“A Call To Community” (Part One)

Tom Hanks’ tour de force performance in the film “Castaway” raises the question—which is harder, living in isolation or living in relationship? Certainly each has its challenges, but the question remains—which is tougher?

Richard Wurmbrand (Sermons in Solitary Confinement) would no doubt say that isolation is the greater struggle and the greater hardship, and I would not fault his thinking, given his own experience in prison. Maybe that’s why, in his isolation, Tom Hanks’ castaway created a companion out of a soccer ball.

I wonder, though, if, in its own way, relationship isn’t just as hard. When you are in isolation there is no need for concerns about others or their needs, there is no social etiquette to maintain, and there is no need to feel like you need to impress anyone.

With relationship comes challenge, and I think Paul understood that as he wrote to the 1^st century church at Rome. I suspect that this was in part the motivation for the portion of the Roman letter we wish to consider today. It forms a “Call to Community” with strong counsel on how to deal with relationships in the family of God, and does so by issuing three distinct calls in Romans 15:1-7. We see the first today:

A Call to Compassion (vv.1-3)

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. (2) Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. (3) For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

Compassion can take many forms, but it is ultimately the commitment to seek the welfare of another by living inside their experience in life. Notice Paul identifies three groups, and uses different verbs to describe the appropriate actions in regards to each group:

A. Weak (v.1- bear)- the same word is used in Gal. 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens”—what is the weakness? The root word for “weak” speaks of someone who is unable to stand on their feet, and may be a metaphor for someone who does not have the strength to stand alone for Christ. The challenge to the strong is to stand with them—sharing with them the strength to endure for Christ.

B. Neighbor (v.2- please)- remember that Jesus sets before us the definition of a neighbor and it is anyone for whom we can show kindness and do good. When he says to “please” them, it is not a surrender of values or convictions but rather a carrying of those convictions in a way that will be seen as appealing and winsome, reflecting on Christ in a positive way.

C. Antagonist (v.3- reproaches)- this quotes Psalm 69:9, and seems to make the whole of the psalm a portrait of the suffering Savior. When faced with the reproaches of the very people He had come to love, Christ dramatically put compassion on display—by refusing to please Himself, working rather for their needed benefit, regardless of their treatment of Him!

The Call to Compassion: This is EXTERNAL—and proclaims grace to those who need it. We pick up here tomorrow.

One Response to ““A Call To Community” (Part One)”

1. lakehills101 says:

   March 20, 2010 at 11:55 pm

   Good article! I particularly like the statement, “Compassion can take many forms, but it is ultimately the commitment to seek the welfare of another by living inside their experience in life.” This is very “incarnational”. Just as Jesus was/is willing to live inside our experience, we can learn to enter their world. Regarding compassion, I love the verse, “…when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion…” (Mat 9:36). He saw. He saw and was moved. He saw and felt compassion. May the Lord help us to really “see”.