Romans 15: Admonition and Plans for Travel

We're going to go back to the Book of Romans. When we were last in the Book of Romans, we were near the end of the third part of the four sections that appear in the Book of Romans. And I have to tell you, I went back because I've parsed these out. I've offered these sections, these chapters of Romans, about every couple of months, two to three months. And in going back, never did I think, even when I began the book, after concluding with the Book of Acts, that we would make our way through the Book of Romans, and I would tell you that I'd been to Rome. That would never cross my mind. Now, if you were Bridget Beam, that would be every Wednesday, roughly, because she's always traveling. I'm kidding there. She's not there on Wednesday. But she's there often enough. She's around the world often enough. In terms of her travels, it probably wouldn't be a big deal. But for me, it's a big deal. So that said, we have, if you remember, we had made our way through and up to chapter 15. Now, by background, again, as an overview, Romans 1 through 8, that book, or the letter at the time, as penned by Paul, around 61 A.D., can be broken down into four sections. That first section is where God makes clear that all have gone astray. There are probably two memory verses that quickly come to mind here, if not more. Romans 3, 23, which all have sinned to come short of the glory of God. And Romans 6, 23, the weight of sin is death, but a gift of God is eternal life. All of that falls under that first section of Romans 1 through 8. The second section, Romans 9 through 11, is where God shows concern for the Jews and indeed makes clear that He will save them.

We know, if you go back to the first part of Romans, even as Romans 1 talks about, He goes first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. We know that the Jews, we know that Israel has long had a streak, a history of rebellion. God says, I will save them. If you go to the third section, which is where we are, Romans 12 through 15, is where Paul is admonishing continued growth for those in the church at Rome.

You know, I was even, while we were in Italy, at Sabadia, when you got to looking around, and I think I offered this even upon returning, I was reminded of how small that congregation is there. We don't know the numbers at the time of Paul, but we know even now that there happens to be about 50 that are in Rome, excuse me, that are in the Italian church.

And I think I shared as well that Mr. Anastasi talked about how there are about 50, roughly 50, on their correspondence program, Bible correspondence program. They've gone back, as I remember I shared, and began to rewrite many of those questions to make it more challenging for those who had long heard Catholic doctrine. And so he's getting a good response there. It's worked well for them. So this Romans 12 through 15 is really where, again, and we'll see this even as we move through this chapter, Romans 15, where Paul is admonishing those in the church. He's getting very specific about detailed instructions for them that's tailored to them, but certainly applies to us. In Romans 16, the last chapter is greetings and final comments, if you remember by background.

Now, in Romans 13 and 14, the last time we were in the book of Romans, you may recall that Paul emphasized that a Christian's duty is to love his brother and sister. And we see this dialogue, this discussion, that deals particularly with the strong helping the weak and the importance of showing love and its connection to law. Paul stresses, if you remember in that previous chapter, Romans 14, that those who are strong, strong in different words might mean mature in the faith, faith must lift up those who are weak or less mature in the faith. Now, the realization is that we both should be growing. And it's been a little while that I had actually offered a story, and maybe it's well encapsulated by a story, an old adage, that we oftentimes do. An adage that I'll note first, and then the story, is the old statement, and I only remember this with a German accent because I heard it from my dad growing up. Too old soon, too late smart. The idea that just because you've been in the church longer doesn't necessarily make you more spiritually mature. And if you recall here, I offered the story of the individual, the two applicants who'd gone and applied for an administrative post in a school system. And the first individual had 20 years experience and went and interviewed with a board. The second individual had eight years and also interviewed, and they wound up, the board, wound up hiring the individual with only eight years experience. And of course, in our politically correct society, the one with 20 years experience was apoplectic and went back to the board and said, How can you do this? I have so much more experience, it's not even close. And the board responded, Yes, but you somehow found a way to duplicate the first year 20 times, whereas the person with eight years has actually made progress, innovated, advanced his or her career for those eight years. I think it's in a telling example and a reminder that just sitting and filling a seat at church, and we probably can be reminded of those people we've been with in the past, that you think, They're with me, they're with me, they're with me. There's no guarantee, just because our behinds are in these seats, that we're maturing and growing like we should. Paul is pointed about saying, We should be. Paul said, It becomes our responsibility. That onus, a responsibility, is on you and me personally.

To be committed to growth. And that happens day by day.

You know, we are like Colossians 1, 9-11 says, to grow. I know Colossians 1. I'll go to the book of Colossians before we get in. If you have a marker, it doesn't hurt to leave it in the book of Romans here. But Colossians 1, about how, again, a letter from Paul, an epistle from Paul, and know an epistle is not the wife of an apostle.

In the book of Colossians, if you remember here, these verses that appear in verse 9, for this reason we also, here's Paul's prayer for those in Colossians, for this reason we also, verse 9, chapter 1, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him. This morning, Mr. Graby gave a good message on pleasing our Father, which he may give here shortly. But he talked at length about the responsibility we have of pleasing God, and how beautiful it is, even as children, how desirous we are, particularly of our parents, of pleasing our parents.

It was easy this morning, even as Mr. Graby was speaking, to think back to a time, and I still have this same inclination, even as I talked to my dad, a few years removed from being a little kid, but as I talked to my dad, and I think it linked about ways to please, to keep my mom and dad happy. How can I serve them at their age, at their point in life? What are things I can do to support them? And that's really what this section of Scripture talks about. Verse 10, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, for all patience and long suffering with joy. And then I'll read 12 so we end that sentence, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. What a powerful future that is laid out there as inspired by Paul to write. So as we see there in Colossians 1, 9 through 11, and 2 Peter 3, 18, which tells us to grow in grace and knowledge, certainly it becomes our responsibility to heed the words of Paul. So I've entitled this sermon, it's there, I wrote it, Romans 15, Admonitions and Plans for Travel. So to keep your attention, whether you know this or not, there is a quiz at the end. So I'm going to do just a little bit of this because I thought it was helpful to get some clarity here. It's funny, even going to Italy, as I shared in one of my past messages, a lot of going to Italy was kind of me getting a sense for what is this all about? And one of the things that I thought was helpful, even as I was preparing this message, is let's establish a little bit of context here. So what I have here are a number of slides to give you a sense of where we are. You're probably quick to see Italy over here with the boots. Mrs. Brown could pick this out, probably with no trouble at all, that northern part of the boot. You were from up around here, if I remember right. Okay, and so the reason why I offer this is because we have to, again, recognize where he was coming from as we see some of this, and we see Spain actually mentioned a little bit further on. I'll give you a little bit fancier map. I'm having a hard time seeing Rome. They didn't move Rome. Rome's still there. They put Rome right here. This happens to be a first century map. And kind of gives you a sense, again, of how the Roman Empire looked at that time and geographically what it all looked like. I got a little crazier. I went to a map, and I pulled the map up because I spent about four or five dates to feast looking at this map in order to figure out what in the world we were going to see whenever we were in Rome for the feast. So the big thing I'll show you, because we started here like you care, is the Colosseum here. And I'm going to show you. The Colosseum wasn't built until, what, I think 71? 71 AD thereabouts. And they turned that thing around in eight years, which is just shocking that they could do it that fast. But that said, what I'm showing you pictures of here gives you kind of a sense of what Rome was, ancient Rome was, at the time of Paul's writing. And the reason why I would highlight some of this right here is because here was the central hub of activity where the Forum was.

So, the Piazza of Venizia. I probably messed that up, Mrs. Brown. You're very kind. I got a nod of approval. So what I just showed you by map is this direction up here. Here's the Colosseum. And the reason why I would show you this is because this was built well later, is if you look up here to the right when it comes back, this whole area back behind here is all Forum area.

So this happens to be provided courtesy of Google. But that said, it gives us a nice sense of what in the world is going on here and the areas that I'm about to show you in photographs. And again, to contextualize what it is we're seeing, is this is kind of an idea of what Paul would be writing to. If you get a sense here, we get hills that kind of drop down, a lot of these open areas in the middle, obviously a lot of the Roman columns that are so pretty and seeing some of this. Here, too, I spent a lot of time thinking to myself, even as I walked around Rome, they had a lot of cement.

I don't know why, for whatever reason. I didn't think of Rome as being a concrete jungle, but I found myself taken by this, even as we spent a whole lot of time walking around through here. I offered some additional pictures, again. These are artist renditions of that area. And you really get a sense of the majesty of some of these buildings at the time. You can see, even by comparison, some of the sizing here down, the size of the people.

And I was struck how many different statues there were. There's statues everywhere. At some point, I thought to myself, man, it felt like everyone got to be made into a statue. But we saw this, even as we walked around so much of this area. Again, it gives you an idea. So this is what it looks like today. That happens to be the forum area that we got a chance to walk down and over the top, just to see some of that.

Again, this gives you some sense of the time period. It's pretty staggering that you go back, and many of those pillars have been standing there for a couple thousand years, at least. Rome was established around the 750s BC, and certainly at the height of their power as a major world-ruling empire, reflected only the finest in music, medicine, mathematics, Western thought, all of that. I mean, this was the hub of the world. And so when you see some of this, which happens to be pretty, through a lot of it, you get a sense for even how the people lived.

There were times, even as we walked around. I mean, certainly there were these major homes that you would see, even as you walked around and got a sense for. Here being some of the statues, even you could see around the forum area.

But you got, just as there are in our society, bigger homes and smaller homes, even as we had a chance to walk around sections of Rome, and particularly around Pompeii. They kind of look like one-bedroom apartments when you were walking around there. But obviously there were great differences in where people lived. Kind of gives you an idea here of some of this. Forgive me, I happened to have forgotten where that exact location was.

I had a note at one point. But again, it gives you a time period and a sense of what's there. And then I threw in a Roman bath because the Romans were certainly noted for their Roman baths. Oftentimes the individuals would go and you'd do a steam, you'd get a massage, and then you'd linger here.

And this gives you an idea of generally how they worked. Many of the wealthier homes, this was commonplace to see some of that. So what I wanted to do here is, again, to give you an idea of what, in general, this area looks like that Paul is writing to.

Now, he hadn't been here yet. In fact, we'll see this at the back of the book. If we were to break down the chapter into two sections, part one, verses 1-13, the strong and mature in the faith are given additional instructions to help the weak. Additional, because if you remember in 14 was where Paul began to stress this.

And then 15, 14-33, where he talks about details of his plans to visit Rome. So what I'm going to do is, we'll work through these 33 verses, and I'll offer from time to time some insights as to what Paul was addressing here, in particular, as he wrote this letter to the Romans. Romans 15, verse 1. We then who are strong. Now, remember what we're offering here. If you go back, and if you get a headers, if you remember even a little while back when we last covered Romans 13 and 14, he's talking about strong and weak, strong and weak, strong and weak.

So we see a continuation of this in 15. We then who are strong. Again, the notion here is doctrinally sound.

Those who've been with the faith and who are unwavering, and you may know of these people, they may have been integral to your development spiritually, even as a young person, who are strong ought to bear with the scruples. The term scruples simply means weaknesses of those who are less mature. That's what the tail end of that sentence. And not to please ourselves. That term scruples then means weaknesses. Now, if you remember here, the notion of bear means to carry, to pick up.

And what we get out of this first verse is those who are spiritually mature need, who are familiar with sound doctrine, those who hold to the trunk of the tree, should know and live God's truth, but at the same time, they should be supportive of the weak.

Now, what issues are we dealing with here in general? Well, in that Rome happens to be a society not of God. They had all kinds of issues. If you remember, we'd already seen just prior that there was the issue of some who came into the church that were dealing with meat offered to idols. In other words, their conscience didn't allow those idols that meat that was offered to idols. They were uncomfortable buying that meat after the fact. And remember what Paul says? If we go back a chapter, he says, I will not offend. If I don't ever have to eat meat, that's fine. I won't eat meat.

Because I'll make sure I go the extra mile in helping out those who happen to be weaker in the faith, those newer to the faith. The issue then, as we see here in Romans 15, as it addresses 14 and other locations, because it wasn't just in Rome that he's dealing with these challenges, is the issue of eating meat offered to idols was a challenge for some who are weaker. Drinking wine, wine for medicinal purposes, we know from 1 Timothy 5.23 is fine. But we also know, if you go back and read from 1 Corinthians 5 verse 11, that in the letter to the Corinthians, Paul had made clear to not keep fellowship with those who drank too much. And so, for some, there was again a challenge. The issue of alcohol was problematic for them. And Paul says, bear with them. Be patient with them. Don't feel like you have to be heavy-handed with them. But again, make sure that you point out what is accurate and then be patient with these individuals. I note here, our calling is not about pleasing ourselves, it's about serving others. And that's what the tale into verse 1 offers. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification.

Verse 3, for even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. Now, we can go to a couple of verses here, and again, if you have a marker, I would ask you to turn with me to Psalm 69. What's noted here is Paul is saying, recognize that you can bear with those who happen to be newer to the faith. Recognize at the same time that it was Christ through his crucifixion, through his dedication and ultimately the giving of his life, that Christ took on all that was involved with bearing the burdens of those who happen to be reproached. Now, I ask you to turn to Psalm 69. I'm going to read just a couple of verses here that you may have a marginal reference listed there in Romans 15 verse 3. Verse 7 reads, Psalm 69 verse 7, Because for your sake I have borne reproach, shame has covered my face. Again, what we find here is David Asalmas writing this, but he's writing it from the vantage point of Christ. He was moved by what Christ would experience in the future to write these verses. Verse 9 offers, Because zeal for your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. And Christ, even as he had to bear the burden that he had to bear in terms of fulfilling all those prophecies of being crucified, he was the one who took all of that reproach, all of that disgrace, all of that revilement, all of that blame on himself. Verse 20 is one more verse that we'll hit here. Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. I only pause momentarily to remind you that the repochi experience was not his reproach. What he endured was because of yours in my sense.

So when we read these words here, that's not because Christ did anything wrong. That's because of our own shortcomings, because of our own failings, because of our own sinfulness. And that's what we see in verse 3. Verse 4, for whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.

We talked briefly last week about what if God's Word had never been written down. What we have, and we oftentimes take for granted in front of us, people up until Gutenberg Press, it was just never getting a copy of it. It was so isolated. And now we have it in so many different forms. It's so pervasive that many times we don't think twice about it. Oh, yeah, if I don't have a Bible here, I've got a Bible over here. I have no idea how many Bibles you have in the house. At one point, I think I did a count, and we probably had 15 to 20 Bibles in our house. And at one time, I mean, if we go back, you know, before the 1500s, Bibles were only the very wealthy and Levitical priesthood ever had Bibles. They were so rare. And now we have it everywhere. And yet we're blessed here, as Paul talks about, to have God's Word written for our learning. Verse 5, You know, really what he's advocating here is a reminder that we are to be unified. We are to not be at each other's throats, not to be after each other, but to be kind with one another. And everywhere that's strong in the faith, the mature should lead. Those who happen to be around longer and mature are the ones that should be patient, that should be comforters, even as Christ was patient and comforting of others. Now, I'll just offer here, John 8, verses 3 through 11, offers a reminder of what Christ did, even as he dealt with sinners. Because remember one of the issues that was oftentimes, those who happened to be detractors of what Christ did, opposers to Christ, they said, well, He's only hanging out with sinners and tax collectors. And yet, if you go back and read all of those stories, and for many of us, we read them over and over and over again, I referenced John 8, where the woman was taken in adultery by background. Remember what he says, even as he deals with her? He says, Go and sin no more. He deals with her beautifully. He doesn't allow her to perpetuate the sin, but he says, Go and sin no more. And so, again, what we see here is that we are to be like Christ, even as Christ was patient and comforting with others. Verse 7, we read, verse 8, Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers. What fathers? Well, those would be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That notion of circumcision, we remember back in Acts 15, was a point of contention. Because the argument was, shouldn't everyone, shouldn't the Gentiles as well be circumcised? And as we saw that work through, even as that council there, and we see in Colossians 2, verse 11, what the apostles came to as a greater understanding was it was not physical circumcision that we were after under the New Covenant, it was spiritual circumcision. And so that's the point that we see being made here in verse 8. I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers. And that the Gentiles, verse 9, might glorify God for His mercy as it is written, For this reason I will confess to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. That comes from 2 Samuel 22. And again, He says, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.

And again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, laud Him all you peoples. And verse 12 reads, and again Isaiah says, There shall be a root of Jesse, that being Christ, and he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope. Verse 13, Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. You know, even as we go through all of this, we should be reminded, as we read verses 9 through 13, that God is not isolated in who He deals with. Now we know and are well aware that God deals with different groups at different times. We can see in the Old Testament this, we see physical Israel being dealt with, we see in the New Testament the spiritual church, the spiritual temple being the New Testament church being dealt with, and God deals with different people at different times. What we should take from verses 9 through 13 is, indeed, God has a desire to not stay exclusionary, but His desire is that the entire world have an understanding of His truth. The entire world, even as we heard Mr. Beame talk about, as we sing a new song, this entire earth will have an opportunity to have an understanding of truth. Everyone who ever lived, even as we might look across there, think, what in the world is Hitler doing over there? He's the last guy who should be here. What is Mussolini doing over there? And many people even today who do such horrific things, God promises to work with all of those individuals. So that first section there is again focused on unification, being unified, and the strong helping the weak. That's the lesson we take from the first 13 verses. That then brings us to the second part of this chapter, and it appears in verses 14 through 33. Now I myself, this is Paul's plans to visit different areas, now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. So what we consistently see here again is Paul directs attitudes, directs statements, excuse me, directs statements to specific attitudes he was hearing about. Now how could he do this? We know that Paul hadn't been here at the time, but we also know, even as you get to chapter 16, that many of the names that we wind up reading in 16 that we won't address today, many of those names Paul was well aware of because he had been ministering through all of these different areas. So there was a personal connection with these individuals, and he had a sense, even as human beings do, based upon how stories get back to him, what was the strength of a congregation, what was the weakness of a congregation. We see some of that here in 14 as he addresses the church in Rome. Verse 15, nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you some points as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. You know, Paul's commission, as we've already noted, was first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. We were reminded of that in Romans 1, verse 16.

We also know that Paul was responsible for going to those who happen to be leaders of different countries. And in doing so, Paul was fulfilling his commission, even as God instructed him. And he talks about this here, even through verse 16. And we see, even as he speaks of this, that he is bold in addressing the Romans, although he had not been there. And it was because, again, he was compelled, moved, instructed by Jesus Christ as head of the church to address the Gentiles properly. He had to talk directly to them. And he knew that his role was integral for them to be right with Christ and to be right with God the Father. Verse 17.

He felt a special passion, commitment to do these things. And mighty signs and wonders, verse 19, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about Elacrium, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ. And so I have made it my aim to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation. You know, what we get here in verses 20 and 21 is a realization that there happened to be not a church here at the time.

So what Paul is doing is he's sending a letter to Rome. Again, we noted this some time ago. Likely the church that happened to have met here. And we can see some of this in verse 16 happened to not be probably too big of a church.

Paul was moved, was inspired by God to write this letter to address the issues they had. But what he's talking about here gives us indication that there was not a minister there at the time. And this becomes even more important, as we saw, even as we were able to visit the Vatican and Rome, is because the Catholics will tell you, no, there was someone there. Peter was already there. They hinge everything. I cannot tell you how many different times. They hinge everything off of Peter. Now, we've been through this before, even as we moved through Acts 8 some time ago. Every indication we had is that Peter was not there.

And if you go back to Acts 8, you're reminded of someone, Simon Peter, Simon the Magician, if you remember there in verses 13 through 19, where Simon was converted. And remember what he said? Oh, that's really cool. You can lay hands on people and they heal. I got money. Teach me how to do that. And remember how Peter responded? He said, don't you ever say that. And so what we see here, even as we went through the tours and we went through the Vatican, and we hear about how central Peter is to all of this, this comes contrary to that.

Because there's no reason why Paul would have sent and made the comments a letter like this and made the comments that he had. If someone was already there, Peter the Apostle was not there. Verse 20, And I made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, we read this, lest I should build on another man's foundation. But as it is written, to whom he was not announced, they shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand.

So what we're again reminded here is Peter could not have been there. I'll ask you to flip here if you'd leave a marker. Just to 2 Corinthians 10. Because this is only going to reinforce the point that was just made. 2 Corinthians 10, we'll read verses 13 through 16. Paul again was reaching out because there wasn't a minister in the area. There wasn't a pastor in the area. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 13 through 16. The back end of this talks about not comparing ourselves with one another. Verse 12, verse 13, We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the spear, which God has appointed to us, a spear which especially includes you.

For we are not extending ourselves beyond our sphere, thus not reaching out, not reaching you. For it was you that we came with the gospel of Christ, not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men's labors, but having hope that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's sphere of accomplishment.

So as we link this with what appears here in 2 Corinthians 10, verses 13 through 16, is a reminder that, even as Paul wrote, is he was not encroaching on someone else's territory. There was no one there. That's why he would write so boldly to the Romans at the time. Again, the Catholic Church says a little bit different here. Shame is the wrong. Verse 22, But it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. So at the time, if you go back historically and get a sense here, Jerusalem happened to be experiencing a famine at the time. Things were hard.

And what Paul is going to do, he's going to talk about here, is people from the different areas would provide him with goods, with his needs, with their needs, and Paul would be responsible for taking it on to the next area. Verse 27, And it pleased them indeed that they are their debtors, for if the Gentiles had been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.

What he really says here, and it's helpful to note, is there, it's not necessarily a transaction, but what was noted here is that because the Gentiles were being spiritually fed, they were being moved to provide those physical needs of those who otherwise didn't have them. So just as in some instances in the past you may have come, had someone into your home, which was encouraging to you, and when they went to leave you wanted to give them a gift on the way out. This is in essence what they wanted to do, and they said, you know, I think even about the Italians, about how caring and loving they are when we're there, I think I noted this about almost every time I saw Mr. Anastasi, it didn't, we went right to hugs. It's not like Americans where we go shake hands all the time. You feel like you're hugging from one person to the next, all the way through, which culturally makes sense, all the way through church whenever we're there. But that said, those happen to be the Italian people. They were connected in that way when we were there. They were oftentimes caring and considerate of one another. And so what we get here in verse 27 is a reminder that the Gentiles, in being served, they said, hey, we're hearing about those in Jerusalem. Take them this so that their needs are met. Verse 28, Therefore when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain. But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. So this letter would be sent ahead. We have no indication that he eventually made it there.

We know that he went to Jerusalem. We know he was taken captive. And we knew eventually that he would not make it to Spain. Again, we're unclear in terms of whether he made it there. But with the captivity, he didn't go much further.

So we see all of this play out through verses 29, verse 30.

Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in all your prayers to God for me. That I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. So one of the things he's talking about here, and I'm going to click forward, not aiming to just necessarily make this interesting. But again, to give an idea of where he was traveling here. We would start way over here in Jerusalem, and then we would swing across. There's the boot. Boots are here. And then Spain would be over to the left. But the idea is, again, understanding here where he was traveling. But as he's talking about here, he's talking about next going to Jerusalem. One of the things that he was troubled by, and the realization that those who happened to be in Jerusalem, the Jews in particular, they were not necessarily welcoming of Paul. If you remember, in that he had at conversion, he had persecuted the Jews beforehand. And then once called, he had preached circumcision. And those who happened to be in the church, even there in Jerusalem, they were not necessarily welcoming of him. He had difficulty being accepted there. And that's what he's acknowledging through verse 31. Verse 32, that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, this being the Romans, and may be refreshed together with you. Now the God of peace be with you all. And he concludes this chapter with Amen. That said, again, we get an idea of, even here, his travel plans, his aim to eventually go to the Romans. So what should we take from this chapter with a couple of lessons before we try a quiz here? Well, lesson one is Paul notes repeatedly in Romans 15 that God's people are to care for one another. We see this in a number of verses, and I've highlighted them for you even as we read them. Verse 1, we then who are strong ought to bear the scruples of the weak, the weaknesses of the weak. Five and six talk about showing patience and comfort, being like-minded, even as Christ was like-minded, so we can glorify God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 27, again, reminds us that there is sharing here, that we are to care for one another, whether it be in this area or in other areas. You know, we've had discussions even of late. Mr. Talbot made a good recommendation recently that we had tried some time ago about even partnering with congregations, our sister congregation in some location, whether it might be in Mexico or South America or Italy or somewhere else. We get a sense here that this is kind of what they were doing. They don't necessarily know that they were doing so as officially as we might, but it certainly is a consideration here. But Paul, again, is reminding those who happen to be in Rome that we are to care for one another, even as a congregation, which I gather that I get that every time I come to services here. When I come into church, I don't come in and get all these dirty looks and backs turned to me. Thankfully, you may do it with you may talk about it. But you know, it's fun coming to church is I come to church and I look at the faces in the room and whoever it might be.

And I feel like I'm coming home to family.

It's one of the biggest blessings, and I've shared this with you. It's one of the biggest blessings I have every Sabbath in coming, whether it be to Beauford or to Atlanta. And the beauty of oftentimes coming to services is even if I'm tired and I know you experience the same thing because we're human.

I find myself fired up when I get done because spiritually I know we're of the same cloth that we're brothers and sisters. So even as we see here and Paul makes the admonition, we are to be people who care for one another, who love one another. And certainly God expects that of each of us. The second lesson I'll just draw your attention to is I'm going to go back to that section of Scripture that we were in, verses 9 through 13, simply highlighting that God reminds us that the Gentiles were always to be a part of God's plan. You know, if you look through all of this, and remember the only Scriptures that Paul would have had at the time would have been Old Testament Scriptures. He quotes extensively here, even as you drop down through a lot of this. I noted 2 Samuel 22, even as he references these, Psalm 117, Isaiah 11, verse 10. You know, some people would contend that those are antiquated. The message even that we heard this morning by Mr. Alan Edge, who gave his first sermonette over in the Beaufort congregation, was the idea that oftentimes today if it's not new, if it's not innovative, it's passe. It's not any good.

And yet, God's Word, we know this is timeless. You know, even as Paul addresses this here, he reminds us that God has always planned for the Gentiles to be involved. I'll cite 2 sections of Scripture here. Galatians 3, 28 says, There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. The second one I'll go to, or I'll ask you to turn with me as we come to a conclusion here. 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3. We're not going to 2 Peter 3, 18. We're going to go a little bit earlier there. 2 Peter 3. Again, as a reminder about God desires everyone, plans to include everyone, Gentiles as well, in his plan. 2 Peter 3. I'm going to ask that we read in verse 8. 2 Peter 3 verse 8, But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 3 verse 10, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. 4 Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. That day will come. We have to be prepared for that day. He has always included Jew and Gentile in his plan, and certainly we can be encouraged by that. So we should take that again from Romans 15.

Okay, so let's try a quiz. You ready? Five questions. You don't have to answer out loud. Here we go. Question one from Romans. It's quiz time. How well did you listen? Question one. Paul admonishes those who mature in the faith to be strong and tough with those new to the faith. I think that's a false. I think you're right there. If we've talked about in the past, and I don't necessarily know, you may be able to think of people in the past. I can think of times in the past when someone, if I go back 30 years, maybe 40 years, when someone new to the church would come in, and immediately you would almost see like five or six people with laser focus go in, and it's like, we're going to fix this person in about 10 minutes. You give us a good 10 minutes, we will shellac this person with the truth. And that's not what Paul tells us here. Paul says, the strong, be patient, comforting, help the weak. So the first one we would trust here, we know is false. Second one. Paul instructs those in Rome to be of one mind and voice. That's easy enough. Sure does. We've seen that a couple of verses, verses 5 and 6. Question 3. Paul spoke boldly to those in Rome because he believed it was part of his duty in going to the Gentiles. It was what he was instructed to do by Christ. True or false? Sure was. That was his duty. That was his responsibility. So that's true. True or false? In Romans 15, Paul speaks of going from Crete to Rome. I've got a bunch of people wincing on this one. Crete doesn't show up anywhere here. So Crete's a nice place, but Paul doesn't talk about it here in Romans 15. And lastly, question 5. At the end of Romans 15, Paul says the final destination of his journey is Spain. He does. He does say it's Spain. Now we never have indication in the Scriptures that he makes it there. You know, after stressing the importance of those in the Church helping one another, in Romans 15, we see Paul look forward to eventually coming, going to Rome. This happened to have been delayed due to his arrest at the time. But what we wind up with in the latter, the last chapter of Romans 16, is we see a wrap-up of Paul, again, sending along greetings, admonitions, to what happens to be the longest list of people commended in Scripture. If you go read Romans 16, like so many sections of different places in the Pentateuch, in the first five books of the Bible, it just reads as a long list. But one of the things we can take there is that most of those Paul admonishes in Romans 16 happen to be women. What can we learn from this list? Well, we'll save that for another day. So I'll close with this slide. The last chapter lies ahead of us. Certainly read ahead, stay tuned, and we will hit Romans 16. And what I'll try and do is include many of those slides. You'll get to see a lot more slides in Italy on that last one, even as we close the book of Romans. Keep reading, we'll get there.