Chapter 1 to verse 8, and we will read for our
text today, verses 8 through 15. I encourage
you to get the outline out of your worship folder
and to make use of that as we work our way through
the text today. First, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith
is being reported all over the world. God, whom
I serve with my whole heart in preaching the
gospel of his Son, is my witness, how constantly
I remember you in my prayers at all times. And
I pray that now at last, by God's will, the way
may be opened for me to come to you. I long to
see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual
gift to make you strong. That is... that you
and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's
faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,
that I planned many times to come to you, but
have been prevented from doing so until now,
in order that I might have a harvest among you,
just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
I am obligated, both to Greeks and non -Greeks,
both to the wise... and to the foolish. That
is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also
to you who are at Rome. The Apostle Paul had
not been to Rome to this point, as it is clear
here. Thus, he begins his book by introducing
himself, you'll recall, as we looked at it last
Sunday. In fact, in the very first verse, he
uses three important words. Our thought today
is the commitment that the Apostle Paul evidenced
through the ministry God had given to him. The
title of the message is The Heart of Commitment.
I think we'll discover today that the heart of
commitment is the commitment of the heart. The
three words or phrases that Paul uses to describe
himself in verse 1 are words or phrases of commitment.
He says, Paul, a servant. of Christ Jesus, called
to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel
of God. A servant is one who has committed himself
to the will of another person. He has no will
of his own. His only concern is the pleasure
of his master. The apostle calls himself that
kind of a servant of Jesus Christ. He calls himself
an apostle. The apostle is one who is sent on
a mission with a purpose. The apostle had committed
himself to fulfill the mission given to him by
Jesus Christ. And then the word set apart involves
a verb in the original language which means to
mark off from others by a boundary. It means
to separate from the mainstream. It's the word
that is used in Matthew 13 of the separation
between the righteous and the wicked at the judgment.
It is the word that is used in Acts chapter 13
when two apostles were separated from the rest
of the church and sent on a missionary journey.
It is a word of commitment, isn't it? One who
is separated or set apart in this sense is one
who is committed. to be different than others
he is separated from the mainstream and so from
the very beginning of this book the apostle makes
clear his own commitment to jesus christ in the
text that we've read today he opens his heart
further to them and reveals to us the character
of a committed servant of christ 19 times in
my translation in these verses that we've read
the apostle refers to himself By personal pronouns,
that was not Paul's normal message. He did not
usually point to himself. But here he points
to himself time and time again as he thinks about
this matter of commitment. I don't believe that
anyone has ever been more committed to Jesus
Christ than was Paul. And that's one reason that
his life has had such a dramatic impact, indeed,
upon world history. It is still through the days.
It is the life that is committed to something
that counts. Whatever the cause or whatever the
person, it is the life that is committed that
makes the impact. It's the difference between
a leaf that floats down the stream and a rock
that's there in the stream bed that forces against
the pressure of the water. The leaf makes no
impact at all, though it may seem pretty. But
it's the rock that causes that stream to be disrupted.
The rock is committed, you see. And it's the
committed life in the mainstream of society that
makes a difference in it. I think of the man,
David Livingston. The story is told that when
Stanley, the reporter from Great Britain, found
Livingston, that great missionary who had lived
for some 30 years in the heart of Africa, he
wanted him to come back to England with him.
Livingston refused to go. Two days after that,
he made this entry in his diary. March 19, my
birthday. My Jesus, my King, my life, my all,
I again dedicate my whole self to thee. Accept
me. And grant, O gracious Father, that ere the
year is gone, I may finish my work. In Jesus'
name I ask it. Amen. And it's interesting that
a year later, his servants found him dead on
his knees. And that's why his name still lives
today among followers of Jesus Christ, because
of commitment. May I say to you that our need
today, dear people, is for more people like Livingston,
who will say to Jesus, my all I give to you,
accept it. I believe that Paul was that kind
of man, and in our text today, he illustrates
to us the heart of a committed servant. It seems
to me that a committed servant is characterized
by seven possessions. There are seven things
he possesses. which show that he is committed
to Jesus Christ as a servant of his. The first
possession is found in verse 8, where the apostle
possesses an unselfish joy in another's success.
When he says, first I thank my God, he's not
necessarily saying I'm going to have a second
and a third thing. He's not talking about a list,
but he's suggesting here that this is his priority.
Thanksgiving was number one on Paul's list all
the time. His heart overflowed with gratefulness.
And he says, I thank God. That's to whom the
thanksgiving was directed. Through Jesus Christ.
That's appropriate. We're to pray through Christ.
He is our access to the Father. He says, I thank
my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. That's
kind of an amazing statement. Anytime a person
can say, I thank God for all of you, even when
some of them may not be. his closest friends,
it's a big heart. And that's what Paul was saying
here. Though he had never really met them, and
though they had no real way of knowing him, he
says, I thank God for all of you. He could have
said, I thank God for Aquila and Priscilla, and
he could have named, and he does name later in
the book, a few others that he did know, among
the hundreds, at least, in Rome who were saved.
But he says, I thank God. for all of you. And
why was he giving thanks? Because their faith
was being spoken about all over the world, which
is a way of saying all over the Roman Empire.
He thanks God that their faith is widely known.
They were positioned in the cesspool of the Roman
Empire. Everything vile and dirty flowed out
of Rome and then eventually back to Rome. And
in the midst of that wicked, immoral, degenerate
city was a church, an assembly of people who
lived for the glory of God, whose lives were
different. And their faith was spoken of throughout
the Roman Empire. No apostle had founded their
work. No apostle had been to their city yet,
as far as we know. And yet their faith was so
genuine and so life -changing that it was known
around the Roman Empire. So Paul rejoices in
their success and in their fruitfulness. You
know, I think that's one of the tests of a real
servant. How do we react when another person
is successful? How do you react when another
person is promoted and you perhaps are overlooked?
How do you feel when the spotlight is upon the
other guy? When you've done just as much or maybe
more than he has or she has. When the other person
is selected and you're left behind. It's at times
like that that our commitment is put to test.
Are we committed to our own reputation? Are we
committed to our cause? Or are we committed to
the cause of Jesus Christ? as his servant. And
the only real important thing is that his cause
goes forward. When another person is successful,
our attitude reveals the kind of commitment we
have to our common cause. In this case, the cause
of Jesus Christ. Let me illustrate this even
more by turning you to Philippians chapter 1,
where we see some more statements of Paul regarding
this matter of commitment to the cause of Christ.
When Paul writes this particular epistle, he
has arrived in Rome. We'll talk about the circumstances
in a few moments. But he says in verse 15 of
Philippians chapter 1, It is true that some preach
Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out
of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing
that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
The former... that is, those who preach Christ
out of envy and rivalry, preach Christ out of
selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that
they can stir up trouble for me while I am in
chains. But what does it matter? The important
thing is that in every way, whether from false
motives or truth, Christ is preached. And because
of this, I rejoice. What is Paul saying here?
Well, there were some people who didn't like
Paul. And so to create a burden upon him, to
make him miserable while he was in his chains,
they preached Christ out of envy and rivalry
for him, out of their own selfish ambition, not
sincerely, hoping in some way to stir up trouble
for Paul. They didn't like him. Yet, apparently,
they were successful in what they were doing.
They were preaching Christ. though not with pure
motive. Does Paul say shame on them? Does he
degrade them? Paul didn't enjoy the fact that
they didn't like him, but he says it doesn't
really make that much difference to me because
the important thing is the cause. Christ is preached,
he says, and in that I rejoice. What does that
reveal about Paul? That his commitment was not
to his reputation or to his comfort or his success,
but to the success of Jesus Christ. To the success
of the gospel message. Is that where your commitment
lies today? Are you committed to your cause or
the cause of Jesus Christ? Are you committed
to your personal success or the success of Jesus
Christ? That's one test of commitment. A truly
committed servant possesses an unselfish joy.
in the success of another. No jealousy, no sense
of competition, just joy that the other brother,
that we may disagree with him in some minor aspects,
is nonetheless successful in his ministry. In
verses 9 and 10, we see a second possession of
the apostle. It is an undivided sincerity in
spiritual duties. Look at what he says. God,
whom I serve with my whole heart in the preaching
of the gospel of his Son. That is a tremendous
statement. He says, I serve God in my spirit,
literally. The idea is wholeheartedly. With the
deepest aspect of his being, he is committed
to Jesus Christ, and sincerely so. And he says,
God is my witness how constantly I remember you
in my prayers at all times. Prayer is a spiritual
responsibility for every one of us who knows
Christ. Every one of us has that spiritual duty.
And no one knows whether you pray or whether
I pray because that is something that's done
in secret. So what does Paul do? He calls God
as his witness. Let me ask you something. Would
you like to call God as a witness to your prayer
life this last week? The apostle says, God is
my witness. How constantly I remember you in
my prayers at all times. The apostle Paul was
a man who was so sincere, who was so pure in
his motives that he was willing to allow God
to reveal the truth about him. That is to be
his witness. May I say to you that true commitment
can only be based upon wholehearted sincerity.
An undivided heart is not a committed heart.
Rather, a divided heart is not a committed heart.
Only an undivided heart, a whole heart, is truly
committed to whatever the cause. Whether it be
to socialism or to Jesus Christ. whether it be
to the advance of the gospel of humanism or the
advance of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. It is
only the whole heart that is truly committed.
Is that the kind of commitment that you have?
An undivided sincerity? The apostle reveals to
us in the last part of verse 10 a third possession
that he had. It was an unpresuming attitude in
his future plans. Remember, he is not committed
to himself, he's committed to Christ. And so
he says, and I pray that now at last, by God's
will, the way may be open for me to come to you.
Paul had a desire. He wanted to go see the Romans.
We'll see why later. But he says, I pray that
if it's God's will, he will allow me to do this.
So a third characteristic of a truly... committed
person is that he has an unpresuming attitude
regarding his future plans. Paul was a man of
vision. He laid plans, and yet his plans were
always conditioned to the will of God. Are you
that committed? Are you willing to say, Lord,
these are my plans, but I will only do them if
that's your will? Are you willing to allow interruption
or cancellation or some intervention or a disappointment
to redirect your future plan? If you can't say
yes with a whole heart about that, then the commitment
that you have is not a very deep one. What about
the commitment you have to be married? I don't
believe that a person is ready to be married
until he's willing to be single the rest of his
life. What about the commitment that you have
to that particular job that you want? Or position
in your employment, your corporation? What about
the things that you'd like to buy? Your plans
for the summer? I'm not talking about things
that are bad. I'm talking about things that are
fine, that are good. Are you willing to say,
Lord, these are my plans, but your will be done?
See, that takes commitment. The apostle had that
kind of commitment. He called himself a servant
of Jesus Christ. A servant, as we've said, is
one who has no will of his own. So he lays down
plans. He says, Lord, now your will be done.
We see this in chapter 15. of this epistle and
Paul's remarks in verses 30 through 32. Let me
read them to you. He says, I urge you, brothers,
by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the
Spirit to join me in my struggle by praying to
God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the
unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem
may be acceptable to the saints there so that
by God's will. I may come to you with joy and
together with you be refreshed. So again, he
emphasizes the fact these are my plans. Pray
for me. God's will may be done. Now, in fact,
God's will was for Paul to go to Rome. But he
went there in shame. When he got to Judea, he
had some problems. He was put under arrest. It
involved months and months of incarceration and
unfair treatment. Interruption, disappointment.
The plans that he had made to go to Rome seemed
to be shelved. And then the Lord appeared to
him one night and said, Paul, just as you have
preached the gospel here, so you're going to
preach the gospel in Rome. I'm going to send
you to Rome. It wasn't the kind of passage that
Paul wanted, but he got there and God used him.
He had an unpresuming attitude about his future.
Is that where you are in your commitment? The
fourth possession that he had, verses 11 and
12. He possessed an untiring concern for the
welfare of others. He says, I long to see you.
That is a deep, emotional word, that word long.
It's the kind of longing you have when you're
homesick. Have you ever been homesick? I don't
think there are any of us. that has not at some
time faced that excruciating pain. Paul, though
he had never seen them, is saying, I'm homesick
to see you. He was desirous of seeing them, not
so that he could get something from them, but
so that he could give something to them. He says,
I long that I may impart to you some spiritual
gift to make you strong. You see, Paul was a
people person. in the truest sense of that word.
He was the kind of person that wanted to give
to others. He wanted to build up others. He wanted
to make them strong. The idea behind that word,
strong, that verb, strong, is pictured well,
I think, in the Old Testament, in the Greek translation
of the Old Testament, in Exodus. 17, 12, where
it talks about the two men, Joshua and Aaron,
who stood beside Moses. And while the battle
was taking place down there in the valley, they
held up his hands. The same word is used there
as is used here. Paul is saying, I want to come
to you that I may hold you up so you may not
get worn out and weary. I want to strengthen
you. Do you have that concern for other people?
And yet Paul wanted them to know that this was
not, they were not to understand this as though
he was the great reservoir and they were nothing.
He says, what I really mean is, verse 12, that
you and I may be mutually encouraged by each
other's faith. Paul says, I want to come to make
you strong, but brothers, listen. My coming will
make me stronger, too, because you will minister
to me. You know, that's the way fellowship always
is, true fellowship. Isn't it great when you
have another person or a small group of people,
perhaps your growth group within your small church,
and you have that kind of intimate relationship
with that person or those persons in which...
There is a mutual strengthening that like iron
sharpens iron. Isn't it great to have a friend
who will tell you off occasionally? Tell you
the truth, do it hurt? There's a verse in the
Proverbs that says, faithful are the wounds of
a friend. Sometimes a friend wounds, but they're
faithful wounds. The cutting is done out of love.
The hurt is done out of compassion so that there
may be long -term healing and strengthening.
The lancing of a boil hurts terrifically, but
the result of that is that poison drains out
of it and genuine, deep healing can take place.
And every now and then, some of us get boils
in our spiritual lives, and I thank God for those
people who are true enough to us who will come
along and lance those. and hurt us so that we
can be drained of the poison and ultimately heal
the problem. Do you have that kind of concern
for another person? Are you willing to do that
to somebody? Sometimes we are so concerned that
we are accepted by others that we're unwilling
to tell them the truth. You know what that is?
That's selfishness. We excuse and call it love
for them. We don't want to hurt them. It's not
love for them. If they need to be told the truth,
we need to tell them the truth in love. The apostle
had an untiring concern for others' welfare.
That's evidence of true commitment to Jesus Christ.
And then there's a fifth possession that he had.
Verse 13 reveals that. It is an unquenchable
desire for spiritual fruit. The apostle says,
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers. I've
longed many times to come to you in order that
I may have a harvest among you, just like I've
had in other places. The Apostle Paul did not
like going through motions. He wanted spiritual
fruit from his life. And you know that somebody
who serves with his whole heart like Paul did
can only be satisfied with genuine fruit. Frankly,
statistics... do not mean anything to him. Numbers
are meaningless, except as they relate to people
who are genuinely being helped. The apostle says,
I want to come to you and have genuine, true
spiritual fruit among you. In the New Testament,
there are different kinds of spiritual fruit.
For example, in Galatians chapter 5, there is
the fruit of the Spirit. It talks there about
attitude, love, joy, peace, long -suffering,
and so on. In Hebrews chapter 13, it talks about
the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name,
and so that's a kind of fruit that's important.
In Philippians 4, 17, it talks about the fruit
of some kind of positive action. In Philippians
4, it was the taking of an offering for the ministry
of Paul and the poor. And then there is in the
New Testament the fruit of converts. That's the
kind of fruit I think Jesus is talking about
in John 15 when he says, Herein is my Father
glorified, that you bear much fruit, and that
your fruit remain. That's real, genuine fruit,
not superficial things. And I think that's what
Paul is talking about here. As Griffith Thomas
said, ever the eager soul winner, the apostle
constantly craved and looked out for fresh opportunities.
Does that describe your commitment? Do you have
an unquenchable desire for spiritual fruit? What
a great way to begin a new week, to commit yourself
to that. To say that as you go back on that job
tomorrow, your desire there is not to get the
paycheck next Friday, but your desire there beginning
tomorrow is to have spiritual fruit in that office.
Maybe to see another believer encouraged and
brought out of the depression that he's in or
she's in. Or to see that... A person who is unsaved
and so ungodly he's detestable. Warmed and loved
and eventually won the faith in Jesus Christ.
That's spiritual fruit. Then the apostle had
a sixth possession that indicates his genuine
commitment to Christ. Verse 14. I'm obligated
both to the Greeks and non -Greeks, both to the
wise and the foolish. He possessed an unrelenting
sense of personal obligation. Now, I want you
to notice something. He does not say, I am obligated
to Jesus Christ. That thought could be found
in other places in his writing. But look at what
he says. I am obligated to people, to Greeks
and non -Greeks, to wise and to foolish people.
He is saying here, I am obligated. I am indebted
to all men. Why is that? Because, dear friends,
the possession of the gospel, listen, the possession
of the gospel makes all men my creditors. Because
you and I possess the saving message of Jesus
Christ, we are indebted to all men to give them
that message. In the same way that a person who
might find the cure for cancer would be indebted
to get that cure to all men as quickly as possible.
We are indebted. Regardless of race or social
standing or intellectual accomplishment, Paul
says, I am indebted to all men. Not just my social
class, not just the people who are of my race,
not just the people who speak my language, but
all people. Do you feel that way about it? I
hope you do. Do you sense that personal obligation
to get the gospel message to others? At the root
of all commitment is a heart of obligation. And
then the final possession that we'll look at
this morning is found in verse 15, where the
apostle says, that is why, because of this obligation,
that's why I am so eager. to preach the gospel
also to you who are at Rome. He was ready. He
was eager as much as was in him to get to Rome.
The hindrance of his coming there had not been
in him. In fact, he's already told them many
times, I have laid plans to come to you. But
I've been hindered in doing that. What he was
hindered by, he does not say. It may have been
the pressure of other needs. It may have been
Satan hindering him. It may have been the Holy
Spirit just saying, Paul, not yet. He says, to
this point I've been hindered. You know, I would
imagine the Romans were wondering why Paul hadn't
been there. Can you put yourself in their place
for a moment? There had been a nucleus of believers
in Rome now for 20 -some years. And they had
heard of this guy called the Apostle Paul. who
was preaching the gospel to Gentiles throughout
the Roman Empire, but he had never showed his
face yet in Rome. I can almost see them waving
flags from over there in Rome saying, Paul, we're
over here. Why don't you come and see us? Paul
is saying, folks, I'm eager to come. I have planned
to come. As much as in me, I am ready to come
right now by God's will. Are you that eager to
get the message out? You know, Paul knew what
price might be required of him to go to Rome.
He recognized it could cost him his life if he
went to the city, and yet he was willing to pay
the price. You know what his attitude was when
his life was threatened? So what? So what? Is
that your attitude about life? Are you eager
to do whatever God wants you to do, whatever
the price, even your own life? What do you do
with a person who's not afraid of death? That's
why, to put this in another realm, terrorists
are such a threat to civilization. Because they
are not afraid to die for their cause. If they
are killed, so what? It's their cause they're
advancing. We radically disagree with their cause.
But we have to admire that kind of commitment.
You see, it's that kind of commitment that's
going to get the attention of our world for Jesus
Christ. The Apostle had an unhesitating enthusiasm
in representing Christ. That's what we need today.
Let me read to you some words written by a man
named Jonathan Edwards, a man that God used to
shake this continent. A couple of hundred years
ago. These are the words of his consecration.
Listen to them. I claim no right to myself. No
right to this understanding, this will, these
affections that are in me. Neither do I have
any right to this body or its members. No right
to this tongue, to these hands, feet, ears, or
eyes. I have given myself clear away and not
retained anything of my own. I have been to God
this morning and told him that I have given myself
wholly to him. I have given every power so that
for the future I claim no right to myself in
any respect. And fourth, I am not to act in any
respect as my own. I shall act as my own if I
ever make use of any of my powers to do anything
that is not to the glory of God, or to fail to
make the glorifying of him my whole and entire
business. If I murmur in the least at affliction,
if I am in any way uncharitable, if I revenge
my own case, if I do anything purely to please
myself or omit anything because it is a great
denial, To myself, if I take any praise for any
good which Christ does by me, or if I am in any
way proud, I shall act as my own and not God's.
I purpose to be absolutely his. Words like that,
we can't wonder why he shook the continent. I'll
tell you something. We need today a spiritual
revival of commitment to Jesus Christ like we've
never seen before. We need it on the high school
campuses. We need it on the college campuses.
We need it out there in the factories, in the
offices, in our neighborhoods. A loving and absolute
commitment to Jesus Christ. Is that where your
heart is today? Maybe you're like me. You look
at your life and say, that's what I want, but
I see a lot of holes. Today would be a good time
to get honest with God and confess where the
holes are and to, by faith, make the commitment
that we ought to make. Let's pray together. Father,
this morning as much as any time. Some of us
who see that the heart of commitment is really
the commitment of the heart. As we view our lives,
there are a lot of spots where we must confess
the sin of a lack of commitment. We're not really
concerned. We don't really care. We're like a
leaf going with the stream instead of like a
rock that makes a difference. I know that there
are many today who would share with me a prayer
of commitment. We would say to you, Lord, forgive
us for we have failed. Today, by faith, we give
you our whole self. We claim no right to our
wills, our bodies, our plans. and put them on
the altar. Consume us, O God. Our prayer would
be that that Jim Elliot prayed, Lord. Make us
thy fuel, O flame of God, and let us burn for
thee. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.