Overflowing Hope

DEVOTION

ROMANS

OVERFLOWING HOPE

Rom 15:7-13

7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs 9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name."   10 Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people."   11 And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples."  12 And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him."  

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

NIV

It is for certain that Jesus came for the whole world even if he came through the bloodline of a chosen people. But why are they a chosen people? What makes them any better than other people? God could have chosen to send Jesus into the world through the Persian Empire, or the Babylonian Empire or even through the Roman Empire, but he chose a people who were not an empire, but simple a small band of people who started with one man, Abraham and his son Isaac and his son Jacob. From Jacob, who God changed his name to Israel, came a whole nation by that name. Yet Jesus having been born as a human in the ancestral tree of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, died for all mankind, not just Israel. This was already determined by God from the beginning and he spoke through the prophets regarding the Gentiles being offered salvation through Christ. So the Jew and the Gentile must accept one another just as Christ accepted us. But we could also personalize that statement in that we have to learn to accept every believer in the manner Jesus does. The scripture says who so ever believes will not perish but have everlasting life. So we need to accept who so ever. It is not up to us who to accept and who to reject. Sure there may be some people, some believers who are sort of weird, or have different beliefs as we do. There may be some believers who think in terms of old world creation, instead of new world creation. There may be some who do not believe in the evidence of the all the gifts in the church today. Others believe being filled with the Spirit means speaking in tongues. Still others think that gift is from the devil, just as the Pharisees accused Jesus of when he healed people from demon possession. The point is for as many believers there are we might find that many different interpretations of certain scriptures, yet we need to accept each other as Jesus has accepted who so ever believes in him. Therefore we Gentiles need to get along with each other and with all the Jewish believers. In this kind of fellowship, this kind of koinonia , we find the true spirit of joy and peace. The Apostle John makes it clear we are to express this kind of fellowship.

1 John 1:5-7

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

NIV

The Greek word here translated fellowship is this koinonia. It is defined or means to have community, communion, joint participation. One lexicon uses intercourse, another uses intimacy, but both mean this close relationship with each other. Do we really experience that? Do we even try? It seems we all find things to divide us rather than join us to each other. If we are going to accept each other than it has to start with us, with me. There can be not a single shred of prejudice within us. Not one little bit. As we come to that place, and see everyone as Jesus does, then the peace and joy of the Lord can fill our hearts as we trust in him. Then we will overflow with hope by the power of the Spirit. But by our not accepting everyone, not having true fellowship, does that block the joy and peace, and the overflowing hope? It would seem it would. How can we have true joy and peace and overflowing hope when we have some divide between us, some ill feelings, or disagreements, or prejudices, or envy, jealousy, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness within? Are we not supposed to rid ourselves of all that? If we did, than we would be in fellowship and we would be filled with the joy and peace of the Lord and be overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.