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Good morning friends,
I awakened at 2:35 this morning, as perhaps you sometimes do, for a trip to the bathroom. As soon as I look at the clock in the night, I like to see if I can think of a Scripture verse that fits with the time. This one was easy for me, as it’s one of my favorites… 1 Samuel 2:35 “I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in MY heart and mind.”
The context is important. . . Eli was the high priest of God’s people Israel, but he was not an honorable man, and his two sons were wicked and in several ways they were making a mockery of the priesthood. The spiritual leadership of God’s people was in shambles. So God sent a prophet to give Eli the terrible news that he and his sons had failed so miserably as spiritual leaders, that God was removing them and would raise up someone else. That someone was Samuel.
So as I sit to write some thoughts about Romans 15 this verse is still stirring deeply in my mind and heart. You see, my friends, God has continued to do this in every generation, in many places around the world. He keeps raising up those who will honor Him with their lives, and faithfully do what He leads them to do where He has placed them to live out their lives. So take a moment… look back. Do you see how God has raised you up and how God has led you to be a God honoring man or woman, and how God has reached through you, to help other people, everywhere you’ve lived?
That’s essentially the theme of Romans 15. While Paul had not yet visited Rome, he had evidently met many of the people over the years. Rome was a difficult place to be a God honoring Christian. The iron fist of Roman authority in both politics and military dominated life there. Jesus, was seen as a threat to Roman authority. Followers of Jesus were peace loving, honorable people, but their allegiance was to Jesus more than to the Caesar and that caused anxiety among Roman leadership. Remember that’s what Romans 12 & 13 were about.
Here in Romans 15 Paul is calling the Christians in Rome to live God honoring lives, that would bring HOPE to that city! Isn’t that God’s desire for you and me too? Notice vs. 1-13 uses that word hope at least 3 times, can you find them? Do you also see what very practical things Paul urges that should bring hope? May I point out a few?
“…the strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak…” (15:1)
“Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” (15:2)
“…Scriptures written in the past should teach us endurance and encourage us to hope” (15:4)
“God, who gives endurance and encouragement will give a spirit of unity…as you follow Christ.” (15:5)
“Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you…” (15:7)
This is fall football season, and the ‘playbook’ for each team is vital, it’s essential, do you know why? The “playbook” explains in great detail the role of each person on the team, in every different play. So when the coach calls a specific play, all 11 men on the field know exactly what they are supposed to do, as they work together to advance the ball down the field. That’s good, coordinated offense.
But, did you know this also works in the same way on defense? With each defensive call from the coach, all 11 men know exactly what their defensive assignment is, and when they all work well together, the opposing team is stopped from advancing.
Now can we make the application to God’s people and the spiritual battles between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness, battling it out here on planet earth, in the town or city where each of us lives? Jesus is our head coach. As He saved us, the Holy Spirit transformed us and birthed a new spiritual nature in us, and He also took up residence in each of us, as God the Father adopted us into His family. Now, under the strategic leadership of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is gifting and guiding each of us, to partner together with each other, as a people of God, to accomplish God’s purposes, where we each live at this time in history! That’s why 1 Samuel 2:35 could be applied to all of us who have been Redeemed by Jesus and are Holy Spirit led. Right?
Now as you read the second part of Romans 15, notice how Paul becomes quite personal in helping the Christians in Rome understand how he is taking very seriously God’s leading of him, as he understands and seeks to fulfill what he believes to be his strategic part in God’s larger purposes. Look at vs. 16 “…the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
I doubt any of us can understand how huge it was for Jewish Pharisee Paul, to not only trust Jesus to be his Messiah, but then to sense God was leading him, to focus his life on bringing the Gospel to Gentiles, the people he worked so hard all his life, to have no contact with! It was clear evidence of the heart transformation the Holy Spirit was accomplishing in Paul.
Look at vs. 20 also… “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known…” Have you ever met anyone like that? A true pioneer? Someone who takes every opportunity to try something new, to risk going out there, where no one else has ever gone! Do you see the word ‘ambition’? May I ask us all to look deeply… what have been your ambitions in life, and what are they right now? This verse, as you may know, had catapulted many very courageous men and women into the darkest, most difficult places in the world, where the name Jesus has never been spoken.
Places where the language the people speak is unwritten. Where the Bible is totally unknown and untranslated. Have you ever met some of these types of people? They are remarkable, courageous and passionately ambitious. Their ambition is that before they die, that place would be transformed by Jesus as He is encountered and trusted by the people there. I’ve known several of these pioneers who are willing to go and live out their lives in such remote places, with that vision driving them everyday!
Now you and I may not have that ambition, that passion. . . but can we honestly look deeply and identify what is our driving passion in life? Is it a passion God has given you? Maybe a passion to be helpful to anyone who needs a helping hand; or a passion to be generous with whatever God has blessed you with; or a passion to be sensitive, empathetic, compassionate to anyone in pain; or a passion to listen and pray with people. What passion, what ambition, has God given each of us, that makes a difference in our world?
Now finally, look at the closing part of Romans 15. Do you see Paul not only had passion, and not only ambition, but Paul was constantly working on a plan to pursue what God was stirring deeply in his heart. Do you see where Paul had a passion to go? Spain! Wow… that’s the same Spain as today. That’s a long way from Jerusalem! Do you see Paul’s driving ambition was to bring the Gospel where it was unknown, and Paul’s passion was that Jesus Christ would be honored as Savior and Lord all over the world? Those two things kept Paul awake at night, and he kept making himself available to the Holy Spirit, to lead him to new frontiers, even to a place he’d never seen, only heard about… Spain!
As we read Romans 15 today my friends, could I invite all of us to pray several times while we read, asking God to help us see what HE would like to accomplish in our world with each of us, in what ever time remains for us here on earth? Months, years, decades… only God knows. What would it be like to have a fresh sense of God given ambition, purpose, passion for these next years of your life, my dear friends? I’d love to hear what you sense God says to you about that…
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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