maybe hit their peak at 40, 45, 50. And then all that's left to do is like fill out your years, unless you have a higher dream, unless you have a greater vision. If you're not dreaming about serving the bride of Christ, if your dream doesn't have something to do with building up the church, can I submit to you tonight that you need to look at your dream? Because the dream of God is that this bride would one day stand pure and holy beside Him. Is your dream high enough tonight? Or have you kind of just sort of settled back for something that circumstances have dictated to you? And may I ask you, in the end, when it's all kind of sorted out, what are you going to say that you did with your life? Well, I was faithful. I did this. I tried that. Well, will you say that I gave my best energies to that which mattered most to God? You know, I'm about halfway there now. I'm hoping anyhow, all right? All things considered. Isn't the average age now for females 80? Did I read that? I mean, not the average age, but the normative age when women die. Now, here we go. I'm already in trouble. Average life expectancy is 80. All right. You know, I've got to go back to school and get this stuff straight. So anyhow, I'm projecting that things will keep happening. The first thing that goes is your memory, and I'm having all these problems. But anyhow, I may make it. And I'm just counting that the things that I'm investing in, just like I know you do, are going to really matter. God is not interested in how much I have in the savings account at my local bank. He's not all that interested in what I drive or wear and all that kind of stuff. But he does care about his church. And if your heart doesn't beat just a little bit faster when you consider his church and what you're doing in his church, if you don't just race a little bit in your pulse, what makes you really beat? I mean, what does get you going? Is it the Super Bowl? Is it a sunny day? Is it a good movie? I mean, what else is there? What's really going to last? Being a part of this church, being a part of a church where something is happening, I'm not by any means am I naive enough to think that everything is happening here, but something is happening here. I was concerned. The message would have been very short if I hadn't heard anything. But probably I would say on a weekly basis I talk to people in different parts of the country who move away or I've encountered in my different travels and so on who say something like, I just haven't been able to find a church here, a place where there's vibrant worship, a place where people do care about each other, a place where there's some opportunity to serve. And if I could find a church, I'd go to it all the time. I'd bring my friends to it. I would support it. I'd be part of it. I'd be there. If only I could find a place. But I just can't seem to find it. Is it very possible that maybe some of us, maybe not here tonight, but maybe overall, is it possible that we kind of just sort of take it for granted? Have you ever thought what you'd do if you came here one day and the place said, no more Northland? You'd say, oh, I'd go find another church. Well, you'd say, oh, I've been waiting for that. I want to go over here. You know, I don't know. I would hope, though, that some of us would be given cause to think. And I pray that we never take what God's grace has meant to us for granted, but that we cherish it. It's a rare thing. It is a rare, rare thing that I see God doing in our church. And some of us need to just set aside the issues that would pull us. I know some of us have great difficulty with various personalities. How many of you know that maybe in the end you'll make it with that person you don't like? You know, things will get by and you'll be all right. And maybe, as I said a few weeks ago, your mansion will be right beside theirs on the streets of gold. Divine justice, you know? And let's get our eyes off of things we don't like and the things that are struggles and the things that are kind of not where we want them to be and just say, God, let me see you in the midst of it. Let me see you even if the praise team isn't as sharp as they ought to be or the building's not as warm as it should be or whatever. Let me just see you when I'm leaving my home group even if I don't like all that. Let me see you. And you know what will happen if all of us resolve to do that? Guess what you're going to see? You're going to see Him. Now, Paul here for us gives us a whole lot of reasons that he was excited about the church in Rome. And he tells us here 10 positive qualities, 10 marks, if you will, of a Holy Spirit-filled church. If you'll permit me right now, I'm going to go through these rather quickly for you. Now, along the way, would you take mental note of the ones that you feel are, by your own observation, most apparent here at North Way? By the way, if you're a visitor today, this evening, I just want to welcome you. We haven't done that yet, but we're glad you're here. We'll be giving you something at the end of the service just to thank you for coming. But those of you who attend regularly, would you kind of make a mental note or even just put an X? Is it yellow tonight? Yeah, put an X by the ones you think, well, I've seen that here at least a few times, all right? And if not, leave it blank. But here we go, 10 qualities. I'm going to go rather quickly. Number one, the church that Paul dreams about is a church where people bear with one another's weaknesses. Look at verse one with me, would you? We who are strong, who is that here tonight? Don't put your hand up. Are you strong tonight? We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Paul said, I'm dreaming of finding a fellowship where people bear one another's burdens and weaknesses, where people are not just looking out for themselves and their own little family. Look at that verse again. Take your eyes off the platform. Look at the verse. Just for a second, would you? I pray to God that verse is true about our church, that we not live to please ourselves. How many of you know that is an American right? I have a right to please myself. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And a mark of a New Testament church is a place where people are intent on bearing with the weak. And I think Mack spelled out last week, you know, the weak have to do with people who maybe are just a little more rigid or a little less flowing or whatever, who are needy, who are questioning. Do you bear with the weaknesses of the brother or sister who comes on Sunday and is as stiff as a board because they're scared out of their mind to come into this church? Are you mad because it's not pleasing you? We've got to bear with the weak, not please ourselves. Paul says that, by the way, because he knows when we bear with the weak, then we're most like God, because he was patient with you and me. Number two, Paul said, I dream of a church where people edify one another, where every single believer has identified their spiritual gift and they are employing it in the body. On my way in tonight, I encountered a gal who was on her way back. She had a bunch of paraphernalia. She was heading back to the classrooms. She looked like she was geared for war. She was dressed for it. I said, where are you going? I thought maybe she was going to go out in the streets and do some evangelism. She said, I'm going back to the five and six-year-olds. And she said, and I love it. They get me going every Wednesday night. I'm not sure how she meant that, but she was really excited about it. First of all, a question for you. Do you know your spiritual gift or gifts? Do you know them? Well, I kind of do, Pastor. Go ahead, let's have a hand raised. How many know your spiritual gift? Now, leave them up. How many are employing them on a regular basis? Leave them up. If you know your gift, give yourself a great hurrah. If you know your gift and are using it, say, praise God, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. And Paul says, I'm looking for a church where people are edifying. I'm dreaming about a church where all the gifts are operating. Where there's teaching gifts and mercy gifts and helps gifts and interpretation of tongues and prophecy and healing and teaching and all these things and the body's working. You know what, folks? I don't know what the percentage would be. I'd say we're maybe. If we're 50% operating in our gifts around here, I'd be really thrilled. I think it's probably around that. But I want it to be 80%, don't you? How about 100%? I want all of us to say, I know my gift and I know where it fits and I'm using it. And Paul said, that's the kind of church that I dream about. He said, number three, I dream about a church that's in unity. What other words are you beginning to see as a pattern here? One another's, okay? They're all one another's. There's something like 33 of them in the New Testament, but there's 10 here. A church that's in unity with one another, verse five, look at it. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves. Know where there's a wide diversity. How many of you know it's easy if you're all kind of like clones from the same socioeconomic neighborhood that you can all kind of get along? It's not all that easy when you have young and old and rich and poor and smart and not so smart, very mature and immature. Paul said, I'm dreaming about a place where people can disagree agreeably. Now listen very carefully. Unity begins with each of us recognizing that there are going to be people that we don't necessarily click with all the time. Paul said, be a place where interpersonal conflict does not become guerrilla warfare. A place where interpersonal conflict does not get down and dirty and digress into slander. But we can just agree to disagree or have some problems we've got to work out. But it's faced and negotiated and worked through and resolved to the glory of God. Paul said, I'm dreaming about a church where that'll happen. How many of you know a church that was destroyed by slander and gossip? Anyone know a church like that? I know a lot of them. Just got going. Things snowballed and got out of control. Paul said, I don't want to see that. But people choose to believe the best. I can tell you something about our elders. They are men who believe the best about you. I mean, we don't get down and have sessions and our elders meet about, well, I wonder what's going on. I wonder what's happening in this room. They believe the best about each of you. And I believe that's starting to carry over and I want to ask the Lord just to increase that in us. Believe the best. Don't ever believe someone up here who's thinking the worst about you. And vice versa. All right, number four. Paul said, I want to see a place where people learn to worship with one another. And I just touched on that. People who see that worship is a priority. Do you see worship as a priority? Let me ask you a question about that. I mean, do you make it a point in your schedule to always be here at worship when there's worship? So are you talking about going to church? I'm talking about worship. I'm talking about what we just did for 30 minutes that we haven't done, some of us, for a few weeks because we haven't been here. And I just contend with you that that is a very important thing to God. How many places could the Holy Spirit have stopped tonight and found worship in all of Pittsburgh? And I say, God, let us be a place where worship is a priority in all of our schedules, in all of our hearts, where we want to do something that makes you happy, even if we're not into the mood or whatever. Lord, let us be a place where we turn up the heat in worship, where we adore you openly, where passion begins to just rise a bit because people want to worship. One voice and one heart. We sang it. I say, Lord, make it true of us. Where everyone's participating. I told our worship leaders about two years ago, I said, I have a goal. And that goal is maximum participation. One day I'm saying, Lord, I want to be able to walk from the front to the back and hear no difference in the volume. I've got a ways to go in that. But see that one voice, one heart. That's what God's looking for. Number seven, or five rather, verse seven. A place Paul is dreaming about where people accept one another. Folks, we are making progress on this. And I say, praise the Lord for that. We're not quite as tight and rigid and afraid as we once were. But you know, Paul, in this whole book, has made a theme. Remember weeks and weeks ago, we talked about the Jews and the Gentiles? What was the problem there in Rome? The Jews didn't trust the Gentiles and the Gentiles thought the Jews were weird and they didn't accept each other. Remember I talked about, sort of like you drew a line down the middle and you were the Jews and you were the Gentiles or was it vice versa? And there was contention going back and forth. There are whole books, by the way, written on the subject of unity that contest that this one verse is the whole reason why Romans was written. That Romans was written so that the Jews and Gentiles would accept one another because the future of the church depended upon their unity. Paul argues in Romans 3, we're all sinners. He argues in Romans 6, we all have the same Savior. He argues in Romans 8, we've all been adopted into the family of God. He argues in Romans 12, we all have gifts. And he argues that we're all going to go to heaven together so we might as well learn to accept each other here. And acceptance, by the way, is something you not only believe, but what? You've got to feel it. I love it when people say to me, I visited your church and I really felt, and they'll say, usually they say love. I felt welcomed there. By the way, that reminds me, if you want to be someone who gives some of that as a greeter, you can give half an hour one time a week or a month. Would you let Fred Sale know that here tonight? Let one of the pastors know. We need more people out there in the front to greet the folks coming in. But that's just the beginning. I'm going to write around you. Tonight, if you turn in a circle and turn your back on someone, they may feel really rejected. I'm amazed at how sensitive we are about those kind of signals. I turn this way and say, I get whole letters from people saying, you walked by me in the hall and didn't say anything. Oh my goodness. I retrace my steps. And of course, at that time, I was supposed to be something. But we need to just accept each other and send those strong signals that we love and have much care for each other. Number six, Paul says, I'm dreaming about a mature church where we can admonish and instruct one another. Where people are mature enough, look what it says in verse 14, to instruct one another. To be so jealous of God's reputation and so concerned for the well-being of the fellowship that we put our foot down when we see someone going astray. You know, a few weeks ago, one of the staff was talking to me about something I had said earlier in the day. And they said to me, I don't know if you meant to say this, Jay, but here's how it sounded. And if that kind of thing went on and you did mean to say that, I'm afraid for what that might mean to the staff. Well, you know, I really appreciated that. I mean, at the time I said, well, gee, that's kind of, you know the whole story. But as I thought about it, the brother was right because what he was saying was, I want to protect your reputation. I have a question for you. Are we looking out for each other? If you see someone going down the wrong road or getting themselves out of fellowship or saying things that are abusive or abrasive, would you have the courage to admonish and instruct them and draw them back in? Or would you just let them wander down and say, well, hey, it's their life. If they want to go down the tubes, let them. Or do you protect them? Do you care about God? They were serious about it. And, you know, they'd get down within two to three inches of your head. Just swoop down. Every time. Now, I got wise and went around another direction eventually. And, you know, if we protect each other enough, people will get wise. And they'll let us alone. And we'll spare a lot of grief that the enemy would want to work against us. Number seven. Paul says, I'm looking for a place. Verse 18. He boasts about it. Nothing except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I've said and done. Paul's looking for a place where people inspire one another. How many of you love testimonies? You know, last summer when we had our missions homecoming, I had a couple of people say to me afterwards, you know, they said, my life was going on a direction and I was so inspired by what I heard that I've now redirected my life. And I'm going to be serving God in a way I hadn't even thought about. I really pray that things that happen here, things that you share in your life, inspire people to be their best in Christ. And I don't know, but it's very easy. I mean, there's a lot of mediocrity out there. But God says, be your best. Go places where no one has gone. Do things that people haven't done. Inspire one another. Paul said, number eight, I dream of a place, a church, where people support one another. Verse 26 and 27, he talks here. Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Look at it. Verse 27, they were pleased to do it. They didn't moan, groan, complain. They were happy for the opportunity to give support. Are you happy when you have an opportunity to support the saints in another place? I know you are. You know, I have to say to you, there's so many wonderful testimonies that come back to me about what your giving has meant to other fellowships and churches and people. The church in Riga right now, how many of you know that all of Eastern Europe and that part of the Soviet Union is just going through monumental changes every day? I hope you're praying for it. That church is just awesomely positioned right now to have a great impact. A group of us are praying about going over there and encouraging the saints this summer. But part of what we've been able to do is to encourage that church through our giving and our support and hopefully more so as the time goes on. Some of you may never, most of us will never see it, but I want you to know that those saints are encouraged by your participation. It's a great blessing. It's biblical. Paul said, I dream about a church where people are partnered together with their finances supporting one another. I dream about a church like that. People aren't afraid to give. Number nine, he said, I dream about a place where people pray. For one another. Gosh, ooh. You know, we at North Way have a great heritage of prayer. I don't say that to our credit, but I say that to God's glory that if you look back, if a journal was ever written about our prayer life here, there would be an awful lot. But how many think that there could be a little bit more? One of the things that I'm believing the Lord to do in the balance of 1990 is to reignite some revelation in prayer to us. And I don't know how it's going to happen. I'm not talking about more discipline. I'm just talking about more understanding of how prayer works. Paul said here in verse 30, I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. When Lisa Anderson leaves here on Friday to go back to Honduras, I hope some of you will join her in her struggle as you pray for her. As people that you know go through trial, difficulty, circumstances, unbelieving loved ones, whatever it might be, join them in their struggle by praying for them. How many of you know that intercession, number one, has as a point identification? When you intercede, you're identifying. And Paul said, you literally share in my struggle when you pray for me. Imagine what happens when a whole church identifies with someone in prayer. We have needs like that that come up periodically where the whole church says, we're going to pray for this. And Paul says, I dream about a place where the church understands the power of prayer. I believe it. Don't you believe it? I'm not sure I really understand it is all I want to. I want to grow in that. People pray for the services, for the relationships, for the outreach, for the youth, for the marriages, for the job situations. I pray for everything that concerns us. And number 10, Paul said, I'm looking and dreaming about a church where people refresh one another. Look at verse 32. He says this, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed. Somehow, I'm not sure I understand it, but when everything is operating kind of as God had ordained, there is a sense of contentment. That's the word I'm talking about on Sunday. Contentment in the body. It's as though, you know how your own body, when something goes wrong in one place, it kind of sends the right antibiotics and all that stuff in your body to that place to heal it, all the little organisms and stuff. Well, the body of Christ should be that way. When one of us hurts, one part of us gets wounded, others should rush to the side to kind of start the healing process. And when the body is really operating correctly, nobody gets all burned out and bent out of shape. Why? Because there's plenty of others there to bear that burden. I pray some of you will consider that in your participation. That maybe you can give some relief to some of the weary saints that are serving the body in some way here, in your home group, here in our corporate gatherings, somewhere in our outreaches, maybe with our children's ministry. Maybe you can just step in and help a weary wounded soldier to get some rest. Paul said, I dream about a place where it's just refreshing to be there. I have people tell me that about our church, people who come from other battle zones. I just like to go there, they say, and be refreshed. The whole church needs to catch that. So there you have it, ten things. Can we get them all up at the same time? Ten marks. How many of you think this is exhaustive? What did he leave out? What are some other things that you think Paul would be looking for? Well, love certainly. What else? Serving spirit, faithfulness. How about evangelism? How about doctrinal purity? Sacraments and so on. But go ahead now and make a grade. I see some of you have already done that. Minus three. No. What do you have there? How many of you have three of them? Five of them? Seven of them? How many do you see here at North Way? Go ahead. Just do a little evaluation of your own right now, would you please? Where you see that the Lord has graciously given us some of these qualities, go ahead and mark them. Maybe put a circle around the one or two that you'd love to see happen that maybe you don't see right now. Why don't you make that your prayer focus for the body for the next several weeks until Easter time. Now let me close with these thoughts, would you? You see, Paul didn't just dream about a church like this. What did he do? He committed his whole life to see this dream become a reality. And he avoided the entanglements that kept him from serving the Lord Jesus. Now turn your paper over and write these notes down. Don't fold them up, put them away yet. What, may I ask, my dear brother or sister, are you dreaming about? What do you long to see? Maybe it's one of those ten, maybe it's one that we didn't mention. What would happen that would be different here if your dream was fulfilled? And then let me ask you, would you make a commitment to see it happen? Let me know dreams don't just happen because we hope they will or wish they will. They happen because people commit their lives to them. That's why dreams come to pass. And God steps in by His power and grace and meets the man or woman of faith who's willing to lay their life in the line. Now, let me just be real honest for a second. What holds you back from seeing your dream fulfilled? What holds us back from seeing the New Testament dream fulfilled? I'll submit to you in one word what it is. Safety. I like it this way. I like my life this way. I like it to be controlled. And I know that if I went ahead and committed my life to seeing my dream fulfilled, it may mean that some things would change about my life. Because Jesus made it pretty clear that He who went after Him could expect to see some things happen. It may mean some scary things, huh? It may mean some loss of securities. It may mean some risk-taking. It may mean some inevitable discomforts. And you and I are just fleshly enough that we think, I can't afford to do that. I can't pay the price of discomfort. I can't change my priorities that much. Dear ones, if you're safe and comfortable and happy, then I submit to you you're probably not moving in the center of God's will. And we have all of eternity to share with Jesus in safety and comfort and happiness and blessing. But we only have from 830 on the 21st of March, 1990, until Jesus comes back. Or we die to go be with Him. We only have that much time to see our dream fulfilled, to see His dream fulfilled. I just want to throw out one appeal tonight to maybe a handful of people who are serious enough about following Christ to say, I'll pay whatever the price. I'll suffer whatever the pain. I'll do whatever it takes to see the dream fulfilled. I have a sense that God has a more fantastic dream for you and for our church than any of us have dared imagine. I believe that. I believe it more now than I did five years ago. But it's going to take people who say, I share the dream. And I'm willing to pay the price, give what it takes, leave the safety of my comfort zone. You know what? I've never met a man or a woman who's done that, that said, yeah, I'm really sorry I did. It's just a leap out there that only a few take. But it's worth it. I just want to ask you tonight, are you one of the ones, are you one tonight that would say, I want to be counted among those who live pleasingly to God, with everything? Let's think, shall we? I'd like you to respond.