WWUTT 1392 May the God of Peace Be With You (Romans 15:25-33)

Before Christ, we didn't have peace. We weren't at peace with each other. We certainly weren't at peace with God. But in Christ Jesus, we have been reconciled to God and to one another. And so let the church be filled with peace when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word, that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will. For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Paul’s Travel Plans and the Collection for the Saints in Jerusalem

Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in Romans, chapter 15, and we'll finish up the chapter today. As with yesterday, I'll start out reading verses 22 -33. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome,.

This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.

At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem, for they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them.

For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. When therefore I have completed this, and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.

I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.

May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. I very easily could have finished up all of chapter 15 yesterday, because much of what we're looking at today is very similar to what we talked about yesterday.

The Famine in Judea and the Church’s Shared Responsibility

But I think there's something else here that is very encouraging to us. So quickly coming back to verses 22 through 24, Paul was hindered from coming to the church there in Rome because the Spirit had more work for him to do throughout the portion of the Roman Empire where he had been ministering up through Illyricum.

That was the furthest west as he had gone. He had not made it yet to Rome, and now he wants to go as far west as the Roman Empire extends, which is all the way to Spain. So he says, I'm going to come to Rome and visit you as I pass to go to Spain, and I'm going to be helped on my journey there by you once I've enjoyed your company for a while.

Now, we don't know how long Paul expected to stay there. It doesn't seem like it was very long, though, by the language that he uses here. But he ends up staying there for two years, according to what Luke says at the end of the book of Acts.

He also made it there a different way than he thought he was going to get there. You can tell by the writing here, he expects to come in peace the way that he usually travels. But instead, he comes in chains as a prisoner and gets put in house arrest there in Rome, which is why he ends up staying there for two years.

So in verse 25, he says,. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.

Now, as I mentioned yesterday, Paul is likely writing this letter from Corinth. That's where he is at the time. And he's there collecting the money that he had told them to collect to help the poor at Jerusalem.

Here's what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 16, starting in verse 1. Now concerning the collection for the saints, As I directed the churches of Galatia, so also you are to do. On the first day of every week, which, of course, was the day the church met.

That was Sunday, the Lord's Day. Each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. So Paul is telling them to be collecting this money before he gets there. He says, store it up and let it be a bountiful gift that's being collected, that I may go and take it to the saints that are there at Jerusalem.

Now, there was a famine going on in Jerusalem at the time. So this is not just a matter of, hey, we want to help out the church in Jerusalem just because they're the church in Jerusalem. They were really struggling in Judea at that particular time.

In Acts 11, verse 27, or starting in verse 27, it says, Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world.

This took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

So this is that famine that had been foretold in Acts chapter 11 that is currently afflicting Judea. The money is being collected to help the saints that are there at Jerusalem. And those who are Christians are going to benefit from this offering.

I'm sure that the church that is there is going to help out other people in Judea also because it's by lending their helping hands that they're opening a door to be able to share the gospel with them as well.

But those who will first benefit from this offering are going to be the Christians. There are likely many others there in Judea who were not going to benefit from this offering. But it's because they were part of the church and there were churches in other areas that were willing to help them out that the Christians were going to be provided for by other Christians.

And this is a work that we do pretty regularly in the church all over the world. Your church is likely part of some kind of program where you collect money and that money goes into the program that goes to benefit missionaries and churches in other areas.

Sometimes you may do some kind of a special offering because you hear of a church in this particular area that has a need. We do that as a church at First Baptist Church in Lindale. You probably do so as well.

So this is a practice that's been going on for 2 ,000 years. Churches helping one another all over the world and contributing where there is need. So Paul instructs the Corinthians to gather this money, not just in 1 Corinthians 16, but we also read about it in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 as well.

And he says, starting in chapter 9, this is 2 Corinthians. Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry of the saints. For I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people in Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

So in his first letter he says, gather money on the first day of the week and start doing it now. Setting it aside. That way the money that's being collected, first of all, it's from a genuine heart. It's not the sort of thing where the request comes up and everybody's like, oh yeah, well let me count out what I've got here and there you go.

For this money to be collected over a period of time, there is a genuine and regular service that's being done. Though this money is going to be delivered once, it's been collected over time. So every time the church has gathered, there's been that willing heart to want to contribute to the saints in other places.

Love and affection for another church far away being poured out by the saints. And so then in 2 Corinthians 9, so in the amount of time that's passed between Paul writing 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, he says I've been boasting about you to the churches in Macedonia because Achaia has been ready for a while.

They've been collecting this money all this time. And so the churches in Macedonia are going, well that's awesome. By their witness, we're going to be collecting a bunch of money as well. And so here in his letter to the Romans, Paul says, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.

Achaia is where Corinth was located. Macedonia is where the churches of Galatia were located. So there's a couple of names to put with those particular regions. So Paul now has that contribution. He's gone through Macedonia and Achaia.

He's going to go back around to Jerusalem to deliver that money. And he says in verse 27, for they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, if the Gentiles have come to share in the spiritual blessings that were to be given to the Jews, indeed they owe it to them.

The Gentiles owe it to the Jews. Therefore they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. Remember that back in Romans 3, the apostle Paul said, what advantage has the Jew or what is the value of circumcision?

Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. So the Jews were the people that God chose out of every other nation on earth, that he would deliver them out of slavery in Egypt, that he would give them a land.

And all of that was fulfilled. All the promise that God had made to Abraham and to his offspring was fulfilled when the Jews had inherited the land. The Jews were given the law. The Jews were given the prophets.

They had the testimonies about the coming Messiah who would reconcile a people to himself, not just among the Jews, but even among the Gentiles. And so the gospel has gone throughout the world, starting in Jerusalem, then to Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And the apostles who were appointed to deliver this message were all Jews, even the apostle Paul. He has a Roman citizenship, but he was a Jew. And so the Jews are the ones that are entrusted with this message to go out and share it.

And therefore, since all of this had come from this people whom God had chosen. And remember, the Messiah himself, Jesus Christ, was born in the line of Judah, and therefore was himself a Jew. So in all of this, the Gentiles have received these spiritual blessings from what has come from this people that God had set apart.

And so since the Gentiles have benefited from the spiritual blessings that God gave the Jews, how much more should the Gentiles also be willing to share in material blessings? Consider this word from John, 1 John 3, starting in verse 16.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. And so here these Christians, who are Gentiles from throughout the world, have this opportunity to show love and care to the Jews at Jerusalem by collecting money and sending it to them that they may benefit in the midst of this severe famine going on.

My friends, that is a blessing of God, that this famine would even come upon them so that the Jews might see and experience love shown to them by Gentiles, whom many of the Jews hated. And you would still have many Jews there in Jerusalem who would not be receiving of this gift that was sent from Gentiles to Jews.

They would probably even sneer at it. Oh man, Gentile money? I don't want that. There were Jews in Jerusalem that would rather starve than to receive something from Gentiles. But here we show the love of God poured out upon people who call on the name of Christ, whether they are Jew or Gentile.

As it says in Ephesians 2, verse 16, that through Christ he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. As it said previously in verse 14, he himself, Christ, is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in the place of the two, so making peace.

And we have this also said to us in Galatians chapter 3. As we've mentioned the Galatians here, it says in Galatians 3, verse 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. Not because you are born in the line of Abraham, but because you are born again in the line of Christ. You have become Abraham's offspring, heirs according not by the bloodline that you're born into, but by the blood that you are born again by.

Does that make sense? It is by faith in Christ that you have become heirs, according to the promise that God has given to all who believe in his son. My friends, there should be nothing that divides us in the body of Christ.

Because once again, Romans 12, 5, we are part of the same body. Many parts, but the same body. And the head of the body is Christ, who is the head of the church. So there should be nothing that divides us.

I am not woke, I'm not critical race theory, I'm not part of that movement at all. I repudiate that movement. I think it's a false gospel. But that's not to say that racism doesn't exist. It does. There are people that discriminate against one another over things so stupid as the difference in the amount of melanin that you have in your skin.

We can be divided over other things as well, like a difference of opinion about culture or differences concerning politics or because you come from a different nation or because maybe your English is broken since English isn't your first language.

There are all kinds of things that we might discriminate against another person over. It's not always the color of skin. It can be social class. You're wealthy, that person's poor, I don't like that guy.

Or you're poor and you have a certain amount of pride about being poor and you don't like rich people. That kind of discrimination happens as well. But in the body of Christ, there should be no divisions between us.

Nothing that separates us. We should be willing to give everything of ourselves for the benefit of another brother or sister in Christ, no matter who they are, what their background is, what their skin color is, any of that.

We are one in Christ, period. And I can end the podcast there. We are one family in Christ Jesus. Now, that does not mean that we're always going to get along. Even if you were born in a close family, like all of your brothers and sisters and your parents, you all were very close.

And even to this day, you're still really close and you look forward to those days of getting together and having those family reunions and stuff like that. Even in a close family like that, there's still great disagreements, amen?

Somebody, right? There's always going to be some kind of a difference of opinion or a skirmish that erupts or things like that. Those kinds of things are certainly going to happen. That doesn't mean we're divided though.

It's going to be in how we handle those things. Are we going to resolve these differences and these conflicts and help to build each other up instead of tearing each other down? Is the gospel of peace what is going to dominate us through and through, top to bottom, inside and out, so that we're always seeking peace with one another, not finding ways to be divided, but seeking after the unity that has been bought for us in Christ.

We already are unified in Christ. It's already there, but we must continue to strive and grow in it just as we grow in sanctification and holiness. One of the evidences in your life that you are a born again believer in Christ is going to be that you grow in love, not just for God, but also for his people.

So you're growing in love for God. You're growing in the knowledge of God, according to his word. You're also growing in love and affection for one another in the body of Christ, also according to his word, as Paul has talked about that here.

Remember back to verse 18, I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God.

So by the word of Christ that was spoken, we are grown in obedience, in sanctification, in holiness, to be more like Christ and in becoming more like Christ, we show love for the brothers of Christ, for the brotherhood, for his church.

Let there be nothing that makes us look down on another brother or sister in the Lord, but as Paul instructed back in Romans 12, associate with the lowly. Be willing to give of yourself to those who can't give you anything in return.

You don't even receive any acclaim for showing kindness and love to that particular person. You do it because they're part of the body of Christ, because we're brothers and sisters in the Lord. Amen. We have this witness given to us between the Gentiles and Jews here in Romans chapter 15 and continuing on from where I left off, verse 28, when therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.

I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. Now, Paul probably expected to get there to Rome the way that he had been traveling. He instead arrived there as a prisoner, but it was still in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

Verse 30, I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service for Jerusalem would be acceptable to the saints.

So there are two things that Paul is asking for prayer for here. He says that he would be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea and that his offering would be acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem, that it would accomplish what it has been collected for.

Now, we know that Paul actually went through, I mean, some significant persecution when he arrived there in Jerusalem. If you remember back to our Acts study, when was that, last year? How long ago were we doing Acts?

Anyway, but you know from the story in Acts that when Paul was there in Jerusalem, he was beaten and arrested, and then it was in chains that he was delivered to Rome. So it almost looked like, well, did God not answer his prayer?

Well, the Jews wanted to put him to death, and that did not happen to Paul. So most definitely his prayer was answered and the prayer of these Roman Christians on his behalf, striving together with Paul in prayer that he would be delivered from those unbelievers in Judea who wanted to put him to death.

And he says, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, that the money was good for them and provided them relief. So that by God's will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed by your company.

That's verse 32. And then we end with verse 33. That's the conclusion of chapter 15. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. And as far as Paul's instructions go, that's it. We've come to the conclusion of his instructions for this church at the end of Romans 15.

He's gonna give them personal greetings in chapter 16. There's gonna be some final instructions in verses 17 through 23, but for the most part, the instructions that he has had to give to this church in Rome concludes with the end of chapter 15.

So there we've come to the end of it. We've just got some final notes we're gonna go through as we finish up our study of Romans, which we'll actually conclude next week. But let us remember here by this example that has been given between these Jews and Gentiles, according to Paul's instruction for them in Romans chapter 15, let there be nothing that divides us, but let there be a bond of peace for it is through faith in Jesus Christ, we have peace with God.

We have been reconciled to God where previously we were enemies of God. Now we're called friends of God. We are sons and daughters of God. And so as siblings in the Lord, let us look for ways that we may help one another and build each other up.

It was before we came to Christ that we were hated by others and hating one another. That's Titus 3 .3, but it's in Christ that we're loved by others and loving one another. May the God of peace be with you all.

Amen. Amen. Heavenly Father, forgive us our sins. Forgive us our prejudices. Let there not be any hate or contempt for anyone else in the body of Christ in our hearts, but let there be love and thanksgiving.

As you have shown love to us through your son, Jesus Christ, let us show love to one another. It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.

Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word, when we understand the text.