Romans 1:13-25 (Brotherton)

Eager & Unashamed (13-17)

The harvest is ready in Rome and it has been for a very long time.

Paul has intended to come but the harvest has been plentiful in all of these other places and that has prevented Paul from coming to Rome

Paul has just been in Ephesus for 3 years at this time and has been preaching the gospel, unashamed every day. The harvest was so ready there that Paul had to stay to make sure that the church of Ephesus was able to have a solid foundation built on the rock of Jesus so that they would not fall back into sin and idolatry.

Paul knows that Rome has been needing the gospel for a very long time and that is why in verse 10 Paul says, “always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.” And that is also why this section that we are in is titled “Longing to Go to Rome.”

Paul was longing to come to this dark, sin saturated place so that he could bring the good news and radically change the world.

And if you couldn’t already tell by Paul saying that he has been longing to come to Rome, he says in verse 15 that he is eager.

Paul is eager to come and preach the gospel to this harvest that is so plentiful.

If you notice in verses 13 and 14, Paul mentions 3 different groups of people here that needs the gospel preached to them. The Gentiles, Greeks, and Barbarians.

I believe that Paul is telling the Roman church that he is coming eagerly to preach the gospel to those that are already in the church and believing but also to evangelize to the other groups of unbelievers.

Jesus talks in Mark 4:20 about those who believe the word. He says, “But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Paul is eager to encourage these believers that are in the church already so that they may see what he is doing and bear their own fruit so that the harvest may be multiplied.

Not only is Paul eager to preach and encourage to those that are already in the church, but those who need to hear the good news of Christ in rome.

The Barbarians and Greeks were ready to hear the good news. There was such a small amount of believers and such a large amount of unbelievers that were living in sin and idolatry in Rome at this time.

Paul was seeing the fruit of his mission trips all over the world and he knew from his friends and from letters that Rome was the next step.

The harvest was so plentiful all over the world then and it is so plentiful now.

Our college ministry does an amazing job of getting onto campus and reaching the lost. We recently had welcome week a couple of weeks ago and it was so great to see our college ministry and how dedicated they are to trying to make people feel seen and known.

My generation and the generation under me are searching for something more. They constantly are looking for something more than themselves. This feeling is becoming increasingly high and a lot of them are realizing that they cannot find their identity in anything other than Christ.

I just saw on social media that 12 of SBU’s football players publicly proclaimed their need of a savior and were baptized. The harvest is ready all over the place. What an encouragement it is to hear from Paul that he was eager to come share the gospel with Rome even though he was being persecuted.

Not only was Paul eager to share the gospel, but he was also unashamed. And these two pairings made for a great evangelism tool

There is no reason to be ashamed of the gospel. If God can save us from our shameful sin and give us so much grace, why should we then be ashamed of what He did for us? It doesn’t make sense.

If you are ashamed I would encourage you to walk live, and speaking the gospel to yourself everyday. It is a term called “Gospel Fluency.”

Gospel fluency is speaking to the gospel to yourself every day so that you are confident to go out and share it with the world. There is a book on this that my friend Andrew loaned to me because it shaped the way that he was able to evangelize while in seminary.

To become fluent and unashamed of the gospel, we have to believe that we are saved because of it but also, like any other language, we need to daily immerse ourselves in it and practice it so that we may become fluent in it.

This concept has also really helped we whenever I am on campus and trying to evangelize.

One of the goals for the college ministry, like I mentioned earlier is to get on campus and evangelize to the students. It may be with a simple question that can turn into a gospel conversation.

Austin has always done a great job with this and encouraging students to go out with him and be engaged in these conversations.

I, like many other people, was terrified (& still am a little bit) of the idea of going out and trying to flag down random people to have a gospel conversation.

But, once I realized that it was not about how scared or how inadequate I felt about sharing the gospel and remembered what it was and how it changed me, I instantly felt more comfortable.

This is what Paul calls us believers to be like. Remembering what the gospel is and how it changed us. Paul lets us know very powerfully that the gospel is salvation for all who believe.

The gospel is for everyone here but it is also for the people with the broken past. For the people who walk in this church with tattoos from head to toe or greasy hair.

The gospel is not just for a set group of believers but for everyone who believes. It doesn’t matter about anything other than your faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for you. And truly believing is what saves.

And I completely skipped over this but Paul says right before that he is unashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God.

The gospel is not merely a concept or philosophy. The message of the gospel is what God has done and will do for us. Therefore the gospel is powerful.

The gospel doesn’t bring power or has power, but the gospel is power. It lifts people up; it transforms and changes things. It is powerful.

Wrath For Unbelief (18-25)