Romans 15
Romans 15
[00:00:00] Hey everyone. Welcome to God's plan. Your part year two, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire new Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's plan and your part in it. Today, we are quickly closing in on the end of Paul's letter to the Romans.
We are looking at Romans chapter 15. Tomorrow we will look at Romans 16. And I would say by the end of today's chapter, you can tell that this letter is winding down. And Jenny's not very pleased with this chapter. I don't know. I just, I think I'm excited about Romans coming to an end. I think I've enjoyed it, but I think we're kind of getting to the end here where he's kind of like tying up all these loose ends and I don't know.
Finding application today was. Eh, not my favorite, but I think there's something. Ryan's a little bit more wound up about it than I am, which is good. So Paul is definitely wrapping up his arguments in the, in the near term, I guess, he's still [00:01:00] wrapping up some of what he was talking about in chapters 14.
Uh, just, Chapter 14. Uh, and, and you can see that clearly the chapter starts out. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the week and not to please ourselves. Let each of us, um, please his neighbor for his good to build him up. So he's talking about that whole week versus strong, uh, these two different views on food and holidays specifically.
We talked about that at length yesterday on Romans 14. I don't know that we need to cover much more about it today. I don't think so. I just think he, again, he's like. Tying up those things that were pressing issues. Now he's talking about just like the importance of the, like preaching to the Gentiles, finishing out like final words with that.
Um, and then he literally does at the end of the chapter, may the God of peace be with you all. Amen. So it's final. And then there's like, Tomorrow feels like the PS part. Yeah, exactly. That, that's what I was going to say. He does do a little bit of teaching still [00:02:00] here in Romans 15, but you can tell by the second half of the chapter that he's like ending the letter and actually kind of classic Paul writing is like he ends it, but he's not done.
So he keeps writing. He does that a lot where it's like, I think he's done. It's like, it's like when you think the pastor is making his conclusion and you're going to make it out of church on time, but actually he's just ending his second point and he's got two more points to go. Paul's kind of like, okay, so I want to take a look at verse four, verse four says for whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus And there's a comma that together you may with one voice glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ What's really important here is that he's telling the people That there is something to be taken from essentially the Old Testament Because he's talking about [00:03:00] what has been given us through the scriptures and his understanding of the Old Testament might not be exactly like ours But he is referring to the law and the prophets and you might expect him to say like hey throw that out We're living a new way where there's a new way forward here, but he's not he's saying hey this is valuable to us for endurance and for encouragement and that's what he's saying This might be kind of surprising.
I think even today we don't resonate very well with the old Testament and maybe we could. Oh, I think there's actually a lot of people that do resonate with that idea where it's like, God of the old Testament is like this far distant person. That's not the same. And today. We resonate more with the new Testament, which is not true because that's like, even what Paul is saying.
And if you followed with us even long enough to go back to last year's episodes, it's crazy how like, it's so foolish to assume that one can stand without the other. What what's interesting. And we were actually, I was reading a commentary on this right before we recorded this. Um, the, the guy that's writing the commentary was talking [00:04:00] about like, you know, it makes sense that people.
Uh, I guess like unintentionally even believe that the old Testament is not important because we don't really tend to teach the old Testament. Like it's, it's kind of rare. Um, if you just look at the Sundays that you spent this past year, looking at the new Testament versus the Sundays you spent. You know, looking at the Old Testament, I don't know, it just, it makes sense that people are kind of like, I don't know.
And the point the commentator was making, uh, that's not a new problem because even trying to find like a really sharp commentary on some of these Old Testament books is hard to do. And that's across like hundreds of years of authorship. So for a long time, people have resonated more with the New Testament, the Old Testament, and Paul is telling the people here like, Hey, don't throw that stuff out.
This is still really valuable for us. Well, I wonder, too, how much that comes down to, I think, specifically about us. We have read the entire Bible, and it is so crazy to, like, pull truths from the Old [00:05:00] Testament and just be surprised by it often. Right. Um, and like I said earlier, it just seems so silly to imagine one without the other or just to, like, Just put it up on the shelf.
Like you're just missing so many rich things that I don't know. I guess have definitely firmed up my own faith and Really given me the ability to answer for what I believe in a whole picture rather than just a part Okay, so I'm gonna I will put you completely on the spot. We haven't talked about this at all but the Paul says the the two words he uses that have been translated to English are endurance and And encouragement.
So I'm curious, like, is that, would you say you've actually got that from the old Testament as we went through it? I mean, you're saying like last year was like the first time you read through the whole thing. Would you say that endurance and encouragement would have come from those? I'm just curious.
Well, I guess I would say the encouragement part for sure, because it has firmed up things that. One, I either just didn't know before, or two, have figured out how it all [00:06:00] connects. I think a lot of prophecy has really stuck out to me, um, knowing those prophets that Jesus often referred to, or John referred to, is like, oh my word, there were a lot of them, and to know their stories, and how they trusted God no matter what, and how God cared for them was just like, incredible.
Um, endurance, I guess, just is, I, I would think like, Just like building up like that strength of what I believe. It's not just like this flimsy thing that I say is, Oh yeah, I'm definitely a Christian and like. Not be able to say, but I've read the entire Bible is somewhat, I don't know. It felt a little like goofy to me too, but now it's like, no, like I actually know what it says and I can apply certain things that I have learned across the board, whether to my life or to like comparative studies of old and new.
I don't know. I would say it definitely has for me. It's funny. When I think about endurance, I think about how. I have a hard, this is probably a bad thing to admit, but it's real. I have a hard time trusting God like [00:07:00] one day to the next. Like there, there are times like, Oh, how's God gonna get me out of this situation or how are we going to see God work on this?
Cause man, this sure seems like a bummer. Um, Um, endurance wise, when you read the old Testament, it's pretty cool to see how faithful God has been to his promises from the dawn of creation. And we see that truth upheld from different characters through different families, from different authors across different like, you know, centuries and even millennia, like, you know, God is faithful to his promises and it should build my endurance.
And on a good day, it does. Well, I think too, what's important is that if you are going back and reading over all of it. Again and again. It's just like when I watch some of my favorite movies, you begin to see things differently or notice something that you would never notice before, or just be surprised by it.
Like, Oh, I thought I [00:08:00] knew this. And I definitely like, it just clicked, like what they were trying to do in this moment or in this, this scene or whatever. Um, so it actually is, I don't know. It's refreshing. I'm pretty amazing how things can just become so much more. True or put into light because you're taking the time.
And that's only happened for me. Like I've only read this whole thing through once. So, I don't know, I feel like I could probably use a couple more rounds throughout my life. So to tie that part up, Paul says the Old Testament, reading the Old Testament today will give you endurance, encouragement, and hope.
We've seen it in our own lives. You will see it in your life. It does take time. It's not easy to do, but it's also not impossible to do or too difficult to do. Sometimes we talk about how like, well, it's kind of hard, but, and I feel like we make it out to be too hard. Um, so just start to read it and appreciate it and grow in your endurance, encouragement, and motivation.
And hope, uh, the next case that Paul's going to make that I like just because of some of the, some of the conversation we've had about [00:09:00] Romans. Um, he says in verse 20, thus, I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named less. I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see.
And those who have never heard. Will understand this is the 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 long for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain. Uh, yada, yada, yada.
Um, one of the things that we've talked about over and over again in the book of Romans is this idea of election. And we have had some pretty interesting online engagement around, um, this conversation about election. If you're interested in what I'm talking about, you can go. Uh, see our video on Romans nine and some of the back and forth.
Well, some of the comments that are being made about some of our statements. This is an interesting part of the passage to me because Paul, I would say clearly teaches election. [00:10:00] Uh, the Bible clearly teaches election. Uh, the Bible is pretty clear on God choosing people for himself. It is much less clear on choosing people not for himself or choosing people for destruction.
I don't think the Bible actually makes that case. Um, Anyway, what's interesting here is that Paul teaches election. Paul says that people are chosen and yet Paul is extremely passionate about going and preaching the gospel in places where the gospel has never been preached. So one of the, one of the pushbacks that people will give on this idea of election is like, well, you just assume you're elect.
You can, you could see a comment like that on our video on Romans nine. Uh, um, And, and here, Paul is clearly not living that way. And I think it illustrates really well, some of the things we have been talking about, like, you don't know if you are, you can't assume that, you know, who is and who isn't. And so because of that, you, you, we have to preach the gospel.
We have to evangelize people. And I think. Um, right here, Romans [00:11:00] 15 verse, what did I say? It was 20 to 21. It's like, Hey, this was really important to Paul. It should remain really important to us. Yes. God chooses people. We don't know who God chooses and we need to preach the gospel everywhere we possibly can.
We should, we should even strive to preach it where we know it has never been preached before. And again, it's that funny thing where my mind goes. Where it's like, you're preaching it where it's never been, but who's to say that God did not already or, like, ordain all of that so that you would eventually go to these places because those people are elect and they are called to be God's followers and children.
So like, you have to go to those places because it's our responsibility so that they hear because they also belong to God. So it's like, to think that I have any say. And how God goes about his business is ridiculous. I would have definitely been on the opposite side of that a long time ago and been like, [00:12:00] well, no way you have to be able to choose.
But like, I think again, to say that my fate is in my own hands is just, it's just silly. I don't know. I think that's. Well, we've talked about, it's hard to process. We've talked about the two extremes, like on one extreme side, God does everything. You can't do anything. It doesn't even matter what you do because God's already mapped it out.
We obviously have some level of responsibility and we still make choices. On the other side, you can't. You make all the choices. There is no God. It's just you. That's God, because you're doing everything. So we don't want to fall on those two extremes. We want to fall in the middle where we understand that God is sovereignly moving and working, and we must still strive to be obedient.
I think Paul is an incredible example of that because he's telling the people. Um, the Roman people like, Hey, I'm out here trying to preach the gospel where it hasn't been preached. I want people to come to know Christ. He's doing that to, um, support God's mission of election, not to take away from it. So [00:13:00] these two concepts, obviously it's very difficult to, um, to Teach them in a way that's like succinct.
Obviously it can be hard to wrap your mind around, but they don't have to be opposed to each other. And Paul's actually showing us that here in Romans nine, Romans 10, Romans 16, Romans 15. Sorry. Um, and I think that's a key thing that we can focus on in this chapter. So go take us back now. Just give us like a solid.
Your part with that verse from verse three and four. I'll just read the verse again. It's probably not best practice to just keep reading this verse odor, I guess, but, uh, this is verse four for whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
If you're feeling hopeless today, uh, Romans 15, four says reading the scriptures will help you to find endurance, encouragement, and hope. And hope. So that's why we do what we do. We want you to read God's word. We want you to understand God's word, but don't just trust us to do [00:14:00] it. We encourage you to do it for yourself.
So, you know, the rule, make sure you read this passage for yourself, or at least listen to us, read it. We do want you to see God's word as it is revealed. And as it was written so that you can read it and study it and apply it to your own life and. Extra credit go after the old Testament. Don't split this thing into read the whole book, uh, and you will be encouraged in it and you will find hope.
We'll be back again tomorrow with the final chapter of Romans, Romans 16. We'll see you then. Thanks for joining today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part. As always, please consider partnering with us as we are a listener supported podcast that we hope to continue to grow with support from listeners just like you.
We've made it super easy to partner with us and you can support us by following the link in our show notes or our description. You can support us with as little as 3 a month. Every little bit of this helps so much and we're so thankful for your support. With that in mind Here's today's reading. Romans chapter 15 We [00:15:00] who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. For whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised, to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy.
As it is written, Therefore I will [00:16:00] praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. And again it said, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people. And again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the people extol Him. Amen. And again Isaiah says the root of Jesse will come even he who arises to rule the Gentiles in him will the Gentiles hope.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles.
In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my [00:17:00] work for God, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. To bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and all the way around Illyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ.
And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. This is the 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 own 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 [00:18:00] saints. For Macedonia and Acacia have been pleased to make some contribution to 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 to also 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 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. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan, your part. Don't forget, you can find us on just about every social [00:19:00] media platform and YouTube.
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