“Paul’s Prayer for the Romans”

(Romans 1:9-15)

I. Introduction.
A. In the first part, we saw Paul’s thankfulness for the Romans.
1. Their faith was being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
a. It was obvious that they had embraced Jesus Christ by the life they were
living. People could see it and were talking about it everywhere.
b. The Lord had strategically placed this church in Rome so that many would
see them and tell others.

2. Paul thanked God, because he knew that anything good, especially anything that
had to do with the progress of the Gospel, came from the Giver of all good gifts.

B. But realize there was something special in Paul’s life that moved him to this
thankfulness.
1. There were others who saw, but weren’t thankful – the Pharisees; the secular
Romans, for example. What made the difference?
2. It was a matter of the heart:
a. Paul was a Christian. He loved God. Those who love God love to see His
Gospel spread and His kingdom grow.
b. The Pharisees and secular Romans hated God and like the devil didn’t want
to see the Gospel spread or His kingdom grow.
c. Paul was thankful because what his whole life was about – what he had been
called and set apart for – was being fulfilled: the Gospel was spreading. We
need this as what’s behind what he says in this next section.

C. His thankfulness for what he saw moved him to pray what he now prays.
1. Usually, as God’s people, we are very thankful for the things the Lord does.
a. We’re thankful when He protects, defends, or provides for us.
b. And we’re thankful when He advances His kingdom. When the missionaries
we support come and tell us what the Lord is doing through their ministry,
when we hear about conversions even locally, it’s exciting.

2. But there is another kind of person, who not only rejoices to hear about these
things, but wants to get involved and be a part of them. Paul was this kind of
person. This is what we should want to be like. But what makes people this
way?
a. It can have to do with a person’s sense of obligation. He knows what his
duty is and he sets his heart to do it.
b. It can also have to do with a person’s thankfulness – he knows what God did
for him through Christ and now wants to love and serve Him in return.
c. The stronger these two things affect the heart, the greater the person’s efforts
will be.
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d. Both of these motives were at work in Paul. Notice how Paul expresses his
earnestness: He says:
(i) “God, whom I serve in my spirit.”
(ii) “God . . . is my witness, as to how unceasingly I make mention of you
always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of
God I may succeed in coming.”
(iii) “I long to see you,” “Often I have planned to come to you,” “[I] have
been prevented,” “that I might obtain some fruit,” “I am under
obligation,” “I am eager.”
(iv) These words speak of a strong obligation, as well as a strong desire to
see something done. This desire grew out of Paul’s commission to preach
– he was obligated – but especially out of his love for God.

f. Theme: This morning, I want us to consider the yearning of Paul’s heart as it

is revealed in his prayer to see the Gospel advanced. Through this, I hope
that our hearts will also be warmed and stirred up by God’s Spirit to the
same desire: to see the Kingdom of Christ move forward.

II. Sermon.
A. First, let’s consider something of Paul’s fervency in his approach to his ministry.
How much of himself did he put into it?
1. It’s obvious from what he was able to accomplish in his life that he gave his all.
2. This comes out in our passage in the words “in my spirit.”
a. This means from the heart, from his soul, with all that he had.
b. You know as well as I do that when your heart is in what you’re doing, it
makes all the difference in the world, the difference between standing still
and moving forward. Paul’s heart was in his work.
c. This tells us something of what we ought to be striving for in our service in
God’s kingdom. Our heart is what moves us to do what we do. The more
our heart is in it, the more we’ll give ourselves to our work.
d. But what if our hearts aren’t in it as they should be, what should we do?
How can our affections be strengthened? There are two basic ways:
(i) Cut off the things that take our affections off of God – e.g., the things of
the world, our sins, even lawful things that can steal away our affections.
(ii) Use the means of grace – read the Word, sit under biblical preaching,
pray in private and at public meetings, be faithful in partaking of Lord’s
Supper, fellowship, and be obedient.
(iii) Consider what God has done for you in Christ; let it stir you up to
thankfulness.
(iv) And consider the command of the Lord to serve Him zealously. Paul
writes that we should not be “lagging behind in diligence,” but “fervent in
spirit, serving the Lord” (Rom. 12:11).
(v) Paul served the Lord in his spirit. Christ’s meat and drink was to do the
will of His Father (John 4:34). It should be ours as well.
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B. Second, Paul was fervent, but what specifically was his goal? If you don’t aim at
anything, you won’t hit it. What was Paul aiming at? He wanted the kingdom to
advance, by God’s grace, through his efforts in equipping others and evangelizing.
1. Paul served God in his spirit in the preaching of the Gospel. That is how the
kingdom advances: through getting the message out, through preaching,
witnessing, testifying of the grace of God in Christ.
2. But Paul couldn’t do it all by himself. Others needed to be called and equipped.
And so Paul prayed; he prayed that he might go to Rome.
a. Paul calls God to witness how he prayed unceasingly that he might go to
Rome.
b. He wanted to come to them, to impart a spiritual gift to them to establish
them. What he meant was that he wanted to encourage them through the
exercise of his spiritual gifts and be encouraged by them through the exercise
of theirs.
c. When you spend time with someone who knows Christ and earnestly wants
to serve Him, it’s encouraging. That’s what Paul wanted.
d. He didn’t think it would be a one-way communication – that it would all be
his responsibility – he expected them to encourage him as well.
e. This is one reason the church is a body. Each member can’t make it on his or
her own. We need the ministry of each part of the body (Eph. 4:1-16). We
all need to be built up and encouraged. It isn’t the work of any one person or
group of persons, but it is all of our responsibility.
f. We are not to be fighting among ourselves, but to be building each other up in
Christ, to be using our gifts to encourage and bless one another, to be
building ourselves up in the faith so that we can build up others.
g. Paul wanted the church to grow spiritually. But realize he also wanted it to
grow numerically. He wanted to preach the Gospel there as well, so that
some of the Gentiles at Rome might be saved. He wanted to bear this kind of
fruit as well for his Lord.
h. This is to be our goal, our purpose in life. Besides taking care of our families
physically and spiritually, we are to be building up the body through our gifts
and through our witnessing.

3. But Paul realized this would only happen if God wanted it to.
a. He prayed that “perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in
coming to you” (v. 10). He had often planned to come, but it wasn’t God’s
will. Solomon wrote, “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs
his steps” (Prov. 16:9). He had to wait on God’s timing, if it was His will
that he come at all.
b. But how was he to know if it was His will? He had to pray. He prayed
continually, not only because it’s the means by which God’s will comes
about, but also because it’s the way we discover what it is.
c. This is what we must do when we strongly desire something. First, we need
to discern whether or not it is His will. God wanted Paul to preach. He
wanted him to build up His church. He knew that much was His will.
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d. But was he to do this at Rome? The only way to find out was through prayer.
This is sometimes the only way we will find His will.

C. Paul served God from the heart in the preaching of His Gospel, and he earnestly
desired to advance God’s kingdom by going to Rome. Finally, why was this in
Paul’s heart? Why did he give himself so much to God? Why did he want the
Romans established? Why did he desire so much to see more people come to
Christ? He was put under this obligation by God.
1. Paul writes, “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the
wise and to the foolish” (v. 14).
a. God had entrusted this stewardship to him. He was obliged to do it, whether
he wanted to or not (1 Cor. 9:17). We must always do what the Lord
commands whether we feel like it or not.
b. But this wasn’t the only reason. Love to his neighbor dictated to him that he
needed to use his gift to get the Gospel out.
c. God’s love to him obligated him – the mercy He had shown him.
d. His love for God also moved him.

2. And so Paul, far from being reluctant because he had to do this, was eager to
preach the Gospel to the Romans (v. 15). He wanted to fulfill his calling, to
love God and His neighbor, and that is what he set his heart to do.

III. Conclusion.
A. We all need to have something of this fervency for the advancing of the Gospel.
B. We are all under the same obligations Paul was.
1. God has loved us and had mercy on us.
2. He has given us His Spirit so that we might love Him.
3. He has given us gifts and the command to use them.
4. He has even given us ways to strengthen our desire to use them.
5. The rest is up to us. When we were dead in our sins, there was nothing we
could do. But now that we are alive, we are co-workers with God. Now we
have our part to do. May God give us the grace to do what we can to advance
God’s kingdom. Amen.