Last week we looked at the importance of those that are stronger in our local churches not allowing preferences to come between us as a family. Once again, this is not an issue of doctrine but of personal preferences, even to things like smoking, alcohol consumption, and other things like eating meat and the like. Personal freedoms are not a sign of maturity; it is the way that we use or mis-use these freedoms that make the difference.
Verse 1-6: We are to lead the way if we are strong. Each of us is to take responsibility for a neighbor. We are to be actively edifying each other, building each other up. Too many spend their spiritual lives looking down their noses at others and simply tearing them down. The only way that they can feel good about themselves is to tear someone else down, and we get this idea that if you don’t serve God like me, then you are not saved, or at least you may be saved, but you are not a mature one. This is crazy. Jesus, we are told in Psalm 69:9, bore our sins, bore our shame, and bore the wrath that we deserved. All that we do, we should do to glorify God, and if we do so faithfully, we will also build each other up.
Paul then springboards to let these Jewish believers know that the Gospel is for everyone, Gentiles included. The Jews in Rome needed to know that the Gospel was not just for them but for the Gentiles as well.
Verses 9-13, Paul lays out that the Gentiles are going to serve God as well, and he did it using Old Testament verses so that there were no disputes. Yes, the Old Testament told of the Gentiles and that the Messiah would reign over them as well and that they would worship Him.
I work in the car business, and I learned a while ago that Volvo invented the 3-point seat belt and that this was such an important discovery that they gave it to the other manufacturers for free. We should have the same mindset about the Gospel; it is so important that all need to get it for free. I am sure that these few Christian Jews in the Middle East could probably not envision a day when the new churches that they were seeing birthed would be populated almost entirely by Gentiles. But here we are 2,000 years later, and now the Gentiles are sending missionaries back to the Jews.
Verses 14-21: Paul was a pioneer of missions. He went to Rome, hoped to go to Spain, and we know that he was very active in Macedonia and other Greek cities. Paul set the idea of traveling in groups; he often had a large entourage with him. He worked secular jobs when needed, sacrificed his own needs, and built church after church all across Europe. Paul made time to write reports, to return and report to the church in Jerusalem, and made home wherever God placed him; he could fit in anywhere. He was always looking for a way to share the Gospel.
Is your church active in mission work? Are you financially supporting missionaries? Do they visit your church and share what God is doing worldwide? We could learn a lot here. Are we always on the lookout to share the Gospel; do we have a Gospel radar working all the time? Never forget that it is a privilege to be able to share the Gospel.
Verse 25-29: Don’t forget where the Gospel came from. Salvation is of the Jews. Jesus is a Jew, the apostles were all Jews, the Patriarchs are Jews, and Jesus is coming back to rule from Jerusalem. On and on we can go, but the truth is the same. Our salvation, the one that we Gentiles cling to, is a Jewish one, with a Jewish Messiah and a Jewish Savior, and we are never to forget where it all came from. Pray for Israel, pray for her peace, and that the blind Jews will have their eyes opened before it is too late and that they will see Jesus the Messiah; that they would repent, see Him as the One, and trust in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario
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