INSIGHTS INTO A HEART OF GRACE (Part 2 of 2)
God’s Invitation to Grace ❧ Part 64
Romans 15:17-33 ❧ Pastor, Dr. John Denney
There is within each one of us a deep longing to live our lives in such a way that we leave an indelible imprint on the face of eternity. We want to know that our lives make a difference, that we really matter, that our lives have a purpose greater than our social security number. We want to leave a radiating star of immortality that says, I was here, my life counts. There is an irony at work here though, a principle I find interesting. This is it: the younger we are the less clear our priorities of life; the older we are, the clearer our priorities become. Like the lady who bought a parrot to keep her company. She took her new pet home but returned the next day to report, “That parrot hasn’t said a word yet.” “Does it have a mirror?” asked the storekeeper. “Parrots like to look at themselves in a mirror.” So, she bought one and took it home. The next day she was back, announcing the bird still wasn’t talking. “What about a ladder?” asked the storekeeper. “Parrots enjoy walking up and down a ladder.” So, she bought a ladder and returned home. Sure enough, she was back the next day with the same story. “Does he have a swing? Birds enjoy relaxing on a swing.” She bought the swing and went home. The next day she returned to the store and announced that the bird had died. “I’m terribly sorry to hear that.” Announced the storekeeper, “Did the bird ever say anything before it died?” “Yes,” said the lady. “It said, ‘Don’t they sell any food down there?”
For many, we realize too late what is really important in life. A study I came across confirmed my suspicion. Fifty people over the age of 95 were asked one question: If you could live your life again, what would you do differently?There were many answers, but three constantly reemerged and dominated the results of the study: 1) If I had it to do over again, I would reflect more, 2) I would risk more, 3) I would do more things that would live on after I am dead.
We are nearing the end of the book of Romans. In the final roughly chapter and a half, Paul offers us a number of personal insights into a heart that has been miraculously transformed by God’s grace. Were we to have met Paul before God met him on that dusty road to Damascus, we would hardly believe he is the same person we’ve come to know in Romans. God so changed Paul’s life; he wanted to tell everyone about it. He was not silent about his faith. If you spent any amount of time with Paul, one thing you wouldn’t do is walk away wondering if he was a believer or not. Now, in Romans he’s just finished penning the most thorough and complete explanation of the greatest news mankind has ever heard – the Gospel. He’s given us the answer to one of the most significant questions people ask: What is wrong with our world? Sin. Because of sin there is death, disease, injustice, evil, and crime. It spread from Adam and Eve like gangrene into all of humanity. Our only hope is salvation in no One else but the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins on the cross. Romans Paul’s explanation of how Jesus Christ took his heart that once was filled with hatred and murder and hopelessness and transformed it into a man of grace who changed the world.
In the remainder of chapter 15, Paul offers us his final insights into a heart that has been transformed by God’s grace. READ: ROM. 15:17-33. In a real sense, Paul is saying, let me share with you what I’ve learned that is really important in life. There are five of them. Here they are….
- Your greatest accomplishments in life will be through God. Your life will have little lasting
significance if you live it for yourself, promoting your own agenda. For I will not presume to speak anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed(Romans 15:18, NAS). Paul traveled more miles, planted more churches, trained more leaders, wrote more Scripture, took the Gospel further around the globe than any other person in his generation. Paul’s ambition was to take the Gospel to where it had never been preached not because he was seeking his own glory, but because he saw the need was so great. Paul refused to stand in the limelight of glory; he instead pointed to God. When God accomplishes something in our lives, He does it to bring attention to Himself, not us.
If we’re really honest about ourselves, we’d realize we didn’t get to where we’re at in life or accomplish the things we have by ourselves. If God had not blessed us, enabled us, placed the people around us He did, we wouldn’t accomplish a thing. If we’re really honest, I mean really honest, we realized all we have to offer God is our brokenness, our failures, our inadequacies. It is said that Alex Haley, the author of a now classic book “Roots” that became the widely hailed movie had a picture in his office of a fence post with a turtle balanced on its narrow top. It served as a constant reminder to Alex that he didn’t get to where he was at in life by himself. He had a lot of help along the way.
Paul is saying the same thing here – except his focus is not the help of people, but of God. He’d be the first to tell you his effectiveness in taking the Gospel to the world was solely due to great work of God’s grace in his life (Acts 20:24). Paul understood and gloried in the fact that God’s accomplishments in his life were not to make Paul great, but God. The great apostle knew all of his greatness was attributed to the grace of God in his life. Dwight L. Moody once wrote: God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. In truth, Paul had nothing to offer God but his arrogant pride as a chest-beating pharisee and broken failure. Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (Phil. 3:8, NLT). Despite Paul’s impressive list of personal credentials he continually thought of himself as a bondservant of Christ. In the words of one author, Paul was a man of grace and grit (Swindoll, p.351). Paul is hardly alone. Moses, Joseph, Abraham, Jeremiah, Isaiah and many others in the Bible understood this as well. Charles Spurgeon painted this word picture of Moses’ life: The first forty years Moses thought he was a somebody, the second forty years; he thought he was a nobody, the third forty years; God showed him what He could do with a nobody. Were standing before us today, he’d say your greatest accomplishments in life will be through God’s power, not your own.
- God’s plans for us rarely unfold the way we think they will. For this reason I have often been
prevented from coming to you(Romans 15:22). Our plans rarely work out the way we think they will. It took years for Paul to finally get to Rome (v. 23). Paul’s use of the word prevented is loaded. It means to hinder, get in the way of, stop, irritate. I love this about Paul’s honesty. Paul is saying, My plans of getting to Rome have been filled with a lot of unexpected hinderances, obstacles, detours, and delays. One very wise person once wrote: If I’m told that the road to my glorious destination is marred by loose rocks and potholes, every jolt along the way reminds me that I’m on the right road. Taking the Gospel to the world did not happen easily or quickly for Paul. At least, not as easily or quickly as he would have liked it to have. Looking back on Paul’s life, it was filled with dangers, shipwrecks, hunger, exposure, imprisonment, floggings, stoning, slander, even opposition from close friends. Now, most of us probably haven’t experienced all the things Paul did, but we can all attest to the fact that God’s plans for us rarely unfold the way we think they will. If you think you’re alone in your struggles, you’re not. Why does God allow hinderances, obstacles, detours, and delays? Why the speedbumps?
A simple answer is we tend to focus on the destination while God is focused on the journey along the way. God is more interested in our development than our destiny. He already knows and assures us of the certainty of our destiny. Paul reminds us, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:37-39). He who began a good work in you will complete it (Phil. 1:6). Jude spoke of this certainty when he wrote: Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault (Jude 24). God tells us He is far less concerned about our destiny as He is about our maturity. He allows hinderances, obstacles, struggles to grow us and deepen our dependence on Him.
I remember reading about an apple farmer by the name of A. Bailey. He was one of the best. During a season of long drought, all the orchards in the valley where he farmed dried up, except Mr. Bailey’s. When asked why his orchard was so green while everyone else’s was so dry, he answered, My trees can go another two weeks without water.When pressed for an answer, he said, When my trees were young I frequently withheld water from them. Because of that, they had to send their roots deeper into the soil to find water. Now while other trees are dying, mine are drinking moisture at a much deeper depth. Paul realized no matter how God’s plans unfolded in his life, no matter what hardship he went through, he’d learned to sink his roots deep in trusting God. He was speaking from the grit and grind of experience when he said We know that God uses all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those called according to His purpose(Romans 8:28, NAS). Though God’s plans rarely unfold the way we think they will, Paul gives us yet a third insight of grace…
- Live your life with expectation in the promises of God. I know that when I come to you, I will
come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ(Romans 15:29). Paul’s life and ministry were marked by contagious enthusiasm. Nowhere do I read of him complaining about his struggles or difficulties. To be sure, he states them as a fact. But you don’t see him complaining or whining. Instead, he’s confident God is not only with him, but certain God is going to come through on His promises.
On more than one occasion Paul found himself in prison for sharing the Gospel. Even jail could not dampen his enthusiasm. Not long after Paul penned the book of Romans, he finally did make it to Rome. But it was not as a freeman, but a prisoner in chains! While sitting in his dungy Roman cell, he took up a quill and ink and penned these words: I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear (Philippians 1:12-14, NLT). He was hoping Rome would be brief stay in a low budget Motel 6 before moving on to Spain. Instead his entire stay was paid for by the Roman government in Rome’s finest five-star prison! His circumstances didn’t dampen his enthusiasm in the least.
One of my heroines is Corrie Ten Boom. After surviving a Nazi concentration camp and being released on a clerical error, she pursued a God-given call to take the Gospel to the world. She was a prolific author writing numerous books during her travels. One entitled: “A Tramp for the Lord,” she recounts on numerous occasions she traveled to some country simply because she believed God called her there. She would show up at a train station or dock at times not knowing a soul. Yet, God would inevitably put someone some Christian in her path, and she would have a rich ministry there.
What Paul and Corrie Ten Boom share is their enthusiasm in expecting God is in every detail of their lives and He will meet them with His abundant promises. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Live your life with expectation in the promises of God.
- Let your life be characterized by praying for God’s work. Now I urge you, brethren, by our
Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive with me in your prayers to God for me(Romans 15:30). Paul was unashamedly asking them to be prayer partners with him for his ministry. But Paul was not asking for second-hand prayers here. He was asking for a joint appeal to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He mentions all three in this one verse. He was asking for serious minded prayer warriors. The word he uses for “strive” (συναγωνίζομαι) comes from the word agonize. He was asking them to earnestly join him in prayer. In Acts 20:22-23 it tells us God the Holy Spirit warned him great trouble awaited his arrival in Jerusalem. And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me (Acts 20:22-23). Paul had serious concerns about his safety there. Prayer was the oxygen of Paul’s life and ministry. He knew and understood the importance of prayer. A man without prayer is like a tree without roots. The more I learn and understand in my relationship with Christ, I am more I am convinced of the need for God’s people to be prayer warriors. Prayer deepens our relationship with God and others. When my wife and I first met, we became prayer partners, and we still are.
