WELS Walking Together 2012-13
Sermon Study
Romans 15:4-6
Church Year
This text will fit in many different seasons of the church year. It is part of the epistle lesson for the second
Sunday in Advent in Series A of the three year series and in the one year lectionary. Mentioning
encouragement and hope, it will fit well in the Easter season, since Jesus’ resurrection is the basis for our
encouragement and hope. Its emphasis on Scripture, unity, and discipleship serve well for the Pentecost
season. Since Paul brings up the idea of endurance, we might use this section of the Bible for preaching
during the End Times Sundays as well. In fact, whenever a congregation decides to hold a Walking Together
church service, these verses from Romans 15 can be adapted to fit appropriately into the church year.
The Text
Verse 4 – For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance
and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
“For” – These verses come in the middle of a lengthy section in which Paul is trying to help Roman
Christians be unified in their Christian faith and life. He has had much to say about those who are strong in
faith and those who are weak in faith, and how they are to deal with each other. In verse 3, Paul quotes
Psalm 69:9 and applies it to Christ Jesus by saying that Jesus was willing to be insulted so that he could
serve others and save them. In verse 4 he connects what Jesus did to what Christians will want to do for
each other; we will want to live to serve others rather than ourselves.
“Everything that was written in the past” – a clear reference to Holy Scripture. As Paul wrote to the
Romans, he is thinking of the Old Testament Scriptures and explaining that since Psalm 69:9 shows Jesus
living to sacrifice for others rather than living selfishly, so Paul has every right to apply this Old Testament
Bible verse to New Testament Christians, because it is part of the sacred Scriptures, the Word of God.
“So that through endurance . . . we might have hope” – Paul has said a lot in the previous chapter about
Christians who have different opinions about adiaphora putting up with each other. Now he is saying that
when we learn from the Scriptures, we will develop endurance, the ability to serve our Christian brothers
and sisters not just for a little while, but over the long haul. If it were easy, we wouldn’t need endurance. It
isn’t easy to live an unselfish life of service. The teachings of Holy Scripture will empower us to develop this
Christian virtue. Through this ability to endure, we have hope. People who need to put up with a difficult
situation for a long time can do it with hope in their hearts or they can start to give up in their hearts
because they don’t have enough endurance ability. When the Scriptures are teaching us, we will have
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WELS Walking Together 2012-13
enough ability to endure and our hope will continue. We know that we won’t have to endure it forever, and
that easier and lighter days are ahead.
“So that through . . . the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” – One of the reasons God
has given us his written Word is so that we will always have the encouragement we need to keep doing
what we need to do in life. The Scriptures are a powerful and positive force in life, continually calling us to
the Lord’s side for comfort and strength to go on. Because the teaching of Scripture keeps filling up our
hearts with the Lord’s encouragement, our endurance through difficult situations is much more than just
gritting our teeth and getting through to the other side with jaws clenched. Even in the middle of
difficulties, we can actually look forward to more opportunities for unselfish service and sacrifice, and we
continue to have a sure hope that there will be a good outcome and result of every challenge that we need
to endure. There is nothing more encouraging than the promises of our Lord God in the Scriptures, and
when they keep teaching us, our hope only becomes firmer and stronger.
Verse 5 – May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves
as you follow Christ Jesus,
“The God who gives endurance and encouragement” – It is very clear from verses 4 and 5 that God himself
works through the teaching of the Scriptures. When the Scriptures teach us, we receive the ability to
endure and to be encouraged in our Christian life (v. 4). These abilities come from God himself (v. 5). Our
translation interprets the genitives as genitives of source (God is the source of endurance and
encouragement and gives them out to his people). Another possibility would be that they are descriptive
genitives (God is characterized by endurance and encouragement, and he is always enduring and
encouraging). Both interpretations fit the context well, and they are not very far apart from each other.
“A spirit of unity among yourselves” – This literally means, “to think the same thing in each other.” Even
when some are strong in the Christian faith and others are weak, even when Christians have different
points of view about adiaphora, even then the Lord God can give a spirit of unity to a group of Christians
and help them to think the same way. This spirit of unity happens when a group of Christians has the same
attitude as Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5), when we “stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the
faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose [us]” (Philippians 1:27-28). As
Christians constantly learn from the Scriptures, as endurance and encouragement and hope grow in
Christians, the Lord also grows a unified spirit in Christian groups.
“As you follow Christ Jesus” – The Greek prepositional phrase is showing similarity and uniformity; literally
it says, “in accordance with Christ Jesus.” Paul is asking the Lord God to give not just any kind of unity, not a
unity based on a false hope or a false standard, but a unity that agrees with Christ Jesus and everything he
says and stands for. A unity in agreement with Christ Jesus is a rock solid unity, and differences in the
strength of faith that people have and in convictions about adiaphora cannot shake or damage such a unity.
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WELS Walking Together 2012-13
Verse 6 – So that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“With one heart and mouth” – When God helps people to think the same way, the way Christ Jesus thinks,
then the purposes of their hearts and the words of their mouths will be the same. They will be a body of
believers without factions or divisions, and their unity will be apparent to all. This verse shows just how
close the bond of unity can be among Christians, even when there are differences in the strength of faith
among them, even when they think differently about adiaphora.
“You may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” – When Christians receive from God this spirit
of unity, when they think together and with Jesus, then they will surely give glory to God the Father. In his
high priestly prayer, Jesus said that he received glory from his Father and gave it to his disciples so that they
would be one (John 17:22). This verse brings us full circle. The reason Jesus shares God’s glory with us and
unifies his Church on earth is so that we will glorify God the Father. What an amazing privilege we have to
praise and glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Homiletical Suggestions
We give glory to God by our unified efforts to train full-time servants of the Lord and then to send them out
with the Scriptures to strengthen our unity and to offer the gospel to more and more people. It may be
beneficial to imagine the results if our synod’s goals for 2017 can be reached. If possible we will be offering
the gospel in 30 different countries (in 2010 we were in 23 countries) and will serve 150,000 souls worldwide (107,000 in 2010). If possible we will be opening 10 new home missions each year in 2017 (4 were
opened in 2010). If these goals are reached, there will be an increasing need for called workers, and our
goals can be reached if congregation mission offerings grow to $27.5 million a year ($20.9 million in 2010).
In order to reach goals like these, there will be challenges to endure, and we will need the endurance and
the encouragement of the Scriptures to keep moving forward toward our goals. Looking forward in this
way, we offer the following outlines:
Option A
We can emphasize the wonderful blessing of unity that the Lord has showered on our synod and encourage
each other to keep working to strengthen this unity.
A Spirit of Unity in Christ Alone – I. Strengthened by Scripture’s Blessings, II. Intended to Glorify God
Option B
We can emphasize the end result of all our efforts to walk together in Christ alone – bringing glory and
praise to our God who has saved us.
Glorify God Together – I. Blessed by the Scriptures, II. Unified in Christ Alone
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