Through the Bible - Psalms 105-106, Romans 15:22-33
Good morning,
As I've mentioned before, this year in the read through the Bible plan i've been using the Message. Romans and Psalms have been two of the more enjoyable books of the Bible in Eugene Petersen's paraphrases.
Today's verse comes from Romans 15 and was part of yesterdays "read through the Bible plan"
Rom 15:1-2 Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help?" (from THE MESSAGE):
The NKJV puts it this way:
Rom 15:1-2 We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. NKJV
Would you consider yourself to be "strong in the faith"? Whichever translation you read, it should be clear that if we are we should show it in love, in service, in edification of our neighbors. (The thought of our neighbors and who is my neighbor is a recurring, seamingly constant theme in the New Testament).
MacArthur writes that " the strong are not simply to tolerate the weaknesses of their weaker brothers, they are to help the weak shoulder their burdens by showing loving and practicle consideration for them".
When I read then reread these verses the first thought that comes to my head is "whoa". Or should it be "woe" as in I fall woefully short.
What are we doing to edify, to build up our brothers and sisters in Christ?
Who do you know that you could encourage, comfort, exhort, or encourage today?
If you have the time read through Romans 15 from the Message below. Over the weekend or in the coming week, read through Romans from the Message or any other translation. May it speak to your heart.
Many translations are available online along with other resources at www.biblegateway.com. Check it out.
In Christ,
Mike
Rom 15
15 Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help?"
That's exactly what Jesus did. He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding people's troubles, but waded right in and helped out. "I took on the troubles of the troubled," is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we'll be a choir — not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God's purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:
Then I'll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;I'll sing to your name!
And this one:
Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!
And again:
People of all nations, celebrate God!All colors and races, give hearty praise!
And Isaiah's word:
There's the root of our ancestor Jesse,breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!
Personally, I've been completely satisfied with who you are and what you are doing. You seem to me to be well-motivated and well-instructed, quite capable of guiding and advising one another. So, my dear friends, don't take my rather bold and blunt language as criticism. It's not criticism. I'm simply underlining how very much I need your help in carrying out this highly focused assignment God gave me, this priestly and gospel work of serving the spiritual needs of the non-Jewish outsiders so they can be presented as an acceptable offering to God, made whole and holy by God's Holy Spirit.
Looking back over what has been accomplished and what I have observed, I must say I am most pleased — in the context of Jesus, I'd even say proud, but only in that context. I have no interest in giving you a chatty account of my adventures, only the wondrously powerful and transformingly present words and deeds of Christ in me that triggered a believing response among the outsiders. In such ways I have trailblazed a preaching of the Message of Jesus all the way from Jerusalem far into northwestern Greece. This has all been pioneer work, bringing the Message only into those places where Jesus was not yet known and worshiped. My text has been,
Those who were never told of him — they'll see him!Those who've never heard of him — they'll get the message!
And that's why it has taken me so long to finally get around to coming to you. But now that there is no more pioneering work to be done in these parts, and since I have looked forward to seeing you for many years, I'm planning my visit. I'm headed for Spain, and expect to stop off on the way to enjoy a good visit with you, and eventually have you send me off with God's blessing.
First, though, I'm going to Jerusalem to deliver a relief offering to the Christians there. The Greeks — all the way from the Macedonians in the north to the Achaians in the south — decided they wanted to take up a collection for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. They were happy to do this, but it was also their duty. Seeing that they got in on all the spiritual gifts that flowed out of the Jerusalem community so generously, it is only right that they do what they can to relieve their poverty. As soon as I have done this — personally handed over this "fruit basket" — I'm off to Spain, with a stopover with you in Rome. My hope is that my visit with you is going to be one of Christ's more extravagant blessings.
I have one request, dear friends: Pray for me. Pray strenuously with and for me — to God the Father, through the power of our Master Jesus, through the love of the Spirit — that I will be delivered from the lions' den of unbelievers in Judea. Pray also that my relief offering to the Jerusalem Christians will be accepted in the spirit in which it is given. Then, God willing, I'll be on my way to you with a light and eager heart, looking forward to being refreshed by your company. God's peace be with all of you. Oh, yes!
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