Romans 15:8–13 is a mile-deep missions text about the global glorification of the merciful God, and all of this passage is dug as an unshakeable foundation under the modest house of Christian harmony called Bethlehem. There’s a sense in which that’s true, but that’s not the way Paul set it up here. We often think the other way around - namely, that the church exists to support missions. But it’s good for you to know that this mile-deep missions text about the global glorification of the merciful God was drilled to support the modest house called Bethlehem Baptist Church, who welcome one another as Christ welcomed us. It’s not an exposition of living in harmony and welcoming each other as Christ welcomed us for the glory of God. Do it all to show how glorious God is.” And then he fastens the drill bit in Romans 15:8 - using the word for - and digs a mile-deep missions week text about “The Global Glorification of the Merciful God,” which is the title of this message. There’s the modest house: “Live in harmony. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul builds the modest house in Romans 15:5–7: Then we come to our text, Romans 15:8–15, and we notice that it begins with the word for - otherwise known as a massive drill bit for digging pilings a mile deep under modest houses. You don’t need to get all deep and theological and heavy about everything.” Modest Churches To which, perhaps, one of his impatient pragmatist friends would say, “Paul, we are talking about vegetables and steak! And then you bring in life and death and the crucifixion of Christ and his resurrection and his lordship over the living and the dead - good grief! Lighten up. “One of Paul’s trademarks is to build modest houses and then dig mile-deep foundations under them.” For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. Then he digs a mile-deep foundation under that house:įor none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. So, get along without judging each other, says Paul. He says, “The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God” (Romans 14:6). The vegans and the meat lovers in the Roman church are quarreling, so Paul builds a modest house. To this mile-deep foundation Paul adds, “Therefore, husbands, a modest proposal: this afternoon, be kind to your wife.” So Paul builds modest houses and digs mile-deep foundations under them.
And deeper than the mystery of Genesis 2:24, he became one flesh with her - one body - that they might enjoy each other forever.” And to make her his own and cleanse her from all impurity, he came into the world as the God-man, and he was crucified in her place. He says to husbands, “Here’s the foundation for your modest house called marriage: the Son of God - the second person of the infinite, eternal Trinity and the Creator of the universe - possessed, from before eternity, a predestined holy and blameless bride, the church. Paul builds that modest house in Ephesians 5, and then he digs a mile-deep foundation for it. When you read the letters of the apostle Paul, you discover that one of his trademarks is to build modest houses and then dig mile-deep foundations under them.įor example, marriage is a modest house, and the way a husband treats a wife is a fairly ordinary, everyday, modest act in that house.
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