MISSION: How can we be ambitious with the Gospel?
(ASD 8 & 10am 28th September. Romans – a letter that makes sense of life, by Andrew Ollerton – pgs. 229-end)
Revd. Emma Racklyeft – Vicar at All Saints, Denmead
Our adventure through the letter to the Romans is nearly over! We have climbed one of the highest peaks in the Bible and enjoyed spectacular views. We’ve learnt lots - expanding our minds and applying to our hearts, lives and our church community. Today we come to the final descent, chapters 15 (which we’ve just heard) and chapter 16.
So, as we launch in one last time, let’s pray first:
Almighty God, we thank you for Paul and his letter to the Romans. Thank you that we too can read and learn from it today. As we consider these final words inspire, encourage and shape us, that we might be bold in sharing the good news of Jesus – his life, death and resurrection – our hope and salvation. Amen
Paul’s passion and energy for mission were unrelenting. By the time he dictated his letter to the Romans, he had already clocked up some impressive stats, all before sat navs, google maps, or budget flights!
Paul had travelled approx. 10000 miles! He’d preached the gospel from Jerusalem, through modern day Turkey and round to Greece. He’d planted 10 churches, written at least 10 foundational letters, established friends all around the empire and spent several spells in prison.
As Paul now scopes out his next missional journey, whilst resting in Corinth, his plans are ever ambitious.
Paul makes clear that he intends to travel to Jerusalem to deliver a gift he has collected for Jewish believers who are in a state of severe poverty. After visiting Jerusalem, Paul intended to sail to Rome, where he would finally meet the recipients of his great letter for the first time. He was clearly excited by the prospect and asked them to pray for safety, ‘so that I may come to you with joy, by God's will, and in your company be refreshed.’ Then Paul would head to southern Spain opening a new frontier of mission.
Now we know what actually happened from the book of Acts. Paul made it to Jerusalem and delivered the financial gift. But then he was falsely accused and arrested by the Jewish authorities. After an attempt to assassinate him, he was moved up the coast to Caesarea, where he was kept behind bars for two years. We can read about this in Acts 23 and 24.
As a last roll of the dice, Paul claimed his right as a Roman citizen to be tried by Caesar. So, finally, he set sail for Rome as planned. Only it didn't go to plan. His vessel was shipped wrecked in a storm off the island of Malta. Paul and the other passengers made it to land, only for a poisonous Viper to latch on to his arm! Needless to say, he miraculously survived.
In Acts 27-28 we learn that Paul, after months of further delay, around AD58 Paul entered Rome as a political prisoner under house arrest. Not quite what he had in mind when he shared his plans in Romans 15.
Instead of arriving in Rome a free man, ready to launch into Spain, Paul arrives in chains. He must have felt confused, why did God allow this to happen? He must have felt despair, how can anything good come from this?
These were dark, dark moments that Paul faced, dark, moments that we all face – times where we feel broken, dejected, fearful and low. Times when life doesn’t go to plan….
For Paul, this was where the rubber meets the road… The recipients of Paul’s letter, those early Christians in Rome must have wondered whether Paul really practised what he preached. Was Paul still confident in the gospel. Did he still believe that ‘God works for the good of those who love him’ after assassination attempts, shipwrecks and snakebites? Could Paul still declare that ‘nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God’ while on death row?
The final verses of Acts record how Paul conducted himself when in Rome. Despite the sense of fear, failure and set back, for two whole years Paul proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, with all boldness and without hindrance.
Paul’s confidence in the gospel and his commitment to share it remain constant whatever the circumstances. Despite his plans being torn up, Paul was still committed to playing his part in the onward mission.
While under house arrest in Rome, elite members of the praetorian guard would have been chained to Paul on a rotation basis. Ever the opportunist, Paul considered them to be his captive audience and shared the gospel with them, and with anyone else who visited. Paul also wrote several letters waiting sentence, Ephesians Philippians Colossians and Philemon.
I wonder how do we respond when our hopes, dreams and plans are thwarted? When we face metaphorical storms, shipwrecks and snakebites. When we face difficulties, ill-health, disappointments, do we give up? Do we lose faith? Do we stop trusting? Do we spiral down and down?
The Bible never promises life will be easy - even when we are on a mission with God. But the Scriptures do provide a limitless source of encouragement, truth, resilience and hope that helps us keep our heads above water. As Romans 5 promises, tough times develop perseverance and strength, which cultivate hope – and hope does not put us to shame (Romans 5:5).
In Romans 15, several phrases reveal the motivation that inspired Paul to keep going on mission, to keep sharing the good news about Jesus, no matter what. None of them are about increasing his own status, comfort or influence.
Paul cites several Old Testament texts which reveal God's plan to redeem Israel and use them as a light to the surrounding nations. Now this plan failed because Israel failed to live as God's holy people.
However, Paul deliberately picks up on phrases describing Israel’s calling and applies them to himself. As Paul shared the gospel with Gentiles from other nations, he understood himself to be fulfilling the vacation of God's people that stretched right back to Abraham: ‘all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’.
Romans 15 therefore provides a rhetorical climax to the whole letter, before the closing greetings in chapter 16. It echoes back to the opening verses, where Paul introduced Jesus as a ‘descendant of David’ who fulfils what was ‘promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures’.
In Romans 15, Paul quotes from each section of the Hebrew Bible, the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, to show that when Jews and gentiles worship together, it bears witness to all creation of what God has done in Jesus, is doing through the Spirit, and will do in the end.
Now in Rome, as small gatherings of Christians from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds met across the city, they were turning these scriptural promises into a reality. That's why unity, hospitality, welcome and acceptance remain so important for God's people today. These are not just nice ideals but an essential part of our mission.
The ultimate goal of the gospel is that God should receive praise from a renewed humanity comprising people from every language and culture. After all, Israel’s God ‘did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all.’ (8:32)
The motivation that pulsates through Paul's missionary zeal was therefore that Jews and gentiles may ‘with one mind and one voice glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Now it’s worth noting that mission comes from the Latin word ‘missio’, meaning ‘to send’. It alludes to the fact that the gospel involves a double movement. First and foremost, the gospel invites us in. Having been justified by grace, ‘we have peace with our God’(Romans 5:1) Spiritually we are relocated. Our new status is ‘in Christ’, and this enables us to approach God as our Father, secure in the knowledge that we are ‘co-heirs’ with Jesus.
However, the gospel also sends us out. The Father commissions asked to go into a broken world to share the hope that Jesus has secured. In Jesus words, ‘we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth’ (Matthew 5: 13-14).
But how do we actually do this?
How can we put mission into practise?
Well Romans 15 gives us three very basic principles which we can all use.
- Whom can I bless today? How can I show acts of kindness and love.
- To be constantly praying to God and asking, what does the Holy Spirit want me to say or do?
- How can I guide this conversation towards Jesus? How can I speak words of truth, hope and encouragement?
For a long time, the church has centred on mission services at church, or evangelistic courses, and praying for people to turn up…(now all of these are important, and I’m not saying we should throw them out) but we need to recognise, that like the Christians living in Rome, we live in a society today were a whole generation has emerged that know next to nothing about the Bible or Christianity, and so the church, needs to discover fresh and creative ways to communicate the unchanging gospel, in an every changing world.
And for this we need pioneers… we need each one of us, every day, wherever we are based, (home, school, college, work, at a community group, at the shops, in the hospital) to live out these basic principles -
- Whom can I bless today? How can I show acts of kindness and love.
- To be constantly praying to God and asking, what does the Holy Spirit want me to say or do?
- How can I guide this conversation towards Jesus? How can I speak words of truth, hope and encouragement?
If each of us (that’s me too) could live in this way, we would see the most amazing things happen all around, lives touched and changed by God’s Spirit, people encountering Jesus, sinners saved – God’s goodness and mercy abounding.
And so, just like that our adventure through Romans comes to an end. How have you found it? Were you able to navigate the complex landscape or did you get a bit lost? What did you enjoy the most?
Perhaps it was the main ascent from the valley of sin, up the crux of salvation and along the narrow ridge of freedom? Or maybe you enjoyed the panoramic views from the summit of hope and glimpsing God's great purpose for Israel as we pass through the cloud of mystery? Or perhaps you enjoyed the practical sections on the way down, the descent of devotion and the return to community? Overall, I hope you are now feeling inspired for the onward mission.
I would still thoroughly recommend getting hold of Andrew Ollerton’s book ‘Romans – a letter that makes sense of life’– we have one or two copies left, but you can purchase online, or in a good bookshop, it may well be worth reading through, at your pace, and giving space for the depth and power of God’s word to speak to your hearts.
Paul opened Romans with a declaration of confidence ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel’ and now closes, after greetings shared with many friends, with a prayer.
It’s a prayer which echoes down through the ages:
‘Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.’
The goal of Romans was to establish new Christians, living in Rome, in the knowledge and love of Christ, giving them head and heart knowledge to enable them to grow and mature in their faith.
Throughout the ages this book has continued to be a root for all Christians, providing a story that is just as relevant and relational in our age today.
In the words of Paul,
‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ Amen.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for this incredible journey through the letter of Romans. Thank you for all that we have discovered together.
As this letter has inspired countless people through the centuries, may it also continue to inspire us.
Thank you for the good news of your great mercy and love we have to share. Help us to serve you well in the world and to share the love of God with everyone we meet.
Holy Spirit feel us a fresh, make us bold, give us an urgency, that we might be courageous for your glory’s sake. Amen.