NOTE:
This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.
ENGAGE
When we were kids, I think most of us probably had big dreams. I still remember regularly shooting the basketball in my driveway and pretending that my shot at the buzzer won the national championship. But by the time I got to high school and was only 5’ 9” tall, I realized that I probably ought to change my dreams.
As we get older, our dreams usually change. Sometimes our big dreams revolve around making lots of money, buying a nice car or a bigger house, success in our jobs, obtaining positions of influence or prestige, a special vacation, or even shooting a deer. For me, my big dream has changed from making the winning shot to hoping that an Arizona Wildcat player will one day do that.
TENSION
For many of you, it’s not really hard to figure out what your big dreams are because you talk about them often and post about them on social media. And, at least for the most part, there really isn’t anything wrong with those dreams.
On the other hand, there are probably some of you this morning who have either given up on your big dreams, or even worse, you have quit dreaming altogether.
So as we begin this morning, I want you to think about your big dreams, and in particular, I want you to think about your big dreams when it comes to serving God. And as you do that I want you to answer this question:
What would you be willing to attempt for God
if you knew you couldn’t fail?
I think we’d all agree that Paul had some big dreams when it came to advancing the kingdom of God. Unfortunately, at one time those big dreams were his own dreams, and not God’s. And we also know that his journey to carry out those big dreams was often interrupted and changed dramatically. That has been true in my life, too. Sometimes my big dreams have been my own, and not God’s. And even when I was pursuing God’s dream for my life, there have been some obstacles and roadblocks along the way. And I’m pretty sure those things have been true of your life, too. But this morning, we’re going to get some great advice from Paul on how to dream big for God and how to pursue those dreams even when it’s difficult.
TRUTH
As I mentioned last week, Romans 15:13 essentially ends the “meat” of Paul’s letter. Beginning in verse 14, the letter becomes more personal. From that point on we find a variety of personal greetings and comments. So it’s tempting to just skip over this part or to rush through it. But, as we were reminded a couple weeks ago, all Scripture is written for our instruction and our benefit, so we’re not going to do that.
We are going to cover a larger chunk of Scripture today than we’ve done in much of our study of Paul’s letter to the churches in Rome, not because it’s less important, but because this is a section that will be more profitable for us if we step back and take a look at the big picture rather than get too deep into all the details here.
Although there is some overlap, Paul addresses two different aspects of his ministry in this section. In verses 14-21, Paul begins by addressing his fellow disciples, but he is primarily writing about his ministry to unbelievers.
[Read Romans 15:14-21]
Paul reminds his readers that his big dream, the one he received from God, was to take the gospel to the Gentiles. So most of his ministry up until this time had been spent traveling to new places and preaching the gospel in places where it had not yet been proclaimed.
It’s important to note here that this big dream had been uniquely give to Paul by God and not universal for all the disciples:
• Peter, and many of the other apostles, had been called to stay in Jerusalem and primarily minister to their fellow Jews.
• Apollos was primarily one who built on the foundation of others in order to help those who were already disciples to mature in their faith
• Others like Silas and Barnabas were more “behind the scenes” people who supported the work of Paul and others.
That is an important insight because it reminds us that each one of us has been given a unique role within the body of Christ and each of those roles are equally important. That is why we often say that we are all “ministers”. So your big dream and my big dream are likely to be much different.
It is also true that this hadn’t always been Paul’s big dream. Before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, his big dream involved serving God by persecuting Christians. And even after he became a disciple of Jesus, his first few were spent teaching in the Jewish synagogues. That is also an important observation because it reminds us that God often changes our big dreams in different seasons of our lives.
Beginning in verse 22, Paul now turns to his ministry to his fellow disciples.
[Read Romans 15:22-33]
All the way back at the beginning of his letter Paul had written of his desire to come to Rome and to minister there. Here, he finally reveals the reason he had been prevented from doing so earlier. Because he had been devoted to bringing the gospel to the Gentiles, he hadn’t had time to travel to Rome. Obviously that work was not complete, but the churches he had planted in Gentile areas were now well enough established that they could carry on that work without Paul physically being there.
He also lets his readers knows that he has one more task to complete before he is ready to head for Rome. He is going to deliver the offering taken in the Gentile churches to Jerusalem to help the poor among the Jewish disciples there.
Paul knows that he is going to face some obstacles in carrying out that task so he asks the disciples there in Rome to pray for him so that he can complete that task and then come visit them.
That’s a really brief overview of the passage, but I think we now have enough to develop the main idea we need to take away from this passage this morning:
Dream a dream so big
that only God can fulfill it
Paul had a huge dream – to take the gospel to all the places where it had never been proclaimed before – even if that meant going all the way to the westernmost part of the Roman Empire in Spain. It was a dream so big that he knew only God could fulfill it. That is why although Paul has accomplished so much for the kingdom of God, he is quick to point out that none of this is his own doing. He gives full credit to the work of the triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in his life:
• In verse 17 he refers to “…my work for God…”
• In verse 18 he calls his ministry “…what Christ has accomplished through me…”.
• In verse 19, he writes that he was empowered by “…the Spirit of God…”
Paul understands that whatever his big dreams have accomplished for the kingdom of God is all completely the work of God and he is merely God’s instrument who has used what God has entrusted to him.
APPLICATION
Don’t you want that to be true of your life, too? I sure do. I want to be able to honestly say that God has given me some dreams that only He can fulfill them.
So how do I do that?
HOW TO DEVELOP GOD-SIZED DREAMS
1. Be bold
Paul was a visionary and his vision was huge and bold. He wasn’t satisfied to just stay in Jerusalem and help establish the church there. He wasn’t satisfied to just go and preach to the people that were like him – the Jews. As we see in verse 20 his ambition was to go preach the gospel in places where it had not yet been proclaimed to people that were totally different than him. And by the time he writes this letter to the churches in Rome, he’s been doing that virtually non-stop for over 20 years since his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus.
By now he’s probably about 50 years old and with all the opposition he had faced and persecution he had endured, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he was ready to retire. No one could have really blamed him if he wanted to go back to Jerusalem, buy a nice condo on a golf course and take it easy for the rest of his life.
But Paul still wasn’t finished. He had plans to travel all the way to Spain, which was about as far as he could possibly go from his home in Jerusalem, to keep taking the gospel to those who hadn’t heard it yet.
This morning, we’ll be hearing from Jason and Shelly Estelle, one of the missionary families we support as a church. For them, their big dream was to go to the jungles of Peru to reach a community who had never heard the gospel. Just like Paul experienced, their big dream didn’t exactly unfold the way they had planned so now they have a new big dream – one that is different, but no less important to the kingdom.
I wonder how many of us aren’t willing to be bold and dream big because we think that means God is going to require us to do something that will make us miserable. Maybe for you that would be living in the jungle to reach a primitive tribe. For others of you, it might be something completely different. It is true that God wants us to be those living sacrifices that are willing to completely yield our lives to His will. But it is also true that God does not delight in making us miserable either. When God gives you a bold big dream, He will also give you the grace you need to live it out.
2. Be intentional
Throughout his ministry we see that Paul made plans. Here in the passage that we are studying today, we see that he made plans to go to Jerusalem with the offering from the Gentile churches and plans to then go to Rome on his way to Spain. Although, as we’ll see in a moment, God often changed his plans, that does not mean his planning was in vain.
Now it’s certainly possible to keep on planning to the extent that we never actually get anything done. We talked a couple months ago about how it’s impossible to steer a parked car. So sometimes the first step in the plan is to just start serving God and see where He directs my life.
But at the other extreme, if we aren’t intentional about determining and carrying out our dreams, we probably won’t do what God wants us to do either. Let me give you a couple of examples.
How many of you want to build the things of Jesus into the lives of your children and grandchildren? I don’t know of any disciple of Jesus who doesn’t want that for their family. And yet in many families that never happens because we’re not intentional about it. We don’t take time to seek God’s wisdom and come up with a plan of how we’re actually going to do that.
Do you want to see your unsaved family members, neighbors and co-workers commit their lives to Jesus? Of course you do. But have you been intentional about how you’re going to facilitate that? Do you have a plan to develop a relationship with them? Have you thought about how Jesus has changed your life and how you could communicate that to others? Can you simply and clearly explain the gospel?
3. Be flexible
When we read the book of Acts we learn that Paul’s trip to Jerusalem and then on to Rome and Spain did not go exactly as planned. He did deliver the offering from the Gentile churches to the Jewish disciples in Jerusalem. But there he was almost killed by an unruly mob and was arrested. He eventually set sail for Rome as a prisoner and arrived there only after surviving a great storm and a shipwreck.
We don’t know for sure whether he ever made it to Spain. Most modern scholarship leans toward the idea that he didn’t, but there are some writings by early church leaders that indicate it is possible. But either way, we find that Paul had to be flexible with his plans.
Paul’s journey to Rome is a great reminder that “man proposes, but God disposes”. There is no reason to believe that Paul’s plan to visit Rome and Spain was not from God. But what we see here is that even when we have a plan that comes from God, we need to be flexible, because God may very well choose to change that plan. That has certainly been true for Jason and Shelly, as you’ll hear from them later.
Over the years, Mary and I have taken two types of vacations. Most of the time, like when we go to Hawaii, we’re much more interested in arriving at our destination than in the 8-10 hours we spend getting there. In fact, usually the only time we remember the journey is if there is a problem along the way, like the time we agreed to be bumped from our flight on Hawaiian and ended up on a crowded AmericaWest flight where we couldn’t sit together and we had to put up with some of the most rude, grumpy flight attendants I’ve ever seen.
But then there have been some vacations, like the one we took to Montana when our kids were younger, where the trip really is the vacation and the final destination is only secondary. On that trip the scenic drives and the places we stopped along the way were the most enjoyable part of the vacation.
What we see in this passage is that often our spiritual journey is more like that second kind of vacation – the journey is more important than the destination. That is because it is in the journey that God uses the experiences we go through to make us more like Jesus. And when we learn to trust God in those difficulties and trials we encounter along the way, God is glorified.
So yes, we need to be intentional and plan, but we also need to be sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and be willing to change our plans as God leads us in new directions.
4. Be responsible
Paul reveals that before he sets sail for Rome, he has another task to complete. And that task must have been very important to Paul. He likely wrote this letter to the churches in Rome from Corinth, which was only about 600 miles from Rome. But instead of heading directly to Rome from there, he ends up traveling over 2,000 miles before he finally gets to Rome. [Show map].
Paul could have easily sent the offering to Jerusalem with one of his associates. And he had also been warned not to go to Jerusalem by some other disciples who had received that message from the Holy Spirit. But Paul insisted on delivering the offering personally. Why?
I think it is because Paul recognized just how important this offering was to his mission of uniting Gentile and Jewish disciples. It was so important to Paul that he spent significant time in Corinth and surrounding areas making the collection and even wrote 2 chapters in his second letter to the church in Corinth urging the church members there to be generous.
Over the years I’ve observed that the church is full of people who have great ideas for things that someone else should do. But, as we have often said, Christianity is not a spectator sport where everyone sits on the sidelines and cheers on the few who are actually engaged in ministry.
Paul could have easily taken that approach here. But instead, he commits to being responsible for carrying out this important task and seeing it all the way through to completion.
So the next time you finding yourself saying, “It would be really nice if the church did …” would you be willing to be the one to take that project on and take responsibility for it? As long as that project or ministry is consistent with our mission, I am confident that our Elders will be happy to come alongside you and help you in any way that we can.
The new Brown Bag and Bible Study on Wednesdays is a perfect example of someone who did just that. A couple months ago Cindy Petrack approached me with a plan for that ministry and offered to be responsible for it. And the church has provided the necessary support. By the way, if you can make it on Wednesdays at noon, that is a great opportunity for some genuine Biblical fellowship.
5. Be prayerful
Paul is eager to acknowledge that anything he has accomplished is only because God has been working through him. And because it is his sincere desire to continue to be used by God, he asks the disciples in Rome to pray for him in the last three verses of the chapter.
Paul recognizes here that the kind of prayer he is writing about is hard work. He exhorts his readers to “strive” with him in their prayers. In Greek that verb is a compound word that means to struggle in company with others. This is a reminder of the importance of prayer, and especially the importance of praying together with each other.
That is why I am so grateful for those of you who pray regularly for me and our Elders and the ministry of our church. Without the prayer that undergirds what we do as a body, we won’t ever be able to accomplish our mission. And I’m especially grateful for those who join together here at the church once a month on the last Thursday of the month to pray together.
There are some of you here this morning who might feel like it’s too late to dream big dreams. Maybe you’re just not physically capable to do some of the things you’d like to do or maybe even some things you’ve done in the past. But the one thing I do know that you can do is to pray.
INSPIRATION
So let me pose to you again the question we started with earlier:
What would you be willing to attempt for God
if you knew you couldn’t fail?
Or to phrase it in terms of today’s main idea, are you willing to…
Dream a dream so big
that only God can fulfill it
About 20 years ago, God gave me one of those dreams. When He called me into full time vocational ministry, that was definitely not something I could do on my own. I was a middle aged man with a family at home and no seminary degree. So the typical path to becoming a pastor really wasn’t an option for me. I couldn’t just pick up my family and move and go to seminary for three years. I will tell you that my journey to becoming a pastor didn’t always go like I planned either. Some of that was due to my own mistakes and I’m convinced that some of it was God putting some obstacles in my way to develop me personally and to guide me to where He wanted me to be. That’s a story that is far too long for me to share with you today.
But what I will share with you today is that I can relate to the words of Paul here. I will not speak of anything except for the work that Christ has accomplished through me. And I pray that God will continue to equip me by the power of His Spirit as I continue to carry out a dream that is so big that only God can fulfill it. And my prayer for you is that He will do the same in your life.
[Prayer]
ACTION
Although, because we want to leave time for Jason and Shelly Estelle to share about their ministry this morning, we’re not going to have our usual extended response time, that doesn’t mean that it’s not important for each of us to respond individually to what we’ve learned from God’s Word today. So I want to encourage all of us to prayerfully consider what big dream God has for each one of us and to take some practical, concrete steps to pursue that dream with God’s help. And if there is anything we can do as a church to help you in pursuing that dream, please let us know. The contact information for all our Elders is on the back of your bulletin and any of us are anxious to come alongside of you as you pursue that dream.
