Insight into a Missionary Heart – Pt. 3
Romans 1:14-15
August 5, 2007
Our world operates on a trust system.
We trust that teach person will complete their task
And do it to the fullness of their ability.
We trust Soldiers to do their individual task…
We trust Other Drivers on the road to obey traffic laws…
We trust Farmers to grow food…
Companies to manufacture food…
Truckers to distribute food…
Grocers to stock food…
Checkers to sell food…
Sackers to sack food…
(In fact, if one fails to do their job, it produces an inconvenience for me,
And my day is thrown into turmoil)
We trust everyone to pay their taxes in order to fund military, police, and government.
IN FACT
Do we not get agitated by those who try to skate by?
Do we not get agitated by those who try to live outside the rules?
(cutting in line, running a red light, cheating on taxes…)
Do we not get agitated by those who don’t care about the big picture?
If everyone acted like that, our society would collapse.
If no one obeyed laws…if no one paid taxes…
If no one did their part; the whole thing would collapse.
AND SO THOSE WHO CARRY THE LOAD
GET IRRITATED AT THOSE WHO REFUSE TO DO THEIR PART
BUT WHAT ABOUT SPIRITUALLY?
The state floating around the church community today is
THAT 10% OF THE PEOPLE DO 90% OF THE WORK.
If that is true, it can certainly put a strain on a local congregation.
But even bigger than that, what does that mean for the kingdom?
IN ORDER FOR THE BIG PICTURE TO WORK EFFECTIVELY, EVERY PERSON MUST BE COMMITTED
TO THEIR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
WE’VE SEEN IT IN SPORTS FOR YEARS.
A team is only successful when every member of the team does their part.
EVERYONE HAS TO DO THEIR PART, EVERYONE HAS A DUTY.
And this is where Paul steps in this morning
To once again reveal a part of the missionary heart.
We have already seen the DESCRIPTION of a Missionary. (8-10)
He is thankful to God for the growth of the kingdom, and he has a passion for going and spreading the gospel.
We have already seen the DESIRE of a Missionary. (11-13)
He wants believers to grow, he wants himself to grow, and he wants the kingdom to grow.
This morning we see:
THE DUTY OF A MISSIONARY
There are two things I want us to look at this morning.
#1 DUTY EXPRESSED
Romans 1:14
Our first picture of insight is given in the first word.
“I” am under obligation
Paul said, “I”, not “we”.
Paul is here talking about his own responsibility,
Not that of the church in general.
And we learn from this.
It seems that at times, we can only see the responsibility of others.
We often do a better job of pointing out where others are falling short than we do of recognizing our own short comings.
So Paul is focusing on what he is called to do.
And let’s look at what Paul saw.
“I am under obligation”
“obligation” translates
OPHILETES (of-i-let-ace)
The term refers to A DEBTOR, and usually is used in a monetary sense.
Matthew 18:24 “When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.”
Romans 15:27 “Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.”
BUT HERE PAUL USES IT IN A SPIRITUAL SENSE.
He was not a man “free” to do what he pleased.
He had a debt to pay. He had obligations.
Much like when a man gets married and raises a family.
Unmarried men will heckle him about taking up the “old ball and chain”.
He has new obligations that his old friends don’t understand
He no longer lives only for himself.
THAT WAS PAUL
BUT WHAT WAS THIS OBLIGATION?
Some are obvious
1) HE HAD AN OBLIGATION TO CHRIST
You will remember what Paul said to start this letter.
Romans 1:1 “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,”
Paul called himself a “bond-servant”.
And you will remember what that was.
Exodus 21:2-6 “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. “If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. “If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.”
AND OF COURSE THIS OBLIGATION OCCURS AT SALVATION.
It is that initial surrender that occurs when a man is saved,
And he becomes a bond-servant of Christ.
Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
1 Corinthians 7:22 “For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave.”
Romans 14:7-8 “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”
Christ had given His life for Paul,
Therefore Paul pledged to give his life for Christ.
And Paul desired to make good on his end of the deal.
1 Corinthians 15:9-10 “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”
It was Paul who would make such statements as:
Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Paul understood obvious debt to Christ.
2) HE HAD AN OBLIGATION TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
Paul, like all true believers, had been set free from sin,
And now he had a new master.
Romans 6:15-18 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
Romans 8:10-13 “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Paul was now required to exercise the grace that God had given him,
And he was called to exercise it in righteous living.
And he did.
1 Corinthians 9:27 “but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
Paul had an obvious obligation to Christ, an obvious obligation to righteousness
3) HE HAD AN OBLIGATION TO HIS MINISTRY
Aside from the issues of obedience to Christ and righteousness,
Paul also had a specific gift, and a specific calling.
Romans 1:5 “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,”
Acts 9:15 “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;”
Paul had a specific calling to take the gospel to the Gentiles,
And he continually longed to fulfill that calling.
Romans 15:20-21 “And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; but as it is written, “THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND.”
Paul was obliged to fulfill his calling.
So on a rather obvious note, you can see three areas
Where Paul was obviously under obligation.
To Christ (as we are)
To Righteousness (as we are)
To His Specific Calling and Giftedness (as we are)
BUT NONE OF THESE ARE THE OBLIGATION HE MENTIONS HERE.
“I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.”
Paul doesn’t mention his debt to God, or Jesus.
He doesn’t mention his debt to righteousness, or even ministry.
Paul says he is indebted to men.
And he lists this debt in two different ways.
To the “Greeks” who are also “the wise”
And to the “barbarians” who are also “the foolish”
In fact “barbarians” translates BARBAROS
Which was an onomatopoetic word
Meant to illustrate the ignorant ramblings of the uneducated.
And this is who Paul is obligated to.
STATUS didn’t matter, RACE didn’t matter, DESERVEDNESS didn’t matter, RECEPTIVITY didn’t matter; he was under obligation.
BUT WHY?
WHAT HAD THEY DONE TO CAUSE PAUL TO OWE THEM ANYTHING?
IT IS THE SAME OBLIGATION WE SHARE AS HUMANS.
If one knows the water is poisoned, is he not obligated to inform?
If one knows the way of escape, is he not obligated to share it?
In fact, our country even has laws to the effect.
It is against the law not to stop and render aid
If you come upon a traffic accident.
These are basic laws of conscience instilled in our hearts.
Only an extremely depraved and self-centered person
Would fail to share such information.
BUT IT APPLIES SPIRITUALLY AS WELL.
Moses mentioned it.
Leviticus 5:1 ‘Now if a person sins after he hears a public adjuration to testify when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt.”
SO IF PAUL KNEW THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE A SOUL FROM HELL AND JUDGMENT, WAS HE NOT OBLIGATED TO SHARE IT?
Romans 10:14-15 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”
Certainly Paul was under obligation to his fellow man.
1 Corinthians 9:16-17 “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.”
We talked about this on our mission trip to El Paso.
Don’t leave without doing what you came to do.
Before we left, Lenny came up and said, “Be careful”.
Now that is good advice, but as I shared with him, it is the wrong advice.
The true advice is “Be faithful”.
You are under obligation,
Not just to Christ, not just to righteousness,
Not just to the church that sent you,
But also to those whom you are going to reach.
Ezekiel 3:17-21 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. “When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. “Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself. “Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. “However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.”
Paul knew this.
He did not want the blood of any man upon him.
Acts 20:25-27 “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. “Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.”
Paul was aware of his obligation, and here he expressed his duty.
BUT HOW MANY TODAY SEEM IGNORANT OF THEIR DUTY, OR EVEN WORSE ARE APATHETIC ABOUT THEIR DUTY?
So many today feel absolutely no concern
That those around them are perishing.
THEY FEEL NO REMORSE WHEN A LOST MAN DIES
AND BREAKS OPEN THE PIT OF HELL.
They just sit at his funeral and try to soothe their conscience
By convincing themselves that this person was a Christian,
And then they hire a false prophet to tell them
What their itching ears want to hear.
THAT IS NOT A MISSIONARY HEART
A missionary heart knows they are under obligation
And they express their duty.
First – Duty Expressed
#2 DUTY EMBRACED
Romans 1:15
Here we learn that although expression of duty is a noble thing,
True honor is found in embracing that duty.
AND THAT IS THE HEART OF A MISSIONARY
“So for my part”
Translates – HOUTO KATA EME (hoo-to / ka-tah / em-eh)
Literally “therefore according to me”
In other words, Paul is saying, “As far as I’m concerned”.
I cannot speak for the rest of you, but so much as it depends upon me.
This is my personal response, to my personal obligation.
Paul does not expect someone else to pay his debt.
Paul does not expect someone else to carry his load.
He is standing up to take responsibility.
This is what Paul implies to the men at Corinth.
1 Corinthians 16:13 “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”
“act like men”.
Certainly it was a command for the men to not be effeminate,
But it was also a command to stand up and take responsibility.
Some men try to be boys all their lives.
They are the ones who heckle those who devote themselves to family.
They are the ones who think the “manly life” is without responsibility.
BUT THAT IS A PATHETIC AND SELFISH WAY TO LIVE
Others can’t wait to shuff of all responsibility.
It’s one thing to retire from a job or career,
But others try to retire from all responsibility in general.
THAT IS ALSO A PATHETIC AND SELFISH WAY TO LIVE
Because as long as we are in this world, we have a responsibility,
Not only to Christ, to but to one another.
And when one person fails to take responsibility, it hurts the rest.
1 Corinthians 12:20-26 “But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
WHAT IF YOUR FEET REFUSED TO MATURE?
WHAT IF THEY NEVER TOOK RESPONSIBILITY?
Your entire body would be crippled
All because your feet failed to embrace their God-given responsibility.
So it is when people never realize their obligation.
ON THE FLIP SIDE, WHAT IF YOUR FEET DECIDED TO RETIRE EARLIER THAN THE REST OF YOUR BODY?
They just decided to quit working.
Again, your entire body would be crippled
All because your feet failed to embrace their God-given responsibility.
This happens in churches today, and before long,
The 10% are doing 90% of the work.
NOT Paul.
He was not expecting someone else to do his job.
He was stepping up the plate.
“So for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also in Rome.”
“eager” translates PROTHUMOS (proth-oo-mos)
It comes from PROTHUMIA
Which means “readiness of mind”
Matthew 26:41 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
He has readiness of mind to come to Rome.
There was no longer an inner struggle.
The only thing that could stop him was the things beyond his control.
Romans 1:13 “I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.”
But Paul was eager to come and do what God had equipped him to do,
“preach the gospel.”
And that is enlightening as well.
PAUL CAME TO DO HIS PART, NOT EVERYONE ELSES.
1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.”
THIS IS WHY IT IS NECESSARY THAT WE ALL DO OUR PART.
Because we don’t do our part, someone else has to do it for us, Even though they may not really be suited for it.
Acts 6:1-7 “Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them. The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”
The early church faced this very same problem.
Peter didn’t step outside his role,
Instead he instituted deacons to do their part.
And the church benefited from it.
“The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”
THE POINT IS THIS
I am not asking you to do my part.
This morning, I am not even asking you to do your part.
I am just going to tell you that this is a missionary heart.
A TRUE MISSIONARY HEART EXPRESSES THEIR DUTY
AND THEN EMBRACES THEIR DUTY.
DO YOU HAVE A MISSIONARY HEART?
Romans 1:14-15 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
