The Best Laid Plans

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Don't forget to follow along with the slides - 2010-06-06 HTG Romans 15.23-33 - slides

Introduction

What would you say is the most amazing thing you've ever done?  Maybe you passed that big exam or ran a marathon.  Or, what is your main ambition for the rest of your life?  Maybe it's to get rich or get famous or get married.  Or maybe you want to do charity work or protect the environment.  How will you measure your success?

Context

For the last couple of months we've been getting stuck in to the last five chapters of Romans, in a series we've called Total Revolution: How the gospel transforms everything.  In chapters 1-11 Paul laid out the gospel message.  Here are some key points: God is angry because mankind has refused to acknowledge and obey him as God. No-one can be right with God by obeying God's law because not only do we fail to obey him, we don't even want to obey him. God has mercifully provided a way for us to be right with him by counting our rebellion against Jesus on the cross and crediting Jesus' perfect obedient life to us. Then, starting at chapter 12, Paul lays out how God's mercy changes everything – our thinking, our relationships, our attitude to worldly authorities and more.  Our passage today is Romans 15.23-33, which is on page 803 of the church bibles, so please open those up and follow along.  It's at this point that Paul starts to wrap up his letter.  But even here, there's plenty of evidence for the transforming power of the gospel, particularly in Paul himself.  Keeping the theme of total revolution there are three things to notice in this passage and the first is this:

(1) The gospel transforms our worldly ambitions into godly goals (v23-29)

In v23, Paul says he has been longing for many years to meet the Roman Christians.  In fact back in Ch1 he writes that he longs to see the Romans and that he has planned many times to come to them.  So this is a genuine longing, and it's hardly a surprise that the Apostle to the Gentiles, or non-Jews, would want to bring the gospel to the capital city of the Gentile world.  But the Roman Christians reading ch1 could have been forgiven for wondering why he hasn't fitted them into his diary yet.  And the answer finally comes in Ch15 v20.  His longing to visit them is trumped by his ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known.  That's what Paul's been doing all over modern-day Greece and Turkey to this point.  But now Paul announces in v24 that he's finally coming to Rome.

But why now?  There's obviously still a church in Rome, so what's changed from v20?  Well, did you notice that casual phrase in v23?  Now… there is no more place for me to work in these regions.  This is a remarkable comment.  Paul is saying that his work in the huge arc from Jerusalem round into Greece is finished.  That doesn't mean that everyone has turned to follow Christ.  It doesn't even mean that everyone has heard the gospel.  What it does mean is that to keep working in those areas would be to build on existing foundations instead of laying new foundations somewhere else.  He's saying that the fledgling church in that region will hold firm under God's sovereignty, and the gospel will keep on bearing fruit as young Christians quietly get on with telling others about Jesus and spurring one another on in godliness.  What great confidence Paul has in the gospel to save and transform people!  And what an encouragement that is to us now, as we tell others about Jesus and spur one another on in godliness.  And by the way, Paul isn't retiring to a life of touring established churches.  No, Rome is a convenient pit stop on the way to Spain, the gospel's new frontier.

So Paul's pioneering gospel work in the eastern Mediterranean is done and he's finally coming to Rome… but not directly.  He has an errand to run first – an errand that takes him a little out of his way.

Perhaps like me Mediterranean geography isn't your forte, so let's look at a map.  Paul is almost certainly writing from Corinth, in Greece, which isn't a huge distance from Rome, except that Paul has decided to stop off in Jerusalem – a long way in the wrong direction.  Travelling by sea, which was the fastest way, that's about 800 miles from Corinth to Jerusalem, 1500 miles from Jerusalem to Rome, and then at least 700 miles from Rome to Spain.  All told, that's a journey of at least 3000 miles… which is roughly the distance from Gateshead to New York.  And not only is this a long journey, but Paul faces opposition to the gospel, realistic risk of shipwreck and danger of attack by thieves.

So making this journey in person obviously meant a great deal to him.  It was worth a long, dangerous journey and the postponement of his visit to Rome and his quest for Spain.

So what's this Jerusalem errand all about?

v25: I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the [Christians] there. V26: For [the Gentile churches in] Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a [financial] contribution for the poor among the [Christians] in Jerusalem.    The Greek churches were pleased to give, although we read elsewhere that Paul has been working hard in churches across the region to urge them to give.  But why has Paul the missionary been doing that?

Well, you might have picked up from chapters 14 and 15 that there are problems between Jewish and Gentile Christians.  If you've been coming to the evening services or downloading the sermons, you'll know that the spread of the gospel to Gentiles, those outside God's chosen people, raised objections from some early Jewish Christians.  Many who were scattered out from Jerusalem by early persecution told the gospel only to other Jews.  But they needed to learn that salvation was always to go out to the Gentiles too, as Paul argues using Old Testament passages earlier in ch15.

In V27 Paul reminds the Romans, who were mostly Gentiles, of a topic from Ch11, which is that non-Jews had no right to expect anything from God because he had not chosen them as his people.  Rather, the Gentiles, including us here today, are the new-comers in God's salvation plan and we need to remember the privilege of being included.

So Paul is on a mission of church unity.  We read more about this in Paul's earlier letter of 2 Corinthians.  Writing to them about their part in the collection, Paul says: 12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.  13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.  14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.

Paul wants the Gentile Christians to acknowledge the privilege of inclusion in God's salvation and he wants the Jewish Christians to be so overwhelmed by the generosity of their Gentile brothers that they say, "Praise God – only he could bring about a transformation in these people to make them live like this!"

It's worth pausing at this point to remember who this guy Paul is.  We first read of him as a Pharisee in Jerusalem who oversees the stoning to death of a Christian called Stephen.  Then we find him travelling to Damascus in search of more Christians to have arrested and executed.  But before he can get there the Lord stops him and takes control of his life.  The Lord says this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles. And now, Paul is finishing a huge church planting mission in Greece and Turkey, he's heading for Jerusalem on a mission of church unity and then he's headed for Spain to tell people there about the risen Jesus. Paul is the demonstration of the transforming power of the gospel.  The same gospel that saves and transforms us today turned Paul's whole life upside down.

The gospel transforms our worldly ambitions into godly goals.

Inspiring stuff – and pretty intimidating, especially when we measure our own ambitions against Paul's.  Thankfully, that's not what we're supposed to do and that brings us to the next point.

(2) The gospel transforms incompatible individuals into partners (v26-33)

Have you ever received a phone call from someone who wanted you to do something for them?  You know the sort.  It's a call slightly out of the blue.  It starts off quite chatty – How are you?  Isn't the weather bad?  How's the family?  – and then at some point there's a short pause followed by the phrase, 'Anyway, I was just ringing to ask you something'.  Now we're getting to it.  What's it going to be?  Baby-sitting?  A lift to the airport?  By the way, if you've ever asked me for a favour, I promise I didn't just roll my eyes on the other end of the line.  I just think it's funny how British we can be sometimes.

It's a little bit like that with Paul and the Romans.  He wants something from them, but he doesn't stall with idle chit-chat.  He works through fifteen chapters of rich teaching before they find out his practical reason for writing.  It's there in v24.  I plan to [see you at long last] when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there. In other words 'I'm coming to stay with you and I want your help for Operation Spain.'

That's what Paul means when he says 'I hope … to have you assist me on my journey there.'  This phrase pops up elsewhere in the New Testament and means that Paul is expecting the Romans to do whatever they can to help him on his way.  That includes money and provisions, help with travel – maybe even sending someone with him.  It also crucially includes prayer and encouragement, which Paul expands on in v30.

He urges them, v30, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.  Notice that Paul doesn't invite them to pray for him, or gently ask if they would like to subscribe to his monthly prayer letter.  No, he urges them, even charges them by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit,[…] join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.  Literally, 'strive together with me in your prayers'.  Strive together with me in your prayers.  In other words, praying itself is the struggle.  And we know that from experience, don't we?  We know that prayer is talking directly to the God of the universe, and we know that we're only on speaking terms with God because he sent his own son to suffer his judgment against our rebellion, but we still struggle to pray.  And surely that's because prayer is our expression of total reliance on God and it's where we find out how close our will is to God's will.  It goes right back to the start of our series in ch12 v2.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is— his good, pleasing and perfect will.

When God aligns our imperfect wills to his perfect will, we get turned around, moulded and pruned, and it's uncomfortable!  The renewing of our minds is the gospel equivalent of life-saving brain surgery.  And until we die or Jesus returns, this process is ongoing.  A slowly dying part of us still wants to run away from God and rely on ourselves.

And we can't afford to rely on ourselves.  Paul knows he needs God's protection on his travels.   V31 He needs protection too from the unbelievers in Judea, the Jews who think, as Paul once did, that the gospel is an outrage against the Jewish faith, rather than its fulfilment.  He needs God's Spirit to work in the Christians there to help them put the gospel message ahead of sectarian divisions.  Paul has no room for self-reliance.  That's why this partnership of giving and praying is so vital.

And notice what this means for the Romans.  Their spiritual act of worship will now reach as far as Spain in the West and Jerusalem in the East – not by going there; but by encouraging and giving and praying.

What goes through your mind when you hear 'giving and praying'?  Maybe you're not yet a follower of Jesus and you think that giving money and praying are things you'll just have to do if you become a Christian.  Maybe you are a Christian and the thought of prayer and giving gets you down because you don't feel you do enough of either.  But let's catch the sense of excitement and opportunity here.  Paul isn't asking them for a favour.  If anything it's the other way around.  He's saying, in the same way God has given me this eternally significant role for my life, I'm sharing it with you. He's saying, be my partners in this royal service that will change the world forever!

So let's be excited about giving and praying!  When we share matters for prayer at home groups or over coffee after the service – let's relish the struggle to express our reliance on our heavenly Father together.  Let's relish the chance to give to and pray for gospel work at home and abroad.  This is royal service that will change the world forever.

And look at how Paul finishes in v33.  It's a demonstration of gospel partnership.  This time he prays for the Romans.  He prays Shalom – peace.  The God of peace be with youthe Jewish blessing but prayed over this Gentile church.

The gospel transforms incompatible individuals into partners.

So I guess there are three questions left hanging over this passage and they make up the last point:

(3) The gospel transforms how we measure success (Acts)

Question 1: What happened when Paul got to Jerusalem?

Well, Acts 21 tells us that Paul was received warmly by the brothers in Jerusalem and they praised God at the news that the Gentiles were turning to Jesus through Paul's ministry.  Operation Church Unity had been accomplished – praise God!

Question 2: Did Paul get to visit the Romans and have them send him to Spain?

Let me read from Acts 21 v27

… some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple [in Jerusalem]. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place.30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. [Here comes the answer to the Romans' prayers for Paul's safety] 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. [By the way, remember ch13: There is no authority except that which God has established… he is God's servant to do good…]32[The occupying Roman commander] at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

Reading on through Acts there's a chain of events over the following three years that sees Paul passed around various prisons and before ever higher ranks of Roman rulers before being taken, still under arrest, to… Rome.  These are the last words of Acts: "For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.  Boldly and without hindrance, he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ."

The Bible and other sources don't conclusively tell us whether Paul ever reached Spain and it's not what matters.  What matters is that Paul continued to faithfully serve God in every circumstance.  That is success.

And what about us? Question 3: what are we to take from this?

I said earlier that copying Paul isn't the point of this passage – Paul often urges his readers to imitate him, but not here.  So we're not to apply this passage by upping sticks and heading off on pioneering gospel mission.  Ch12 describes the church as a body made up of many different parts, each part with a different role to play.

In fact, we're a lot more like the Romans.  We still have the chance to support those who are still taking the gospel where it isn't known, by prayer and by giving.  We need to know who they are, among us and in the worldwide church.  We can't all go abroad or translate the bible into new languages or talk about Jesus in school assemblies, but we can all be involved.  We can all pray and we can all give even a little.

And our prayer and giving need to be motivated by an understanding that the gospel is for all people in all places – to the ends of the earth.  God's good, pleasing and perfect will is that people everywhere hear the good news and repent.  The same gospel transforms our ambitions into goals that reflect God's will.  The same gospel draws us to strive together as royal servants in God-given partnership.  And the same gospel completely changes how we measure success in our lives as we go about serving God in whatever circumstances he puts us in.

Let's pray.

Prayer

Father, thank you that the good news of salvation through Jesus is for all people, whether Jew or Gentile, in Greece or in Gateshead.  Help us to commit ourselves with joy to the part we can play in inviting others to accept your offer of new life.  Go with us as we do that in Gateshead and strengthen our commitment to pray for and to give to our partners across the world who are taking the good news to places where Christ is not known.  For your glory, amen.

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