May 31, 2020    Prepare your heart and mind for your next group

Bible study.

 

Reach

When we share the gospel, people respond. This is the privilege and mission of the church.

 

Romans 15:14-21, 30-33

My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else's foundation, but, as it is written, Those who were not told about him will see, and those who

have not heard will understand. Romans 15:20-21 CSB

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In this passage Paul is wrapping up his letter to the Romans. After expressing his confidence in the spiritual health of the believers in Rome, he returned to the important topic of salvation through Christ but this time in the context of proclaiming the gospel to those who had not heard. Paul enlisted the church's help in this mission.

Paul continued to address the Roman believers as brothers and sisters. He considered the church to be his family and partners in the gospel. He affirmed the church for their goodness, knowledge and ability to instruct one another. Their habits demonstrated they genuinely sought to live moral lives and their faithfulness to the doctrines of the Christian faith enabled them to be good teachers and accountability partners.

What do your life habits demonstrate about the genuineness of your faith? How closely do your actions model the doctrines you profess?

Though Paul recognized the virtues of this church, he had been direct with them about practices of the faith that needed attention. He did so because of the grace of God given to him to teach the Gentiles. Paul reckoned his calling to be like that of an Old Testament priest who brought the words of God to the people and presented offerings to God. Paul's calling was to bring the gospel to as many Gentiles as possible, equip the believers who had been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and present them to God as a pleasing

 15 minute lesson overview video 

If you had the cure to cancer wouldn't you share it? ... You have the cure to death ... get out there and share it.Kirk Cameron

One thing I have observed in all my years of ministry is that the most effective and important aspects of evangelism usually take place on an individual, personal level. Most people do not come to Christ as an immediate response to a sermon they hear in a crowded setting. They come to Christ because of the influence of an individual.John MacArthur

God forbid that I should travel

offering.

Though Paul had planted many churches in many places and suffered much for his allegiance to Christ, he wanted the church to understand that the fruitfulness of his work was accomplished by Christ working through him. Paul was clear that the teaching, the miracles and the signs and wonders were only accomplished by the power of God's Spirit and not his own.

As a result of God's calling and God's power, Paul had covered quite a bit of territory preaching the gospel. He had preached in the birthplace of Christianity and the very heart of Judaism - Jerusalem. But Paul's burden was for the places where Christ had not been made known. His missionary journeys had taken him as far as Illyricum, a Roman province between Greece and Italy.

For what group of people do you carry a burden for them to know Christ? If you cannot readily answer that question begin to pray that God would place some group on your heart.

Quoting Isaiah 52:15 Paul understood that those who had not had the benefits of the law or the prophets which pointed to Christ, would respond to the gospel if given an opportunity. Paul's passion was to bring this opportunity to unreached people.

Paul made a strong request of the church to intercede in prayer for him based on their common bond in Christ and by the Holy Spirit who bound the believers together in love. The request to pray fervently and strive together carried the idea of an athletic team combining their strength in a struggle. Paul understood the importance of Christian relationships

with anybody a quarter of an hour without speaking of Christ to them.George Whitefield

in ministry.

When have you experienced the strength of a common bond with other Christians? How did that impact your life?

Paul was headed to Jerusalem with an offering from Gentile churches to bring relief to the Jewish believers there. He anticipated opposition from Jews who opposed the Christian message and asked for prayers for protection. Also, that the Jewish believers there would welcome the Gentile offering. Lastly, he asked them to pray that he would finally be able to visit Rome and be refreshed by their fellowship.

The Jewish Christians in Jerusalem did welcome Paul and the Gentile offering (Acts 21:17-20). Paul did experience protection from Jewish enemies albeit through Roman arrest (Acts 21: 31-34) and he did make it to Rome as a prisoner (Acts 25:9-12, 28:11-31).

What is the central truth of this lesson for you? How will you respond?

 

Scripturally, there is no such thing as a "lone ranger" Christian. God has set believers in community to strengthen and refresh one another. Through the church God's people are equipped for the work of the ministry. Be faithful in attending and

serving through your local church. 

Discuss with your small group ways you can partner with other believers in sharing the gospel. Sharing resources, being faithful in prayer for those who need to hear the message of Christ, and participating in mission outreaches are some ways we can collaborate in taking the gospel. 

Write out your personal testimony and pray that God will open your eyes to opportunities to share it.

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Romans, Lesson #14Paul, the Minister to the Gentiles / Romans 15

Good Questions Have Groups Talkingwww.mybiblestudylessons.com

OPENWhat have you learned from our study of the book of Romans?

DIG1. Compare Romans 15.14 with Romans 3.12. Do you see an

apparent contradiction? How do you reconcile this?This is important, of course, especially when we remember what Paul had to say about goodness in the earlier chapters. In his study of the nature of

fallen man developed in chapter 3 he quoted Psalm 14:1–3 and 53:1–3 as teaching that “there is no one who does good, not even one” (v. 12). Even worse, not only do we fail to do or practice good; we also actively do evil, and that continuously.

“Their throats are open graves;their tongues practice deceit.”“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”“Their feet are swift to shed blood;ruin and misery mark their ways,and the way of peace they do not know.”“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”Romans 3:13–182

How, then, can Paul speak in chapter 15 of the Roman believers being filled with goodness? The answer, obviously, is that they had become Christians, having been turned from their sin to faith and righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is true, as Robert Haldane writes, that “in our flesh there is nothing good.” But it is equally true that “from the work of the Spirit on our hearts we may be full of goodness.”3 This is to be a normal condition. It is not a matter for some superclass of Christians, what some branches of the church call saints.We need to remember that Galatians 5:22–23 lists goodness as one part of the Holy Spirit’s fruit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” and that, according to Ephesians 2:10, doing good works is the necessary outcome of our having become Christians: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” If we do not show any evidence of God’s goodness in our lives or if we do not do any good works, it is evidence that we are not Christians. So, goodness is a check-off point not only for a good church, but for whether we are genuine followers of Jesus Christ. — James Montgomery Boice, Romans: The New Humanity, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991–), 1847–1848.

2. Who do you know that is “full of goodness”? Is that even possible?Let me illustrate what we should be with this example. Less than two hours before I wrote this paragraph, I received word that one of the

leading members of our church had died. His name was Cornelius Phillips, and he had blessed many people because of his faith, strong testimony, and good works. When I heard of his death, I immediately pulled out a letter that a man I did not even know had written about him a year and a half earlier. It read:

I’m writing regarding one of your church members at Tenth Presbyterian Church. He’s in the hospital now, and I’m sure the folks at church are praying for him. What I wanted to say was that he is a fine Christian. He cares about the Lord; he cares about his family, and also about his church.I met Cornelius Phillips last August when my father was ill and passed away. He lent a great deal of peace and caring to our family at that time and still does today.… Your church has a good reputation, and I would have to say that people like Cornelius and his wife and others like them are part of the reason for that reputation. Cornelius in his humility would be the first to say, “Praise the Lord.” I would echo that statement and say, “Praise the Lord” for people like him.

That is genuine Christianity. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be part of a church filled with such people? I dare to say I am part of such a church and that there are many like them. I would say of them, as Paul said of the Roman congregation, “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness.” — James Montgomery Boice, Romans: The New Humanity, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991–), 1848.

3. What would have to be true of a person for you to say of them, “They are filled with goodness”?Yet we must not presume along these lines. We must constantly be asking, Am I such a person as Paul describes here? Am I filled with God’s goodness? Would anybody ever use Paul’s words to describe me? If we cannot answer yes to those questions, it is time for self-examination and for doing what Peter had in mind when he wrote, almost immediately after having spoken of the need for goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love among Christians, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10–11). — James Montgomery Boice, Romans: The New Humanity, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991–), 1848.

4. Filled with knowledge. What is that talking about?The second check-off point for a good church is the phrase “complete in knowledge.” This does not mean learned in an academic sense but rather a sound, practical understanding of the Christian faith that will issue in wholesome, helpful conduct. — James Montgomery Boice, Romans: The New Humanity, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991–), 1848.

5. Romans 15.16. Sanctified. What does it mean to be sanctified?Sanctified is from hagiazō, which has the basic meaning of being set apart. A Christian is sanctified, set apart, in two ways. Negatively, he is set apart from sin. Positively, he is set apart for God and for His righteousness. Just as the vessels in the tabernacle and temple were set apart from all mundane uses and dedicated solely to God and His service, so are those believers who are vessels of honor in the church. Their supreme purpose as Christians, the purpose from which all duties derive, is to serve God. For that they keep themselves pure. It would be inconceivable that a vessel could alternate between being used for vile waste and for food for guests. An honorable vessel is kept pure.Sanctified translates a perfect passive participle, indicating a condition that already exists. When we trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He immediately “became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). Every believer has been chosen by God “from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13; cf. 1 Peter 1:2). Salvation itself is a sanctification, setting us apart to God. But it also is the beginning of a lifelong process. It is both a reality and a progressive experience.Christians not only are sanctified by having a right relationship to God but also are being sanctified as they grow in fulfilling God’s purpose of righteous living. That is the meaning of the term used here. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification,” Paul declares; “that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.… For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3, 7). The sanctified life is a life of purity, holiness, and godliness. It is a vessel for honor, worthy for the Lord to use.

On the negative side, the believer is being sanctified, or set apart, from unrighteousness. Our new, redeemed life in Christ is to be in stark contrast to our former, unsaved life. “For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification” (Rom. 6:19; cf. v. 22). Honorable vessels are separated from sin, from the world, from the flesh, from Satan, and from the self-will of the old self. — John F. MacArthur Jr., 2 Timothy, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995), 90–91.

6. How are we sanctified?Several times I have heard Christians recite the following formula: “Christians are saved by grace, justified by faith, and sanctified by works.” On first hearing, this sounds right as the slogan attempts to capture three important biblical emphases. Yes, we are saved by grace and not by our works (Rom. 6:14; Eph. 2:8). Yes, the ground of our justification is the merit of Christ, which becomes ours through faith alone (Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16). And yes, good works will be found in the lives of those who are saved by grace and justified by faith (Eph. 2:10). But—and here is where the slogan takes us in the wrong direction—we are not sanctified by our good works.This is a very important point and is often misunderstood by many. The reason why the last part of the above formula is incorrect (“sanctified by works”) is because when discussing sanctification, the formula confuses the cause (God’s grace) with the effect (good works). To put it another way, while the process of sanctification inevitably leads to the production of good works, good works do not produce our sanctification.It is my sense that many Christians are confused about this matter. Thankfully, the resolution to this is made plain in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, question and answer 35. Notice that according to the Shorter Catechism, our sanctification is said to be the work of God’s free grace. Sanctification does not result from the performance of good works. God’s people must be careful not to confuse the cause (grace) with the effect (good works) when it comes to this important doctrine. We are not sanctified by our good works; rather, because God sanctified us, by grace, He produces good works in our lives. In fact, we do not sanctify ourselves any more than we justify ourselves. Sanctification is God’s work, and His work in us produces good works, or what Paul describes elsewhere as the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–24). — Tabletalk Magazine, April 2009: The

Church in the 9th Century (Lake Mary, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2009), 54–55.

7. Can we be sanctified by trying really hard to be sanctified?There is a common misperception—inside and outside the church—that Christian living is fundamentally about trying really hard to be good. It is not. It is about being transformed. This has a lot to do with changing the way we think:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 (NIV2011)

This word translated transformed is metamorphóō. We get our word metamorphosis from this word, and it is beautifully illustrated by what happens to a butterfly when it is transformed from an egg to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly. A butterfly is not a caterpillar that is trying really hard to fly. Caterpillars can’t try really hard to fly. They have to be transformed. We can’t live the Christian life by trying really hard, although, trying really hard has its place. Some Christians don’t try hard enough. We will get into that later. In this chapter we want to explore how God changes our thinking. — Josh Hunt, How to Live the Christian Life (Good Questions Have Groups Talking, 2017).

8. Why can’t we be sanctified by trying really hard to be sanctified?One of the principles we will look at is the idea that we are transformed by speaking the truth. We are changed more by what we say than what we hear. When we hear a sermon on gratitude, we resolve to try really hard to be more grateful. This never works. When we speak twenty things, we are grateful for every day for three months—and it becomes a habit—we don’t have to try at all to be grateful. We couldn’t keep from being grateful. Speaking words of gratitude and making it a habit changed us. — Josh Hunt, How to Live the Christian Life (Good Questions Have Groups Talking, 2017).

9. In what way do we participate in our own sanctification?There is more to Christian living than trying really hard to be good. More, but never less. Some Christians, I am afraid, don’t try hard enough.

When Paul spoke of Christian living, he spoke of striving and straining and boxing and running. These are all very active metaphors. One of my favorite jump-ball questions is this: is Christian living active or passive? Is it trying hard or resting in the finished work of Christ? Is it working like crazy, or letting go and letting God?I love this question because it is a little bit of both. Christian living is both trying hard and trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to do His work in me. It is both Faith is the Victory and I’m pressing on the upward way…Some Christians don’t try very hard at all. They read a verse like this one:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 (NIV2011)

They wonder what Paul is talking about, “weary in doing good.” I think you ought to be tempted to get weary in doing good every now and then. I think you ought to push yourself to exhaustion every now and then. I think you ought to lie your head on your pillow dog-tired every now and then. You shouldn’t stay there. Don’t be weary in doing good. The verbs in this verse are present tense verbs which suggest linear action. They suggest habit. Don’t make it a habit of getting weary. Don’t camp out at tired. The Sabbath was given to man as gift to the tired. It was given to ensure that we never stay tired. But we ought to get tired occasionally. We ought to need the Sabbath. One of the things the Lord commended the church in Ephesus for was their hard work. (Revelation 2.2) Jesus told the disciples they would be able to reap a harvest only because others had worked hard. (John 4.38) Paul didn’t take a salary and supported himself by his hard work. He taught us that if a man does not work, he should not eat. It is morally wrong to feed a man who could work but chooses not to. The Proverbs speaks often of the value of hard work and warns against the sin of laziness: Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. Proverbs

10:4 (NIV2011) Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor. Proverbs

12:24 (NIV2011) All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Proverbs 14:23 (NIV2011)

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. Proverbs 21:5 (NIV2011)

We live in a country that longs for shorter work weeks, more days off and early retirement. We serve a God who says, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work.” Exodus 20:9 (NIV2011) We think of the 4th command as a command to rest, but really it is a command to work and rest. If you think of it this way, there are really eleven commands—the command to work and the command to rest being two of them. The ratio is 6:1. Lots of work; a little bit of rest. We live in a culture that values entertainment. We value leisure. We thank God it is Friday because Friday is the weekend, and on the weekend, we don’t have to work. We see work as a punishment to be avoided. The nation’s bestselling chair is a Lazy Boy, not a worker boy. Christian living is hard work. There is no abundant living without hard work. It means setting an alarm when you would rather sleep in. It means going to church when you would rather stay home and do nothing. It means memorizing Scripture when you would rather watch TV. It means exercising your body when you would rather not. It means serving when you would rather be served. It means forgiving when you think it is impossible, then, forgiving again. There is no transformation without hard work. There is more to Christian living than trying really hard to be good. But you will never lay hold of the abundant Christian life without trying hard to be good. — Josh Hunt, How to Live the Christian Life (Good Questions Have Groups Talking, 2017).

10. I don’t deal with this every week, lest my teaching become overly repetitive. But it is an important point, and I’d like to go a little deeper. We teach on gratitude and you may get the feeling, “I need to go home and try really hard to be grateful.” We teach on forgiving others and you may find yourself thinking, “I need to work on that.” What is wrong with this approach?There is no condemnation in Osteen’s message for failing to fulfill God’s righteous law. On the other hand, there is no justification. Instead of either message, there is an upbeat moralism that is somewhere in the middle: Do your best, follow the instructions I give you, and God will make your life successful. “Don’t sit back passively,” he warns, but with a gentle pleading he suggests that the only reason we need to follow his

advice is because it’s useful for getting what we want. God is a buddy or partner who exists primarily to make sure we are happy. “You do your part, and God will do his part.” “Sure we have our faults,” he says, but “the good news is, God loves us anyway.” Instead of accepting God’s just verdict on our own righteousness and fleeing to Christ for justification, Osteen counsels readers simply to reject guilt and condemnation. Yet it is hard to do that successfully when God’s favor and blessing on my life depend entirely on how well I can put his commands to work. “If you will simply obey his commands, He will change things in your favor.”6 That’s all: simply obey his commands.Everything depends on us, but it’s easy. Osteen seems to think that we are basically good people and God has a very easy way for us to save ourselves—not from his judgment, but from our lack of success in life—with his help. “God is keeping a record of every good deed you’ve ever done,” he says—as if this is good news. “In your time of need, because of your generosity, God will move heaven and earth to make sure you are taken care of.”7It may be Law Lite, but make no mistake about it: behind a smiling Boomer evangelicalism that eschews any talk of God’s wrath, there is a determination to assimilate the gospel to law, an announcement of victory to a call to be victorious, indicatives to imperatives, Good News to good advice. The bad news may not be as bad as it used to be, but the Good News is just a softer version of the bad news: Do more. But this time, it’s easy! And if you fail, don’t worry. God just wants you to do your best. He’ll take care of the rest.So who needs Christ? At least, who needs Christ as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)? The sting of the law may be taken out of the message, but that only means that the gospel has become a less demanding, more encouraging law whose exhortations are only meant to make us happy, not to measure us against God’s holiness. — Michael Horton, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008), 69–70.

11. Some have used the phrase “therapeutic moralism” to describe the approach of some modern preachers. What is meant by therapeutic moralism?These are churches full of people now, but as attendees are fully “discipled” in the religion of therapeutic moralism—a Bible-lite

inspirational self-help teaching—the less need they have for the church itself. — Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel-Driven Church: Uniting Church Growth Dreams with the Metrics of Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019).

12. We are moving on, but before we do, let’s summarize this point. How are we sanctified?Try as hard as you can, knowing that without Christ you can do nothing. Try as hard as you can, confident that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

13. In Romans 15.20, Paul speaks of his ambition. What place does ambition have in Christian living?Paul wrote, “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written: ‘Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand’ ” (Rom. 15:20–21).In a similar vein, Andrew Fuller wrote in his journal for July 5, 1780: “I longed in prayer tonight to be more useful. Oh that God would do somewhat by me! Nor is this I trust from ambition, but from a pure desire of working for God, and the benefit of my fellow sinners.”Fuller’s motives correspond precisely with those of the apostle Paul who wrote: “I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God” (Rom. 15:17, 18).In other words, both the apostle Paul and Andrew Fuller longed to bring glory to God and to be instruments of grace and life to perishing sinners. Not a bad ambition, we would say! In the present text Paul amplified and detailed his ambition, brought it into sharp focus, and left us with no doubt as to what he wanted to accomplish.The first matter that strikes us is Paul’s worldwide vision: “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known” (Rom. 15:20). Like Fuller, Paul labored out of a “pure desire of working for God, and the benefit of my fellow sinners.” This desire to work for God is a constant theme in the apostle’s writings. A charge had been given to him and he must carry it out.

The charge given to Paul included instruction not only about what he was to preach but also about where he was to preach—“where Christ was not known.” Paul explained, “there is no more place for me to work in these regions” (Rom. 15:23). That is, his work was done there. The gospel had been preached, but not yet in Spain. — John Mark Terry, Ebbie C. Smith, and Justice Anderson, Missiology: An Introduction to the Foundations, History, and Strategies of World Missions (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 92.

14. What does Paul’s ambition teach us about the gospel itself?Paul’s second point follows logically from his first. If gospel ministry is fulfilled by offering people all over the world (Gentiles) as obedient living sacrifices to God, to bow the knee to Jesus Christ, then it follows that gospel ministry can never stand still. It must always be reaching out to regions beyond where it has yet reached. It is in the nature of grace to overflow, as we saw in 11:11–32 (c.f. 5:19; 15:13). Someone has said that Paul was like the early American frontiersmen, who would always move further west if they could see smoke from another settler’s cabin! His ‘ambition’ (v. 20) is ‘to preach the gospel where Christ has not already been named’, which does not mean ‘named’ by the evangelist, but ‘named in worship’ by the church planted through his preaching. When that happens a ‘foundation’ is laid, who is Christ (1 Cor. 3:10). He wants to plant churches where no churches have been planted before. — Christopher Ash, Teaching Romans: Unlocking Romans 9–16 for the Bible Teacher, ed. David Jackman and Robin Sydserff, vol. 2, Teach the Bible (Ross-shire, Scotland; London: Proclamation Trust Media; Christian Focus Publications, 2009), 244–245.

15. Paul wanted to preach the gospel where it had not been preached. Where do you want to preach the gospel?CAN OUR LIVES COUNT FOR CHRIST IF WE DON’T HAVE THE CALLING TO BE A MINISTER? I TRY TO BE FAITHFUL IN TELLING OTHERS ABOUT SALVATION, ESPECIALLY MY GRANDCHILDREN. DO YOU THINK THIS MATTERS IN THE LONG RUN?Sounds as if you are doing exactly what a minister does. Paul says in Romans 15:15–20:

…because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so

that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.Therefore, I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So, from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known.

You don’t have to put a collar around your neck, eat at every potluck dinner that comes around, or preach long, boring sermons to be a minister.According to Paul, ministers

proclaim the gospel everywhere they go, and testify to God’s work in their lives.

Paul made a difference. Sounds as if you do too.Will it matter?When you arrive in heaven, I wonder if Christ might say these words to you: “I’m so proud that you let me use you. Because of you, others are here today. Would you like to meet them?”Neighbors, coworkers, friends, strangers, and family members (parents, spouse, children, grandchildren) all step forward.Even great-grandchildren, whom you never met, are there because you ministered to your kids and to your grandchildren.Does ministering make a difference? Yes.Are you a minister? You bet.Are you making a difference? Absolutely.And while you’re at it, eat at every potluck you can. — Max Lucado, Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2011).

16. Paul said he didn’t want to build on someone else’s foundation. What is wrong with building on someone else’s foundation?There is nothing in principle wrong with ‘building on someone else’s foundation’. Paul is very happy for Apollos to do this in Corinth after he has laid the foundation, for Apollos to water where Paul has planted (1 Cor. 3:1–10). So we must not take his example as compulsory. Someone needs to consolidate and continue existing gospel ministries. But there is something deeply challenging about the spirit of barrier-breaking gospel ambition that drives him out. He speaks of this again in 2 Corinthians 10:13–18, wanting to go to the ‘regions beyond’ (King James Version of 2 Cor. 10:16). We too ought to see Christian work in well-established places as something of a disappointment in comparison to pioneering work in tough places.His inspiration for this gospel ambition is the prophecy of Isaiah 52:15, which he quotes in verse 21, part of the most famous of Isaiah’s ‘Servant Songs’ (Isa. 52:13–53:12). Paul quotes the Greek translation of verse 15: ‘Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand’ the ministry of the Servant to carry their griefs and sorrows and bear the punishment for their sin. It is too light a thing for this Servant just to serve the Jews; he must be a light to the whole world so that God’s rescue reaches to the ends of the earth (Isa. 49:6). — Christopher Ash, Teaching Romans: Unlocking Romans 9–16 for the Bible Teacher, ed. David Jackman and Robin Sydserff, vol. 2, Teach the Bible (Ross-shire, Scotland; London: Proclamation Trust Media; Christian Focus Publications, 2009), 245–246.

17. Romans 15.30. What do we learn about Christian living from this verse?Do you know what that word strive means? The root word is the word we get our word agonize from. You agonize in prayer. That’s what prayer in the Spirit is.That’s where the battle is: listening prayer, lingering prayer, loving prayer, laboring prayer. Not just, “Now I lay me down to sleep.” That’s where the battle is, my dear friend. That will make your life or break your life. That will make your home or break your home. That will make this church or break this church. You are no greater than your prayer life, no more victorious than your prayer life. The devil laughs at our organization.

He sneers at our schemes. He fears our prayers. Paul is talking about warfare. Our attack is twofold and assured victory because of the sharpness of our sword, and because of the source of our supply. — Adrian Rogers, “The Christian’s Warfare,” in Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust, 2017), Eph 6:10–22.

18. David Brainerd spoke of agonizing in prayer. Can you relate? Do you sometimes agonize in prayer? Who has a story?Monday, April 19. In the afternoon, God enabled me so to agonize in prayer that I was quite wet with perspiration, though in the shade and the cool wind. My soul was drawn out very much for the world, for multitudes of souls. I think I never in my life felt such an entire weanedness from this world and so much resigned to God in everything. Oh, that I may always live to and upon my blessed God! Amen, amen. — Discipleship Journal, Issue 17 (September/October 1983) (NavPress, 1983).

19. What did you learn today? What do you want to remember and apply?

20. How can we pray for each other today?