Mutually Encouraged

MUTUALLY ENCOURAGED

So, here I am, your new preacher. What am I doing here? What am I supposed to be doing here? Do you really need someone like me to be standing up here talking about God? I'm probably not the only one asking such questions, or, at least, thinking such questions.

It might be helpful to take a look at how the apostle Paul talks about his interaction with the believers in Rome. Paul was on his third missionary journey, writing from the city of Corinth, and hoping soon to visit the church in Rome. He writes to them that in his prayers he is “asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.” He has, he says, good reason for wanting to spend some time with these early Christians—three reasons, in fact: first, to satisfy a heartfelt longing which he seems to have harbored for some time (“I want you to know,” he writes, “that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented))”; second, he is wanting, he says, “to impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you;” and third, he is hoping “that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.”

Paul knew that the Christians in Rome were having a difficult time. In addition to dealing with an emperor who expected to be worshiped along with other gods, the Christians here were having to figure out how to integrate both Gentile believers and Jewish converts into one worshiping body, and that was no easy task, what with questions about circumcision, dietary laws, holy days, and other Jewish rites that some felt were a necessary part of worship. Paul feels a kinship with these people, having himself spent much of his life as a strict observer of Jewish law and practice. His heart goes out to them. “God is my witness,” he writes, “that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers....I long to see you.”

Though Paul had not founded the church in Rome, and had, in fact, never yet visited, he did have some knowledge of this group of believers. From the greetings to various individuals at the close of his letter (chapter 16:2-16) it is evident that he had met several of them in various places. This church had a reputation throughout the world at that time for a very strong and living faith. It was no accident that Paul wrote his most involved doctrinal letter to this church, for he was confident that they would understand, and he longed to share his experience and knowledge with them, and they with him.

Previous plans had come to naught. Now once more he was making plans to visit them, but first he had to bring contributions from the Macedonian churches to the poor in Jerusalem. After that he would set sail for Rome, stopping there before continuing on to Spain. For now he and they would have to be content with the letter he was sending them, but he very much wants to be with them personally. He wants to live with them, talk with them, instruct them, and fellowship with them. The heart of one devoted follower of Jesus longs to be in personal contact with others who are like-minded, so that together they may share their joys and sorrows, and struggle together with the problems which confront the church. This sort of intimate Christian fellowship, Paul seems to say, cannot be attained by correspondence alone. He expresses the need for something beyond abstract instruction, beyond knowledge and sound doctrine. His love for these fellow Christians evokes a personal concern for them.

It is this sort of relationship for which I hope for you and me as fellow believers. I am hoping that our relationship will be one in which we seek one another's fellowship, one another's welfare, one another's spiritual enrichment. If the preaching of the gospel is to be effective, then preachers must be more than just proclaimers of impersonal truth and abstract morality. A preacher needs to cultivate a personal relationship of love and care with the persons with whom he or she works, and to encourage that same loving relationship among those to whom he or she ministers, for each of them, too, is a servant, a fellow minister of Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul had a specific purpose in mind for wanting a special, personal relationship with the church in Rome. He was convinced that he had something to give to the believers in Rome. “For I long to see you,” he writes, “that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to strengthen you.” Paul wants to bolster their confidence in Christ, to increase their knowledge so that they may know with more certainty Who it is in whom they have believed. He wants to renew their faith, to deepen their love, to anchor their hope more firmly in Jesus Christ and His promises.