Romans | Week 8 | Tom Mercer | Echoes Church

Let me start by saying we're at war. And I'm not talking about Iran.

We are in a spiritual war.

So, you should not be surprised if life is hard. You know, I meet Christians, they they're new in the faith and they're coming out of a tough life and they just think receiving Jesus into their hearts and declaring him the Lord of their life is gonna make an easy road for them now.

And maybe you've wondered the same thing, why I'm trying here Lord? Why is it so hard? Well, here's the simple answer. You woke up this morning behind enemy lines. That's what you did.

Life is hard because this is not heaven. This is Mesa.

Big difference. And we need to understand that. And you know, no competent military commander ever goes to war without a clear objective and a clear strategy to fulfill that objective. So, it should be of no surprise to us that our commander, Jesus, had both a clear objective and a clear strategy to fulfill that objective

before he drafted you. And that's what we see in Romans chapters thirteen and fourteen.

The objective of the battles we fight every day is that our world would see Jesus, that's the objective. The strategy to accomplish that great objective is framed in these chapters

by three initiatives.

Number one, to accept authority, first part of chapter 13. Number two, to always love, last part of chapter 13. And number three, to avoid pettiness. We can be such punks in the way we hold our opinions so strongly. That's all of chapter 14.

But regardless of what God has ever asked us to do, whatever it is, He has had an objective in mind.

When God gives us an assignment to live under authority, there's a reason for that. He wants people to see Jesus. When he gives us the command to always love people, there is purpose in that. He wants people to see Jesus. And he gives us the challenge to keep our opinions in check. Bro, there is a reason for that.

He wants people to what? To see Jesus. God has always just wanted people to know him. In fact, when you think about it, over time, he has been adding clarity about who he is and what he is like. He wants people to understand who he is.

It's kind of like watching the evolution of television. Now, a lot of you are too young to remember what I'm going to say next. In fact, as I look at the audience, there might be five of you who will say, oh yeah, I remember that. Back in the day, when I was growing up, all we had was black and white television.

And then, I remember, the first day we had color TV in our home and I went, wow, that's crazy. And then, later on we bought this console 25 inch color TV. It was not only television folks, it was furniture. And then came flat screens, high definition, and now four k TV.

And every step of the way, the screen got bigger and the picture got more clear. Now, it's probably a bad idea to compare deepening our walk with God with buying a new TV. So, I apologize for the metaphor, but in a way, it might help explain how over time, the world has gradually been given the opportunity

to get increasing clarity about who God is and what he is like. It started out with creation, where God just said, I am really good at this, I am really powerful. And anybody who just looked up said, wow, I don't even know who you are, but this is impressive. The heavens declare the glory of God. Then later on,

He gave us the written word of God, He ramped up the reveal by explaining what his moral character is like. But, the best way humanity was able to get to know God was through the revelation of his son Jesus. Jesus shows us God like we had never seen or known God before in high definition

because he showed us how much he loved us. The apostle John actually refers to Jesus as the word. You ever read that? The word, the ultimate statement about who God is and what God is like. And then, he calls on you and me and he says, okay, let's get to it.

Through the way we conduct our affairs, let's show the people around us what Jesus is really like. After forty five years as a local church lead pastor, thirty eight of them in the same the same local church, my wife I now lead an organization called the Oikos Movement.

Now, me just say this, Oikos has nothing to do with yogurt. You guys, it never did. Oikos is a Greek word that shows up prolifically in the Greek New Testament, and its Hebrew counterparts show up throughout the Hebrew Old Testament. And, the word literally means extended family.

It refers to the group of people with whom we regularly share our lives. At any point in time, there's anywhere from eight to 15 of them, sitting in what I call the front row seats of our lives. They've been given the best seats in the house to see the way we live, to understand what our values and priorities are like.

God didn't just give us the great commission, he scaled it. Because statistically, 95% of Jesus followers would say they became Jesus followers primarily because of the influence of watching someone in their Oikos. Someone they already knew pretty well. Someone who demonstrated the Christian faith to them.

The great commission is not fulfilled in classrooms. It is not fulfilled in auditoriums. It is fulfilled through relationships. This is how God has scaled the great commission.

Those eight to 15 people are watching us.

That's a keyword, watching. Did you know, and I'm assuming you don't know what I'm going to say next, if you did know this, just humor me. But did you know that 91% of the sensory receptors in your brain is committed to just one of your five senses? 91% committed to one of your senses, the sense of sight. You

guys, that's not just interesting, it's strategic. That God lets the other four senses share the remaining 9% and gives your ability to see and to watch 91% of your capacity.

That's why we don't believe everything we hear, but we believe it when we can see it with our own eyes. And that's why your husband doesn't listen to you. I mean, give gotta give him a break, man. He was not engineered for that.

When you look at our biological map, we were designed by our creator to watch. Typically, people don't make life commitments based on what we tell them. We didn't give our lives to Jesus just because somebody told us we had to.

We became serious about our faith because we watched those people first and eventually we saw in them something that convinced us that we could trust them and believe what they said.

And so, for each one of us, the challenge today in Romans thirteen and fourteen is to focus once again on that front row, on those eight to 15 people, those people who have been platformed with the best seats in the house to watch us closely. In fact, when you think about your Oikos, I just want you to try to think

of one person, whether it's a neighbor or coworker, a classmate, or a friend, is the most difficult person in your Oikos to love. Think about that person. If that person is sitting next to you, I know it's going to be a little awkward, so use discretion in taking notes. But there always seems to be a person or a few,

and it's a challenge, and that's what this is for. I've often said that we don't have to sell Jesus for the world. We don't have to argue people into the kingdom. Jesus will sell himself. He is pretty good at what he does. But what your world needs is not an argument. What your world needs is to see Jesus more clearly,

and that then let Jesus do the heavy lifting. And that's why he says this, look at chapter 13 verse one, Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities,

for there is no authority except that which God has established. Democratic authorities, Republican authorities, Independent authorities, God established all of them. I know this is going blow your mind, some of you can't get your head around that, but just in case you missed it, he repeats himself.

The authorities that exist, yes, they've all been established by God. The most oppressive government in human history arguably are the Roman Caesars. And that's when this was written, under their regimes of oppression. Consequently, he says verse two, whoever rebels against that authority

is rebelling against what God has instituted and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. Whenever I read in the bible, you're gonna bring judgment on yourself, I wanna listen. Try to avoid that if I can.

Very simple point Paul is making, if you're taking notes today, point number one, your world sees Jesus more clearly when you willingly submit to authority. It's that simple.

When we submit to authority, the humility of Jesus is on display for everyone who is watching. And who is watching? Those eight to 15 people in the front row. And who in the world is gonna give their heart to Jesus in the future? There is a 95% probability it will be one of them.

Now, the authority mentioned here in Romans 13 is government and nobody likes that. You know, we all kind of cringe and say, oh, the government. And I get that, puts us all in a bad mood.

We we tend to never want anybody to tell us what to do, but especially them. If you enjoy, if you look forward to people telling you what to do, raise your hand. I didn't think so. Government here though, although it's important, it represents more than a bunch of overpaid suits forcing their ideology on a naive or on a

helpless public. Government in this passage simply exposes God's plan to work in a structured world.

This principle of submission applies applies anywhere. We can talk about government, great. Talk about social structure that requires people to live under authority in any setting, could be at home, could be at work as employees, could be in society as citizens.

But it's a principle that we got to focus on. See, there are three categories of authoritative decisions imposed on us. Category one is when it's easy to submit because we can see how it benefits us. For example, Washington says, look for a tax credit in the mail and what do we say? Oh, we submit to that.

Your boss says, I wanna take you out to lunch at your favorite restaurant. Okay. I submit to your authority. No. It's easy to do. Category two is one that's hard to submit. We look at the federal tax being taken out of our paycheck and we say, wait a minute, I don't like that.

And we may not like that and it's okay to not like that. As long as you realize that paying tax is not something the bible forbids. In fact, Jesus said quite the opposite. But then, there is category three where you cannot submit in good conscience. What do you do when the bible explicitly prohibits?

Doing what your boss asks of you or your government demands of you. Well, then you don't say, I don't wanna submit, you say, I just can't. But when you think about it, category three doesn't happen very much. In fact, let's be honest, we all tend to move those category two issues that we don't like down into category three.

And we say, no, we can't. When it's not that we can't, it's that we just don't want to. See, that's what this passage is about. Category two. And it's usually a battle over our rights, what we think is fair. It's not like that's wrong, it's like that's not fair. And if you've raised teenagers,

you know, well, that battle cry is like. But God is always gonna be less concerned about our rights than he is about his purpose.

For those of us who like to focus on our rights, this passage becomes an argument, a lot of pushback. But for those who are focused on our purpose, this passage becomes really important.

Ultimately, if you continuously carry out a battle for your rights, you end up with refusing to let anybody to tell anybody tell you what to do ever, which may actually sound pretty good to you, a world where nobody tells you what to do.

But that attitude will undermine God's purpose. You know, Satan's goal is not bad government, I don't know if you knew that. It's not like he wants to put these pagan horrible people in authority, that's never been his goal. Satan's goal is no government, anarchy or there is no structure.

Structure itself is the only thing we need. Christianity can flourish as well with bad authority as it does with good authority. But there has to be authority in place because that is the structure of society. That's why we have family, structure explained in scripture. We've got structure in our communities.

You've got org charts at work that provide what? Structure. Because structure is the foundation that provides relationships. So, you have work associates, you have classmates, you have neighbors, you have biological family members. It is in those relationships where the gospel happens. And so, satan wants to take away the structure

and eliminate the opportunity for those relationships to provide what they have always provided throughout church history where 95% of Christian or virgins take place in the front row.

That's why you pay taxes. Look at Romans thirteen six, that's why you pay taxes for the authorities are God's servants. And you are saying, God's servants, how can these pagans be God's servants? I can't I can't understand that. Because what they are doing in their roles, competent or incompetent,

is providing that structured environment for the gospel to flourish. Paul says the reason for taxes is to ensure that we have those opportunities to display the humility of Jesus. We talk big. We do. You do too. I do too. I want to be more like Jesus. You wanna be more like Jesus? Cool your jets.

Before you answer that question, gotta figure out what Jesus is like before you say, yeah, I wanna be that. So, before we do that and we ask you that question, I wanna just tell you what Jesus is like, if that's okay. Well, Paul wrote Philippians

chapter two, he said verse six, Jesus was in very nature of God but didn't consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Did you know that? Cool. Did you know that rather, he made himself nothing, did you know that right? By taking the very nature of a servant. Yeah, did you know that?

Being made in human likeness, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death. Did you know that? Even death on a Roman cross, the ultimate humiliation. See, that's the Jesus you claim you want to be like.

I hope you do want to be like Him. I'm just saying, gotta know what you're getting into here.

Even when authority is incompetent, this principle remains in play and there are so many examples in the bible, you talk about Joseph in Egypt, remember that guy? At the end of the book of Genesis, do you remember the story of Daniel in Babylon? You know the story of Jesus on the cross. Their humility

increased their influence. And the people who are watching because God engineered them to watch the way they chose to live their lives under authority.

Allow them the opportunity to change the world.

Whatever role of submission you're called to fill, might be in the family, as a spouse or a kid, you might be a teenager. You're thinking, my parents have lost their minds. Pastor Tom, why do I have to live under authority? See,

you're at work. Your boss is a whack job. Pastor Tom, do I have to live under that guy's authority, that woman's authority?

But that context gives you the opportunity to put the spotlight on the character of Jesus. So, I guess the question is as simple, do you want to get your way or do you want to change the world? Because you're probably not gonna do both at the same time.

Point number two, last part of chapter 13, it's all about the world seeing Jesus more clearly when you love without conditions. You know that, right?

We talk about the unconditional love of God, so when we love without conditions, people don't see us, they see him.

The idea of love in the New Testament is rather hard to understand, simply because there are so many Greek words that are all translated into the English New Testament with the word love. For example, eras, it is a sexual kind of love, to love somebody physically. Another category is to love somebody like a friend,

it is philios in the Greek, translated love in the English New Testament. It is an endearing love. It's a, you are kind of special to me kind of love. It's the city of Philly, Ostelfia, the city of brotherly love. Another category is to love somebody like a parent loves a child, storge is a very nurturing kind of love.

But then, is another category that is weird. In fact, you are hard pressed to find the word agape anywhere else in ancient Greek literature except connected to the Christian church. It's almost like God said, one day, I'm gonna invent a new word to describe the kind of love that I'm gonna show the world.

Agape is the no matter what you do to me, I will always have your back kind of love.

Now, who loves that way? We talk about loving unconditionally, you might even tell your spouse, you know, your wedding vows, I will love you unconditionally. And I know what you mean, but it's not true. I mean, you are expanding

the range of what you are willing to overlook and the conditions you are willing to set, but does anybody, anybody actually love with no conditions? Well, there's only one person I could think of and that's God. And the only hope that we have is somehow, he would indwell us and love unconditionally through us.

Let no debt remain outstanding, verse eight, except the continuing debt to agapao, to love, Greek verb form of agape. Agapao one another. You'll never stop making this payment. You'll always owe this. You'll never be able to say, hey, I'm all paid up, I've done enough. No. There's only one debt you'll always have and that's to go

the extra mile and show them this kind of love. He says, whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. You know the commandments, right? You should not commit adultery, that's a big one. You should not murder, that's a bad idea, never murder people. You shall not steal stuff, it's not your stuff man, what are you thinking?

You shall not covet, don't be stupid. Whatever other commands there might be, think of one, make a list, list them all. They are all summed up in this one command. Agapao, love without conditions, your neighbor, and who? Who dad? Who's my neighbor? Your front row. Family, friends, neighbors, co workers, classmates,

people you share life with. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Agape love is not love if. It's not love if you do something, I'll love you, it's love because. Because. Why? Why because? What's the because? The because is, God has a purpose. There is an objective today that that dude is gonna see Jesus, not you.

Show them more of God's unconditional love and they will get the picture. Remember, Jesus can sell himself but they have to see him first. Number three, last point of the day, your world sees Jesus more clearly. When you avoid petty arguments,

please, we hold our opinions so tightly.

Except the one, chapter 14, all chapter committed to this point. Except the one whose faith is weak without quarreling over disputable matters. Stop, stop, he says. Just stop. One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another whose faith is weak eats only vegetables,

the one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Now, let me just break that down for you briefly. A disputable matter is a matter

where right or wrong answers are hard to discern and there's a dispute because you can take the same data set and come up with different opinions. In fact, I do this, I've done this for a long time theologically, been in these conversations

and I read about a theological issue. It's not a foundational issue, it's just an issue. And so, and remember we take those issues and make them such big deals and we go to the wall for them and Paul is saying, stop.

I read books, theological books about one side of a particular issue and very compelling argument, great exegesis of the Scripture. And I say, yeah, I'm gonna lean into that side. Then somebody hands me a book from the other side. And I read that book and I say, this guy loves God. This person smarter than me.

They're exegeding the scripture just as effectively and they've come to a different conclusion. Now, I'm thinking this guy must be right, not I go back and forth, I just stop reading completely because it's very frustrating. I am just kidding. But there we have three categories again.

Category one, you do agree with someone, there is no dispute. Category two, you don't agree with someone, now you have got a different opinion, now you have a disputable matter. And the truth is God doesn't care. He does not care. And then number three, you just can't agree with someone because

a particular position is clearly laid out in the bible. And this chapter, chapter 14 is about category two. It is not about one of those undisputed foundational elements of Christian theology. It is just an opinion.

In this church, the Roman church, the specific question was about diet. What kinds of foods were good Christians allowed to eat? See, in most pagan communities, temples were built, pagan temples, built to honor pagan gods. In fact, it's interesting to note that when it comes to this particular issue, the issue of eating

among believers. It was an issue in the two churches that had the most pagan temples in it. Rome and Corinth.

And the problem comes up because some of the food being sold in those cities had been sacrificed to pagan idols in those temples. And so, pagan people actually tithed. They actually came to their temple and brought the best, the first and best of the resources of their flocks.

They'd sacrificed those animals and their God's temple, some of the meat was consumed, and the sacrifice and the ritual, the priest took what they needed to sustain themselves and their family. And then, they would take the majority of the meat and they'd sell it back to these meat shops.

And the proceeds were used to pay for all the other temple expenses. So, at the end of the day, if you're hosting a barbecue for friends and you want the best cut of meat you could find, where are you gonna get it? Gonna get it from one of those butcher shops. And, some of the Jesus followers

had a problem with that because they remember being a part of those pagan rituals, and it violated their conscience. And, it brought back those memories and they couldn't handle it. And, they said, I don't wanna eat that meat. Then there were others. Maybe they didn't have those memories, maybe they had gotten over it.

And they looked at their other friends they didn't agree with and they said, bro, relax. It's not radioactive, it's just meat. And Paul says, stop arguing, man. Whatever. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord. For they give thanks to God and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and they give thanks to God.

And then Paul mentions another issue that divided the church. Another one of those disputable matters. It was about where they're gonna go. When they're gonna go attend a service. When they're gonna meet together for church.

And some people said, we gotta do the Sabbath, you know, Saturday, it's like in the old covenant. And others said, but what about the resurrection day? And then, there were others says, can I worship God on any day of the week? One person considers one day more sacred. Verse five.

Another considers every day alike and each of them should be fully convinced. Whatever. Whatever. Verse 15, but if your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you're not acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ has died. Don't let what you know is good be spoken of as evil.

That word destroy literally means to cause a loss. To cause a loss. You can cause, we can cause others to lose so much by making a big issue of something that really doesn't matter. Paul is warning us that our pettiness and holding our opinion so strongly and going to the wall for so many things

can actually cause people to miss Jesus in the conversation.

One of my favorite John Maxwell quotes, and maybe you've heard of John Maxwell, if you haven't, that's okay. He's got a lot of quotes. One of my favorite is this, you cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.

That is so true. And I don't know if your problem was like the Romans. I don't know if it's all about food for you, but I doubt it.

Your problem is probably more about something like politics, where relationships have been either threatened or severed over politics. Maybe it's another social issue. Maybe it's another personal issue. Maybe it's another family argument. I don't know. Paul says, stop.

Gotta get over yourself to display the priority of Jesus. And the priority of Jesus is that people matter more to him than to him. Anything. And that's why he says in verse 19, make every effort. Make every effort.

That's funny. We say, I've done so much. I can't do anymore. To try to make peace. And I I I would just say what I think Paul would say. And I know this is hard to hear. You can't think of one more thing you can do. And, if you're honest, you probably say, well, I guess I could try one more time.

Well, if that's true, then you haven't made

Every effort yet, have you?

Do whatever it takes to lead the mutual edification to peace, but do not destroy.

I'm tired. What God is trying to do over food or politics.

So, last question today. You wanna win the argument or do you wanna change the world? Because you're probably not gonna do both today. Father, I thank you even for the chance to blubber through this presentation and to share

what you wrote in your word. And I'm thankful that these people, just looking out at this wonderful church family, now four different groups of them, what a delightful church. But Lord, world in Mesa and Gilbert, Queen Creek, Tempe, wherever they come from, they just need to see you.

And I pray that because they came to church this weekend, that they'll be able to reflect you more and better. Thank you, Lord. Jesus' name. Amen.