Romans: Praying Without Ceasing

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.  For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.  For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established - that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.  Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruits among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.  I am a debtor both to Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.  So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. (Romans 1: 8-15)

Seeing as Rome was the most important city in the Roman Empire, I imagine the news of what happened in that city tended to permeate throughout the known world.  Paul has heard about the faith of the Roman saints and he appropriately starts off the letter by thanking God for them. 

Paul without ceasing made mention of the Roman saints in his prayers.  The verses in the Bible (mostly from Paul’s writings) that say pray without ceasing or pray always I find very challenging.  What does that exactly mean anyway?  Should we be talking to God every moment of every day?  Is it possible for Paul to pray for the Roman saints while simultaneously preaching, or while talking to people, or while making tents? 

We are finishing up Ephesians in my Home Group bible study.  After discussing the armor of God to be used for spiritual warfare, we ended with Ephesians 6:18 which reads:

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…

As we discussed it, we tended to try to soften that verse.  I mean surely he doesn’t really mean praying always.  Right?  Umm, right?  One of our guys made an argument along the lines of: “Well, then how would we do anything else!”  In the following week or two, I thought of this verse from time to time.  I had days when I prayed a lot (but not always) and felt more in the Spirit.  Then, I had days where I felt selfish, empty, and then realized that I had gone through the entire day without really talking to God.  Praying and having a relationship with God is what keeps me on track.  I know this might be a reach but I have begun to think that praying always might just mean…umm…praying always.   I think the reason many of us balk at this is because of our definition of prayer.  We think of prayer as sitting in silence, closing our eyes, and then saying (or thinking) holy sounding things.  How will we get anything done?  I think the key words in the Ephesians 6:18 is in the Spirit.  You can be doing other things in the flesh while praying in the Spirit.  Somehow not all prayer involves human words but comes from the invisible, eternal realm.  To more mature Christians than myself, am I on the right track?  What do you think praying without ceasing means?

In his prayers, Paul makes requests of God to visit Rome.  He wants to give spiritual gifts and encouragement to the church and likewise be encouraged.  He has wanted to visit for a long time but it hasn’t worked out yet.  Paul sees himself as a debtor to both Greeks and the barbarians (who were perceived to be uncivilized because they were not trained in Greek language and culture).  The Lord called Paul a chosen vessel (Acts 9:15) to minister to Gentiles.  Paul feels indebted to them to do so, regardless of their societal position.  He is ready to preach the gospel in Rome.

The introduction of his letter is over.  Now let the teaching begin.               

Romans: Hello, I serve Jesus

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which he promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.  Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations to His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:1-7)

This is not exactly the “hey, how’s it going?” opening line that I would have used.  Paul has a way of saying so much with so little words.  Each word he uses there is power behind it.  There is no wasted space.  You can’t really skim through his letters without missing boat loads of truths.  What I tend to do with scripture like this is read it fast and then translate in my mind, “okay, he is saying hello.”  It is the lazy way of reading scripture.  Doing so, you can fall in to the trap of wasting time reading without really understand and letting it change your life. 

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle… (1:1)

I would have just said “This is Jordan.”  I imagine the Church in Rome already knew who Paul was without him describing himself.  We know his good friends Aquila and Priscilla were influential in the church.  Why does he describe himself in this way?  I have two theories.  One is to remind himself of who he is.  Two is to remind others of his authority.  Three is to be a living example for the church.  Four is that it was common for people at that time to write letters in this fashion.  I realize that is four theories but two came to me as I was writing.  Regardless of his reasons, this statement reveals a lot about how Paul thought of himself.  He was a “bondservant” of Christ.  He served Jesus.  That was the core of who he was.  I feel challenged, do I consider my identity: “Jordan, a servant of Jesus?”  

Paul then continues by stating great truths about the gospel (or good news) of Jesus.  These are a loaded few verses.  It was promised by the Prophets before he was born (there are so many references to this in the OT it is ridiculous; here are just a few: Isaiah 9:6-7, 53:1-12, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 36:25-27).  He was born of flesh but was ultimately declared to be the Son of God through His resurrection.  It is through Jesus that believers, including Paul, have received grace.  It was nothing we deserved by works, but it is from Him alone. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2: 9-10)

This grace produces obedience to Jesus among all nations.  We have been saved and now we are his witnesses throughout the whole world, including the believers of Rome in 56 A.D. 

 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints…

This is the only letter Paul writes in which he addresses the letter to “all.” He is not writing just to the church in Rome or the saints in Rome, or to a particular individual in Rome, but to everybody in Rome!  All who are in Rome (and everybody in the world) are beloved of God and called to be saints.  We are all sinners called to salvation.  He knows the initial audience will be believers but his purposes for this letter are far greater.  That is my theory anyway. 

Paul makes it clear who he is and exactly who he is writing to in relation to the Kingdom of God.  He is a servant of Christ, called to apostleship, and separated to the good news of God.  He writes in obedience to Christ because of the grace given him.  He is writing to a people who are loved by God and called to be separated to Him as well.  He finishes his greeting.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

And he is just getting warmed up.

Romans: About Rome

Once again, all italics are from the MacCarthur Bible Commentary!

Rome was the capital and most important city of the Roman Empire.  In Paul’s day, the city had a population of over one million people, many of whom were slaves.

Around half the people in Rome were slaves, thus making it likely that around half of the believers that Paul is writing to in this letter were slaves as well.  This Church body is unlike anything we can understand in the United States.  He is writing to a people that are unequal in terms of their place in society but are one in the body of Christ. 

 

Rome boasted magnificent buildings, such as the emperor’s palace, the Circus Maximus, and the Forum, but its beauty was marred by the slums in which so many people lived.

There were some extravagantly wealthy people in Rome (that had many, many slaves) but many of the people lived in extreme poverty. 

It is important to note that the believers that Paul is writing to were faced with persecution daily.  For somebody to claim any other king but Caesar was not tolerated so Christianity was a threat to be removed.  Some believers were fed to the lions in the Coliseum.  Others were crucified.  They met together secretly in houses to avoid arrest (like people do in China and Muslim countries today). 

Paul had long sought to visit the Roman church, but had been prevented from doing so (Romans 1:13).  In God’s providence, Paul’s inability to visit Rome gave the world this inspired masterpiece of gospel doctrine.  Paul’s primary purpose in writing Romans was to teach the great truths of the gospel of grace to believers who had never received apostolic instruction.

Since Paul had never been to Rome, his primary purpose of writing was to teach.  None of the Apostles had been to Rome and they were in need of doctrinal instruction.  However, they were not shooting in the dark either.  They still had good teachers as part of their Church body.  Priscilla and Aquila, a couple of Paul’s disciples, were part of the Roman church at this time (Romans 16:3).  These two worked as tentmakers with Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:1-3), helped mentor early church leader Apollos (Acts 18:26), and also led a house church in Ephesus for a while (1 Corinthians 16:19).

As the preeminent doctrinal work in the New Testament, Romans naturally contains a number of difficult passages.

Oh boy, fun times ahead.  Shall we begin?

 I think it’s important to always study the words of the Bible in its proper context.  You can literally make the Bible say whatever you want it to say if ignoring the contexts in which verses are written.  Now that a little bit of a contextual foundation has been laid, lets start digging into Paul’s wonderfully crafted letter to the Church in Rome! 

Romans: About the Author

The Apostle Paul is the undisputed author of Romans.  The letter was written to the early Christian church in Rome, around 56 AD.  For this entry, all words in italics are taken from the MacCarthur Bible Commentary.

Paul was born about the time of Christ’s birth, in Tarsus, an important city in the Roman province of Cilicia.  He spent much of his early life in Jerusalem as a student of the celebrated rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).  Like his father before him, Paul was a Pharisee (Acts 23:6), a member of the strictest Jewish sect.

Paul grew up in an important city and was taught under a very respected rabbi among the Pharisees.  Acts 5:34 describes Gamaliel as a “teacher of the law held in respect by all the people.”  Our introduction to Paul in the Bible comes in Acts 7:58.  A man named Stephen, who was among a tiny sect called “the Way,” was being stoned for blasphemy and it records that “the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.”  It is clear that Saul (who later became Paul) was a respected rising star among the religious community of the time and was one of the biggest persecutors of the early Christian church.

Miraculously converted while on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians in that city, Paul immediately began proclaiming the gospel message. (Acts 9)

Conversion seems like too nice a term for what happened to Paul.  He did a complete 180.  He went from being in a place of respect and power among the religious elite to embracing persecution and suffering as a way of life.  He would have been rejected by all those he knew and loved at the time.  Something pretty miraculous must have happened and it did. 

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.  As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.  Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ (Acts 9:1-4).

Jesus then told him to go into the city and he would be told what to do.  When Paul opened his eyes, he was blind.  The Lord told a believer named Ananias to go to Saul and put his hands on him so he could receive his sight back.  Having received the vision from the Lord, Ananias then politely responded, “ARE YOU CRAZY!?.”  Okay, that was not his exact response, but pretty close.  Ananias of course obeyed, Paul was baptized, and immediately began preaching Christ.   

After narrowly escaping from Damascus with his life…

Before Acts 9:20 in my NKJV Bible the heading reads: Saul Preaches Christ.  Literally three verses later there is a new heading: Saul Escapes Death.  It is amazing how closely those two things are related, especially in the early church.  The Way was blasphemous and a threat to be removed.  To preach Christ meant to face death and persecution daily.  We forget this in the United States, but there are still places in the world today where “escaping death” still follows “preaching Christ.”  I find it extremely convicting that Christianity spread to the ends of the Earth amidst persecution and torture.  There was nothing convenient about being a Christian in the worldly sense.  If not from God, it would not have lasted.   

 Paul spent three years in Natatean Arabia, southeast of the Dead Sea (Galatians 1:17, 18).  During that time, he received much of his doctrine as direct revelation from the Lord (Galatians 1:11, 12).

The only mention of Paul’s time in Arabia comes from two verses in Galatians.  These are the quiet years of Paul’s Christian life and no doubt was a period in which the Lord shaped him into the man he would become.

More than any other individual, Paul was responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.  He made three missionary journeys through much of the Mediterranean world, tirelessly preaching the gospel he had once sought to destroy (Acts 26:9)

Like I said, a complete 180.  The man who could have arguably been called the greatest persecutor of the Way in its earlier years became its greatest missionary.  He planted churches all along the Mediterranean.  This is what happened to him through his efforts (as he records in his second letter to the believers in Corinth):

From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journey’s often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness… (2 Corinthians 11: 24-27).

Sounds fun doesn’t it?      

Paul wrote Romans from Corinth toward the close of his third missionary journey (most likely in A.D. 56).

A woman from the Corinthian church in Cenchrea named Phoebe (Romans 16:1) was probably the one who delivered this letter to the Roman church.  Paul was longing to visit them but first he wanted to go minister to the believers in Jerusalem (Romans 15:25).   

He later would be arrested in Jerusalem and was in prison for two years before he appealed his case to Caesar.  After surviving a shipwreck along the way, he would eventually arrive to Rome as a prisoner (Acts 21-28).   

Romans: Introduction

           Over the next few months, I am going to blog about the letter that Paul wrote to the church in Rome around 56 AD.  This sounds incredibly boring but I think if you commit to read each day, and I commit to write each day, it will be a rich experience.  First off, I want to say that I am not a Bible scholar or an expert by any means.  Much of what I write will be personal reflections using the text as a guide.  My only sources will be the Bible (mostly the NKJV) and occasionally the MacArthur Bible commentary to help me gain a greater understanding of the text.

            I honestly don’t know why I am committing so much time to blog about the letter to the Romans.  I feel a sense of wanting to go deeper through this text and writing a series of blog posts forces me to go deep.  I hope this will not be a situation where I blog about scriptural truths and then ignore them as I live my life.  Lord, teach me through your Word.  Give me the courage to not only write about your Word but to live it out. 

            I plan on posting each day of the work week and then writing and praying through it.  If you have comments, feel free to add them.  Like all of you, I am just trying to figure this stuff out.  I am not some super holy Christian dude and if anything I write reeks of self righteousness, I hope you will call me out on it so I can recalibrate.  I am still learning about His grace and it is through our unworthiness that we learn about the greatness of His mercies.  It is all about Him.  So I dedicate this blog series to God, may He speak through me, and may others find Him in these writings, however they come out.       

            I hope some of you take this journey with me and meditate upon the verses of Romans in the coming weeks.

            Tomorrow, we will explore the life and ministry of the author.

God's Beauty in Ixil Country

Made with photos from my 3 months in Guatemala from January to April 2012.  The song is You're Beautiful by Proto Evangelion. 

Fitting our Feet with Readiness

...having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace... (Ephesians 6:15)


I lead a Bible study at my humble apartment and last Sunday we talked about the armor of God as Paul presents at the end of his letter to the Ephesians.  The whole passage reads:


Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints... (Ephesians 6:14-18).


We talked about all these elements and the applications.  This passage is so rich that we could easily spend a month talking about each element of the armor of God that Paul describes.  The part that I had the hardest time wrapping my head around was the part about having to shod your feet with preparation.  What was all that about?  Luckily, some in our bible study use the NIV translation, which in this case I find easier to understand:


...and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace...

And just for fun I will also provide the ESV translation:


...and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace...
It was not until I went on a run through the woods yesterday that I got a glimpse into what it means to fit your feet with readiness.  I had spent the weekend sitting at a swim meet and my body felt icky, it needed a workout.  For some reason I feel a need to stay in great physical shape.  It's not that I am training for anything in particular, I just feel a sense of calling in preparing my body to be ready for whatever might be thrown my way.  If my body is a tool to be used for God's purposes, why would I let it go?  


This has been a difficult period of my life.  Those couple hours per day while I am on deck coaching are fun.  I love being involved in children's lives and being of influence.  But the rest of my time, I feel lost.  What am I supposed to be doing?  Little things I have been involved in since returning from Guatemala involve preparing and giving presentations about my trip, helping a tiny bit with communications for W.I.N.D., editing a yearbook for the children at HOREB, and preparing for a swim event to help bring clean water to a community in Haiti.  Most of that has now ended and it is in this lull that I feel the implications of this verse as I run the hills.


Am I ready?


If God intended to use me, right now, at this moment, for His kingdom purposes, am I ready?  Have I used the good news of His peace to prepare myself?  Am I spiritually disciplined enough to handle tests and temptations that might come my way?  Am I living my life in His spirit even in the dull times in my life?  Have I given my body over to him, disciplining it, presenting my body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is my reasonable service? (Romans 12:1)  


When our lives feel boring and comfortable, it is at this time when it becomes of the utmost importance to fit our spiritual feet with readiness.  We must prepare because God may choose to use us at any time.  Our minds and our bodies must be given over to Him and we must be ready at any moment.  


At the end of Paul's life, as he was facing his death in a Roman dungeon, he wrote to his disciple Timothy,


Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season... (2 Timothy 4:2)


We must be ready at all times.  Let not the lulls of life lead us away from the Lord.  We must not drift.  We must stay ready, no matter the season of our life.