(3) It’s all about faith in Christ Jesus – Romans 1:8-17

8 Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world. 9 God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son.

 10 One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. 11 For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. 12 When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.

 13 I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. 14 For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike. 15 So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News.

 16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Paul knew how the Christians were being persecuted under Emperor Nero.  Yet, even through it, their faith in Christ never faltered.  Their courage was talked about, and their stories were told around the known world.  One of Nero’s favorite forms of torture was to impale a person in such a way that they wouldn’t die immediately, then after placing the pole in the ground so that the person is hanging upright, they would be covered in tar and lit on fire.  The person would slowly burn to death while at the same time, lighting a pathway so that friends of Nero could find their way to his palace at night.

Prayer was a huge part of Paul’s life.  He talked to God constantly, and prayed about everything.  Paul had a relationship with God.  He loved God with all his heart.  In his letters, he talks about how he trusts God completely, and how he listens for God’s response.  Can we have this kind of relationship with God?  Of course we can.  This same God that Paul loved is the same God that Moses loved.  In Exodus 33:17, The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and you are my friend.”  This is the same God that knows us today, and wants us to know Him.  How do we get to know Him?  Through His Word, and through prayer. 

Paul’s heart went out to the people in Rome, and so he prayed.  Did he think that God didn’t know what was going on there, and he felt he had to bring it to God’s attention?  No.  Later, Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians, “Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything.”  Think of it this way; if God already knows what you are going to ask before you even ask it, it stands to reason that your words and your petition are not as important as your faith in knowing that God is sovereign in all things.  In other words, prayer is an act of faith.  It is our outward expression of love and trust in our Heavenly Father.  It is the key to our relationship with Him. 

It is often said that prayer is our way of aligning our will with the will of God.  Too often, we think of God as a genie-in-a-bottle.  He never even crosses our mind until we need Him.  Then, in our time of need, we summon Him and ask Him to grant our wish.  We try to get God to change His direction and come into alignment with ours.  But faith is a journey, not a destination.  And, every journey takes thousands of steps.  The way that we grow in faith is by praying at every step, and not waiting until we are standing at the edge of a cliff, not knowing how we got there.  When we pray at every step, our will begins to come into alignment with God’s will for us, and even if we find ourselves standing at the edge of a cliff, we will know exactly how we got there, and we will know which way to turn.

His Heavenly Father was the first thought in Paul’s mind.  No matter what the situation was, Paul always turned to God first.  And, in faith, Paul was content in waiting on God’s perfect timing.  Paul knew that when the time was right, God would make the way for him to visit Rome.  We need to do the same. 

Paul was the Christian Missionary that set the mark for the future of mission work in the field.  Paul loved to meet face-to-face.  And, because of his education and thorough understanding of sacred scripture, Paul was able to speak to, and encourage, all people.  He longed to be with the Christians in Rome, and did eventually arrive two years later – as a prisoner in chains, through a shipwreck, after spending the winter on the island of Malta, and all the while knowing that he would stand trial in front of the Emperor Nero himself.  I’m sure that this was not exactly what Paul had in mind when he prayed that he could someday visit Rome, but God proved again that His plan and timing are perfect.  Although incarcerated, Paul was moved to a house where he was allowed to have regular visitors, and he was allowed to preach the Good News about Jesus Christ.  (see Acts 28:17-31)  Paul wrote “the prison letters” to the Ephesians, the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Philippians all during his incarceration.

Getting back to our study, Paul said in verse 11 that he would bring “some” spiritual gift that will help them grow strong in the Lord.  Paul didn’t know what gift the Spirit was going to lay on them, but he did know that a gift (or gifts) would be given, and that it would be exactly what they needed.

Paul often spoke about spiritual gifts.  In his first letter to the Church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:4-11), Paul cleared up some misunderstanding about these gifts.  The bottom line is that when we come to faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells us, and it is the Holy Spirit that chooses the perfect gift to work through us as a means of helping the entire church. 

Paul rebuked the Corinthians for misunderstanding the purpose of these gifts.  Some in the church were saying that their gift (healing the sick, performing miracles, etc.) was more important than that of another’s (special faith, special knowledge, speaking in tongues).  And since it was more important, they must be better Christians.  Paul knew this wasn’t true.

I believe that the misunderstanding starts with the term “gift”.  When we think of a gift, we think of some item of value that was given to us to use as we please.  We didn’t pay for it, but when it was given to us, the ownership was transferred to us forever.  Anyone that has kids has heard them say “mine” from an early age.  The concept of ownership doesn’t need to be learned, it’s just understood. 

When we think of spiritual gifts, we think of a special skill that the Holy Spirit endows us with so that we can go out into the world and use this skill to the Glory of God.  But, it doesn’t work exactly that way.  A spiritual gift is the power of the Holy Spirit working through us.  It is not us doing anything, it is all Him.  We are just the instrument that He chooses at exactly the right time to do exactly the right thing that is exactly what a group of believers needs at exactly that moment in time.  A spiritual gift will always be used for the good of the church.  The “church” being the group of believers in Jesus Christ.

It appears that Paul wanted to make sure that the Church in Rome understood that it was not enough to simply say that you are a Christian – you need to show that you are a Christian.  In first century Rome, they wanted to live as Christians, but were afraid of what others might say.  Things were a little different for them – if they were found out, they would be killed.  But what are we afraid of?  What’s the worst that could happen to us?  Someone might put us on the spot and ask us about our faith.  We might even have to put into words why we call ourselves Christians.  We might find out that we don’t know why we call ourselves Christians.  We might find out that our faith is dead and useless.

Paul knew what the Roman Christians were risking, but still asked them to be bold in their faith.  He is asking us to do the same.  Not all of us are cut out to be evangelists.  I’ll admit that it is still hard for me to talk about my faith.  But, you know, it’s not always about preaching Jesus Christ to strangers. 

Paul explains over and over in his letters to simply live with Christ in our hearts and let our actions do the talking. 

So how do we demonstrate our faith?  Most of the time, all we can ever hope for is to make a positive impression on someone, a momentary act of kindness that gives them hope in a situation that seemed hopeless to them.  A kind word or a simple unselfish act could change the course of a person’s life.  That’s spiritual fruit.  The Holy Spirit will take it from there.

So, how do we show our faith?  Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.  Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.  For apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NLT)   “My true disciples produce much fruit.  This brings great glory to My Father.” (John 15:8 NLT)  “You didn’t choose Me.  I chose you.  I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using My name.”  (John 15:16 NLT)  Paul mentioned this same spiritual fruit in verse 13.  So what is this spiritual fruit? 

In biblical terms, fruit metaphorically speaks of something good that is produced by an action.  It was easy for people to understand the life cycle of a plant, and parallel it with their own life.  As a plant starts with a seed, we start as a baby.  The seed and the baby are both helpless and need nurturing.  Soon enough, with proper care, they become stronger.  As the plant continues to grow, it becomes independent, and eventually produces fruit.  The people understood that it wasn’t easy for a plant to grow and produce fruit, but it was the natural course of events – it was the reason that the plant lived.

James wrote in his letter, “Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions?  That kind of faith can’t save anyone.  Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food and clothing, and you say, ‘Well, goodbye and God bless you – stay warm and eat well’.  But then you don’t give that person any food or clothing.  What good does that do?  So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith.  Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all – it is dead and useless.”  (James 2:14-17 NLT) 

It is absolutely no wonder why God chose Paul to be an Apostle.  Paul was born to teach, and God had it planned from the beginning.  God used every part of Paul’s life, up to and including the persecution of Christians to preach the Good News.  Would it have been better if Paul would have come to faith at Pentecost with the 3000 other Jews?  Sure!  The sooner we come to faith in Christ the better it is for all of us.  But the Father, who knows the beginning as well as the end, will use every part of us for His glory. 

Paul knew that God had groomed him for this work, and Paul felt an obligation to use what God had given him to spread the word to all people.  Paul preached boldly.  He was not ashamed to say that he was once a Jewish Pharisee that is now a Christian.  He was not ashamed to say that he once thought that he was without sin by keeping the Jewish law, but now realizes that he is a sinner in need of a savior. 

In verse 16, referring to the Good News about Christ that saves everyone who believes, Paul said, “…the Jew first, and also the Gentile.”  Paul had a keen awareness of the lostness of the Jews – after all, he was one of the most devout Jews of his time.  The Jews always were, and always will be God’s chosen people.  It broke his heart to think that there were so many Jews that refused to see Jesus as the fulfillment of all of the prophecy that they had learned from childhood.  Everything that Jesus did, He did for the Jews.  Through God’s amazing grace, the door was opened for anyone who believes, but Paul’s message throughout his letters was that the world was saved through the Jewish Messiah.  It had to be as much of a frustration as a blessing to see the Gentiles come to faith in Christ, while the Jews wouldn’t.

Paul concludes verse 17 by laying the theme of his entire letter to the Church in Rome:  It’s all about faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul quotes the Prophet Habakkuk,  “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” (Habakkuk 2:4)

Study Questions:

Where is your faith?  Paul speaks a great deal about faith in his letters.  Faith is the key.  But, faith can have so many meanings.  There is faith that is absolute trust.  There is faith that would mean a confident hope that what was promised will be delivered.  There is blind faith, that has no backbone, that without some outward signs (fruit) is dead and useless.  For faith to have any power, it must first be placed in someone or something that has power.  Paul’s faith is in the promises of God.  So, where is your faith?  Is it in your own abilities?  It is in another person?  Is it in our government?  Do any of these carry the same power as God?

What is your gift?  Everyone has a God-given ability.  Some are teachers, some are thinkers, some are speakers, some are listeners, some are givers, some are lovers.  We all have something that we are naturally good at.  God has planted that ability in our DNA.  As believers, we are given gifts that will build up those around us.  Gifts that will bring glory to God.  The Holy Spirit gives and takes these gifts according to His purpose.  To the non-believers, I challenge you to think about the abilities that God has given you.  What are you good at?  What has God created you to do in this life?