Introduction
One of the evidences that you have been saved and and are now growing in Christ is that your desires are no longer what they used to be. No longer are you driven by a desire for wealth or for fame. No longer is worldly success the goal for which you strive. You have fallen out of love with those things and have fallen in love with Christ.
You love everything about Christ. You love His patience. You love His kindness. You love His righteousness. You love His purity.
You used to love impatience. People who knew how to get what they wanted when they wanted it were a model for you. Now, that kind of impatience is a stench in your nose. Patience is admirable to you. For patience is an attribute of your God.
Perhaps you used to love unkindness. Maybe in high school you were one of those people who would gather around two guys fighting and get all excited and yell, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”. It was thrilling to you, exciting, to watch the violence. But now, you’ve begun to see how foolish all that was. You’ve realized that its easy to respond to others with anger and violence when they treat you badly. The real hard thing to do is to respond with forgiveness and kindness. That’s the real warrior – the one who has learned how to conquer his flesh and do what is right. Kindness is a mark of your God, and so now, you love it.
Its kind of like a young man who has fallen in love. He is head-over-heels for a girl. He is drawn to anything that reminds him of her. She writes him a love letter, and he’ll take that letter to his nose and smell it, and her scent will be there, and his heart warms. He hears a song that she likes or sees a book she enjoys and he’s drawn to it. That is how it is with us and God. We are so head-over-heels in love with Him that we are drawn to everything that reminds us of Him. And nothing reminds us of Him more than marks of holiness.
We love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control – because these things remind us of our God. And we know that we have a big wedding day coming. We are marrying our God, our Savior, our Lord. Jesus is coming back to get us, and on that day we want to be prepared for Him, sharing His holiness.
So when we think about our goals, they look this: I want to be a more patient father. I want to be a more sacrificial, loving, serving husband. I want to be a more considerate son. I want to be a more faithful, gentle pastor. I want to be a more joyful witness. I want those things that are so gloriously good about my God to characterize me as well.
I’ve sometimes talked about how we have a tendency to want to become like what we love. That’s why people walk around with Brett Favre or Tony Romo or Derek Jeter jerseys on. Its why Jonathan puts a Spiderman costume on and goes outside to play. We want to be like those who have capture our hearts and affections. As Christians, that means we long to be like Jesus – for everything about Him is wonderful to us!
Let me share with you some good news: The Bible tells us that this is what Jesus wants for us too. It isn’t just your desire, Christian. Its Jesus’ desire for you. He died on the cross so that God could justly put the Holy Spirit inside of you and begin to make you a godly man or a godly woman prepared and fit to dwell in heaven forever.
What’s more, Jesus is even now as I am preaching working through the Holy Spirit within you towards that goal. He is gradually, patiently, conforming you to His own image. He is making you holy. On the day you die or He comes back, the work will be finished.
Becoming by Beholding
Now, how is it that we become holy? The Bible is very clear that this process of becoming holy (sanctification), is a process of becoming by beholding. Let me say that again. This process of becoming holy is a process of becoming by beholding Everybody say becoming by beholding. What does that mean? Look with me at 2nd Corinthians 3:18:
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is Spirit.”
Do you see it? As we behold the glory of the Lord in His Word and in His Creation and in His people and in the Lord’s Supper and in Baptism and in all the means of grace Jesus has given to us, He is changing us and transforming us into His image. The more we behold Christ, the more we become like Christ.
Now here is the thing. It is possible to read the Bible or to look at the stars at night or to be involved in Christian fellowship or to take the Lord’s Supper or to witness a baptism and not see Christ. Some people are in church their whole lives and see all these things and never see Christ. We become by beholding, but we cannot behold Christ in all the ways He reveals Himself unless we look through the eyes of faith.
Faith is embracing and believing and treasuring Christ as He really is. Faith learns who Christ is - what He has done, what He has doing, what He will do – and then rests in that Christ. And the more our faith grows, the sharper our focus becomes, and the better we behold Christ. And the more we behold Christ, the more we become like Christ.
Have you ever taken binoculars to a sporting event or a hunting trip? You turn the little focusing wheel and the image becomes clearer and clearer? As you see who Christ is in the Bible, in the lives of Christians, in creation, in the ordinances, that wheel is slowly turning, causing you to see more and more clearly the true, brilliant glory of your Savior. And the sharper the focus gets, the more you fall in love. You want to see Him more. “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord! Open the eyes of my heart! I want to see You!” That’s your prayer.
So, here is what I want you to get so that these two verses in Romans 1 will make sense to you. The way we become holy is by growing in our faith so that we can better behold Christ.
This is a poor illustration, but imagine you were at the World Series games this past week. You are sitting way up high in Yankee Stadium and you take out your binoculars and begin to focus in on your favorite player. Maybe it’s A-Rod. Now imagine that as you slowly turn the wheel and A-Rod becomes clearer and clearer in your sight, you yourself somehow began to change. Your arms suddenly buff up. Your abs suddenly firm up. The attributes of A-Rod – his ability to hit homeruns and his ability to steal bases and his ability to snatch a hard-hit baseball – these suddenly become yours as you are focusing in.
Friends, Jesus has loved you so much that He has given you the Holy Spirit and a whole set of different binoculars so that as you focus in on Him through these various means of grace, the Spirit begins making you like Him. He does this through your faith. The better you see Christ, the more you become like Christ. The sharper your focus, the holier you become.
Hear this: Growing in your faith – your understanding and acceptance of who Jesus is – is what allow you to see Him all the more clearer. And seeing Him clearer makes you all the more like Him. We grow in Christ-likeness by growing in faith.
So, if you want to be a godlier man or woman, a better friend, better employee or employer, a more faithful church member, a holier person, that what you need is for your faith to be strengthened. Better eyesight is what we need. A greater ability to see Christ in all His glory.
And one way that Christ strengthens your faith is through the faith of other believers.
Look with me at Romans 1:11-12. “For I long to see you, that I may impart some spiritual gift to strengthen you – that is, that we be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”
Strengthen / Encourage
Follow along with me closely. First, note two words: strengthen and encouraged Some of your translations may have the word establish instead of strengthen. In this particular verse I think that strengthen is the better translation. These two words, strengthen and encourage, mean much the same thing. To encourage someone is to grow their courage, to give them more strength. Paul wants to see the Romans so that through their fellowship both he and they will become stronger.
But what will become stronger? He says he wants to strengthen them – does that mean he wants to make their arms and legs bigger and more muscular? Is that what Paul is after? Of course not. When Paul uses these words “strengthen” and “encourage”, he’s talking about their faith He longs to see them so that through their fellowship with one another he and they will grow in their faith. He and they will see Jesus better and have a better view of His glory because of their time together.
Friends, this is what we should desire for our times together. Whether its in this room on Sundays, or in the Sunday School classes, or in the Wednesday night Care Meeting, or in the men’s or women’s Bible studies, or in our times sharing meals in one another’s homes – in all our fellowship, the goal is that Christ would use us to help sharpen one another’s focus on Him! The goal is that we would know more of Christ’s love, more of Christ’s patience, more of Christ’s mercy, more of Christ’s righteousness, more of Christ’s power, more of Christ’s goodness, and more of Christ’s wisdom because we’ve been together.
That’s the goal of fellowship – stronger faith! A better view of Christ! A greater glimpse of His glorious character so that we fall even more in love with His beauty! In everything we do, that must be the goal.
By Each Other’s Faith Through Spiritual Gifts
But how does that happen? How can we help strengthen each other’s faith? These verses seem to teach that Christ uses my faith to help strengthen your faith and your faith to help strengthen my faith. Notice verse 12: “…that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” So I am encouraged – my faith is strengthened – by your faith, and vice versa.
But what does that mean? How does that work? Well, one way it works is through spiritual gifts. Notice how Paul parallels spiritual gifts and faith in these two verses. “For I long to see you, that I may impart some spiritual gift to strengthen you – that is, that we be mutually encouraged by each other’s…” By each other’s what? By each other’s spiritual gifts? Isn’t that what we would expect him to say?
But it isn’t what he says. He says “by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” So there is an important connection between faith and spiritual gifts.
Now, let me try and explain how I think this plays out practically, and then I’ll say a few words about spiritual gifts.
Here is Kim and Pam. Kim and Pam are both Christians. Kim and Pam love their Lord Jesus Christ. Kim and Pam are sharing a meal together at the Shiny Diner. They share with each other things that are going on in one another’s lives. Pam listens as Kim talks about some issues that she is currently going through. And Jesus, in His sovereignty, has given Pam a special love for His wisdom. Pam loves to think about how Jesus’ commands in the Bible are so perfect and so helpful and how if people would just apply them they would save themselves from so much trouble. Pam loves the wisdom of Jesus. When she thinks about Christ, others things are not so well focused, but Jesus’ wisdom is a seen somewhat clearly by her and its beautiful to her and she loves Jesus all the more because of it. So as she listens to Kim share her troubles, some of the wise commands of Jesus that could bring clarity and help to Kim’s life are coming to Pam’s mind. And then, Pam is able to lovingly, gently, remind Kim of some of these things that Jesus taught and how if Kim will obey them she will find herself kept in peace and blessing as she endures this tough time.
We might say that Pam has the spiritual gift of wisdom, or encouragement, or even teaching. But the root of what’s happening is in her faith, and as Kim listens to Pam she is catching a greater glimpse of Christ’s wisdom herself. And if she is willing to heed these commands of Christ she will experience Christ’s wisdom for herself. Pam’s faith is used by Christ to strength Kim’s faith through this spiritual gift.
Maybe Kim has a special love for the grace of Christ. Every Christian is touched when we think about Christ giving Himself up on the cross for us, but Kim is uniquely overwhelmed by this truth. It has radically revolutionized her life. She loves to think about how gracious Jesus has been to her, despite how undeserving she is. To think that the Son of God would endure the hell her sins deserve in her place is the most wonderful think she can imagine. There are other aspects of Jesus that she maybe does not see so clearly, but this aspect is quite sharp in her mind and heart and it has caused her to love Jesus greatly. Because of her love for the grace of Christ and how often she thinks upon it, this attribute of Jesus has begun to show up in her own life. She has become a sacrificial servant to others. She is quick to forgive others and loves to show mercy. She doesn’t mind staying after church to clean up or to do other acts of sacrificial service. When the check comes to the table, without making a big deal about it, Kim grabs it and says to Pam, please let me have the joy of paying for this.
We might say that Kim has the spiritual gift of service or of generosity. Yet what it boils down to is that Christ has given her a special grasp of His own grace that is now being manifested in her life towards others. Pam in this moment is the recipient of Kim’s kindness and is a witness to a display of grace that points her to Jesus. Faith builds faith through spiritual gifts.
In this little lunch meeting at the Shiny Diner, most people would have just seen two ladies talking. Yet Christ from His throne was supernaturally blessing and sanctifying and growing these two ladies as he used them as means of grace in one another’s lives. They each leave the restaurant with a better view of Christ and a greater love for Christ. They are holier and happier. Christ did this through their mutual faith expressed in spiritual gifts.
This is why Paul wanted to see these Roman Christians. And this should be the goal of our fellowship together as well.
A Key Implication
Here is the key implication: We as Christians are gifts to one another. We are instruments in the hands of the Redeemer being used to strengthen one another. Therefore, when we neglect genuine, meaningful fellowship together, we rob ourselves of a valuable means of grace in our lives. Do not say that you long to grow in godliness and to be a more patient, faithful, wise, mature believer if you are neglecting real involvement in the lives of your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Its like a complaining about being thirsty when you refused the glass of water sitting in front of you. By God’s grace we have in this church men and women who are gifted by God in such unique ways. We have men and women that excel in wisdom, excel in generosity, excel in service. Let us live in love for one another, and as we do, Christ will use our various gifts to strengthen one another and to sharpen our focus on His glory, causing us to become more like the Savior we love.
Are you forsaking this vital means of grace? Is the fellowship of believers precious to you? Can you give testimony of how God has used so many your brothers and sisters in this room to strengthen your faith? And if not, why not? Could it be that you have too often neglected to spend time with them in their homes? Or to be a part of the care meeting on Wednesday night? Or to work with them during our outreach projects? Have you robbed yourself of the opportunity to benefit from these fellow believers?
Moreover, if you are a Christian, do you see how you too might be robbing them from the benefit they might receive from you? Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you understand that Jesus desires to use you in their lives? If not for your own sake, certainly for theirs you should not forsake meaningful fellowship with your fellow believers.
Finally, let me press upon us all the importance of continually beholding Christ. In His Word, in Christian fellowship, in His Creation, in all the other means of grace, look upon Jesus everyday. Seek to be freshly affected by some aspect of Christ everyday. The more you behold Him, by God’s grace, the more you will fall in love with Him and will become like Him. For your own sake, for the sake of those you love, for the sake of your witness, for the sake of God’s glory – see and savor Jesus Christ everyday and be marvel as Christ causes you to make great progress in godliness. Let’s pray.
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