Have to, Get To

You can learn a lot about a person by assessing their priorities. What things come first, what things have to be done before other things can be done, what things are put on hold. You learn a lot about what gives a person pleasure, what causes a person pain. You learn a lot about how a person measures worth determines what is worthwhile a watching the way they prioritize. You can learn a lot about a person by the difference between what they say is a priority and what actually ends up being prioritized, and the way they conduct themselves. Here in Romans chapter fifteen, we see a picture of the apostolic ministry, of the apostle Paul clearly portrayed for us in the way that he establishes his priorities. But because of his apostolic ministry, we don't just see a picture of a man and his priorities. After all, what good would that be to us if this were just about Paul and how he prioritized his time. Paul is decorated dust. Amen, Paul is a man, just like you and I are man. He's made of flesh. God used him, but he was a frail and fragile and flawed creature. So the apostle. Paul did not exist so that he could be our example. Christ is our example. And even when Paul says follow me, he says follow me as I follow Christ. However, because of his apostolic position, we learn something important here about the Apostolic mission and the priorities of the Apostolic mission. We learn something important here about the church going forward. We learned something important here about the priorities of those who serve the church and lead the church. We also learn something about the priorities of all of us as believers, who are in essence engaged in the expansion of this Apostolic ministry through our membership in service to the local church, and the ways in which we utilize our own gifts and talents and abilities and callings in the furtherance of this great mission. So we don't just learn something here about Paul. And that's not a bad thing to learn something about Paul, one of the most fascinating men in all of history. But we learned something far more significant here in these pages. So join me as we continue in Romans chapter fifteen, looking today at verses twenty two to twenty nine. If you'll remember, we looked on last week at the picture that Paul painted. He's changed gears, if you will. We're now coming to a close of the letter. Chapter one, Verses one through seventeen is the introduction. Then that bookend is established aret verse seventeen one eighteen all the way through fifteen thirteen is a treatise. And then fifteen fourteen is the other bookend, and we pick up the close of the letter. We looked at the first part of the close of the letter, and Paul continues that theme that we talked about on last week of going back to the things that he emphasized in chapter one as he closes out his letter. And on last week we looked at this picture of his missions as the implications for past and present and future. But there is something here in his priorities and the key to understanding his priorities. It's this issue that he continues to raise. There are a number of issues that he raises here. In verses twenty two through twenty nine, he raises the issue again of his desire to come to Rome, he raises the issue of his desire to go to Spain, he raises the issue of his plan to go back to Jerusalem. But in all of these things we learn some thing about the way that he prioritizes what it is that he's doing. Look beginning of verse twenty two. This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you, again relating directly to the previous paragraph we talked about on last week. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you. Once I have enjoyed your company for a while. At present, however, I'm going to Jerusalem to bring aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem, for they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. If the gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessing, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you. I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. So even here you see a pattern that mirrors the pattern of the entire letter. The entire letter is a frame. We have the opening of the frame in chapters one, verses one through seventeen, the closing of the frame beginning at fifteen fourteen. And then you have sandwiched in the middle of this treatise here you see another frame. And that frame is first, I was hindered in coming to you, but I'm going to come to you on my way to Spain. That he makes a statement about the collection. And then what does he do. He closes the frame by going back to the issue of visiting Rome on his way to Spain. So the matter at hand is this journey of his to Spain. He has a desire to get to Spain. He has a desire to get to Rome. But he also has a duty and a desire to take the collection back to Jerusalem. How do you prioritize all of this. He's wanted to go to Rome for years. He has to go to Jerusalem. He gets to go to Jerusalem. He wants to go to Spain, not for the same reasons. That he wants to go to Rome. It is as though he's saying, I know that I'm called to go to Spain and I'm going to get there, but I want to get to Rome, and I'm going to get there as well. Listen to this from James Edwards. Ironically, in the same breath in which he mentions Spain, he says he must first go to Jerusalem. Consider for a moment the range of Paul's plans. He writes from Corinth to Rome about a visit to Spain with a trip to Jerusalem first, and again no planes, trains, or automobiles in this time in history. His plans reflect the tension between his allegiance to the Mother Church in the Jewish East and his missionary call to the gentile West. The Gospel did not present Paul with the option of serene detachment from the world. It made him increasingly vulnerable to the far flung forces of his world. He had, in the words of Robert Frost, promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. It's nice to do the things that you want to do, really is. However, all of us recognize and have been taught since we were very small children, that there are things that you have to do before you do the things that you want to do. And all the kids said amen, pastor voting okay, because you learn that at home, do you not. I want my dessert, that's good for you. You have to eat that green stuff first. I want to go play. That's just quite wonderful for you. I'm glad to know that you have to finish your chores. You have to finish your school work. Then you get to do what you want to do. It's not that there's no room for want to, but there is a place for want to, and there is a priority of have to over want to. How then do we determine what is have to? How do we determine what is priority? It's convenient when you're a child and you have mother and father to sit there and look at you and say, you know what, you don't have to worry about have to versus want to. I will tell you this is a have to, that is a want to. You don't have to agree with me. I didn't ask you to agree with me. I'm telling you this is a have to and that is a want to. And if the have tos become your want tos, then I'll change the list, and all the parents said, Amen, look at the priorities as they're laid out by the apostle, and I think they'll teach us something about our call as well. His first priority is to serve the risen Christ and see him worshiped among the nations. That is the overwriting, overarching priority in Paul's life, to serve the risen Christ and see him worshiped among the nations. Paul a servant of Christ. Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the Gospel of God. But she promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, this is Chapter one, Verses one through six, who is descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to the son of God, to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith of his name among all the nations, including you, who were called to belong to Jesus Christ. Paul opens the letter by introducing the overarching priority of his life to serve the risen Christ and to see Christ worshiped among the nations. That is the priority of his life. Not just because he's an apostle. That's the priority of his life. Because he's a follower of Jesus Christ. Folks, that is the priority of your life when you become a follower of Jesus Christ, to serve the risen Christ and to see him worshiped among the nations. It is not just to serve the risen Christ. That's not enough for a Christian. If that's enough for you, I would ask you to check yourself. If it's enough for you to just serve the risen Christ, If you could honestly be satisfied with going into a closet, closing the door, and serving God on your own, there's a problem with your salvation. If all you need is a few good downloads and a nice quiet space to be satisfied completely, there is a problem with your understanding of the gospel. If all you need is you and people who look like you and smell like you, and believe like you and think like you, and not too many of those because that would be inconvenient, then I would ask you to check yourself. Because the Christ whom you say you worship and serve with all your heart and soul and strength, has died that his bride might be redeemed, and you are not the end thereof. If you do not love the Bride, you do not love the Savior. If it's enough for you to live in isolation, if other people bother you, if you do not have a yearning and abiding passion to see the Gospel spread and to see those who don't know Him come to know Him, then check yourself and ask whether or not you were genuinely and authentically his It amazes me how many people have such a low view of the Bride of Christ. It amazes me how many of us would be just fine if there were nobody else. We even evangelize that way, don't we. Don't we hear that He loved you so much that if you were the only person in the world, help you. If you believe that He loves his bride, and his bride is bigger than me, praise God that I got in. Amen. But it's not about me. Paul's overarching priority was to serve Christ and see him worshiped among the nations. That changes everything. People, if that's your overwriting priority. If that's priority number one, to serve Christ and see him worshiped among the nations, that changes your view of the church. That changes whether or not you come consistently. That changes whether or not it matters that you're a member of a church. That changes your view of your parenting. Think about it for a moment. If the overarching, overriding factor in your life, the number one priority in your life is to serve the risen Christ and to see him worshiped among the nations, that changes the way you parent. Many of us look at our children, and our overriding priority is that we're not embarrassed by them. They can't say amen, You ought to say ouch. And that's the way we parent. If we have obedient, robotic children who do not embarrass us, we are more than satisfied. Then as they grow up. If we have obedient, robotic children who stay close to us so that we get to see them and our grandkids when we want to, that's more than enough for us. We talked about this on last week. God help us, God help us release those arrows for the cause of Christ. They do not exist for you to have warm fuzzies with your grandchildren. They exist to serve the King of Kings and the Lord of lords. That's why they're here, and so when we raise them, our overarching priority is not just that they learn not to win embarrass us, but that they learn to serve and worship the King of Kings and Lord of lords. Pay attention to me, obey me, Why because you make me look good when you do that. No, pay attention to me. Obey me. Why because I got some stuff to teach you about the only one in this world who has the answer to your sin problem, and the only one who is worthy of your worship, and the only one who is worthy of the overarching priority in the direction of your whole life. That's why you listen to me. That's why it matters to me. This matters in your work. This transforms the way you view your work. If your overarching priority is to serve the rich in Christ and to see him worshiped among the nations, then your overarching priority it's not just that you happen to be in the job that will bring you the greatest increase. You may give up some increase for kingdom flexibility. Amen, somebody, what is the overarching priority? This is what we see here that his overarching priority is to serve the risen Christ. And so in this decision making process, that overarching priority helped him organize his other priorities. Remember, he has to go to Spain. He wants to go to Rome. It's an oversimplification, but it works for cermonic purposes. All right, he has to go to Spain. He wants to go to Rome. Secondly, proclaiming the Gospel among those who had not heard. Proclaiming the Gospel among those who had not heard. When he looks at his priorities in this particular circumstance, thing that he prioritized first was proclaiming the Gospel among those who had not heard. Look at what he says there in verse twenty two. This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. He talked about again his mission in the past, President and future. In the previous paragraph. He says, that's why he's been hindered to come. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey by you. Once I have enjoyed your company for a while, I want to get there and enjoy your company. However, my overwatching priority has kept me from getting to you thus far. And my overwatching priority was the work that I have to do here. I'm now finished with that work that I have to do here, so I get to come and see you. What's the work that I have to do here? I mean the Gospel to those who have not heard. Oh, by the way, when I come to be with you, I don't get the setup shop and stay. Think about this for a moment again. Spiritually speaking, Jerusalem is the center of the universe. Jerusalem is the Covenental center of the universe, and Paul gets that. However, there is a real sense in which Rome is the logistics center of the universe. Rome is London at the height of the British Empire, and New York at the height of American expansion, and California at the height of Western expansion San Francisco, all ruled into one. That's what Rome is. It is the place of places. It is the crossroads of the universe. That's what Rome is. But notice what Paul says, I'm gonna come and it's going to be good. I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to refresh myself for a while. I want to read that again, and I want you to see if you catch his priority again. He wants to go to Rome, spend years that I wanted to go to Rome. Paul, why haven't you gotten to Rome? Because there was something that was more important. What's the thing that was more important? The thing that was more important is the work that I've been doing here, planting churches for the sake of expanding the gospel among those who have not heard. That's great. I'm finished now, so I'm headed to Rome. Wonderful, Paul. Are you going to set up shop in Rome and just spend the rest of your life there in that city that you so wanted to get to? No, actually I'm not, because there's something more important than me staying there, and it's the same thing that has been more important than me going there. Look at it again verse twenty three. But now since I no longer have any room for work in these regions verse twenty four, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain. There's a frame. Again, I couldn't come to you because of my work in these regions, which is what the priority of proclaiming the gospel among those who have not heard. And also when I come, and I can't wait to come, and I'm going to love it when I come, But I can't stay. Why because I got to go to Spain because of my priority of preaching the gospel among those who have not heard. You are my want to, These are my have to. His overarching priority was serving Christ and seeing him among the nations. Because of that, in this set of circumstances, he first prioritized the proclamation of the gospel among those who had not heard Romans one to eleven, he says, I long to see you fifteen twenty two to twenty three. We just looked at fifteen twenty eight. When therefore I have completed this and delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. He also mentions this in One Corinthians, chapter seven, verses Chapter sixteen, verses seven through nine. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in emphasis until Pentecost, for a wider door of effectiveness, of effect of work has opened to me. And there are many adversaries. Rome's not the only people who said this to There are many times he wanted to see people, but he didn't get to see them because of his priority. He didn't get to get there because of his priority. Proclaiming the gospel where they were open doors was more important. This was the apostolic priority. This is what we do, This is who we are. Pastors understand this in a very unique way. When we get to preach at the funeral. There's nothing like it for a pastor doing weddings. Wonderful, It is a blessed event. You have two people who look more beautiful than they're ever going to look again in their lives, if for no other reason, they're never going to spend that much time worrying about how they look again in their lives. And praise God for that. Amen. And you're standing there and it's the happiest moment in everybody's life, and it's just it's just wonderful. And you stand there and everybody's looking at you, going can you hurry up? Can you make this pretty? The other end of the spectrum. Just when a pastor has an opportunity to do a funeral, everybody pays a lot more attention to you when you're doing a funeral. When you're doing a wedding, everybody's looking at that beautiful couple. When you're doing a funeral, everybody's looking at the person who's standing up there and saying, explain this to me, help me wrap my head around this, help me be okay with this. Explain this to me. And do you know what the explanation is when a pastor stands up at the funeral. The explanation is always the same. This is what everything else that I've ever done for you or with you is all about. Everything I've ever preached to you was about preparing you for the day that you lay here. Everything that I've ever taught you was about getting you ready for the day when we will you to the front of the room. Every time I've ever been encouraged, you, correct you, corrected you, visited you, or anything else, all of the rest of that was my duty in preparing you for the moment when I stand over you for that sermon that you don't get to be there to hear, and in that moment a pastor gets to put into perspective everything else that he's doing in ministry and ask this question, am I ministering? Like? I realize that basically my job description is preparing people to meet God. It changes things. The loss of a child will do that to a parent. Christian parent loses a child, and there will be moments where you think about things that you don't do and fun that you didn't have. But the over rioting thought in your head as a Christian parent is did I give enough priority to clear instruction about the Gospel? The loss of a friend, the loss of a loved one. It brings you back to this place. It puts everything into perspective, and it does it without you thinking about it, kind of like your house catching on fire immediately causes you to determine what your priorities are because you can't get everything out, but nobody has to tell you what to go. Get first the people you love and the things that remind you of them. The other priority that Paul has is reiterating the Gospel among the saints. This overarching priority of serving Christ and seeing him worshiped among the nations. And then from that prioritizing the proclamation of the Gospel among those who have not heard, and when you understand the Gospel, that nobody has to tell you that that's important. When you've been saved and rescued and redeemed from your sin, nobody has to tell you that it's important for other people to know that and hear that and come to faith in Christ. But then there's this issue of the reiteration of the Gospel among the saints. That's not something that Paul neglects. We see this in his epistles. Paul writes his epistles in an effort to teach, rebuke correct churches and individual Christians in their pursuit of Christ. He wants Christ to be known rightly, to be worshiped rightly, to be obeyed rightly, and to be proclaimed rightly. Paul writes, because there is something lacking in the worship of Christ, and he simply cannot abide that Christ must be exalted. That's why he writes his epistles. That's why we preach the Gospel. We reiterate the Gospel among those who have come to faith in Christ. And it goes right back to that overarching priority to serve Christ and to see him worshiped among the nations. We see this in his epistles. We see this here in this list of priorities. Paul said, yeah, listen, I'm going to come to you. Before I do that, I'm going to go back and take care of some business among those churches that exist. This is why church planning was so important. If believers need the Gospel reiterated to them, again, think about this from the standpoint of the apostolic mission. If believers need the Gospel reiterated to them, what do you do. Well, you just go and you preach the gospel, and you have people converted, and then you send those people off and hope that they're maintained. No, you write letters to young pastors like Titus, and you say, Titus, by the way, here's what I want you to do. I want you to make sure that you establish elders in those churches. And as you establish those elders, I want you to make sure that they have this kind of character and they hold firmly to the doctrine that they exhort in sound doctrine, that they review those who contradict sound doctrine. They must be able to teach. He tells Timothy in that pastoral epistle, why is this so important? Because the church is the pillar in the ground of the truth. That's the place where believers are nurtured. That's the place where the Gospel is reiterated in the life of the saints, week in and week out. So he writes epistles and he establishes local churches. Why he wants the Gospel to be proclaimed among those who have not heard, and he wants the Gospel to be reiterated and affirmed among those who have. There's the tension. There's the tension. That's our tension, is it not. We want the Gospel to be proclaimed among those who have not heard, and we want the Gospel to be reiterated and affirmed among those who have. Because again, we don't outgrow the gospel. The natural outgrowth of the ministry of the Gospel is the church. It's inconceivable that God would send his herald into the world to ignite the passions of individual believers and leave them in isolation. Myriad metaphors body household, building, family, dwelling place, etc. As well as the teaching about discipline, corporate worship, structure, and the teaching ministry all point to the centrality and the necessity of the local church. It's not optional. You don't get to run over to Matthew eighteen and rip verses out of context about whenever two or three are gathered together in my name and say church membership. If it's not important, I just get a couple of people together, and we are the church. You got to take that a whole passage into context, which is about discipline within the church, who's inside and who's outside, and how that determination is made within the context of a mandatory structure called the local church. It is only then that you understand the very concept of wherever two or three are gathered in my name, that is not an excuse not to be a part of a local church. It is actually reinforcement of the necessity of the doctrine of the local church. You get a couple of people over your house, you're not the church. Amen, You're not the church. The church has officers, ordinances, disciplines. You're not the charge. In that regard, there is the need and the mandate of the gathering together of the called out ones the ecclesia. He also prioritizes unity in the Gospel among Jews and Greeks, which again flows from this very same concept. He repeats this throughout Romans to the jew first, and also of the Greek. He reiterates this again those first few chapters he sets the stage in chapters ten and eleven he repeats that again this idea of the unity and the oneness of the Jews and the Greek and being grafted in. But there's also this statement that he makes about the collection. Look at it again here in our text, verse twenty four. I hope to see you in passing well what to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you once I've enjoyed your company for a while. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and the Kia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem, for they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. Several questions arise here, what's the cause of the need for the collection? Paul doesn't say, but it's understood. It's mentioned in the epistles in a number of different places. It's understood that there was a need for a collection for the believers at Jerusalem. We don't know exactly why, but there were a couple of factors that make it pretty clear. First of all, the sudden explosion of growth of the church on the day of Pentecost. We read about five thousand and ten thousand, and so on and so forth. By the way, at Pentecost people have come from all over the known world. They hear the Gospel preach there in Acts chapter two, the church grows exponentially. It just explodes. And these people don't go home. They've been uprooted from houses and land and everything else. So now you have people giving what is theirs so that everybody can be taken care of. You have disputes about the distribution of food. So from an economic perspective, it was a disaster. Amen. God had to bring persecution to send people back home. But there's also the great famine of AD forty six to forty eight. Read about it in next chapter eleven, verses twenty seven to thirty, where we read, now in these days came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus, stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the day of Claudius. So the disciples determined everyone, according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea, and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. So we know that the church has grown exponentially. We know that people have come from all over the world and they did not go back home. We know that people have begun to disperse their goods among one another, and that there's been economic upheaval which has been exacerbated by a famine. Paul doesn't say why they're taking up this collection. It's a pretty good idea why it was happening. But then there's also the response they were pleased to do it and they owed it to them. That they were pleased to do it and they owed it to them. Both of these go back to the same thesis, and that is this, in Christ, there is no Jew or Greek, There is but one body. And basically Paul says there is a beautiful picture going on here. And the picture is this, God has brought forth his Christ to and through his people Israel. God has brought forth this Messiah. He has brought forth that which has been promised. And all of those who had been anticipating it rejoice. Those who have come to hear it rejoice. The Jews, who have been the stewards of it, rejoice. And the Gentiles are the beneficiaries, and they rejoice. And now God in his providence has taken the root of the tree and made it thirsty. And those on the extremities, he has given what they need. And because they see themselves as one, they're turning around and they're giving it. For Paul. This is huge. It's a fulfillment of prophecy in the Old Testament about the gentiles bringing their wealth to Jerusalem. It's a fulfillment about Abraham being a blessing to all the nations. And it's a beautiful picture of what he teaches. For example of Ephesians two verses eleven to twenty two. Turn there. If you will. Therefore remember that at one time you gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision, by what is called the circumcision, which is made by which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of Promise, having no hope without God in the world. But now that's who you were. That that's who you were. And I want you to notice a couple of things, separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of Promise. Why because you're not Israel. That's why you were alienated from those things, because you're not Israel. But now, by the way, that ought to be enough. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law and commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens. You're part of the commonwealth of Israel now, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ, Jesus himselfing the cornerstone in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. That's a picture of what is happening as the Gentiles send money to Jerusalem for their Jewish brothers who are experiencing feminine poverty. Finally, last, but not least, Paul gets to the personal pleasure and benefits of gospel relationships. Paul doesn't say there's no room for want to Amen. He doesn't say there's no room for want to. He says want to is not as important as the overarching desire to serve Christ and see Him worshiped among the nations. Want to is not as important as proclaiming the Gospel to those who haven't heard. Want to is not important as reiterating the gospel among those who have heard and want to is not as important as fortifying the unity within the body between you and Greek. But want to is important. Amen enough already with this false piety. I've had conversations with pastor friends who are agonizing, agonizing over calling from a church or an opportunity that they have for ministry or what are agonizing over it, And you sit down and you talk to him, and ultimately, here's what you get to. I really want to go over there. Well, then why don't you go? Do you get to do what you were called to do over there? Well? Yeah, but then why don't you go? Here's why because we're so afraid that it might just be our flesh, because we all know that God never wants us to get what we want, and that true Christianity is about you being in a place where you're beaten down and never experienced the desires of your flesh. And they don't say that. I usually say it for them as I see it. Somebody's got to. But that's how you think, as well, Oh, this can't be of God, because it's what I really want. And we all know that if you're a real Christian. Your whole life is encapsulated by denying yourself the good. Because, come on, y'all, let's be honest. God is against pleasure. We laugh, but we live like that's true. Paul does not say that the want to is a bad thing. You put it in its place and you have at it. Amen. He desires to go to Rome, and he's not ashamed of the fact that he desires to go there. I want to go to Rome. It's the center of the world. I want to get I can't wait to get there. I've been wanting to get there for years, he says. And I'm going too. I've got some stuff to do, but as soon as I can clear some time in my schedule, I'm going. And He's going to be good. I'm gonna like it. I'm gonna enjoy it. It's going to refresh me. I'm going to refresh them. Praise God. I'm going pray for me, y'all that I can get there because I want to go real bad. How far is that from the false piety that you and I have been sold as a bill of goods? Acts Chapter nineteen, verse twenty one. Now, after these events, Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Akia and go to Jerusalem, saying, after I have been there, I must also see Rome. I like that. You gotta see Rome after I've done it. I'm gonna do this stuff. After I do it, I must see Rome. Roman's fifteen twenty three. I've longed for many years to come to you fifteen twenty four. I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you. Once I have enjoyed your company for a while. Not only am I going to enjoy your company for a while, but you're gonna help me get to Spain. Oh, there's no evidence that they even offered it. I love y'all. I can't wait to get there. I'm gonna get there. It's gonna be a blessing. You're gonna help me get this Spain. They get this letter and they're going, Okay, what does he mean by that? Is he going want some money? He's gon want some money. He didn't say he's gonna want some people to go with him. He didn't say what are we gonna do? I don't know. Let's get some money and some people ready for when he comes, he desires to be refreshed. Listen again in chapter one, verses eight through twelve. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow, by God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. He's not presuming upon God. That's why he hasn't moved heaven and earth for years to go there, because he's not presuming upon God. I want to get there, and I'm believing that God's gonna get it. By God's will, I'll get there. If it's not as well, I won't get there. And there's something more important for me to do in the way of my priorities. But he doesn't move having on and earth to make that thing happen. For I long to see you that I'm being part to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. He wants to give and to receive encouragement by the way. This is not uncommon for Paul two Timothy Chapter one, verses three and four. I love this, I do. I just I do. I think about this often as a father. I think about this often, and relationships that I've had with with with men who've been significant disciplers of me, or to whom I've been a significant discipler. This is This is one of those passages that I go to to just be reminded of how good God is and not only giving us Christ, but giving us those meaningful relationships. Listen to this, he says to Timothy. I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience. As I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day, as I remember your tears, I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. That's just good. He doesn't live this dour life. It's all duty and no pleasure. He serves Christ and he finds pleasure in it, and God blesses him in those gospel relationships feet Threntheens sixteen five six. Again, I'll visit you have to passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go. Paul doesn't say there's no room for want to, just that it's not as important as have to. And along the way there's some get to as well. Amen, I have to go to Spain. I have to. It's my mission, it's my calling. Now I'm being driven in that direction. I'm on my way in that direction because it's monumentally important. That's the far northwestern reach of my mission field. Somebody else taking care of the south, I'm taking them. And these arcs that he talks about, you know, from if you take these arcs from Jerusalem all the way up to a Lyricum again the outermost northwestern arch of that will take you to Spain. So it's an important part of what he sees is his calling and his duty. I have to go to Spain, not grudgingly, by the way. That can't be that way when you're in christ and this is your calling. I gotta do that. I gotta do that. That's my calling is going to do. I want to come to Rome, I have to go to Spain. I want to come to Rome, and I will. But before I do either, I get to go to Jerusalem. What does that mean was not on my docket from my overarching calling that is pulling me spainward. It wasn't. It's not on my list of these places that I I absolutely want to get to. Rome occupies that space in my heart. However, there is a living, breathing picture of the fulfillment of promises that I've been holding on too for my whole life, and I get to go be a part of it. He already said earlier in chapter eleven. One of his desires he wants to see his Jewish brethren made jealous by the Gentiles. He wants that, and he believes God's going to do it, And he gets to go to his Jewish brethren with a pile of Gentile money, demonstrating physically and tangibly the work of the spirit and the lives of those gentiles. What away for his Jewish brethren. Then he made jealous. I get to go to Jerusalem. I get to not only see God fulfill these promises of bringing gentile wealth back to Jerusalem, I get to carry it. I'm coming to you, but I get to go to Jerusalem first. I get to go back to the place where it all started. I mean, I love you gentiles, but I've been living among gentiles for a long time, and it feels good for this Jewish boy every now and again to go back to Jerusalem because I love y'all, but your food smell is different than ours. I get to go to Jerusalem. I'm out here and I'm pushing the envelope and I'm going to these places or the Gospel hasn't been proclaimed, and I'm teaching these people who don't know come here from sick them. They know nothing. I have to start at ground zero. Every time I go somewhere else. They know absolutely nothing. They beat me, they imprison me, they threaten me, they run me out of town. Yeah, I'm coming to Rome, but I'm going to Jerusalem first. I get to go back to the cradle first. And after I do that, I'm heading for Spain. And there's gonna be more difficulty going to Spain. And I'm gonna come to you and see what I've always wanted to see. I'm gonna be encouraged by you. You're gonna be encouraged by me, and it's gonna be good. But I can't stop there because I have to go to Spain. By the way, he dies in Rome because there is a sense in which none of us ultimately gets to write our travelogue. Amen. And so here's the apostle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who's writing about his plans. And God allows his writing about his plans to be included in the canon of scripture, so that we can see that even an apostle under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit must bow the knee to a sovereign God. But here's what I thought about all week. The Roman Church has this letter and Paul eventually gets to make it to them, and it's glorious. And what have they heard time and time again, Paul's going to come. We're going to get to hear about what happened when he went to Jerusalem, and then we're going to get to send him on his way to Spain. As the Gospel pushes forward to those outer limits in Spain. Paul dies in Spain. How many of you know God used this letter and his death to raise up people in Rome who said he didn't get to go, but we will Christians die. The Church doesn't, and by God's grace, it never will. So as long as we make His priorities our priorities, whether we get to ultimately see them fulfilled or not, we know that it's going to happen. Prioritize your life rightly. Make it your desire to serve Christ and see Him worshiped among the nations. Make it a priority to proclaim the gospel to those who haven't heard. Don't be selfish. Make it a priority to reiterate the gospel to those who have heard. Make it a priority to emphasize the unity within the body of all peoples, regardless of where they come from. And in doing all of this, don't miss opportunities to be blessed of God. As you get some want tos and some get tos. In the middle of your have tos, what three