Background and Recap

Welcome to Episode 9 of Series Four. We are now moving towards the end of the book of Romans. In this episode, we come to what is really the central theme of Paul’s life, and it underlies the whole of the book of Romans - the ongoing mission. He is on a mission and is passionate to preach the gospel in as many places as he can. He introduced this theme in the last episode.

In Series 4, we are looking at all the practical questions that face the Roman church and Paul has been instructing them how to live together, how to deal with opposition, how to deal with government authorities and how to deal with tensions in the community between different cultural behaviours that might cause division. Now he is focusing on some very practical things about the mission plans that he has. He pointed out in the last episode in a wonderful way, how God’s purposes with the Jews spread out suddenly from the Day of Pentecost. The Jewish foundation of the Church was there to serve the Gentile mission and he is the representative of that reality more than anyone else. He came to travel to Gentile communities to share the gospel with them for the very first time. It was an extraordinary ministry that Paul was on and he was very excited by it. He was excited by the idea of coming to Rome; he had never been there before - the capital of the Roman Empire, a place of incredible importance, a place where a church had existed since the Day of Pentecost as we heard earlier when, right from the very beginning, God had created some believers as a group in Rome and Paul wanted to get there. We are going to hear about Paul’s plans towards the end of this episode.

Christian Maturity

“I myself am convinced my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Yet I’ve written quite boldly to you on some points, to remind you of them again because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, he gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done - by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather as it is written ‘Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.’ This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.”

Romans 15:14-22, NIV

Paul starts in verse 14, by commending the Romans for their maturity. He says they are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. He highlights three different things here that are relevant to Christian maturity: number one, character of life - full of goodness; number two, knowledge of the gospel and of the Bible; and number three, skills or ability to instruct one another. Character, skills, knowledge - three components of Christian maturity. To be a mature believer God has to work within our character to deal with some of the sinful tendencies and bad behaviours that we bring in when we become Christians. Also we need to learn: we need knowledge; information; and most of all we need to understand the gospel, the New Testament and the whole Bible. We need knowledge – that is what the Word Online project is all about: sharing knowledge in an easily accessible way. Then we need the skills of being able to help one another in our Christian faith; to instruct and to teach one another, through example, through encouragement, through formal teaching - older people teaching younger people and teaching children, teaching new converts, older women teaching younger women, older men teaching younger men. We need all those teaching abilities to be functioning in a healthy church. Paul’s goal is that in any local church there will be strong character development, increase of knowledge and skills to develop the church.

He notes, in verse 15, that although there are many good things in the church in Rome, he wrote to emphasize certain points. We have just been through some of the things that he felt he needed to emphasize in that particular church. It is an interesting that every church needs certain things taught specifically to strengthen that church community? In other words every church has weaknesses, or things people don’t understand, or are not well explained, or where we are doing things not according to the Bible, or we understand doctrine incorrectly. Paul is quite clear that his role is to fill the gaps and to create a balance of teaching and to address problem areas such as the one that we have been looking at in the last few episodes where there were cultural divisions about behaviour to do with food, Sabbath observance and drinking alcohol. If you are a leader or a pastor, this is a useful verse for you. It is good to teach many topics in a local church. It is not a good thing just to teach your favourite topics or things that you feel people want to hear. One of the best ways of doing that is to teach through a whole book of the Bible because this creates an exposure of the church to many truths that come from the text that they wouldn’t easily see unless we go through it step by step.

Paul’s Mission

Paul had a particular call to the Gentiles which we have mentioned many times and is highlighted again in verse 16. He mentions his missionary strategy to go all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum. Illyricum is the name of a Roman province in central southern Europe, approximately where the modern countries of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia are today - what we call the Balkans. His plan is to go from Jerusalem which is in the eastern Mediterranean all the way through to Illyricum which is fairly close to Italy, where he is going to now in Rome. This area represents the Eastern Mediterranean on the northern shore, and Paul felt that he was called to go to this area. This was his primary target area and amazingly he has been to all those places. When we read the book of Acts we see a reference to many of these places in that geographical area. Paul’s strategy appears to be to go to a major city in every province, try and set up a church there and then teach the church to expand its vision and mission into the surrounding area, so that the regional church creates other churches in those communities. We know that he went to Syrian Antioch, to Derbe, to Lystra, to Iconium, to Pisidian Antioch, to Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens and Corinth. These are the cities that are represented in the book of Acts on this amazing journey of mission. There were other places as well no doubt that are not mentioned in the book of Acts. It is a remarkable, adventurous strategy that Paul has.

He says there is nowhere else for him to go. In other words, he has been into every one of those provinces and created a foothold for the gospel in that place and encouraged them to spread the word around. Paul was called by God to an incredible role. He was empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the most remarkable things.

He summarizes it in Romans 15: 18 and 19.

“I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I’ve said and done - by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:18-19, NIV

He mentions here three dimensions of his ministry: what he has said - preaching and teaching; what he has done - the example of his life and also works of charity that he has done, for example creating and gathering collections for the poor, taking it from one church to another; and also by signs and miracles. We see examples of this all the way through the book of Acts. In Lystra a man who was lame was healed causing a sensation in Acts 14. A young boy called Euthychus in Troas, who fell from a window high up in a building in his sleep, fell to the ground outside and appeared to be dead, and he was raised up from the dead as Paul prayed for him. We see in Ephesus, in Acts 19, Paul laying hands on some early Christians and miraculously they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Through the laying on of hands, he could impart spiritual gifts; he could impart healing. The signs were a very important part of his ministry and he considered them a sign that he was an apostle. Apostles performed miracles in the New Testament. That was true of the Twelve but it was also true of Paul and he knew that sometimes those miracles opened up opportunities for many people to believe.

Paul is telling something of his own story and explaining how God has miraculously used him. It is an astonishing story when you consider the starting point was total opposition to the gospel, persecution and that incredible Damascus road experience, I have referred to that several times in this collection on the book of Romans but in our collection on the book of Acts “The Spreading Flame”, we find the story of the Damascus road conversion is told no less than three times by Luke in the text. Such an important moment, such a remarkable calling and such incredible results. Paul had planted churches in many different countries by the time he was writing this letter and the extraordinary thing about it is that, as we will see in a moment, he is not finished yet. He has got another plan, an extraordinarily adventurous plan to go to yet another country.

Paul’s Plan to Get to Rome

“But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I’ve been longing for many years to visit you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I’ve enjoyed your company for a while. Now, however, I’m on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. So after I’ve completed this task and have made sure that they’ve received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ. I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favourably received by the Lord’s people there, so that I may come to you with joy by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”

Romans 15:23-33, NIV

He tells us what he is doing now, what he is going to do when he comes to Rome and what he plans to do next. Paul is probably writing this letter from Greece, probably in or near the city of Corinth, where he had planted a church and where there were churches in neighbouring towns. His hope is to get to Rome in Italy but first he needs to go in the opposite direction; rather than coming west to Italy and Rome he needs to go east and south to get back to Jerusalem and Judea - the heartland of the Jewish people. Why is that? Paul says here that he is taking a collection of money from churches in Greece - Achaia and Macedonia are two parts of the country of Greece where churches have been planted. He has been collecting money and using teams of people to gather money together because there is news that the believers in Jerusalem and Judea have suffered extreme economic hardship, maybe because of a famine, maybe because of persecution. We don’t know the exact reasons. What we do know is that the Roman authorities imported a lot of grain from parts of the Empire, notably Egypt, and they made sure it came to the centre of the Empire and they didn’t make any priority for countries like Judea on the periphery. So food shortages were a real risk. We read in the book of Acts that Paul is going to take this collection with a group of men who would act as security guards on the ships and the journey. He would take this money to Jerusalem and then come to Rome.

He asks the Roman church to pray for him so that he could get to them safely and to pray that he would be protected from the unbelievers in Judea. He really needed those prayers because if you read the book of Acts, you find that as soon as he gets to Jerusalem there is an attempt to murder him in the Temple compound. Then he is taken into custody by the Roman soldiers to prevent him being murdered. Then there is an assassination attempt on his life as he travels from Jerusalem to the Roman city of Caesarea, where he is in prison for two years before being released for a journey by sea to Rome, where he is nearly shipwrecked. He says here before all this happens, ‘Please pray for me’. Somebody in Rome must have been praying for him because he went through the most terrible dangers during that period. He could have lost his life for any number of reasons along the way.

Eventually, he got to Rome, and we see this story beautifully told at the end of Acts, in chapter 28. As he is traveling along the main road up Italy from the south to the north, people in Rome hear that he is coming and they send out groups of believers to meet him on the way. There is so much anticipation of meeting him when you look at the book of Acts and you think that they have read the letter of Romans; they have seen all the things he said, and then several years later – probably three years later, maybe more - finally he arrives. They don’t know what has happened in the intervening period but he has been through a terrible time to get there. He is welcomed into the city of Rome.

Paul’s Future Plan

But he still has a future purpose. When he gets to Rome, he tells them he was going to stay with them for a little while, and as he said in chapter 1 he wanted to impart some spiritual gifts to them. He says here he wants to have fellowship and encouragement together. But his plan amazingly enough is to travel to Spain. This is a huge journey to another country, to go to the Western Mediterranean, far away from his original homeland in Tarsus, in the province of Silicia, in Southern Turkey and from his own original country, the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem, He is going a huge distance but he is compelled by this sense of mission. He has been all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum; he wants to get to Rome, and then he wants to plant churches in Spain. This is incredibly ambitious. If he went over land from Rome to Spain he would be going approximately 1500 kilometres, and if he went by sea it would be maybe 800 kilometres - a big sea journey and a huge land journey just to get to Spain.

When he gets to Spain there is another problem that Paul would face - his own primary language of mission, Greek, was not spoken by many people in Spain. It was well spoken in Italy and in Illyricum, in Greece, Macedonia, Achaia, and all the provinces of Turkey so he was able to communicate in Greek, the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean. But when he went to the Western Mediterranean, he wouldn’t be able to communicate so easily; they wouldn’t speak Hebrew and Aramaic, the Jewish languages, and very few would speak Greek. So I think that when he went to Rome he would also be wanting to take a translator with him. He wanted to take a team with him, and he also wanted the Roman church to give him some finance so that he could go to Spain and make a start on a mission there.

This is an extraordinary adventure. Paul took extraordinary risks. Even when he was heading to Jerusalem on the trip that we have just mentioned, people warned him not to go because it was too dangerous and he had so many enemies in the city. But he was determined and he took the risk. Here he is taking another risk - travelling further from home than he had ever been in his whole life. But that was his plan. We don’t know whether Paul ever got to Spain. The book of Acts does not go to that point in the history of Paul’s life; it ends before these events. It ends with him just arriving in Rome, so we don’t know whether he actually got to Spain. But his ambition is remarkable.

An Inspiration for Us

This is an incredible episode; it’s Inspiring. How can we connect with it, how can this be helpful to you and me? We are not apostles like Paul, but we are part of that same mission. Every single believer is part of that mission and Paul was trying to capture the imagination of the Roman church into his missionary strategy.

Paul used local churches as a resource for sending out into new areas and that principle still applies today even in places where Christianity is well established; there is still need for new churches. One of the best things that churches can do is consider themselves a resource for mission: to give money, to pray, to send missionaries to support apostolic teams like Paul going out and planting churches in new places.

Reflections

Let us make some final reflections as we come to the end of this exciting and amazing episode.

First of all, let us go back to us as individuals. This started with Paul focusing on the church as a community and the individuals within it. He commended them for their character, skills and knowledge. I wonder which one of those three you want to develop in your own life. Are there issues in your character that are troubling you and causing you to fail as a Christian, or stumble? Do you lack knowledge of the Bible? Do you lack the ability to share your faith and to encourage and build up others? Which of those three things is most important for you? Maybe you could identify one, talk to your leaders about it, and find ways where you can develop in the area that you most need to develop.

My second reflection is concerning prayer. Prayer is a very important theme here. In the mission of the church, we must not underestimate the fact that the many people pray very often for the few people who are on the front line; and that is exactly the pattern that we see here. Paul asks a whole church to pray for him and his team as they are undertaking a very hazardous journey from Corinth, all the way through Greece and through Turkey, by sea in part, all the way down to Judea, and then a journey by sea to Rome. And they prayed. So let us pray specifically for the mission that our church is involved with. Who are the people we are supporting? Which are the places that we are burdened for? How can we help the frontline mission of the church? It is a very important question for every church to answer.

If you are a pastor or leader, let me make this final point. Going back to what Paul said in verse 15 “Yet I’ve written quite boldly about some points to remind you of them again”. Can I remind you that Paul would encourage us to follow his practice which is to focus on the things that your church needs to learn to get a fuller and wider understanding of the gospel and of the Bible? Spread your teaching across many themes; and different books; give many different resources to your church in teaching and teach into the areas which you know are weak areas in your church. That is exactly what Paul was doing for Romans. He was trying to make the Roman church stronger by teaching into areas where they were vulnerable. You can use the resource of Word Online, which we are developing as a library, so that you can find reliable interpretation of passages all the way through the New Testament.

Thanks for listening to this episode and do join us again as we go to the last chapter, Romans 16, in our next episode.