Giving That Pleases God

tonight we turn in our bibles to the book of romans the book of romans we conclude chapter 15 and then just one chapter left and we will have gone through the whole book of romans and tonight's passage if you're looking for a page number is found on page 1208 in your pew bibles 12.08. This is Romans chapter 15 tonight. And I will begin reading at verse 14 to the end of the chapter. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. Actually, I'm sorry, verse 22. This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you. I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service 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. Amen. And amen. There ends the reading of God's Word. Well, if there is anything that needs to be recovered today, it is an understanding that being a pastor is a calling from God. One of the more discouraging things that I have witnessed in the ministry is an attitude of those looking for a call that they are going to go to the place that most appeals to them. It seems to me that when a pastoral call is being considered today, the last question asked anymore is the question, is the Lord calling me to this particular church to minister? Is the Lord calling? Ministry today seems to be looked at in terms of our own likes and our own dislikes, our own dreams and our own aspirations. Everyone's concerned about the size of the church and everyone's concerned about money. And no one begins first with the question, it seems, what does the Lord want in this? Everyone's worried about potential growth, potential this, potential that. Has God called me to minister to this flock in this place? A very important question. And I think in this whole thing that we have forgotten that the Christian ministry is a calling from God is a calling from God given for us to fulfill a need that He has determined to be met through us to a people that He has selected for that need to be met. The gospel minister and the gospel ministry really does come with a kind of burden. It's the kind of heartfelt burden that is put upon a man when they hear the call from the man from Macedonia, come and help us come help us we need help we need the message we need the gospel tonight's passage is helping a church understand how this all happens paul longed to visit the church in rome but necessities elsewhere had prevented him from going to Rome. And he had just written this powerful epistle to them. He admitted last time that the things that he wrote often were bold, and yet through it all, he had never seen them. He didn't even know them. And he spoke with such affection for them as if he was their own pastor. It was really remarkable last time. And there was a major challenge, though, between these two, Paul and Rome, they had never met. They had heard so much about the Apostle Paul. And, you know, in those days, they didn't have MP3 players. They didn't have CD players. They couldn't get on the Internet and listen. They didn't have cameras. They didn't even know what the guy looked like. The church had never seen the Apostle Paul. And so there had been this relationship. Paul viewed Rome as a very special, the church in rome is a very remarkable work by the lord it sat in the heart of rome this was a remarkable work of the lord and tonight's passage is really given as an encouragement to them to help them think through this dilemma he wants to explain to them why he can't come and you say well why does that matter for us i mean here we're reading this in 2014 and we're reading about Paul's struggle to want to go to the church in Rome, what does this even matter? And I say, it's very important tonight. It's very important because what is one of our great frustrations as a church today? What is one of our great frustrations as the Escondido United Reformed Church? Well, look around. All we see is us. This is all we, you know, sometimes we really know. And we forget that across the face of this big world, there are millions, and there have been millions of believers, brothers and sisters in Christ. And here we are in this small little federation of reformed churches. You know, are we really that important in the big picture? It's easy for a church to forget what they're a part of. It's easy for a church not to get a whole picture as to what they're sharing in and what it's all about and what they contribute to, nor do they understand what they're giving to the greater project, how they're giving to that greater project. And it's easy for a church to become an island to itself, a kind of closed box to itself and forgetting. As the apostle is going to show here, that right now we share with the saints in every place this glorious evangelization, God's evangelization plan of the nations. You are a part of that, a very integral part of that. And it goes without saying that a church that doesn't understand that, doesn't understand purpose, will have no real direction. It will have no real heart. It will have no real focus. And I believe what the Apostle Paul is doing here tonight is encouraging this church in Rome that they share with him in this. They share with the great Apostle Paul in this ministry, even though he would have never said, great. And he encourages them in their giving for the gospel. And then he ends this. So there's three things he's really doing tonight. He's encouraging them that they share with this. He's encouraging them in their giving for the gospel. and he's encouraging them to share with him in praying for the gospel. And that's really the breakup of this passage. I did come up with the three-point sermon today. Look at verse 22. He begins with mutual encouragement. This is the reason I have been so often hindered from coming to you. Desperately, he wanted to go to Rome. What hindered him? Well, he quoted it in Isaiah 52. he quotes what hindered him in isaiah 52 right before that to whom he was not announced they shall see and those who have not heard shall understand paul had been given a specific mission from the lord he had been given a specific calling from the lord and remember what christ said to ananias when paul was when he told ananias you go baptize him he's a chosen vessel of mine what did the lord say paul's mission would be he said this he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before gentiles and kings and the children of israel and you can find that outline right here three classifications gentiles kings and the children of Israel. The latter two are shown to us in Acts. He fulfilled that. But it's interesting what he's saying here to the Roman Christians. It's a remarkable statement. What hindered him from going right to Rome if he wanted to go there so much? It was because he had been fulfilling the calling that the Lord had given him in the Gentile regions. Did you notice what he says there? Right after that, in verse 22, but now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions. That is really a remarkable statement. You hear what he just said? I fulfilled it. I'm done. I did my job. I fulfilled my calling to the Gentiles. I'm done with these regions, Asia, Macedonia, Greece. He, notice here, this Macedonian Greece is the emphasis. He just gave his ministry plans. But I love to think about for a moment this beautiful thing that he fulfilled the calling God gave him. You ever think about how important that is to say? You remember Paul would say to the Ephesian elders, I didn't shun from teaching you all these three years the whole counsel of God. I did what I was called to do. we really do see a kind of servant's heart here and you see the heart that this man has for people because now he lays before them his plans that's saying i've longed to come to you in rome i hope to see you in passing as i go to spain and then he tells them in verse 25 that before he can come to them he first has to go to jerusalem now why is he telling them all this why why kind of raise the hopes and say well i'm going to see you in passing and but first i got to go to jerusalem then i'll get to you we know that the lord gave paul this specific mission but here's the heart paul went where he knew god was calling him to go and he so believed in that calling that it was so specifically defined by the lord that he had to fulfill it exactly as the lord had determined it we move when God makes that clear to us. We go when He wants us to go. And that was very important for the church in Rome to understand. Churches need to understand this. Every servant must have that. It's a servant's heart that understands that this is a ministry of God sending and taking and sending and taking. Ultimately, sure, He works with our desires and He works with who we are, but ultimately it's Him. I told you when I was wrestling with the call here, I went through a period of intense turmoil, especially as I had prayed, you know, I'll go to Escondido, and then he gave me the answer, and I fought it. I did not want to go. And then it was opened up. As soon as I got here and started ministering, I knew this is where the Lord had me. It's been the greatest blessing. I love being here. I have not looked back. But my point here as I raise that is people didn't understand that whole process. You wouldn't believe all the different things that were said to me in the whole pastoral call process. One person who, dear brother, who really struggled and wrote me and says, you know, you've said to us, you've said, you tell us not to leave a church and you leave a church. It was hard. It was really hard for me. It was hard for all of us just to leave. But at the end of the day, what was it? What was it that moves a pastor and these things happen? It was because God had given that call, and I had been firmly convinced of that. This is important for a church to understand. Why is it so important? Because we don't understand the complexity that goes on in the sending of a pastor. Have you ever thought about how much work the Lord really does for His church? I'm not saying it's hard for Him. I want you to think about the amazing, detailed work the Lord does for His church. Look at this big world, boys and girls. He has his church spread throughout the face of the earth. You recognize all the detail, all the care over the face of the world. He is constantly raising up and training servants to be sent out to go. They go when he says. And the Lord gives each one specific personalities and specific gifts that he knew beforehand. Think of Jeremiah in the womb. He knew beforehand, and he prepared them to be specifically sent to a people that they would fit with. I used to pray in seminary for the church that I never saw that the Lord would send me to. Who would it be? What would it look like? A particular assignment given, and all of the different needs, think about all the different nations spread about on the face of the earth, and think of all the different needs, and all the different hardships, and dangers, and afflictions in certain parts of the world, and all the challenges that encompass this great ministry of the gospel going out to the nations. Do you ever stop and think about what a wondrous work it is that God sends a servant? It's incredibly complex. We could never fit that together. It's a puzzle we could never complete. It's really beautiful. When you think about the church spread over the face of the earth and a particular man is placed here and a particular man is sent there to fit the people. It's overwhelming when you think about how much work actually goes into this and the Lord never wanted the churches to take that for granted. This is why Jesus said pray to the Lord of the harvest to send. Sending requires a lot of thought. Sending requires a lot of work to go into a man because pastors are pieces of work and it takes a lot of crafting. And churches who don't understand this can learn the hard way. They can learn the hard way. Apostle Paul essentially is saying to this church, dear church, dear church in Rome, dear brothers and sisters, this is the reason I haven't been able to come. My calling, my gifts, where the Lord sent me were needed at a specific place, at a specific time. The need there was so great that the goal's almost there. I want to get to you. I want to get to you. but I first have to go to Jerusalem. Now, why is Paul saying that? He's concerned to know that they would understand that he loved this church. I think every pastor should communicate that. I know as pastors we fail, but I do, I have an affection and love for this church. It should be communicated, that's healthy. Paul wanted them to understand he loved them. He was excited that God had raised up a church in Rome. And what a wonderful thing when I look at a church and think God specifically raised up that church and those people and fitted them all together as a glorious body, part of the glorious body of Christ, of living stones being built up. But he gave you this community and formed you and fitted you together. And Paul wanted them to understand this main point tonight. he wanted them to understand how integral that church was to his ministry. We could ask this, is the Escondido URC really significant in the whole picture of Christ's kingdom and work? Tonight, we don't feel it. You sit here and you think, are we really that significant? Does it really matter what we're doing? You know what Paul would have said? Yes! You are very significant. You're a church of Jesus Christ. he built you so what does paul do then at this point he begins to encourage them look at what he says when i go to spain i want to see you in passing to be helped on my journey there by you once i have enjoyed your fellowship your company for a while um it's really fascinating if you were to kind of link this up with chapter one it really does it's almost, there's a break in the sentence. It almost fits right together with chapter one. It's as if he picked it right back up from chapter one after all the instruction. And he said, and remember what he said back in chapter one, I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. I want to give something to you to strengthen you. That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I want you to notice the mutual emphasis that Paul keeps giving here in chapter one and now back at the end. It's mutual. It's mutual. I'm going to give you something. I want you to know I'm sent to give you something, but I need you too. That as that happens, there would be mutual strengthening, mutual encouragement. Why do I love this tonight? Because Paul never viewed the ministry only as the ordained servants doing all the work while the people were only. And I emphasize, yes, you are receivers. Receivers of something wonderful. Only receivers and only spectators. In other words, he's telling them that the servants that God raises up need each other. They need the church. They can't do the ministry without the church. There is no ministry without the church. There is no sending and going without them. I want to strengthen you. That's my goal, says Paul. Then he says something really important in verse 24. I need to be helped on my journey there by you. I need assistance. The word is important. The word could mean a whole bunch of kind of helps. Paul is asking this church, this is a specific request, he's asking this church to help him forward toward the goal. Now that he's leaving the Macedonia region, his home church couldn't do it. His home church in Antioch couldn't continue to be a supporting church. So he's saying, I need you to do it. You see how important that is to the cause of the whole, the church is. In one request, this is the Apostle Paul, he's looking at a church he's never seen, way out in Rome, and he's saying, I need you to keep me going in the greatest cause that God has ever given to man. Think about how remarkable this request is. Do you ever think about the effect of one faithful gospel preacher? Have you ever thought about the effect of one faithful gospel preacher? I mean faithful. How much effect that has on people? How many children converted? How many souls pulled out of the fire? How many people rescued? What's the price on that? What's the price on that? You know, I think about all the encouragement that I had along the way. People who are dead and gone now. Bob Dendulk. Bob Dendulk, I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for Bob Dendulk. God used servants. The Christian Reformed Church paid a chunk of my seminary education. And I didn't have to pay it back. We have a seminary in our backyard. Hundreds of pastors have gone out into the world to preach. Who are recipients of my ministry? It's you. people in Linden? How do you really help forward people? Do you see this? Helping forward is the word here. How do you help forward people? Paul wants you to know you're a part of this. You are an integral part of this. There is a whole warfare going on here and out there. And in the midst of that, God is raising up and sending preachers. And He does this for your benefit. He does this for those people in glory one day that you don't see right now that you'll see. Jesus said, this gospel will be preached as all the world is a witness, then the end will come. This is His plan. This is what He's doing. This is why you're here. He's evangelizing the world through you. And Paul encourages the church at this point. And I want you to notice how he encourages the church. he says, then dear brothers and sisters, you need to understand your giving for the gospel is how this happens. Your giving for the gospel is how this happens. Look at verse 25. At present, however, I'm going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it and indeed they owe it to them for if the gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings you know we talked about tonight you say lord give us this day our daily bread how does he do that he just said it through you it's an amazing section the gentile churches in macedonia and Micaiah, took up an offering for this poor church in Jerusalem. The Jews were very poor in Jerusalem and Paul sees that as, whoa, that's a barrier breaker. The Gentiles taking up an offering for the Jews in Jerusalem who they don't even know and who there's been this. I'm going first to Jerusalem, says Paul, to minister to them because of the generosity of the Gentile churches. I am so excited to minister the gift of God's people to the Jews, the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. In fact, the churches in Macedonia were such an encouragement to Paul. He used them to really, in a roundabout way, convict Corinth. Corinth was a wealthy church, and these poor churches put to shame Corinth in their giving. Paul was excited about this. He was wanting to encourage the Roman church i want you to see what's going on here he needed it from them he's asking it from them and he's saying this is what's going on in the churches abroad you need to understand this it's a sign of what we're a part of and what marks a healthy church is a giving church in fact their giving was proof of their thankfulness for the gospel these churches in macedonia and acaa were like the woman putting in her little mite in the treasury. They were poor and they gave abundantly. It meant more to them than all the riches. I'm convicted by it. There's a responsibility. Did you see it in verse 27? It pleased them to give and they are debtors. The Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things. Then their duty is to minister to them in material things. They owe it. Look at what they've been given. And here is where the root was. Here was where the tree was, you know. How much have you been given tonight? I've mentioned before, I know you guys have had faithful preachers. And if you look over the course of your life, sitting under ministers who faithfully delivered the Christian gospel, there is a sense in which you're a debtor. The Lord's given you everything. but to those who don't have this or to those who need this. And we have an opportunity in this city. I read an article not too long ago in Christianity Today, not always a beacon of light, but it was an article on hard economic times. And the article basically talked about why giving might be more stable in an economically hard time. And so it was a really intriguing article to me. The premise of the article was, if it is a faithful church, it was never sustained on the rich anyways. You think they're going to give more wealth if they're losing it? Give it away? It said this, when Americans earn less money following the Great Depression, they gave more. When the income went up, they begin to give less of it away. Interesting, isn't it? I think it was James Boyce I was reading not too long ago on a study on giving, and he mentioned this. He says those in the U.S., those below the poverty line, give about 5% of their income to charitable causes. Those in the middle, slightly more, about 7%. But the highest bracket, 100,000 or more, guess how much? 2%. If the Lord stood here and looked over budgets, and it's so uncomfortable for a pastor to talk to this. Have you ever seen those guys on TBN? I don't want to be that. But you've got to do it. It's all over the Scriptures. And if the Lord stood and looked at budgets and priorities, what would He say? What would it reveal? And I speak to me. Are we giving for causes that are for the advancement of the gospel? Or are we giving for every little thing under the sun? What are priorities? When we print in the bulletin that we have needs and they're not met, is that a good witness? Even in that, you know what's amazing? The Lord doesn't take a hammer to us. He doesn't come and beat us over the head and say, you start giving. He doesn't do that. He says, you know, I want a cheerful giver. I want people who will give freely with a cheerful heart because they love what I've done for them. He could rain money from heaven. Wouldn't that be great, boys and girls? But he doesn't do that. he uses you. He uses his people to advance his gospel. You Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, this is in Macedonia, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent help for my needs once and again. Ministry doesn't go forward without you. It's a mystery. God doesn't advance this without the gifts of his people so notice the two i need the pastors need mutual encouragement from the church they can't do it without the church they're giving and you're giving you give to to continue this gospel ministry but there's one other great way you can give and that's how he closes this what does he say verse notice there in verse um 30 i appeal to you brothers by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company may the God of peace be with you all the final quality of a healthy giving church is what? You're praying. Did you catch that? I plead with you, strive together with me. See the mutual again here? Mutual efforts, mutual working. Strive with me and do what? Pray. I need you to pray for me. I need you to pray for two reasons. Why do you need to pray tonight? Because there's so much opposition to this. You have no idea how great the opposition is. You have no idea the spiritual warfare that the ministry is under. You guys have no idea what's really going on behind the scenes here. You have no idea what the devil, oh, he wants to get in here bad. He wants to disrupt this whole thing with some division. Something the elders have to deal with that'll split the whole thing apart. Oh, he wants to come in. You've got false ideas, false doctrines. I need you to pray for the church. I need you to pray for the pastors. I need you to pray for the elders and the deacons that we would do our job faithfully and that the devil would be kept far away. In the next section, the next chapter, what does he warn against? At the very end of the epistle, there's all these people causing divisions in the life of the church, contrary to the doctrine which you've learned. I need you to avoid them. Don't listen to them, which means all these people were listening to them. You know, the Lord opens and closes doors. But it's always fascinated me that Paul said to the Thessalonian church in 1 Thessalonians 2, we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. Therefore, we wanted to come to you, even I, Paul, time and time again, but Satan hindered us. Oh, he's doing that. Satan's hindering. And the way Satan's hindering stops, guess what? It's through your prayer. I need you to pray for the warfare is fierce and then I need you to pray for one other reason. I love what he says here. That my service would be acceptable to the saints. Pray for your pastors that their service would be acceptable. We are weak. Pray for your leaders that would be acceptable. Pray that the ministry would fit God's design and His will and not our own. Pray that His name would be glorified and His gospel preached sincerely. Pray that the design of it as God ordained it, and when Christ gave that commission, it would be fulfilled. I always loved what Samuel said about Samuel when he was being ordained. And the Lord let none of his words fall to the ground. Always been my favorite passage for ministry, asking the Lord that that would be the case. And the Lord wants you to know tonight you're involved in that. You share in this. What an encouragement in your calling tonight then. How can we support the gospel advancement? You've got a whole bunch of ways that were just outlined. You've got a bunch of causes around you that are right and good. You can start by mutually encouraging in the ministry. You can start by giving to that which advances the gospel. And you can pray. And what an encouragement for the saints in the Escondido United Reformed Church that you are loved by the Lord. And that you are a church that is integral to the whole. And so let us think of ourselves as such. Let's pray together tonight. Oh Lord our God, we bow the head in thanksgiving. for your encouragement to the churches and encouraging this church tonight. You've provided so abundantly for us. And help us to have cheerful hearts in our giving and praying in our service. Being thankful that the gospel ministry you are sending pastors to the ends of the earth, fitting it together in your perfect and good design so that on that day when we are in glory we will see a multitude no man can number and we will stand back and say Lord you did a marvelous work and we are so thankful to have been a part of that building of your kingdom forgive us for selfishness and may our eyes be fixed on the goal pastor and people alike in Jesus name we pray Amen