Paul's Prayer for His Trip to Jerusalem

Well, as I do every time, I'm going to go ahead and read the text this morning so that it's nice and sharp on the recording. But after that, there'll be some other things that everybody else can read. So if you'll read along with me with your eyes, just in case we're going to read it out loud. But as it is written, they who had no news of him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand.

For this reason, I have often been prevented from coming to you. But now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you whenever I go to Spain, for I have to see you in passing, or I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while.

But now I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. Therefore, when I have finished this and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.

I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints, so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. Alright, as you can tell, that's not much to cover. So hopefully as we step through this, this morning you'll find it not too fast and furious. The first section we want to talk about is evangelism.

Paul's going to make some statements here, and he's going to quote the Old Testament, Isaiah 52-15, which is a prophecy in several passages that are referring to the Messiah in the latter half of Isaiah. Let's take a look at what this passage is talking about. They who had no news of him shall see and they who have not heard shall understand. Whom is they who had no news of him? In this context that Paul is writing about.

We're going to take his apostolic authority to quote Isaiah, which happens to also have similar and same references, but in this context with the Romans, when he's writing to them, who do you think he is referring to? And they're going to understand that contextually. When he's talking about those, okay, it's going to be Gentiles.

Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. That was his ministry. It wasn't one that he would have ever chosen prior to the revelation of Jesus Christ to him on the road to Damascus. Paul was a very, very pious Jewish man and the idea of hanging out with the Gentiles was not going to be something he was going to be doing. So, he's got this opportunity to be the apostle to the Gentiles, or at least primarily to the Gentiles. Now, he's talking about evangelism here.

I just wanted to take a quick survey of how do you participate in evangelism in your own life? This isn't a trick question. I'm not going to go whacking somebody for having the wrong answer. I believe evangelism is Holy Spirit-led, and so I don't think that it's going to involve you having to have a certain thing that you do every time. Because as we abide in Christ, I think the Holy Spirit's going to make evangelism just a part of what takes place in our lives as we interact with those who are lost. But let's ask, what is evangelism to anybody in the room who wants to share what they think that is in their own lives, in ministry? Sharing. Okay. Sharing the gospel message with people.

Does that come up with door-to-door evangelism? Does anybody here do door-to-door? I don't personally. I think that the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses have kind of almost killed off that opportunity because anytime somebody shows up with religion and they show up with their door, it's like, oh, you're one of them and they just shut the door.

It doesn't matter what you have to say. So I personally, in my own life, have tried to build relationships with different people that are lost so that they can hopefully see Christ in my life and know that I'm genuine And it's not just this quick, flash-in-the-pan, here's Jesus, take it or leave it. It's a life of reaching out. I'm not saying that door-to-door is wrong. I just want to emphasize that with evangelism in our culture, I think it is an interesting thing to see how this is.

Now Paul, what was Paul doing for evangelism when he showed up into a town? Where was he going first, do you think? Synagogue? Okay. There are several places where we can see that if you read through Acts. He goes to the Jew first. Why would he go to the synagogue first? Any quick guesses on why he would go to the synagogue first?

Did he need to fulfill some part of the law or was there something else there? Okay, obviously it wasn't the law. Yeah, exactly. He would go there. The Jews already had been given the prophecies of the Messiah. He quoted Isaiah 52.15 there, but They would have been familiar with Isaiah 53 and various other passages, and the prophecy of the Messiah would have been much more familiar to them than to the Gentiles. So he's going to go there and he's going to share with them first, but then he's going to reach out to the Gentiles. The Gentiles get that they're sinners.

There's nobody out there that thinks that they've got it all together. The other thing is that there were mystery religions at the time. There was a religion for the soldiers had a religion and if you were a fisherman you might have a religion and so there are lots of little religions that were tied to basically little cults. But they knew their failures and Paul would come in. Now here's a question.

Why had the Gentiles not been given a clear message of God, or the Messiah, the returning of Christ? Why the Gentiles, but particularly a message of God, why were they lacking that? Were the Jews to tell the Gentiles about the Messiah, about God? they actually were. The Jews were supposed to go after they wiped out the Canaanites, which sounds like that's a really bad evangelism move, but once they wiped out the Canaanites, they were supposed to be messengers of God wherever they went, telling people about the relationship with God.

Their separation in food, their separation in clothing, and particular habits was not about absolute separation from the Gentiles, it was to make sure that they lived a righteous life in front of the Gentiles as a ministry opportunity. Instead, there was a lot of isolation that took place and so the Gentiles rarely would be evangelized. Now, who is a famous Old Testament Gentile? How about Ruth? Okay, Gentile. So she was a case of Jews marrying Gentiles and then being brought into Judaism.

But the Jews failed over time because they got more and more legalistic. They weren't embracing their relationship with God, they were embracing the law. And so they made more and more rules to buffer themselves from having interaction with the Gentiles. Which would have made Paul's job a little bit harder except for the Holy Spirit. That kind of negates any of those details. I already talked about that.

Now, in your own lives, what is the reaction to accurate information about Christianity in the lives of non-believers around you? Paul is going and opening, he's quoting this Old Testament verse talking about opening their eyes and revealing things to them that they've never heard. Do you find that non-believers around you are rather ignorant about Christianity for the most part? I'm not going to make a blanket statement, because there's some pretty well-educated non-Christians. But are there a lot of assumptions and things that they think about the Bible? And they'll make some sweeping statement, and you'll say, that's not what the Bible says. And then what happens? How do they react? Differently, most likely. Many times it doesn't make any difference, Their own mind is determined they don't want any part of that.

Like I said earlier in Romans, they have the knowledge of God. They're suppressing it now. I had a gentleman that was an office mate of mine, and we had a Bible study that worked for a long time period. He told me one day, he said, you know Roger, if I believe in Christ basically, I'm going to become just like you. I'm going to have Bible studies. I don't want to be like you. He basically was saying he had the information but we didn't want it.

I found it interesting in my own life that the ignorance of others when I come and I offer them the truth of what the scripture says in a certain scenario can be either shocking or more infuriating. Sometimes their reaction will be, wow, that's interesting.

What is this grace stuff? I had one co-worker when I go on these business trips down to Texas and I'm at a hotel with myself and a couple co-workers because that's where we get to stay. So we end up going out later in the evening and spending time talking. Well eventually we're done talking about politics and sometimes that wears on but we'll get done with talking about politics so it's time to talk about money or religion or sex or something else that's a taboo.

So we get to religion and I'll talk about grace and sometimes they're just stunned because they don't understand grace. They don't like grace but when I talk about this grace thing being all-encompassing and unmerited they just That's interesting. I've never heard it that way. Because they're just used to the merit badge system. So when we respond with truth, their eyes are going to be open to what's there. They may reject it still, but it's often eye-opening and shocking. Now, let's keep going.

Paul outlines, as we read through here, For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you, but now with no further place for me among these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you whenever I go to Spain, for I hope to see you in passing. Paul outlines some part of his methodology here, at least as the Holy Spirit directed him.

He was reaching out to the unreached before he would come back around. He was prevented by the Holy Spirit from coming back around because there were more people that needed to hear the gospel message. Now Paul did something that was kind of interesting.

He also was trying to be self-sufficient as possible. In this passage here, he's carrying money, isn't he? Or some kind of supplies to take to the poor in Jerusalem. There was a self-sufficiency of his own, though, if we look through his ministry and acts. He was going into un-evangelized areas, and with a small group of people that are believers there at most, when he gets started out, how much could he rely on them for supplies and materials? He was self-sufficient in his ministry as much as possible. What did he do? Does anybody remember what Paul did for a living? Tent making. I actually had a teacher at secular college try to tell me he was a fur trader. I was like, that's not what the Bible says. She's like, well, he'd take the pelts from the temple and he'd make money off of it. I'm like, right.

But we all, sorry. But he was also striving, as he's writing this letter, and as he wrote other letters, he's still striving for continued fellowship in edification as a result of that. Letters were being exchanged. Paul's ministry operation is, even as he's traveling around, he's also maintaining some kind of communication and relationship with the various people.

And, in this case here, he's saying, listen, I've got to go to Spain. There's more evangelism opportunities in Spain, but I'm going to stop and hang out with you Romans. And the last half of this passage, we're going to get into that a little bit more, so we'll move on. Now, Paul is taking money, or we assume it's money, from Macedonia and Achaia to Jerusalem, but he's serving all three communities. He's serving the Macedonians and the Achaeans, or Achaeans, or however one says that, and the saints in Jerusalem.

Can somebody please open and read Philippians 4, 15-19? Whoever gets there first, feel free to just go ahead and read it on out. Philippians 4, 15 through 19, or I can go ahead and read it. And do yourselves know, oblivious, that at first I put you in the gospel.

After I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me the matters of giving and receiving of the Jehovah. For even Thessalonians who send a gift are more than once in my meetings. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek the profit which increases your account. When I have received everything before, Alright, so here's another cross reference to the provision that was taking place between the different bodies.

Verse 19 was one of the biggest revelations about financial stewardship that I have ever been taught in my own life. And I don't mean to get on a rabbit trail, but I want to make sure everybody understands this because it's in also the context of this passage in Romans.

He says, "...and my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." What is taking place here is that God is creating the need. But he's also creating the fulfillment, and he's also creating and using an agency, all of those in there. You may be the one that is in need, or you may be the agent of fulfillment, but either way God is going to supply those things. Is God glorified in your need?

He is. He's glorified in your need because he's going to provide it. And when he provides it, you're going to be glorifying him. Is he glorified in somebody having that fulfillment? He's glorified there. And he's glorified when you give praise that you've been given the opportunity to be a steward of those things.

So when Paul's talking to the Romans here, and in this case also with the Philippians, He's talking about the awesomeness of God to create the need as well as a fulfillment. And God is glorified through the entire transaction. So Paul, when he's there serving, the Macedonians are glorifying God that they had the opportunity. The Achaeans are glorifying God that they had the opportunity. And the poor saints in Jerusalem are glorifying God that he would move in the hearts and the lives and the minds of the Macedonians and the Achaeans.

So there's a lot of richness in Paul's opportunity in serving here. We looked already in Romans 12, 13. I happened to teach that passage when we were going through there. And it says, as you see needs of the fellow saints, take the opportunity to meet them.

Also Acts 2.45, the first church. As they saw needs, they sold their possessions or gave them. There's a need. Hey, you have a need. Let me take care of that. Now, let's keep reading here because this next point, we'll hide it up for a moment. Let's keep reading here.

But now I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.

Now why would the Gentiles be indebted to the Jews in Jerusalem? This is a trick question because we have to make sure that our theology is consistent with all of scripture. And where Paul is referencing a group of Jews and a group of Gentiles and we need to know why he would make such a distinction, especially when in other passages he says there is no such distinction. I'm going to answer that question because it's a bit sticky, so we need to make sure we understand it. The gospel was born, as in being carried out from, Jerusalem, and so the saints sent a financial support gift back to the poor saints in Jerusalem. The Gentile saints sent a gift to the Jewish saints because they recognized that they had been blessed spiritually by the gospel. I have heard variations and other teachings on this, one of which was that there was an indebtedness to the Jews for being the spiritual people of God prior to the church.

And I don't think that's what this passage is saying, and I wanted to clarify that. In case you've heard that, it's just not substantiated by the text. because he's mentioning saints in both places. He says the poor saints in Jerusalem and the saints in Macedonia and Achaia. There's no ambiguity there. It's believers taking care of believers. It just happens that in Jerusalem, you've got a pretty high population density of Jews.

Any questions on that before I move on? I don't want to drop a bomb of theological ideas and then run away. I'll take that as a no. Now, Paul was taking personal responsibility for that delivery. If we keep reading, Therefore, when I have finished this and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by the way of you to Spain.

Paul was, in this case, the agent that was transferring the needs that were there. Paul was glorifying God the whole way that he got to be the agent, the transfer agent that was carrying these goods. How much did Paul gain financially from being the carrying agent of these goods? We really don't get that indication at all. This wasn't about money. Paul wasn't a trader. He wasn't just trading goods as he went.

He was taking responsibility as an agent for God's provision through these people. Now, Paul, as he continues on, is going to... I'll read it here, "...I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ." Paul's entire ministry was led by the direction of the Holy Spirit. Did Paul go anywhere without the blessing of Christ? He was a submitted apostle, waiting on the direction of the Holy Spirit.

In our own lives, can we have the exact same attitude? We may not be apostles, we may not be traveling in journeys through the Mediterranean, doing evangelistic work, but we're not in the Roman Empire. But what empire are we in, so to speak? We're in the United States Empire. We may be traveling at three dollars a gallon for gasoline, or we may be flying on airplanes that cost various other amounts, but wherever it is we're going, if we're abiding in the Holy Spirit, we are too, just like Paul, agents out and about doing things and having the same opportunity. But we need to understand that Paul's example, was Paul's example the first example of people being led by the Holy Spirit in the Bible? it wasn't. Who went first on a normally day-by-day abiding in the Holy Spirit?

John the Baptist? Okay, that's not who I was thinking of. Abraham? I'm gonna say no to that too. How about Christ? Okay, Christ lived day-by-day abiding in the Holy Spirit. His example of that was what allowed the disciples to understand that concept more readily when the Holy Spirit shows up in Acts chapter 2. Because Christ, what does he do? He goes and he prays and he waits on the Holy Spirit to give him the direction of the Father.

Paul did the very same thing. Paul's direction for all the steps in his life was from the Holy Spirit. When he went to Rome in transit to Spain, it would be with the full blessing of Christ. He didn't have to worry about Is this the right thing to do or not? Because he knew the Holy Spirit was directing his steps. This is the right thing to do. Now let's ask an important question because we've just possibly stepped on a landmine.

Is God's will a maze? Is there the wrong way to go and the wrong thing to do? Is God's will a maze? You get stuck in a little cubby hole and back in the maze, and now you gotta figure your way back out to where you were before so that you can start over. Is that how God's will is? God's will is not a maze.

His will is for us to abide in Him, and when we do so, He directs us, but it's not a maze for you to start back over. I used to panic, and I'm not kidding, I used to panic as a older teenager because I thought, I don't know what God's will is for my life. What am I supposed to do for a career? Am I supposed to get married to Jessica? We were high school sweethearts, so we'd established a pretty strong relationship by then.

But all of those things were there. Paul understood that he was led by the Holy Spirit, and where he was, where he was doing, he was either in fellowship or not, But that was as far as the relationship was concerned. Paul was not distracted by the maze mentality. And we should not either be.

Verses 30 through 32, he's going to ask the church there in Rome to strive with him. And I found this an incredibly edifying passage, so please read along with me. Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints, so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company." So he's going to urge them to strive.

Now the Greek word there, and I don't normally mention a lot of Greek, but the Greek word there is Sun-agonizomai. Now, does anybody remember agonizomai from the main service? I know it was taught there. My dad usually gets really intense and you can see all the tendons in his neck and his jaw juts out. But the sun- prefix there is referencing togetherness, okay?

To struggle in company with or to partner with This morning, I wish Jessica had had time to sunagonizomai over my ironing my shirt, because I ironed it and it's already a little wrinkly. She does a better job than I do. But we don't struggle so much with the iron. But Paul's asking them to strive with him in prayer. Now, we've talked about striving briefly a little bit in the past in this class. Is the striving a fleshly work?

No, it's not. Is there energy involved as human beings that are participating? Is there willful passion involved? The answer is yes. But it's still in the resting in our position in Christ. The striving that's there. And in fact, he goes on, the striving in prayer is in Christ and through the love of the Holy Spirit. That's pretty awesome.

He's saying, listen, when you pray, it's going to be within the realm of Christ's work in your life and through the love of the Holy Spirit, but pray with me. Do we pray that way together when we come together? Is there a sense of passion and striving in our prayers?

Maybe not always, but there could be. The opportunity is there. When the prayer request emails come into my mailbox, I often take a moment to just stop and pray. Am I striving passionately? I don't know, but I'm sincerely going before the Lord and offering up prayer on those things. But Paul uses, he says, I urge you to strive. Is it a law? Is it a commandment? No. But it's a strong urging that they would do that.

It's fantastic that it is through Christ and the Holy Spirit there. The amazing nature of prayer is that it is through the agency of Christ that we can pray and have the Holy Spirit be involved as well. The striving was in prayer that recognized God's sovereignty and graciousness. They're praying for something to happen but they understand God's will involved and His graciousness as well. Whatever happens is through God's grace. Now why are they, what are they praying for? They're striving against the disobedient. The non-believers in Judea were disobedient to God. They were ignoring God's message of the Messiah, Jesus. Paul used to be one of those. What were the disobedient people wanting to do to Paul? What did they want to have happen to Paul? They wanted to use Paul as a piñata. See, I told you I could work that in there, Roger. They wanted to take out Paul. Paul was the very anti-Jew.

He was Jewish by every genetic trait. He had all of the training and he walked away. That's very infuriating to the pious Jews that are in Jerusalem. So he's saying, hey, let's pray that we make it through. The non-believers hated Paul because he'd been one of them. They probably wanted Paul dead, or at the very least, stopped. If he's dead, he's really stopped, and this message can really be slowed down. But if he's stopped politically, the rulers in Jerusalem say, hey, you can't preach these things.

And that happened in Acts, as you read through Acts. It happened in other places. We're going to be going through Thessalonians. That's going to be the next Sunday School series of First Thessalonians. And Paul actually goes into Thessalonica and the Jews there say, hey, this guy teaches that there's another king besides Caesar. Well, the Jews knew that another king besides Caesar was coming.

They just disagreed with who fulfilled that. But did you have a question, Donna, or are you just wiggling? OK, sorry. But they might attempt to... so they wanted to hinder him and that hindering of Paul's mission would have diluted the effectiveness of the gift that the Macedonians and the Achaeans had sent for the Jews in Jerusalem, the saints that were there.

We need to remember that we're striving, or Paul was striving to get through and achieve those things because afterwards he was going to come back to Rome And what was he going to have? What does he say he's going to have when he reaches Rome? I think it's an interesting and encouraging text there. He says, When I come to be with you, so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company. When we gather together as saints, is there refreshing rest? Is there joy? If there isn't, why not? Are we abiding?

Let's make sure that's rectified in our own lives, that our hearts and minds are there. Does Sunday morning, is it for intellectual purposes only? Certainly not. Hopefully what meat is taught in Sunday school is incredibly edifying and you learn a lot. But it needs to be deeper than that. There are emotional and spiritual and, in the case of what Paul is doing, even physical needs that are met in the body.

How much joy are you having on Sunday morning when you get together? If the answer is, not as much as I think Paul was getting, then we need to look at our own lives and say, okay, how can I get to know and edify other saints? I personally like to also look at hospitality, because Paul's not just going to a church building Sunday morning, he's going to be living in their houses. probably with them.

Can you imagine how cool that would be to have Paul come stay at your house? Hey, Paul's going to stay at our house this week. Next week he's going to go over to the Johnson's or whatever it is. Probably didn't have Johnson's back in the Romans. Paul's going to be staying with us.

That would be so awesome. You could be asking him questions and questions and questions and the Holy Spirit's providing answers for him. But he's going there and he's got joy. And he's ready to go and participate in that joy and have rest. That's pretty awesome too, that there can be rest. Even with the striving. Let's strive and strive so that we can have this rest.

Then he says, he's got a closing to this passage and I can't believe how fast I went through this material because I said it was a lot to go over. He says, Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. And he says the God of peace, he's given them reasons to be concerned.

He's told them about his journey and the stresses and the things. Now remember Paul is journeying on open roads, maybe taking ships here and there as time and finances allow, but there is a potential for being taken over by robbers and having this very precious treasure that one church is sending to another be pillaged. And you lose that. The idea of peace on the road is something that only the Holy Spirit can provide.

Now we could go back to Philippians 4 and talk about the peace that surpasses all understanding. All understood that comes from the Holy Spirit. This church here hopefully also would understand that as well, as they had been given content and context from Paul. But he tells them to remember that they are in and with God, who is the God of peace. Peace is defined in God.

We can't define peace outside of God. Especially as Christians, the world will try to do it. You open up the dictionary and it's a sense of relaxation or whatever is there, but it's not. If you define it outside of God, it's kind of pansy. There's a very intense awesomeness to God's peace. Where does that peace come from in our own lives? It's not rational peace. It's supernatural peace.

In my own life there have been high stress situations and I've been really stressed out and let me tell you I didn't get a lot of sleep and Jessica was tired of it. And the answer was I was not abiding in Christ and resting in the peace that he provides. I kept praying for miraculous peace but not through abiding. I just wanted God to just zap me with peace. And I was like, that's wrong.

It's not the way that peace should operate. true peace is originated in God who gives peace. It's very definition. Then he says amen so we know he's ended a short benediction prayer. Any thoughts or questions we can talk about? We've got about 10 minutes. I hauled honey through this. I didn't realize I was moving so fast. Evangelism historical context. What kind of things, if there are any questions that are tied in with this.

You don't have to have questions. Any thoughts? I'll take the silence as no. We'll close in prayer, but then if you have any other thoughts or questions we can still talk afterwards. Because Brian's not even going to ring that bell for five more minutes.

Heavenly Father, we come before you. We thank you for this text and the context and the truth that you revealed. We want to ask that you would open our hearts and minds as we meditate on the joy that you indicate through Paul should be part of the body life. for the peace that you bring outside of the context of our circumstances. And Lord, we thank you for the agency that you may have in us, whether it's by creating a need or fulfilling a need. And we just thank you for your provision. And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.