Unity that Harmonizes for the Glory of God

The Summit of Our Salvation

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

July 13, 2025

Unity that Harmonizes for the Glory of God

In chapter 14 we see there was division brewing in the church over matters that weren’t central to the gospel – things like whether it was ok to eat meat or should a believer only eat vegetables (probably because a lot of the meat sold in the market had been dedicated to idols), between believers who considered one day as holier than others and believers who considered every day the same.

Paul calls them to love one another, not pass judgment on each other, and to work together to build one another up for the sake of the kingdom of God and the work of God. The first 13 verses of chapter 15 continues this theme.

15 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. ³ For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” ⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Rom. 15:1-7 NIV

We who are strong…the truth is in any context there will be stronger and weaker believers. In the context of chapter 14 Paul’s talking about those with a stronger or weaker conscience as regards Christian liberty but strength and weakness comes in different forms and at different times. There are mature Christians and less mature Christians. There are Christians who walk through fiery trials with unfaltering faith and Christians who struggle constantly with doubt and fear.

We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak…In the Greek this sentence could read, “We who are able ought to carry the strengthlessness of the unable.” I think strengthlessness is a better word than failings. Failings might make it sound like the weak are failures and that’s not what this verse is saying. It’s saying that when someone’s strength is giving out, we do more than tolerate them, we try to help them carry the burden they are unable to carry by themselves.

I saw a video of a woman who was caught in the flood waters in Texas and rescue workers were working to save her life. You could see that the currents had so exhausted her that at times she went under, unable to hold on to the rope they had passed to her, unable to even keep her head above water at times. The rescue workers came alongside of her and held onto her and helped her raise her head above water. It took a while but they carried her – they bore her - to safety.

They weren’t in that raging water risking their own lives to please themselves. They did it to do good to her. To save her. When the strong believer comes upon the strengthlessness of the unable believer, we ought not judge them or look down on them or cast them out. We ought to bear with them. We should carry them to a better place for their good, for their building up. Those are moral imperatives: we ought to… we should…

But that raises the question, why ought we? Why should we? Paul lists three reasons.

1. Because that’s what Jesus did for us!

³ For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

Even Christ, the King of heaven, the Lord of creation, didn’t come to please himself but to serve others. He didn’t subject himself to man’s hatred and rejection because it pleased him he did it to save us. Jesus entered the floodwaters of this sinful world to carry us to safety. When it comes to our salvation we were and are completely helpless to save ourselves! We are the weak, it is our failings that Jesus bore when he bore the cross!

To capsulize the raging waters Jesus entered for our sake, Paul quotes Psalm 69 The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. If you read Psalm 69 it’s David crying out to God to save him because he is drowning in accusations and insults and conspiracies his enemies are throwing at him. But it’s also a Messianic psalm, a prophetic description of the raging waters of hatred and rejection that Jesus would endure for us:

⁴ Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal…

¹³But I pray to you, Lord, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation. ¹⁴ Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters. ¹⁵ Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me. ¹⁶ Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me. Psalm 69:4, 13-16

The other morning I opened my bible to Rom. 15 and when I came to that quote “The insults of those who insult you fell on me” I wanted to understand its context better so I went to Psalm 69 and read the whole psalm. And it spoke what I needed to hear that morning.

2. Because it’s through the unity of harmony that the church glorifies God

⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. 15:4-6

When we think of needing endurance and encouragement most of the time we think of it in terms of the daily challenges and struggles we face but Paul says we need endurance and encouragement to help us harmonize our differences in such a way that with even with our differences about non-essential matters we have the same attitude of mind that Christ has towards us so that with one mind and one voice we might glorify our God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

The ultimate goal of unity isn’t unity – it’s to glorify our God and Father with one mind and one voice! We don’t get one mind and one voice by thinking exactly the same things about everything. Unity doesn’t mean uniformity. The church is unity with diversity. Harmony is created by singing different notes that go well together. Harmony can make a song so much better than everyone singing the melody can.

Our unity is built on the essentials of the gospel: one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all. In those things we all sing the melody. But in disputable matters we won’t all agree and that’s ok. It’s through the harmony of unity that we glorify God together.

3. Unbelievers will praise God when they see Christ’s acceptance of us reflected to one another

⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Rom. 15:7

Verse 6 and verse 7 both speak of glorifying and praising God but there is a difference. In verse 6 we the church glorify God but in verse 7 we the church bring praise to God. It seems to me the praise is coming from those on the outside looking in. When they see the beauty of Christ’s acceptance of us being reflected one to another, it causes unbelievers to praise God.

Again Paul connects our acceptance of one another to a bigger goal: to see God praised in the world. The beauty of the gospel shines through a community of believers who bend Christ’s acceptance towards one another in love. We are to accept one another just as Christ accepted us. But how exactly has Christ accepted us?

Beautifulpeople.com is an exclusive dating site only for beautiful people. Existing members vote on whether to accept new applicants by rating them as “beautiful” or “absolutely not”. In 2011 beautifulpeople.com suffered a technical glitch that altered the software used to screen applicants, resulting in 30K less-than-beautiful people being accepted. Beautifulpeople.com then faced the difficult decision about what to do with these undeserving new members. Founder Greg Hodge put it bluntly when he said, "you can't just sweep 30,000 ugly people under the carpet." In the end, they sent 30K rejection notices that included a hotline counseling number to call to help them work through the pain of rejection. They rationalized that if they were to live up to their name they could only accept beautiful people into their dating community.

There is a deep beauty to the acceptance God has given us in Christ. God didn't assess us to see who was beautiful enough to deserve His love and acceptance. Just the opposite: God demonstrated His love for us in this, while we were yet sinners - while our souls were ugly with sin and rebellion - Christ died for us, that all who believe in Christ might be made acceptable – and beautiful! – in God’s sight.

We as a church community are to accept one another – despite differences in non-essential matters – in the same way Christ has accepted us. Not because we’re perfect, not because we’re right about everything, but simply because we have come to Christ in faith, confessed our inability to save ourselves and called upon Jesus as our Savior.

That’s the beauty of the gospel and that’s what the world needs to see and hear. The lost sinner, the one being carried along by the currents of sin and despair and hopelessness and confusion and loneliness and meaninglessness and all the other powerful currents that are sweeping you helplessly along need to believe that you can never be too far gone for him to reach you and save you. There is no sin so great that his blood can’t make you clean. There is no sin so ugly that Jesus wouldn’t accept you if you come to him in faith. You don’t have to clean up your life before coming to Jesus – in fact, you can’t. The great hymn that George Beverly Shea used to sing at the end of every Billy Graham meeting is a hymn called Just As I Am. The last verse speaks this beautiful gospel truth:

Just as I am, you will receive,
will welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
because Your promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

If we come to Jesus like this, he promises he will never cast us away.