Well, I invite you to turn tonight to Romans chapter 1 as we continue our study in the book of Romans. This is our second sermon tonight in this series, and tonight we'll be looking at verses 8 through 15, that's found on page 1116 in the Bibles that are in front of you. Tonight, beginning at verse 8, this is the word of the Lord. 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 always in my prayers asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 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 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 i am under obligation both to greeks and to barbarians both to the wise and to the foolish so i am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in rome may the lord bless the hearing of his word tonight introductions to epistles are some of the most fascinating sections of scripture to study they are often overlooked i think we're ready to move on to for i'm not ashamed of the gospel in verse 16, for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. That's the great statement in the book of Romans. But tonight it's healthy before we get to the central sections of Romans and move to the guilt, grace, and gratitude section of Romans to spend some time looking at Paul's opening remarks to this church. We began to do that last time, but we continue that tonight in verses 8 through 15. And I say up front that one of the challenges of ministry is that often both churches and pastors tend to, over time, lose focus as to what the ministry is all about. There is no shortage over time, just like life. We get weary with work and we continue and we lose the joy of work and the struggle of work the same sort of thing can happen in the ministry there's no shortage of conflicts difficulties that people go through conflicts in the life of the church fighting unhealthy relationships that often take place and that particularly can take place between a pastor and and his flock and then there's the challenge of deeply valuing the church in our day we tend it's just a natural thing that we do especially in our sort of post 60s era that we we don't like institutions much we don't trust institutions much and so we we easily complain about the church of jesus christ and take an unhealthy view toward the church or a sort of non-necessity view toward the church in what is intended to be a great blessing to us the same is true for pastors we can have so many problems or discouragements or challenges or even fallout that we can lose the joy of ministry can lose the heart of what we're doing and at times we got to be reoriented back to that that's i think what the churches in revelation that jesus addressed was constantly doing them especially that first church calling them back to their first love but tonight we have a beautiful passage set before us that helps us i believe to see the beautiful design of christian ministry the design of what the church is to be the design of how the church is to function and what is a healthy relationship that we see set out here from the beginning in the book of romans we see at the beginning of this book paul's love for the church a presentation here of what the church is to be in the world a place of of gospel ministry for people a place of encouragement for people maybe you know our world has doesn't have much a perspective of this because they've seen too many of the tv preachers asking for money and i know a lot of people who donated my family in south dakota used to donate to those guys and we tell him stop that paul's expressing here his desire to serve the saints in rome establish them in the faith he wants to be a blessing to them he wants to encourage them you saw that in tonight in hebrews um think about when you come to church a great responsibility is to stir up one another to love and good works, to mutually encourage one another in the faith. And Paul wants and is very concerned about fruit in the ministry, fruit in the ministry, especially here in Rome. And I think to myself, what a beautiful section to study tonight that we would remember. My sort of goal with this sermon in the short time we have tonight is to remember the blessing of the church. To think of the blessing of Christ's church. To treasure the church. To love the church. And in this way, we're challenged to pursue the design of what I believe is laid out here. It really does provide a good perspective in this opening of the epistle for what the church is to be and how it is to function. So I'd like to look at this great text tonight by considering Paul's love for the church, his perspective on this church, and his obligation to the church, all in the goal of advancing the gospel. So, his love, his perspective, and his obligation. In the previous verses, we considered Paul did something very powerful. He gave a brief introduction of himself since he had never been to Rome, he had never seen. This was obviously a church that had been formed. Think of Pentecost, when they heard them in their native tongues, and then the peoples went out and there were visitors from Rome there. A church had formed in the capital of the Roman Empire. It was an amazing thing. And here Paul introduced himself to establish who he is. I am Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle. And then remember last time, twice he included them in that. That their calling was just as important as members of the church. That they were called to belong to Jesus Christ. He purchased them with his blood. He loves them. And he was including them in the narrative, in the story. He wanted them to appreciate the sovereign work of God in their lives. I think of a psalm that says, Blessed is the man you choose to come before your courts. We don't think of church that way. God chose you to be here. God in his love elected you and loved you. And he included them in this. He wants them to understand tonight the importance of belonging to the church. We have the local church and then we have the church that spread about all over the world in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 8, he continues this. He continues his thought by saying, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. Because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. Paul is really mesmerized, if you will, that God planted a church, started a church, began a church right in the heart of the Roman Empire. First, I want you to know something, dear Romans. I'm on my knees over you. I am constantly praying for you. what a selfless act prayer is isn't it to constantly be in prayer on our knees for everyone else it's wonderful to do these visits and a dear old saint in this congregation i said what would you like me to pray for and she said pastor i've asked god for everything in my life why don't we just thank him see i get blessed by these visits more than they do that was a precious statement this is paul's attitude here he is so thankful that god raised up a church in rome and he wants them to know i'm thanking god i'm thanking god for you and i'm praying for you this was mostly a gentile church rome being in its strategic location god had done a work of grace in these saints in the city in the world's great superpower of the time rome was rome was something I thank my God that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. I don't think it was a very large church at this point. That's a remarkable statement, isn't it? Rome knows about you. People know about you. Your faith is being spoken of. God has done a surprising thing in Rome. I won't come into all the setting here, but I want to say this was no easy place to have a church. Paganism was everywhere. It was just expected at the time that you would bow down to Caesar as God. Did you know that Julius Caesar had a statute built with the inscription in Latin, Deo Invicto, to the unconquered God? Roman worship was everywhere. Paganism was everywhere. Sexual morality was everywhere. The politicians were as corrupt as Americans. politicians probably worse how did Paul look at things how do we we look at the state of our nation and we look at all that's happening and all the difficulties and we become discouraged I think the first point here to consider is how did Paul evaluate things life was no easier in the first century in fact persecution was a very real problem Nero is in the queue do you know what he did to Christians Paul might have said oh the world is falling apart everything is crumbling about us Nero's about to get an office that's not how Paul is thinking here he's overjoyed about one thing God raised up a church in Rome marveled him you realize the encouragement the church is intended to be for you i'm not simply speaking about the church in general here now i think it's important to say what about in the city of escondido what has god done for you we face all kinds of problems in this life but we have to look to the place where god's blessing and God's strength is found. I appreciated Dr. Godfrey's Sunday school this morning. We expect God to do all these, I love the word he chose, explosive things. But notice how Paul views what God is doing here. He's raised up a body of believers who love each other, who minister in the name of Christ who share each other's burdens who truly think about it in the church who truly love you who serve you talk about pure and undefiled religion who who pray for you who uphold you who minister to you who encourage you who provide for you if you have needs who help you who pray for your children who come alongside and write a note of encouragement to you our problem is that often what is most valuable in life is the thing that we take the grant the most grant to take for granted the most just like the people in our lives who we love the most we're hardest on them the most i'm sad for those who name the name of christian and are not part of the church i'm sad that we live in a time where so many can forsake the assembling and not have any idea of the blessing of this and they're alone and they hurt and they have no one to pray for them you can find problems everywhere you might ask what is god doing where is god in the midst of all of this? And what is God doing? And the answer for Paul would have been, you only have to look right in the church. He's raised up and preserved the people all over the face of the world, in all the cities of the world. Ever thought about this? And this challenges us tonight. What is the attitude and what is the value of the church? The church is the body of Christ. It's the people of christ purchased with his precious blood do we love the church do we see the intended blessing it is to be in our lives one of the crucial responsibilities is to pray for the church here and around the world for its evidence of god's work among us and look at the encouragement here your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world your commitment to jesus christ in the middle of the roman empire is a remarkable act of providence this whole section i believe up front is to be an encouraging section to revitalize and appreciate especially for the romans to appreciate what god has done for them but notice paul's perspective on the church you notice twice here that paul mentions three times his desire to come and to be with them he keeps saying this did you notice that verse 10 i'm asking god that i may succeed in coming to you i long to see you verse 11 verse 13 i want you to know brothers that i have often intended to come to you but thus far have been prevented what paul recognizes is is in god's work of doing something remarkable paul knew his calling as an apostle and to go around to bless the churches and encourage the churches and strengthen the churches he longed to be and visit this church this is not something to take for granted it is um it's important to recognize i'm not saying always read it but recognize god's providence paul did god doesn't just open doors easily it's not that the doors are hard for him to open it's that he's very strategic in what he does and he doesn't open them easily remember the church in philadelphia what jesus said to the church in philadelphia behold i have set an open door which no one is able to shut what that meant was a great door of opportunity was open in the city in first corinthians paul described his work in ephesus you know what he said for a great and effective door has been opened for me here he says i am staying here until pentecost because i realized the lord has opened up a door wide for the message the door was the door of opportunity the lord the lord had opened it wide for reaping you'll notice there's a little word that's used here i want to come to reap a harvest you realize the lord's doing this that the truth of the matter is the lord opens doors and the lord shuts doors the lord opens doors in certain places and then he shuts doors in certain places sometimes he shuts the door paul paul's heart was set on rome the capital of the roman empire to come and to be here why because what what paul saw here was that a door was open for the gospel do we think that's just normal when i was in college um i was up in eureka and uh i've told the story before but a little church that had been going through romans uh it was a non-to-non bible church that the entire church was going through romans and they get to chapter nine and they didn't know what to call it they get to the doctrine of election and the whole church became a presbyterian church an opc church and what was so wonderful is that this little church in pagan eureka california opened up and all of a sudden dozens of college students were coming from the next town over in arcada to attend this church we started a bible study and there were all sorts of college students coming out of the blue all of a sudden something was happening and something that i had rarely seen is that is that is that after church the news media wasn't there no one in the city was talking about it it wasn't some grand revival it was that after church people were opening the scriptures because they were hungry for the truth the ministry was flourishing the ministry it's remarkable the people you know at that time even that the weiss family was up there i remember them who remembers here now today that church is gone the door was closed god opens the door and closes the door think of second corinthians listen carefully furthermore when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, a door was opened to me by the Lord. Paul looks at Rome and he says, that's an open door. Notice what he says. But I was prevented. I think the Lord inspired this to show us the struggle of how much has to happen for the ministry to be set right. He says, therefore, we would have come to you, even I, Paul time and time again listen to this but Satan hindered us Satan hindered us he doesn't like open doors Paul is longing to be in Rome and in other cases he longed to be with the church but Satan hindered him the door at Bithynia was closed the spirit closed that door for some reason put a hand up you're not going over here to get to Rome And Paul had to travel by sea. You read the end of Acts. It's the most dangerous journey of his life. It's a fascinating thing of what happens here. He faced brutal storms to get to these believers. After a while, his boat got stuck in the reef. The bow of the boat remained unmovable. The stern was broken up by the reef. This is Acts. A deadly viper would come out and bite him. He was totally dependent on the hospitality of people along the way. He had no knowledge of where he was going to get his food. All to be with the people of the Lord. After all kinds of hardship, he finally made it to Rome. You know what ministry was like for the apostles? Well, I have worked much harder. I've been in prison more frequently. I've been flogged more severely. I've been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was pelted with stones. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I've been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from fellow Jews. In danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, in danger from false believers. I've labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and have gone without food. I have been cold and naked. Besides all this, I face daily all my concern for the churches. What a perspective tonight about Christian ministry when you think about that. I labor and worry about the churches. Paul loved the church. He saw that God had opened a door for the gospel in the capital of the empire. And he wanted to do anything he could to be with them. Now, don't you think it's wise to stop and to pause and to say, isn't that how we should view God's people? Think about it. In America, we've come to think that the church is some voluntary institution that is here for my personal desires and wants, and we have people who can barely get out of bed and come, who see the church as a hindrance to their lives. Paul longs to be with them. I say that not to shame, but to have us rethink our perspective on this. God has opened a door right here. Do you see it? He could have closed it years ago. There have been enough turmoil along the way to close it. There have been enough difficulty. Look at the families who were committed from the beginning. Look at the opportunity with seminary students. Be interested to count how many are here tonight. Look at the visitors. Look on Sunday morning, a swarm of visitors. Most of all, look at these committed people who love you, who are an encouragement to you. You're all on the same path. You're all headed to the same place. And God never meant for you to do this alone. But you want to. This is evidence right here of God's work. Of his work in this city. There are other faithful churches in this city. But you're sitting in one tonight where the door's open. In Escondido. That's how Paul looked at ministry, you see. See how important that is? He called office bearers to give themselves to shepherd the flock of God which was purchased with the blood of Christ. These people are loved by God. They're evidence of God's work. He loves these people. He loves you. When you are discouraged, when you're frustrated with what God is doing, look at the church. Look at the people he's brought together. Look at the encouragement you receive. Look at how much he has lifted you up and upheld you through the ministry of the word. Look how he has blessed you through the fellowship of believers. Paul longs to see them. Why? Now think about this. Why? Because selflessly, notice what he says. I want to impart to you some spiritual gift. And then verse 12, And I know that in me doing that, that we will be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, yours and mine. It's really a defining verse of ministry. I want to reach you, God sends pastors. I want to reach you to strengthen you. And I want to reach out. you notice there, so that there might be a great harvest of souls, especially among the Gentiles. You realize ministry is that? It's like bringing ripened crops as a gift before the Lord. You realize right now God is harvesting people. He's saving people through the ministry all over the world, in the cities where he's raised up churches. See the blessing of ministry. God, God sends servants who have their gifts to strengthen you, but he has, in this long anticipated section, you'll notice here that we might be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, our stories together. This anticipates Romans 12. We encourage one another having gifts that differ according to the grace he has given to us. Let us use them. We all have gifts differing according to the grace given to us. I think I've been given the gift to preach, so I better do it, right? But I'm not alone in that. You're just as vital. Use them, he says. God loves to use the gifts of all of you to mutually bless each other, strengthen each other, and that's evidence of his work. See, again, he's an apostle, but he incorporates them into the purpose of ministry. he's calling them to belong to christ in the same way and in whatever ways we are given gifts of the lord to strengthen each other to love the body to serve each other in america we have to say this has been our sort of perennial problem here is that christians see themselves as islands christians treat the faith as that as if they're on an island to themselves god never wired it that way god never set it up that way israel was a community the church is the fulfillment we are a community we do this together you can't do this on your own think of the proverb a man who isolates himself seeks his own desires he rages against all wise judgment proverbs 18 1 if the apostle said i need you to encourage me and by the way i need you to encourage me then i need it and you need it together that's the fellowship of believers that's the gospel fellowship that's why why we're brought together and paul concludes this by giving his perspective on the obligation that he has. Listen to verse 14. I'm under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish, to preach the gospel. The good news. That's what we're going to get into now. What is that good news? It's good news. I am a servant of Christ. Paul could have said many things about himself, but my calling is to minister the gospel to you he saw himself as the chief of sinners remember what i said last time this man was the greatest persecutor of the church early on his hand on his hands were the blood of stephen god had forgiven him of that but i think in god's providence god had allowed that to happen to keep Paul on his knees all his life. In humility, that he would recognize he is obligated as a saved child of God, think of this morning, to now preach grace to people, to help people to fulfill his calling in life so that a harvest might be reaped we get to the end of acts guess what paul is on house arrest in rome for two whole years last verses of acts for two whole years paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him he proclaimed the kingdom of god and taught about the lord jesus christ with all boldness and without hindrance paul sees this story as belonging to you too what paul's essentially saying is if i'm under obligation to preach the gospel in this life to bless you and if god has set this up for you to preach the gospel as the gift god gave him you too are under obligation not co coercively not in some forced manner that would be totally that would be the thing we talked about this morning with the pharisees but to say god redeemed us god has blessed us god has helped us god has encouraged us christ loves you christ died for you christ called you effectively in his by his spirit he upholds you and if you have in the same way as paul with the same story any idea of what you've been delivered from do we in the path you were on then you're under obligation to love his church that's no burden You're under obligation to mutually use your gifts to encourage the flock. You're under obligation to fulfill your calling as a debtor for the grace that you've received in thanksgiving to bless these people whom God loves. Paul says, I will be committed by his strength to preach the gospel to you and all who the Lord brings through those doors. When this kind of ministry happens, this door will not be shut. It's interesting to see why churches had their doors shut. Might it be because there was a compromise of the people and no longer listening to the gospel and no longer gathering to encourage one another all the more as they see the day approaching to learn how to love and stir up one another to good works. When this kind of ministry happens, the door is open. It's my prayer that the faith of the EURC would be spoken of in this city. If he could do that in Rome, he's doing that here, and I believe it is. So final encouragement, enjoy your church. Love your church. Join your church. Be a part of your church. Don't neglect the fellowship. This is a place of great harvest. Things are happening. Can't you see it? The biggest challenge is often our attitude to it. What a blessing. God has made you members of the household of faith. May we give ourselves together for Christ, His gospel, and His kingdom. That kind of love, that kind of response pleases him and his church. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for your church and your kingdom. Thank you for blessing the ministry of the gospel. Thank you for this design that is laid out here. We confess we try to do this alone and bear our problems ourselves. We need your ministry. We need each other. We need the fellowship. Help us, O Lord, to think about how to be a blessing to each other here. and to long to be with each other. These are the people we will spend eternity with. Thank you for what you've done all over the world in raising up a people who love you, who are your church called to be set apart to Jesus Christ. And may your gospel in this place continue to be believed, preached, and may it flourish in the lives of your people as they give themselves upon the sacrifice and service of each other's faith. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.