Longing for the Church
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Hey students! It is good to see everyone back in the youth room tonight. We are continuing in our new series The Righteous and the Unrighteous. We are going through Romans 1 each week. Last week, we started this series as we looked at Paul’s introduction to the believers in Rome. If you remember from last week, Paul introduced himself as an apostle meaning that he is a messenger from God. Not only that, but Paul is the apostle sent to the Gentiles. Now, he is writing to the believers in Rome while he is Corinth. He is writing to encourage them in the Gospel as we will see tonight. Not only does he want to encourage them in the gospel. He wants to preach the gospel to them and visit them.
Let’s look at what Paul writes to these Roman believer’s:
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.
These believers in Rome were predominantly Gentile believers who were in a hostile environment. Rome had exiled all of the Jews from within and most of the believers in Rome were Gentiles as I mentioned previously. Paul writes this entire book to outline in detail a systematic theology of the gospel.
In these verses, Paul has just finished introducing himself and now turns his attention to describe how he longs to go to Rome and be with these Roman believers. In doing so, we see he lists his thankfulness for these believers in Rome followed by a reminder that he prays for them constantly before closing with a description of his desire to visit them. This leads us to our first point:
We must be thankful for our church family and eager to pray for our church.
We must be thankful for our church family and eager to pray for our church.
Look back with me at verses 8-10
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.
After Paul’s introduction, he begins with an opening statement of encouragement to the Romans. He states that he is first thankful to God through Christ Jesus for all of the believers in Rome. This thankfulness that Paul possess is sincere as it is a thankfulness to God through Jesus. Likewise, it is evident that the Christians in Rome were living out their faith as Paul writes that their “faith is proclaimed in all the world.” The faith of the Roman believers was well-known. They were faithful believers that were seeking to live for Jesus Christ. Paul writes expressing his thankfulness to God who was at work in the lives of other believers. MacArthur writes, “Believers in Rome lived in the lion’s den, as it were, yet they lived out their faith with integrity and credibility.” The Romans were known for their faithfulness, and Paul was thankful to God for this. Paul also writes such a greeting to other churches that he wrote letters to. For instance, he wrote such a greeting to the churches of Ephesus, Colossae, and Philippi. He was thankful for these churches. Though each church did have her issues, Paul was still thankful for them as they were the body of Christ is given locations.
After Paul expresses his thankfulness for the churches in Rome, he writes that as God is His witness, he prays for the these Roman believers at all times without ceasing. He prays for these believers and prays that he will be able to be with them. Paul had a deep longing to join with these believers in Rome. He was concerned for these believers. Paul’s live was one of missionary and pastoral work; therefore, it is no surprise that Paul was concerned for these believers that were in Rome. Paul was ready and eager to see these believers and to encourage them in the faith. However, because he had been prevented as we will see later, he writes this letter of encouragement to them.
This now turns to us. Paul was thankful for the church in Rome and was praying for them. Oftentimes, in our culture, we have what is known as cultural Christianity. This means that it is in our culture to attend the church within our community or to hold certain values or beliefs. However, cultural Christianity is not Christianity at all. While we may know all of the Sunday school answers and attend church, one can still be unsaved. Therefore, in our community attending church seemingly becomes the end all be all of the Christian walk. However, to be a Christian means that one has repented of his or her sin and placed his or her faith in Jesus Christ. They have died to their sinful life to live for Jesus Christ. This results in a new life, new heart, and new desires to please God and not man.
I mention that because in our context we oftentimes only thing of the church as a place. The church is not a place. The church is not an event or a meeting. The church is a body of believers meaning that the church is not the building, but the believers of Jesus Christ in the building. We make up the church here at Salem Springs. We can have the biggest church building there ever was and yet be the deadest church.
You see, these Roman believers were in the lion’s den, as MacArthur put it, yet they were faithful to God. Because Paul knew this, he never stopped praying for the church. This is important for us today. How many of you are praying for someone else in this youth group? How many of you are praying for someone in this church body? I ask you that as I have asked myself as well. As Paul is praying for this church, we too are called to pray for the members of our church. We must set aside time to pray for our church to grow and be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. I encourage of you tonight to write down three names of another person in our youth group to begin praying for each day, and let them know that you are praying for them. Send them a text letting them know they have been prayed for that day.
This leads to our second point:
Our role in the church is to encourage while being encouraged.
Our role in the church is to encourage while being encouraged.
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.
Paul writes regarding his longing or yearning to be with these Roman believers, and his reason to be with them is that he may “impart some spiritual gift to strengthen” them so that they would be encouraged. Paul was seeking to encourage the church and strengthen them to continue in their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Paul wanted to build the church up and spur them on toward spiritual strength. This is not the first time in which sought for a church to be spiritually strengthen.
He wrote to the church in Ephesus and said:
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Paul sought for the church in Ephesus to be spiritually strengthen. Likewise, he longs to visit the church in Rome in order to strengthen them. Notice, Paul mentions that he may impart some spiritual gift to strengthen these believers. Paul has mentioned spiritual gifts. These are the gifts given by the Holy Spirit to a Christian in order that the gift may be used in the church to encourage another believer and build up the church as a whole.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Paul mentions the spiritual gifts later in the book of Romans. These spiritual gifts are given to believers for the edification of the church or the encouraging of the church. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have been given one of these spiritual gifts to be used in the church. While theologically, I find that the gifts of prophecy and tongues are no longer given due to the completion of the written Word of God, the Bible. Other spiritual gifts are still given by the Holy Spirit to the church to be used.
You may not know what your spiritual gifts are. However, over time, as you grow in Jesus Christ, your spiritual gifts will be made known to you. For instance, mine are teaching, preaching, and encouragement.
We are not given these spiritual gifts to brag or boost ourselves up. These spiritual gifts are given to be used in the church to glorify God. All of our lives are to be lived for God’s glory and not our own.
This is the counter cultural message of the Gospel. We died to ourselves to live for Jesus Christ. Likewise, this changes our view of the church. As I said previously, the church is not a building. Much more, the church is not a place where we come to be entertained, to get something, or to stir up gossip and disunity. Our culture has called for the church to be a place of entertainment. That is why there are some “churches” that sing Britney Spears and the Greatest Showman soundtrack on Sunday morning instead of singing praises to Jesus Christ. The culture has taken them captive and they seek to entertain instead of worship the Savior.
This is not the way in which they church is to be. The church is to be a gathering of Christians who come together to sing praises to the Triune God, hear the Word of God preached, and to mutually build one another up in the faith as Paul has mentioned here. Church is not about us. It is all about God’s glory and the building up of the saints. As you encourage others, you will be encouraged by others. Furthermore, Jesus is the ultimate encourager as you are reminded of His great love, mercy, and grace extended to you on the cross of Calvary and on the day of His resurrection.
The desire of the believer must be to proclaim the gospel under God’s sovereign direction.
The desire of the believer must be to proclaim the gospel under God’s sovereign direction.
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.
Paul writes to once again affirm to these Roman believers that his desire is to be with them and come to them. However, up to this point in Paul’s live, he had been prevented from going. As we talked about a few weeks ago, this is God’s divine providence that Paul was hindered from going to Rome. Other reasons were there; however, those reasons were God ordained. However, Paul desires to come to Rome in order that he may “reap some harvest.” Paul is speaking of sharing the gospel in order that some will repent and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. Paul desired to take the gospel to Rome. Likewise, Paul is eager because of his obligation to the gospel. He is obligated to God to take the gospel with him to the Gentiles and barbarians is what the ESV says. Barbarians were those who were non-Greeks. Paul had an obligation to God as God was the One who had called Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles. Therefore, Paul was eager to take the gospel to those who had yet to hear or believe in Jesus Christ in Rome.
Paul was obligated to take the gospel to the Gentiles. He desired to go to Rome but had been unable to upon writing this letter. We have been placed here in West Limestone. For those of us in this room that are Christians, we submitted our lives to Christ Jesus. Now, we are under obligation to share His gospel with the lost. Paul had this desire. Do you have this desire? God has sovereignly placed you in this area to take the gospel to your friends and family. Paul was eager to proclaim the gospel. Are you eager to do so?
Jesus had submitted Himself to will of God the Father.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Jesus was obedient to God in order that you would be saved. Even before His death on the cross, Jesus prayed that God would remove this coming death from Him. He prayed:
42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
God’s will was for Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. In doing this, Jesus submitted His will to God and was obligated to be the propitiation for us. Jesus took my place on the cross and He took you place on the cross to die for our sins in order that we could be forgiven. But, He did not stay dead. He rose from the grave on the third day with victory in hand, and ascended where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. Now, through repentance and faith, we will be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Pray.