14 I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. 15 Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God’s grace, 16 I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit. 17 So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God. 18 Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. 19 They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.
20 My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. 21 I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says,
“Those who have never been told about him will see,
and those who have never heard of him will understand.”
and those who have never heard of him will understand.”
22 In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places.
23 But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. 24 I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.
25 But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there. 26 For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. 27 They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially. 28 As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain. 29 And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together.30 Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit. 31 Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the donation I am taking to Jerusalem. 32 Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.
33 And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all. Amen.
Paul's mission was to advance the Kingdom of Christ. He was a teacher, a motivator, and often times, a diplomat. He knew that the believers in Rome needed to hear what he had to say. And, some of those things might be hard for some of the believers to hear.
Just as in the Church today, there were believers of different levels of maturity in the first century Roman Church. And, again just like today, there were those that had their own interpretation of the freedom that comes with being a believer in Christ.
Paul chose his words carefully. He just presented, what would become the greatest theological argument for the lostness of humanity, and our inherent need for a savior. He explained what it meant to be saved, and what it meant to now live for Christ. He didn't leave a whole lot of gray area. Every single believer that would ever read this letter would know exactly where they stood on the big moral scale when compared to Christ. We are sinners.
You can almost feel the conviction in Paul's voice when he began verse 14 by saying that, "I am convinced... that you are full of goodness.", and we should also allow this conviction to sweep over us. Paul wasn't trying to be politically correct and shy away from the truth of his message, he was being direct.
Are we filled with goodness? In our own strength - no way! Yet, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we are filled with His goodness. It is only by His strength that we can be called good. We need to understand this as well as Paul.
The first century Roman believers needed to be reminded of who they are. They were Christians - Followers of Christ - new creations. We are not the same anymore, and we can no longer act like we are. Paul boldly reminds us of what it means to be a Follower of Christ.
Paul summarized his entire letter in verse 16 - he was sent as a special messenger to deliver the Good News of Jesus Christ, so that through our acceptance of this Good News we can stand blameless and acceptable before a holy God, by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Now, the baton is passed to us. This is our Great Commission. We are now the special messengers. Paul dedicated his entire life to sharing this Good News, and now it is our turn.
Throughout Church history, many great men and women have stepped up to the challenge. We know of them because of the great impact they made for Christ in this world. We wish that we could have that type of ministry that changes the course of history. But, we forget that for every Augustine, Wesley, or Graham, there was one person that helped bring them to faith in Christ. Each of us should strive to be that one person.
In a bible study, just last week, we were challenged to step out boldly in our faith and let the Holy Spirit guide our path. We need to realize that it is only through Christ's Spirit that we can do this.
Paul was proud of all that he accomplished for Christ, and used it as a way of motivating others to do the same. But, he was always quick to point out that ALL of the credit goes to Christ. Paul recognized that he was only the instrument used by God, and that it was God that was doing the work through him.
The Church today is His chosen instrument. We individually, are in the exact same shoes as Paul. As believers, we already have the Spirit of Christ in us. We have all that we need to do what He calls us to do.
In Mark 6, Luke 9, and Matthew 10, Jesus sent the disciples out to tell all of Israel that the Kingdom of God was at hand. He instructed them to go into each town and deliver the message. If the town accepted them, they were to be blessed, but if the town rejected them, they were to shake the dust from their sandals as a sign that they had abandoned them to their own fate. The point is that not everyone is going to accept the gift of salvation through Christ. Some will and some won't. Same as with the disciples, we are God's messengers. All we can do is deliver the message. Too often, that fear of failure keeps us from delivering the message.
Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, CA, often tells of times in his youth, before he came to faith in Christ, when he would be hanging out at the beaches in California - looking and acting tough. The Christians would approach him and sheepishly offer him a bible tract. He would scowl at them - maybe even insult them - grab the tract out of their hand and tell them to get lost. But, he would always take the tract home, sit quietly in his bedroom and read it. I'm sure at the time, the Christians thought that they had wasted another tract on a beach bum, but God had different plans.
We come to faith in Christ. We get involved in our local church. We serve in the church as an usher, a greeter, parking lot attendant, a Sunday School teacher, or maybe a member of the Worship team. All of these are great... that is, unless the Holy Spirit is guiding you in a different direction.
The Holy Spirit placed on Paul's heart the ambition to go to places that had never heard of Christ. Has he done the same for you? Is there a spark of an idea, that keeps coming to your mind, that you keep suppressing? I know that I have done it myself. It has been years since I first felt the push to write this blog study. I came up with every excuse that I could think of not to write it. The Holy Spirit patiently guided me through all of my doubts, until I had run out of excuses. Don't ignore His leading. He has a plan and a purpose for every one of us. Your entire purpose in this life might be to talk to the person in the next bedroom down the hall, or across the street, or across the world.
Let Christ's light shine through you. Show genuine love as He did. St. Francis Assisi was quoted saying, "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words." In other words, live out the Good News of Jesus Christ in everything you do. Trust me, people will notice.
Paul finished this section of Scripture by talking of his future travel plans. We know that, through the Book of Acts and his prison letters, his travel plans did not go the way he had hoped. He did eventually make it to Rome, but as a prisoner awaiting trial by the Emperor Nero himself.
Paul set the benchmark for Church leadership, as well as evangelization. He was constantly mindful of all of the different churches in the region. He was not one to sit around and wait for things to get done - he got things done. There was a collection taken in Macedonia for the believers in Jerusalem, and Paul saw a way for himself to deliver it. I'm sure that pointing out the generosity of the Macedonian believers was Paul's way of suggesting that we do the same. We are all in this together - if we have something to give, then we should give to those who need it. It is what Christ would do.
Paul concluded in verses 30-33 with a request for our prayer. We should pray continually for those who are in the field working for Christ. We should pray for their provision, their safety, their strength, and their boldness to stand up for Christ. One day we may be called, and we will need the prayers of others.
Paul's final prayer is that God, who gives us peace, will be with us all, Amen.
Study Questions:
Do you feel convicted?
One of the sure signs of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the conviction that we feel when we are not following God's plan for us. This could come in the form of a conviction felt when we do something wrong, or the conviction felt when we don't do something that we should. Trust the Spirit in His guidance. His plan is perfect. His plan might not be our plan, but we have to trust that He knows our future and we don't. Step out in faith!
Do they know that you are a Christian by your love?
There was a 1970's worship song that I loved to sing called, "They will know we are Christians by our love." Do people around you know that you are a Christian simply by the way you act towards others? Being a Christian isn't something that we do part time. Do people see Christ when they see you? Or, is the impression that you give others the true picture of what our Lord and Savior did for all of mankind? He loved us when we were His enemies. Can you show that kind of love?
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