Although believers come from different cultures, backgrounds, and consciences, they are called to live in unity by treating disputable matters with grace and love.  Paul places responsibility on the “strong” to lay down their freedoms for the sake of the “weak”, modeling the self-giving sacrifice of Christ.  The ultimate goal is a generous family of believers who love each other and who glorify God together with one voice.

God is the Maker and Preserver of all things–one God in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In revealing himself to us, God relates to us as a loving Father who has adopted us as his sons.  God’s love is manifest fully in the life, death and resurrection of his Son, for us, making us co-heirs with him in all things. And God’s love for us is received by the Holy Spirit, through whom we experience God’s love and are assured that we are his children.

[Unfortunately, the audio file of this sermon was corrupted, a lower quality audio was able to be produced from the Facebook Livestream. We apologize for the inconvenience.]

In the book of Romans, Paul makes a distinction between those whom he sees as spiritually weak and spiritually strong. Specifically, it had to do with whether or not their consciences were still concerned with dietary laws for Jewish Christians, and food sacrificed to idols for Gentile Christians. The weak felt that meat couldn’t be eaten, and the strong knew that all things are lawful to eat. In both cases, Paul exhorts the church not to correct or tease them, but to love them. In the same way, modern-day Christians have scruples and disagreements over non-critical points of faith. In such cases, the stronger is called to make the necessary adjustments to make the weak feel comfortable. Sacrificial love can mean restricting yourself to help the consciences of those around you.

Honored friend John Yates preaches on the great significance of Jesus’s words, “Our Father.” A father brings great significance in a child’s life and offers a “ballast”, a weightiness and steadiness. For the God of the universe to adopt us as sons of God and for Him to be our Father means we have an anchor unlike any earthly father. A God who loves us just because we are His. For Jesus to also say “Our” means we share in adoptions as sons of God and become a family of believers, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Everyone worships something and our hearts are “idol factories.” We are constantly turning to other gods–driven by our wants and desires–to give us what only God can. Identifying, unseating and replacing our hearts idols requires admitting our need and constantly turning to Jesus as our true Savior and God.

Paul concludes his letter to the Romans with thanksgiving for the whole community of the Church anticipating the great chorus of saints in heaven.

*Unfortunately there is a 30 second break in the recording at appx 6:40.

The Church in Rome had a mix of Gentiles and Jews with their different cultural and theological assumptions often creating tensions and disputes. In Romans 13 & 14, Paul calls on the community to love one another, to constrain their freedoms and power for the sake of their brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the sort of humility and love that is necessary to create the Church community.

In view of God’s mercies–all that He has done for us in Jesus Christ–how are we to live? Paul says the response to God’s mercy is to offer ourselves fully to God in worship and to offer ourselves fully to one another in love and service.

Is God the Sovereign Lord of the universe, ordering all things according to his purposes and will? Or are we responsible agents, held to account by God the judge for all we do? Paul answers Yes. Both are true. Our understanding the bigness of God and his sovereignty is integral to living out the faith that rests instead of fears.

In Romans 8, Paul encourages and assures his readers with his theology of Israel’s hope of the justice and shalom that will be present at God’s arrival in the coming age. Paul’s gospel hope is that the Lord’s arrival has been fulfilled in the life and death of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.