Published: March 29, 2026 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Romans - Part 89 | Scripture: Romans 15:22-29
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15. Continue in this passage where Paul is moving to the end of his letter. He'll be uh doing something rather unusual in chapter 16 in that giving a long list of
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greetings to individual uh members of the Roman church. In the passage that we are looking at and Lord willing also next week
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Paul provides some personal insights somewhat in an opaque manner as he talks about his plans. Um he shares his
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perspective on things like giving uh for one thing also making plans just how to go about it as a believer. And so I hope
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by the presence of the Holy Spirit that we might unpack these verses together. Be looking at verses 22 through 29
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this morning. Romans 15 verse 22. For this reason, I have often been hindered from coming to you. But now,
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with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you whenever I go to Spain, for I hope to see you in
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passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while, but now I'm going to Jerusalem, serving the saints.
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For Macedonia and Aaya have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are
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indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.
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Therefore, when I have finished this and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain, and I know that when I come to
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you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. Let us pray.
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Father, we do ask that you would guide us in this passage and help us to extract Paul's inspired perspectives on things that we and we as a church ought
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to be doing, how we should view making plans, how we should view benevolence, and how we should lay everything before you that we might also walk in the
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blessings of Christ. So we pray that your spirit would be with us and guide us and teach us through your word. For we ask in Jesus name. Amen.
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One of the nice things about reading biographies is you always know how the story ends. But if you apply that to the life of Peter or to the life of Paul or to the
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life of John or any of the other apostles, uh we realize that we don't know how the story ends. So Paul speaks here of of
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going to Spain and kind of leaves us with the question. In fact, it's left the church with the question, did he ever make it? Did Paul ever make it to Spain? uh or was he
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martyed in Rome by Nero? Uh legends maintain each scenario. Some say they maintain both scenarios.
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Robert Haldane writes, "The tradition affirms that Paul was in Spain, but this is not evidence." And I think Robert Hallane is right. When we look to the
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actual scripture which is the the only record that we can say is accurate is truth we find at the end of the book of acts Paul is in Rome but there doesn't seem
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to be any imminent danger of his demise let me read the from the last verses of chapter 28 in uh acts and he stayed two
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full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness
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unhindered. Now, it's interesting that Luke mentions that he spent two full years. He doesn't say as often uh about two years, roughly two years. Well, it it turns out that
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for a Roman citizen who appeals to Caesar, his accusers have two full years to present their case before Caesar. And
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if in those two full years they failed to do so, then the citizen is set free. The charges are dropped. So most scholars feel that what we're reading
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here is that while Paul was under house arrest, there was very little restriction placed on him. He was certainly uh at liberty to preach the
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gospel to all who came to him. And I gather that was a a large and probably growing number over those two full years. But what's implied is at the end
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of those two full years, Paul was released. But that's the end of the book of Acts and we don't know what happened to Paul
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or what Paul did afterward. So we look to scripture again to find out maybe something more about Paul and
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his the end of his life. And we find in his last epistle in second Timothy things aren't going well. And it does appear that he is back in Rome. Now,
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it's it's hard to harmonize Acts 28 with second Timothy. In Acts 28, he's preaching openly and unhindered to all
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who came to him. Again, the implication is that people were coming in probably every day. But listen to what he writes to Timothy in chapter one of his second letter. He says, "You are aware that all
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who are in Asia turned away from me. The Lord grant mercy to the h house of Oniciferus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But
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when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me. I I don't think these can be referring to the same time period.
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And the one is, yes, he's under house arrest, but there's no mention of chains. And the other, he's not only in chains, but he's all but abandoned. all but abandoned by those who who once
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walked with him. He's alone. He actually names a couple and I didn't mention them. Not that it matters.
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Further on, he says in the same letter in chapter 4, he writes, "For I am being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have
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fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.
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I think we're getting to the point here of Paul's imminent demise. His awareness of the Lord's will, which Lord willing, we'll talk about next week as we look at how Paul made plans. His
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awareness of the Lord's will as to where he went and what he did seems to indicate in this passage that he knew he was he was at the end. He was at the end of the course. He had finished the
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course. he had kept the faith, but did he ever get to Spain? You know, that just seems to be a a nagging question in the church. Obviously, it's
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not an important question. In fact, that is my conclusion. It didn't matter. What we do know is that the gospel made it to Spain. The gospel made it to Gaul. The
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gospel made it to Britannia. Eventually, the gospel made it to Germania and crossed the oceans to North America. That's what mattered. When we think of
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the heroes of the faith that we often talk about, and there are books written about these heroes of the faith, we're on the wrong foundation to start with. There is only one hero of the faith,
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Jesus Christ. And in respect to him, all must decrease that he might increase. So Paul in writing to the Philippians, he he says, you know, some people are
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preaching just to get me into into hotter water. You know, they're preaching the gospel just to get to me into more trouble. And he says, what then? Well, only that in every way,
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whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice, and yes, I will rejoice. It didn't matter to Paul ultimately if he made it
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to Spain. What mattered to him was that the gospel made it to Spain, that the gospel of Jesus Christ would be preached to the ends of the earth. And I think it
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is incredibly significant that we don't know how Peter died. Legend has he was crucified upside down. The Romans
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wouldn't be so kind. To crucify a man upside down would hasten his death. They wouldn't do that for a Jew. We
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don't know when Paul died. As a Roman citizen, if he was executed, it would have been by beheading. We have no idea when that took place. We do not know
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where they are buried. So, if you go to St. Peter's Basilica or wherever they say he they're buried, we don't know where they're buried. We don't know where Moses was buried. We don't know
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where David's burial tomb is. We know that these men died, but so that they would never become idols or causes of
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stumbling, their deaths are not recorded, and their place where they were laid to rest is unknown. There was no edifice named after Moses.
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They didn't build a wing on the tabernacle and calls it the Moses wing. Paul did not dedicate a library. Peter doesn't have his name or didn't he does
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now on any hospitals. That wasn't the idea. There are no such things of heroes. We are all simply as
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Peter says fellow lab or Paul says fellow laborers. fellow laborers. And the idea today that hospitals or libraries or thinking
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more locally universities should bear the name of a man is itself is itself arrogant and presumptuous.
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And so whether Paul made it to Spain is not really the question. It's not really the issue. Paul is intending to go to Spain because Paul understands the
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nature of his work as an apostle and he realizes in the Holy Spirit that his work is completed in the region of Asia Minor and in Syria. So he doesn't have
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any much much more to do and aaya and Macedonia. He's been there planted churches. They're established. Time to move on for Paul the apostle to the Gentiles. There are Gentiles out there
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that I haven't reached yet. That's where I'm going. I'm going. But it's also interesting as as much has been made of Rome in Christian heritage
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that he was only planning on passing through probably long enough to see the Colosseum. Yes. And the heavy fountain or whatever and then on he goes like a good tourist to Spain. Now Rome had
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nothing special to him but an established church that he did not establish. And by the way, neither did Peter. That could help him as a base of
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operations for his further evangelistic work in west in the Western Empire. Rome was not the imperial Christian city
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and never really would be. And to Paul, it was of no account whatsoever except a way station on his path to Spain.
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What matters is that Jesus and the preaching and proclamation of his gospel would continue to abound and spread throughout the known world. That is all that mattered. And it didn't even matter
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to Paul the motive of those who did the preaching. Certainly, he preferred that they would do it out of love. But even if they did it out of spite, he said, "I will rejoice." Yes, I will rejoice.
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Competition within Christianity is again a false and evil thing. It it is however
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a very strong temptation. It's a temptation, for example, for a small church
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to look at the big churches and their numbers and their facilities and the resources that they have available to them and to be envious and to be jealous.
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A and oftentimes the result is from the pulpit of small churches there will be a lot of vitriol and condemnation of the large churches saying that they simply
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pander you know they simply pander to the to the the fleshly desires of men. Well, maybe they do and maybe the small church does as well
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because those kind of preachers and that kind of preaching is not limited just to mega churches. mega churches. And maybe the small churches are even more tempted to do that because of their
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smallness. And they realize that if they do dare to preach the truth of scripture, they might actually become smaller. You see, there is a temptation to look
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and to judge ourselves by ourselves, which scripture says lacks wisdom. There's a temptation to do things in order to spite others or to look at
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others and envy their what we would call success. The focus of Paul was simply on the proclamation of the gospel. And it really didn't matter to him if the
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crowds were large or small as long as the gospel was being proclaimed. And so in this passage as he's giving us a little bit like he does in Philippians
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3, he's giving us somewhat of an autobiographical account of his ministry. In in Philippians 3, he gives us some account of his prior life in
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Judaism and how he left all of that behind and even consider it to be nothing more than refuge. Here he's he's not talking about that. He's talking about his call to be an apostle to the
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Gentiles and what really mattered to him. He doesn't seem to be the least interested in leaving a legacy except the legacy of the churches that he
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planted and strengthened and nourished. And so he's going to Jerusalem with a a major benevolence gift that the churches
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of Macedonia and Aaya have put together to help relieve the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Now, what we're reading here in terms of of verse 26,
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for Macedonia and Deaya have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. This actually corresponds to what we
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read in 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9. Apparently, Titus Apparently, Titus was the the benevolent Zar in in Paul's
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entourage. Titus was assigned with with getting this thing going. Apparently, if we look at Acts, it corresponded with a famine in Judea.
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Now, we do know that when a Jew accepted Jesus as Messiah, they were and and the word is literally ex synagogued.
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ex synagogued. They were put out of the synagogue. And in Jewish culture, to be put out of the synagogue meant you were put out of the marketplace. you were put out of the job market. It it is that way in many places
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in the world today, especially among Islamic nations that if you become a Christian, your family disowns you, the mosque disowns you, the town or village
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disowns you, and you no longer have the resources to survive. So that a famine in Judea would particularly hit Jewish Christians most
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powerfully. They were already living on the edge and now they were in danger of being thrown over the edge into starvation. And so Paul says that the churches of Aaya having heard the
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prophecy than having heard of the famine willingly and joyfully put together their funds to be taken to Jerusalem to be taken for the relief of the
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Christians there. Christians there. And so Paul is writing about their their willingness. He's writing about the joy with which they are are doing this,
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but he's also writing about their obligation. And this is this is a very practical op example of
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the principle of grace and works.
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And as many dichomous principles like the free will of man and the divine sovereignty of God, Christians have have wrestled and debated as if the things that we're talking
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about are mutually exclusive opposites. So that for example, if if God is sovereign in election, that means man
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cannot have free will. If God If God has saved us by grace, then we cannot talk about indebtedness.
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And yet Paul does. Scripture talks about the sovereignty of election and also talks about the responsibility of every individual human. It talks about these
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things as both being fully real, fully true. And yet we want to divide them and set them against each other and then create denominations so that we can argue and hurl verbal bombs at each
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other for 2,000 years. The same thing is true about about grace versus works. I I'm no longer under law. I'm under grace. And Paul says, "No, they were
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indebted." The Gentiles are indebted to the Jewish church because they received from Judaism the truth and the promise of Messiah Jesus. They received from
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Judaism the true worship of the one true God. And having received, as Paul says, those spiritual blessings, they are now
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indebted to provide material blessings as they may. Now Paul unpacks this in 2 Corinthians 8 and9 and I want to just read a couple of verses several verses
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from that. from that. So connecting the two historically in 2 Corinthians 8:6 he writes consequently we urged Titus that as he had personally
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made a beginning so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well. See, there it is again. This this gracious work.
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gracious work. How does he bring those two words together theologically? How do you bring grace and works together? James does it and everybody says he's got a different
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gospel and opposes Paul. Again, we have to expand our minds to understand as we do, we just simply accept, for example, the Trinity that
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there is one God who exists in three equally divine individual persons. But that doesn't really make sense, but we accept it because of the teaching of
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scripture. And yet, when it comes down to our own kind of out there, you know, that's God. We don't, you know, he's he's three in one. We sing it and that's that's the way it is. But now we're talking about ourselves. And when you start to talk
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about giving and you start to talk about money, that's when people start to get upset. And if you start to talk about
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indebtedness and obligation, and obligation, that's when people become amazing free grace people. Okay? You can't tell me that I'm indebted. You
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can't tell me that I'm obliged because well what Paul says God loves a cheerful giver. He sure does. But to take that phrase and say I only give if I can do so cheerfully
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so cheerfully is to completely upend Paul's teaching about the gracious work of benevolence. He wants he expects in the church
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because of the presence of the Holy Spirit and even more because of the work and gift of Jesus Christ. He expects that giving as an obligation will be
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done with great joy and cheerfulness. It's both and not either or. So um he goes on in um 2 Corinthians
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and he he grounds the whole notion of giving and of benevolence in the work of Jesus Christ. He says in verse 9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
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Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor that you excuse me I can't read my own writing
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that that that through his poverty you might become rich." Now the classic verse for the prosperity gospel that is not what Paul is talking about. He's
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talking about Christ's humiliation. Christ did not prior to his incarnation sit up in heaven counting his gold coins. He's talking about the the hymn of
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praise of Philippians 2 that Christ did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. be grasped. He is eternal God. His glory is equal to
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the father. And yet he emptied himself. He laid that aside. He humbled himself by becoming a man and submitting himself
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even to the point of death. There is his poverty. It it does not mean that he chose to be born the son of a poor carpenter in Galilee. No, that's not
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what it's talking about. It's talking about the the the magnitude of his majesty as eternal God. He set aside and assumed not only the flesh of humanity
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but even became in himself sin on our behalf. He could not have descended from a higher height nor to a lower depth.
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And that being the case and the pattern of our behavior, we fit. It's an argument from the greater to the lesser. However rich you are, you're not richer
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than the eternal God. And however poor you may be, you have not lowered yourself to the point of God becoming
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man and dying on the cross. And there is the the foundation of both grace and works. Paul says, "We know this." And it's because we know this
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that we now have our hearts opened to others. Our indebtedness to Christ is to be paid to those of his body who are in
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need and those from whom we receive spiritual blessing. This is the common denominator. By the way, when he talks about the benevolence that is being raised for Jerusalem in
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light of current events, he is not talking about the state of Israel. He very clearly says that is a gift for the saints in Jerusalem. It was not a gift
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that he was going to give to the Sanhedrin. Okay? He was not going to give it to the nation of Israel or the province of Judea. He was going to bring it to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem of the
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church because benevolence belongs and begins in the household of faith. And so the principles that are here are that when part of the church is in need, God has
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so arranged that another part of the church is in abundance. Again, 2 Corinthians 8:9, your current abundance now will be used to relieve their
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suffering. He says, "It's not that you might suffer. I'm not trying to impoverish you in order to enrich them, but rather that God has enriched you that you might have ready for every good
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work." That that is the nature of God's ecclesiastical economy ecclesiastical economy that he will provide. And in that provision, he will also provide those
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who are of need of it. So the first class of benevolence is those who are in need within the church. Those of our brothers and sisters who are in need.
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I'm not really sure what the church's responsibility is for farm aid or for subsaharan Africa or for saving the
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whale. I don't know. What I do know is that we are responsible for helping one another and that we are responsible as much as we are able. Again, that is what
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chapters eight and nine establish. It is not according to what you don't have, Paul says, but rather according to what you have. So, you don't do benevolence on your credit card. Hey,
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it's what you have because God has given it to you and God has given you the pattern for its use. He has given us the power to make wealth and that he has given us the responsibility of how to
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use it. So that if if there is a need in the larger body of Christ that we are made aware of then we ought to try to
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help. We ought to try to give. Also the second category is those who have received a spiritual blessing ought to respond meeting material needs.
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Now that that is most often applied in terms of the church as helping the teachers, the pastors of the church and I think that's where it applies. Uh it
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it is fairly well known within the church unfortunately notoriously and I don't mean this church in general has not provided well for its
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ministers. There's a little prayer that I heard many years ago where the congregation prays that the Lord would bless their poor and humble pastor. You
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keep him humble and we'll keep him poor. Okay. Um again, that is not reflective of of this congregation at all. But it is reflective of much in Christian
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what's called Christian ministry. And that's almost a stereotype in American Christianity that you're not well paid as a Christian school teacher or a
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Christian public or whatever you do within the church. You're not well paid. Why? Because it's a ministry. Okay? So, you just go outside and turn the rocks into loaves of bread or
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something because it's a ministry. And I think the church should be opposite. I think it should be opposite. I think it should be so focused on what Paul's teaching here, as I said last week, it
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should not it should not diffuse its benevolence to the four corners of the wind and to scores and scores of different missionaries at $25 a month,
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but rather should focus its resources on where it might do the most good, where there is the greatest need, and to be aware at all times because those needs
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move. They change. That takes wisdom. That takes prayer. But it takes even before that a fundamental understanding of the church as a separate entity in
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the world. That we are not called upon to help the world financially, but we are given the example of Christ that we would humble ourselves and
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graciously, cheerfully give to the needs that God puts before us. I think if he provides the means, he will do so as well as provide the needs.
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He provided and I I I refer to him a lot because I think Boaz is absolutely the best example of this that we can find in any literature. He provided the wealth
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and then he provided the woman. And when those two came together, the lineage of our Messiah was preserved. God works his way. When his people align
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themselves with his way, then blessings do flow. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, he says that that he will give the
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seed for the swer and he will give the harvest and he will give you an abundance that you might have to meet every need. every need. Now, that's not prosperity for every
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single individual. In fact, it even the whole economy even demands that there be those in need. It is not
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God's will that we all be filthy rich. It is not God's will that we all drive fancy cars, live in great palaces. When God does bless materially, then he
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still has those two categories of people for which that blessing has come. The first, those who are in need. The second, those who have provided spiritual blessing.
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spiritual blessing. And I think that's a pretty good guideline for a benevolence ministry. Those who have need and those who have spiritually blessed the body. If those are not met, as we see in the prophets,
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then God will remove that prosperity. And if he does not remove it, then he will definitely bring that person to account. bring that church to account.
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Churches are very much like that rich fool. When the congregation grows, when there is prosperity, what do we do? We tear down the church and build bigger
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churches. That is not Paul's perspective. Paul is so gospel-minded that he is willing to spend and be spent on the service of the souls of those
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churches. He lived by the example of Jesus Christ and give and gave us that example. So he goes on to say so on on on the one
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hand we know that believers are are under debt to Christ to be generous. Okay, this indebtedness as I said this indebtedness is not something that as as
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so often happens in religion that is not to be given back to God. And h how do churches give back to God? Well, they they build ornate cathedrals and they
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build them in gold and they build statues and icons. That's how they give it back to God. Now, God has appointed one another to be his recipient, one
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another. We become God's proxy in whom God receives the gratitude and the blessing of our benevolence if we do it for these the least of my
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brethren. You have done it unto me. Okay? So we are in debt to one another because we are in debt to God through
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Jesus Christ. And yet on the other hand, it should be a labor of joy. It is a privilege to be enlisted in the work of
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God of redemption and of the nourishing and building up of the church. It it is indeed a privilege. It's a privilege that we should rejoice in that we can be numbered among God's fellow workers.
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When we know that God has no need of fellow workers, he has brought us into his family as sons and daughters. He have gi he has given us the mind of Christ and he has said now take the
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message of my grace and mercy through Jesus Christ and spread it abroad and then within the body as I add to your
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number daily those who are being saved. Let it be said that there are none who have need. but rather let it be that when a need arises,
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you liberally, freely, and cheerfully This is not something that I believe our
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congregation lacks. congregation lacks. I think that by and large over the past 36 years of of my of Angela and my being here, I would say is a very generous
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church. I would say also that we've learned the lesson that benevolence don't always turn out the way we want it to. Sometimes we help people who bring their
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needs to us and in the wisdom that God has given us, particularly the deacons, that person is is asked for a a minimum
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of faithfulness, of stability or even having a budget. And often times that is thrown back in our faces as being literalistic, as
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being cruel, as being not walking by the spirit or or other things. I I'd like to say that we can't guarantee the results, but that does not
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free us from the labors that when there is a need, then that need should be graciously assisted. I don't think you can ever go wrong actually doing that.
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And and my experience here has been we've never suffered. We've never suffered by the amount of money that was given to someone who then just left or refused
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to do what was recommended, what was counseledled. I think God continues to bless because we're walking in his way. We're not It's like going to Spain. We're not responsible for the results.
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We're responsible to be faithful to in the walk and not where the walk leads. And so I I this may sound awkward, but I
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I congratulate the deacons for being openhearted in situations in which there's no guarantee that that the
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the results will be as we desire them. We desire disciplehip. We desire the person not to continually be in need but to come to a place where they can not only meet their own needs but then meet
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the needs of others. And that I think is wisdom. And I know that it must be frustrating and it might even be somewhat heartening
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when you see it doesn't always work. In fact, in in our culture, it doesn't often work. often work. And yet And yet finish the course.
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Keep the faith. Fight the fight with open heart. As God with open heart gave us his son.
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As his son with open heart gave up the riches of eternal glory for the humili humiliation of of humanity. So we too
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with open hearts cheerfully cheerfully graciously fulfill our debts. Let us
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Father, we do pray that that you your blessing would continue on this body, that you would continue to give abundantly, that we might give for every
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good need, for every true need. We pray that you would grant wisdom both in our individual lives and as a congregation to know what those needs are, to be able
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to discern where there is true need and where we may help, but also a steadfastness that will look through those frequent times when the need is
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met, the benevolence is given, and the result is heartbreaking and it appears to be failure. And yet we leave that matter to you.
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Father, we thank you that you have given the greatest gift of all. And we praise you, Lord Jesus, that though you were rich, you became poor on
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our behalf. our behalf. Not that we might become financially rich, but that we might become rich as the sons and daughters of Almighty God.
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For that is what we are in Christ. In all these things we pray that Jesus Christ might be exalted. That his church and his churches might be seen as
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mirrors of his grace. That as they pay back their debt which they cannot pay, they would do so graciously by the power of the Holy Spirit. For your glory, God,
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and for the church's good, we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Please stand for benediction from from
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second Timothy. second Timothy. And I think it is very intriguing that at the very end of his course, he gives the shortest benediction of all.
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The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.