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.
Paul could have had many reasons for wanting to go to Rome. Rome was at that time one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean world. It was the hub of the Roman Empire, which made it the center of politics and government; the emperor lived in Rome; the Roman Senate deliberated in Rome. It was a relatively wealthy city, with many attractions. But Paul makes clear that his eagerness to visit Rome was simply that he had a spiritual gift to impart to believers there.
What Paul believed he had to offer them was something that comes from God, not just from Paul as a person. Rather than calling attention to himself, Paul speaks of what he has to offer as a gift. The word that he uses here is not the common word for a gift, but rather a word derived from the word grace, the same word used throughout the New Testament whenever it speaks of “grace” or “gifts of grace” —the kind of gift which comes from God to those who are undeserving, which no one can earn, but which God bestows on us entirely out of his overflowing love. That is the kind of gift of grace that Paul wants to bring to the church in Rome.
Paul also describes this gift as a spiritual gift—not merely a non-material something, but a gift from the Holy Spirit. Like Paul, I come to you with some spiritual gift. A comparison between me and the apostle Paul seems pretentious and almost absurd, and indeed it would be if I found the point of the comparison in myself and in Paul. What makes me dare to suggest a comparison is that I know that the same God is living today and is giving spiritual strength as He comes to us with His Word and Spirit. The same God is the Giver, and the same Spirit applies these spiritual gifts to our hearts. In the awareness that it is God who works, I take courage, and believe that in spite of my imperfections you will be strengthened through the Word of God that I bring. That Word from the Spirit is a word of hope, of encouragement, of reassurance that the gospel of Christ is a life-giving Word, a matchless guide for living, an utterly dependable Word, a Word to stake your life on. It is a Word that proclaims the incomparable height and depth and breadth and length of the love of a God who sent His only son to earth to prove that love to the doubting Thomas in all of us. What a gift!
Returning to Paul's words to the church in Rome, notice that he also recognizes that he had much to receive from these believers, adding, “that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.” That sort of give and take is of the very essence of the Christian community. Paul is expressing the ideal relationship which we would hope to see between a church and its pastor—not one lording it over the others, but rather all helpers in each other's journey of faith. We are all members of one another, members of the one body of Christ. This means that each of us has something to contribute to the others, and that each one of us has something to learn from all the others.
The word that Paul uses here has a wide range of meanings; it can include “to invite,” “to exhort,” “to instruct,” “to encourage,” “to comfort.” We can understand that Paul would welcome any encouragement in the arduous task he had undertaken in attempting to spread the good news of the gospel from one city to another, often involving difficult journeys and multiple obstructions and frequent misunderstandings. Life for him had been no bed of roses since his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Ultimately, however, what Paul was looking for was the kind of comfort and encouragement and strength which comes from seeing the gospel taking hold upon the lives of the people to whom he comes to minister, and to transform them.
It is my hope that such mutual encouragement will be the hallmark of my ministry among you.
The greatest encouragement that you can give to your minister is not just to tell him that he had a nice sermon, but to show him in your lives that the gift of God which he proclaims to you week after week is changing your life, is strengthening you in your faith. Your faithful attendance and your participation in the church's outreach will build a strong bond of fellowship and will be a witness to your community that God is truly in this place—the God who “so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” May God's blessing be upon each of us as we encourage one another, and as we work to further the coming of His kingdom on earth.
