Sermon: “Ready to Preach”

TEXT: Romans 1:8-15 (page 757 of pew Bibles)

REVIEW

1. Paul is a bondservant of Jesus – a called Apostle – set apart for the proclamation of the “good news” of Jesus Christ.

2. The Roman church – called “saints” – are recipients of divine grace and peace through Jesus Christ, and are no less called to their duties and privileges as “saints” than Paul is to his duties and privileges as an Apostle.

TODAY’S PASSAGE:

⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all,

that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

⁹ For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son,

that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,

¹⁰ making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.

¹¹ For I long to see you,

that I may impart to you some spiritual gift,

so that you may be established --

¹² that is, that I may be encouraged together with you

by the mutual faith both of you and me.

¹³ Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren,

that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now),

that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.

¹⁴ I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.

¹⁵ So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

1. Thank God

Paul thanks God through Jesus Christ for the Roman church, because their faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. At first consideration it may seem to be an unusual and unexpected thing that the faith of the churches in one city would be spoken of everywhere. But, should it really be very extraordinary that their faith is proclaimed in all the world? Should it be that odd to hear about servants serving faithfully such a great master? It would be extraordinary to hear of people showing sacrificial devotion to a cruel and worthless master. But our God is the greatest of all kings. Therefore, while the faithfulness of the church should certainly cause us to give hearty thanks to God, such need for thanks should not at all be unusual.

Our Presbytery has started a new letter-writing project where Christian families are linked up with international orphans. If God’s families are willing to make the sacrifice to engage in a significant Christian relationship with a number of children, I would expect that people whose names we do not yet know would be happy to lift up prayers of thanksgiving regarding us. I heard the other day of a church in West Virginia that is preparing to send a container of necessary goods to their Christian brothers in Sudan. Should we, who hear of such a thing, not join the Sudanese brothers and sisters in thanking God for His work among His people?

Everything worthwhile in the church in Exeter should be cause of great thanks to God and not the praise of men. We recognize, according to Ephesians 2, that not only the faith that we have, but also the works that flow from that faith, are gifts from God, which he prepared beforehand for us to do. All of biblical religion works toward the praise of God, rather than the praise of men.

This giving of thanks for the Roman church is not just about Rome. Yes Rome is the capital of the empire, but can anyone doubt that what Paul is speaking about goes beyond their political position, since God loves to use the things that are not, in order to shame the things that are? That is why we hear great things in other places in the New Testament about churches in Thessalonica, Philippi, Smyrna, and Philadelphia. And even your faith here in Southern New Hampshire should be spoken of throughout the world – literally – and that should lead many people to thank God.

2. Making request

Before I continue, I want you to notice that Paul mentions here that He prays “without ceasing.” Of course he does other things as well, but the consistency and pervasiveness of his prayer life is such that everything he does seems to be bathed in prayer. This prayer life involves not only the continuous thanking of God, but also the continuous making of godly requests to God. Again, this should not surprise us at all. If God is so great and so favorably disposed to His elect, should we not continually be bringing Him good requests? Paul did.

In these verses he speaks of one request: that he would be able to visit the church in Rome. Paul says that part of his continual request to God concerning the church in Rome is this: I want to come to you. Why? I want to give to you a spiritual gift – not some miraculous special ability, but the strengthening of your faith through the preaching of the Word.

What specifically is the content of this spiritual gift of strengthened faith? Paul mentions three things. First, that you may be further established in the faith. He uses the word sthri,zw (stay-rid'-zo) which is translated here “established. This is the same word that is used in Luke 9:51 concerning Jesus, who set His face like a flint toward Jerusalem. He was fixed and resolved on a life of sacrifice that would lead to His death on the cross in Jerusalem. Paul wants to come to the Roman church, so that through his preaching of the Word, the church would be further established and fixed, firmly settled in the faith that they have.

Second, this spiritual gift of strengthened faith will involve mutual encouragement. It will be good for the faith of the church to be with Paul and good for the faith of Paul to be with the church. This word encouragement is not just a “feel-good” word. It has to do with the imparting of courage. Through the preaching of the Word in a context that is personal and relational, courage from God is granted using the means of people of faith. As the Word of faith is received, believed, and followed, not only is discouragement beaten back, but also courage is bestowed. This is greatly needed and greatly to be desired, and it comes as a gift of God through His people.

Third, this spiritual gift of strengthened faith will bring something Paul calls “fruit.” Somebody is going to grow. Eyes are going to be opened. Lives are going to be changed. Isn’t that exiting? There is a divine force working through the divine means of an apostolic visit with an apostolic proclamation that will have the power to change lives. So many people feel stuck in the mud and mire of misery. So many are overcome be a sense of pathetic worthlessness. We seem to roll stones up a hill only to have them roll down again. But there is a God in heaven who changes lives, and that is why Paul wants to visit the church in Rome.

3. Paul a debtor

Such a trip will require great sacrifice. Nothing can be done quickly and easily, or it would already have been done. The most worthwhile things involve long commitments of small acts of daily dying. But we have already heard that Paul does not consider himself a free man any more. He is a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and therefore a servant of the Word of God. His service to God is expressed through his proclamation of the Word.

This service has human implications. Paul says here that he is a servant to all kinds of people. He says that his service to God has made him a “debtor” to others. What does this mean? The word used means “one who is under obligation.” Paul is saying here that he owes something to people. He owes something to Jews and to Gentiles, to Greeks and to non-Greeks, to the civilized (according to the prevailing Greek and Roman culture, and to the uncivilized. He owes them a debt that God has put upon him. God has taken the debt that Paul owes God for His salvation, and has said to Paul, express your payment of debt to me, at least in part, by paying others. Live your life for me, by living your life for them, and do this by proclaiming the Word to the church. That is why Paul is a debtor.

Paul says here that he is “ready” to pay this debt. The word he uses means “ready and willing.” Not only is Paul prepared, but he is also eager to move out in obedience. There are some who may have some preparation, but they are not eager to move out in obedience. There may be others that are very eager to move out, but they do not know where to go or what to say, because they are not adequately prepared. Either way, they are not ready. Paul is ready.

What exactly is he ready to do? We have already said that he is a debtor who is ready to pay a debt, but how precisely is this debt going to be paid. The text tells us that it will be paid through preaching the gospel. This “preaching the gospel” is one word in the Greek. Permit me to create an English word on the spot to rid you of too many preconceptions that have taken over our minds after a few hundred years of revivalism and individualism. The word I need to create here is “gospelizing.” Paul is ready to gospelize those who are in Rome.

I want you to see two things about this gospelizing right away. First, Paul says that he is ready to gospelize “you who are in Rome.” This certainly means that gospelizing is appropriate, and even necessary for the church. What Paul wants to do involves the church in Rome as a primary recipient. He does not say here that he wants to gospelize unbelievers in Rome. He says that he wants to gospelize you who are in Rome. Second, I want you to recognize that the doctrines of grace are not some optional sideshow in the gospelizing. Proclaiming and living the true doctrines of grace is gospelizing.

Let me explain this second point in greater detail. If you think Christianity is first and foremost about your goodness, or your good decision to receive Jesus Christ, then you need to be gospelized. The gospel is first about God and about His sovereign determination to bring glory to His own name through the salvation of the elect and the just condemnation of the reprobate. Your decision is not the big story. God – His power and His glory – that is the big story. Also, if you believe that you are kept in the faith by your own free act of diligent perseverance, then you need to be gospelized. God is in sovereign control over all things, and He is committed to using His power to perfect and keep you as one of His chosen children. This powerful grace of God that elects us, calls us, and keeps us is not something that we are permitted to view as theological bickering. It is the gospel itself.

APPLICATION:

As we close this morning, I want to ask you a crucial question. Is it just Paul who is a debtor to God, and therefore to other people? Is it just Paul who has been brought to see His great need for atonement, and the perfect provision of that atonement through the great cost of Christ on the cross? Is it just Paul who sees that His life is not His own? Is it just Paul who sees His need to participate in gospelization in a way that is consistent with calling and giftedness?

Are you a consumer or a Christian? If you are a consumer, you are stuck looking around for a church that will be a good deal for you. You want a church with just the right qualities that you have your heart set on. If you don’t find it here, you hope to find it there. But if you are a Christian saint, then you are a bondservant of Jesus Christ. You are a debtor to God, and therefore a debtor to all kinds of people throughout this world. You need to be committed in accord with your office and your gifts – committed to the work of the church in the gospelization of the world. May your delight in God, your sincere faith, and your concrete acts of Christian love, cause many throughout the world to give great thanks to God. May your entire life be about the glory of God through the gospelization of the world. May the straight truth of the doctrines of grace be brought to your own hearts, to your own children, to the children and adults of this church, to the people of Exeter, to all the towns and villages in our land, and to every tribe and tongue and nation. Are you ready? Are you willing?