Second Sunday in Advent, 2002
Romans 15:4-13

During the heat waves of summer pets desperately need their water. At the Howden home we have to make sure that the water bottles for our guinea pigs never run dry. However, there is another problem during these hot spells ­ unwillingness to get along. One guinea pig will sometimes lie down under the water bottle. She will bite anyone who comes close. The others in her cage don't get a drink. One of our rodents died for lack of water due to this bit of meanness.

The Apostle Paul struggles to maintain harmony in the Church at Rome. In the previous chapter he alludes to a couple factions in the parish. They were divided up between what Paul called the weak believers and the strong ones. The weak believers were Jewish Christians. They had grown up observing the Jewish requirements of the law and they could not bring themselves to abandon them. The observance of food laws, high holy days, and so on had become too ingrained. The strong Christians were Gentile believers. They felt no need to observe these Old Testament details. Consequently, debates broke out between the two groups on things like eating meat, observing holy days, and drinking wine (Romans 14:2-3; 5, 21).

St. Paul foresaw the danger of splitting the Church into factions. The Jewish faction wanted to keep a majority of the Old Testament dietary laws, high holy days and circumcision. The Gentile faction wanted to jettison Jewish vestiges. St. Paul rightly saw this as disastrous. The two must come together as one family in Christ.

Consequently, St. Paul pushes for unity. In Romans 15:4 he says, "whatever things were written before, were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." The "things written before" refer to the Old Testament scriptures. Perhaps Paul is giving this word to the Gentile faction, they would be the ones tempted to downplay the Old Testament. They needed to know that everything written in the Old Covenant scriptures contributes to the good of New Covenant believers. To the Jewish faction Paul would emphatically declare that the Jewish circumcision, festivals and dietary laws were no longer binding. To the Gentile faction he would promote the necessity of an earthy covenantal, Hebrew worldview, including the Old Testament Scriptures. The collect for this Second Sunday in Advent builds on this verse.

Patience, comfort and hope are the rewards to those who read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the pages of the Old Testament. And certainly the same can be said for the New Testament. A congregation that is patient, encouraged and hopeful is far more likely to get along with each other.

Reading now Romans 15:5-7 to see how Paul continues with his unity theme. [Read them.]

Giving glory to the Lord with a kindred spirit is another way to replace bickering, distrust, and rejection. "Receive one another just as Christ received you." St. Paul wanted the Roman church to be a place that received people no matter what their racial or ethnic background. The Church must be a place where a generous and loving spirit overcomes dissension. The apostle Paul would write much the same thing were he living in our day. Church after church is wracked by dissension; churches quarrel with one another; Christian institutions criticize each other and bitterly compete with one another.

To be sure, some fights are necessary. The Bible does not endorse unity at any price. There are moral boundaries and theological limits that must be upheld. The current clash within Anglicanism about homosexuality is a battle that needs to be fought. Gay ordination and the blessing of same-sex unions crosses the moral boundary. Theological liberalism crosses the theological boundary. The Trinity is essential, along with the two natures of Christ and the things mentioned in the Creeds. We can have Christian unity only where the essentials of what it means to be Christian are believed and lived. Thus, unity is sometimes a mistake. Failure to agree on the essentials is legitimate grounds for disunity.

Having said that, too many of the fights that disfigure the body of Christ today are not those kinds of fights. Quarrels break out over trifles. St. Paul exhorts the Romans to patiently put up with wine-drinking, meat-eating, and certain holy day observances for the sake of unity. We should do the same, even when it gets distasteful. Smoking, drinking, and dancing drive some people crazy. They shouldn't be problematic as long as they are done moderately and modestly. What else stirs up controversy? People get legalistic about hairstyles, dress fashions, choice of music and more. Historically, most schisms in the Church have transpired over minor matters -- the kind of bread we use in communion, the musical instruments we worship with, our mode of baptism, the artwork in our church buildings, difference of church government, and how many fingers one uses to make the sign of the cross. We can and should form our opinions on these questions, and even debate them vigorously, but not divide over them. They are adiaphora. The doctrine of adiaphora surfaced during the Reformation. Adiaphora means non-essentials, small potatoes. The Bible asks you to patiently accept those who differ with you about small potatoes.

Maybe this story will make the point: "I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and yelled, "Stop! Don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he yelled back. I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!" He said, "Like what?" I said, "Well are you religious or an atheist?" He said, "Religious." I said, "Me too!" Are you Christian or Buddhist?" He said, "Christian." I said, "Me too!" Are you Protestant or Catholic? He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me too!" Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Wow! Me too!" Are you Baptist Church of God, or Baptist Church of the Lord?" He said, "Baptist Church of God!" I said, "I as well!" Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God! He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God." I said, "Me too!" Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915." I said, "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.

The witness of the Church looks ridiculous when her members bicker over trivial points. The Bible tells us, "be like-minded toward one another receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God." (vv. 5, 7).

Moving on to the next verses: Romans 15:8-12. [Read them.]

"Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision" is a phrase that refers to the Jewish nation. Christ ministered primarily to the Jews during His ministry on earth. The restoration of the Jews is promised often in the Old Testament and it is fulfilled in Christ. God promised to redeem and restore His people and He did. Though many Jews didn't realize or like it, the Lord Jesus was the long expected Messiah they looked for. But all the promises made by the great prophets in the Old Testament emphasized the truth that once the Messiah restored Israel, the Gentiles would share in the blessing. When Zion was restored, the nations would flock in to hear the word of Israel's God. When the Temple was rebuilt, rivers of living water would flow out to make the salt sea fresh (Isaiah 2:2-4; Ezekiel 47). St. Paul treasured this Old Testament motif. That is one reason he was the Apostle to the non-Jewish peoples. He marshals four Old Testament texts to highlight the redemption of the Gentiles.

We'll examine only the last citation in verse eleven. The Apostle quotes the prophet Isaiah: "There shall be a root of Jesse ; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope." This is a quote of Isaiah 11:10. In that same chapter David is called the "stem of Jesse" (Isaiah 11:1). As a son David sprang from Jesse as a stem springs from a green plant. Ten verses later Christ is referred to as the Root of Jesse. If you picture a typical tree, the Root of Jesse metaphor is puzzling. Wouldn't it make more sense to call Jesus the "Branch of Jesse" or the "Leaf of Jesse" if He is a later descendent? Doesn't the root grow prior to the branches? Based on simple botany, to call Christ the "Root of Jesse" creates chronological confusion. Yes, in the world of pure cause and effect, with one thing causing another in direct chronological succession it would be better to call Jesus the "Branch of Jesse." But history is not simply a matter of the past causing the future; it is also true that the future causes the past. The late R. J. Rushdoony explained it this way: "The movement of time, according to the Bible, is from eternity, since it is created by God and moves out of and in terms of His eternal decree Because time is predestined, and because its beginning and end are already established, time does not develop in evolutionary fashion from past to present to future. Instead, it unfolds from future to present to past."

When God desired to glorify Himself in Jesus Christ, that decision was made in eternity. He created Jesse and David and all the other ancestors of Christ's human nature in order to carry out that decision. The plan to send Jesus into the world to redeem the world came first. Jesse and David came as a response to that eternal plan. The Root of Jesse metaphor fits after all. The Root of Jesse's existence was the Son of David, Jesus Christ. The effect determined the cause. [I am indebted to David Chilton for this insight. Days of Vengeance , pp. 170-171.]

"There shall be a root of Jesse" says the prophet Isaiah and St. Paul, "And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles." Israel's purpose was to extend the faith to the four corners of the earth. She failed. God ordered Israel to convert all lands and nations, and bring every family into covenantal union with God, so that all peoples could glorify God together, yet ethnic Israel focused myopically on blood and soil. Too many were fixed on racial purity and getting Judea back from the Romans. Jesus refocused the mission of God's people. Where ethnic Israel had failed Christ succeeded. He ordered His disciples to baptize and disciple the nations. Jesus died for all peoples. From His wounded side redeeming water and blood flow over the entire orb, not just a slice of land in the Middle East. Hence, there is no more division between Jew and Gentile. More than that, Christ's redemption will eventually liberate creation itself, and the Creator will be all in all (Romans 8). The division between Heaven and earth will be done away with (Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21).

Christ's First Coming caused three dominos to begin falling. The redemption of Israel results in the redemption of mankind which results in the redemption of creation. At Christ's First Advent the Kingdom of God was inaugurated; at His Second Advent the New Age will be consummated.

These truths set the foundation for our hope. Reading Romans 15:13. [Read it.]

It is easy despair when things are going wrong. It is easy to despair as we follow the events of the world. William Barclay tells about a church that called a special meeting to deal with an emergency. The chairman began with a prayer that began: "Almighty and eternal God, whose grace is sufficient for all things." When the prayer was finished, the business part of the meeting began; and the chairman introduced the business by saying: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the situation in this church is completely hopeless, and nothing can be done." Either his prayer was composed of empty and meaningless words, or his statement was untrue.

Contrast that meeting with the one Winston Churchill chaired. Those familiar with World War II history know that the darkest days for England came just after France fell to Hitler. Mr. Churchill gathered his ministers and outlined the situation in its starkest colors. Britain stood alone. There was a silence when he had finished speaking, and on some faces was written despair, and some would have given up the struggle. Mr. Churchill looked around that dispirited company. "Gentlemen," he said, "I find it rather inspiring."

There is something sublime about Christian hope. Nobody is hopeless as long as there is the grace of Jesus Christ; and no situation is hopeless as long as there is the power of God. On this Second Sunday in Advent, the Church calls you to be men and women of hope. Despair is atheism. If you have Christ, you have hope. God's Word is an abundant source of patience, comfort and hope. Commit to the daily reading and study of the pages of Scripture.

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