Romans Series 2
11 - Universal Responsibility
Romans 15 verse 8 informs us that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs. As the Messiah Himself declared in Matthew 15:24, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Initially, special priority was given to the Jews, but the salvation programme would be rolled out to all men. Paul quotes several Old Testament proof texts to show the universal outreach of the gospel to the Gentiles (the outsiders) through the Jews (the insiders).
The Message, in a very imaginative way, shows how several scriptures will come true, if we do welcome one another as brothers in Christ.
For instance: ‘Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn – sing; I’ll sing to your name!’ And this one: ‘Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!’ And again: ‘People of all nations, celebrate God! All colours and races, give hearty praise!” ... verse 13 is paraphrased this way: “Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!” What a marvellous name for God – the God of hope. There are no hopeless situations: only people who have grown hopeless about them.
There was a Cabinet meeting in the darkest days of World War 2. France had capitulated. Churchill outlined the situation vividly. Britain stood alone. There was complete silence. On some faces despair was written; some would have given up the struggle. It was a dispirited company. Churchill spoke, “Gentlemen, I find it rather inspiring.”
There is something wonderful in Christian hope – the conviction that God is alive. God is both the object of our hope and the author of it.
Here Paul closes his tender appeal and counsel about their unhappy divisions. With the utmost tact and candour, he has given them his own mind ‘in the Lord’ on the matter in dispute.
If you’re following this study of Romans chapter 15 in the Authorised Version you may notice how God is a God of the now. Verse 5 says, “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus.” Verse 13 says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” And verse 33 says; “Now the God of peace be with you all.”
I wonder what God is doing now in your life.
Let’s step back for a moment and recap. Romans chapter 12 dealt with individual responsibility – consideration for one another. Chapter 13 was about social responsibility – the Christian and politics. Chapter 14 covered fraternal responsibility – the Christian and doubtful things. Our duty towards those who disagree is to manifest an attitude of magnanimity, loving large heartedness. Many things are neutral and it is not our role in life to deliberately give offence. Chapter 15 from verse 14 speaks of a believer’s universal responsibility which is to get the message out.
For Paul, a true trailblazer, the object of his evangelistic purpose was always the regions beyond. He never thought of himself as a man who had aspired to an honour (the apostle, Paul); but a man who had been given a task and entrusted with the gospel of God. All pioneer work.
He has warm and gracious words to say about the spiritual state of the Roman believers. He commends them. So many imagine Paul as a critic rather than a great heart eager to praise where he can. Do you remember Jesus’ comment about His imperfect and disappointing followers? He said, “They have kept your word.”
Verse 14 reads, “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.” The passage continues using Handley Moule’s translation, “But with a certain boldness I have written to you, here and there, just as reminding you; because of the grace given me by our God, my being Christ Jesus’ minister to the Nations, doing priest-work with the Gospel of God, that the offering of the Nations, may be acceptable, consecrated in the Holy Spirit.”
Paul’s God-given highly focused assignment was to reach non–Jewish outsiders for Christ. He is amazed at the way God has used him ‘by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit’, to preach the full gospel of Christ all the way from Jerusalem right across to Illyricum which is the east coast of the Adriatic, present day Albania. He’d probably been 16 years on the mission field at this time.
When David Livingstone volunteered to be a missionary with the London Missionary Society, they asked where he’d like to go. “Anywhere”, he replied, “so long as it’s forward.” That could have been Paul’s slogan. “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” (verse20).
Paul would not take the praise of another man’s work, but to reach the unreached was his goal as an instrument in the hands of God. His achievement is staggering – over seas, across countries, even continents bringing the gospel from Asia to Europe. He broke up the fallow ground. Nothing had reigned where Paul ventured except idolatry and witchcraft for ages.
Verses 22 - 24 in “The Message” read, “And that’s why it has taken me so long to finally get around to coming to you. But now that there is no more pioneering work to be done in these parts, and since I have looked forward to seeing you for many years, I’m planning my visit. I’m headed for Spain, and expect to stop off on the way to enjoy a good visit with you, and eventually have you send me off with God’s blessing.”
Paul’s desire was to see the brethren, not to see Rome. He desired their company and conversation. Verse 25 is the journey covered in Acts 20 and 21. Paul was ever on the lookout for spreading the good news.
In verse 24 we learn that Paul’s plan was to visit Rome on his way to Spain. Spain was the limit of the civilized world and was experiencing a blaze of genius. Many of the greatest men in the empire were Spaniards – Lucan, the epic poet, Martial, the master of the epigram; Quintilian, the teacher of oratory and Seneca, the Stoic philosopher and prime minister of Nero.
Paul saw the whole west lying in front of him, virgin territory to be won for Christ. Rome would be his base of operations. Some think he wrote “Romans” to set out for the church at Rome an account of the very essence of his belief – the gospel according to Saint Paul. The law laid down what a man must do; the gospel laid down what God has done.
When Paul wrote “Romans” he was actually on his way to Jerusalem with a monetary gift, a relief offering, for the poor saints in the mother church. Paul had organised a collection throughout the younger churches. The saints in Macedonia and Achaia had responded well. As Paul frankly stated in verse 27, “If the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.”
There was a time when the saints at Jerusalem were on the giving end, when they laid their estates at the apostles’ feet and took special care that the Grecian widows should not be neglected in the daily distribution. Now the Greeks are kind to them. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Paul’s intention was that as soon as he’d personally handed over the offering, he’d head for Spain, with a stopover in Rome. He says, “I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ” (verse 29). He is adamant that they should be his prayer partners. Paul never became so full of God that he felt he did not need the prayers of the saints. In fact Paul was a giant on his feet because he was a colossus on his knees. His prayers were contagious. He ignited others with their sacred fire.
As it says in the Living Bible, verse 31: “Pray that I will be protected in Jerusalem from those who are not Christians. Pray also that the Christians there will be willing to accept the money I am bringing them.” Paul had received warnings about what might happen to him in Jerusalem, the city of the Sanhedrin and he was keen for God’s protection. Then, by God’s will, he’d come to them with joy and be refreshed by their company.
Paul’s personal misgivings were by no means misplaced for when he reached Jerusalem he was promptly arrested. He spent the next two years under arrest at Caesarea before being transported to Rome as a prisoner.