Sunday, July 28, 2013

Romans 1:8-15

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. -Romans 1:8-15


"First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world." -Romans 1:8

Here is a great example of something I have been learning in my own life in the past few weeks, where Paul says that he thanks God through Jesus Christ.  I like that it is not just through Jesus, because Paul knows that we pray to and have a very specific God, and that is Jesus Christ, we don't just pray to any plain old Jesus so we should be including in our prayers that we pray to the Christ, the Messiah, the one Son of God, and that is Jesus Christ.  I have even been convicted to go farther at times and say Jesus Christ of Nazareth, because I want to be sure that everyone knows who I am praying to and that I serve Him alone. 

The second thing about this verse is that the Roman Christian's faith was being proclaimed all over the known world.  I think that is amazing!  If only we in the Canadian church were known for our faith, known for trusting God so completely.  What a testament to what Jesus has done in our lives and how He can change anyone to be someone of great faith.  I don't know how we can be known as a people of faith like the Romans were, but I would love to find out.  I believe it has to do with being filled with the Spirit.

"For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.  -Romans 1:9-10

I really like how the NIV puts this verse so I would like to share that with you as well:

"God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you." -Romans 1:9-10 (NIV)

To see these two translations together, I really get a more full realization that to serve God with your spirit and with your whole heart are really the same thing.  I think this is a great thing to see because it gives a more full view of what these verses are saying here.  I also really like how the NIV goes a little farther by saying that Paul serves by preaching the gospel, which is something that I sometimes see lacking in our church today.  It is part of how a pastor like Paul was able to serve and I think we as pastors in Canada and the US need to spend more time preaching to our congregations.  

I also want to point out the emphasis on prayer in these verses.  Paul prays without ceasing which is an excellent starting point.  I don't do this well at all and I need to spend more time praying for all things.  Also, Paul is praying for the Roman church at all times in his prayers, which means that Paul is also praying for the other churches that he is and has been in, because it would be remiss of him to pray for one congregation and not the others.  What this shows is that Paul spends a whole lot of time praying because that is so important in a believers and even more so a pastors life.  If we don't have prayer for all the people that are on our hearts and if we aren't praying for the other things in life, we aren't talking to our Father enough.


"For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine." -Romans 1:11-12

I think for me, this section points out something important.  I come from a background where I have spent time in a lot of different churches with a lot of different denominations, and one thing that always has left a bad taste in my mouth is the fact that Pentecostals believe that everyone should have the spiritual gift of tongues.  I don't believe this is true and I don't think Paul did either, for here he is saying that he will impart 'some spiritual gift', not one particular one.  And the gift of tongues is used mainly to encourage and strengthen the individual and not the whole church, where some of the other gifts are there to strengthen the whole church.

Even the best most amazing pastors and leaders in the church can be greatly encouraged by another's faith.  I think that is seen pretty clearly in this text, that we can encourage others with our faith and I think that will also help us to become famous for our faith and the whole world might speak of the faith of the Canadian church if we can encourage our leaders and each other.

"I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles." -Romans 1:13

I want to talk about something here that is a big issue in a lot of churches from what I have seen and does not need to be.  Right here, Paul says 'Brothers', and it often gets misinterpreted as God, and Paul and other writers of the Bible to be sexist.  That is not at all the case.  In fact it is just the opposite.  In Paul's time, the first born brother would be heir to the fathers estate and the other brothers would share in the inheritance, however the sisters would not receive the same portion.  Also, when Paul is addressing the church as brothers, he is actually breaking Roman law, where most everything was by word of mouth and so calling someone your brother who was not blood related implied that he would get a portion of your inheritance.  Now we see this as a good thing, because first of all, by Paul greeting all the men and women as brothers, includes them in this inheritance, and because it is to the whole church, he is saying that we all have an inheritance in Christ, not just the men or just the women.

I think the main part in this verse that is really important is about reaping a harvest.  We learn here that just because a pastor or elder did not sow or water a crop of great faith or great perseverance, does not mean that they cannot come and reap that harvest.  Paul has never been among the Roman church at this point and yet he is still wanting to go and reap a harvest.  We need to remember that we are all part of the body of Christ and that any leader, pastor or elder can sow and water a crop and any other can come and reap that harvest, because it is all to the glory of God.


"I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish." -Romans 1:14

Two quick things on this verse, number one, the obligation comes from Jesus sending Paul to the gentiles.  And number two is when Paul uses the term barbarian, he is just talking to those who didn't speak the Greek language or who didn't follow Greek customs.


"So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome." -Romans 1:15

Oh how I would love to be more eager to preach the gospel.  Often I have so much apathy that I just don't have that desire to preach that I know Christ wants me to have.  This is one way for me to preach the gospel to myself, but I would love to be able to preach to others in some capacity.  The gospel of Christ must be preached not just to those who don't know Him, but also to those who are already following God.  Because we must live in the Spirit and walk by the Spirit, for the Christian life is more than just conversion, it is following.  See Romans 6:4; 8:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:6.

I hope this small message hits you somewhere and that you are encouraged to follow Christ and be eager to preach the gospel!