Next Steps

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Don Filcek; Romans 15:14-33 Next Steps

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to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsack preaches from his series in the
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Book of Romans, A Righteousness from God. Let's listen in. Well, good morning and welcome to Recast Church.
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As Dave said, I'm Don Filsack. I'm the lead pastor here, and some of you don't recognize me.
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There's something missing. Yeah, I did shave. It's on its way back in, so just as beards are known to do, this one's growing again, so it'll be back.
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Everybody stay calm. But today's a good day to gather together as God's people. I hope this doesn't distract you from hearing from God's word.
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Yeah, Dave says it does. But hopefully we're together, unified in our desire to grow in faith, community, and service.
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That's one of the main things that we do here at Recast. That's what we believe everybody needs. And some of you have noticed over the years that Recast is kind of a strange name for a church, and I actually really like it that it's a different kind of name because it gives me a lot of opportunity to explain where the name comes from and what it means and why we have a different kind of name.
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It's really a double meaning behind the name. First and foremost comes out of Luke chapter five where the disciples had been fishing all night.
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Jesus used their boat. He said, push out a little bit into the water so the people on the shore could hear him teaching.
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And then he told his disciples, he said, push out into deeper water. Recast your nets to the other side. And it says in the text, they brought in a huge haul of fish.
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But you see, what Jesus did in that situation was not about fishing at all because then he looked to his disciples,
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Peter, James, and John, and he said, but this isn't about fish because what I'm gonna have you do is no longer fish for fish, but I want you to fish for men.
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I want you to go out, and I'm commissioning you, and I'm calling you to go out and do something in your community and drawing people to me, disciples to my name and to my cause.
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And so that's kind of the image of Recast Church. That's one of the reasons that we started a church here in Matawan was with that purpose of going out and finding more and obeying
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Christ in that call. But it's also, like I said, it's a double meaning because it's also an acronym for our core values.
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We believe in replication, community, authenticity, simplicity, and truth. And those core values drive what we do.
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And so Recast is an acronym for those core values so that every time we mention Recast, we can remember what it is that we stand for and why we do what we do.
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In our text this morning, we're gonna see a passion for replication, that first core value that we don't talk about a ton, but it's that idea of seeing
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God's kingdom advancing in the lives of others around us and even seeing that there are next steps for us in the cause of expanding his kingdom.
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And we see that the Apostle Paul had that idea of replication as he considered what his next steps were in ministry.
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By the time that he sat down and the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans, this letter, I believe that he had already well -earned a retirement.
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He already deserved it. He already deserved to go get a little villa maybe on the
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Mediterranean Sea there in that tropical environment and just kind of sit back and sip some drinks on the beach.
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I think he had earned that. I think he kind of had done a lot of work already for the cause of the kingdom.
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By the time that he wrote this book, he had likely already planted dozens of churches. He had endured all kinds of hardships on his missionary trips, even being beaten.
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He had been in prison multiple times. And at least on one occasion that we have recorded, probably potentially even more than this, we have at least one recorded event where they pelted him with rocks so much that they thought they had killed him, finally got rid of him, and they drug his body outside of the city gates to dispose of it.
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And he got up, the Christians came, prayed over him. He got up and went on to minister to the next city. So that's the kind of, that's happened by the time that we get to Paul writing this letter to the church in Rome.
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He went through a lot. And how many of you agree that if you had gone through that for the cause of Christ, if a pastor had gone through all of that over the course of a couple of decades in his life, how many of you think he's earned his retirement?
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I think Paul could have easily just said, listen, my work is done. And in our text, what we're gonna encounter here at the end of this book is we see an ambition in this man who had already done so much for the kingdom.
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Our text this morning appears at face value, by the way, just to look like some travel plans. I wanna come and visit you in Rome, on my way to Spain, he says.
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But as we look at it more carefully, we're gonna find in it a good pattern for the way that we're gonna go about our lives. A way that we ought to look at our future.
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One of my favorite Proverbs, really a kind of life verse for Linda and I, has been Proverbs 16, nine.
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In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. The image that we set a destination, we think we know where we're going in life.
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How many of you set some goals? Good for you, you should set some goals. And how many of you take steps toward those goals?
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You don't just set a goal and then sit in front of the TV and say, God, if you want me to finish this goal, you're gonna have to pick me up and move me.
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You still take some steps. But the image is that as we walk, the Lord determines which direction our foot falls.
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Where does it go? And I think Paul understood that, and I think he lived kind of according to that proverb.
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And we're gonna see that throughout this text. As the text unfolds, it's gonna explain how he set some plans, he set some goals, and how he set those goals.
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But then how he trusted in God to determine the outcome of those goals. James says it this way.
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James, in his small letter in the New Testament says that we ought to say, if the
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Lord wills, then fill in the blank with your plans. If the Lord wills,
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I will go on vacation next month. If the Lord wills, this year I will expand my business. If the
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Lord wills, I will move to Florida or whatever it might be. And Paul shows us here a good way of applying that in this text.
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That he understood that and that he lived according to that. So as we read this text, please listen in and think through the way that Paul reflects on the past and what
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God has already done. How he then in turn plans for the future and the way that he trusts
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God through prayer for that very future. So if you're not already there, turn over to Romans 15, verses 14 through 33.
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You can navigate in your device. If you don't have a Bible or a device to navigate to the Bible, you could get up right now and go out to the welcome table and there's some
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Bibles that are back there. But I would love for everybody to have a copy of the word of God on your lap so that you can follow along and see that the things that we're talking about this morning are coming from God's holy and precious word.
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So this is Romans chapter 15, verses 14 through 33.
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I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.
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But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the
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Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the
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Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God for I will not venture to speak of anything except what
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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
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Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ and thus
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I make it my ambition to preach the gospel not where Christ has already been named lest I build on someone else's foundation but as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see and those who have never heard will understand.
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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,
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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.
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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 of Jerusalem for they were pleased to do it and indeed they owe it to them for if the
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Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.
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When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you.
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I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessings of Christ. I appeal to you brothers by our
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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
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I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all.
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Amen. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this model and this example here at the, so we're getting down to the end of the book of Romans and even just this, what could easily look like connected material, even within this we see a structure and a format in which
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Paul is giving his plans over to you. He reflects back on the past and the great victories that you worked in him and through him.
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And he wants more. He sees, he has a hunger in his heart and recognizes an ongoing call to ministry that has not been fulfilled, it's not been done.
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It is a task that is a lifelong task. And so Father, I pray that you would be working this message into our hearts to contemplate and consider what our next steps are.
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What is it that you desire for us? How have you worked in our past to show us what our present and our future should look like and that we would give all of that over to you in prayer, even enlisting the help of others to pray for us in the things that we believe you're calling us to?
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Father, one thing we know for certain you have called us to and that is your worship. And so Father, I pray that even now as we have an opportunity to do that corporately,
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I hope that this is just a reflection of what we've been doing all week long, not just merely singing, but living for you, walking with you, serving our employers for you, serving our families for you, and that these songs are an outcropping of a life lived before you.
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And now we get to do it together. And so Father, I pray that you would be pleased in our gathering that we would be able to let all distractions of this week and all the distractions in this room fall away as we together corporately worship you.
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You are worthy, you are high, you are exalted, you are majestic, and you are worthy of every movement of our lives from beginning to end.
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And so I pray that you would receive this as worship to you this morning in Jesus' name. All right, yeah, go ahead and find your seats and then get comfortable during the remainder of our time.
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If you can reopen your Bibles or your devices to Romans chapter 15, verses 14 through 33.
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Keeping that in front of you is gonna be able to help you see the flow of this, especially since it's a larger text, to really just kind of get the movement and the flow of the text there, having it open in front of you.
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And if at any time during the message, I say this every Sunday, if you need more coffee or juice or donuts, take advantage of that. If you need to use the restrooms, they're out the barn doors down the hallway on the left -hand side.
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So this passage divides naturally into three sections. And really, as you're going through the book of Romans, the logical flow is there.
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And so you'll notice that I outline the text a lot more as we're going through a letter like this. But the outline is simply this.
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Verses 14 through 21, we see remembering past victories. Remembering past victories is our first movement.
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Verses 22 through 29 is planning for the future victories. Again, that's 22 through 29, planning for the future victories.
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And then lastly is giving the future to God, verses 30 through 33. So that's the flow and where we're going with this text.
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Paul begins to wrap up his letter here in this text. The primary purpose of it is detailed plans for a future visit to Rome.
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He's never been to the church that he's writing a letter to. So he says, I really wanna come and visit you. And he's talking about all of the nuances, a couple things
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I need to get accomplished before I come visit. And so, could you pray for me about that? And different stuff like that.
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But he wants them to know why he hasn't been there yet. How many of you knew that Rome was the center of a very large empire?
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You already knew that. And so, Rome being the seat of that empire, it kinda makes sense that the
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Apostle Paul would want to visit there. He's already planted churches throughout the eastern part of Rome.
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And so, that's part of the nature of why he's telling them. He wrote to them, a very prominent church there, and a new church there, and he didn't start it.
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And so, he's basically saying, I'd love to come and visit and encourage you along the way. And as mundane as all of these details, travel plans are not the most exciting things, but as mundane as that could be, the way that Paul addresses these plans are really helpful for us as a model, as a way of thinking about our future, as a way of thinking about our past, and the things that God desires to accomplish in us and through us.
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And so, first let me address an assumption that I have when I come to this text. Really, Paul was an apostle of the
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Lord. An apostle is one who is called out by a distinct and very important and direct calling by meeting the
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Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. He met the resurrected Lord on the pathway to Damascus, and Jesus himself gave him his marching orders.
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He had a very specific calling from the Lord to be an apostle to a messenger sent to the
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Gentiles, that is, the non -Jewish people of his time. So, he had that mission verbally defined for him by the
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Lord. So, why would I apply this text to us? Because how many of you are apostles? Have you met
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Jesus Christ in the flesh? Have you seen him? We haven't, and so did he give you marching orders?
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Well, in a sense he did, and so because of that, kind of the way that he's, through scripture, given us all some commands,
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I do feel free to apply this to all of us as well, carefully, but it is that we also have a mission to accomplish.
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Different missions, but one fundamental thing is the great commission to go out and to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So, we're here on this planet. Think about it this way here at the start.
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We're here on this planet, living this life, taking up this space, eating his food, breathing his air, drinking his water for the purpose of the mission of our
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Lord. All of us on mission together. So, I bring a presupposition to this text that needs to be stated up front, and that is that we all, to a person in this room, all of us have a next in the cause of Christ.
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All of us have a next. What is next? Paul will show us, in the first point, that he's finished something.
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He's finished something. He's completed and accomplished a mission of bringing the gospel to the Gentiles in the eastern portions of the
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Roman Empire. Those eastern provinces, if you think about the Mediterranean Sea, on the eastern side of the
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Mediterranean Sea, he's planted churches all around that area. And in our second point, he's gonna tell us what he saw as his next step.
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The mission not done. The mission not done. He's still breathing air. He's still eating food. His heart is still beating.
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So, he still has a mission. What is next? I've done this. I've done this. I've accomplished all this. He's gonna tell us. I've finished this, but I'm not finished because I'm still here.
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And so, he has this notion of next, and we need to have a notion, in our minds, of next as we go through this message.
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He set his ambitions, of course, here. He's planted churches all around the eastern portion of the Roman Empire. He now says, well, what about the west?
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How about we finish this thing? How about we go west in the Roman Empire? And that's where he begins to talk about going through Rome on his way to where?
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To Spain. He wants to go to Spain. So, I would like for everyone to start at the same place.
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I'd like us all to be thinking and have the mindset this morning that God always has a next for me.
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He has a next for you as long as you have life and breath, as long as your heart is beating.
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And with that in mind, let's look at what Paul does first when he's done with the first part of his mission. We're gonna take this on as kind of a pattern, as a way of looking at the way that Paul processed this.
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I've completed one mission. What's the next? And he goes through this, and the first thing he does is remember the past victories of God in his life.
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The first two verses serve merely to orient the Roman Christians to his plans. He shows us he's out of teaching mode in this text, and he's now onto more personal stuff, and that's kind of the remainder of the book of Romans here in these last couple chapters is he begins to just talk with them personally.
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He's no longer the great teacher, but he is saying just relational stuff about his plans and what's going on and greet this person, we're gonna see that next week, and all of that kind of stuff.
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He addresses his audience very directly. And he is confident in the church in Rome that they're already filled with goodness, he says.
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He's speaking to them about what he believes to be true of them after having taught them some extensive theology.
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How many of you have thought there's been some pretty deep stuff over the last year as we've gone through the book of Romans? It's pretty deep stuff.
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Now remember that he's addressing an actual literal church in this context, and so they've covered some heavy stuff, and so he wants to assure them.
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Because how many of you know that some of the things that he wrote, you could go, does he even like us? Does he even think we're smart?
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Does he think we're believers? Does he think, you know, so he's basically here at the end saying I'm convinced of goodness.
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I'm convinced that you've got right actions towards one another, that you genuinely love one another. He says you possess right knowledge, and some of that that he's given to them earlier in the letter.
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And that they are able to teach the truth. This is a high commendation for the church in Rome, by the way, that they're able to teach each other, that he's confident that they're self -feeding, self -sustaining, that they don't need him to come.
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I'm not coming to visit you because you have to have me as the Apostle Paul come and visit. You guys are doing all right.
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But all that he has written so far in his letter, he says, has been to remind them of things he is confident that they already know.
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Just a really good, solid, in one place kind of reminder that they can go back to this letter time and time again.
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He did write some sections that were written, he says, with boldness, but that's only because God gave him the grace to be a minister of Jesus to the
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Gentiles, and so he's taking them on as part of his responsibility in this calling that God has placed on him.
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And in verse 16, he begins to look back at the way that God has been using him for years.
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And this is so practical because I think it's very easy for us, in our hurry, in our rush, to come up with next steps and next plans and what's the next thing that God, what does he have for me this month?
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What does he have for me this week? What does he have for me this year? What does he have for me this decade? That we often skip the part about thinking about the past as we're preparing for the future.
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What has God already done? What has he already done in you? What is he doing now through you?
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You see, we need pauses, don't we? And we're not good at that. Is anybody in this room willing to raise your hand and say,
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I'm really good at taking a pause? A couple of us. How many of you would say, I'm not very good at that?
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I'm not very good at taking pauses to think and to reflect and to really think about what God is and isn't doing in my life.
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Scripture is constantly, by the way, constantly, regularly, routinely, almost thematically calling
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Christians to remember, calling God's people to remember. The Israelites were called to remember the way that God brought them out of Egypt.
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It's all over the Old Testament. Remember how God brought you out.
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The prophets were constantly calling the people to remember the holiness of God. And even,
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I was just reading, I'm reading in the middle of Joshua in my Bible reading on my personal time, and I was just reading the other day about them crossing the
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Jordan on dry ground, and you know what they did in the middle of that river? It's kinda cool. They set up rocks in the middle so that, and it says in the text, so that when your kids ask,
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Mommy, Daddy, where did that pile of rocks, get in the middle of the river? Say, well, we were walking through it on dry ground.
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God stopped the river, we walked through, and he had every one of the tribe leaders grab a rock and put it down so that we built a little monument there so that you can remember that God is faithful.
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Remember, remember, take pauses. Take those opportunities to remember and to reflect on what
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God has done. And one of the central calls, of course, in the New Testament to remember, we remember every week here.
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It's an obvious call to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for us. We formally participate in that by taking communion together each week.
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It's meant to be the pinnacle of the service here together is the remembrance of what it's all about.
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Remembering that without that sacrifice, this is a waste of time. Without his death, burial, and resurrection, we oughta be sleeping in this morning and remembering, remembering, remembering, but Paul metaphorically is remembering his ministry and he pictures his past ministry over the last couple of decades as a priest who is offering the
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Gentiles to God through the gospel of God. You can see that in the text. And just like a sacrifice needed to be acceptable and set apart for God, he says, through the gospel,
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God is setting apart Gentiles as a sacrifice for him. And not just sacrifice like, but sacrifices as in living sacrifices like he talked about at the start of chapter 12.
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The Gentiles are being made righteous. The Gentiles are being declared right through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, through the gospel, through the good news, through the ministry of Paul.
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And he says they're being set apart and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. He is doing a great work among the people that Paul has been ministering to and he sees it and he's rejoicing in it and he's glad for it.
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And Paul literally, it says in the text here, Paul takes pride in this priestly work of offering up people to God through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of the
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Son of God. And that sounds kind of strange. If you know Paul, if you've read Paul, then it sounds really crazy that he says,
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I take pride in this work. Because Paul would say, I will boast in nothing except Christ.
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And then here in the text he actually says, in verse 17, I'm proud of this.
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I'm proud of this work. And those of you who know that pride is labeled as number one among the deadly sins, the seven deadly sins.
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It's like, this is problematic. How can he have pride in this? But don't stop at verse 17.
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Go on to verse 18 to clarify. Even when I was studying this for the first time this week, I was like, 17 hung me up.
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Like, you gotta keep moving on. And once you get to 18, it'll make sense to you. Paul says, I only am boasting,
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I'm only proud, I only give credit for this ministry as much as it is from Jesus Christ.
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It's so refreshing. He says, his boast is not at all about himself, but he says an extreme phrase at the start of verse 18.
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He refuses to even venture to speak about anything except what Christ has accomplished through him.
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He says, I won't even start a sentence about my work. I won't even start a sentence about my accomplishments.
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I won't even speak a word of the things that I have done. But I will talk to you about what
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Christ has done through me, what Christ has accomplished through the Apostle Paul.
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He has done miracles, he goes on to say. He's done wonders. He has spoken the word of Christ through the gospel.
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And people have believed, as Paul's preaching and speaking in public forums has been blessed time and time again.
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Centurions have believed. Rowan proconsuls have believed. Jailers have believed.
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Young men like Timothy have believed. Business women like Lydia have believed as the first convert in Europe, Lydia was.
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Jews have believed. Gentiles have believed. The strong have believed. The weak have believed.
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As Paul has proclaimed the gospel throughout the known world on the eastern part, people have believed.
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And who does he give credit for that to? God, he says God has moved. The spirit has moved.
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The God of all hope has moved and has allowed the gospel to go forward through him.
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He credits it all to Jesus. And this is not some exercise I believe in, Paul, in false humility.
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How many of you have done something good? You know you're not supposed to take credit so you say glory to God. Maybe you do the little, you know, and you just give it over to God.
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You got the touchdown, you know, you caught it. You ran it in, but God, really. While you're patting yourself on the back.
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I don't believe that that's what Paul has going on here in the text. I don't believe that at all. I don't believe this is a false humility.
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This is a genuine belief on Paul's part that Christ and his Holy Spirit have accomplished his past ministry throughout the eastern
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Roman Empire. Paul has really, at the end of the day, I think he really conceived of himself as just merely a tool in the hands of the master.
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Like a hammer doesn't get credit for building the house, but the contractor does.
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Christ gets credit for building his church. And those who minister are merely tools used for the glory of the builder.
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So Paul was glad to look to the past and see the way that God has accomplished so much among the
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Gentiles through him. This is a good way to start our thinking about next steps is to look back at what
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God has already done in us and through us. Remember the past victories of God in your life. Give him the credit and the glory for the good things he has worked through you.
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And seek, here's the key, seek to find a pattern there. Look to see what have you been doing when
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God has blessed it? What have you been doing when he's brought fruit, when he's brought some kind of blessing to others around you?
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What are you doing when that happens? Paul draws this past remembrance into a pattern in his life.
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He sees a common thread of calling in the way that God has worked in his past. You see, God called him and designed him to preach the gospel and that much is sure.
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And Jesus gave him the words and said, I'm gonna call you and you're gonna go and proclaim my truth, proclaim my gospel, and proclaim my kingdom to those who have not yet heard, the
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Gentiles. So he knew that calling, but there's a pattern that he sees in this beyond that.
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Because he could have settled in the Eastern Roman Empire among the Gentiles there and continue to do what he perceived
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God calling him to do. But from the past, from his past, he's also able to discern that God has designed him as an entrepreneurial church planter, a guy who starts stuff.
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He saw that, he saw that God had blessed him that way. That when he was being most fruitful was when he was among a people that had never heard of Jesus before.
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And so he draws a pattern from that, looks at his past, sees what he's doing when God is blessing him, and then he goes out and launches into that.
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He's not the guy who's gonna take on a pastoral role in the church, a church that's been established for 50 years, he's not gonna head to Rome and head up the church there that's already going.
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God has given him a holy ambition to share the gospel among those who do not know
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Jesus. He doesn't wanna build on someone else's foundation. He's more of a concrete worker kind of guy.
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He starts churches, he builds foundations, and then lets the carpenters come in to stud it out and finish it.
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And he even sees his ministry as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, which is really interesting. He says, my ministry is fulfilling
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Isaiah 52 .15 by opening eyes to see the one that they haven't met. And he gives understanding to those who have never heard the message of the suffering servant of God, which is really the theme of Isaiah 52.
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A theme of the Messiah, who we know is named Jesus Christ. So Paul shares a look back with the
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Roman church, and he's rehearsing the way that God worked in his past ministry, and he sees that past ministry as a preparation for a future ministry further west.
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And that leads into the second point. Verses 22 through 23 transition us into Paul's planning for the future.
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Here is where Paul shows that he understands that God has some next steps for him. He presupposes that there's a next.
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I'm still alive, I'm still breathing. There's something else that God has for me. He tells the
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Romans outright that he hasn't been able to come to visit them despite longing to encourage and build up that church, a church that's in the seed of the
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Roman Empire. He's been so busy church planting and caring for the churches in the east that he hasn't been able to get to the center of the
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Roman Empire yet. But now, verse 23, we find that he considers, interestingly, surprisingly,
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Paul considers his work complete in the Eastern Roman Empire. He expands his thoughts that he mentioned at the end of verse 19 where he said that he has fulfilled the gospel of Christ, fulfilled the gospel of Christ in those regions, in those provinces.
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There's no more room for him to work in these regions, he says, which is kind of a little bit of an exaggeration because how many of you know that probably all throughout
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Turkey there is plenty of space, Asia Minor, there is plenty of space for him to go. But he's confident that his work is done.
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And the word that's used for regions there, the word that's used there is a technical word for, it's the same exact word that would have been used in a technical sense for a
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Roman province, the word province there. And so some of the provinces mentioned in the text, throughout the
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Book of Acts, we know where he planted churches. He planted churches in Achaia, he planted churches in Pamphylia, in Pontus, in Galatia, in Asia, and even as far as Illyricum, which is in modern -day
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Albania, like north and west of Greece. By the way, in the Book of Acts, we have no record of him going to Illyricum, but here he says he did.
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Here he says, I planted churches all the way up there even. So he has traveled.
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And this is, of course, I think that to some degree what he's saying here is a little bit of exaggeration, a little bit of hyperbole. He could certainly plant more churches in Eastern Roman Empire.
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There's plenty of little villages and towns, I'm sure. I'm not confident that he planted a church in every little hamlet, every little village, all throughout that region, it's a huge area.
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But there's no question that he believes that God is satisfied with the established churches and that they can now carry on his mission.
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That Christ is named in Asia. Christ is named in Pamphylia. He is named in Pontus.
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There is a church there established that can continue to carry forward the work. He believes there is now a sufficient gospel witness in every province in the
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Eastern Roman Empire. And he was right, and here's how we know he was right. The gospel took root there and spread to us from there.
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The gospel took root throughout this region and spread all the way into the Roman Empire and eventually to the point where a
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Roman Empire literally comes to faith in Christ. And that begins the Holy Roman Empire and all that stuff that goes on throughout the
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Middle Ages on down to where we're at today. The gospel took root there, and he was right.
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And so in light of this past ministry that God has done through Paul, he's planning to expand his ministry now.
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He says, I think I know what my next step is. I want to take the gospel to the Western, all the way throughout to the
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Western edge of the Roman Empire. I want to take it all the way to Spain.
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He only plans, by the way, in this text, he's planning a stop off in Rome on his way through to Spain.
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So Spain is his ultimate goal, and he invited himself over like Uncle Eddie, okay? You know, he's like,
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I'm gonna be parking the RV in the driveway for a while, but don't worry. I'm only gonna be here as long as it takes you to send me to Spain.
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Once you get the money and you can send me along, I'll pick up the RV and leave. So they were probably already taking a collection before he got there,
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I don't know. Well, only if he was like Uncle Eddie. But I actually somehow imagine that the church in Rome was actually very glad for a visit from the
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Apostle Paul, much more glad than the Griswolds would be for a visit from Uncle Eddie. But I think they were eager for him to arrive there.
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Some of you have nervous laughter. You can probably take that down now. So that's probably fine.
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It's uncomfortable. But funny, hopefully. You can email me about that later if that was offensive.
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Paul hopes to visit Rome, but now we see that in these plans, he has to incorporate another step.
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He's got another step that he needs to take first. He's got some business to attend to. And it's some really, in light of what we've read throughout chapter,
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I'd encourage you to go back to chapter 14 and the early part of chapter 15 to really see the beauty of this business that he has to attend to.
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It doesn't make a whole lot of sense until you understand the context and what was going on here. But there's some beautiful, awesome, but dangerous business that Paul has to do before he can get to Rome and then go on to Spain.
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You see, the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia, which is basically, would have included churches like Corinth that you've heard of, the letters to the
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Corinthians. Philippi, where we get Philippians. Ephesus, where the letter of Ephesians was written.
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Those churches in those areas and all their surroundings have taken up a significant offering to send to the primarily
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Jewish background church back in Jerusalem. They've taken up a collection from their wealth and from the goods and the surplus.
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They've basically said, we're going to not just support our local ministry, but we've heard bad things are going on in Jerusalem and we want to support our
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Jewish background brothers and sisters back there. Some scholars believe that there was a famine that hit
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Israel during this time. There's at least a couple that are recorded during this time in history. So it's likely that the
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Gentile churches are caring for their Jewish brothers and sisters back in Jerusalem. But think about the difference between Jewish and Gentile all throughout this book.
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And he's here writing to the Roman church saying, by the way, these churches are starting to get it. They're starting to get it.
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They're starting to care for one another, regardless of their race, regardless of their ethnicity, regardless of their background, they're starting to love one another.
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Enough that they're willing to literally part with their wallet for the sake of taking care of brothers and sisters who are struggling and suffering.
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They couldn't wire transfer the money though. So Paul is going to go back to Jerusalem to deliver the funds.
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He's going to guard them and take them and secure and make sure that they're adequately transferred to that church in Jerusalem.
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So I'm sure that Paul was eager to share this example with the church in Rome. Rome was struggling with tensions between Jews and Gentiles.
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And here he's holding this up as a great and glorious thing that's going on.
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And in verse 27, he highlights how good it is for the Gentiles to fulfill an obligation of gratitude to the
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Jews. You see, the Jewish tradition is a tradition that we Gentiles benefit from. Paul made a strong case for that earlier and all throughout this letter to the
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Romans. But in verse 28, he recaps his plans. I'm heading to Jerusalem to take the gift to them.
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Once I'm done with that, I'm coming to Rome with the hopes that you will speed me along on my journey to Spain to plant more churches in new territories.
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And he says with confidence that when he comes to Rome, he will arrive with the blessing of Jesus. The commentaries
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I read this week all highlighted that this is Paul's looking forward to a sigh of relief because he's got some tough work ahead of him.
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He's in essence saying, when I get to Rome, it will only mean that I'm done with the trials that are ahead of me right now as I'm sitting here with the pen in my hand.
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But something seems strange all throughout this planning of Paul, throughout this second point of his next steps, of him determining what's next.
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He looks at the past and he says, okay, here's my next steps. But I noticed it even as I read it. I noticed that something was significantly lacking as I studied this on Monday this past week.
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I read it a few times and I was like, man, there's a gap in here. Because this second point,
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I had to ask myself, where's God in his plans? Where is the
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Lord in any of this planning? Where is the James, if the Lord wills, I will take this to Jerusalem.
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If the Lord wills, I will see you in Rome. If the Lord wills, I will plant churches in Spain. But it seems to be lacking.
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He seems to make a lot of plans here without so much as a single reference to if God desires this.
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Certainly he has looked at the way that God has worked in the past in order to determine his future course, but it isn't until we get to verses 30 and 30 through 33 that we see that Paul is indeed planning his course, but resting in God to determine his steps.
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He longs for a trip to Rome when his work is done in Jerusalem, but he wants to plant churches in Spain, but he asks them to pray that that happens.
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And that leads into the last point. In verse 30, we see that he is giving the future to God and enlisting others to give it to God too.
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In a very dramatic way that shows the tension that Paul has in his heart as he's got this pen in hand writing this section, he asks the
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Roman church to strive and struggle with him in prayer on his behalf.
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And let me just encourage us to just for a moment, a side note, let's take that on as an application. I fear that often we are slow to ask one another to pray.
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I know this, in fact, because we get very few connection cards with prayer requests on them.
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Very few have come through in the last five to 10 years. So I know that we are slow to ask for prayer.
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We might be quick to assume that others should be praying for us, but we're very slow to ask for it.
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And does that betray an understanding of prayer or does that betray a self -sufficiency? I don't know which. Maybe a combination of the two.
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Maybe on the one side, I think I've got this, I don't need anybody to pray for me, or on the other side, I just don't wanna inconvenience others.
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We need to be quick to ask others. I mean, Paul is bold in requesting prayer.
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He's bold in asking for it. And not only that, but he actually recognizes what it is that he's asking.
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He's saying, struggle and strive with me before God. Wrestle with him on my behalf. I think that there was some semblance of unsettledness in Paul as he writes this, to use the terminology that he uses here.
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He's actually a little bit like, I don't know how this is gonna go when I get to Jerusalem. I don't know if I'm ever gonna see you, church in Rome.
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I don't know if I'm gonna get to this fulfilled place of Spain where I'm gonna get to plant other churches.
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So please struggle with me. Struggle on my behalf in prayer. He appeals to them with a
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Trinitarian formula, which is pretty significant. He appeals by Jesus and by the love of the
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Spirit. In other words, because we have Christ in common, he says, church, because we have
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Christ in common, and because the love of the Spirit lets me know that you care for me, strive with me, wrestle with God for me in prayer.
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See, Paul made the plans, but I don't believe he had a complete and 100 % peace about the outcome.
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He knew it was going to be up to God how this turned out. And he shows us two concerns, shows us what was on his mind, what was on his heart, what he was wrestling with in verse 31.
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He knew that unbelievers in Judea could be violent. He knew the Jews in Judea could be violent.
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Do you know how he knew that? He used to be one. He used to be one.
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He was violent against Christianity. He was one of them. Now he fears his compatriots. He fears those that would have been his buddies before, because they just assumed, like him, locked up, just like he used to lock up Christians, too.
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As a matter of fact, he watched the cloaks for everyone. You see, in order to stone somebody with stones, in order to kill somebody with stones, you had to have your arms free.
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So you would take off your cloak to do that violent act. So they all take their cloaks off and lay them at the foot of this young rabbi, this promising young man who gets to watch this happen, this death of a
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Christian. And so they lay their cloaks at the feet of who? Saul, whose name will later be changed to Paul.
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He was there at the stoning of his brother, Stephen, who was there to welcome him into heaven.
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But he was there guarding the cloaks while everybody was chucking rocks at a
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Christian. So he knew what was at stake by him going back to Jerusalem. By going back to Jerusalem, Paul was without question risking his life.
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And further, think about it, so he's a little bit afraid that this is gonna turn violent, but further, he's actually concerned about the church itself.
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How are they, how is this Jewish background church gonna receive a gift from Gentile churches?
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He says, pray that they receive it. He's not even sure they're gonna take money from Gentiles. Do you get it?
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So he's got a lot of concern, a lot of weight on his shoulders as he takes this gift to Jerusalem. He's not expecting it to be like Christmas morning and they're all like, yay.
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He's not sure how it's gonna go. So they may reject the gift as filthy since it came from Gentiles.
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So he wants prayer that this will be received well and be a unifying gift between Jews and Gentiles.
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And the hope is that Paul will come with joy and be refreshed and built up in Rome. And he wraps up this section with a prayer that the
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God of peace would be with the Roman church. He loves this church. He desires good for this church that he's writing to, that he hopes to visit as soon as possible.
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Well, I hate to give you a spoiler alert, but like Paul Harvey, here's the rest of the story. Things did not go well for Paul in Jerusalem.
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Did you know that? He was beaten. He got there with a gift and he was beaten by the
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Jews. He did deliver the gift, but in the process, pulled out of the temple and beaten.
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There was a plot that was against his life. He was only saved as the procurator walked in and they were trying to beat him to death and that he was rescued by Roman soldiers from the midst of a crowd of Jews in the outer courts of the temple.
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I don't know, maybe the Roman church didn't pray for him. I don't know. He was beaten. And then there was a plot, even while he's in Roman custody, there's a plot to attack the
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Romans as they're transferring him from one jail to another and there's a plot and literally 40 guys said,
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I won't eat food until Paul's dead. I'm gonna fast until he's dead and they made that kind of oath and I wonder if they died or if they eventually just gave up on it and ate food.
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I don't know. He didn't die in this context, but he had to legally because now the
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Romans have him in possession and they're literally going, what do we do with him? Well, let's just give him back to the Jews. They're his people. Let them do whatever they want with him.
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And he says, no, no, no, I'm a Roman citizen. I appeal to Caesar. I have that right. And so then the
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Roman proconsul says, okay, then to Caesar you will go. So Paul gets an all expense paid trip by the
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Romans to Rome. That's how he's gonna get to Rome. He's gonna get to Rome with shackles on his hand.
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Not the way that he thought he was gonna get there. Made it, but he was under house arrest.
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As for whether or not he ever made it to Spain, scholars differ, but it seems like, it seems like that he did actually eventually make it to Spain.
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I kind of agree with a lot of modern and recent scholarship that indicates that he did.
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There's a few ancient documents that speak of Paul's trip to Spain as a past event. Some of those early church fathers had him going to Spain, but not being received very well.
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So those early church fathers mentioned him even ministering to the western edge of the Roman empire. But I suggest that here as we wrap things up that you take this on, take this as a model for any future plans.
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First remember that God has, what God has already done in your life, this is the first application. Remember what he's already done through you.
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Start with remembering, rehearse it in detail. Think through the patterns of his work in your life.
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Where has God worked success through you? And then give him credit as you consider the patterns.
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The second is consider what is your next step, plan for the future. Upon seeing the patterns of your life, make a plan for God and what you're gonna do next things in serving him.
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No matter how old we get, if we're breathing his air, we are to be on his mission. So how has he used you in the past?
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And make loosely held plans to do that in the future. And when I say plans, don't just make a plan in here, but what are the steps that you're gonna take?
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What's your next step? But I say loosely held plans because we don't know with any precision what the future holds for us.
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How the Lord will determine where our feet fall. And so we take on this last section too.
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Pray and enlist the prayers of others for us. Just this week, I received a very timely email while I was in the middle of writing this message.
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I was literally on my iPad, I'm at the coffee shop, I'm plunking away on the keyboard and bing, an email came up and it was somebody who's going through a potential life change and said,
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Pastor Don, could you just pray for me? I was like, yeah, of course. Of course, gladly.
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Asking for some counsel, asking for some advice and asking for some prayer. I was like, that's it right there, that's what we need to be doing.
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Asking one another, asking your community group, being honest and asking for prayer for one another. Paul wasn't ashamed to be direct, asking for prayer that God would work safety and effectiveness into his future plans.
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Paul's plans didn't come to pass exactly as he imagined them, but in praying, he gave them over to the
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God who knows and gives what is best. I'm gonna ask Spencer to come up and he's gonna introduce us and lead us into communion.
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Wrap up the service, thanks Spencer. Good morning.
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Pastor Don has reminded us that the Christian life is not one of complacency.
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No matter who you are, you have a next step. Paul's next step in this text was to go to Rome and then on to Spain.
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Your next step may be just like that, to follow Jesus to the other side of the world where you might share the gospel with people who have never heard it before.
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Or your next step might be as simple as going across the street and getting to know your neighbor who is far from God.
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And I don't know what God is calling you to do this morning, but I do know that he is calling you to be on mission with him and for him.
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And that's something that's far too grand and far too complicated for us to do in our own strength.
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So we have to follow Paul's example from this text this morning and be reminded of what
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Jesus has already done for us, what he did for us in the past. We have to remind ourselves that we are fallen sinful people who were once far from God and slaves to sin, but now we are empowered by the
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Holy Spirit to be on mission for Christ because we have come to a place where we believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins and rose from the dead to reconcile us to God.
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Folks, that's the gospel, that's the good news. And if you believe that this morning, I would invite you to join us with In Communion.
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The band's gonna play, and as they do that, whenever you're ready, I would encourage you just to feel free to get up and head to the tables in the back.
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There's one over there and one back here. And on the tables, you will find a cracker that represents
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Christ's body, which has been broken for you. And you will find a cup of juice which represents the new covenant that has been made in his blood.
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And I encourage you to take that, come back to your seat, and as the band plays, just reflect on what
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Christ has done for you in his sacrifice. But also think about what your next step might be.
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God wants to use you for his glory here in Madawan and around the world.
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So turn to him in prayer this morning and see where his spirit might be prompting you to make a difference for his glory.
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Let's pray. Lord, we love you, and we are so thankful that you have called us, that you died on the cross for our sins.
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And Lord, we are gracious and thankful to be a part of what it is you're doing in the world.
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Lord, sometimes you are calling us to do simple things, to be more like you, to share
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Jesus with our neighbors. But sometimes you are calling us to more radical things. And whatever it is,
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Lord, I pray that we will be people who are obedient. We're thankful for Paul's example, and I pray that it will be an encouragement to us, not only this morning, but throughout the week, as we seek to be more like you.