I. Introduction

A. Illustration - Charles Swindoll, in his book Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, writes, Imagine, if you will, that you work for a company whose president found it necessary to travel out of the country and spend an extended period of time abroad. So he says to you and the other trusted employees, “Look, I’m going to leave. And while I’m gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I’m away. I will write you regularly. When I do, I will instruct you in what you should do from now until I return from this trip.” Everyone agrees. He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, communicating his desires and concerns. Finally he returns. He walks up to the front door of the company and immediately discovers everything is in a mess--weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows broken across the front of the building, the gal at the front desk dozing, loud music roaring from several offices, two or three people engaged in horseplay in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered a great loss. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with a frown asks, “What happened? Didn’t you get my letters?” You say, “Oh, yeah, sure. We got all your letters. We’ve even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have ‘letter study’ every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters.” I think the president would then ask, “But what did you do about my instructions?” And, no doubt the employees would respond, “Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!” (as cited on Sermoncentral.com) The allusion to how many Christians act toward the Bible is obvious. Really, the whole issue in this story is whether or not Christians choose to act on what they read and learn. And that’s exactly what the apostle Paul is referring to in Romans 15:14.

B. Romans 15:14 from the NIV – I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

C. We all pretty much feel lacking in goodness, incomplete in knowledge, and incompetent to instruct one another, but as we look into this verse we’ll find that we can do what Paul is talking about. In fact, we’re commanded to do it.

II. Admonishing One Another

A. When I first started reading and studying this verse, I was operating under the assumption that the Greek word for instruct was didache – the teaching of the apostles. And understanding it that way definitely puts one specific meaning on the verse. However, my exegetical guide says that the Greek word is really nouthetein. Nouthetein means “to admonish, to warn. It is the appeal to the mind where opposition is present. The person is led away from a false way through warning, instruction, reminder, teaching, and encouragement so his conduct is corrected.” That definitely brings a much different meaning to this verse. In essence, Paul is saying, “Look, I’ve spent this whole letter telling you how to correct what is wrong in your congregation, so now you go do it!” That, my friends, is a very powerful truth!

B. Our first reaction to this is to say, “Who, me?! You’ve got to be kidding! I’m not even close to having my act together, so how can I help someone else correct what is wrong in their life?” We’re operating under a false assumption. We assume that we can’t instruct someone else unless our lives are perfect and we’re the perfect little Christians. And that is a lie that Satan works hard to convince us of. The truth is that we can learn the truths that Paul has taught in this letter to the Roman Christians. We can apply them to our lives. And we can help anyone who isn’t living by these truths to get their lives back on the right track. This doesn’t involve rebuking everyone who fails to live up to the Bible – we’d spend all of our time rebuking ourselves! It means helping people through the process of aligning their lives with the truth of God’s word by the power of the Holy Spirit. It means allowing ourselves to be helped through the process of aligning our lives with the truth of God’s word by the power of the Holy Spirit.

C. One thing that we’ve got to get a grip on if we’re going to understand this verse is how we can be full of goodness. In the Greek two verbs are used that form the English translation “full of goodness.” A literal translation from the Greek would read “having been filled with goodness.” So when we read that we are full of goodness, it’s not our own goodness. God fills us with His goodness by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can instruct one another when we get off track. We don’t have enough goodness in and of ourselves to be able to pull something like this off and not come across as a bunch of egotistical bullies who think they know everything. Being filled with God’s goodness involves being filled with God’s love, because love is first and foremost of the fruit of the Spirit. We’ve talked about this before. Galatians 5:22-23 says But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It’s a progression. When we’re filled with God’s Spirit to overflowing, then we love with God’s love. When we love with God’s love, then He can fill us with joy, then peace, then patience, then kindness, then goodness, then faithfulness, then gentleness, then self-control. We can’t shortcut the process. Paul is saying that the only way we can work to correct all these problems in our hearts and lives that he’s addressed in Romans is to be filled with His Spirit and demonstrating His fruit. When all that happens, then we’ll be filled with God’s goodness so that we can instruct one another.

D. Paul writes that he is convinced of these things. How is he convinced? The Greek again is in the passive voice. A literal translation would be “I have been made confident.” Who would have made Paul confident? The Holy Spirit. Given all the problems that he addressed in this letter, we can’t say that the people gave him confidence. Paul is saying that the Spirit has given him confidence because the Spirit has helped him understand how He is working in their lives. That’s a powerful truth! We talked a bit last week about how God is always moving in everyone’s lives whether we see Him or not. His Spirit can reveal to us when He’s been working in us enough to be able to instruct or admonish someone with His love. We have His power when we obey His call. We have no power when we step forward and do it on our own.

E. Paul uses a very interesting word here. It’s dunamenoi, a form of the verb dunamis. It’s the same root word we get dynamite from. Now let me ask you something – how much can dynamite do? If you take several sticks of dynamite and detonate them, how much power are you going to get from them? A lot! Now think of this – the Holy Spirit has infinite power. Infinite power! So if He calls us to bring someone back from a wayward path, we will have infinite power to do it! And that is great news! If God calls us, He gives us the power. If He doesn’t call us, we have no power, and it will blow up in our faces. There are no guarantees that the person God has us try to bring back will listen. But that’s up to them. As I told the LHS choir kids I worked with this week, the only one whose actions and reactions you’re responsible for is you. You can’t force someone to change their thinking or their actions. But you can speak the truth in love to allow God to speak through you in helping them to come back to Him.

F. There are a couple of things we need to be aware of. First, we’re not talking about correcting someone’s opinion here – we’re talking about bringing someone back to living the truth of God’s Word. It’s okay to disagree about opinions, as long as those opinions line up with God’s Word. We’re not going to all agree on our preferences. But we can all help others who are slipping or have slipped into heresy or sin to come back to a pure and true relationship with Christ. Second, we absolutely positively cannot correct someone if God has not placed a definite calling on us to do so. When we do it on our own, following our own beliefs instead of God’s leading, then we will always come across as judgmental, condemning, superior, punitive, even unforgiving. And nobody will respond well to that. I know we’ve all had times when we’ve decided to correct someone on our own, and we all struggle with the temptation to do it again. When we follow God’s distinct leading and do it His way, we’ll have His insights and we’ll do it with His love. Remember – nouthetein means “to admonish, to warn. It is the appeal to the mind where opposition is present. The person is led away from a false way through warning, instruction, reminder, teaching, and encouragement so his conduct is corrected.” It’s a positive process and not a condemning process.

G. Ladies and gentlemen, part of our success in becoming the Body of Christ that He has called us to be here at Sodaville will lie in our ability to follow His leading when we nouthetein one another. I’ve attended a couple of churches where there were ones who might have called themselves the “designated confronters,” but the problem was that they never did it with God’s calling or God’s power. And they occasionally even got after me for some stuff that they were totally out in left field on. I’ve even had a couple of pastors who were that way and who set my growth back quite a bit. Folks, it’s all of our jobs to help each other get back on track when we’re off, when and only when God calls us and when and only when He empowers us. I’ve had some folks who’ve lovingly helped me get on the right track over the years, and they’ve been a tremendous blessing. But only when they’ve followed God’s calling and were under His power. The Body of Christ working under the power of His Spirit can be a beautiful thing.

H. If you know or come across another Christian who is involved in obvious sin, don’t rush to confront. Pray for that person to get back on track. Pray for God’s blessings and an outpouring of His Spirit on them. Then pray and ask God over a period of several days if you are the one to instruct them back onto God’s path. If the answer is yes, then spend much more time in prayer asking for God’s insights into how to approach the person, for His power in guiding your words, and His Spirit to overwhelm yours so you will do it with His love. James 5:19-20 says My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. Isn’t that what instructing one another is all about?

I. Illustration - Jack Hayford writes, Early in his career, Matt Redman, the popular Christian musician in Britain, was singing with his church's praise band when his pastor confronted them. They were proud of their musical performance, he said, but they were neglecting true worship. Insulted by the charge, the members of the band left the church—all, that is, except Redman. Shortly afterward, he wrote his hit song "The Heart of Worship," which included these words: "I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about you, Jesus" (as cited on PreachingToday.com).

J. You don’t always know how it’s going to turn out or how people are going to react, but instructing one another away from sin under the guidance and leadership of the Holy Spirit is an act of obedience that God will eventually use for His glory. Maybe not in the other person – maybe in you. Let’s be sure we listen to God’s Spirit and follow Him if He leads us to instruct one another away from sin.

III. Conclusion

A. We’re going to close a little differently than usual today. Break up into groups of four or six. Go around the group and share someone you know, not their name but what their need is, who has been led away into sin. Don’t go into specific details if it’s not appropriate. And after each person shares, the group prays for that person and that need, that God’s Spirit will speak truth into their heart and life and that He would bring the right person into their life to bring them back. So break up into groups of four or six right now and get started.

B. Let’s pray together.