A Gospel-Permeated Life

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Romans 1:8–15 ESV

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

PRAY

INTRO: Imagine the Apostle Paul saying that he prays for you often, that he longs to come and visit you, and it is because he is passionate in his obligation to God and therefore wants to visit and preach the gospel to you in order to strengthen and establish your faith (and undoubtedly to see others come to Christ).

That’s precisely what we have here in this early part of Paul’s letter to the saints in Rome. Paul’s whole life is permeated with the gospel of Jesus Christ because he has been called to belong to the Lord and to be his messenger, so we see that come through in his prayer and praise, in his longing (what he is passionate about), and therefore also how he prioritizes his life based on his obligation to God.

We can be sure that Paul is very careful about how he says what he says in these letters, and therefore he is intentional to speak the truth while also setting an example to these believers in Rome. For our application then, we should be looking to discover how we ought to apply the pattern set by Paul in this thanksgiving and prayer for the Roman church, and from his explanation of his desire to visit them (and what passion and obligation drives that desire).

From verses 8-10, we ask ourselves from Paul’s example:

Do we have gospel-saturated prayers? (& praise)

Paul’s Thanksgiving & Prayers (verses 8-10)

As is common in the openings of his letters, Paul expresses his gospel-saturated thanksgiving (praise) and his gospel-saturated prayer with relationship to the believers in Rome.

“I thank my God through Jesus Christ” - Even the way he expresses thanksgiving to God, the way he brings his sacrifice of thankful praise, is through Jesus Christ. - I hope you know that we try to be intentional about being Christ-centered in God exalting in the way that we select songs of praise for us to sing together, to set an example for us in all of our praise. Our sincere desire is that the songs we sing are truthful to Scripture, and honor God supremely through Jesus Christ, elevating him to his rightful place and teaching us to assume our rightful place under him. We want to have gospel-saturated praise.

And what does Paul say he is thankful for here? That their faith is proclaimed in all the world, meaning the whole Roman empire of Paul’s day. The fame of their faith is easy for us to envision, since the city of Rome is the heart of the empire. Paul is an excellent witness to this truth since he has traveled much in the eastern Roman empire and can verify that he has personally heard of these things. Like Aquila and Priscilla, Paul has encountered people with first-hand knowledge of faith in Jesus Christ in the Roman capital.

And faith in Christ is significant particularly in Rome, and news of it spreading, not just because it was probably what led to the Jews being expelled from Rome in AD 49 under Claudius, but Rome would have been the epicenter of emperor worship (who elevated themselves as deity), not to mention the worship of many other so-called gods.

These words from Paul are meant then to encourage the faithfulness of the saints in Rome, that their trust in Christ is both vindicated and being heralded throughout the empire.

Paul continues (v.9): “God is my witness” (about the consistency of his prayers and sincere heart for them in his prayers) - Paul has a genuinely clear conscience before God concerning the consistency and content of his prayers. Wow, here is something for us to aspire to. To be able to say with sincerity, that when I think of you, I thank God and I pray for you. And to have a clear conscience that what we pray for concerning them is faithful to God’s own aims. Paul can even be confident about his desire to go and see them because what he wants is for people to be saved and strongly established in the faith. (And we see that clearly as Paul continues in this very passage. We’ll look more closely in just a few moments when he explains his longing for them.)

Again, one other reason Paul’s conscience is so clear is that he shapes both his desires and his prayers in submission to God’s will: “asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.” As we said in the Romans introduction, Paul doesn’t get to go to them in Rome the way that he is planning even now (after heading to Jerusalem). And when he explains his situation now, we see why he hasn’t been able to do so already. All of it is in submission to the will of God. - Do we have a clear conscience that our prayers and plans are submitting to God’s will?

Whether or not we always say, “if it is your will” in our prayers, we must always have a mindset and posture of willing submission to God, that he knows and does what is best. ‘Father, I desperately long to see you bring justice in this situation even now, but we also trust in your character and timing, knowing that you, God, have said that no one will ultimately get away with injustice.’ Or ‘God, you know how much we desire your healing in this situation, but if you should let us suffer, may we learn to suffer like Christ and glorify your name.’ Or ‘God, you know that I long to do such and such, if it pleases you. But shape my desires, and give me and those around me patience and wisdom to know if you have this or something else for me at this time.’ We could go on with examples. I encourage you to ask yourself: Do I pray according to God’s will, knowing that he is good and always does what he knows is best? And when I pray, do I also thoughtfully pray for that which matters most, which I know for sure is nearest to the heart of God? (I call these things “HOCs, higher order concerns.” So pray for safety, but pray most of all for their salvation and spiritual growth and endurance in suffering to the glory of God.)

Do you see why Paul’s conscience is clear, that God is his witness, concerning the consistency and content of his prayers? So, following Paul’s example, do we have gospel-saturated praise and prayers?

And now we turn to Paul’s further explanation of his longing to see them but his situation that has prevented it, and we ask…

Do we have gospel-saturated passions?

Paul’s Longing & Situation (verses 11-13)

What drives Paul’s desire, his longing to see them, to come to them in Rome? Is it not gospel advance, through the salvation of souls and strengthening of believers to be firmly established in the faith? That is Paul’s passion, which is clearly a gospel-saturated pursuit.

He says (in v. 11) that he wants to impart some spiritual gift to strengthen them. Paul could either mean something specific in terms of his spiritual gifting, or just mean more general spiritual benefit from his foundational teaching. I actually think the two things are one and the same, because his apostolic office is in a sense also a spiritual gift from God to the church (see Eph 2:19-20, 4:11-12). If we’re right that the church in Rome was not established by any of the Apostles, then such apostolic teaching from Paul would indeed prove critically helpful to their becoming more firmly established and strengthened for sustained health and usefulness in the long term.

But Paul is also quick to say (in v. 12), both humbly and truthfully, that such ministry among them would prove mutually encouraging and beneficial to his faith as well as theirs. What a good example Paul is here again to us, of a gospel-saturated humility and self-awareness. By God’s grace, through the truth of his word in Christ Jesus, the ministry in which Paul is invested is a useful ministry to the kingdom. And at the same time, Paul is humble to know that he too will receive comfort and courage from their faith as well, furthering his spiritual growth in Christlikeness and faithfulness to his calling.

So even in the middle of this point about Paul’s gospel saturated passions, do we have gospel-saturated humility and self-awareness? … Sensitivity and alertness to the truthfulness of God’s holiness, his mercy toward us, our need for salvation, our need for further sanctification, our need for ongoing guidance, for greater knowledge of his word and obedience to it, for comfort and courage from fellow believers, and so on. Is our self-awareness informed by the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Ok, if Paul wanted to go to Rome so badly, what had prevented him (v. 13)? It was not for lack of desire that Paul had not come to Rome, but rather busyness of ministry in the east. (Rom 15:18-23 explains that he has been preaching Christ all over the eastern Mediterranean, especially because of a God-given desire to peach the gospel where Christ has not already been named.) In other words, this is the passion of a missionary. Paul has a passion to preach Christ to those who are yet unreached, and sheer busyness of doing that ministry has prevented him from coming so far.

Paul wants to go to Rome and he wants to continue on to preach Christ in Spain, but even our God-centered goals are subject to letting God use us in the way that he sees fit where he has placed us right now. (Admittedly, this is easier said than done, I know.) But if our passion is truly to advance Christ’s kingdom, and if we are truly submissive to God, and trusting in his providence, then we can also come to realize that what is at the center of our desire can be accomplished in more ways than one. So that when we see different doors and opportunities than the ones we’ve envisioned, and we listen to counselors around us who suggest that God is using us in certain ways, then we can (and should) willingly and fully invest ourselves in kingdom advancement in the situation God has placed us in right now.

Also in v.13 we hear Paul say that he has a heart to see a harvest for God in Rome. But by “among you” does he mean a harvest of spiritual growth among the believers or a harvest of new souls saved unto Christ? - Do we have to choose? I don’t think we do, nor do I think Paul does. Paul’s passion is both to see souls saved and to see Christians firmly established in their faith, even as he has said already.

Here’s what we should ask ourselves: Do my greatest passions, my deepest longings, line up with God’s desires for his Kingdom under the rule of Christ Jesus? (We will not all perhaps have the precise missionary passion to proclaim Christ where he has not yet been named, but we should all have a gospel-saturated passion to make known the Lord who has made us his own.) Whatever our situation, we should have a deep longing to be used by God for the salvation of souls and strengthening of others, which will yield sanctification and assurance in us as well.

And the final question for this morning, following this same pattern of Christ-exalting prayers and praise, and of kingdom-centered passions and pursuits…

Do we have gospel-saturated priorities?

[considered through the lens of…]

Paul’s Obligation for Gospel Proclamation (verses 14-15)

In the last part of this thanksgiving and prayer in relationship to the Roman saints, Paul relates his longing to see them and strengthen them to his obligation, his indebtedness to God. Paul’s passion for gospel proclamation is due in part to his indebtedness to God for calling him to belong to Christ, and calling him to be an Apostle (and even giving him special revelation concerning the mystery of Gentile inclusion into the people of God).

So Paul says (v. 14) that he is under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish. In Paul’s day, using Greeks and barbarians this way would be essentially to contrast the Gentiles who are more cultured and educated with other Gentiles who have had less exposure and association with Greek education and civilization. Paul isn’t being insulting with this, or even the statement about the wise and the foolish, but is emphasizing his indebtedness to God to be faithful in proclamation to all Gentiles, however cultured or primitive, or however wise or foolish. Again, Paul’s debt with regard to them is really a debt to God.

Paul continues, “Thus (or so) I am eager/zealous,” I am willing and ready, to evangelize you also who are in Rome. Paul’s passion from this obligation, this indebtedness to God, is to herald the good news, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, in this context, is Paul evangelizing unbelievers or believers or both? (I’m not certain if we have to choose, but if we do, we lean in favor of the fact that he is addressing the saints who are in Rome, who are already professing Christians.) Yes, the gospel is for believers too, because the good news of Jesus is yes what we must respond to in saving faith, but then that saving faith becomes our whole way of life. Just so, the good news can be fleshed out more and more with relationship to all that God has said, resulting in greater worship—meaning both greater understanding and appreciation, as well as greater obedience of faith.

Now I really don’t think it’s too much of a stretch here to apply this root of Paul’s primary apostolic and missionary obligation to our own God-given obligations and responsibilities. - Do you understand your obligations (or God-given responsibilities) in light of gospel priority? Are you filtering and focusing your heart and life investments through gospel priority? Being indebted to God for salvation, having the privilege to belong to Christ, what is our primary responsibility to our children and grandchildren? We do not have to neglect providing them with reasonable safety and overall care to realize that our greater obligation is to present to them the holiness and grace of God, and to live before them in humble submission to Jesus our Lord. Their present comfort is but for a moment; their soul’s response to God will be of eternal consequence. (You can apply this same line of thinking to filter and focus all of your priorities and responsibilities.)

Conclusion: As we bring this lesson to a close this morning…

Let’s follow Paul’s example of Christ-centered praise and prayer, of kingdom-minded passions, and of gospel priority in our relationships and responsibilities.

Let me ask you a series of concluding questions that I honestly think you should take with you and think carefully over, and ask God about in prayer to reveal (and change your heart), and to talk over with those in close relationship to you:

When you look at your life, what do you see? Do you perceive with gratitude God’s blessing and direction? (his grace and love, his divine discipline/correction, his sustaining and direction)

Do you pray for things that matter most? (plead with God for things of greatest consequence) And do you submit to God’s will such that you trust him to do what is best and to do things in his timing?

Do you care most about what God seems to care most about? (his glory, a people for his possession, service to others, the edification and purity of his church, etc.)

Do you understand your indebtedness to God in Christ Jesus and live accordingly? And do you filter and focus your obligations and responsibilities according to gospel priority? (Is it evident to you and others around you that Jesus is Master over these various tasks and responsibilities?)

May we, the people who have received and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, be marked by gospel-saturated prayers, passions, and obligations.

PRAY

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THE LORD’S TABLE: Since Jesus used the Passover meal to give it new significance and institute the Lord’s Table, that we should continually do this in remembrance of his complete provision for our salvation and sanctification by his sacrifice and resurrection, and as evidence that we depend on him continually to sustain us, let this serve as further evidence (as we just discussed) that the gospel is for believers too and also of our grateful indebtedness to God.