Romans 15-16 | RCD Podcast

Um but I think we also um can benefit from the perspective of the Gentiles here because we were not a people and now we're now we're brought into a people.

We're made a people.

Right.

Um and it's because of verse nine, his mercy.

And that really shines, doesn't it?

And in just every sermon, everything that we're every way we look into the gospel, the mercy of God really hits us.

Yes, it does.

It does.

How could we be saved and rescued, rebels not even looking for him, and then uh plucked out of obscurity into the people of God?

Amazing.

Hi, my name is James Rathman.

And I'm Alan Brannan.

And this is the Redemption Church Denver Podcast.

We are continuing uh and actually concluding our time in the book of Romans today.

So we are finishing up with Romans chapters 15 and 16 by the skin of our teeth here at the end of the year, while most of you are done with your Roman studies.

Romans 15 · chapter mention

But hopefully, this is a refreshing reminder and uh encouragement in the Word together as Paul closes out this magnificent book.

So this episode of the podcast is brought to you by our Christmas Eve service.

So we have a Christmas Eve service coming up.

It is at 4:30 p.m.

on Christmas Eve.

We invite you all to come in and um celebrate with us, and uh we can have a joyful time uh remembering the birth of our Lord.

And our podcast is also brought to you by the soon the recently decided uh next book study, next book club book.

And it's Taking Hold of God by Joel Beakey.

And James, what do you want to say about that book?

It looks good.

I chose it because we were looking for something on prayer, and I was looking at my bookshelf and I thought, I don't know if I want to reread these or do do these uh books again, the couple of books that I have on prayer that I've read.

Uh wanted something new and wanted something, I thought, let's learn from the Puritans how to pray.

And if you want to learn from the Puritans, go and by way of Joel Beakey is a good way to do it.

So that's the plan.

It's a collection of essays interacting with different Puritan teachers on uh what they thought of prayer, theological from the theological side, but also just practically how to pray.

And so a lot of times books on prayer are one or the other.

It'll be wonderful to have both.

I'm looking forward to reading it.

Yeah, me too.

Me too.

Um, all right, should let's jump into Romans chapter 15 and 16, the end.

Romans 15 · chapter mention

Excellent.

It's been a great study.

This has been I of course certainly I don't know how many times I've read Romans, but this is it it's good to really study it with the the group that we have and uh just to go through it every couple of weeks in in more detail.

Yeah, yeah.

It's been enjoyable.

It's been uh uh it's Romans is so good.

Every time I study Romans, I think I need to study Romans more.

So we jump back in at chapter 15, and it's really a dovetail right from chapter 14.

You can say see that he is continuing on this theme of maintaining unity within the church among stronger and weaker brothers.

Um his encouragement here is mainly to the stronger brother, uh, that he continues on to sort of conclude the section.

And his encouragement to the stronger brother is to is is that the stronger have an obligation to bail, bail, to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

And his example for this is uh, of course, Jesus Christ.

He's saying that that your purpose as the stronger brother is to bear with the failings.

That's deep.

That's deep.

That's not little inconveniences.

It's to bear with the failings of the weak, because in order that they might be built up, because this is what Jesus Christ does, is he lays down his own life, he does not seek to please himself.

But uh in chapter three, excuse me, in verse three of chapter 15, he quotes, says, The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

This is our model for Christian unity.

And what a model, this and what an understatement here, where in verse three it says Christ did not please himself.

Right.

Right.

What is the cross?

It's not pleasing.

Right.

What is the incarnation?

Not pleasing.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it this is this is our model.

This is the model for the strong.

And what is what does strength look like in Christ?

It is the ability to lay down what pleases you for the sake of your brothers, because that has been done to us by the one who made us his brother, uh in Jesus Christ.

Uh and he uh after uh he quotes this, the reproaches of those who uh reproach you have fallen on me, which he's citing from the Psalm, Psalm 69, he says, For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

Whatever was written.

Yeah, it's it's uh What do we have that was written?

Yeah, the whole rest of the book, the all everything leftward of the page that we're on, and rightward for that matter.

But there's uh um yeah, I don't know what do you what do you want to say about that?

I think the theological implications of that are enormous.

They really are, and I I wrote down a few verses where we can track uh track that thread um about the theological implications of this.

So Romans 4, verse 3, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11, and uh a big favorite is 2 Timothy 3, 15 through 17 and 1 Peter 1, 10.

Romans 4:3 1 Corinthians 10:11

Uh, but all of these are showing the um inspiration of Holy Scripture and the usefulness of this for the church, and in particular for us who are here in these later days.

Uh and um even though prophets and angels and uh Christians, believers, uh the people of God from the past, uh had great insight into these things, compared to the insights that we have now revealed through uh through Christ and through the apostles, uh, it's it's like this rose that started out as a bud early in scripture, and it opened over time, and we see that through scripture over time.

Right.

And now it's just in full bloom.

Yeah.

And we get to look forward to uh something more amazing than we can imagine in in glory.

Yeah, uh it's uh it's beautiful.

That's the way God likes to do things.

God likes to take things from glory to glory.

He likes glorious things, so he makes them glorious initially, but he really likes glorious things, so he makes them more and more glorious as as they go.

And that's what the scripture is like.

For each for for all of his people through all of time, they always had what was sufficient for them to have faith in him and to draw close to him.

And we have more.

We have more.

It is uh sufficient and and even more glorious.

And this gives us endurance.

It says through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

So this gives us endurance and it gives us encouragement so that we have hope.

And what is hope in this in this context?

Yeah, hope is not just wishful thinking.

Hope is the certainty that what God has promised will come to pass.

And with and I think it's so interesting that it's like when you're feeling worn down and you need it and you don't know if you can keep going, and you need encouragement.

It's like you need endurance and encouragement, the scriptures give you that.

God give equips us for that in the scriptures.

And especially here, what the endurance and encouragement, the ends of that, it's not just so that you have those those things which are good in themselves, but it they're they're even more fruitful than that because they tend toward Christian unity.

We need endurance and encouragement to maintain unity.

He's not talking here about uh facing attacks from outside the church, which he would have every right to, uh, because those are plentiful and were uh more plentiful at the time of his writing this.

Uh but what he's he's talking about is just enduring and encouraging one another.

In order to have unity in the body, it takes endurance endurance and encouragement.

It really does.

This follows directly from the your last podcast with um Jacob.

Jacob.

Yeah, that's right.

It's a that maintaining unity of the body comes from the endurch endurance and encouragement from the scriptures.

And this harmony with one another is in accord with Christ Jesus in verse five.

So we see that the unity is actually wrapped up in him.

It's because of him, and uh it's in accord with him.

So it isn't as though doctrine doesn't matter.

Doctrine matters, and it in a really curious way, it's the doctrine that gives us the unity.

Yes, it gives us it, it all it's always doing everything, you know.

That's the way the scriptures and the Holy Spirit's like, what are they doing?

What's the and it's like, ah, kind of everything, you know, it's like from one perspective, everything.

There's because they're encourag giving you endurance and encouragement uh for this unity, they're showing you Christ, who becomes this model of endurance and encouragement.

The Holy Spirit is giving you the ability to know and understand the word of the scriptures, and it's uniting you as a body so that you can speak with one voice together.

What are you speaking together?

You're speaking together the sound doctrine of that we receive from the scriptures, which give us the endurance and encouragement, which give us the unity, which give us the ability to speak with one voice, which gives you see, it's like this.

But I think if there's nothing else that actually could give us that unity.

If you think about it, it's try to think of any other possibility.

No, there's nothing high enough.

There's there's nothing high enough to unite uh people.

The the rabble that we are.

No.

Yeah.

No, that could possibly hold us together.

And so there really is a a uh a we should have a desire for one voice within the church, like that the church is speaking like he says, together that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And in uh but the way that we develop that one voice is through the word that he has given us.

That's where it comes from.

And and the fact that he's using sort of a musical image here is, I think, beautiful and shows even a different aspect of the heart of Paul.

Yeah.

That this is all of this is coming out.

He's clearly very passionate for the unity.

Um, again, that also through the spirit.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

And it takes endurance and encouragement to preserve unity.

It really does.

It's so, so necessary.

It's a long game.

It's uh it's uh we wear each other out.

Uh and so we need to endure it.

And I just think that you go, you read the stories of the scriptures.

I think a lot of times people can have ordinary church experiences and think this must be going wrong.

And there's a sense in which, yes, it's not going ideally.

You know, there's an actual problem.

There is an actual problem.

But that actual problem is within the scope of where how God works in his church.

And there are there are things to be endured.

You know, there are actual failings of the weak.

And it's the responsibility of the strong to bear those uh for the unity of the body.

Aaron Powell And there remains sin in the strong.

Right.

Oh, yeah.

Nobody, there's no you know, we don't cast off the the flesh.

Aaron Powell Think about the lament in in Romans 7 that Paul himself has.

Aaron Powell Right.

So that is within the and we can think like this is so hard, it's so relationally taxing, this is so overwhelming.

I feel like there's you know no escape from these people or you know, whatever.

Um and you can start to think like this must be going wrong.

We're doing it wrong, the church is wrong, this is the wrong church.

Aaron Powell And who will rescue me from this body of sin and death?

Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God.

Yeah.

And so that is in knowing those stories, in knowing the which the scripture gives to us, this scripture has given to us.

You know, we can this that's just eight chapters back from here.

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Seems like a while.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, it does.

Um just just knowing that is encouraging.

Yeah.

That look at the glory that was accomplished through the life of someone like Paul, and then you look at what his life was like, it's like, man, that's a life of endurance.

You know, that took a lot of endurance.

He could have a lot of times thought, this obviously is just going wrong.

And instead, by the encouragement that he received, probably from looking back the stories of the prophets, looking back at the story of Israel, looking, he said, no, no, the the Lord works like this.

He works in these places.

Then of course, in as he does in this section, look to our Lord.

Look at what he endured on behalf of sinners and the glory that that accomplished.

How could it be otherwise?

And Paul, it causes Paul to break out into doxology, and we see that he a couple of places actually in this in these two chapters.

Yeah, yeah.

He's bursting at the seams here at the end.

He's just doxologying all over the place.

Yeah.

The uh yeah, but right there, like in verse five, this whole thing, I'll just read five through seven and then we'll move on to the next section.

Okay.

Because this is like the first of the doxologies.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.

How has Christ welcomed you it's unthinkably so?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Think how he um from like we said, from the incarnation through his work of active obedience, perfectly keeping the law in such a place as this earth, and then his passive obedience of going to death, even death on a cross.

And through that from you know, verse three, Christ did not please himself.

Right.

That was the opposite of of that, it seems.

But it was still his choice.

Yeah.

And yeah, so in his sovereign love, he puts he showers such love on us that we might superabound in hope.

Right.

We actually have a hope.

So we can say, Christian, you should say and think, Christ has welcomed me.

He has welcomed me.

I can welcome others.

And so therefore, in verse 7, welcome one another.

And it shows using Christ as an example, and there's a purpose that's given here that we probably shouldn't just blow past.

Right.

They can become kind of throwaway words, even though I think to Paul there it's the essence of the thing.

Yeah.

Is that it's for the glory of God.

Yes.

For the glory of God, this would take place.

We welcome one another for the glory of God.

Yeah.

And then next he moves into uh it's almost sort of a return, but it's thematically in the same vein because he's coming to he's still discussing the unity of the church.

And so he wants to show that the unity of the church between Jew and Gentile, which has been, you know, a central controversy of this book, how Christ has established unity between Jew and Gentile in the New Covenant, in Him, is the fulfillment of the uh Old Testament scriptures.

So this is the fulfillment of the prophecies that have been given to us.

And therefore, it is uh right that we should uh step into that reality and seek to, by our own endurance uh and encouragement, seek to participate in that reality that the scriptures have promised us of our unity together in the body.

And he's pointing out a difference in verse 9 uh between how the Gentiles are receiving the gospel and how the Jewish Christians are receiving the gospel.

For the for the Jews, this is this is a fulfillment of the promises, uh and which is really encouraging.

And I think us as believers, particularly in the Reformed Church, uh, I think can take a lot of um personal focus and and comfort in God's sovereignty uh through all of this.

Um but I think we also um can benefit from the perspective of the Gentiles here because we were not a people and now we're now we're brought into a people.

We're made a people.

Right.

Um and it's because of verse 9, his mercy and that really shines, doesn't it?

And in just every sermon, everything that we're every way we look into the gospel, the mercy of God really hits us.

Yes, it does.

It does.

How could we be saved and rescued, rebels not even looking for him, and then uh plucked out of obscurity into the people of God?

Amazing.

The I I think we should just go ahead and read the scriptures that he cites.

Um he says, as it is written, Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.

And again it is said, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.

See, each of these there's there's a unity.

The Gentiles and the Jews are praising together in these.

And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.

And again, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope.

Crazy.

The root of Jesse will rule the Gentiles.

You know, the the uh father of David, the one from him, will rule the Gentiles.

What is a Jew to make of that?

Right.

I mean, it was in there the whole time.

They've been reading that for a long time.

Yeah.

And now they're and Paul sees that, and then he has to go right into his ministry because he's like, that's what I'm doing.

That's the you can look and see the fulfillment of this.

I can Paul's like, I can see this right out of my own eyes because it's been the shape of my own ministry, the ministry that he's been called to.

And even he's like, Romans, you guys.

This is, he says, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers.

You yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

This is it, he's talking about their inclusion, his satisfaction in them, as they stand, as these Gentile converts that are evidence of what God has done.

Uh, it's a wonderful thing.

And so that so that dovetails into his own ministry, him talking about what the shape of his ministry has been.

Uh, and it's particularly a ministry to the Gentiles.

And how he starts out in verse 14 is I think a it it's uh it's a softening of the uh the message.

Paul's been hitting hard for chapters now.

And and and here He's saying it he's pointing out, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

It isn't that he's giving these instructions, even though he is giving them forcefully and doctrine uh from a position of authority, but it isn't as though he has he he thinks that the church is in bad standing.

That's right.

He he instead he he thinks highly of them and he loves them greatly.

Uh so it's I think it's great that it's it's uh he's pointing out uh a very comforting fact here for the for the readers who've who've received this.

Aaron Powell He says, On some points I have written to you very boldly, by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God.

And that that's you know, right on to what you're saying.

There's this that I think that's a great point.

I think that's a great point.

And it should factor into just our assessment of of the church, our assessment of one another as Christians.

Like there should be a general satisfaction and trust that the spirit really is working in the lives of uh his people in his church.

And we can entrust, we we can trust that in our ability to uh minister to one another and build one another up.

Because this is he's not there, you know, he's he's he must be trusting the work of the Holy Spirit in them.

And think about the picture of the mature church here.

You yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

As a pastor, aren't you happy when um when the members of the church are able to instruct one another?

And you like, okay, well, even in disagreement, let's go to the word.

It's the best.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's the best ever.

Yeah.

I I love that.

I love that.

Um it's like um uh you know, the the role that I have in this body as a as a pastor, it it feels like, okay, it's like a lot of labor, it's a lot of output, you know, and it's like uh when you see when folks in the church are instructing one another from the word, it's like oh, it's it's taking root.

It's uh it feels like it's working.

What popped into my head just now is this I forget what psalm it is, but it's um talking about the unity among believers, among brothers, is like the dew of Herman.

Um it's like the um the oil uh falling down on the beard.

Yeah, yeah.

It's like this anointing.

Yeah.

Uh unity is a gift.

Yeah.

Unity comes down from above.

It's a gift, it's something that's it's received.

You know, it's like in it's received by the um Christ-likeness that Paul is calling us to.

Like Paul doesn't just say be unified.

You know, he says, endure, encourage, go to the scriptures, welcome one another, and then you receive unity on the other side of that.

Yeah.

It's like if you're just trying to like get unity.

And what of this have we not received?

Yeah, if we think about it.

Yeah, we've received it all.

It's all receiving, all the way down.

Um I love how he talks about his uh, he says, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God.

He describes his ministry as a priestly service to the gospel of God, uh or of the gospel of God.

He says, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

He sees his sharing of the gospel and the conversion of the Gentiles, then being brought in and baptized into the church as uh as like going into the temple and making an offering that's pleasing to the Lord.

That that's the shape of his ministry.

It's all sacrificial worship.

Uh it by the in what's the glory of the offering?

It's the fruit of his ministry, which is the gospel-taking root among the Gentiles.

You I saw you turning your Bible.

I hope you're going.

I think you're going.

Take us there.

So I I was initially, I had a question about this, so went digging a little bit too.

Um what is what is the sense in which Paul is a priest here?

Right.

You know, we don't the Christ is our priest.

He's the real mediator between God and man.

He can, he's the one who can put his hand on God and his hand on man.

Right.

Um, but the the sense in which so the reference here for the for that passage is Isaiah 66, verse 20, and I'll just read that because the this directly answers that question.

Isaiah 66:20

And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots, and in and litters, and on mules and on dromedaries to my holy mount in Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.

And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Yeah, that that answers the question.

Yeah.

They we uh Paul's was uh Paul sees this is what I'm doing, like I I'm bringing in this offering, just as it was prophesied at the end of Isaiah.

Uh the Gentiles being brought in.

And uh there's a great reference tying this back to what we do as a royal priesthood.

Each individually, there's a sense in which we're each a priest.

Right.

And if we tie this back to our earlier uh chapter, Romans chapter 12, verse verse 1, and maybe you'll find it before I will, James.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Uh here it is.

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercy of God, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Yeah, our spiritual worship is the living sacrifice as well.

It's uh uh it's a beautiful image.

It should be it should inspire us towards evangelism.

You know, though the wonder of uh bringing others in is this act of worship to the Lord.

That's that's why we do it.

It's an act of worship to the Lord.

It's bringing the harvest.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So uh then he goes on to talk about what his own labor.

He says, In Christ Jesus, then I have reason to be proud of my work for God.

He says, I will not speak to I'll not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ.

That's an accomplishment.

It really is.

Yeah.

And even in that, uh the he's pointing out that he's first of all, he's not venturing to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me.

He's not talking about the ministry of others, he's uh speaking directly from his experience.

Right.

But the glory note that he points out what Christ has accomplished through me.

Right.

He's the vessel.

Yep.

Exactly.

It's all Christ doing.

Christ is gathering his church, Christ is building his church.

The purpose, again, tying this to sort of the conclusion or the telos of the other many of the other passages we've read is to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed.

Yeah, that's right.

He says, Thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.

This is the unique calling of Paul that he is to be a frontier missionary.

He's going to where Christ's name has not been proclaimed.

And once Christ's name has been proclaimed in a place, then he moves on from that place.

And he goes to the next place where it hasn't been proclaimed.

That's the work of Paul.

He has a very clear understanding of his mission.

Yes.

And so he makes it his ambition.

He's ambitious.

We can be ambitious.

Yes.

Any advice that on how to understand our calling and our uh our mission so that we can have rightly oriented um ambition?

Yes.

I think it I think Romans uh 12 is where I go.

It's where I often take folks with discerning uh calling.

Um in Romans 12, verse 2 it says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

So there's a so our minds must be transformed to think in a spiritual way, you know, capital S spiritual way.

And in doing so, we're able to discern our lives and our circumstances by testing.

Uh and it that that doesn't necessarily mean like experimentation of like, oh, let me try bad stuff, let me try good stuff.

But you you test the things, like to see if they measure up.

Against the standard.

Against the standard, exactly.

And the standard is the the spirit who allows us to see the scriptures, gives us the scriptures, which are God breathed of the spirit.

Exactly.

And then that allows us to to say uh to test the will of God.

And the will of God is to what God intends for a thing, what God, uh, what God desires for a thing to be brought to full glory.

And you're what you're testing is what's good, what's acceptable, and what's perfect.

These are qualities that we're looking to discern.

And then from that place you make decisions.

You make decisions based on those factors, based on your circumstances, based on what it is the Lord requires of you, based on your relational realities and what God has placed you in and the um uh needs and things that you're surrounded by.

And in those in those bounds, uh you see what's good and acceptable and perfect here, and then you make decisions and you pursue those things.

So it's not um uh like a it's it's unlikely that you'll receive the will of God as like a like a quest that is given to you.

You know I won't be struck off my horse.

Unlikely.

Okay.

Um instead, it's not far from you.

It's not far from you.

But it it takes the discernment given to us by the Spirit through the scriptures so that our minds work when we look out into the world and we can say that's good.

This is an acceptable sort of thing, this is a a perfect thing.

It is a transformation, it is this renewing of the mind.

Yep.

And then you and then you make decisions.

Um then you then you're in a place where you can make decisions.

And presumably you're willing to help those of us who find it difficult to understand the whole of scripture and yeah, that's why we have the church, that's why we have each other, that's why we um uh instruct one another.

Exactly.

It's what we can we can do this together.

We're not isolated.

Yep.

And and so there's lots of times where it's uh I've talked with folks and they're like, man, there's this great thing that seems really captivating to me, and I'm really interested in doing it.

And I said, this seems this doesn't seem like it makes any sense in your life.

Like this this doesn't um that does sound awesome, uh, but uh there's there's some things I can see in your life that just seem like plainly required of you.

Priorities.

I don't know how you could do both.

You know, the one we know.

So let's do that one.

It's uh uh less another thing is when callings of God are very clear in scripture, like you go do this.

Uh one a lot of times people are like, like, I have peace about this decision, that's why I want to do it.

A lot of times it's like if the calling of God is very clear, you'll know because your flesh will be raging against it.

You know, it'll be like it'll be like you need to call and forgive that person.

Yes.

And it's very clear.

Like the scriptures are plainly speak to this.

And you'll know exactly.

And like your flesh will be just on fire.

And it's like, okay, I'm probably gonna have to, this is gonna be more like you know, crucifixion than uh, oh great, I've been sent on a new quest.

You know, because that's what it looked like when callings of God are very clear, of uh like Moses gets a very clear calling from God.

And it's like, you know, a lot happens in uh Exodus.

Like, you know, he's transformed, water comes from a rock in like two sentences, but we get like two chapters of Moses trying to talk God out of sending him.

Yes.

You know, like that's that's a great picture of transformation.

It is, it is, and so that's um uh that's almost like more my heuristic for when colleagues are very clear.

Yeah.

Uh what it feels like.

What it feels like, yeah.

Thank you.

So we're in verse 22.

Yeah, so this is where Paul it describes the glory of his ministry, how Christ has been working, the Gentiles are being brought in, and then he brings us into so here's what I'm looking forward to next.

Here's what's coming next.

And he says he's often been hindered from coming to you.

Yeah.

He wants to go to Rome, but he's often been hindered, things have gotten in the way.

And what's gotten in the way is his priority, his ministry to the Gentiles who have not been uh evangelized.

Right.

So he's he tests and discerns what is the will of God.

You know, that's the way that he works.

It's not that every next step was uh plain or or obvious, yeah.

It's that he uh he understood what uh his highest priority was for the particular call that he had, the role that he had.

I'm apostle to the Gentiles to preach Christ where he hasn't been named.

Okay, so when things come up that are not uh that prohibit that or don't don't allow that, or then I I those have to take a back seat.

Even if even if there's great things.

Going to Rome to encourage the church in Rome is a great thing.

Yet we still see him making plans here.

He isn't just finger in the wind or I'm going to sense the way the spirit leads on the today.

Right.

Uh he's he's making plans still in the spirit.

Yep.

But this is very deliberate.

Yes.

Even if his plans are sometimes hindered or things don't go exactly as he thought they might.

Right.

That's right.

And that that's um yeah, so his plan uh he he's desired to go to Rome, he's been hindered by his higher priorities.

Um, but it there's no longer any work in the regions he's been working in because there's believers there.

He's witnessed there.

And he desires to see them as he goes to Spain, but he's got a stop that he has to make before he uh passes through Rome on his way to Spain.

And that's the delivery of a gift that's come from the uh churches in Macedonia and Achaea, and they made a contribution to the poor saints in Jerusalem.

And so Paul is going to Jerusalem to deliver that uh contribution.

Now, what what's cool of there's something cool about that?

So the the church of Christ is growing.

It starts with the gospel being presented first in Jerusalem, first in Israel, and then to Judea and to the outermost parts of the earth.

Right.

And uh think about the think about being a Jew in in the early Christian church and receiving Paul and he's coming with the donations for the poor from the new believers who are from the whole world.

Yeah.

From all over the place.

Right.

Greeks.

Yes.

Yeah.

These new believers that are not Jews are now giving to the Jews, the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, mostly Jewish Christians.

It's an amazing testimony.

It's a picture of the unity that he's been describing the whole time.

Paul does not the all these wonderful spiritual realities of the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, which is basically invisible, you know, uh being torn down, is not just some ethereal claim to Paul.

Paul's like, look, I can just look at my life and see it.

Look, the churches in Achaea in Macedonia are giving to the poor in Jerusalem.

This is the dividing wall's broken.

Clearly, this is broken.

Both key to Paul's ministry and uh an evident part of his heart.

What popped into my head just now is the uh his correction of Peter, when Peter had started to be to separate himself uh Yeah, from the Greek speaking Christians.

Yes.

And his correction of Peter, how and again how it's doctrine, it's it's truth that unites us.

Yes.

And he's he's pointing that out again.

Yeah, so it's very cool.

It's a very cool picture.

And he says they were pleased to give, indeed, they owe it to them.

For the if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.

This is a principle of his giving.

If you benefit from somebody spiritually, then you should give to them materially.

That's a general principle of Paul.

And we'll use it here as this is basically him asking, by the way, when I come through Rome on my way to Spain, you'll you should take care of me.

Right.

If you benefit from me spiritually.

And pass it on to the next group that I go to.

Exactly.

Exactly.

So uh his plan is to leave for Spain by way of them.

So go to Jerusalem, then his plan is to go to Spain, but he'll go to Spain by way of Rome.

On the way.

Uh now to for this plan, the drop the gift in Jerusalem, pass through Rome on my way to Spain, he asks them to support it with prayer.

And that's this appeal here at the end of chapter 15.

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus, by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.

Strive together with me in your prayers.

That I may be delivered.

So here's the thing, here's the list.

That I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea.

It's one, delivered from dangerous unbelievers, 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.

May the God of peace be with you all.

So three things delivered from The unbelievers in Judea refresh the saints in and that he'll be of service to the saints that are in Jerusalem, and uh that he'll be able to go to Rome and be re refreshed and enjoy them.

And just a not so subtle uh plug for book club is since we're studying now about prayer, Paul points out here that this is a striving, strive together.

Yes.

And what comes to mind there is Genesis 32, 24, the passage about Jacob wrestling with God.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's how we do that.

It's how we do that.

I I'm looking forward to that.

I could use some encouragement in my prayer life.

Me too.

Yeah.

So uh I think it it's too cool to not look at how these prayers are answered.

We gotta look we gotta look at that.

Right.

Let's do it.

So Acts 21.

Because they're answered, this teaches us how to look for how prayers are answered.

And the answer is strangely.

And more amazingly than you might expect.

So Paul It's a better story.

Yeah, definitely a better story.

So Paul goes to Jerusalem and he's warned on his way to Jerusalem by his friends that are saying, don't go to Jerusalem.

Uh you'll be bound, people are seeking to kill you there.

Don't go to Jerusalem.

Aaron Ross Powell And this prophet Agabus gives this object lesson, like you know, like prophets do.

Yep.

And where he binds, he he takes off his belt and binds Paul and says, Thus says the Holy Spirit, this is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

And then what is Paul's response?

Verse 13, about halfway through, I am ready not only to be imprisoned, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, Let the will of the Lord be done.

Yeah, how Christ-like.

Paul is warned that if you go into Jerusalem, you will be killed.

Paul says, I am willing to go be killed in Jerusalem.

And we also kind of see a micro scale of the maturation of that church as well.

Yeah, for sure.

Where they come to realize it's the Lord's will.

Yes.

The Lord's will be done.

Yes.

Yes.

Okay, so then how Okay, so how are which which of these prayer requests are we in right now?

So this is um uh him going to Jerusalem.

Uh sorry, it's uh that he might be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea in verse 31.

Yes.

So the first petition.

So delivered from the unbelievers in Judea.

So first he's warned that there's going to be this attack in Judea.

So what happens to him in uh Well, the prophecy is is fulfilled.

He is uh he is bound.

Yep.

But how is he let's look at how is he actually delivered.

Well, they're attack he's attacked, and then it says, and when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd.

For the mob of the people followed, crying out, away with him.

So there's a m he's a mob of people comes to attack him.

Yet again.

Yet again, yeah.

And he is carried out by the Roman soldiers.

Wow.

Like to protect it.

So God raises up an army in some sense.

Exactly.

To protect him out of Jerusalem.

And he is uh uh he is well received.

We didn't touch that, he is well received in Jerusalem.

Aaron Ross Powell Well, I'll just point out uh the sort of in conclusion to that first petition is uh Acts chapter 23, starting with verse 12, it it covers a plot to kill Paul.

Acts 23 · chapter mention

So again, so once Paul is now imprisoned, the Jews are plotting to find a way to ask for Paul to be released, or at least transferred, so that then they can meet him halfway.

And they're these men who swear that they uh, you know, the they they swear these uh vows that uh they won't eat or they won't rest until until they kill him.

Yeah, that's right.

And then in verse 17 it says, When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly.

So he is he is well received in Jerusalem.

Yes.

Prayer answered.

And also the um the his relative who who's a nephew hears about this plot and then tells the the Romans about it.

And so once again, the Romans organize his escape.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Then he's uh it it and the it's organize his escape, but it's because they've arrested him.

Yes.

Plot twist.

Yeah, that's right.

So he's he's arrested by the Romans, but he is uh by the Romans, by his arrest, is delivered from the unbelievers in Judea.

Yes.

Which is it's it's this strange answer to that prayer.

And he uh uh his delivering it, he is acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem.

He is this encouragement to the saints in Jerusalem.

And then it's the final petition is so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.

And it's by his arrest that he is able to appeal to Caesar.

And by the appeal to Caesar, he's sent to Rome.

And so that that's uh so like if we were to tell that travel, so all the prayers are answered.

His prayers answered.

But if you were to tell that travel log, it would be like, yeah, yeah, I went and there was one good meeting, but I was shortly thereafter arrested, and the deliverance that he that God accomplished me from the unbelievers in Jerusalem was just by being arrested by Rome.

So it's kind of an out-of-the-fire frying pan into the fire situation.

It's like, oh man, that was bummer.

Really, really bad for you.

That's right.

But and we would say, like, wow, God really took his hand off this situation.

Yeah.

But we can see through Paul that he is brought with joy because he has this undefeatable joy in the Lord to Rome and is refreshed.

In every circumstance.

He is able to be content.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that's not the story that you would imagine when you're praying those things.

This uh verse 32, where it mentions uh that I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.

I think that's such a beautiful word, and thinking about the refreshment that we have in the saints.

Yeah.

And even Paul in a Roman prison was indeed refreshed by the brothers who would come and take care of him.

He has time uh to write, and he's uh he's furthering the the kingdom according to the sovereignty of God.

Yeah, that's right.

That's right.

So it that's kind that's like what discerning the will of the Lord is like, you know, to return to that sort of theme.

Great.

There's like uh uh he discerns what's good and acceptable and perfect, and uh likewise he continues to trust the Lord amidst all sorts of circumstances that he would not have planned for himself or would not have would not have thought were the way that things should go.

And yet he does plan.

So it's it's very i I think it would feel pretty ordinary.

You know, this does tie into God's sovereignty and free will, uh where we we are moral agents, we do have a will.

Right.

And when we think about when people talk about, talk negatively about sort of the Calvinist's pers perspective on that.

Yeah.

Uh I I think they're thinking too lightly of God.

Right.

God is the sort of being who can create these sorts of characters.

Exactly.

That's yes, that's exactly right.

They're often when it it's often that um God's will must be the same type of thing as our will that exists on the same sort of plane.

And there's a uh uh and w and people think of it as like will is the type of thing that can neither be created nor destroyed.

There's a certain amount of will to go around.

And if God has it all, then you have none.

And that's not the frame to think of it in.

He's not even in our frame.

Exactly.

He's not like you.

He's he's not that's not what it's like.

He you the way you said it is good.

He is the type of thing that can create the types of things that have free will.

Uh while he is absolutely sovereign over all things.

Um now we're in chapter 16.

Yeah.

We're there.

We did it.

We did it.

Let's just uh let's say some stuff about some people and then we'll we'll try and wrap up.

Great.

We're getting we're bumping up on an hour.

Okay.

So, Phoebe, I commend to you, our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Sincerea, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and help her in whatever she may need for from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.

Why this commendation for Phoebe?

Most it seems like most solid commentators um uh think that Phoebe probably carried this letter to Rome.

Yep.

And it's because um uh it was the um it was the practice of letter writers at the time, and also Paul's common practice, to mention in just this sort of way the uh the commendation of the person who's carrying the letter.

So if you think about you're at the church and you're receiving this letter from Paul, uh there's this chain of um uh of ownership that's that's uh that's shown here.

I think it's uh wonderful that what he says about Phoebe, uh that she is she's the one that Paul commends to carry this precious word of God.

And she's been a patron of his.

Yes.

So he's been so she's been supporting this ministry.

Even going back to Jesus' ministry, it's interesting to notice that the financial support for the ministry was mostly through women.

And this is true throughout the whole New Testament.

It's very interesting.

It is and very uh um counter and I suppose offensive to the culture at the time.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm sure.

But they just had such involvement in the uh support of the work of the church.

The church, the early church was often derided as a religion for women and slaves.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And well, they're right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's it's to the the glory of God.

Exactly.

And then some greetings.

Do you want to say some cool stuff that you learned about some names?

Because Sure.

I uh first of all, I would recommend uh a sermon series for those interested in digging into this more.

Uh John MacArthur has a great uh set of sermons, uh a couple of sermons, I think, on Romans 16, going into some depth in this.

Uh so in verse 3, uh he says to greet Prissa and Aquila, my fa fellow workers in Christ.

Prissa and Aquila were all um that referred to as Priscilla and Aquila by Luke and in Acts.

And they were tent makers.

And so they're uh and and it seems like most likely Paul would have met them in the synagogue when he's uh teaching in the synagogue and and with the people in in the synagogue.

And at the time, the um the synagogue was had a few separations.

Where you sit was not only by men and women, uh typically women on one side, men on the other, but also organized by your occupation.

So uh it's likely that as a tent maker.

That as a tent maker they would be sitting together.

Yeah, wow.

And so thinking about from early ministry that um that uh that that these were close people, even just practically, because hey, we we do the same thing, we can talk about the same sort of stuff.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

And Prissa and Aquila stayed with Paul through his uh missionary journeys and and through his later life, even when most of his other companions left him in one way for one reason or another.

Yeah, yeah.

That's beautiful.

So they risked their necks for his life, uh, and and he he he points he points out other things besides.

I recommend listening to that that sermon series.

Um they also uh uh kept a church in their house, and so they're showing that hospitality.

Uh like was not too unconscious.

Yes, yes, they corrected uh Apollos, who was a great orator and speak and preacher of the word.

Yeah.

Epineetus uh was the first convert to Christ in Asia.

It's amazing that this first convert, uh, think think about what we said earlier about the first fruits as an offering.

Uh-huh.

So here is in Asia in the area of Turkey, the first convert in that region is now in Rome.

Yep.

And uh gets to be part of that community.

And he's in he himself is evidence of the work of Christ in building his church.

Yeah, yeah.

Um let's see.

We're uh let's see, there's uh so um Junior, so Andronicus and Junior uh were in Christ before Paul was before Paul was, and so this would have been they would have been with him in Jerusalem.

Right.

And part of the early church there, again traveling, again blessing the unity of the church of Christ.

Yeah, yeah.

And they're well known of the of the apostles as well.

So um what a wonderful thing to be mentioned in Holy Scripture.

Yes, just listed it uh in in this sort of way.

Um Narcissus seems to be uh of a high-ranking person in the nobility.

I don't remember the details of this, but um something about the possibility.

These are all this is a possibility, it isn't for sure.

So we don't know this for sure.

But there there was a Narcissus who was high ranking, and I if I remember correctly, I think his family uh once he died, uh, were then placed under the care, eventually under the care of Caesar, if I'm remembering that correctly.

Okay.

Um so you have very high-ranking people, as well as people from all over the world.

Um, this church in Rome was amazing.

Yeah, it was very diverse but unified.

Yes.

And uh, and think about the benefits, the the um good statement that Paul made earlier in the in the previous chapter about these these people.

They're able to instruct one another.

Yeah.

And they're full of goodness.

Yeah.

Uh uh Trifenia and Trifosa, um most likely sisters.

Uh the names are very similar.

It means dainty and delicate.

And uh so again, two two women, um, some um thinking that perhaps they're twins, but we don't really know.

We don't really know.

Um, and then I think wonderfully, greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

And a lot of commentators think that uh Rufus was the son of Simon who carried the cross of Christ.

Wow.

Amazing.

And now he's in Rome.

Uh again, we don't know this for sure.

Right.

Uh, but it seems an uncommon enough name, and particularly in the sense that he points out chosen in the Lord, yeah.

His brother is not mentioned.

So there's the possibility that his brother uh might not be a Christian.

Right.

Uh, but Rufus is, and in the church there.

And and he points out also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

And so you would think that i if this is the same Rufus, think about the possibility of this man Simon who carried the cross and what a testament that is, and that his family the testimony that his family would have, right, and that they're there, and Paul knows it, and Paul says, Oh, and greet and greet Rufus.

I know about Rufus.

It's just insane.

Yeah.

It's just insane.

Have you met Rufus?

Have you heard about his dad?

His dad carried Jesus' cross.

I mean, that's wild.

Yeah.

Uh so then uh concluding in verse 16, greet one another with a holy kiss.

All the churches of Christ greet you.

The importance here is that physical affection matters, and we know that.

Yeah.

Uh just oftentimes what we don't manage in the unity of the church by the words that we say, that's all broken down just by a hug.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

For sure.

There's uh uh thanks for taking us through that.

I I I loved the things that you'd heard and found there.

It's very cool to see.

Very cool.

And and you know, just sort of big picture, I guess.

Like there's this uh when Paul thinks of the churches, he thinks of the people that he loves in them.

And that's what we think of.

You know, that's where that's where the church is.

That's where his his ministry is.

Uh you just see that all over Paul.

Yes.

Uh the like I think in He cares about the people.

Yes.

Yes.

So it's very it's um Yeah, a work of love.

Final instructions and greetings are are these final warnings.

And the warning is to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.

Avoid them.

Then here's what he marks for such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

This is uh so you know, he's covetous of his people, and there is just this warning that there is uh such a vulnerability of the naive in the church to be taken advantage of by smooth talk, flattery for their own building up uh and just get taken in and twisted.

Like I feel like I see this all all I when I was at CU, you would see this all over college campus, all over campus, just like cults are are like college campuses are like a playground for cults because there's just like college students that are so easily manipulated and take advantage of.

But even in our church today, people are taken in taken in by false teaching.

And it really ought not be that way.

No.

We have clear instruction here how to prevent against that.

Yeah.

There's first of all, it's just the two words avoid them.

Yeah.

Uh, but also the how do we recognize these things?

Well, it says watch out for those who cause divisions and create create obstacles.

So people who tend to divide the body of Christ.

Right.

Um, and you see that often with cults and with um false doctrine.

It's um they it's a particular tactic that they intentionally use.

Yeah.

This isn't dividing by doctrine, this is dividing by a matter of um tactic.

Yes, exactly.

And create obstacles contrary to doctrine that you've been taught.

So he says to avoid them and for such and then he gives further um ways of seeing who these people are.

Such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.

And don't we see that among the cults?

They're they're full of their own glory and they're they're seeking money very tactically.

They don't care about the flock.

Right.

You can just look and see it.

And they use smooth talk and flattery.

Yep.

And and that is isn't that easy for us to get pulled aside.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, for sure.

One of my favorite parts of this is uh well, he wants you to be wise, wants us to be wise as to what is good, innocent as to what is evil.

Then I love this verse.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

And there's further greetings.

I love that it in verse 22, Paul, as it were, gives the the control of the pen and to his dick uh to his uh dictation.

Yeah, yeah.

Uh who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.

Yes.

Yeah.

It's very meta.

Yeah.

Breaking the fourth wall there.

Yeah, for sure.

Exactly.

Um and the other greetings from those that are with Paul.

Erastus, the city treasurer, Hugh mentioned, there's perhaps evidence that he was promoted.

He's also another nobility.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And there's evidence, historical evidence from the time that if this is the same person who's noted in in extra biblical sources, then it seems that he might have been promoted.

And again, his family becomes tied up in the nobility of um I this might be Herod.

I don't remember.

I'm not getting my facts straight, but nobility in the time.

Yeah, either way you see this the stretch of the church from the poorest slaves to the nobility of Rome.

Yes.

It's an incredible thing.

And then this final doxology.

It says, Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed, and through the prophets, excuse me, and through the prophetic writings, has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith, to the only wise God be glory forevermore, through Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Isn't that perfect to wrap this up?

Yeah.

It's a summary.

It's a perfect summary of what he's covering.

Yep.

And and it's fittingly a doxology.

How can you not break out into praise?

How can Paul stop himself from breaking out into praise?

Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

We should start back at the beginning of Romans.

Okay.

Here we go.

It's so good.

Gosh, it's so good.

Yes.

So how would you this is the end, I suppose, of our study of Romans.

Yeah.

How would you like to s to sum that up?

What would you think?

Um I mean, obviously the best summary we've just read.

Yeah.

So to summarize the book?

Yes.

Of Romans?

And our study.

And our study of it.

What have you taken?

What have you noticed?

What have you taken away?

You know, I think the form of the argument as a defense of the righteousness of God in saving sinners.

Uh was was really really stood out to me in this study.

I think we don't usually as earlier baby Christians think about this from the perspective of the most amazing thing about this is God did this sovereignly and righteously and righteously and full of mercy.

Aaron Ross Powell Yes.

And I think that the I think probably my first study of Romans it's just the second time I've done a study of Romans like this, like with like a small group Bible study.

My first one, it was all I can't believe the it was that he is just in the justifier, that he was the justifier.

I could it was just completely mind-blowing.

I just saw like the full s satisfaction of uh Righteousness.

Righteousness performed on my behalf in Christ was the thing that still, of course, that's why I'm that's why you're in this in this gig.

Yes.

And then but this time seeing the righteousness of God demonstrated through all of it, it it more and more starts to feel like the story of Christ is the it's the inevitable story.

It's like I must have this story.

It must have been this way.

That's the best story ever.

It's the best story ever.

And and uh it's so it's so like I need this to be true.

Um so I think the righteousness of God in saving sinners would be like a sort of a summary on this one for me.

How about you?

I think I'm most uh impressed by the sovereignty of God, which is of course related to this.

Uh but it's it seems like on every page, uh every verse, there's you even see it in in the style of writing of Paul.

Uh the way that these topics are woven together, um the truths that are contained in them, and the way that the interdependence is brought forth, uh, it it's such that you can you can study this for hours and days and weeks and months and years, and you know, rightly we we'll never stop looking into these truths.

But there's always more that comes out of it.

Yeah.

And it's always again to the glory of God, which again is what exactly what Paul is pointing out.

Right.

This is this is uh we serve a mighty, holy, sovereign God who amazingly loves us to such a depth.

Yeah.

Well, let's wrap there.

Thanks, Alan.

This was a great time again.

All right, see everyone.

Thanks for sticking with us through the Roman's study this year, and hope it was beneficial for you.

Goodbye.