Lord, I swear there's no pain I know there's no danger In that bright world to which I go Welcome to this podcast from Faith Bible Church in Reno, Nevada. Faith Bible Church is a Christ-centered, Bible-teaching ministry dedicated to bringing the Good News of the Gospel to the whole world. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And now, for this week's message from Pastor Alan Battle. I appeal to you brothers by our Lord Jesus Christ that by the love of the spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. That I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. So that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. This is the word of God. You may be seated. So we're rapidly nearing the end of our series in the book of Romans. Last week we entered into the epilogue where Paul gives us his final defense of his message, the message that he proclaims. He made it clear that this message doesn't come from Paul or any other man. It is God's message. And that message is the gospel, the good news, the good news of salvation for all mankind. He argued that he had both the authority and the God-given commission to take this news to the Gentile world. In our passage today from Romans 15.22 through 33, Paul speaks of his future plans and his personal hopes for his ministry. And just as that message did not belong to Paul, neither did the plans for taking the message belong to him. Everything that Paul did in his ministry in the Gentile world, he did according to God's plan. It was all accomplished by the will of God. From the time that he entered into the ministry, Paul's life was a life of travel. If you have a study Bible, then you probably have a chart in the back somewhere titled Paul's Missionary Journeys or something like that. And although Paul literally went on journeys for God, in a sense, you and I are all on a journey with God. Life is a journey with all of its joys and sorrows. There's a theme in all great literature called the hero's journey. From Homer's Odyssey to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy to George Lucas's Star Wars saga, we see this hero's journey. In Homer's Odyssey, the hero, Ulysses, desires to return home to his wife, Penelope, after fighting in the Trojan War. And on his 10-year journey home, he meets with many detours and trials and challenges. He has to defeat the Cyclops, and he escapes from the Sirens. But he journeys on because he was told by a prophet whom he visited in the underworld that although his journey wouldn't be easy, he would eventually make it back to the arms of his wife. But if Homer is not to your taste, there is a film loosely based on that story. It's one of my top comedy picks called Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? And in the beginning of the film, the hero, Ulysses Everett McGill, he hitches a ride with a guy who turns out to be a prophet. Mind if we join you old-timer? Jive me, my son. Jive me. You work for the railroad, Grandpa? I work for no man. Got a name, do you? I have no name. Well, that right there may be the reason you've had difficulty finding gainful employment. You see, in the mart of competitive commerce... You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains. You will find a fortune. No, it will not be the fortune you seek. But first, first you must travel. a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. You shall see things, wonderful to tell. I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the obstacles in your path, for fear has vouchsafed your reward. Do the road mean while? Yeah, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow them, even unto your salvation. He says they must travel a long and difficult road, fraught with difficulties, fraught with peril. And he tells them the obstacles are gonna be in their paths. And he assures them that even though their hearts may grow weary, that they will finally reach salvation. Now isn't that a great description of the Christian life? Don't we all face obstacles? Don't our hearts all grow weary at times? And aren't we all assured that one day we will reach our destination, an everlasting and perfect home? And how can we be sure of this? Well, because Paul told us back in chapter 8, in verses 28, 29, and 30, and I'll paraphrase, everything is working together for good for those whom God has called. And we have been justified so that by the incontrovertible will of God, we will finally be glorified. In today's passage, Paul has three destinations in mind, Jerusalem, Rome, and Spain. But there are obstacles, obstacles, I love that, in his path. In Jerusalem, his plans will be violently altered. His road to Rome will be long, and the path he takes will not be the one that he anticipated. And his journey to Spain had to be postponed for several years. But in the end, by the will of God, Paul's journey was completed. So let's jump in at verse 22. He says, for this reason, this is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. So Paul is reiterating his desire to come to Rome, the desire that he expressed at the beginning of the letter. Remember that in chapter one, where he said he wanted to come see them so they could mutually encourage one another with their faith. And he said he was prevented from coming thus far because he was busy reaping a harvest amongst the Gentiles. Well, that's the same reason he's giving here. He just said it in the verses previous to this. We saw those last week. He had been carrying the gospel to places where it was not yet named, from Jerusalem to Illyricum. But now he completed that tour. And he plans on going to Rome to see them, the Roman Christians. Yet, he's not abandoning his previous strategy. He's just changing his focus. He's got a new target audience. Look at verse 23. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while." Now Spain had been partially controlled by Rome for 200 years, but by Paul's day it was fully incorporated into the empire. So now, having conquered Asia Minor with the gospel, Paul wants to move to a new, un-evangelized territory. And he warns the Roman Christians that he won't be able to stay long with them. And he has a second purpose, though, in visiting them. He hopes to be helped on his journey by them. The term helped comes from a Greek word that refers to missionary support several times in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 16.6, Paul uses the same word with the Corinthian believers. He wants them to help him along his journey. A few verses later, he urges them to help Timothy on his way as he does the work of the Lord. And in Acts 15.3, Luke reports that the church in Antioch helped them on their way so that they could go to Jerusalem and make a report about their first missionary journey. But that was seven years earlier than the writing of this letter. Now Paul is writing to the Romans from Corinth at the far point of his third missionary journey. And he has accomplished what he wanted to accomplish by taking the gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum. And now it's time for him to return. But before he can head to Rome and to Spain, he has to go back to Jerusalem. Look at verse 25. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. And we'll talk about that aid in a moment. But I found this cool map so that we can see exactly where he was and where he was planning to go. I wish I had a laser pointer because it's kind of hard to see from back there. But if you can see in the middle where the A is, that's where he is at Corinth. And then he's going to go back down to Judea, to Jerusalem, and then up to Rome, and then over to Spain. You see that? So A, C, B, D. I don't know why it's in that order. Anyway, and then you have that little arc from Jerusalem to Illyricum. That's where he has been. He's covered that whole region already. So now he wants to go to Spain. And he explains now why he has to go to Jerusalem first. In verse 26, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints of Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. Remember, for the last few weeks, we've been talking about that division between Jewish and Gentile believers. It's been a key feature of Paul's ministry in every place that he's gone. He says in Ephesians 2.14, the breaking down of that dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles. That was his agenda. And that is an allusion to the wall that separates the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple in Jerusalem. Paul wants to symbolically tear down that wall and to never allow it to be raised up again. And this trip is part of Paul's ongoing agenda to promote harmony between Jewish and Gentile believers everywhere. In his recent travels, he's been collecting money, money to aid the Jewish saints in Jerusalem. So in 58 A.D., at the time Paul wrote this letter, there was a famine in Israel. And on top of that, there was great persecution in the church. Christians lost their jobs. Some of them were put in prison and families were suffering. The church in Jerusalem needed money. They needed it just to survive. So Paul has been raising funds from the Gentiles along the way. And he says here that the Gentiles actually owed it to the Jews. How's that? Well, you remember what he said earlier in chapter 11? Gentiles have been grafted in to the Jewish root. Gentile churches owe their very existence to the Jews. And that's Paul's point here. Look at the end of verse 27. For if the Gentiles have come to share in the spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. And this reciprocal relationship is spiritual on both ends. What do I mean by that? The Gentiles get to share the spiritual blessing, but the material blessings that they're giving back are just as spiritual. You see that word service? highlighted, it's the same word, the same root word that he used when he talked about him being a minister of God to the Gentiles earlier in this chapter. It's the same word that's often used of the priestly duties of the priests in the Old Testament. Paul considers the giving of this gift to be a spiritual calling. But because the Gentiles owed this gift, does that mean that they did it grudgingly? Not at all. Verse 27 also says they were pleased to do it. Listen to Paul's report about this same collection amongst the Macedonians. Here he told the Corinthian church, in 2 Corinthians 8-1, We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. Not only did they see it as their duty, they saw it as a privilege. And you can both owe somebody something and be happy to give it at the same time, can't you? Parents do it every day. They owe it to their children to feed them and to clothe them, to house them and to shelter them and protect them from danger. Yet most of the time they're happy to do it and they're grateful that they can do it. That's because love is a part of this equation. True believers love one another and they respond in tangible ways. So now Paul is going to elaborate on his plans. Romans 15, 28. When therefore I have completed this, this giving of the gift, and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. So when he finishes this ministry of giving to the Jerusalem church, he desires to head for Spain. Having completed his work in the East, he now turns to the West. But why does Paul have to go to Jerusalem first? Why does he have to go there himself? Why doesn't he just send somebody else with the money? Well, I think the English Standard Version kind of loses the force of this verse when it uses the word delivered for what was collected. Let's look at the New American Standard Version for a better picture. In verse 28 he says, therefore I have finished this, when I have finished this and have put my seal on the fruit, this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of Spain. Put my seal. That word seal is the same word used for a literal seal in the Greek language, like on a document, like on the Roman seal that was put on the tomb where Jesus was buried. And it's the same word for our being sealed by the Holy Spirit. Paul is using it here to show his authority as an apostle to the Gentiles. He's going to convey the importance of this charitable gesture to the Jewish believers by taking it there himself. He probably wanted to relate the love and the sincerity of the Gentiles in their offering of this gift. And in order for that goal to be accomplished, he asks for prayer in verse 30. I appeal to you brothers by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service, there's that word again, for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. So that by God's will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. So he's asking for two things, that he would be protected from the unbelievers and that the gift would be acceptable to the believers. The first one, though, seems, at first glance, to not be answered in the affirmative. It's all recorded by Luke in the book of Acts. When Paul got there, he was preaching at the temple, and a mob of Jews tried to seize him and kill him. But the Roman commander heard about it, and he sent a contingent there to see what the trouble was all about, and they ended up arresting Paul. And for the next few years, he was in jail in Caesarea before finally being sent to Rome because he appealed to have Caesar hear his case. It seems that the prayer wasn't answered, but it really was. He very easily could have been killed right there at the temple, and his ministry would have come to an end. But God still had plans for him for several years. And his secondary prayer request was that his service would be acceptable. The offering of this gift. He had no guarantees. He didn't know how the Jerusalem church would receive this. Maybe they would be too proud. But he was, in fact, successful. And that's also recorded by Luke in Acts chapter 21. Look at Acts 21.17. When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. Then in verse 19. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified God. Jew and Gentile united together. Paul's gift was accepted. In all of this, we see that Paul made his plans, but God sovereignly intervened at times, moving him in unforeseen directions. In the end, he did arrive in Rome, but in chains. Yet, as he said at the end of verse 32, it was by the will of God. And in spite of all the difficult circumstances that he went through, he did experience joy and refreshing in their company. And he ends up this section by wishing a blessing on the Romans. He says in verse 33, may the God of peace be with you all, amen. I just love Paul's benedictions, don't you? They're beautiful expressions of love for fellow Christians. And I think that we should consciously pronounce blessings on each other when we meet each other. We should just do this as a matter of habit. Sometimes when I greet someone, I'll say, grace to you and peace. And they go, what? I think I'll add peace be with you to my repertoire. So in both Homer's Odyssey and the film O Brother, the heroes met with many obstacles and detours before they finally arrived home and were welcomed into the bosom of their families. Paul's journey didn't go the way he planned either. He did go to Jerusalem only to be arrested. That arrest did lead to his eventual trip to Rome. but several years later. And according to early church history, after a few more years delay, he finally made it to Spain to preach the gospel there. And as the great 20th century prophet John Lennon said, life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. Well, no, I don't really think that Lennon is a prophet. And he only got this partially right. Life doesn't just happen to you. It's not fate that controls our destinies. God does. Proverbs 16.9 says, the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. And every step of Paul's long journey was accomplished by the will of God. You and I are not masters of our fates. I'm confident there's not one person here today that can say their life has worked out exactly the way they desired or intended it to. We all have two options in that regard. We can continue to pretend that we're the captains of our souls and go our own way, or we can submit to the creator of our souls and follow his way. And there's only one way to get on that path. Jesus said, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. He said, I'm the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. By acknowledging and repenting of our rebellion toward our rightful king and accepting his free gift of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross, we can and will be welcomed into the bosom of God's family. Jesus said in Revelation 320, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. The Spirit comes into us when we come into God's family, and He eats with us. And to share a meal is one of the most intimate forms of relationship. How does Jesus eat with us? Well, one way He does that is through the celebration of the Lord's Supper. But another, and just as important way, is through the fellowship that we have with one another in the church through the power and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are all on this journey, but we're not on it alone. We've been given this amazing gift of the fellowship of the saints. We have both the obligation and the joy of loving one another through the gifts that the Spirit has given to us. And fellowship is broader than simply sharing meals. Sometimes it means sharing financial resources. Paul was hoping that the Romans would help him on his way to Spain. He meant that he hoped to raise money from them. He also spoke of a contribution for the poor in Jerusalem. That word he used is the Greek word koinonia. Most of us are familiar with that word. It's also translated sharing and fellowship. Giving is not just an act of worship. It is an act of fellowship. Back in chapter 12, Paul instructed the Romans to contribute, same word, to the needs of the saints. He used it again when he thanked the Philippians for sharing financial aid with him. So when you and I give to maintain the church, to support missionaries, or to help brothers and sisters in need, we are participating in the fellowship of the saints. And finally, we see another expression of fellowship in our passage today, and that is prayer. Paul begged the Roman believers to pray together with him in the love of the Holy Spirit for the success of his ministry in Jerusalem. Prayer is just as crucial to the work of God as is the giving. Paul puts a premium on corporate prayer. What can bind people together more than prayer? I know it's an old cliche, but it's true. The family who prays together stays together. So, church family, will you commit to work and to give and to pray together this week so that we, by the will of God, can make this journey together in joy? and eventually arrive together at the place that he has prepared for us. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord. Thank you that you've called us to this journey. Thank you that you've promised to never leave us, never forsake us, that you are with us until the end of this age. Lord, thank you that you've given us companions to walk this road. Father, we pray that we would bind together and glorify you as we move toward your kingdom. And we ask it all in the name above every name, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Thank you for listening to the preaching of God's Word from Faith Bible Church in Reno, Nevada. We hope that it has been an encouragement to you and that the Word of God will fill your hearts and minds as you walk through this world. 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