Bearing Other's Burdens and Glorifying God Together
Romans 15:1-13
Do you have trouble with a weakness of your brother/sister in the Lord? Accept him/her because Christ accepted you despite your weaknesses.
#God
#weakness
#Christ
Published April 24th, 2018
Main point summary
Arc
Notes
Notes
Main point summary
Psalm 18
Main point summary
Deut 32
Main point summary
Psalm 117
notes
Main point summary
Accept one another just as Christ accepted us to the glory of God.
Arc
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Romans 15:1-13
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We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak,
We then who are strong ought to bear with the irrational feelings and doubts of those without strength,
and not to please ourselves.
and not please ourselves by looking down at them and thus sometimes trying to improve our own social statues at the cost of the weak.
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Let each of us please his neighbor
In other words let each of us please his neighbor as this is the obligation of the strong
for his good,
so that good be done,
leading to edification.
leading to the improvement of the weak persons understanding, that his character is build up in the Lord and so becomes strong too.
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For even Christ did not please Himself;
Because even Christ who is perfect did not please Himself;
but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”
but he suffered for doing good to others, as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me."
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning,
Christ experienced theses prophesied words and the reason for why these things were written is for our learning,
that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope .
so that we through the endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures might have hope, as we understand how God led His children in the past by the same difficult path of fatherly disciple to glory.
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Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another,
Now may God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to be like-minded toward one another,
according to Christ Jesus,
according to Christ Jesus,
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that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
so that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Therefore receive one another,
Therefore accept one another,
just as Christ also received us,
just as Christ also accepted us,
to the glory of God.
in order that God be glorified.
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Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision
Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision
for the truth of God,
because of the truth of God,
to confirm the promises made to the fathers,
in order to confirm the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy,
furthermore that the Gentiles might turn from their idols to worship God for His mercy,
as it is written: “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name.”
as it is written: "For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name."
And again he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”
and again he says: "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with the people of Israel!"
And again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!”
and again: "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!"
And again, Isaiah says: “There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope .”
and again, Isaiah says: "There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope."
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Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
Therefore may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
First the command to please, edify and accept one another, then the example of how Jesus Christ served us because of the truth of God to fulfill the promise to the Jews and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy
This looks different from what the western world knows as pleasing. Pleasing is not merely being nice. Pleasing is seeking our neighbors good. That may be through kindness but could also be stern rebuke in case of serious error just as Paul's letter to the Galatians (Gal 1:10). We must remember that we serve first and foremost our mighty God.
Some people are natural people pleasers. But they don't naturally please others for their good.
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Notes
What has Paul in mind when he speaks about the strong and the weak? I believe he thinks of the strong in the Lord and the weak in the faith. Strong believers are mature and stable in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. They are not tossed back and forth by every teaching but are able to discern between right and wrong. Their lives are founded and established on eternal truth and not mere circumstances and accomplishments. Weakness in the faith needs to be distinguished between weakness in the presence of the Lord. Paul writes in the letter to Corinth that when he is weak, then he is strong because God manifests His strength through the weaknesses of His people. He does not mean weak in the truth and teaching of the Lord but rather that there is no strength to do anything apart from the Lord. Everyone needs the Lord more then we tend to think, even down to the next heartbeat and the air we breathe. The Lord grants graciously strength day by day until the appointed day of death and the entrance into glory. There is no guarantee for the next day in our bodies.
Christ is the great example of how to bear with the weak who have no strength. Verse 3b - Jesus at the cleansing of the temple Paul quotes Psalm 69:9. The preceding words of David in that verse were quoted in John 2:17 when the disciples saw the cleansing of the temple. Someone who pleases himself does not take such high risk as Jesus with the cleansing of the temple. When it comes to the yearly Passover feast, it seems to me likely that people from far of bought the animal instead of bringing it all the way to Jerusalem to sacrifice in the temple. That would give the Rulers and Pharisees an opportunity to make a business of those strangers. Now, who would have suffered most from this business practice? I'd say the poor, since they may have had not enough money to buy even the cheapest animal for the sacrifice. The rulers and Pharisees made the temple to a marketplace and were reproaching God because the temple was to be a house of prayer, not a place to enrich oneself. When Jesus stood up for the weak and for what is right in the sight of God, all the reproach suddenly fell on Him. He stands up for those who have no strength and becomes the reproach of the oppressors. Furthermore, all people have reproached God by failing to give God the glory that is due to Him. The reproach that people directed to God fell on Jesus Christ when He gave His life to reconcile enemies to God.
Main point summary
I will give thanks to You among the Gentiles. Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
Psalm 18
OT
Psalms 18:46-50
The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
It is God who avenges me,
And subdues the peoples under me;
He delivers me from my enemies.
You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.
Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord ,
among the Gentiles,
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And sing praises to Your name.
Great deliverance He gives to His king,
And shows mercy to His anointed,
To David and his descendants forevermore.
Main point summary
Gentiles, rejoice with the people of Israel.
Deut 32
Deuteronomy 32:43
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people;
For He will avenge the blood of His servants,
And render vengeance to His adversaries;
He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”
Main point summary
Praise the Lord all Gentiles because God is merciful and His truth endures forever.
Psalm 117
Psalms 117:1-2
Praise the Lord ,
all you Gentiles!
Laud Him,
all you peoples!
For His merciful kindness is great toward us,
And the truth of the Lord endures
temporal
Praise the Lord !
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