One Voice, United In Prayer

Romans 15:1-7

May 1, 2014 • Portage National Day of Prayer

Several years ago, my son, Christopher, and I were privileged to be able to go to Italy, which is a beautiful country, and one of the things I remember most from that trip is being in Venice. Everyone always talks about the “romance” of Venice, and maybe it was because my wife was back home, but that isn’t what stuck in my mind. Two things I remember about that city. First of all, it was hot. Incredibly hot and humid. And about the time I was going to comment on (or complain about) that, our tour guide commented that it was a balmy day for Venice. I wouldn’t want to be there on a really hot day! But the second thing I remember is the way the city is built. It’s not really one city, or at least not one piece of land; it’s a collection of islands, some very small and some very large. The canals that go through the city really divide it up. What if the earliest settlers, the ones who built that city, had decided they wanted to be separate islands, separate towns, each on their own tiny speck of land? What if they had fought over who controlled what waterways and whose boat was whose? Thankfully, that’s not what happened. Instead, Venice became a powerhouse city because rather than building walls, those earliest settlers built bridges—hundreds of bridges that connect the various smaller islands, bridges that brought the people together instead of keeping them apart.

And I remember that image because I believe it’s a parable for the church, especially the church in America in 2014, even—dare I say—the church in Portage in 2014. Far too often and for too long, we have operated as individual islands, allowing conflicts over ways of doing things and even interpretations of particular parts of singular verses to keep us apart. We’ve argued over issues like canals and water rights rather than building bridges that would bring us together. The reality is, we already have a bridge. Jesus came to be that bridge and on the last night he was with his disciples, he prayed that we would be one (John 17:20-23). He didn’t pray that we would be “one” within our own denomination, fellowship or church family. He prayed that all who follow him, all who claim his name, all who are saved by his grace would be one. Jesus even said that the way the world would know that God the Father had sent him is if we are one (John 17:21, 23). So, how are we doing? Are we building bridges or arguing over canals?

Now, lest we be too hard on ourselves, this is an ages-old struggle; even the first Christians were not immune. Those who were so close to Jesus in time, those who knew well his prayer for unity, still struggled with being united. In several places in Paul's letters, we hear him plead with the early church to be one. In our passage this afternoon, Paul is speaking to the church at Rome, and while he may not have met them yet, he has heard of them. He knows that in Rome there is a constant struggle between the “great” and the “lesser.” It was just a part of the culture, and it seeped into the church there as well. Some were “strong” and some were “weak,” but Paul begs them to not let that separate them. He asks these different factions, these different groups to “bear with” each other. Literally, that word means to “lift up, support, carry.” It doesn’t mean to cast aside that person you disagree with, to tear down a bridge that might be built. It means to pick up the other, to care for them and love them as Jesus would, for he is the one who brings us together and holds us together in the first place.

It’s easy to get discouraged. I mean, after 2,000 years, the church still struggles with unity over division. Is there any hope? In Paul’s day, the church in Rome was also in need of hope, and Paul offers it through two words that I want to lift up just briefly. These two things are given to us, Paul says, in the Scriptures, and they enable us to move ahead even when we don’t always agree. The first word is “endurance,” specifically “the endurance taught in the Scriptures.” I wonder who Paul had in mind as he wrote those words. Perhaps he was thinking of Abraham, who endured decades of childlessness, and even though he was promised an heir, he must have thought at times that God had forgotten him. Maybe Paul remembered Moses, who spent forty years in the wilderness being prepared to be the great leader we know him as. Forty years tending sheep. Who would choose that as a smart career move? He endured those years of near-solitude so that he could learn to lead and be the man God called him to be. Or perhaps David came to mind. Not David the great king, but David running for his life through the wilderness when King Saul wanted to kill him. David singing on the hillsides, wondering where God was and why his life was in danger. What about Ruth, who gave up her family and her name in order to care for her mother-in-law? Or Esther, who put her life on the line “for such a time as this,” to save her people? Patient endurance, taught by the Scriptures, modeled by God’s people. And though the story wasn’t written down yet, I imagine Paul also had in mind Jesus, who “for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Paul says: allow these stories of endurance to give you hope even when it’s hard.

The other word is “encouragement,” as in “the encouragement [the Scriptures] provide.” Most if not all of us know how the Scriptures bring comfort and consolation, encouragement and hope. The Scriptures remind us of God’s promise to bring his plan to completion. In times of grief, how comforting is it to read that the Lord is a shepherd to us, gently tending us, leading us through the valley of the shadow of death? Even on the cross, Jesus was praying the Scriptures because he knew the encouragement and comfort they bring, the hope they provide. And Paul’s point in reminding the Romans (and us) of this truth is this: God has provided this reminder of endurance and words of encouragement to help us have the attitude of Jesus. When we adopt his mindset, we will come together. Paul has described that attitude very well in another one of his writings: “he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:7-8). Servanthood and obedience, endurance and hope—that was the attitude of Christ. That’s what God wants to give each and every one of us, and when we find that growing in us, we will be one voice, united in prayer, united in hope, united in the cause of Christ. Then, Paul says, echoing Jesus, we will bring praise and glory to God when we are one, when we build bridges rather than dig canals.

In this city, we ought to know about building bridges. Long before there was a Portage, there were three small communities: McCool, Crisman and Garyton. Some of you may remember those days. And a decision was made to bring these three small towns together into one larger town, and then into a city called Portage. To do that, this community had to build bridges of unity between three different areas. Those who were leading at that time had to make up their minds that there was more that held them together than kept them apart, that together they would be stronger than they would be apart. So here’s my question: if the larger community learned that back in the 1950’s and 60’s, why hasn’t the church, the Body of Christ, learned that yet in 2014? There is more that brings us together than pulls us apart. There are different practices, different ways of worshipping, different secondary doctrines—but that which brings us together, Jesus Christ the saving Son of God, is bigger than all of those things, more important than anything else. We are stronger together than we are apart, which is why every Sunday we pray for all the churches in Portage, that together we will make a difference for his kingdom in this community. He is the one who brings us together, reminding us we will reach this community together or not at all.

You see, because of Jesus, we gather here on this special day, united in one mind and one voice, to lift up our prayers to God. And by our unity, by our prayers, by our presence here as one body, we will bring praise and glory to God. So let’s do that. Let’s unite our voices and our hearts and our minds and our prayers on this National Day of Prayer. Let’s come together and show the world that the one who brings us together is stronger than the things that threaten to pull us apart. And when that happens, Jesus says, the world will come to believe (John 17:21). Amen.