The Heart in the Ministry (Romans 1:9–13)
If God is sovereign, why pray? See how Paul's decade of prayers to reach Rome in Romans 1:9–13 shows that God ordains the means as well as the end.
Introduction
“Pastor, what do you do every day and week?” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked that question. If you listen to my mom, she’s joked for 25 years that I only work 1 day a week! While “everybody’s working for the weekend,” we work on the weekend! It’s not mysterious: like any of your jobs, it often becomes burdensome, a job, mundane, and rote like any other calling in life. So, why do you keep on keeping on at what you do? Hopefully, it’s because you love it and feel like it’s your calling. Your heart is in it!
Theme
Paul reveals something of the heart in the ministry, meaning, the minister having his heart in it and the heart or essence of the ministry being the gospel of Jesus Christ! Here in verses 9–13, Paul reveals something of his heart in the ministry as well as the heart or essence of gospel ministry.
His Heart of Service (v. 9)
Let me first say that in verse 9 we see Paul’s heart of service. For God is my witness. This is an Old Testament prophetic oath formula. For example, Job once said, “behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high” (Job 16:19). Here in Romans and in Philippians 1:8, Paul said, “For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Application: This is serious, to speak like this, isn’t it? Whom I serve with my spirit. His serving God was with the innermost depths of his soul or heart. Not outward and merely formal, but from the heart as one transformed by the gospel! With the depths of his heart, he serves in the gospel of his Son. He opens this letter, calling himself a servant “set apart for the gospel of God” (1:1). Not he calls it the gospel of [God’s] Son. In other words, the gospel is God’s and Christ’s because they are one in essence as God!
Paul’s heart was in the ministry of bringing the gospel to anyone and everyone who would hear him. Application: This is so important for us as pastors. This is also vital for us as parishioners and people of the gospel. First, pray for me to continue having the heart to serve God in this way. Twenty-five years is a long time in any job, let alone in the same place. So many of my friends and colleagues are moving to new churches recently. Pray that I’m refreshed in the gospel myself. But also keep your heart in the work of being a Christian in this church! You get to serve God here! Not only does the New Testament say you belong to a body as one of its parts, but research shows that service can give you purpose if you’re feeling directionless as well as give you social connectedness.
Summary: Paul reveals something of his heart in the ministry as well as the heart or essence of gospel ministry as he sought to serve Christ.
His Heart of Prayer (vv. 9, 10, 13)
Speaking of prayer, look also at Paul’s heart of prayer in these verses. He called upon God to be his witness to them that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers (1:9). This is his application of the morning and evening sacrifices and prayers pattern from the law in Exodus (Ex. 29:38–42). In his prayers he not only mention[ed] the Romans always (1:9), but his mention of them led him also to ask[…] that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you (1:10). He’s been praying, “Thy will be done.”
Theology: This brings up a perennial theological conundrum: why pray if God is sovereign? Does God know everything from the beginning to the end of history? Yes! Does God, who created all things, have a plan and purpose for all things? Yes! So, why pray? Beloved, not only has God decreed or purposed the end and your end, he has also decreed or purposed the means to get to that end. For example, does the Bible teach that God has purposed all those who will be saved? Yes! And he’s also purposed how they will be saved: faith in Jesus, which comes from hearing the gospel, which comes from someone sharing the gospel, which comes from the burden of being a friend of someone who’s not saved, etc., etc.! Paul acknowledges that it’s up to God’s will (1:10) to come to the Romans, but he still prays without ceasing…always (1:9). God has a will for converts, baptisms, re-dedications, restorations of those under discipline in this church. Our calling is to pray!
Paul’s absence may have seemed to them like he didn’t want to come see them. So, he goes on to give an apology for his delay: I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented) (1:13). Paul wanted to go. Paul prayed that it was God’s will to want him to go. But somehow, he was prevented. By what? Look at Romans 15. Paul says he was busy in the work of the gospel “from Jerusalem… to Illyricum” (15:19). This was directly across the Adriatic Sea from Italy in what is today Albania in the south near Greece, up through Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia. He would’ve been at most, 120 miles from Italy! He was prevented. By what? Look also at Acts 16:6–10:
…they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia…when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas…a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us”… when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Who prevented them? The Holy Spirit.[i] We’re not told how, but they knew this somehow and it was all confirmed in the vision. He was prevented. By what? Look also at 1 Thessalonians 2:17–18: “since we were torn away from you… for a short time…we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us.” Who prevented them? Satan. How? For that you need to read Acts 17 where “some” Jews” and a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women” believed in Jesus (17:4). “But the [unbelieving] Jews… taking some wicked men of the rabble…formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason [where Paul and Silas were]” (17:5). How did Satan preventPaul from continuing on in Thessalonica, and perhaps from going to Rome? Religious persecution, civil disturbances, and riots. Application: This is so important for how we view and experience God’s providence in our lives. As I mentioned last Sunday, in ad49, the Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome, and many Jewish Christians got caught up in that. That’s when Paul met Priscilla and Aquila who fled Rome and made their way to Corinth. From at least as early as ad49, Paul knew of the Roman Christians. He wrote his letter to them sometime between ad55–57. While he was in Jerusalem in ad57, he was arrested then imprisoned in Caesarea. He eventually was sent to Rome in ad60. So, when you read, I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented) (1:13), how long was that often? Around a decade! Paul wanted to see them, he traveled near them, and he prayed that it would be God’s will to meet them. How did God answer his prayers? In his arrest, detention, and house arrest from ad60–62 in Rome where he was martyred. Beloved, only God knows the future. It’s for you and me to pray in faith. As long as we’re not asking to sin, ask; then let him decide the outcome. Maybe it’s not time. Maybe he wants you to learn to persevere more in prayer. Maybe someone else needs you more than you want to leave. Just pray, “Your will be done,” and get on getting on! “To pray without labouring is to mock God; to labour without prayer is to rob God of his glory.”[ii]
Summary: Paul reveals something of his heart in the ministry as well as the heart or essence of gospel ministry as he prayed to see them.
His Heart of Encouragement (vv. 11, 12, 13)
As he served Christ in the gospel elsewhere, praying to visit Rome, we also see his heart of encouragement. Why did he say, I long to see you (1:11)? That I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you (1:11). He was called to preach the gospel and wanted to share the gift God had given him.
More than that, there was a mutual encouragement involved: that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine (1:12). Application: This is so beautiful! There’s a reciprocity of gifts in the body of Christ. Use yours to encourage and build up one another.
Note his purpose in encouraging them: in order that I may reap some harvest (gathering “fruit” not bearing) among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles (1:13).
Summary: Paul reveals something of his heart in the ministry as well as the heart or essence of gospel ministry as he sought to encourage them and be encouraged by them.
Conclusion: The Gospel is God’s Presence
Paul served in the gospel of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. He prayed that God’s will was that he could go to Rome and encourage them with that gospel. Why? It was the gospel of [God’s] Son (1:9), the very means of his presence among us!
[i] The glossa ordinaria follows this interpretation. The Glossa Ordinaria on Romans, 19.
[ii] Haldane, 1:83.