WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:18.000 Our reading for today is taken from Romans chapter 15 verses 14 to 33 and it's on page 1142 of the church bibles which should hopefully be maybe somewhere near you. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:18.000 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:48.439 These are full of goodness, filled with the knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Yet I have written to you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. 00:00:48.439 --> 00:01:00.599 He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:22.700 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done, by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. 00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:30.359 So, from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 00:01:31.060 --> 00:01:39.400 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:49.100 Rather, as it is written, those who were not told about him will see and those who have not heard will understand. 00:01:49.099 --> 00:01:53.539 This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you. 00:01:54.819 --> 00:02:06.159 But now, that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. 00:02:07.039 --> 00:02:17.219 I hope to see you while passing through and that you will assist me on my journey there, and after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:23.300 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem, in the service of the Lord's people there. 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:31.479 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord's people in Jerusalem. 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:35.759 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:44.300 For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 00:02:44.300 --> 00:02:53.640 So, after I have completed this task, and I have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. 00:02:54.460 --> 00:02:59.500 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ. 00:02:59.500 --> 00:03:10.360 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:20.479 Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea, and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favourably received by the Lord's people there, 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:27.360 so that I may come to you with joy by God's will, and in your company be refreshed. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:31.460 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. 00:03:33.500 --> 00:03:36.480 Great, thank you, Vanessa. Let's pray as we come to God's word. Let's pray. 00:03:39.640 --> 00:03:48.600 Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word to us, and we pray this morning that you might help us to listen carefully to what you say to us. 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:56.539 Father, we want this to be not just an exercise of me downloading information from my brain into others, 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:02.840 but we want this to be us as your people, listening to you and your word speak by your Spirit to us. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:05.780 So we pray that you'll be at work this morning. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:13.419 Save us from distractions or hard-heartedness, that we might listen and submit to your word, we pray. 00:04:13.560 --> 00:04:15.620 In Jesus' name. Amen. 00:04:15.620 --> 00:04:15.799 Amen. 00:04:15.799 --> 00:04:15.840 Amen. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:15.879 Amen. 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:15.879 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:15.879 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:23.780 Well, this is the penultimate sermon in the Book of Romans for us. 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:27.420 So we have been working our way through the Book of Romans since September last year, 00:04:27.540 --> 00:04:32.080 and we are very close to the end, and we'll finish it off next Sunday morning. 00:04:33.260 --> 00:04:35.480 Let me start with a little story for you, though. 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:39.860 R.J. Balson & Sons is a butcher shop in Dorset. 00:04:39.860 --> 00:04:44.620 It's a fairly ordinary shop, but its claim to fame is what? 00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:47.860 What do you think its claim to fame might be? 00:04:48.600 --> 00:04:50.280 Let me tell you. 00:04:50.879 --> 00:05:00.580 It opened in 1515, making it the oldest family business in the country. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:04.660 So they supplied sausages to Henry VIII's fleet of ships, 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:10.960 and they reckon that the Mary Rose sank in the Solent because they were carrying too many sausages. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:12.879 Whether that's true or not, I don't know. 00:05:13.359 --> 00:05:15.899 But this guy on the picture is Richard Balson. 00:05:16.019 --> 00:05:22.599 He is the 25th generation of Balsons to run the shop, and he has been doing so for over 50 years. 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:26.439 Now, the simple point is this that I want to make from that little story, 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:30.799 is that to be born a Balson is to be born a butcher, right? 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:36.079 If you are in the Balson family, you are also in the Balson butcher shop. 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:38.639 Those things go together. It's part of the family. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:43.259 Part of the family, you're part of the business, generation after generation. 00:05:43.900 --> 00:05:49.460 And what I want to show you at the end of the book of Romans is that Paul has a very similar attitude to the life of the church. 00:05:49.459 --> 00:06:01.399 He says that coming to know Christ, coming to be part of his family, sharing in salvation, means also belonging to the family business. 00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:05.740 Not a butcher's business, providing sausages to Tudor ships, 00:06:06.099 --> 00:06:09.879 but instead the family business of taking the gospel to the nations, 00:06:10.620 --> 00:06:13.659 telling others the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:16.819 Now, we don't have lots of time this morning. 00:06:16.819 --> 00:06:19.699 I want to make sure that we have plenty of time for the baptisms at the end of the service, 00:06:19.779 --> 00:06:23.540 but I want to show you three things from the passage about this family business. 00:06:24.219 --> 00:06:27.800 I want to show you firstly how Paul and then the Roman church relate to it, 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:30.540 and then come to how we relate to it at the end. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:32.300 So let's start with Paul the pioneer. 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:33.740 Paul the pioneer. 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:39.759 Here the point is to see that Paul has a unique pioneering role in the family business. 00:06:40.379 --> 00:06:44.000 If you look down at the second half of verse 16, you'll notice it. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:44.959 Let me read it to you. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:50.359 He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God 00:06:50.359 --> 00:06:54.659 so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, 00:06:55.219 --> 00:06:56.939 sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:04.179 Paul here is a pioneer commissioned with the gospel to take it to the Gentiles. 00:07:04.919 --> 00:07:08.539 Paul becomes the apostle who takes the message of a Jewish savior 00:07:08.540 --> 00:07:15.379 to non-Jewish people, to the nations, reaching beyond Jerusalem to those you've never heard. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:19.720 And this role is both serious for Paul, it's important to him, 00:07:19.960 --> 00:07:22.320 and also it's something that he is doing through the Lord's strength. 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:23.500 Look down at verse 18. 00:07:23.500 --> 00:07:28.560 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:32.000 in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done, 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:36.759 by the power of signs and wonders through the power of the Spirit of God. 00:07:37.339 --> 00:07:39.620 So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:41.459 I have fully proclaimed the gospel of God. 00:07:42.019 --> 00:07:45.620 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known 00:07:45.620 --> 00:07:48.399 so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:51.519 Notice that Paul is fully focused here. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:54.339 This is the only thing I want to talk about, this mission. 00:07:54.839 --> 00:07:58.859 I have been all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum, which is in modern-day Albania. 00:07:59.379 --> 00:08:00.560 But he's not boasting. 00:08:00.979 --> 00:08:02.859 He's not saying, oh, look at all these things I've done. 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:05.639 Instead, he knows it's not been done in his own strength. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:08.699 Christ has accomplished it through me, he says. 00:08:09.019 --> 00:08:12.120 I've done it as God, the owner of the family business, 00:08:12.219 --> 00:08:15.539 has enabled me to do it by the power of the Spirit and with signs and wonders. 00:08:16.819 --> 00:08:20.899 This is Paul's obedience to God on the mission of Christ 00:08:20.899 --> 00:08:26.599 in the power of the Spirit as Paul pioneers the church to new places to people who've never heard 00:08:26.599 --> 00:08:31.060 and people who would have assumed that without Paul, the gospel was not for them. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:38.000 It's worth noticing that this role of Paul the pioneer just comes up over and over again in the New Testament. 00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:39.959 If you're a Bible reader, you'll have noticed it. 00:08:40.340 --> 00:08:43.039 We might skip over it as being fairly unimportant, 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:46.079 but if you read it, you'll realize that the New Testament, 00:08:46.219 --> 00:08:48.500 the persistent false teaching of the New Testament, 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:51.579 is that you have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian. 00:08:52.379 --> 00:08:55.319 And so Paul, who is the Jew of Jews, he was a Pharisee, 00:08:55.620 --> 00:08:59.360 is chosen by Christ to demonstrate that that is not true, 00:08:59.699 --> 00:09:03.120 that God's intention was always that the nations would come to him, 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:06.480 not through the Jewish nation, but through faith in Jesus Christ. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:11.560 And so as soon as Paul is converted, Jesus sends Ananias to Paul saying, 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:16.039 Go, this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:18.480 and their kings and to the people of Israel. 00:09:19.080 --> 00:09:22.539 He is my tool to take the gospel beyond Israel to the nations. 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:27.120 In Acts 20, Paul tells the elders of the Ephesian church 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:29.899 that I consider my life worth nothing to me. 00:09:30.460 --> 00:09:34.680 My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, 00:09:34.679 --> 00:09:38.039 the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:42.079 Even in this epistle to the Romans that we've been looking at, 00:09:42.379 --> 00:09:44.659 he starts with his mission to the Gentiles. 00:09:45.259 --> 00:09:47.579 Through him, we've received grace and apostleship 00:09:47.579 --> 00:09:53.919 to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name's sake. 00:09:54.959 --> 00:09:55.759 And so that's it here. 00:09:56.339 --> 00:09:59.000 And really the very existence of our church this morning, 00:09:59.479 --> 00:10:02.719 the fact that we are gathered here confident in the name of Jesus, 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:06.320 knowing that this Jewish Messiah is not just for Jews, 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:07.360 but is for the nations, 00:10:07.700 --> 00:10:12.340 is because Paul, the pioneer by the Spirit of God 00:10:12.340 --> 00:10:15.379 on the mission of Jesus Christ, did a good job. 00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:19.940 Now, before we move on, though, just notice the detail of this with me. 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.100 Notice his priestly language in verse 16. 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:23.800 So look back down at verse 16 00:10:23.800 --> 00:10:27.700 and see that Paul pictures himself as essentially an Old Testament Jewish priest. 00:10:27.700 --> 00:10:29.200 This is fascinating, right? 00:10:29.259 --> 00:10:33.420 So he is picturing himself as being the Old Testament Jewish priest, 00:10:33.580 --> 00:10:37.020 but the offering that he is bringing is the Gentile nations. 00:10:37.820 --> 00:10:40.840 Now, what is it that would make these Gentile nations 00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:44.320 an offering that is acceptable and pleasing to God? 00:10:44.980 --> 00:10:46.180 Well, you might expect, mightn't you, 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:47.220 that Paul would say, 00:10:47.300 --> 00:10:51.759 well, I bring the nations as a sacrifice in this kind of temple-like language 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:54.140 through obedience to the Jewish law. 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:55.620 That might be what you would expect. 00:10:55.620 --> 00:10:57.060 But he doesn't say that, does he? 00:10:57.100 --> 00:10:57.919 Look down at verse 16, 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:02.139 and you'll notice that it is through his proclamation of the gospel of God 00:11:02.139 --> 00:11:04.679 and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. 00:11:05.560 --> 00:11:08.240 In other words, Paul preaches this message about Jesus, 00:11:08.340 --> 00:11:09.899 and he is like the Old Testament priest, 00:11:10.259 --> 00:11:14.399 bringing the nations who by the gospel and through the Spirit 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:16.779 are made acceptable to God himself. 00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:19.820 Holy, sanctified, 00:11:20.259 --> 00:11:23.919 even Gentile nations who'd never been anywhere near the temple of Jerusalem 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:25.899 or anywhere near a circumcision knife. 00:11:26.779 --> 00:11:28.360 Paul is the pioneer. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:32.019 Secondly, notice Rome, the home, right? 00:11:32.339 --> 00:11:33.019 Rome, the home. 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:34.939 These are wasted on you, 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:38.599 but that was an achievement for me thinking Rome, the home, this week, right? 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:41.919 Trying to make this interesting and engaging for you 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:45.099 as we think about the place of Rome in the mission of Paul. 00:11:45.599 --> 00:11:50.039 Rome is to become the home of Paul's missionary journey onwards. 00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:52.779 So we're not yet at our role in this. 00:11:52.839 --> 00:11:53.759 We're going to get to that in a moment, 00:11:53.839 --> 00:11:55.799 but let's grapple first with what Paul is saying 00:11:55.799 --> 00:11:58.699 the Roman church will be involved with. 00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:00.559 Notice how he does this. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:04.259 He explains why he's written the letter to the church. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:08.059 And notice that he's not written his letter because the church is ignorant. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:10.839 That's surprising, I suggest to you, 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:14.679 that you might have assumed that Paul writes the letter of Romans 00:12:14.679 --> 00:12:17.120 to the Roman church because they are ignorant of a few things, 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:18.720 and he wants to fill in the blanks. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:21.620 That is the case in other New Testament letters. 00:12:22.100 --> 00:12:25.179 The letter of 1 Thessalonians is written because Paul is concerned 00:12:25.179 --> 00:12:30.120 that the Thessalonian church are not ignorant of what happens when people die. 00:12:30.659 --> 00:12:33.299 So he writes the letter of 1 Thessalonians to fill them in. 00:12:33.700 --> 00:12:35.039 But that's not what's going on here. 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:36.220 In fact, it's the opposite. 00:12:36.460 --> 00:12:37.440 Look at verse 14. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:40.379 I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:43.019 that you yourselves are full of goodness, 00:12:43.539 --> 00:12:44.500 filled with knowledge, 00:12:44.500 --> 00:12:46.700 and competent to instruct one another. 00:12:47.419 --> 00:12:50.360 Yet I have written to you quite boldly on some points 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:54.879 to remind you of them again because of the grace God gave me. 00:12:55.659 --> 00:12:56.419 Here it is then. 00:12:56.519 --> 00:12:58.840 Paul is not writing the letter to write new things, 00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:03.100 but rather he's writing boldly to remind them of stuff they already know 00:13:03.100 --> 00:13:06.879 because of the grace or really the mission that God has given to him 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:08.720 as the pioneer of the gospel to the nations. 00:13:10.200 --> 00:13:11.059 Now, just think with me. 00:13:11.059 --> 00:13:13.039 What is the link between these two things? 00:13:13.099 --> 00:13:17.159 What's the link between Paul's writing and Paul's mission? 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:19.799 Notice here, right? 00:13:19.839 --> 00:13:23.759 Paul writes to remind the church of things they already know. 00:13:24.439 --> 00:13:28.019 And it's because they already know them that Paul has not visited them yet. 00:13:28.719 --> 00:13:30.419 If you look at verse 22, he says, 00:13:30.500 --> 00:13:33.519 this is why I have been often hindered from coming to you 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:36.879 because you're not on my list of places that have never heard the gospel. 00:13:37.299 --> 00:13:40.439 So you've not been on my list, so I've not come to you. 00:13:40.980 --> 00:13:43.520 Instead, I am now writing to you. 00:13:44.400 --> 00:13:45.940 And why is he writing to them? 00:13:46.040 --> 00:13:51.740 Because he wants them to be the people who send him onwards to his mission to Spain. 00:13:52.200 --> 00:13:53.360 Look at verse 23. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:57.220 But now there is no more place for me to work in these regions. 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:00.180 And since I've been longing for many years to visit you, 00:14:00.260 --> 00:14:02.320 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. 00:14:02.840 --> 00:14:04.920 I hope to see you while passing through 00:14:04.920 --> 00:14:07.800 and to have you assist me on my journey there 00:14:07.800 --> 00:14:10.060 after I've enjoyed your company for a while. 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:11.740 Here it is then. 00:14:11.800 --> 00:14:13.320 This is why Paul writes Romans, 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:18.800 because he believes that reminding the Roman church of the gospel they already know 00:14:18.800 --> 00:14:24.360 will fuel them to join in with his mission that he's on to the nations, 00:14:25.020 --> 00:14:26.700 specifically going to Spain. 00:14:26.700 --> 00:14:29.700 Now just think about it. 00:14:29.700 --> 00:14:35.280 It's his writing of the gospel that inspires them to join in with his mission. 00:14:35.860 --> 00:14:39.680 In other words, Paul is not just treating Rome like a pit stop on the way to Spain. 00:14:40.220 --> 00:14:42.700 You know, the Roman church is not like the motorway services 00:14:42.700 --> 00:14:44.560 where you just kind of have a brief loo stop, 00:14:44.660 --> 00:14:46.759 pick up a few sweets and a coffee and then carry on. 00:14:47.220 --> 00:14:49.140 No, he wants to spend time in Rome. 00:14:49.240 --> 00:14:50.560 He wants to enjoy their company. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.079 He wants them to invest in his onward journey and assist him. 00:14:55.319 --> 00:14:57.199 We're going to think about the application of that in a moment. 00:14:57.319 --> 00:15:02.979 But notice that Paul gives a concrete example of this Roman church responsibility for the gospel in Spain. 00:15:03.339 --> 00:15:10.159 How can Paul assume that a church in Rome has a responsibility for people in Spain hearing about Christ? 00:15:10.819 --> 00:15:12.839 What responsibility do they have? 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:18.679 Well, look, he goes to tell you about this Macedonian church that's collecting for the church in Jerusalem. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:22.539 In verses 25 to 27, he's saying, before I get to you in Rome, 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:26.559 I've got to go back to Jerusalem with this money that I've been collecting from the Macedonian church, 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:28.819 which they've given to the church in Jerusalem. 00:15:29.299 --> 00:15:30.339 Why would he tell them? 00:15:31.259 --> 00:15:34.240 Well, because he wants them to know that actually the church in Macedonia 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:38.919 has an obligation to the church in Rome because they're in Christ. 00:15:38.919 --> 00:15:42.139 And so they should share in their wealth with one another. 00:15:42.459 --> 00:15:44.839 They should support one another even when they don't know each other. 00:15:45.459 --> 00:15:51.659 Spain, Rome and Jerusalem are all connected because they are all part of the family business. 00:15:52.819 --> 00:15:56.659 And Paul here assumes that the church in Rome will become a home base for him 00:15:56.659 --> 00:15:59.219 as they pray and refresh him on his way. 00:15:59.899 --> 00:16:01.079 So take a look at verse 30. 00:16:01.579 --> 00:16:05.439 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus and by the love of the Spirit 00:16:05.439 --> 00:16:08.039 to join me in my struggle by praying for me. 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:12.039 Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:18.719 and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord's people there 00:16:18.719 --> 00:16:24.199 so that I may be able to come to you with joy by God's will and in your company be refreshed. 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:28.659 I don't know if you know the story about what happens next, 00:16:28.779 --> 00:16:32.159 but Paul arrives in Jerusalem and he is pretty quickly arrested. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:37.719 Miraculously, though, he is kept safe, even under arrest. 00:16:37.839 --> 00:16:40.679 Even arresting him helps to keep him safe. 00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:46.519 And he travels as a prisoner of the empire to stand trial before Caesar eventually getting to Rome. 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:50.059 Paul, the pioneer of the gospel to the nations, 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:53.980 Rome, the home of his mission west. 00:16:53.980 --> 00:16:57.500 And let's spend the rest of our time thinking about where that leaves us. 00:16:58.340 --> 00:17:00.120 Kilburn, the custodians. 00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:02.920 Now that's it here, right? 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:04.380 It's taken us a time to get here. 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:09.519 I want to do this carefully because I want you to see that although Romans 15 is not written directly to us, 00:17:09.559 --> 00:17:11.319 it is written for us. 00:17:12.360 --> 00:17:13.460 We're not Paul the pioneer. 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:14.640 We're not Rome the home. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:19.160 But still this baton of the family business has now passed down to us in this room. 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:21.019 It belongs to us. 00:17:21.019 --> 00:17:23.759 We, if you like, have the keys of the shop for now. 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:25.720 We will hand them on to others. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:30.680 And although the situation has changed and although the generation of apostolic witness 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:34.240 and establishing the church has happened, still our work is not done. 00:17:35.019 --> 00:17:36.359 And this is our time. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:39.759 And we're to take the gospel message to the people and the nations around us. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:45.039 We are to pick up this great commission to make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Lord Jesus. 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:50.859 So let's generalize some of the principles that we found in chapter 15. 00:17:51.019 --> 00:17:52.660 And see how they apply to us. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:53.759 Firstly, notice this. 00:17:54.019 --> 00:17:57.139 Motivation for mission comes from a deeper understanding. 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:02.220 My ability to alliterate finished with these headings. 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:03.940 So they're just more mundane. 00:18:04.220 --> 00:18:04.920 But notice this. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:05.779 This is really important. 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:10.980 Paul assumes, doesn't he, that the Roman church having a richer, 00:18:11.639 --> 00:18:14.480 deeper understanding of the gospel that they already know 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:17.559 will motivate them to be involved in mission. 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:25.099 Paul writes in detail to these people things they already know who are competent and mature already. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:28.940 And his assumption is that they hear about Jesus more and more and more. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:33.940 They will be motivated more deeply to be involved in his mission. 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:41.519 Of course, it means, doesn't it, that if you yourself this morning find yourself unmotivated to tell others about Jesus, 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:47.340 if you're passive to the plight of the lost in your family or your friendship group or your workplace, 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:51.480 the problem might not be that you don't know the gospel at all, 00:18:52.059 --> 00:18:53.559 but that you're not pondering it deeply. 00:18:53.559 --> 00:18:56.980 You're not really listening to the gospel on repeat. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:01.200 Because if you were, you would be motivated. 00:19:03.019 --> 00:19:04.220 Maybe that's a little bit offensive. 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:05.619 I don't want to offend you this morning. 00:19:05.659 --> 00:19:07.179 But maybe you think, well, Steve, don't say that to me. 00:19:07.220 --> 00:19:07.899 I know the gospel. 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:09.419 I know the gospel really clearly. 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:11.619 I knew the gospel while you were still in nappy, Steve. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:14.139 I don't need church to tell me the gospel. 00:19:14.259 --> 00:19:14.919 I know that already. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:16.599 I want the church to tell me new things. 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:21.059 I want church to give me kind of practical help with the situations that I face. 00:19:21.059 --> 00:19:25.039 But let me say that's not how Paul thinks the Christian life works. 00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:28.559 Paul thinks the Christian life works, that the church works, 00:19:28.639 --> 00:19:33.119 and it is established as we are perpetually reminded of things that we know 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:36.539 so that we might give ourselves more fully to them. 00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:39.200 Think about it like going to the gym. 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:43.000 Well, I don't go to the gym, so I'm speaking in complete ignorance about the gym. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:48.299 But I think it's pretty fair to say that to benefit from going to the gym, 00:19:48.460 --> 00:19:50.679 you need to go more than once, right? 00:19:52.059 --> 00:19:54.799 You know, if you go to the gym once, 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:59.919 even if you have the best time that you've ever had in the gym when you go once, 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.119 you know, you go in, you walk in, you're wearing all the gear. 00:20:03.419 --> 00:20:05.220 You really look the part, and everyone's like, 00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:07.159 oh, they look like they know what they're doing. 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:09.480 And you push more weights than you've ever done before. 00:20:10.119 --> 00:20:11.139 You know, the music was great. 00:20:11.220 --> 00:20:13.720 You had a great time with your friends in the gym. 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:18.640 But let me say, you do not benefit from going unless you also go the next day, 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:21.640 and the day after, and the day after. 00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:25.000 The benefits of the gym are secured by repetition. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:26.660 I don't go to the gym. 00:20:26.660 --> 00:20:27.800 I walk a dog, right? 00:20:27.840 --> 00:20:30.000 I've got a dog, and I'm up early in the morning walking the dog. 00:20:30.560 --> 00:20:33.300 And, you know, I get up before Queen's Park is open, 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:35.500 the joggers run around the edge of Queen's Park, right? 00:20:35.600 --> 00:20:38.840 And on the Monday after the London Marathon, 00:20:39.580 --> 00:20:41.140 there are loads of joggers. 00:20:41.140 --> 00:20:42.740 They've obviously watched the London Marathon on TV, 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:45.060 and they think, oh, I should, I'm going to start running. 00:20:45.480 --> 00:20:46.080 I'm going to start running. 00:20:46.140 --> 00:20:49.520 So they're there in their on-cloud trainers and their Lululemon outfit. 00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:50.140 Is that right? 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:51.460 That's what they're wearing, right? 00:20:51.860 --> 00:20:52.800 Yeah, and their AirPods in. 00:20:52.840 --> 00:20:53.980 They look the part, right? 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:57.980 But then the next week, when it's raining, yeah, 00:20:58.420 --> 00:21:02.020 it's just me and the guy in his three-quarter shorts, 00:21:02.140 --> 00:21:05.800 old pair of trainers, and his shell suit jacket that I see every morning. 00:21:06.120 --> 00:21:06.980 It's just me and him again. 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:09.920 And really, who is it that's actually benefiting 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:11.620 from walking around the park or jogging around the park? 00:21:11.660 --> 00:21:13.920 It's me and him, because we're there every morning. 00:21:14.500 --> 00:21:15.940 Rain or shine, we're doing it. 00:21:16.560 --> 00:21:18.660 And it's like that with the Christian life. 00:21:20.180 --> 00:21:23.640 If we're going to be part of the family business, 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:25.960 if we're going to be motivated for mission, 00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:29.519 if we're going to grow and flourish in our Christian lives, 00:21:29.640 --> 00:21:31.740 it's not new information that we need. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.779 It's the old information, deeply understood, 00:21:35.120 --> 00:21:38.380 richly appropriated, taken in and in and in. 00:21:38.380 --> 00:21:40.680 That's what the church in Rome needed, 00:21:40.740 --> 00:21:42.920 not a new revelation, but a deep reminder. 00:21:43.780 --> 00:21:47.540 And so Paul writes to them, and he writes to you and me. 00:21:48.840 --> 00:21:51.480 So we want to play the part, don't we, that God has called us to. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:54.180 We want to play the part in the mission of God 00:21:54.180 --> 00:21:56.280 through the work of Christ, by the power of the Spirit. 00:21:56.780 --> 00:21:59.380 And so we need to be perpetually reminded of the gospel. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.160 So we do want church to be brilliant, right? 00:22:02.220 --> 00:22:04.080 We do want you to really enjoy being here. 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:06.599 We want you to experience and feel the glory of what God has done. 00:22:06.939 --> 00:22:10.319 But if you want the gains of church, keep coming. 00:22:11.179 --> 00:22:12.419 Week in, week out. 00:22:13.199 --> 00:22:16.319 You know, the gains of church are really felt when you turn up 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:19.839 on a wet Sunday morning when brunch in bed seemed like a better option. 00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:23.599 Or when you go to community group on a chilly Tuesday evening 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:25.059 when you've had a bad day at work 00:22:25.059 --> 00:22:27.000 and it's the last thing you really want to do. 00:22:27.919 --> 00:22:30.000 And it's not because you're earning God's favor, 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:33.839 but because spiritual gains come from repetition and remembering. 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:35.660 That's the first point. 00:22:36.339 --> 00:22:38.539 Motivation for mission comes from a deeper understanding. 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:43.299 Second implication, notice the priority of the unreached. 00:22:43.960 --> 00:22:45.359 The priority of the unreached. 00:22:46.019 --> 00:22:49.220 We've seen carefully, haven't we, how Paul had a specific job, right? 00:22:49.500 --> 00:22:52.339 Breaking the Christian church out of the Jewish nation, right? 00:22:52.380 --> 00:22:53.319 That is not your job. 00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:54.039 It's not my job. 00:22:54.099 --> 00:22:54.740 It's been done. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:57.259 We don't have to make it our ambition to preach 00:22:57.259 --> 00:22:59.460 where Christ was not known like Paul does here. 00:22:59.460 --> 00:23:02.980 That seems to be uniquely his role for which he's given a special calling, 00:23:03.380 --> 00:23:04.860 a special empowering of the Spirit. 00:23:05.360 --> 00:23:09.079 It doesn't suggest that the church in Rome should be doing exactly what he's doing. 00:23:10.120 --> 00:23:12.340 But even still, even with those caveats in place, 00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:15.380 what you can see here is that there's a relentless commitment 00:23:15.380 --> 00:23:18.840 to taking the gospel to people who've never heard. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:22.960 There is, if you like, inside the gospel itself, 00:23:23.059 --> 00:23:28.019 an outward force to spread to the places and the people who are yet to hear. 00:23:28.019 --> 00:23:33.299 So the reminding of the gospel and the deeply understanding of the gospel 00:23:33.299 --> 00:23:38.619 through reading his letter is to motivate them to go to people who've never heard, 00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:41.539 sending them to the lost and the least. 00:23:43.299 --> 00:23:45.680 Let me just turn this on its head for a moment this morning. 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:47.819 Maybe you're here and you're a visitor and you're not a Christian 00:23:47.819 --> 00:23:50.379 and you think this is all very interesting, but what has it got to do with me? 00:23:50.380 --> 00:23:53.140 Maybe you think, do you know what, I'm not from a Christian home. 00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:57.800 I've very rarely, if ever, been in a church building before. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:02.140 And maybe you think, well, I know what Christians are like. 00:24:02.660 --> 00:24:03.940 I know the clothes they wear. 00:24:04.600 --> 00:24:05.700 I know the things they do. 00:24:06.380 --> 00:24:09.240 I'm not really a Christian type, perhaps you think. 00:24:10.040 --> 00:24:14.760 Or maybe the country of origin that you're from is one that is hostile to the gospel. 00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:19.700 So it's just, it's never occurred to you that being a Christian might be something for you. 00:24:20.619 --> 00:24:26.119 Well, let me say to you this morning that this message of the gospel is for you. 00:24:27.019 --> 00:24:29.859 Christ came for you. 00:24:30.180 --> 00:24:32.220 He came for the lost and the overlooked. 00:24:32.680 --> 00:24:37.660 In fact, he came especially for those who think it's nothing to do with them. 00:24:37.660 --> 00:24:44.540 Because he is the most glorified as he takes people from even the far-flung corners of the world 00:24:44.540 --> 00:24:46.840 or the darkest corners of our neighborhood. 00:24:47.100 --> 00:24:50.620 And he rescues them by his grace and his mercy for his glory. 00:24:51.840 --> 00:24:53.800 And he calls to you this morning. 00:24:54.500 --> 00:24:56.900 You who think in your mind, hey, this isn't really for me. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:24:57.860 I'm not that kind of person. 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:01.279 He says, no, I'm exactly the person for you. 00:25:01.420 --> 00:25:03.420 I'm exactly the savior you need. 00:25:03.420 --> 00:25:08.000 You need saving from your sin and I alone can do it. 00:25:10.779 --> 00:25:12.539 Maybe you are a Christian this morning. 00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:20.320 Then you need to understand, don't you, that the gospel message sends you to the least and the lost 00:25:20.320 --> 00:25:23.240 and the lonely and the disconnected and the forgotten and the distant. 00:25:24.420 --> 00:25:25.900 It sent Paul to Spain. 00:25:26.060 --> 00:25:31.420 It commissioned the church in Rome to be a launchpad for mission to a country that they'd never been to. 00:25:31.420 --> 00:25:35.200 And it sends you and I to our neighbors who we don't know so well. 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:41.120 It sends us to volunteer in the youth ministry with children who we find it hard maybe to love. 00:25:41.660 --> 00:25:43.440 It sends us to the no-go estate. 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:45.640 It sends us to the homeless and the broken. 00:25:46.220 --> 00:25:49.259 It sends us to the people on the street who nobody else talks to. 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:53.279 It sends us to the people that we're maybe uniquely equipped to reach. 00:25:53.740 --> 00:25:58.640 And it says the gospel is being given to you for them and their benefit. 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.000 It says the gospel is being given to you for them. 00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:02.060 I've been thinking about it this week. 00:26:02.140 --> 00:26:08.640 What do you want the fruit in church life to be from like 10 months studying the book of Romans? 00:26:09.240 --> 00:26:12.180 It's a lot of Sunday sermons, yeah, in the book of Romans. 00:26:13.259 --> 00:26:15.040 What do you want the fruit to be on that? 00:26:15.100 --> 00:26:23.840 Well, I really do hope that as a church we are clearer on our definitions of word like sin and grace and justification. 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:31.079 I hope if you've been listening to the series that you know a little bit better about what sanctification means and what it means to grow in holiness. 00:26:32.139 --> 00:26:40.759 I hope you know a bit more about what life by the Spirit is and what it means to be full of the Spirit of God and to know that all things are working together for our good. 00:26:40.819 --> 00:26:41.639 I hope you know that. 00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:55.480 But I think really we will know as a church if we have really engaged with the book of Romans, if we find in our hearts a newer, richer, deeper motivation for mission. 00:26:56.840 --> 00:27:00.840 A passion that we never had before for those who have never heard the gospel. 00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:05.539 We'll be a church that doesn't just invite our mates to church, which is a great thing to do. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:06.559 I hope you do invite them. 00:27:06.879 --> 00:27:07.720 We'd love to have them. 00:27:07.899 --> 00:27:09.299 But we also invite the stranger. 00:27:10.779 --> 00:27:14.220 We express the concern for the work of the gospel far away from here. 00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:16.559 Perhaps I could put it this way. 00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:25.759 I don't think that the test of your theological soundness, if we can put it like that, is not just what you might write down in answers to a set of questions. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:30.119 No, the test of your theological soundness is your love for the lost. 00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:32.199 Do you love the lost? 00:27:33.059 --> 00:27:39.519 And if you don't love the lost, those outside of Christ, your problem is not just a heart problem. 00:27:39.659 --> 00:27:40.959 It's a theology problem. 00:27:41.859 --> 00:27:43.740 You don't yet really understand. 00:27:44.399 --> 00:27:45.939 You have not yet listened. 00:27:46.819 --> 00:27:53.659 Because concern for the lost for no other reason other than the fact that they're lost outside of Christ, that is the fruit of good theology. 00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:55.319 There you go. 00:27:55.639 --> 00:27:57.079 The priority of the unreached. 00:27:57.079 --> 00:28:00.819 Thirdly, partnership always means praying. 00:28:02.439 --> 00:28:06.879 I've never been to R.J. Balson and Sons Butcher's Shop in Dorset. 00:28:07.379 --> 00:28:08.659 I kind of feel like going though now. 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:10.599 I don't know about you, but it might be quite interesting. 00:28:10.599 --> 00:28:16.000 I would imagine that not everybody in the shop does the same job, right? 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:18.440 They're not all making sausages. 00:28:19.059 --> 00:28:20.599 They're not all working on the till. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:22.319 They're not all doing deliveries. 00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:28.140 When I used to go and help in my uncle's butcher's shop, my job was to take sheep's hearts and put them in bags. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:30.799 I loved that as a kid because they felt kind of funky, right? 00:28:30.839 --> 00:28:31.680 And you put them in a bag. 00:28:31.980 --> 00:28:32.920 Gross, I know, but there you go. 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:33.519 That was my job. 00:28:33.980 --> 00:28:35.059 They all have different roles. 00:28:35.619 --> 00:28:36.819 And that's it here, isn't it? 00:28:36.900 --> 00:28:39.400 We've all got different roles in the mission, right? 00:28:39.460 --> 00:28:43.039 In the family business of taking the gospel to the nations, we are not all the same. 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:45.059 We're not all pioneering like Paul. 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:49.180 We're not going to be the church in Rome necessarily, but we are all part of the business. 00:28:49.659 --> 00:28:54.319 And if you're part of the business, there is one job that we all do. 00:28:55.019 --> 00:28:56.279 It doesn't matter who you are. 00:28:56.680 --> 00:28:57.980 It doesn't matter what your gifts are. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:01.019 It doesn't matter where you live or where you've been put. 00:29:01.139 --> 00:29:02.019 This is your job. 00:29:02.099 --> 00:29:02.720 It's my job. 00:29:02.779 --> 00:29:03.779 It's all of our jobs. 00:29:04.779 --> 00:29:04.960 Pray. 00:29:05.879 --> 00:29:06.139 Pray. 00:29:07.339 --> 00:29:09.659 Notice how urgent this is in verse 30. 00:29:09.660 --> 00:29:23.800 Urgent, says Paul. 00:29:24.740 --> 00:29:29.660 Son, spirit, father, pray for me, he says. 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:33.800 And he wants them to join in his struggle by praying. 00:29:33.799 --> 00:29:39.559 It's this idea, isn't it, that he is struggling with opposition and shipwrecks and persecutions. 00:29:39.819 --> 00:29:43.399 But also it's this struggle to get the gospel out to the nations. 00:29:43.940 --> 00:29:45.879 Join with me in that struggle. 00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:50.680 Partner with me in the mission by praying. 00:29:51.539 --> 00:29:52.359 By praying. 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:55.700 Praying that Paul would be kept safe. 00:29:56.379 --> 00:29:58.000 Praying that he'd be favorably received. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:03.839 And so for you and me, if I can give you a really concrete application from the sermon this morning, 00:30:03.940 --> 00:30:09.460 it'd be to go to the missions board at the back, grab the London City Mission prayer news or the open door prayer news, 00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:13.799 and just say, I'm going to pray for something in here every day this week. 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:15.940 Because that is our job. 00:30:16.740 --> 00:30:18.160 This is the family business. 00:30:18.539 --> 00:30:20.579 And this is the role that we all have. 00:30:21.460 --> 00:30:26.299 The other concrete application would be to come to the central prayer meeting on Wednesday this week and pray. 00:30:26.299 --> 00:30:35.200 Join the struggle as we work together with the saints in all of history to take the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ to those who've never heard it before. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:37.240 This is our job. 00:30:37.899 --> 00:30:39.279 This is our family business. 00:30:40.019 --> 00:30:42.659 And praying is the job we all need to do. 00:30:43.339 --> 00:30:45.379 Let me pray as I close. 00:30:45.380 --> 00:31:07.940 Heavenly Father, we thank you that we are sat together in this room because faithful men and women down through the years have listened to this call to take the gospel to people who've never heard it. 00:31:07.940 --> 00:31:11.820 So we want to thank you for the people who told us. 00:31:12.840 --> 00:31:19.860 Parents, uncles, aunts, Sunday school teachers, youth workers, strangers, colleagues. 00:31:19.859 --> 00:31:31.659 And Lord, we want to pray that you might so help us to understand the gospel that we are sent out to others to join in with this mission. 00:31:32.519 --> 00:31:35.219 And Lord, we recognize that we all have a slightly different part to play. 00:31:35.879 --> 00:31:37.159 We all know different people. 00:31:37.619 --> 00:31:39.019 We all have different gifts. 00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:40.559 We're all in different places. 00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:46.139 And yet, Lord, we pray especially that you might make us faithful to this call to pray. 00:31:47.159 --> 00:31:53.399 That the good news of the Lord Jesus might spread to others, even as we ask in his name and for his glory. 00:31:54.059 --> 00:31:54.339 Amen.