Gospel Love

Introduction

This morning we are continuing our study of Romans. If you are joining us for the first time you haven’t missed much—this is our second message in Romans—you can catch up on our youtube page—but this morning we are in Romans 1:8-15. Let’s read the text together.

Romans 1:8–15 ESV

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 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. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

As Paul continues in his letter to the Romans we see the kind of love that he has for the believers in Rome. It’s a love that flows from a deep love for God. It’s a Gospel Love.

Our goal: To Display Gospel Love that Glorifies God.

8 aspects of Gospel Love in Romans 1:8-15.

1. Gospel Love is Thankful (8)

Romans 1:8 “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.”

Paul is thankful for believers that he hasn’t met.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus church is a multi-national church.

Do you care about these believers in other nations?

CLRVA has been saving 5% of our tithing from day for International Missions.

We are focusing on 52 Sundays so that we don’t forget that we are a people outside of ourselves.

Serious about Lakeside—without being unconnected to the global church.

Later this year we’ll announce a 2023 mission trip and I hope that everyone will consider going.

Why was Paul thankful? Our verse tells us.

Romans 1:8 “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.”

Rome’s faith is proclaimed in all the world.

Not their saving faith, but their ongoing faith—their faith on mission.

Claudius kicked all the Jews out. Why? Because they were stiring up Rome with their testimony about Jesus. It upset society.

Friends, does your faith upset anyone?

Gospel Love is Thankful

2. Gospel Love is Concerned (9-10a)

Romans 1:9-10 “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, ...

Paul says “I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son” —>Paul’s love for God’s people flows from a deep love for God.

This is the kind of love that we are called to:

John 4:23–24 ESV

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

We worship in Spirit and Truth—we don’t hide behind outward actions—the pharisees simply had outward actions—even beautiful actions.

Romans 1:9-10 “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers,...

Paul tells the Christians in Rome—I’m concerned for you and so I pray for you.

Friends, are you a person of prayer? Notice I didn’t ask you if you pray.

What’s the difference?

We don’t pray because on some level we think that our prayers aren’t powerful or that God doesn’t answer prayer.

Prayer is powerful not because we powerfully pray but because we pray to a powerful God.

God cares about your prayers—they are precious to Him

Revelation 5:8 “And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

Prayer is mentioned in the Bible 650 times.

We see God answer prayer 450 times.

In the ministry of Jesus we see him praying 25 times—and John tells us that we don’t have written down all that Jesus did

Prayer is important to God and when Jesus shows us how to pray He assumes that we will pray.

Two places you can practice prayer: In MC’s on Tuesday Night Boiler Room Prayer.

Gospel Love is concerned with other followers of Jesus and prays.

3. Gospel Love is Tangible (10b-11)

Romans 1:10-11 “always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—”

Paul desired for his love to be tangible—I pray for you yes—but I also desire to be with you.

I’ve been praying for Matt Cover as he walks through his mom’s sickness, but I also want to be and have offered to be with him—to help carry the burden with him.

Gospel love is a tangible love—Jesus showed us this. It’s a love that moves.

Q. Do you desire to be personally involved in the lives of fellow believers?

No? Are you willing to do it anyway?

We have to guard against the idol of comfort. It keeps us from loving well.

Romans 1:10-11 “always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—”

Paul tells us how he wanted to love the saints in Rome.

“I want to strengthen you by serving you with my gifts”

1 Corinthians 12:7 “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

God gives us gifts, not primarily for our good—but for the good of others.

There is a show on Amazon called The Expanse that takes place a couple of centuries in the future. In this world Mars is its own independent planet—they have a grand vision of what future Mars will look like with its own atomosphere and seas and this shared dream is so visceral that every Martian works hard for the good of every other Martian. Ship builders to ship cleaners. Teachers to security guards. Everyone pitches in.

Loving the people of God is not difficult if you have the right dream. If you’re building the right kingdom. If you are working hard to build your own kingdom loving other people with gospel love will be extremely difficult for you.

But if you have a vision of the heavenly kingdom—if you are working for God’s glory—then it is a lot easier to love his people the way that Paul does.

Our gifts are meant for each other for the glory of God

Gospel love is a love that actually moves in people’s lives.

4. Gospel Love is Humble (12)

Romans 1:12 “that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”

Paul doesn’t want to come to the Romans just so they can be loved by Him. This isn’t a one way street.

Paul expects that he will be edified too. He’s looking for “mutual encouragement”.

And this shows us that if we are going to love each other well then we must be humble.

Paul had many reasons to brag—but didn’t. The great apostle was teachable.

Q. Can you receive instruction where and how God provides it?

When God teaches you he isn’t worried about your pride.

Balaam received instruction from a donkey.

If you have children you’ve experienced that humbling moment when God spoke truth through your child.

The spiritually humble person does not Lord their spiritual authority or maturity over others, but is willing to hear from others life and wisdom.

John Calvin commenting about Paul in this passage says

Note how modestly he expresses what he feels by not refusing to seek strengthening form ineperienced beginners. He means what he says, too, for there is none so void of gifts in the Church of Christ who cannot in some measure contribute to our spiritual progress. iLL will and pride, however, prevent our deriving such benefit from one another.”

I want to grow to be a follower of Jesus who loves others from a deep love for God. And I don’t want to turn away any opportunity of growth that comes my way.

God has given the body of Christ that we would grow.

Gospel Love is Humble/Teachable

5. Gospel Love is Fruitful (13)

Romans 1:13 “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.”

In visiting the saints @ Rome Paul’s desire was to see fruitfulness in the gospel ministry.

Paul wants to “reap a spiritual harvest” What does that look like?

Matthew 25:14–30 (ESV)

Parable of the talents.

Matthew 13:8 “Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Spiritual harvest looks like multiplication.

Beat a dead horse: We should desire fruitful ministries.

This means that we must be learners.

None of us gets saved and instantly knows how to have a fruitful ministry. We commit to being learners.

I don’t really know anything about having a garden—but if I want to grow tomatoes then I have to commit to learning about how to grow a garden.

When the tomatoes swell and bust—I learn that they are getting too much water.

When Horn Worms show up—I learn to surround the plants with diotamacious earth to keep them from getting to the plant.

It’s no different as we seek to have love that bears fruit.

We learn to share the gospel. We learn to study the Bible. We learn our weaknesses and learn to lean on God’s strength

Do you desire to love in a way that bears fruit?

Do you desire this for others in the church?

What are you doing about it?

Luke 10:2 “And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Friends, the harvest is plentiful. What are we going to do about it?

I’ll tell you what we do. It may seem counterintuitive.

Our flesh says, there are apples on the tree and we gotta pick them so “go, go, go”.

But the widsom of the Bible is not “go, go, go”. It’s “dwell, dwell, dwell”.

You can go all day long in your own strength and you’ll pick some fruit and you may see some harvest-- but it won’t last, you’ll wear out because you can’t do spiritual work with fleshly strength.

We want to hear well done good and faithful servant.

Dwell in Christ and the result will be a love that bears fruit.

Gospel Love is a love that is fruitful.

6. Gospel Love is Obedient (14)

Romans 1:14 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.”

Understand that this is a matter of obedience and disobedience. Every follower called to this love.

Our mission is not an option it is an obligation. The obligation of the saved to save.

If you are in the freezing waters and you are pulled to safety. You don’t sit on the stern while others drown. You pull others into the boat too. You have an obligation to save others.

Colossians 1:13-14 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Gospel love is obedient to love the lost.

Gospel love is obedient to love the saints.

We must be committed to loving one another obediently as well.

Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Pray for one another, repent of sin, ask forgiveness, guard your mouth, encourage one another, serve with your gifts

John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

Gospel love is obedient. And...

7. Gospel Love is Eager (15)

Romans 1:15 “So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”

Paul was eager to love the saints in Rome. Many times he wanted to come to them.

We cultivate eagerness to love others as we dwell in the love that God has for us.

Are you eager to love the saints.

If you are not will you pray that God would give you a love for others like he has a love for you?

The body of Christ is a gift from God. We are eager to receive gifts. Are you eager to be with the body of Christ?

Bottom Line

Here’s the bottom line. We want to display gospel love with our lives. Gospel love is faithful, concerned, tangible, humble, fruitful, obedient, and eager.

If we want this kind of love—we must dwell in God’s love for us.

As we commit to discovering and uncovering the extent of God’s love for us—as we are saturated in this love and filled with it—this love will overflow as we seek to be on mission.

This is how we will have gospel love. Let’s pray.

Discussion Question: What aspect of gospel love is most challenging to you? Why?