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Unashamed - Building the Body of Christ through the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted
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Have you ever wondered what it was like to be inside the head of the great Apostle Paul?
Have you ever wondered what it was like to be inside the head of the great Apostle Paul?
1. Paul Was Thankful For The Church in Rome (vs. 8)
1. Paul Was Thankful For The Church in Rome (vs. 8)
Lead in...What is the tension here? Paul had never met these people, he had never seen them face to face. Yet he says he was thankful for them. In fact, it is the first thing that he tells them...
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
Explanation - Why was Paul thankful for this church? Because of how LOUD their faith was! So loud that the whole world heard about it!
Remember who we are dealing with in this book. Jewish and Gentile Christians. And church was so faithful in sharing the gospel that it was causing quite a stir in Rome. Such a stir that the Emperor Claudius kicked out all the Jews, both Christian and non-christian because of the ruckus (Acts 18). Later, the next emperor let them back in...
We are not sure who started this church, but we do know it was growing and thriving. As we will see, it needed some strengthening.
However, their faith was real and it was impacting the culture in a profound way. So profoundly that the countries and cities around Rome heard about them and the faith in Christ.
Illustration - Excited for the church in the Philippines and Thailand...
Argumentation - I wonder if Paul would be thankful for our church. If are known, even in our community for the gospel?
The church at Rome was known for their faith in Christ.
What are we known for?
What are you known for?
What do the last five posts on facebook or instagram reveal about you? About what’s most important to you?
My Dear Wormwood,
“Let him begin by treating the Patriotism or the Pacifism as a part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the “cause”, in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favour of the British war-effort or of Pacifism … Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours – and the more “religious” (on those terms) the more securely ours.”
from The Screwtape Letters (# 7)
Application - Live life with “an audience of one” perspective.
Review - Paul was so thankful for this church for their bold faith and he wanted them to know!
2. Paul Wanted to Visit the Church in Rome (vs. 9-12)
2. Paul Wanted to Visit the Church in Rome (vs. 9-12)
Lead in...What is the tension here? This had been a goal fro Paul for a long time, but was unable to make it happen. He didn’t want them to think that he was purposely neglecting them. Look at the text...
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.
Explanation - What does Paul want the church at Rome to understand? How fervently he is praying to God for them!
Paul is willing to invoke the very name of God that he serves so faithfully with all of his spirit/heart (that is what he means when he says “I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son”).
He is praying and praying and praying (without ceasing) for them - specifically that God’s will will allow him to get to them.
History helps us understand that he was not able to get them them at this time.
Please read the book of Acts to help you understand the timeline.
He was at the end of his third missionary journey and needed to head to Jerusalem in order to deliver a monetary gift to relieve their poverty.
However, God did answer yes to his prayer eventually. If you read through the book of Acts you will discover that Paul did make it to Rome to stand trial before Caesar.
God took Paul on an extended, purposeful detour to finally get to Rome.
Show Map
Sidebar point - God doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way and time we think He should, but when when He does, it may be difficult, circuitous, but it is ALWAYS in the best way possible.
And remember, because he went to Jerusalem, He was compelled to at least write them a letter to help them before he would eventually arrive. And, ladies and gentlemen, the world has never been the same!
Friends - This letter, by the power and grace of God will transform your life. Will you open your heart to what Paul, through the agency of the Holy Spirit has to say to you? I pray He wrecks you with His Word!
Paul, in verse 11-12 gives his reason for wanting to visit them specifically...
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.
Now, to be honest, this is a strange saying that many scholars have scratched their heads over.
Paul may have had a specific gift in mind like what we see in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Honestly this is a difficult view to hold...
Dr. Douglas Moo gives a very interesting and good understanding of what Paul most likely meant here...
Romans Thanksgiving and Prayer (1:8–12)
The apostle may, then, refer to a general spiritual “blessing” he hopes will result from his work at Rome (see 15:27). But “gift” seems too specific for this interpretation, so perhaps the reference is to an insight or ability given to Paul by the Spirit that he hopes to share with the Romans.
Think of it as an apostolic gift that Paul is bestowing on this congregation as a whole.
Whatever this gift was, it would strengthen them as a body of believers. It would strengthen their faith.
But that is not all! Paul’s impartation of this gift isn’t exclusively for their benefit and strengthening. It is for Paul’s as well.
Another side-bar principle worth noting. When you minister to someone you get as much encouragement as they do. Allow me to say it this way...
God uses your efforts to strengthen and encourage others in the faith to grow YOU in your faith.
Illustration - If Covid 19 has taught us anything it should be the importance of Fellowship. Tim preached on this while I was away.
Friday, a dear family in this church invited Angie and I over for dinner. Now, I had a particularly challenging and emotional day. I was concerned that I would not be good company.
Well, let me tell you something. God knew exactly what I needed. The meal was amazing and the fellowship was precisely what I needed.
When I have a challenging day, I like to go home and have my privacy. But God knew I needed this time with this family and I needed it bad. God used this family to ENCOURAGE me and my wife. They will never fully understand how much they encouraged me in my faith.
Argumentation - Friends, the evil One want to divide and concur. To separate us and kill us off. He wants to destroy the fellowship of this body because if he succeeds, there is one less gospel, bible preaching witness in this town.
Of anyone, Paul knew the importance of biblical fellowship. And he desperately wanted to be with his people in Rome. And although the time was not right, he would eventually get there.
Application - Why am I telling you this? Part of your gospel ministry is Being together, strengthening and encouraging one another. It is vital and crucial for your spiritual wellbeing. For your faith! Paul gave his life for this pursuit.
What does it look like for you? Let me give you some thoughts.
Get in a Connection Group -
Start a Micro Group -
Have someone over for dinner once a week or once a month - make it a regular habit.
If you can’t get together for whatever reason - do what Paul did and write a letter/email/text expressing your love and appreciation for that person.
Don’t sit around waiting for someone to do it for you you. You get at it! Start this week!
Review - Paul was not only thankful for this church, he desperately wanted to visit them to encourage them and build them up in their gospel faith...
Lastly, I want you to see on last thing. I think the most important thing...
3. Paul Wanted to Preach the Gospel in Rome (vs. 13-15)
3. Paul Wanted to Preach the Gospel in Rome (vs. 13-15)
Lead in...What is the tension here? Ever since Saul of Tarsus was transformed, by the grace of God into Paul the Apostle, He needed to preach.
16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
This is Paul’s mission in life! And it certainly is reflected in the last verse for this passage...
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.
Explanation - Just in case they didn’t understand, Paul wanted them to know the choice for him to visit them was out of his hands. God’s providential hand kept him from getting to Rome. He uses the word, “Prevented.” We do not know what kept him from Rome, probably the pressing ministry in the easter Mediterranean. Whatever the case - he makes it clear that it was not his will that kept him from them.
And, as mentioned it was still his plan to get there. For what purpose?
Notice that he desires to “reap some harvest.”
What is this harvest that he hoped to reap? I think verses 14-15 tells us clearly.
The discipleship of those in Rome
The evangelism of those in Rome and beyond!
Look again at verse 14...
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
Paul has a sense of obligation to all gentiles. Whether they are Greeks or Barbarians (no greeks). Both to the wise (greeks prided themselves on their philosophical prowess), and to the dregs of society. Paul cared for the foolish because he knew just how foolish he was at one time...
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
Why? Why did Paul have such a compulsion to share the gospel?
He tells us plainly in verse 14...
“I am under obligation...”
The greek work is also translated “Duty”
In the NT “duty” is expressed by opheilō, “to owe,” “to be due.” In Lk 17:10, we have “Say, … we have done that which it was our duty to do,” and in Rom 15:27 AV, it is said of the Gentiles with reference to the Jewish Christians, “Their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things,” ARV “they owe it.” In Mt 18:34 we have “till he should pay all that was due” (opheilō, “owing”), and in 1 Cor 7:3 AV, “Render unto the wife due [opheilḗ] benevolence,” ARV “her due.” See also ETHICS.
So, does Paul believe he owes God his “duty” to “pay off” the debt of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross! Is that what is going on here? No.
There is nothing we can do to save our selves, earn our salvation, or even repay Him for the gift of salvation. It is a ridiculous notion to even consider.
However, Paul uses the word obligation nonetheless.
This is the way I see what he is telling the church at Rome.
“Because the Gospel is true, I have an obligation to my fellow human beings to inform them of the danger they are facing and the solution for that danger. And so I am EAGER (“excited fervor to do something or accomplish some end.”) to preach the gospel to YOU who are in Rome.”
What is the danger? All people are facing the eternal wrath of God because of their sin. They will suffer in eternal hell/prison because they have broken God’s law over and over. And there is only ONE possible solution - the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ graciously, lovingly bore the wrath of God on my behalf. He suffered in the place of the sinner - in affect trading places with the sinner and accepting their punishment and instead receiving His righteousness. And because the sinner now has the righteousness of Christ, they have a right relationship with God who now looks at them as a son or daughter instead of an object of His wrath. This transaction takes place by faith in Jesus.
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Paul has an eager obligation to preach the good news to the unbeliever as well as the believer.
What? The believer too? Yes! Why does he desire to preach the gospel to the believers in Rome? Because...
Three Reasons Why Believers Should Continue to Hear the Gospel
1. It solidifies our faith
2. It motivates our witness
3. It protects our walk
Paul was under obligation to his fellow man, regardless of their station in life, to PREACH the gospel to them.
Paul’s attitude of obligation reminds me of the story of the lepers who saved their fellow countrymen when there was a great famine in the land...
3 Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.” 5 So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. 6 For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” 7 So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives. 8 And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them. 9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.” 10 So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were.” 11 Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told within the king’s household. 12 And the king rose in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.’ ” 13 And one of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left here will fare like the whole multitude of Israel who have already perished. Let us send and see.” 14 So they took two horsemen, and the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.” 15 So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was littered with garments and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king. 16 Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. 17 Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. 18 For when the man of God had said to the king, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” 19 the captain had answered the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” 20 And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.
Argumentation - Paul knew there was a spiritual famine in the land and he was obligated to help people find spiritual sustenance. He understood what Jesus said...
4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Paul understood that
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
And so He took His obligation seriously! He gave his life to it!
So I have a question - Was this just an apostolic calling on the life of Paul? In other words, was he obligated to all people because he was an apostle? Or do you and I have the same obligation?
Tony Evans has a very helpful illustration to drive the point home...
“Paul felt obligated to preach the gospel. Why? Because the cost on not sharing the gospel is too high. If you see your neighbor’s house on fire, do you shrug and say, Glad that’s not my home”? No! You feel an obligation to act , because something valuable is at stake, and doing nothing is too costly.” (TESB. Pg. 1315)
Paul valued people. Greek people. Barbarian people. Wise people. Foolish people. Churched people. Jewish people. ALL PEOPLE! He valued them so much that he warned them and pleaded with them to come to Christ.
So Paul had a compelling obligation. What about you?
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Friends, if you have breathed in the air of reconciliation from God you are now enlisted and a full ranking ambassador of God. You have the same glorious OBLIGATION that the Apostle Paul had to his fellow humans. Each person you meet will exist in one place or another. They will either be a New Creature in Christ and dwell in His glory for all eternity or they will exist in eternal torment / in Hell because they did not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!
You have a role to play - are you eager to play it? I want you to be! I want you to so grow in your faith that you begin to see every person in your life as an eternal creature. I want you to feel the weight of your obligation to them. I want you to so love their souls that you can’t help but speak about Christ to them. I want you to love God so much that you are compelled to be obedient to him in this.
Textual Main Idea - Paul’s Obligation to People Caused Him to be Eager to Preach the Gospel
Main Idea - Every Christian is Obligated to Preach the Gospel to All People!
Main Idea - Every Christian is Obligated to Preach the Gospel to All People!