Published: February 22, 2026 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Romans - Part 85 | Scripture: Romans 15:1-6
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be looking at the first six verses of Romans 15. I'm going to read those verses. I'd like to ask Josh Johnson if you pray for the ministry of the word this morning. Romans 15 beginning in verse one.
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verse one. Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for
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his good to his edification. For even Christ did not please himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproach thee fell upon me.
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For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures,
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we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to
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Christ Jesus that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Let us pray. Dear Lord I thank you for this day and I thank you for being able to gather together in one quart as we just I pray
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Lord that as we hear these words this morning that the Holy Spirit would impress them upon our hearts and our minds and cause us to think, feel, and Lord give you praise for our being
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here and for hearing your words. I pray Lord that you would give us this hope, a continuing hope and a perseverance
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in Jesus name I pray. Well, this morning already I've had the uh distinct pleasure that happens rather
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frequently of hearing my sermon taught during Sunday school. Um, in fact, I intended to begin to by asking the question, why do we do the
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things we do? Every now and then, uh, it seems like it's it's in longer periods of time we have what is called a discovery class during Sunday school.
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where we teach why we do what we do. And this morning I do want to focus on one thing that we do that I've kind of taken for granted. Um I I don't think in a
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negative way but in the fact that we do it. Not not realizing or remembering that um 35 years ago we didn't do it.
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which reminds you that that some of you who haven't been here 35 years, it may come from a a place, a church, a worship liturgy that doesn't do it. And that is
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the benediction. the benediction. And and maybe you wonder why do we do that at the end of the service? Why do we stand and receive the benediction?
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The word may be familiar to you. It may not be familiar. It it is uh derived from Latin roots benet and dictus. It means to speak a good word or to speak
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well to speak wellness. A and so it also has a synonym called blessing. It is a blessing. Now the first time I
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encountered a benediction of course as a child as a Roman Catholic but we won't go there. um but rather as a believer in seminary and where we were taught that
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the the preacher is supposed to raise his hands with his palms extended to the congregation to speak the benediction. And having been raised Roman Catholic, I
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thought, "No, thought, "No, I ain't doing that." Because the benediction doesn't come from me. It doesn't come from Mark. It
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comes from God. Which is why the benedictions that we do use at the end of our services are from the scripture. the scripture. Can we do a better word than the word
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that God has given us in benediction? And and so we give the benediction because it is done in the scripture,
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but we give the benediction as something from God, from his word. The these are words of wellness. These are words of wholeness. These are words of encouragement from the Lord. Perhaps one
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of the most famous benedictions is in numbers chapter 6, the ironic benediction. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon
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you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. And I ask, who could say those words with his own hands raised
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over God's people? And I also ask, who could come up with better words than those? And so we do the benediction because we
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find it in scripture. We find it especially at the end of Paul's letters. It's in the Bible. And so it's something that we feel we ought to do. But there's
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another reason. I mean, we could do a lot of things just because God says we should do it or because we see it done in the scripture. But I I firmly believe that God wants us to progress in understanding why we do what we do and
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never to fall into tradition or wrote that we just do it because we've always done it that way. And so I think there's another reason it's and that is at the very heart of the purpose of the benediction and I think it is to guide
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our thoughts our thoughts as you go forth as we go forth from this place. I want you to pause and think because I
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think that's what a benediction does. It's kind of like the sila in the Psalms. A word that we collectively as both Jewish and Christian scholars have
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no idea what it means. But we believe that it means pause and reflect. And I think based on where we find the benedictions in scripture, it has the
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same purpose to pause and to reflect. So we have just sat under the preaching of God's word. The foolishness of
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preaching by which God has ordained that men shall be saved. Where does your mind go as soon as you hear amen?
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Think on that. The purpose of the benediction is to pause and reflect to leave you with a good word from God following the word preached, which is the power of God into
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salvation. And I would submit the power of God unto sanctification, the power of God unto encouragement, the power of God into edification. Where does your mind go when you hear the amen?
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Consider the benediction as more than just liturgy. consider it as more than just what we do. We've been doing it for so long. I think it is easy for us to
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fall into that trap of tradition of wrote. But pausing and reflecting is I think the purpose of of benediction. Paul has four benediction benedictions
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in these closing chapters of Romans. That's significant. He has two or three in Ephesians. in Ephesians. So we we tend to put it at the end,
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but Paul doesn't do that. He he has a doxology in chapter 11. He has three benedictions in chapter 15 and one in chapter 16. chapter 16. Evidently, if indeed benediction is to
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pause and reflect, Paul would like us to do that fairly frequently as we finish up this book. And so the title of of today's sermon is the first benediction. I don't mean the first in all time, but
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the first in Paul's letter to the Romans. Now, they're typically begin with the word now. And that's how they do in Romans chapter 15, the passage we
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just read, verses 5 and 6, also verse 13, verse 33, possibly 30 through 32 as well, although that's more personal. He
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still begins it with the now. And then he asks for the Roman believers to be praying for him. And then perhaps the longest in the Bible, chapter 16:es 25-
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27. Again, I think Paul clearly wants us to pause and reflect quite often as we finish out this book. And so, what is it that he wants us to reflect on? Well, I
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think we're in the heart of that going back to chapter 14 verse 19 verse 19 where he says, "So then, let us pursue
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the things that make for peace and the building up of one another." Now that word building up, we often call it edification. It's the same meaning. To build up is to
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create an edifice. What is it that we're building up? We're building up the body of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. As Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4, as every
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joint and ligament, every member of the body with the gifts of the spirit distributed by him according to his will works to the building up of itself in love. Building up, building up, not
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tearing down. That's really what the focus is here. And then in this benediction, he mentions two things that I think are at the heart of a building project in
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Jesus Christ's church. And that's perseverance and encouragement. and encouragement. Perseverance and encouragement. So pausing and reflecting, I want to do
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that. I want to reflect on this idea of edification from which in these passages we derive hope. So again verse 19. So let us
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pursue the thing things which work for peace and the building up of one
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We don't do it from any other means than the holy scriptures. But the church throughout its history has sought to do it by other means. We have sought to edify one another with
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things that appear to be helpful. They they appear to be hopeful, but they are not the word of God. And I would submit that anything that is not from the word of God does not build
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up the church, but in fact, very subtly and very deceitfully tears it down. turning anything that turns our focus
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away from Jesus Christ turns our hearts away from true hope. And Paul writes here in verse four of chapter 15, for whatever was written in
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earlier times was written for our instruction that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might
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have hope. But it has been sadly reported in just about every generation of which we have any records
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that the condition of most of professing Christendom has been a case of biblical illiteracy. This was lamented by the earliest preachers. This was lamented during the middle ages
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and during the reformation. Certainly the Puritan sermons and and even Charles Spurgeon lamented Spurgeon lamented the lack of scriptural understanding
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among the average believer, which meant that most believers take the
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we were getting the self-help books. it self-help, but it's written by somebody else. somebody else. I mean, it was really self-help. Why do you need a book? Okay, but that was a whole that was a whole genre. Of course,
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that's all kind of faded away because we have social media, okay? You have influencers now in your lives. You know, you you've got your phones and and frankly, it's no
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different. It's just a different flavor of the same bad meal. And that is most believers get their encouragement and their hope and their guidance someplace other than the
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scriptures. And Paul says, well, look, it's the encouragement of the scriptures. And I honestly do not think Paul would approve of the degree to which modern
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believers are dependent upon others. We we have this idea that life experience inevitably bestows wisdom for others.
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That's a nice thought. But you've all encountered both in your own lives and and often in others where we don't learn from our life experiences. We don't gain
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wisdom. Why is it that it seems that the same patterns of life pass from generation to generation? It's all been recognized. It's this it's
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almost like an acquired DNA trait that we repeat the sins of our fathers and we repeat the patterns because we don't learn. Wisdom doesn't come from
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experience. Wisdom comes from the father of lights. Wisdom comes from the Holy Spirit sent by God in the name of Jesus Christ. Wisdom comes from his illumination of his word. That's wisdom.
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The beginning of the wisdom of course is the fear of the Lord which means that fundamentally we should know his word as we know his will. That that's wisdom.
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Paul spoke much about marriage about the relationship between men and women in marriage. As far as we could tell he was not married.
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He didn't have to live that experience in order to know the will of God because he knew the scriptures. And so we we need to kind of break some paradigms that have been settled into
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our particular flavor of culture. Please don't think I'm on a hobby horse because I could do this as a historical sermon. I could pick just about any era in the church and through the sermons that were
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preached then pretty much diagnose what their crutch was. Now we're told, of course, that religion or Christianity is our crutch. No. What stabilizes us and
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holds us up and enables us to walk is God's word. God's word. Not what some blog post says, not what some influencer on social media
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says, but rather what God says. And by that I I mean God says Old Testament, New Testament, not just Old New Testament for us, but the entire council of
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scripture as Paul laid it before the Ephesians for three and a half years. What's the goal? Well,
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edification. And that's what I want to focus on this morning. This idea of building one another up. It's all through Paul's letters. It's even in what Jesus says about upon this rock I will build my church. He is building
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something and in building something he is using believers both as Peter says as living stones
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but also as the gifted craftsmen that we see in the building of the tabernacle and the building of the temple. We are not only part of the building, we're part of the building of the building.
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And and that is a mystery. Andrew Nigren says to build up a church which without schism but in one accord and with one voice glorifies God was the
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aim of Christ's work. And that also is to be the Christian's aim. We should not be about anything other than what our
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big brother is up to. Jesus said, "I do what my father I am up to nothing other than what my father does and what I see my father do." And then we read Christ's
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own words and then his legacy through the apostles and we see that his purpose is to build the true temple of his father through the Holy Spirit and to do
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that with his people his brothers and sisters us. sisters us. And so we need to be about the work that we see Jesus Christ about.
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Now I think evidently there there are two components at least in Paul's benediction here in chapter 15. Two components of true edification are
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perseverance and encouragement. and encouragement. Perseverance is something that we do ourselves. And and I don't think it's saying
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anything radical to say that we live in a day where commitment and perseverance are at a premium. It is much much too easy in the modern
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context to just quit because we we don't have to quit the whole thing. We we don't have to quit the whole church and throw all that out. We can just go to another church.
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There's so many to choose from. Same thing with our jobs. It's not going well. That's fine. We'll just go get another one. another one. Frankly, I've had the opportunity over the past 30 years to hire quite a number
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of people. of people. And when I see a resume of somebody who's in their early 20s, mid20s maybe with 8 to 12 previous jobs,
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I'm not terribly interested. They have no perseverance. Perseverance is is is kind of almost a a lost virtue in our culture
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and that is yet our responsibility. Encouragement. This is what we do for one another. one another. So let's talk about this word
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edification. Edification of course in the modern church is more like affirmation. Now, the little thumbs up icon, we've joked
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about it before, but it does in a sense capture the zeitgeist of our world, the western world in which we live. The thumbs up, becausen't that
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what we all really need is a thumbs up. Maybe up your nose. We don't do a thumbs down anymore like the like you know like the emperor used
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to do you know this kind of thing. We don't do this anymore because that hurts that hurts our feelings. It doesn't affirm us. Everything's about affirmation now. We we kind of lamented
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in our in our public school system that you know we joke about how it doesn't matter if you get the right answer. What matters is how you feel about your answer, how you feel about things. But that's now that's now uh permeated the
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church. And for a very long time, there are very few churches left in the world that will practice discipline because there are very few people in the world today who will practice discipline. And
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nobody really likes to be told that what they're doing isn't right. But what we have in scripture is something completely different.
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We don't have these situationoriented counsel and fellowship of support groups in the scripture. We have the encouragement that comes from the
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And I think that if we consider 2 Timothy 3:16, which probably all of you could recite, could recite, we will see that here as in here in uh Romans 15,
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Romans 15, the source of edification is only scripture. Paul writes, "All scripture is God breathed." Now, too often this is as far as we go because why do we go to 2
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Timothy 3:16? Normally, it's to try to prove that the Bible is inspired, which means God breathed, right? We don't actually go further as Paul is going to
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take us in this verse. And as Paul is taking Timothy, he says, "All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
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for training in righteousness, that the man and I would say woman of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." Our culture in the church today now
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passes judgment on teaching. True, John does say in his first epistle that we have no need for any to teach
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us. But that is not the same as saying that we have no ability to learn from others who teach. We have the Holy Spirit within us. If we are in Christ, so we have no one, we have no need for anyone
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to authoritatively proclaim by fiat, this is what you must believe. But God or Jesus Christ has said in his church teachers has he not
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apostles, evangelists, prophets, and pastor teachers. And for what purpose? To equip the saints.
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That's what Paul's talking about here in 2 Timothy 3:16. To equip the saints. And what is the instrument by which that equippage is done? It's the word of God.
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And so our culture tends to pass judgment on teaching rather than listen to it and receive it as coming from one whom God has said in the church by his
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Holy Spirit, meaning for you. Rather, we think, well, I don't agree with that. I don't think that's what that means. that means. I I think many times modern believers
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ought to read the parable of the sewer frequently. And don't think that just because you're a believer that the devil doesn't want to eat up the seed. So he may not be
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able anymore to prevent your salvation. But I think he and his minions and even the world around us because remember the birds represented in that parable
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weren't the devil. Many of it were just the cares of this world. They seek to eat and devour the seed lest it actually take root and grow and
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produce a harvest of righteousness in God's people. God's people. Be wary Be wary as Jesus said, "Be careful how you hear and then what you hear, guard it. Guard
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it as if it were a great treasure." We pass judgment on teaching. We recoil at reproof and correction.
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But I will say again, edification that is not rooted and grounded in scripture, both the positives and the negatives, actually tears down rather than builds
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up the church. We still have sin at work in our members and in our body. We're we're not perfect. Now, don't get
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that. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that there's some unconfessed sin in our body. I'm saying we're not perfect in our relationships. We're not perfect in our demeanor. We're not perfect.
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But if we are striving with one accord and with one voice for the faith of the gospel, then that includes reproof and correction as well as affirmation.
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When one of us is doing well, we should be affirmed by the others. When one of us is not doing well, we should be reproved by the others. But we
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live in an era of kid gloves. We live in an era where nobody likes that. But Paul, not Paul. Well, how do I say that? It's in Hebrews. I just said Paul because I've been in Paul.
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All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful. but sorrowful. Yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful
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fruit of righteousness.
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accept the discipline of the Lord in his word and often we don't accept the discipline of of our brothers and sisters. The church does not grow but it splits
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and if it splits enough it dies. This is very serious. If we don't reflect on this benediction, this
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particular one in Romans 15, then we endanger the health and the joy and the hope of all of our brothers and
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sisters. And so encouragement is is is incredibly important. But we have to understand that encouragement is not equal to
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Absolutely. When something is done, no matter what walk of life, whether it's a math assignment or a job project or just understanding the scripture in a
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deeper way and making a comment that is edifying and and and helps everybody understand it, there should be encouragement. There should be affirmation. Paul says, "When one member rejoices,
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all rejoice." all rejoice." and and that that's great and true, but don't throw out the rest. When you see a brother or sister who has
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fallen away, fallen away, to affirm them is to destroy them.
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If we see a brother and sister acting in a way that is folly according to scripture, to affirm them is to destroy
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We must stand in our edification for truth because no block in God's holy temple will be an untruth. Jesus says, "Be careful how you hear." I would also say, "Be careful how you
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build." Are we building with wood, hay, and stubble? Well, if you affirm that which should be rebuked, if you honor that which should be dishonored, that is wood, that is
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hay, that is stubble, and the judgment will burn it up. Be careful how you build. Don't call every good word, every kind
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word, edification. word, edification. Think through it. Am I really building this person up by affirming them in a damning path?
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damning path? Am I Am I doing them good by removing the obstacles that are in their way to hell and making their passage smoother? Is that edification?
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It is not. And yet what it takes on that side of the score the score is something we don't like.
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And that is to say a word of reproof, a word of rebuke, a word of correction.
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And again in our culture, we have this concept called soft love. I don't see that in scripture.
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I don't see it. I don't see it in God's dealing with his own people. I don't see it in his wisdom in Proverbs in dealing with one's children. I don't see it in Paul as he refers to
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or Himaeus or Alexander. or Alexander. I don't see it in the book of Hebrews. In fact, what I see in the book of Hebrews is that all discipline for the time being is not pleasant.
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It is not joyful. Which means it is the opposite. It is unpleasant. It is it is sorrowful. And yet for those who are trained by it,
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they have the peaceful fruit of righteousness. A harsh word goes deeper into the heart of a wise man than a thousand blows on the back of a fool.
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encouragement, be careful how you define edification. But you know what? If we define it correctly and we deal with our families and we deal with one another both in
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affirmation and in reproof, we're going to give opportunity for others to simply bolt. And I think that's why Paul puts
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perseverance first because we need to stick to it. I've often thought that. In fact,
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it's one of those things I think God instilled in my brain the moment he saved me. And that is stick to it. Stick to it.
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Perseverance. Perseverance for most in this culture is a waste of time except for those who are training to be professional athletes or musicians. We have of course the fruit
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of perseverance being displayed in the news right now as the Olympics are being held in Milan. We know that these people have spent life from their earliest childhood doing these things. Okay. I I
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thank God that I've never seen my children curl.
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badmitten. Okay. So you can persevere. you can make it to the Olympics. That's how our reward world rewards perseverance. But what about the church? What about
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Well, what we have in the modern church is somewhat typified by a a book that I think is well past its sell by date, the purpose driven church. But it's very typical of our age.
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And and that is we should have programs and we should have uh support groups and and encounter groups and age and life
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situationbased segregation so that we might encourage those who are in our own little click basically and that we we can encourage those because we're going through the same thing.
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same thing. Well, that is really stupid. Uh and I I learned that when we considered how our children would be educated, the main complaint in those days against
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homeschooling was the loss of the the horizontal, you know, the the the the dealing with the community of children, which when I was in public school was
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called peer pressure. communities that every child had both the horizontal
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and the vertical. But our churches have basically mimic culture and you come in the front door and you're immediately put in your age appropriate or life situation
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appropriate. Oh, you're young, married. Okay. Oh, you're single. Okay, you go to this room. So that all of our counsel now and all of our encouragement is within our own narrow band of
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experience. Does that sound wise to you when I put it like that? Reminds me of the phrase sound pretty stupid when you say it out loud.
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No, we we need not only the training of scripture, the encouragement of scripture, but also the encouragement and the affirmation and the rebuke of those who have have already gone through these things, but more importantly,
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those who have been in the scripture longer. That is why God has has set us up as a as a reproducing family that in any healthy congregation there would be
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those who have been in the Lord for many years and though who are those who are new in the faith and there needs to be that dynamic that vertical dynamic but
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down at the bottom of it and and this if if this is not there's no way anything I'm saying will have any fruit and that is perseverance.
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If we don't stick it out again, it is like a musician. It is like an athlete. They may attain a certain degree of proficiency, but then they quit and they go no
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higher. But Paul talks about the reward of bodily discipline. How runners run the race for the wreath, the crown, and that's what they get. And maybe they get
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their face on a wedies box, but that's it. They've received their reward in full. Paul says, "Run rather the race that you might all win and that crown of
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eternal glory." That's the race we're running. And so there's no real option of just saying, "Ah, this is good enough." And just stopping.
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We we can't do that. And and one of the things that we as a non-denominational reformed church struggle with over the
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years is is that people don't stick it out. We we all know we all struggle. We all are hurt by those who who just leave.
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They they they quit. Sometimes they quit the whole things. Normally they just quit our particular congregation. and and they have their reasons and they'll stand before God with those
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reasons. Don't misunderstand me. In fact, I would go so far to say that in a few cases over the past 35 years, the departure of some people has in fact
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edified the church. But for the most part, the vast vast majority of people would have done better both for
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themselves and for this body by sticking it out. Perseverance doesn't have an expiration date.
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Now again, I know people hear that and you think, "Okay, we got talking about that Hotel California again. You can check in or check out any time you like, but you can never leave. No, that is not
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what I'm saying. What I am saying is perseverance. What's Paul's saying, perseverance is what makes the encouragement of scripture produce hope. What happens when there's no
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perseverance is that you you get a little bit of hope, you get a little bit of joy, the fellowship, and then boom, somebody breaks it. Somebody breaks it. And and you can't repair that break.
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That break is a wound. And maybe that wound will scar over, but it will never disappear. At least not until the consummation.
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It hurts. It hurts. Those of us who've been here longest have the most hurts. And you wonder why.
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We live in a relatively small community. People who have once been in this congregation, I still hear of how they're doing.
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I've never heard one. Well, I've heard of many other churches attended and then left. I've heard of divorces,
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but not edification. It it seems to me that you you should not ch join any congregation unless you believe that according to scripture, they're heading in the right direction.
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that that is fundamentally what you need to decide. They're heading in the right direction. And if they're heading in the right direction and you feel the Lord
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putting you in that way, then stick it out. Persevere even when the going gets tough.
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Even when something's done that you may not agree with. Even when you hear something that doesn't make you feel good. is an affirmation but is
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correction. Stick it out. That's what Paul means when he says, "Consider one another more important than yourselves." Because in doing so, you actually benefit yourself than
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otherwise. That when we seek to save our life, we lose it. When we seek to save our will, we destroy ourselves. But whenever we do that,
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whenever we do that to the body of Christ, it it is not a clean break. You you all know that that when you live together in Christ in a fellowship,
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your life begins to intertwine with others. And if you can just work through the difficult time, that bond will deepen.
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But if you quit, it's not like this. You rip something out of another person's heart and you tear
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something down something down that God is building through his Holy Spirit and you offend him for whom Christ died. See, that's perseverance.
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Stick it out. Because in sticking it out and sticking with the word as our only encouragement, we will build hope and a hope that
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passes through the veil. A hope that does not disappoint because we all have peace with God through Jesus Christ. In other words, we have much a much stronger bond together
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than those things that separate us. Finally, as we look at what Paul is saying here, saying here, when he says in his benediction that with one accord and with one mind,
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Paul was well aware that this is not possible among any group of people on all issues.
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all issues. In Philippians 3, he writes, "Let us therefore, as many as are mature, have this attitude, and if in anything else you have a different attitude, God will
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reveal that also to you." We can't interpret Paul as saying, "Agree on everything." No, because he's already he's already spent how many verses talking about the
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weak and the strong. This is in the context of that which on which we don't agree. I can eat meat. You can't eat meat. And yet Paul says with one accord
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and with one voice. Obviously, there must be something that transcends our differences. There must be something that transcends our differences of understanding or as Paul puts it, our
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And yet even though we disagree, even though we have different perspectives, even though there is weak and strong, yet we with one accord and with one voice can glorify God through Jesus
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Christ. The motto on our church sign is as much a prayer as a reality. It's from Philippians 1 verse 27
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where Paul writes only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or remain absent I may hear of you that you
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are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.
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reason because we believe that as the church meditates and strives after that goal, we will glorify Jesus Christ and the
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gospel will be glorified in our midst. Let us pray. Father, we do pray that you would unite our hearts and help us to understand
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that we must persevere, that we must understand that there is a stronger bond in Christ by the Holy Spirit than anything that seeks to
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separate us in terms of personality, in terms of understanding, in terms of preferences. Unite us in one mind and with one accord
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and one voice that we might indeed bring glory to you and hope and peace to one another. In in all this we ask that your holy spirit would move among the members of
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this body as well as every other church that truly names the name of Jesus Christ as Lord. That you might be glorified and that your spirit might be honored. that the
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gospel might go forth again in this land, changing lives, changing attitudes, changing culture, bringing people to the knowledge of
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righteousness and of sin, of judgment, of repentance, of repentance, and magnifying your grace to all the heavens. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.
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Will rise for the benediction.
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chapter 6 where Paul writes, "Peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our
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Lord Jesus Christ with a love incorruptible. Amen.