Les archives vivantes se chargent.
Part 5 of 20
How To Get Right With Each Other
Poursuivre l'exploration
Reliées par le texte biblique ou par des thèmes communs.
Cette page n’a pas encore été entièrement traduite. Une partie ou la totalité du texte ci-dessous s’affiche en English, sa langue d’origine.
We've been studying the book of Romans—Paul's letter to the church in Rome, made up of both Jewish believers and Gentile believers from other nations. Pastor CJ calls Romans the believer's constitution because Paul teaches us who we are in relation to God.
Paul has established our fundamental standing: we are all sinners fallen short of God's glory, and we all deserve death for our sin. But through grace—love we don't deserve—God gives us eternal life through Christ's death and resurrection. Grace is the vehicle; peace with God is the destination.
Now, in Romans 15, Paul shifts his focus. He's no longer talking about how to get peace with God. He's talking about what the body of Christ is supposed to look like—how we get peace with each other.
Think back to playing on a team. The team should have been unified, but so many things cause problems: jealousy, entitlement, pride, mistrust, feeling like others don't give the same effort you do. You're on the same team, yet division emerges.
I learned this lesson in college. I'm a people pleaser, and I was convinced this guy named Jonathan hated me. We were both playing the same game on the same team—trying to impress the same girl. Jealousy caused division between us, even though we had the same goal.
That's what was happening in the Roman church. Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians were on the same team, following the same Jesus, but tensions arose. The Jewish Christians had the Old Testament law and thought their observance made them more pleasing to God. They debated what others should eat or drink, as if those practices determined spiritual standing. Paul addressed this last week: sin is sin, but not everything is sin. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, because the greatest thing is love. We should consider how we love our brother and sister over our own personal liberty.
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself. (Romans 15:1-3)
When Paul says "bear with the failings of the weak," he is not saying:
Paul is very clear: sin is sin. We should all be working toward holiness. Yes, we're imperfect and will never reach it perfectly—none of us are Jesus—but our goal is to honor God. When He gave us grace, our response should be to glorify Him through obedience. Paul even says in Romans 6: "Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means."
What Paul is saying is this: in the church, you should create space for people to journey. Create space where people can learn to love the Lord Jesus Christ by loving them toward a loving Father, not condemning them.
It's easy for us in the church to be on the same team yet walk around with a sense of entitlement—a holy halo suggesting we've got it all figured out while dismissing the person next to us. We think, "God loves me more than He loves them." But Paul says no. You don't get to sit on God's judgment seat. Your job is to love your neighbor as yourself.
The mark of a church should be a people who look at others knowing that the person next to you is not perfect, just like you are not perfect.
Jesus Himself didn't please Himself. He went hard at the entitled people—those who thought they had it all figured out. But when He approached someone genuinely trying to figure out their relationship with God, He bore with their failings. He constantly pushed them forward, encouraged them, showed them grace, loved them, and pointed them toward something higher.
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:5-7)
Paul is saying the church needs to become unified. And how do we become unified? By starting to believe the best in each other.
When you disagree with another Christian, instead of being angry and upset, believe the best in them. When a pastor gives a sermon that doesn't resonate with you, perhaps believe the best—maybe there was a reason for what he did. When someone you met with only talked about themselves, perhaps believe the best—maybe they needed that day to share because something was going on in their life.
What attitude did Christ Jesus have toward people? He knew they weren't perfect. In fact, He was the only one who was perfect—the only one who deserved an entitlement personality. Yet He believed the best and served people He didn't agree with.
Trust is a major topic in business and organizational leadership right now. Everyone's reading books on how to build trust—how to earn credibility. But here's the truth: while trust can be earned through credibility, trust can also be given.
You could walk into a situation saying, "I'm going to wait for you to earn my trust," or you could say, "I'm going to believe the best and give it to you." Think how differently the church would respond if we treated each other by giving trust instead of making everyone earn it first.
Some of you are hesitant. You've been hurt before. You know church hurt is real. I've been a pastor for 22 years—I know it happens. Maybe I've hurt one of you without intending to. But holding onto past hurt and expecting your future experience to match your past experience—that limits your ability to move forward in relationship with anybody.
Jesus knew what was coming for Him, yet He believed the best in people and extended trust. What would the church be like if we gave trust? If we walked around believing the best in one another?
This is really what's happening in the Roman church. The Jewish Christians were standing on third base because of their heritage with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They thought they'd earned their position. The Gentile Christians were new to the faith. But Paul's saying: "Wait a second. Neither of you earned it. Grace was given to both groups. Neither of you were perfect. Neither of you are entitled."
Grace is the vehicle to have peace with each other. It's looking at the person next to you and saying, "You don't deserve this, but neither do I. So maybe I could get over myself enough to love you, realizing you're not perfect, if you could love me, realizing I'm not perfect. Then our church could actually experience peace."
These principles matter in everything we do, including how we reach the next generation. We recently launched Northview Athletics—a vision Pastor CJ has carried for years. He keeps saying, "Tell me a more strategic way to reach the next generation for Christ outside of youth sports, and we'll do it. Until then, we're doing youth sports."
Families are already at the gym, baseball diamond, soccer field, and volleyball courts every weekend. Instead of demonizing youth sports, what if the church redeemed that space? What if, where youth sports emphasizes competition over community and character, we brought all three things to a level playing field and went where the youth and families already are?
This last month we launched Northview Athletics, and it's been a vision for Pastor CJ throughout his time here. He consistently says, "Tell me a more strategic way to reach the next generation for Christ outside of youth sports, and we'll do it. Until then, we're doing youth sports."
Families are already gathered every weekend at the gym, baseball diamond, soccer field, and volleyball courts. Instead of demonizing youth sports, what if the church redeemed that space? Where youth sports emphasize competition over community and character, what if we brought all three things to a level playing field? What if we went where the youth and families already are and taught them the right way to win at life and sport while making Jesus known?
We're starting with basketball and will launch volleyball in January. If you're at a campus further from Hamilton County, we'll rent gym space and start teams in every area if we get enough signups. Our teams can make Jesus known not only within our program but to the other teams we compete against.
It's easy for the tail to wag the dog, so we've established operational standards to keep our mission central. One standard I love is this: Coaches coach and parents cheer.
Our kids don't need sixteen coaches yelling from the bleachers—they need to hear one voice. When they come off the court or field, they don't need to hear sixteen things they did wrong. They need to hear love, encouragement, and support.
As part of this principle, parents aren't allowed to talk to the coach about their child's performance during training, competitions, or games. You must wait twenty-four hours. Even then, you can only approach the coach if you come with two things in mind:
If you can come with those two beliefs, your feedback is welcome. But if you can't, don't come talk to us.
Now think about this in the church. What if we approached every believer the same way—what if you weren't allowed to confront somebody about anything unless you believed two things about them?
How would that change the email you send after this message about something I didn't say right? What would be the tone? How would that change the social media post you're ready to blast about other Christians who do things differently than you? How would that change the conversation where you approach somebody about a sin area you're seeing in their life—if you're doing it because you believe they're a child of God created in his image, and they're trying with their heart, soul, and mind to follow Jesus?
What kind of conversation would that be if we actually just believed the best in the church? How would we bear with the failings of the weak if our approach was always framed with, "God gave me grace, so I'm going to approach you first with grace"? What would that create within the church? Peace.
Look at the end of our passage in verse 7: "Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God."
Paul continues, "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, so that the Gentiles—all nations—may glorify God for his mercy."
Why does Paul want us to believe the best of those in the church? Why do we bear with the failings of those in the church? Why do we build each other up instead of tear each other down? Because the nations are watching. They're watching how the church responds. If we had a unified, unbelievable body, the nations would see that and glorify God for his mercy.
Paul addresses the Jewish Christians' entitlement—their assumption that they were God's chosen people and the Gentiles weren't. But Paul reminds them that the Gentiles were always included in God's plan. He quotes multiple Old Testament passages:
"Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles. I will sing hymns to your name." (Psalm 18)
"Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." (Deuteronomy)
"Praise the Lord, all you nations. Sing praises to him, all you peoples." (Psalm 117)
"The root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him." (Isaiah)
Paul is saying, "That entitlement you have, that jealousy about them being on third without earning it, that division rising up in the church—know this: it's always been God's plan to be for all nations. You're all on the same team. Stop allowing this stuff to get in your way."
Verse 13 ends with almost a benediction: "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."
I want to tell you about Buc-ee's. For those who've driven from here to Tennessee, you know what I mean—there's a billboard every fourteen steps on the highway. Buc-ee's is a giant truck stop that's amazing at one thing: marketing.
You're driving along the highway thinking, "What's Buc-ee's? I don't know, but we better drive 847 miles to find out." Every fifteen more steps: "Brisket at Buc-ee's, fudge at Buc-ee's, pickleball paddles at Buc-ee's." You think, "Oh my gosh, they have everything. I gotta get a five-gallon bucket and fill it."
Now, are their dog toys good? No—they just have a beaver on them. Are their pickleball paddles quality? No, but they're the same price you'd pay anywhere else without the branding. Is their brisket the best? No, if you went to an actual barbecue joint, you'd see it's not as good. Their bathrooms are clean—I'll give them that—but they're not as clean as my house. What are they genuinely good at? Marketing.
As a church, what do we have? The greatest product ever. The local church is the hope of the world. We get to learn that in a world full of brokenness, hatred, jealousy, and anger—a world full of despair and depression—there is a God who created us, who loves us, who sees our brokenness, but loves us anyway.
The one who sees us the most loves us the best.
There is a God who knows you're not perfect and loves you anyway. You experience something from God that you cannot experience anywhere on earth. In every other relationship, love is transactional: if you perform well enough, then I will love you. But God says, "You didn't perform well enough and I love you anyway." This love isn't temporary—it's eternal. You can spend eternity in heaven with God.
We have the greatest product that the world desperately needs. You know what the church is terrible at? Marketing. Not social media—I mean the way people watch Christians treat Christians. The way we eat our own, the way we post about each other and talk about each other. The world looks at that and says, "Yeah, I'm not interested in that." The greatest product ever, the thing you need most, and because of the way you see Christians interact, you could walk away from it.
Paul says, "Can we just have unity in the church so that all nations may glorify God?"
Did you know that Jesus prayed for you? Right before he went to the cross, he got down and prayed. It's recorded in John 17. First he prayed for his disciples, then for all believers.
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
Think about that. Jesus knew the church would struggle with groups of believers on the same team who aren't unified. They would struggle with their own pride, jealousy, and entitlement. They would struggle with mistrust amongst believers. They wouldn't be able to look at each other and see the truth of who each person is. They would struggle to give each other grace because they'd only think about themselves.
But just like grace was the vehicle that got us peace with God, grace is the vehicle in the church. Looking at each other and saying, "You're not perfect. I'm not perfect. I'm not perfect. We're not perfect." And then realizing, "But we can have peace if we just believe the best. If we just believed you're a child of God created in his image to do good works and you're trying to pursue Jesus with your heart, soul, and mind."
Who's going to believe the best in you, church? That's the type of church that draws people in. That's the type of church that Jesus even prayed for us to be.
God, I thank you for this body of Christ—a bunch of broken, flawed, sinful human beings who don't live up to what you call us to. We fall short of holiness all the time. God, we thank you for loving us anyway. We thank you for your grace and for the opportunity for eternity with you.
God, I pray right now that you would help each one of us to love and care for the neighbors around us. Would we be a congregation that believes the best in each other, that doesn't make somebody earn our trust but just extends it? That doesn't approach somebody with skepticism but approaches them with belief? God, could we be a congregation that shows the world that there is an incredible God who loves us and loves them? May the way that we love each other be an example to the world. God, help us to get beside ourselves and let you work through us. We ask that in Jesus's name. Amen.
