Romans 15:1-13: Helping Teaches Tangibly Our Weakness Before God

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.”

Again, it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”

And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples extol him.”

And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.”

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:1-13

This chapter starts with a pa-rinig. Something which is spoken as if a message about someone else, but is really a message about me, the reader. Yes, it is about how we should bear with the "failings of the weak" and how we should "not please ourselves." Sounds good. We have to mag-tiis with those who are weaker than us.

But in the next sentence, Paul shifts the object: we are no longer talking about "the weak" but rather about "our neighbors". Suddenly, "the weak" are now "our neighbors." This reminds us uncomfortably of the command to "love our neighbors as ourselves.", raising the weak to the same level as "us"

Then, the next sentence Paul shifts again, replacing the "us" and "them" with "Christ" and "us". Suddenly, "them" has become "us". We are the ones who are the weak. We are supposed to accept one another just as Christ managed to accept us. We are the weak.

In case we missed the subtle hinting, Paul drives it home with the Jews and Gentiles by quoting several verses where the Gentiles, who appreciate Israel's God, are praised. They who were far away are now close to God.

Before we call someone weak, remember that we are the weak to someone else-possibly to the very person we are called to help. We are all weak. Helping teaches tangibly how we appear before the Christ who saved.  

Matthew 10:1-10: Signs of Heaven Are Around If You're Willing to Look

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

“Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts—no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. - Matthew 10:1-10

Jesus gave his disciples a clear message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' He also gave a series of ways to show those who listened to his disciples that it was really true: 'Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.' He also gave his disciples a clear attitude: 'Freely you have received; freely give.' 

I'm not sure if driving out demons is the way that people today would recognize that the kingdom had come near. God chooses his own signs, but God's signs always involve God doing what only God can do.  But signs are only visible to those who are looking. If I am not looking, then no sign will convince me of the presence of God. The road sign, 'Rest Area' is meant to give me advanced notice that there is a good place to stop and go to the restroom and stretch my legs. But if I am not looking for the sign of a 'Rest Area' I will never exit the highway soon enough. And why should I be looking if I am not feeling tired? Why should I be looking if I don't know the possibility of 'rest'? That is what the disciples proclaimed: heaven is around you if you are willing and interested to look. 

Isaiah 1:10-20: Serving Not to Be Served

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

“The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.

Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. - Isaiah 1:10-20

The religion of Isaiah's time was the religion of self-service. It had all of the trappings of religion: a god, a temple, sacrifices, festivals, worship services and holy days. Everyone gathered together, said the right words, used the correct names of god, made the proper gestures, sang the right songs and said the right prayers and brought the right offerings, but the god who they really worshiped as themselves. The temple was an edifice built for the worship of their own well-being. It must have distressed God to see people coming into a place that he had established, only to see them give their hearts and allegiance to such a pitiful deity. 

What should the one who really wants to find God do? They have to realize how much attention that their so-called worship of God has been worship of themselves and how weak and narcissistic and bad it is. It is like the one who realizes that the house where they have spent their life savings and committed to a 30-year mortgage only to realize it was a shack built on a nuclear waste site. Or the one who gets the car of their dreams and pledges to monthly payments only to find that underneath the flashy paint job is a chassis built of rust.  How pitiful. 

One test of our hearts is to learn why we do the things that we call good. Are they oriented toward God really? Be suspicious of our own motives. Do things for people who really give nothing back. Once we delight in that, we are still serving to be served. 

1 John 4: The Measuring Cup is to Love like Jesus. Do I?

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. - 1 John 4

"This is how love is made complete among us ... In this world we are like Jesus." When I pour out salt for a recipe, I check that the salt reaches the lip of the measuring spoon. Too much and I am saltier than I should be. Too little and I am tasteless. I know that I often don't measure up to the completeness that is Jesus. Some people must have an incredible imagination to think that their Jesus matches the attitudes that they express. I don't have that kind of creative imagination. But, as the song says, "Through some clever thinking and a strong imagination I could twist the truth into any configuration, find myself doing things that I never dreamed I could do" (CP, Almost Threw it All Away)

John doesn't let us off the hook: "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar." I can come up with all sorts of linguistic gymnastics to say that what I am doing is not "hate", stating that my attitude is just a misdemeanor, not a "true" criminal offense. But I wonder, who am I lying to. Instead of admitting the truth of my sinful desire to hold on to my bad attitude. Instead of falling once more upon the mercy of God and grieving on it. Instead of working diligently against my own tendency to justify and never change. 

One day I will grow up. As Paul says

"I pray that you ... may have power to ... grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" - Eph. 3:18b-19