Thanks and Prayers audio (6MB)
Rom 1:7-16
One of the great things about Paul is the way he lets us in on his prayer life. This would have been a great encouragement to his readers but it also provides an excellent example for us. I mentioned last week what a great example Paul is for us and it’s true again here this week.
So what I’d like us to do as we look at this short passage is to think about how our behaviour could be changed to imitate that of Paul. First we hear how he prays and then he tells us why he wants to come to meet them in Rome.
We saw last week how he begins by wishing them God’s grace and peace, but then he goes on to say:
I Thank God for you
Now he hasn’t met these people. He wasn’t involved in their conversion. But he thanks God through Jesus Christ for each one of them. The fact that they’ve responded to the gospel is the source of much rejoicing for him – as it is for the angels in heaven you may remember. And his joy is even greater:
Because their Faith is Proclaimed Throughout the World
For first century people Rome had a particular mystique. It was a bit like New York or Paris or London today but multiplied several times over. It was referred to as the eternal city that had given them peace and law and civilisation; and people would have longed to visit it, to look on the monuments and great buildings to listen to the orators debating, to see the artists at work. So the fact that people in Rome were being converted to Christianity would have been big news; news that would have spread throughout the empire.
I wonder how often you stop to think about the people you mix with here at Oakleigh Anglican. Do you give thanks for them? Do you thank God that they’ve responded to the gospel and are seeking to follow Jesus in their lives?
Are you living such exemplary lives that people are noticing that you’re different - in an admirable way?
Without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers
He not only thanks God for them, he also prays for them – without ceasing. Now that’s a high bar he’s set, isn’t it? To pray without ceasing. I find I have to remind myself to pray or I won’t get around to it. But he’s got into the habit of praying all the time. I wonder if the reality of his ministry of the gospel was such that he was ineffective if he wasn’t praying. And I wonder if the same is true of us.
Then he tells us what it is he prays for them.
1. That by God's will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you
His first concern is that he might at last come to visit them. He says he’s long wanted to come to them and even planned visits but so far has been prevented. Presumably what’s prevented him has been the unfinished work of church planting in Asia and Greece. But now the time is drawing near and he hopes to come soon. And notice why he wants to come
2. That I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you
Paul had enemies in various places who accused him of doing things merely for the glory and status it gave him. But he argues here and elsewhere that his motivation is simply to be of service to others. He wants to come to them so they might receive some spiritual gift through his ministry. Presumably he isn’t thinking here of the Spiritual Gifts that he mentions in 1 Cor 12 or Ephesians 4. Those are the gifts of the Spirit, given by the will of God. No he seems to be thinking of some more general spiritual benefit that they’ll receive through his ministry. In fact as he thinks about this, he realises he need to modify that idea. The benefit that’ll come from his visiting them will in fact be mutual. So he says:
3. That we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith
Are you encouraged by the faith you see in others? As I’ve looked around here over the past few weeks while I’ve been among you I’ve seen a number of people who seem to me to demonstrate great faith and faithfulness. Are you as encouraged by that as I am? I occasionally encounter people who seem envious of those who seem more faithful than they are but someone else’s faith isn’t something to be envious of. It’s something to be encouraged by because if God could work in their life he could equally work in yours or mine – provided we ask him to of course.
4. That I may reap some harvest among you
Paul also wants to come to them so he might reap some harvest among them. That is, he wants to win more converts there. Clearly someone else has already done a good job there since the church is well established. It may be that it was Priscilla and Aquila, the wife and husband team we hear of in Corinth, who’d been involved in the church in Rome before arriving in Corinth. But Paul is itching to preach the gospel there as well. Little did he know that God would answer his prayer but his preaching would be done from the confines of a prison cell. Nevertheless he tells us in Philippians 1: “12I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, 13so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ.”
He then gives us 3 reasons why he wants to reap this harvest among them.
A. I am a debtor to all
He says he’s a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Now he’s not a debtor in the sense that he’s borrowed from them and so owes them something. It’s more in the sense that he’s been entrusted with a great gift for them and remains a debtor until that gift is passed on. What’s this great gift? It’s the good news of the gospel. And it’s a gift that’s given to every person, whether they’re educated Greeks or uneducated Barbarians, whether they’re among those who are wise in the world or those who are foolish; and perhaps we could add, whether they’re rich or poor. He seems to be indicating that the entire population of Rome is a candidate for the gospel.
B. I am eager to proclaim the gospel to you
His eagerness arises both from the indebtedness he feels and from the content of the gospel as we’ll see in his third reason. It seems to me that there’s a great contrast here between Paul’s attitude and the attitude of most Christians today. How many of us could say that we’re eager to preach the gospel? How many of us feel a sense of debt, of obligation, to those who haven’t yet heard the good news of Jesus Christ? Why is that? Why are we satisfied with enjoying the benefits of God’s grace but not eager to share them with others?
C. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
Could it be that we suffer from the thing that Paul says he’s immune to when he says “I’m not ashamed of the gospel”?
Why would you be ashamed of the gospel? Well, in 1 Corinthians he acknowledges that there is a problem with the gospel. He says it’s a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. Is that the problem? Are we still afraid that people will hear us talking about Jesus death and resurrection and think we’re just fools, looking forward to pie in the sky when you die?
Well, Paul puts that fear to rest. He says he’s not ashamed of the gospel because it’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith. You see the problem isn’t that the gospel is foolish. It’s that we’ve stopped preaching it. People are still being converted whenever the gospel is preached. In fact in some cultures people are coming to ask about the gospel because God has spoken to them in dreams and they want to know what it’s all about.
We need to recover a confidence in the power of the gospel to save people. We need to develop a confidence that if we talk to people about Jesus, some of them at least will respond with interest so that we can then tell them more.
This week I hope your prayers will be informed by Paul’s example; that you’ll be praying with thanks for your fellow members here at Oakleigh, that you’ll be asking God to give you opportunities to share your love of Jesus with others that you come across and that the gospel would bear much fruit here in Oakleigh and in the rest of the world.
