Living on Mission / Romans 15:14-33
I want to warn you right now that I am a little bit wrecked by this passage. I don’t know if that’s going to happen to anyone else today, but as I was studying this, I realized that the Bible really is a knife that can cut into us. It reveals things we don’t necessarily want to see, even while we know we need to see them.
This past week, I was working on some landscaping in my yard. I love landscape design; I find it therapeutic. I’m in the office a lot, so I love being outside in nature where I see God. As I was replacing some plants that had died over the last couple of years, I realized I had just spent about $200 on them. Plants are expensive! And as I was digging, it hit me: I spend so much time, money, and effort on things that are ultimately temporary.
It wasn’t wrong to landscape my yard, but it made me check my priorities. Are they in the right place? I have to be honest with you—there are times in my life where all I’m doing is living for things that don’t matter in the long run. I’m talking eternally. Because there is only one thing in this whole physical world that matters eternally: people. People are the only thing around us that lasts.
Yet, how much time do I spend on my home, my job, my golf game, or making sure my retirement fund is okay? As I read through Romans 15, I saw Paul sharing his passion. He lived for people. That is what this whole letter is about—living for God and for people. Paul had a focus and a mission that he refused to be distracted from, and it convicts me. Sometimes I lose that focus. You know when someone shares a testimony and they’re so passionate that it actually wrecks you because you wish you had that same fire? That’s what Paul does here.
Our Common Mission
At our church, we have a mission statement that puts it clearly: our mission is to help people connect to God and to each other in every neighborhood. That’s not just a mission for the staff; that’s your mission. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and part of this movement called The Well Community Church, your mission is to help people connect to God and to each other. It’s not to lower your golf score, get a promotion, or pay off your mortgage. Those things are secondary.
Paul shows his passion for this mission starting in verse 14.
Romans 15:14 (NASB)
And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.
He tells them, “I am convinced you are full of goodness and able to admonish one another.” He’s saying we are our brother’s keeper. We are here to counsel, confront, and encourage each other to live the life God wants for us. Then Paul describes his own niche in this mission.
Romans 15:15-16 (NASB)
But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that [my] offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Paul pictures himself like a priest. He asks, “What can I bring to God as an offering?” His offering isn’t money or buildings; it’s the Gentiles. He says, “I’ve introduced them to the Holy Spirit and the Gospel, and now I present them to You.”
I can’t help but think about when I stand before God. What am I going to offer Him? I can’t bring my plants. I can’t bring my golf clubs, my car, or my house. I’m not going to bring anything except the only thing that is eternal: people. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9 that he wants to run the race to win an eternal crown. He says, “I’ll become all things to all people so I could win some.”
1 Corinthians 9:22-25 (NASB)
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but [only] one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then [do it] to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
I want to stand before God and say, “Here are the people You gave me a chance to influence. I shared Jesus with them, they responded, and I’m bringing them here with me.” That is all that is going to matter.
The Power for the Mission
Paul was in awe that God would use him. He says in verse 17 that he has reason for boasting, but he immediately clarifies in verse 18.
Romans 15:17-19 (NASB)
Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
He wasn’t proud of himself; he was proud of what Christ accomplished through him. He simply made himself available, and the result was the obedience of the Gentiles. He did it by “word and deed,” and God provided the power through signs and wonders.
In Acts 19, it says Paul was able to do “extraordinary miracles”—handkerchiefs that touched him were taken to the sick and they were healed. That was a very unique, foundational time for the church. You might look at that and think, “Well, I don’t have those abilities, so how can I reach people?”
Acts 19:11-12 (NASB)
God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.
Listen, God has given you the exact same Holy Spirit with the same amount of power to do the mission He has planned for you. The Holy Spirit isn’t getting weaker as He gets older. He can do whatever He wants through us if we are willing to step out.
Think about the medical field. Everyone takes the Hippocratic Oath—a promise to do no harm and to work for the health of others. You have general practitioners who meet everyone’s needs, and then you have specialists, like podiatrists. They have different contexts and different tools, but they have the same oath and the same goal.
That’s us. We have the same Great Commission. For some of us, God will make us specialists—maybe He calls you specifically to India. For others, you’re a general practitioner right where you are. Don’t wait until you have a “specialized” passion to get started. Paul didn’t wait. The day he got his sight back in Damascus, he immediately went to the synagogues to talk about Jesus. He started with what he knew. God has placed you in a context—your work, your family, your neighborhood. Don’t wait.
You might say, “I’m not ready. I’m still learning.” If you feel unqualified, you are probably more ready than the rest of us. God loves to use unqualified people. The Holy Spirit in you is ready.
Lofty Aspirations
Paul had a specific aspiration to go where the Gospel had never been heard.
Romans 15:20-21 (NASB)
And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was [already] named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; but as it is written, ‘THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND.’
He quotes Isaiah 52:15: “They who had no news of Him shall see.” I bet he said that verse to himself every single day. I love that word “aspired.” An aspiration is a lofty goal.
What are your aspirations? If we were honest and wrote them down, would they be: “Pay off the house,” “Have enough for retirement,” or “Be a scratch golfer”? Those aren’t bad, but are they higher than the goal of reaching the person in the cubicle next to you? Is it a lofty goal for you to ensure your golfing buddies hear the Gospel? Is it an aspiration to invite your neighbors over to show them what a follower of Jesus looks like?
Your aspirations form your goals, and your goals form your priorities. Paul says in verse 22 that he was “often prevented” from coming to Rome because he was so busy reaching the unreached in Asia Minor and Europe.
Romans 15:22 (NASB)
For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you;
I’m concerned that I often say, “I don’t have time for the mission right now. I have to get through school, or this project at work.” The reason we don’t have time is because the mission isn’t an aspiration yet. Something else is. If reaching people is our driving aspiration, we will have to say “no” to some fun things to say “yes” to eternal things.
Paul eventually finished his work in those regions and looked for the next goal.
Romans 15:23-24 (NASB)
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 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–
He finished Asia Minor and then asked, “Who’s next?” He set his sights on Spain. We are never done with the mission. Over 40% of the world is still unreached, and there are people right around you who don’t truly understand who Jesus is. When you finish one goal, make another one.
A Parenthesis on Giving
Paul then explains a delay in his trip. He had a responsibility to the body of Christ, not just the unreached.
Romans 15:25-29 (NASB)
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.
Paul was collecting money from the Gentile churches to help the poor saints in Jerusalem. He says something very interesting: the Gentiles were “indebted” to them. They owed this money because they had received spiritual blessings from the Jerusalem church.
We don’t talk about money a lot at The Well. We don’t pass plates because we never want you to give out of guilt. But when the Bible talks about it, we won’t shy away from it. There are two pieces to giving here. First, our money is God’s money; we are just stewards. We should look around and see who is in need and help them.
Second, Paul teaches that when you receive spiritual benefit from a person or an organization, you owe them material support. Galatians 6:6 says the same thing: if you are taught the Word, share good things with the one who teaches you.
Galatians 6:6 (NASB)
The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches [him].
Maybe you need to sit down with your finances and ask, “Who is feeding me spiritually? Am I supporting them?” Whether it’s this church or another organization, you should be intentional, sacrificial, and generous. Don’t just give God the leftovers at the end of the month. Pray through that and let the Holy Spirit prompt you.
Striving Together in Prayer
Paul ends with a personal request.
Romans 15:30-33 (NASB)
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.
He asks them to “strive together” with him in prayer. He was worried about two things: that the gift for Jerusalem wouldn’t be enough, and that the people in Judea who hated him would stop him.
If you know the rest of the story, Paul did get to Rome, but not the way he planned. He wanted to go as a missionary on his way to Spain; he arrived as a prisoner.
Sometimes when we pray, God has a loftier goal than we do. Paul wanted to reach Spain, but God wanted Paul to reach the ages. God put him in prison so he would write letters that would become the New Testament. If Paul had known that his imprisonment would benefit billions of people for thousands of years, I think he would have said, “Forget Spain, let’s go to jail!”
God’s plan is good, and His plan is bigger than you. Paul lost his freedom and eventually his life, but he knew the plan wasn’t about him. It was about the Gospel.
As we get on board with this mission, let’s check our aspirations. Let’s reset our priorities around things that matter eternally. Let’s look at our finances and our prayers. Let’s strive together to see people connected to God.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank You for Your Word and how it transforms us. God, some of this hits our motivations and our goals. For some of us, we need to hit the reset button because we’ve been distracted by things that aren’t bad, but they aren’t eternal. Help us form our priorities around Your mission. Help us steward our finances to further Your kingdom. We worship You and pray this in the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen.