Romans 15:7-33 Good news for all Fintry, 9/2/2003, pm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - In pairs or groups earlier: - Sheila is a missionary - what comes to mind? - David is an evangelist - what comes to mind? - you are a witness - what comes to mind? Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - DMPC - often hard to get a seat on a Sunday morning... - healthy!! - Church growth experts tell us that a church that is around 80% full at its main service of worship is unlikely to grow much further. - Makes sense, kind of - harder to get a seat, uncomfortableness of a crowded service - might just not come! So, for every new person who comes, someone who has been coming slips away... (and in a congregation our size, it is really hard to notice that slow process - a recent church survey in England reckoned that 90% of people who left a church were not visited in the critical 6 weeks immediately after their departure...) - Paul was operating in a period of church growth, indeed of church explosion! - but though the church was expanding rapidly, there were also active questions about who was eligible to become part of the church - most pressingly, were the Gentiles to be allowed in?? - never mind would they get a seat, would they be allowed through the door? - As Paul continues to work through the implications of the gospel in the way we order our lives, he makes the case that the gospel is open to all: - indeed that we must share it with everyone! - And he makes that case in two ways: For Jew and For Gentile ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - First, from extensive OT evidence, Paul makes case the Biblical case for Gentiles being in kingdom - This into a context of suspicion of the Gentiles by Jews, often looking down on, verging sometimes on hatred: - lawyers of Judaism: however many hundred commands (600+ in OT)... - love your neighbour as yourself... - but who is my neighbour? Must be my fellow-Jew! - aha - then I don't have to love my non-neighbour, the Samaritan, the Greek, the Roman, the other!! - Paul says, "that attitude is rubbish!!" - (v.9, 2 Samuel 22:50) "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name." - (v.10, Deuteronomy 32:43) "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." - (v.11, Psalm 117:1) And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples." - (v.12, Isaiah 11:10) "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him." - Quoting from all the main sections of the OT - Law, history, prophets, "writings" (Psalms) - "So," Paul says, "if - as we believe - Jesus is the culmination of God's purposes, that culmination includes the welcoming of the Gentiles into the kingdom." By my example... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - Paul doesn't merely make a case for Gentile inclusion, he works out his theory in his practice! - his living matched his talking! - Latter section of the section we read is a reflection set against a backdrop of the way in which Paul habitually worked: - preaching in new places; - seeking to set up worshiping communities; - including the Gentiles in the newly established churches! - helping shape and guide the new life of those young churches; - appointing leaders to take on and continue that work - not simply maintain the new churches, but see them grow; - writing letters, discipling, encouraging, visiting, sending others to do the same... - In other words, Paul planted self-replicating, growing churches. - that was his desire - and the desire he planted in the hearts of his converts. - Witness the incredible growth of the Church in the early years, spreading like wildfire across the Roman Empire, turning the world upside down. - Paul essentially worked his way round the Eastern Mediterranean, planting churches as he went - staying longer in some places than others, but always wanting to take the Gospel to new people. - Hence his desire to go on to Spain - he saw that it was his duty to make Jesus Christ known - and so to see the church grow. - Paul's assumption was that the church would grow. - An expectation built on his experience, yes, on his faith, but most of all on the Lord he was seeking to make known - the Lord who promised to build his church on Peter... - His ambition to build - in Spain, in Rome, around the Eastern Med, on his trip to Jerusalem - everywhere he went and in everything he did. For us? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - Hard to see how that could apply to us! - we are all, so far as I am aware, Gentiles, non-Jews!! - hardly need to make the case for our inclusion in the church!! - But... two things might be said in light of Paul's priorities: Gear up for the outsider! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - Paul is encouraging his contemporaries to consciously work at accepting into their midst those who wouldn't naturally fit there: - those who they would naturally, perhaps even subconsciously exclude - And I wonder whether we are guilty of the same thing... - oh, not consciously shutting the door on certain kinds of people... - though that does happen - eg white only churches in racist cultures - perhaps more difficult to spot - What entry requirements do we place on people before they can join us? - ability to come at either 11am or 6pm on a Sunday? - set of cultural expectations about what is appropriate for a worship service - silence, singing, sitting/standing, giving money, listening, reading... - particular set of acceptable behaviour: who we are sleeping with, how "sorted" our lives are, how scrupulous/honest we are (though we are perhaps less concerned with how greedy people are, or how they treat the poor!) - what clothes we wear! - We need to work at pulling those barriers down: - not only the things to do with the way services and meetings are run; - but also our attitudes to those who don't fit into what we think of as acceptable, sorted Christian people, people whose lives are messy and messed up - because they are still without Christ, or are only just submitting to his Lordship Make including others your priority, your ambition! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - Second thing we can say is in light of Paul's determination to share the good news of the gospel: - his whole life is geared round this task; - everything he does, every decision he makes is within the context of this overall priority - his "ambition" - compare what folk will do today for sake of ambition! - This is why I got you to think about those words earlier in the service! - for I suspect most of us have a (false) hierarchy in our heads of Christian service: cross-cultural missionary, pastor, full-time Christian worker (SU, UCCF, youth worker), maybe then some of the serving professions (doctor, nurse, teacher) and down the bottom anything that smacks of making money! - We leave the task of including others into the Kingdom to others - to the missionaries and evangelists! - see graph!! - We think of witnessing wrong, and so don't do it (or don't realise we are doing it!!) - Paul wanted partners in that work - including financial support (v.24,27), hospitality, (v.24), prayer (v.30) - In other words, he himself had including others, especially outsiders, into the kingdom as a priority, and he wanted the folk in Rome who he was hoping to visit to partner him with that same priority. - Will we join with Paul in struggling (v.30) to share our faith?