Romans 15 - B
Notes
Transcript
Christ our Hope
Christ our Hope
Good morning everyone, I hope you are doing well.
I am pleased to see you all hear with us this morning, it truly is a joy to gather and worship together.
Martin Luther, the 15th century theologian says ....“To worship God in the spirit is the service and homage of the heart, and implies fear of God and trust in Him.”
And so this time together is important, it is a sacred time where by we give to God of ourselves, not just presence and or the tithe. It is were we give of the very essence of who we are, our heart being poured out to Him.
So this is a very special time, a holy time.
I want to encourage you to pray as we walk through His word and ask God, “… What are you saying to me, through your Word?...”
And what the Lord says to you, do..... anything less is sin and disobedience.
This morning we come back to Romans 15, we have a little bit left in this chapter and then, there is only one chapter left and we will be moving on...
So this morning lets look at these verses, Romans 15, verses 8-13
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”
10 And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Now remember, Paul has been reminding the believers in Rome to accept one another, whether they are Jew or Gentile, this no longer matters.
There were under the obligation of love to do what is best for each other.
Remember they were to have the mind of Christ in all things. Just has Christ served the will of the Father, so they are to be obedient of the will of God.
That began with loving one another, regardless of background. Accept and love one another.
So lets see what else Paul would communicate to them, as we open up our text today.
So the first thing I want to share with you is this...
1. Mission of God
Consider this question my friends, What is the mission of God?
I would say it is to save humanity from their sin and bring them back to Himself.
Humanity had no hope if left to their own desires and ability. Man had fell into sin through Satan’s deception and because of that, humanity was separated from God. They were lost.
To be lost is a terrible things my friends. To be lost implies the person is unable to find the way home, To be lost means to be separated from God. Consider separation like this:
Could you imagine someone you love being hours from home and they are never able, no matter how hard they try, they cannot come home. You would be heartbroken..
This is a picture of humanity, lost in our sin, no matter how good we try to be, no matter how hard try to find God, walk with God… it is all unattainable. Our very best is considered as filthy rags....
So God promised to restore humanity, to bring us back to Him. The promise began in Genesis 3, and God repeated it all through the Old Testament.
And so even here, what does Paul say to those in Rome.. Go back to ver 8.
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
Christ came, the one whom God promised for hundreds of years, He came… and Paul says Christ came as a servant to the circumcised…
Why does Paul say it like this?
He wants to make sure the believers in Rome understand that first, Jesus is the promised Messiah.
He was the one whom they waited for… He came.. And he came to his people , Israel, and then to the world. He came and blessed the world, as God promised Abraham
Genesis 12:3b God promised “....in you speaking of Abraham, in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
And he came as a servant to the circumcised, the Jewish people of Isreal. The word circumcised speaks to the unique covenant God had with the Abraham, this mark distinguished them from the rest of the world.
So God kept His promises make to the patriarchs.. (Abraham, Issac and Jacob) With Jesus, the Messiah’s entrance into the world, The faithfulness of God was again proven to them.
He came as a servant, completing the will of the Father, offering His life as a ransom, being the perfect lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of the world. Jesus gave His life, serving others through death to redeem them.
But in confirming His covenant promises to Israel, God also opened a way for the Gentiles.. The coming of Christ was for all, Jew and Gentile.
Look with me at the opening of Romans 15:9 .... “And in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy....”
God’s mission my friends was for the world, not just the Jewish community to come to Jesus and be saved.... It was for all to be saved!
Paul cites this in the verses he quotes from the Old Testament, look at the end of verse 9 to verse 12
9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”
10 And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”
God’s mission was never to shout anyone out, it was mean to include all. God wants all to be saved, no matter if they are Jew or Gentile, the Kingdom of God is for all.
Jesus came to die that all might have life.... Do you remember the key verse of the book of Romans...
Paul says Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
God’s mission is for all.... He keeps His promises that all might have the opportunity...
With knowing God’s Mission, … what is your mission? We are going to talk about this.... so keep it in mind..
Now, moving forward I want you to see, in all things we can place our trust in God.
2. Trust In God....
If we are going to believe in the mission of God, you must have trust in God my friends.
And it is here that we find that Paul is expressing a prayer, a wish for the people there.
So He begins by talking about trust....
Consider this friends, trusting God, well this helps us have hope, trust!
Lets look at verse 13...
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Do you see what Paul is saying… He says “ May the God of Hope...”
This is almost like a prayer here my friends, so important to examine this…
God is the only source of hope, right?
Who else can we fully and wholly place our hope in? Friends there is no one… And hope here also has the meaning of trust. If we hope in God, we are confessing that we are placing our trust in Him.
There is hope because He has put us first......
And what is the by-product of hope and trust?
Paul says let hope fill you will all joy and peace in believing. So as we trust God, it gives us joy, a deep seated emotion, and peace or tranquility.
Trusting in God allows us to bring our hearts to Him, our praise to him and yes our prayers to Him. And it is that trust that allows us to know His peace...
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
That deep seated peace is obtainable only through Christ.
Do you remember Jesus that night in the upper room, he told His disciples this ...
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
There is peace again, peace is something God provides, we cannot create it or truly experience it apart from Him.
Now lets go back to verse 13 one more time… Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Now we know that Joy, hope and peace are the marks of the Christian life. And so for the church there in Rome, there was persecution happening, life was difficult.
So Paul, while encouraging those believers to hold each other up, to love one another.. He takes time to remind them that God provides joy and peace each day that leads to hope.
And God’s Holy Spirit will help us, He blesses the believer and empowers us to be overflowing with joy and peace so that our hope is strengthened.
This truth held the early church, this enabled them to stand in unison, praying, serving and doing the work of ministry together.
All because they put their trust in Him.
Do you remember I asked you while ago, We know what God’s mission is, so what is our mission.
What is your mission and are you completing it????
Our mission is to carry His love and His message to those around us. Are you making the most of every day?
This is a must if we are a disciple of the Lord Jesus.
Now just one last thought…
3. Let your Ambition lead to the Gospel being Preached...
We know that Paul longed to come to Rome, to teach and preach in person, but has been hindered to this point.
He is in Corinth from everything we know near the end of his 3rd missionary journey. And He tells us where we wants to go, he wants to head to Spain, but hopes he can stop in Rome as he makes His way west...
But why, after 30 years of ministry is Paul still on the road to minister and he tells us his desire is to carry the gospel to the world.
Lets look at Romans 15:20
20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation,
Paul’s only desire is to share Jesus with the world.
I like that word, ambition. It means a strong desire to do or achieve something.
Paul says here that His desire, his ambition is to preach the gospel.
Now, stop right there, why did he have such a desire to do this....well He says back in verse 16, because of the grace given him by God.
He was a sinner, one who persecuted the church and God saved him, changed him and called Him to serve Him.
Do you remember when God first saved Paul, he was blinded and praying in Damascus, and God called Ananias to go and lay hands on Paul.
Now Ananias was a little hesitant, he knew the reputation of Paul’s past, but the Lord told him this..
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
God says I have the plans to use him to carry my name before the Gentiles, to Kings and even the children of Israel.
And what does Paul say his ambitionis… to preach the gospel.
What point am I making… Our mission always aligns with God’s mission my friends.
People always want to do something, but the something is of no value unless we carry the gospel along the way.
So I would ask you again....
What is your mission before God?
There is a lot we can do, but it must involve sharing the gospel with all we come across.
Upward exists to see the gospel go to kids heart, VBS, Sports camp, and our mission trips exist to carry the gospel.
But there must be a point of decision in us, Will I carry the gospel to the world around me?
Will you?
People say I cannot..... We are afraid, what will people say? Can I do this here or there… We let fear overcome us when Christ is there to help us overcome fear..
When we were in Gatlinburg back in Oct, we came across a old guy who was standing in the sidewalk, telling people that Jesus loved them and inviting them to know Him.
He was street witnessing, =… That was His mission.
Friends, we have to go a better job.
I need ten people who are willing to just share their testimony, how they came to faith in Christ, to come and share it with those at Upward for 5 min...
Will you come?
What is your ambition? Is it selfish or is it your mission?
Lets pray this morning...