Why Is Paul So Eager To Go To Rome?
Romans 1:1-15 | Part 3
Paul has been trying to get to Rome for a long time. But circumstances have not allowed him to. (Romans 1:11-13)
Why? Why is Paul so eager to go to Rome?
He yearns to spiritually sow into them and receive spiritual gifts from them. He wants to establish some fruit among them. (Romans 1:13)
Paul, the bond-servant of the Lord, felt obligated both to Greeks and to the uncultured, both to the wise and to the foolish. (Romans 1:14) He felt indebted to share Him who paid his sin debt with the world. Therefore, he is eager to preach the gospel to them also who are in Rome. (Romans 1:15)
He was his brother’s keeper. (Genesis 4:9) He could not keep this transformational message to himself. It was like fire shut up in his bones! (Jeremiah 20:9)
He had to show His Jewish brothers and sisters that their long-awaited Messiah had arrived. And show the Gentile that the true and living God is not some powerless statue you can make with your hands. (Acts 17:29) But Yahweh has extended grace, mercy, and forgiveness of sins unto them via Jesus of Nazareth. (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 6:23)
Based on that, I have a question for you. Could the situation that the Lord saved, rescued, or delivered us from be our mission field? Like Paul, the Lord wants to use us to deliver our former us. To go back to the place where He spiritually arrested us and allow Him to use us to spiritually arrest others.
We understand the culture. We once had the mindset. We have felt their pain. We talk their language.
As a well-educated Jew with Roman citizenship, Paul understood the Jewish and Gentile perspectives and the perspective of the culturally elite and the overlooked. And while on his missionary journeys, Paul uses this knowledge and experience to share the gospel.
We can do the same thing. Like the Jews and Greeks in Rome, there are people who need to hear how Christ Jesus saved, rescued, and delivered us. They need to hear why we are crazy in love with Him. They need to hear why we consider ourselves bond-servants of Christ Jesus, messengers called and set apart to proclaim His gospel.
A gospel that, as Paul says in Romans 1:16, he was not ashamed of. For it was and still is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. A gospel that revealed the righteousness of God. (Romans 1:17)
Although Paul cannot visit the church in Rome at this time, he does not allow this delay to stop him from doing what he has been called to do.
To use a football term, Paul is calling an audible. Like Payton Manning, he is pointing out the middle linebacker while bellowing Omaha, Omaha!
Paul is sharing the gospel with the church in Rome via this letter.
A gospel that we will start talking about in person on Sunday and via this blog on Tuesday.
Talk to ya then. Same Bat Time. Same Bat Channel.