A Spirit of Unity
FROM PASTOR MATT ORTIZ

May 25, 2008



Purpose: To encourage people to cultivate relationships with people of different cultures.

A Spirit of Unity

Romans 14:1-4, 14-23; 15:1-7



14:1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

15:1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." 4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.



Introduction

A. In ancient times, when Kings went out to battle and conquered distant lands…

1. …they established kingdom outposts.

And the outpost represented the king in far off lands where the kingdom had not yet been fully established. The king could be in his capital hundreds of miles away from some parts of his kingdom. So, the kingdom outposts were a visible demonstration to the people there of the reign and the rule of the king.



2. Why do I bring this up?

It's because the church is a kingdom outpost of God's Kingdom of Grace. King Jesus has gone out to battle. Through his death and resurrection, he has conquered the enemy. And yet, his kingdom has not yet been fully established. And so he has established kingdom outposts to be a visible demonstration of what it looks like when Jesus reigns and rules.



3. Crossroads Church is a Kingdom outpost of God's Kingdom of Grace.

We exist to demonstrate to ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />San Diego what the Kingdom of God looks like. We are to be a community that shows people what it looks like when King Jesus rules and reigns in our lives.



B. So, what does it look like?

1. Let me mention one thing.

In the Kingdom, there is a rich diversity of people living in perfect unity. In the Kingdom--people from every nation, language, people and tribe worship and serve God with all the strengths of their culture and none of the sin. And we all do it in a way that promotes and strengthens our unity.



2. Sad to say, Kingdom outposts in the US have had a poor record.

Martin Luther King Jr. said:

"The most segregated hour in America is between eleven and twelve o'clock on a Sunday morning. - "Martin Luther King

That's still mostly true--even in diverse National City. On the other hand, when God's people have lived together in rich diversity and authentic unity other people have been drawn in to worship this God who has made that possible.



3. We see that when we look at The Church of Antioch.

In the first century, Antioch in Syria had a very diverse population of 500,000 people. Racial and cultural differences created so much antagonism that the city built walls to separate the groups from each other in an effort to keep the peace. If you were part of one group you just didn't go into other territories.



But then the gospel of God's grace began to spread in Antioch. And people from different races and cultures became followers of Jesus. And they started crossing the dividing walls to meet with each other for worship and fellowship.



And Antioch became the first place where the followers of Jesus were called Christians. Part of that was they couldn't be labeled with racial or cultural tags. They were a diverse people living in unity. They were kingdom outpost that transcended the walls of division.



C. With all my heart, I believe that is what God wants Crossroads to be.

¿: And here's the question: How can we?

¿: How can we grow as a people that cherish unity and celebrate diversity?

Well in our text we see three answers that can lead Crossroads to become more and more of that kind of church. First of all, we learn to…



I. u Make evaluations based on the Gospel

A. This is exactly what Paul is doing.

1. He calls the one group "strong" and the other group "weak".

Paul is making evaluations and he is expressing them—even negative evaluations.



2. Usually this point is overlooked. When Paul says:

1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment…

…we wrongly conclude that what he means is that we're not to decide what's right and wrong. And when he says:

22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.

…we wrongly conclude that what he's saying is "Ok, if there is a right or a wrong way on a certain issue you're not supposed to say anything about it. You're not supposed to point that out to people."



3. But Paul is doing exactly what we think he is saying not to do.

He's evaluating cultural practices in light of the gospel. And he concludes one practice is more in line with the gospel than another. He says: The strong eat everything! But the weak only eat vegetables! So, is he slamming vegetarians here? Of course not. Just like he's not endorsing gluttony when he says – "the strong eat everything".



B. So, what's he saying?

1. The issue was over "clean" and "unclean" food.

The Old Testament says that Israel was only to eat clean food and there were lists. Then in Mark 7, Jesus declares all food clean—this is what Paul's doing! There were two purposes of the clean and unclean laws in the Old Testament. One purpose was to preserve the identity of Israel as a nation. The other was a theological lesson teaching us that to enter God's presence we must first be cleansed. And of course, it's through Jesus that we're cleansed. So, Paul, like Jesus, says: "In Christ, no food is unclean!"



2. But--there was a group in the church in Rome…

…that were raised under the dietary laws of the Old Testament. When they heard the gospel, they believed in Jesus as the Messiah. But after centuries of following the "clean/unclean" tradition, they thought Christians should keep it up. And since, in Rome, they couldn't be sure which meat was clean they decided to only eat vegetables.



3. Paul says they're "weak".

They're weak because they haven't drawn out the implications of the gospel to this area of life. The others, who would eat anything, he calls strong. The strong were primarily Gentile Christians who had not been raised under "clean/unclean" tradition.



C. This sounds like a petty, insignificant doctrinal argument—but it is not!

1. Because in I Corinthians 8, there's a problem with food again.

Only this time, it's just the opposite. Gentile Christians are not eating meat and Paul calls them weak. And the Jewish Christians were eating meat and they are the strong.



2. See the Gentile Christians in Corinth had been raised in pagan religions.

And in those religions meat was offered to idols and then sold at markets. And so out of fear of eating something that had been offered to idols--the whole idea of eating meat freaked out these Gentiles. But the Jewish Christians said: "An idol's nothing. It a block of wood. Eat the meat."



3. So, who cares? What's the point?

You have two different racial groups--Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. In Corinth, the Gentile Christians are the weak and the Jewish Christians are the strong. In Rome, it is just the opposite.



Cultural and racial differences can affect how you and I read and apply the Bible. The culture of one group in one setting can make them strong. But the culture of the same group in a different setting can make them weak.



D. So, here's how all this applies to your life!

1. Write this down:

w We need each other!

We need cultural and racial diversity to see the truth of the gospel. Left to yourself you'll only see a part of the truth. And to the extent that a church is all the same—it will be blind. Yes, cultural and racial differences can lead to disagreements in the church. But what is the solution? The solution is cultural and racial differences. We need each other to see the fullness of the gospel.



2. And we need each other to evaluate our cultural practices.

Because some are in line with the gospel and some are not. The world says: No--the way you get along with people who are different than you is to say that all cultural practices are all right!



3. But Christianity says:

The way you live with people who are different than you is to be willing to evaluate our cultural practices on the basis of the gospel--together. We need each other for that.



Trans.

That brings us to our second point.

1. First: Make evaluations on the basis of the gospel.

2. And second:



II. u Enter into relationships with one another

A. Paul says that involves two things.

1. First:

w Accept one another. In chapter 14 he says:

1Accept him whose faith is weak…



And secondly:

w Put others first.

In chapter 15 he says:

1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.



2. Now, that right there is critical!

Most people say: "I won't say anything negative about your cultural practices. And you're not gonna take away my freedom to do whatever I want to do."



3. Paul says: The Christian does exactly the opposite.

The Christian says "I will respectfully make evaluations and express them in an appropriate way. But also, I'll be willing to adjust my life for your good--for whatever will be best for you." This is radically different. It's totally opposite of what we want to do.



B. Paul says: "Accept" one another!

1. He doesn't mean to simply "put-up" with their idiosyncrasies.

The word translated

"accept" literally means to

"accept" = "draw in".

In other words: welcome in people of different cultures and races. Welcome them into your life and grow in a loving relationship. Because of the Gospel--whatever culture you identify with--you have the freedom and the power to adapt your lifestyle to meet the needs of others from a different culture. Do what would be best for them. Be willing to restrict your freedom for the sake of your brothers and sisters in Christ.