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. 14 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. 15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, 16 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. ~ Romans 15:13-16
Today, we continue our study of Romans 12-16 which has as its main topic: service. It was in Romans 3:21 that the Apostle Paul introduced us to the Grace Saturated Life. Once the grace of God apprehended our souls, we started down the road of wanting to be desirous of being the servants of God. I fact, in Romans 12:1, the Apostle introduced us to the idea of being "living sacrifices." This is where a proper understanding of the grace of God leads us; it leads us to a life of complete gratitude. In Romans 12-16, the Apostle Paul gives us the portrait of what it looks like to be a servant who has been arrested by the grace of God.
In v.13 of today's passage we read, "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."
According to this verse, the God of hope works His joy and His peace leading to abounding hope as we are learning to believe in Him more and more. The Holy Spirit does this by creating faith within us. Before we were born again we were spiritually dead toward God. Then, He presented to us His word of promise which is the gospel of Christ. It was at this point that we humbled ourselves enough to receive the free gift of new life through the promised death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we received the free gift of forgiveness of our sin, through God's word of promise, we accessed His joy, His peace, and His power. It is out of this God-given posture that He is yet building up His hope in our souls as we are learning to believe more and more.
As indicated in this verse, the fullness of His hope never reaches its limit in this life. It will always abound. Hope in the promises of God produces the fruits of joy and peace in the life of the believer in Christ. It is when His joy, peace and hope are evident in our lives that we are bolstered in the faith to the point that we see it for what it is ... the truth. And, once apprehended by the truth, we will invest our very existence in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what it looks like to be the servant of God.
In v.14 of today's passage we read, "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."
In this verse, the Apostle Paul addresses two things the believers in Rome possessed; they were "full of goodness" and they were "filled with all knowledge." These believers had a long track record of walking with the Lord, and the Lord had invested much in them. I find it most instructive that when God invests in us, He rarely has only us in mind. His blessings are always meant to be passed along to others.
To be full of goodness means that the motives of these servants were right. This means that the believers in Rome were motivated by compassion which is the ultimate biblical mark for spirituality. Throughout the scriptures, this is the quality that sets God's people a part. In the ancient world, compassion was in short supply. As a rule the gods of Greece and Rome were heartless, cold, and indifferent to human suffering. And people followed suit. Some ancient philosophers taught that having sympathy for one’s fellow human beings was not only unnecessary, it was actually a weakness.
To the contrary, the God of the Bible is quite compassionate. In fact, the Scriptures inform us that He delights in showing us His mercy. The Greek word for compassion literally means "to suffer with." Compassion is the ability to feel along with another person. Compassion underscores ones willingness to empathize with the pain of another fellow human. More than that, compassion is the pity that stirs one to act in order to help those who suffer. Augustine once said, "What is compassion but a kind of fellow-feeling in our hearts for another’s misery, which compels us to come to his help by every means in our power?"
To be "filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another" reveals why the book of Romans. This letter is the greatest treaty on correct theology ever given. As a result, the Roman believers were theologically deep enough to handle the ultimate destiny for all believers. When God allows or causes us to go through deep waters, He is investing in us. And, when He blesses us with anything, He rarely has only us in mind. All that the Lord chooses to do for us merely leads us inevitably to the place of the compassionate servant. And, when we are living as servants, we are most like the Lord.
In v.15-16 of today's passage we read, "15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, 16 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."
In these two verses, the Apostle Paul addresses two things the believers in Rome lacked. According to these two verses, the believers in Rome needed a bold reminder that the sharing of the gospel is God's ultimate goal for all who are learning to be the servants of the Lord. It is so
easy to get side tracked into those things that are in comparison just not all that important. Only two things in this world will last for eternity: the souls of people and the word of God. Sometimes, we must be reminded that we are in a battle for the souls of people all around us. We must be in tune with the Spirit of God and His leading in our lives to engage people with the gospel right where they are, right now.
The second thing the believers in Rome needed was the understanding "that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit." All of the activity of the Christian life is of no avail if it is not blessed by the Holy Spirit, if it does not have in it the touch of God. The Apostle Paul was reminding the believers in Rome of the crucial ministry of prayer, and the need to remember that God Himself must touch something in order for it to endure, otherwise it will be dead and useless. This is why in Romans 12:2, the apostle reminds us that we need for our minds to be renewed by the Holy Spirit because we forget so easily.
It is so easy for all of us to be defined by the culture of this fallen world. It is so easy to get the idea that this life is all about us and our comfort and happiness. This is not what the Lord tells us in the Bible. In His word, He tells us that we are in the midst of a battle, a battle to the death, against a keen and crafty foe. The enemy of Christ's gospel wants to discourage us and defeat us, and to make us feel angry and hostile. His strategy is as old as this earth. We must remember that we are in a battle for the souls of people who will either endure for eternity in hell or in heaven. And, we factor in to the overall scenario. If we have been apprehended by His grace, we will enlist in this calling that God has given all of His servants, to go out and win the lost. And, when we get to heaven we will rejoice with all of those with whom we had an influence to believe in the Lord Jesus for themselves.
