They will know we are Christians by our love

Recipients (v. 7)

They were clearly believers.

“loved by God and called to be saints”

This is not a letter of rebuke.

It is a letter of doctrine.

Origin of the Church in Rome

We don’t know how this church started.

Those who were saved on the day of Pentecost and traveled back home to Rome.

Other converts of Paul who traveled either back to their homes in Rome or as missionaries themselves. This would account for was seems to be a personal connection with Paul.

Something completely different.

Prior to the church there was a Jewish presence in Rome.

This seems to be an established church not a new plant.

This church was primarily Gentile.

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

A standard greeting of Paul

Summarizes the gospel

God’s grace through Christ

Brings peace with God

Gratitude (v. 8)

The Direction of His Gratitude - who is he thanking

Gratitude is always a good place to start.

When resolving conflict start by reminding yourself why you are grateful for that person.

If you cannot come up with anything either you are the problem or that relationship is so toxic that you should end it immediately.

Most relationships are worth fighting for and gratitude goes a long way in keeping them healthy and restoring them when broken.

Paul even begins his letter to the Corinthians with an expression of gratitude. 1 Corinthians 1:4 “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,”

The direction of his gratitude is God through Jesus Christ.

From a human perspective this might seem odd. After all, as we will see in a moment he is thankful for them, the Roman believers.

Why would he thank God for them and not direct his gratitude to them directly.

We are all tempted to think that if you are thankful for me then you should thank me.

There are a number of reasons that this is not valid.

If you dad bought you a car do you thank the car or your dad? There is certainly some logic to thanking the creator for those you are thankful for.

The fact that he communicates his gratitude “through Jesus Christ” signifies that there is more going on here than just gratitude for some physical act.

The simple truth is that while it is appropriate and right to express gratitude to others who have positively impacted us the ultimate direction of our gratitude should always be Godward.

He created them

He enabled them

He equipped them

Again because Paul uses the phrase “through Jesus Christ” we know that this is a gospel oriented thanksgiving.

The Object of His Gratitude - what he is grateful for

The object of Paul’s gratitude is the believers in Rome. He is thankful to God through Jesus Christ for the believers in Rome.

Gratitude is not some ethereal concept or idea that floats around in the air or your head. Gratitude has a concrete reality. When you are grateful it is because you are grateful for something or someone.

Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

The Explanation of His Gratitude - why he is grateful

The specific circumstance that has brought about Paul’s gratitude is the fact that the faith of the Roman Christians has been proclaimed in all the world.

The thing about faith...

You can’t buy it at the store.

It is not a talent that can be displayed.

How is it then that their faith was being proclaimed?

First, at least in part it must have been that these Roman Christians were living out their faith.

Second, these Roman Christians must have been sharing their faith.

Prayer (v. 9-10)

Proof of His Prayers - “God is my witness”

Paul is attempting to make here a strong statement of his prayers for them.

Rome was, after all, not a great place for Christians.

He couldn’t pray with them due to the distance between them. So the best he could do would be to invoke the name of God as a means of giving weight to his claim.

So he says with boldness, “with God has my witness I am praying for you.”

There is also a logic to Paul’s words. Who is the one who hears the prayers of Paul? Of course it is God, and it is God who can then bear witness that those prayers have been offered.

He further gives credit to his claim by mentioning his connection to the God to whom he prays. “whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son...”

Frequency of His Prayers

“without ceasing” & “always”

“I’ve been praying for this or them for years with no results.” It is easy to give up or to lose heart. However, the Scriptures repeatedly encourage us to stay persistent in prayer.

This text makes it seem like Paul had persistently prayed that he would be able to go to Rome, but so fart that prayer had not been answered. So he kept praying.

I am reminded of the parable of the unjust judge.

Luke 18:1–7 “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?”

Because of her persistence in prayer, the judge relented. Jesus’ point is that if an unjust judge will grant the petition of someone who perseveres in a request for justice, how much more will the God who loves us—“his chosen ones” (v. 7)—answer our prayer when we keep praying? The parable does not teach, as is mistakenly thought, that if we pray for something over and over, God is obligated to give it to us. Rather, God promises to avenge His own, to vindicate them, right their wrongs, do them justice, and deliver them from their adversaries. He does this because of His justice, His holiness, and His hatred of sin; in answering prayer, He keeps His promises and displays His power.

Submission of His Prayers

Paul was clearly expressing his desires to God in prayer, but that always came with an asterisk, so to speak.

By one simple phrase we see that Paul’s desire was subordinate to God’s will.

“asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.”

I have two thoughts about this:

We should always keep our desires subordinate to the will of God because:

of His divinity - He is God after all, He possesses all authority, and is perfectly trustworthy

of our sinfulness - because of our sinfulness our desires are not trustworthy

I genuinely believe that the happiest, most joyful and content place a Christian can be is in the will of God. Stop seeing your desires and God’s will as in conflict. They don’t have to be. Rather make God’s will your greatest desire.

Ministry

Why Did He Want to Go?

Impart some spiritual gift to them

Every believer has a spiritual gift given to them by the Holy Spirit for the benefit of the body of Christ.

Romans 12 tells us many of these gifts

Serving

Teaching

Encouragement

Giving

Leadership

Mercy

And in Paul’s day there were many more.

To strengthen them

That is, to strengthen them spiritually.

This is what true friendship looks like. To have someone in your life who draws you closer to Christ.

Mutual encouragement

Paul knows that he needs them just as much as they need him.

He looks forward to the encouragement of fellowship with the saints.

Reap a harvest

Paul always has some sort of evangelistic endeavor in mind.

He is always looking for that opportunity and certainly so should we.

His personal obligation

As the Apostle to the Gentiles Paul probably felt an obligation to go to this primarily Gentile church and minister to them.

The language he uses here makes it sound as though he felt called to go there.

The Purpose of the Church - As we think about Paul’s reasoning for wanting to go to Rome how does that correspond to our purpose here at Portersville?

Impart some spiritual gift to each other

To strengthen each other

Mutual encouragement

Reap a harvest

His personal obligation