Sermon - Romans 15:4-13 Living in Harmony

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon - Romans 15:4-13 Living in Harmony

December 8, 2013

We are arrived at the second Sunday of Advent. We are still waiting for a savior. But are wait is one week shorter. Even though the days are getting shorter and the nights getting longer the light of Christ is burning in our hearts with the intensity of two candles. Today we will see how scripture and the church working together helps us to have the light of Christ burning even more intensely. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

We live in a highly polarized culture. We focus on what divides us, and have great difficulty finding middle ground. Politically we line up as Democrats and Republicans, and sometime it seems the two parties don't even speak the same language. The church has long been divided by race and denomination. Today in the Presbyterian church we are separating from each other on the issue of ordination and marriage for homosexuals. We line up on one side or the other and see no common ground.

Last Tuesday the Moderator of the 220^th General Assembly of Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the Rev. Dr. Neal Presa spoke to New Castle Presbytery on the subject of divisions within the church. He called for “dignity of difference”. This means that we can hold different beliefs, but rather than fight or run away, we treat those with whom we have a disagreement with dignity. We uphold them as children of God. We worship and pray with them. We love them as Christ loves us. Dr. Presa calls this “feasting”. It the Philippians, where he is from, whenever something special happens they have a feast. If a visitor comes from far away, if someone gets married, if there is a significant birthday then they have a party. Everyone within a two block radius is invited. They all bring food to share. And even though they have their differences they can put these differences away in order to feast. No one stays away because of disagreements. No one comes to fight over differences. They feast together affirming their friendships.

Nelson Mandela, who died this week, embodied this ideal. We spent 27 years in prison during a time of Apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid was a governmental policy of radical racial discrimination. The president of South Africa realized that this policy could not continue and he feared that it would end in a violent racial way. So he went to Mandela in prison and asked for his help. When Mandela was released he drew on his Christian background and told people to forgive. Forgiveness was the only way to peacefully build South Africa into a multiracial nation.

Contrast this approach with the way the world deals with differences. We shun people we disagree with. When we come together we fight. We personalize our differences by demonizing others and calling them names. Not only do we disagree with their ideas, we think they are evil for just thinking in a different way from us.

Paul was dealing with a similar situation in Rome. The Roman church was undergoing a conflict of power. The church was started by Jews who kept their Jewish customs while worshiping Jesus Christ. Gradually, pagan Gentiles, came to faith in Jesus. These Gentile Christians did not adopt the Jewish customs. The did not keep the Jewish holidays. And they were not circumcised. As the number of Gentiles grew they had more impact on the church. And when the Jews were expelled from Rome the Gentiles had the church to themselves. When the Jewish Christians returned they found Gentiles running their church and conflicts started. To deal with these conflicts Paul sent a letter to the Roman church. Here is his conclusion.

Romans 15:4-13 ⁴ For 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. ⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. ⁸ For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs ⁹ so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name." ¹⁰ Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." ¹¹ And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples." ¹² And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him." ¹³ 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.

Paul wanted the Jewish and Gentile Christians in the Church of Rome to “dignify their differences.” He wanted them to live in harmony. Harmony is not a monotone. Rather it is a collection of different tones that come together to make a beautiful sound. Jane and Gloria masterfully produce harmony on the piano and organ. And we are to work harmoniously together, not just playing one note, but bringing our differences together in a beautiful whole.

Paul said that the church should be harmonious for two reasons. The first is that scripture teaches us that Jew and Gentile must come together. Here are the verse sPaul has quoted. Psalm 18:49 ⁴⁹ “Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to your name.” Psalm 18 teaches us that people with ethnic differences, Jews and Gentiles will come together in praising God. Deuteronomy 32:43 ⁴³ “Rejoice, O nations, with his people,” Deuteronomy teaches that Jews and Gentiles will get together in great joy. Psalm 117:1-2 ^NIV Psalm 117:1 “Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. ² For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.” Psalm 117 tells us the Jews and Gentiles will praise God together because of God's great faithfulness. Isaiah 11:10 “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.” And the Prophet Isaiah tells us that in Jesus Christ all the nations of the earth will be reconciled. We learn from these scriptures that all God's people, regardless of our differences, should come together in Jesus Christ to praise God with great joy. What a feast!

So scripture teaches us that we should come together with our differences to produce a harmonious whole. But there is more. Paul says that there is a second reason to come together. That reason is that we all share a common hope. We all anticipate the day resurrection when there will be no more liberal or conservative churches. There will be no more denominations. There will be no more black and white churches. In the resurrection we will all be children of God and disciples of Jesus Christ.

So, if our Bible says that we should be harmonious in the church, and if our hope is that one day all differences will be wiped away, then what should we do now? Should we fight with each other and separate into different churches and denominations? I think not. Our scripture wants us to come together and our hope is that this will happen. But we need help in overcoming our differences. And the good news of Advent is that help is on the way. The savior is coming in whom all differences will be reconciled. And he has sent his Holy Spirit to equip us and empower us to treat those with whom we disagree with the dignity they deserve. So rejoice because the end to conflict and division is at hand. Our savior is coming. Let us pray.

Father in heaven we confess that we usually fight or flee over the differences we have with each other. We know from you word that you want us to live harmoniously with each other. Send you Spirit so that we may treat those with whom we disagree with dignity. And send your Son to reconcile all differences. This we pray in his name. Amen.