Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 1 as we continue our study in this very powerful book. In our last study we saw Paul’s opening salutation to the believers in Rome.  You see, many of them didn’t know Paul since he was never in Rome up to this point and so Paul gave a long introduction of himself so they would understand who he was and where he was coming from.

            He was a bondslave of Jesus Christ by his own choice. He was an apostle by the calling of God upon his life.  He was separated from the legalistic faith that he once had and is now separated unto the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And this message of the Good News was not a New Testament idea, but it is spoken of throughout the Old Testament, from Genesis through Malachi.

            He then shared about Jesus, how He is fully flesh, from the seed of David, and He is fully God and this is seen in His Resurrection from the dead, that He is God! This is a powerful salutation given to them and us in just a few verses. And yes, Paul did know some of the saints in Rome through encounters outside of Rome, but for the most part he did not have contact with the body of Christ, the body of believers there in Rome and thus, this salutation!

            This morning we will be looking at Paul’s introduction in his letter to the Romans, and it covers verses 8-17 of Romans chapter 1, and we will be looking at verses 8-15 this morning and cover those last 2 verses in our next study. And we will see this morning the heart of a servant, his passion for people and to see them come to the Lord and grow in the Lord.

            Before we get to our text this morning, let me share with you this story about leadership or really servanthood and what it does in people’s lives who witness it. We are told:

A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servant’s overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.

Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses. Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world’s famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret.

When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never knew by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. Perhaps the episode is a vital insight into why God used D. L. Moody as He did. He was a man with a servant’s heart and that was the basis of his true greatness.

- Gary Inrig, A Call to Excellence, p. 98

            With that said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 1, starting in verse 8 and see what the Lord has for us as we study His Word and see what the heart of a servant is all about.

            In these verses we have read this morning, Paul makes several points that show he has a heart of a servant. And please understand that Paul is not boasting.  He is just sharing his heart with them.  If Paul were boasting he would not start out this epistle by saying, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ.”  He would probably say something like this, “The most honorable Paul, the great apostle to the gentiles, his holiness greats you!”  No, that was not Paul, he was a servant of God and what a lesson for us as we look at his heart, as we see what was manifested in his life, his passion and it was not for himself, it was others-centered!

VERSE 8

            Look at the faith of these believers in Rome. It had spread throughout the Roman Empire and the idea here is their witness, what they believed they lived. And because of that, because of the change in their lives, their faith was known! How could that be without television, radio, newspapers, Internet?  Because all roads led to Rome and thus, as people traveled to and from Rome, they witnessed the faith of these believers and they shared with others what was going on in Rome, a very spiritually dark place but now the light of Christ was beginning to shine!

            Now Paul was never in Rome as yet, nor were any of the apostles, so who gave these people the right to do what they were doing? God did, He always starts the work and not man. And for Paul, he recognized this and he saw them as brethren, he loved them, he thanked God for these believers in Rome. And that is a characteristic of a servant of God, their love for the brethren!

            For some Christians, if you are not part of their group, then you are out. There is no love, no thankfulness for them, only division and that should not be.  Let me give you an example of what love for the brethren looks like. Our Youth Group has made several mission trips to Mexico with Youth For Truth out in California.  Now on that first trip we didn’t know them and they didn’t know us and yet they treated our group like family. They allowed them to stay with them; they picked the group up at the airport and brought them back again. They just loved them as family, as I have said.  And on subsequent trips that love has continued on as new people have traveled to California and then to Mexico with them.

            I have traveled many places and meet many brothers and sisters in the Lord and I have always felt a part of their family and the reality is, we are all part of the family of God in Christ Jesus! That is the kind of love that God wants us to have for each other. And keep in mind this love is not based on the fact that we deserve it, we don’t. It is based on the AGAPE love or that unconditional love that Christ has given to us!

            Look at these verses that deal with this issue of loving the brethren. In I Peter 1:22-23 we are told, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”  In other words, since we are a new creation, we are born again in Christ, we have received His unconditional love into our lives, we need to love the brethren and not live in the past anymore!

            John drives this point home in I John 3:14 as he wrote, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.”  If you can’t love the brethren then you have a big problem. John is saying that your spirit is dead, dead to the things of God! And in I John 3:16 we are told, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”  Our Lord laid down His life for us, the Creator of the Heaven and Earth, and now He is asking us to do the same by laying our lives down for the brethren, to love them!

            I can honestly say that I always don’t agree with my brothers and sisters in the Lord and they don’t always agree with me. But I do love them because my love for them is based in Christ! Over the years I have had people leave the church because they don’t agree with me, not on doctrinal issues, even some in leadership, and I can say that I still love them. Think of it like this folks. You are going to have to spend eternity with them; you might as well love them down here and not wait till you get to Heaven! Again, I might not agree with them, they may not agree with me, but there does need to be that love them!

            Peter put it like this in I Peter 4:8, “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’”  The Greek word for “fervent” speaks of a muscle that is stretched to the limit, that is the kind of love we are to have for the brethren. And please understand that this love is not something we can give on our own, but it is the love of God that flows in us and through us as we submit to the Holy Spirit. This is the kind of love that Paul had for these believers in Rome, many of them he never met before!

            Now, in regards to our love covering a multitude of sins, Grudem tells us: “Where love abounds in a fellowship of Christians, many small offences, and even some large ones, are readily overlooked and forgotten.  But where love is lacking, every word is viewed with suspicion, every action is liable to misunderstanding, and conflicts abound – to Satan’s perverse delight.” Let us be wise and obey the will of God for our lives and forgive others as God has freely and graciously forgiven us!  Let us love the brethren unconditionally!

            Paul heard of the faith of these believers in Rome and how their faith spread throughout the Roman Empire and he thanked God for them, for their witness, for their love of Christ.  He was not jealous of what they were doing, but he rejoiced in what they were doing. May we have that same heart towards the brethren.  The key here is PAUL’S LOVE FOR THE BRETHREN!

VERSES 9-10

            These Roman Christians let their light shine for Christ before men and Paul kept them in prayer, that they would continue to shine forth for Christ, that they would grow in the Lord. Another attribute of a servant of God is that they are people of prayer.

            Listen to Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-19, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

The focus of Paul’s prayer for the believers in Ephesus and for us is that the inner man would grow, the spiritual man because if the inner man grows, then what God is doing on the inside will overflow into our actions, the things we say and do! And Paul wants us to know the love of Christ, why? Because when we see the tremendous love of God for us, it will give us a heart for others, to be praying for them to find the love of Christ in their lives!  What is the love of Christ?  It is seen in the cross – His love for us pointed in four directions:

            ·  WIDTH: The width speaks of the world, that God’s love is wide enough to include every person if they would receive Him as their Lord and Savior.  In John 3:16-17 Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”  His arms are outstretched for all!

            ·  LENGTH: God’s love is long enough to last through all of eternity, it will never end, it will last forever!  It is as Paul said in I Corinthians 13:4-8a, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails . . .”

            ·  DEPTH: God’s love is so deep that it can reach down to the worst sinner and rescue him, save him.  Remember the thief on the cross next to Jesus, a murderer, many would look at that man today and say that he could never be saved and yet he cried out to Jesus to forgive him and Jesus said to this man, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”  Luke 23:43.  Folks, thank God that His love is so deep that it can save sinners; it can save you and me!  Paul said in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

            ·  HEIGHT: God’s love is high enough to take us to heaven, we won’t fall short for He will bring us to the very throne of God, not because we are so good, but because He is so good and loves us that much.  Again, as Jesus said in Luke 23:43, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

            We can never fully understand the richness of God’s love for us but every time we look to the cross we do get a glimpse of it.  It is as Paul tells us in Romans 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  Don’t put a cover over your life, but allow His love to be poured out into it for then you can allow that love to flow from your life to touch the lives of others.

            And Paul tells us that his service was in the Spirit, it was not of the flesh, it was not based on some religious obligation. He was not forced to pray, he wanted to pray, he was willing to pray out of love for Jesus Christ and he wanted God to use these believers in Rome to further the Good News of Jesus Christ! Why would we not want to pray like that?

            Yes, Paul wanted to go to Rome but at the writing of this letter from Corinth, He is heading back to Jerusalem to deliver a special offering he received from the Gentile churches to give to the Jewish saints in Jerusalem, to encourage them for they were hurting. He will eventually go to Rome but not like he thought. He would arrive there as a prisoner to speak before Caesar!

            God wants us to be men and women of prayer, that is a characteristic of a servant of God.  And Paul gives to us the example of his heart of prayer not only for himself, but also for the brethren, for others!  Paul was A MAN OF PRAYER!

VERSE 11

            Notice the heart of Paul here, a true servant of God. His desire was to visit the brethren in Rome but not for his own benefit. He wanted to bless them, to build them up in the faith, to help them to grow. Too often in the church today people are self-centered and when there is a need, when the church or the body of Christ needs help, they say things like, “Let me pray about it!” Or they say, “I don’t feel called to do that!” I am not sure when this happened, but the church is not a place where you come to get something out of it but you come to give what the Lord has given to you and out of that you are blessed! It is the body of Christ working together for the betterment of all!

            Paul, in Hebrews 10:24-25 reminds us, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” As a body of believers, as brothers and sisters in the Lord, we should stir each other up and not in a bad way. That way is too easy, isn’t it! Paul tells us that we are to stir each other up in love and good works. You see, as iron sharpens iron, we are to keep each other sharp in the faith, to encourage each other, to bless and strengthen the brethren!

            Yes, Paul did know some of the dear saints in Rome, like Priscilla and Aquila, (Romans 16:3-4), and several others but for the most part, he did not know them and yet he longed to be with them to bless them and strengthen them. May we have that same heart of a servant!

            Here at Calvary Chapel that is my hearts desire, to bless you and strengthen you in the faith and I will do whatever it takes because as part of the body of Christ, you are that important. But we also bless and strengthen those who we don’t know personally. How do we do this as a church? By our radio station in town, by our studies on the radio in Madison, by the studies we mail out and-so-on.  That is truly our passion here at Calvary and may it be a passion of yours!

John MacArthur wrote in his commentary on Romans regarding this passion to bless and strengthen others, “A young woman once told me that she had been teaching a Sunday school class of young girls for some while and thought that she loved them dearly. But one Saturday afternoon at her college football game the Lord convicted her about the superficiality of her love for them. Because of her busy Saturdays, she seldom spent more than a few minutes preparing her lesson for the next day. From that day on she determined to make whatever sacrifice and give whatever time necessary to give those girls something of eternal significance. That was the kind of committed, self-sacrificing love Paul had for the church at Rome.”

You see, is your heart really in it? Do you really have that kind of love to bless and strengthen others in the Lord no matter how much time it may take you? Are they that important to you?  Are you willing to put in the time, the effort or just be superficial about it?  Paul was a man who had a PASSION TO BLESS AND STRENGTHEN THE BRETHREN!

VERSE 12

            Paul didn’t see himself as better than others, he saw himself as equal with others, he had a humble spirit. He felt that he could learn from these believers as well as they could learn from him. A true servant of God is one who is teachable, humble and doesn’t see himself as better than others.

            I was shown this lesson a few years back. We had just finished fixing up the building we were renting and preparing for our big summer outreach in Washington Park. And on the day of that concert in the park our landlord came up to Steve and me and basically said we had about 30 days to move out of the place we were renting because another tenant wanted that space and they were going to pay him more than what we were paying or could pay. Now, me being that great spiritual giant, that great man of faith, I was not happy. What were we going to do since we didn’t have any money to buy a building since we just spent it fixing up this one we were renting. I was upset to say the least, how could he do this to us!

            Well, that evening at the concert I was talking with Diane and I would like to say that I was being spiritual but I was just complaining about what transpired that day and I didn’t know what we were going to do, where we were going to go. A kind of gloom and doom conversation on my part, not Diane’s! And as I finished by tirade, my ranting and complaining, Diane had this big smile on her face and she looked at me and said, “I wonder what God is going to do?” I was truly humbled and I learned a valuable lesson from Diane that day.  I really wanted to shake her and say, “Did you hear what I said!” But God got my heart before I could get that far. You see, what God showed Diane and was showing me, is that no matter how dark it may look, no matter how hopeless it may be, God is going to do something and He did!  Here we are in this building we have bought some 3 years ago and that is what God did. But we would have never been looking for this place unless the landlord kicked us out from the other place, or really God did! What a lesson He showed me through this dear saint of God, a lesson that I have taught before, but in this situation I had not yet applied it to my life!

            And that was the heart of Paul, this great man of God who was humble enough to learn from anyone. In Philippians 3:12-14 he tells us, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  You see, he had a humble spirit and a teachable spirit. Folks, we need to have a humble spirit and a teachable spirit like Paul. He was A MAN WITH A HUMBLE SPIRIT!

VERSE 13

            Paul had a passion to go to Rome, to visit the brethren there; to strengthen them but he faced a lot of opposition. What hindered Paul from going to Rome? There are a few things that may have got in his way.

            First, pressing needs in other areas may have hindered him. When he was writing this letter to the Romans he was preparing to go to Jerusalem, there was a pressing need there. The Jewish believers were hurting, they needed help and Paul was bringing them a gift from the gentile Churches he had visited on his missionary journeys.

            Secondly, maybe the Holy Spirit was restraining him from going to Rome at this time. We see this in Acts 16:6-10 as they Holy Spirit was restraining Paul from going with the Gospel to certain areas. We are told, “Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’  Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

            Paul tried to go in one direction bringing the Gospel message to the lost, and the Holy Spirit closed the door. He tired to go another direction and again the door was closed. Then, in a vision there was a man from Macedonia who asked for help and Paul felt the Holy Spirit was calling him to Macedonia and he picked up and went!

            The third thing that could hinder Paul was the opposition of Satan. We are told in I Thessalonians 2:18, “Therefore we wanted to come to you — even I, Paul, time and again — but Satan hindered us.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “Because it was our will to come to you. [I mean that] I, Paul, again and again [wanted to come], but Satan hindered and impeded us.”  The Greek word for “hindered” is a military term that speaks of digging a trench or breaking up a road.  In other words, a trench would prevent the enemy troops from getting through. Breaking up the road is another way to prevent the enemy from getting in.

            Folks, we are the enemy to Satan and he will use anything in his arsenal to prevent us from accomplishing the work of God. He has his schemes, his devices, he tries to break up the road, dig those big trenches to stop us!  What should we do?  I like what Spurgeon wrote regarding this, “Supposing that we have ascertained that hindrances in our way really come from Satan, WHAT THEN? I have but one piece of advice, and that is, go on, hindrance or no hindrance, in the path of duty as God the Holy Ghost enables you.”

           Paul was not going to give up. He would make the time to get to Rome, but until that time he will write them this epistle and when that door is open, when God opens it, he will be there.  And if it was Satan who was stopping him, then he will forge ahead and not let him stop him from the work that God has for him.

            Paul had a passionate heart for the people of God as well as the lost. He wanted fruit to be seen in their lives! And I believe Paul is speaking of the fruit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as these dear saints continue to share their faith. The next two verses show us that the fruit is that is born out of the Gospel message.  Thus, Paul was a man who had A PASSIONATE HEART!

VERSES 14-15

            Here is a servant of God who is eager and obedient to what God has called him to do, to bring the Gospel message to the lost. Paul tells us that he is a debtor to all men. He is a debtor to the rich and to the poor. He is a debtor to the young and the old. He is a debtor to leaders and the common person.  For the Greeks, they saw themselves as very wise and everyone else was just foolish. To them, those who did not speak Greek, they were barbarians.  And Paul wanted them all to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ, he felt the need to bring it to them, he owed this to them!

That passion to bring the Gospel message anywhere and everywhere was in the heart of Paul who was just waiting for God’s timing, God’s will in the matter. God promised Paul he would go to Rome and just as God promised, God will bring it to pass, maybe not like Paul thought, as a prisoner!  Paul was a man who was ready to preach and to serve, he was willing to suffer for the Gospel sake, he would do whatever it took, even unpleasant work, and Paul was ready to die. It is hard to stop a man like that!  Of Paul, Newell said, “Talk of your brave men, your great men, O world! Where in all history can you find one like Paul?  Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, marched with the protection of their armies to enforce their will upon men.  Paul was eager to march with Christ alone to the center of this world’s greatness entrenched under Satan with the word of the cross, which he himself says is to the Jews, and offence; and to the Gentiles, foolishness.”

            Can you imagine having a cure for cancer and then just keeping it a secret? That would be foolish, ridiculous to do. No, if you found the cure for cancer you would be in debt to get that medicine to everyone. You would get that medicine to the rich and poor, the old and the young, to leaders and the common person. Folks, we have the answer to sins dilemma, the cure for sin and that is Jesus Christ and like Paul, we should bring that message to all. Paul had A EAGER AND OBEDIENT HEART!

            So we have seen in Paul’s introduction in his letters to the Romans, so far, the heart of the servant being manifested in the life of Paul. It was not just talk, but this was his way of life and he was sharing it with the brethren in Rome.  Paul had a love for the brethren. Paul was a man of prayer.  Paul had a passion to bless and strengthen the brethren. Paul had a humble spirit. Paul had a passionate heart.  And Paul was eager and obedient to bring the Gospel message. And the Gospel message will be the focus of our next study, what it is all about because today, many are confused about this.

            To set us up for our next study, listen to what one writer wrote regarding the Gospel message and what is to be done with it. He wrote:

“The gospel is God’s message of mercy to humanity. It contains an exhibition of the plan, and the only plan, of salvation. It sets forth the person, the work, and the offices of Christ, and urges all to whom it comes to accept Christ as their God and Savior, and to devote themselves to His worship and service; and it assures those who do so that they shall never perish, but shall have eternal life. In one sense it is everyone’s duty, provided he or she has received the knowledge of the gospel, to preach it, to make it known to others. The commission and command—‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15)—is given not to the apostles exclusively, but to the whole church and all its members. Every member has the right and the obligation to make known this great salvation to his fellow humans.”

- Source Unknown

            Folks, may our hearts desire be as Paul’s, to be servants of Jesus Christ. In fact, listen to what Jesus said of what He was about, what He came to be to us in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  If Jesus Christ, Almighty God came to serve us, we should do no less!  May we have a heart of a servant, and the reality is, we are bondslaves of Jesus Christ, at least we should be. Not because we have to, not because we are forced to, but a bondslave freely gave his life to his master and may we give our lives to our Master, Jesus Christ! May we have THE HEART OF A SERVANT!