The Unchanging Truth

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Unchanging Truth, the verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Jerod Gilcher, lead pastor of Christ Community Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. Through the living and active word of God, the Unchanging Truth exists to encourage your soul, transform your life, and help you trust and treasure Christ as Redeemer, Savior, and King. Now, opening the scriptures and proclaiming the truth that never changes, here is Dr. Jerod Gilcher.

Dr. Jerod Gilcher: Now, you can see there in verses 9 and 10, Paul was not only thankful for the Romans, he was prayerful for the Romans. Notice what he says: "God is my witness how often I pray for you." God would attest, if he spoke out loud, he would verify how often I pray for you at a church, by the way, that he had not yet met.

But that's passion number three. I want you to notice very carefully what Paul does because everything is worthy of contemplation. Notice how Paul interrupts himself and shows how he feels about the ministry he's given. "For God is my witness," here it is, "whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his son." Do you see that? I serve my God in my spirit in the gospel of his son.

And the reason why I call that priestly serving is because the word Paul uses there for service is rare and exceptional. It's a rare and exceptional word. You see, there's lots of other words that Paul could have used to describe his service. He could have used *douleuo* and *diakoneo* and *hupereto*, but the word he uses here is interesting.

This is not the word you use when you are flippant and casual. This is a different kind of serving. You see, you can serve as a volunteer for the sheriff's department or you can serve as the lead of the SWAT team, and those are different kinds of serving. Because the word Paul uses for service there, get this, is the word for the Levitical priests and the service they performed at the temple of Yahweh. It's that word.

That's a technical term. That's a specialized word that only one group of people out of the entire planet could be a priest, and only then one man once a year enter into the Holy of Holies. That's the word Paul uses. It's incredible. Not because he was a priest, but because what he did was just as sacred as a priest.

Think about it. To preach a message, the power of which can save a soul from destruction. A message, the power of which is to reconcile God and man together. Not even the priests did that. And hence why Paul viewed what he did as absolutely sacred. And notice carefully his language here, how he qualifies. "I serve," notice, "in my spirit in the gospel of his son."

What do you mean, Paul, "in my spirit"? Meaning, this meant everything to him. Just going through the motions is the opposite of doing it with your soul, and that's exactly what Paul means. This wasn't a job for him. This wasn't just an occupation for him. He wasn't working for the weekend. He wasn't just working for a paycheck. Rather, what he did was the passion of his life.

And the passion of his life was the gospel of the Son. And not just preaching, but all things gospel-related. Paul was a man driven and riveted by one thing. Everything in his life bowed in allegiance to the ministry of the gospel and the ministry and the preaching of the Word of God. And again, when you hear and see the word gospel, remember what you are not supposed to do.

Don't think a few minimal truths that you put on a gospel tract that you hand out in street evangelism. That's not what this is. Of course, that includes that, but it's not only that. No, you understand, the gospel is all that God has done in His Son to save ruined sinners from eternal woe and despair. The gospel is all the untold, innumerable, infinite riches of redemption bought with the blood of Jesus Christ.

And that's why Paul says the gospel, it's the gospel of His Son. You understand, the gospel is and the gospel is about Jesus Christ. He is, in other words, the good news that makes the gospel good news. And this was the sacred focus and passion of Paul's life. And I really believe without question that this should also be the same for us.

That we should share Paul's passion. That this too should be central and a focus for us. That the gospel of the Son should be the passion of our lives because, no, it's true, we are not apostles, but we are priests. We are priests. 1 Peter 2:9 says that we are priests. We are a holy royal priesthood in service to the King.

Which means everything we do as a church is sacred. Everything we do as a church is holy. Making coffee is a drink offering. Setting chairs is like the altar. The songs are offerings. Our prayers are like incense. The nursery is the court of the Gentiles, I don't know. Larry turns on the lights, it's like lighting the lamp. You get my point. My point is everything we do is holy.

Everything we do is sacred. Everything we do matters in the church. And I would just ask you, how would you love to serve as a priest in the gospel of the Son? How would you love to serve? I know many of you already do serve, but how would you love to serve? How would you love to be used by God to advance the global cause of Christ in the world?

Because I'll just have you know that the elders and the deacons, we are partnering together right now, and we are thinking of ways for you to serve and use your gifts. And that time is coming. We're going to lay out some things before you. Pray for us in that because we very much want to transform the church from a sitting church to a serving church.

Don't take that the wrong way. Many of you do serve. I'm just saying there are many things we do not yet do as a church. And yet, I know that there are opportunities for you. How would you love to serve? Let's talk about this. The time is coming. We want you to serve like priests in the gospel of the Son.

Passion number three. Number four is perpetual praying. In other words, Paul was a man of constant, unceasing, incessant prayer for the people in his life. You look at every single letter that he wrote, all 13 of them, says something about prayer. And in every single letter, the language is the same. Always, unceasing, incessant, constant, remembering, making mention of you to God.

Which means here is a man who understood the awesome place of prayer in the plan of God. That prayer doesn't change God's plan. Prayer does not change what God has decreed. Rather, God unfolds the plan he decreed through the prayers of his people. And in verses 9 through 11, you can see Paul's passion to pray.

"For God is my witness how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers, beseeching, even begging, if somehow at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you that I may impart some spiritual gift to you." And there it is, the always unceasing prayer of Paul for this church in Rome. A church, by the way, he had never yet met.

Which just shows the heart of this man for the bride of Christ, does it not? Paul was not an icy man, hard to get to know. He was warm and pastoral and full of affection. Here is the greatest scholar on the planet with the bleeding heart of a shepherd. And notice what he does there. It's a very interesting comment. "God is my witness how much I pray for you."

You know what that is? That's a theological way to talk about how much you pray without sounding braggy or weird. God knows. God sees. If God spoke, he would recount to you right now how often I pray for you. And again, I'm rebuked by this man. Not because I don't pray for you, I absolutely do every single week, but I am not to the level of Paul the pastor.

He was unceasing, incessant, relentless, and constant. God knows. God would testify how unceasingly I pray for you. And think about it. He did it for the churches in Antioch, and the church in Jerusalem, and in Corinth, and in the churches in Galatia, and Ephesus, and Philippi, and in Greece, and Thessalonica. Over all these churches, you're talking about hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. And he prayed for all of them.

It's incredible. And what it does is beg the question why. What produced the passion to pray? Put it like this. When we don't pray, what is it that's missing that stirs the soul to pray? That's the question. Because you understand prayer cannot merely be produced by the power of the will, can it? And you know it because you've tried.

Passionate, persistent prayer isn't merely produced by the "should" or merely by the "ought to" or merely by the obligation. Rather, the passion to pray instead is produced by meditation. By meditation. And by that, I mean, of course, meditation on holy scripture. What I mean is the fires of worship and prayer are produced in the furnace of the soul by the fuel of truth.

I mean, if you're trying to pray and you feel like you've got nothing in the tank, it's because you've got nothing in the tank. You can make a prayer list, that is easy. You can design a methodology, you can make a schedule, that's easy to do. That's not the problem. That's not the supernatural part. It's the "want to" that's the problem, isn't it?

We can make time to pray, we can take the time to pray, but we don't pray because we don't want to pray. But there is a way to want to pray. And it is through the slow and steady contemplation of the word of God we call meditation. Actually, the Bible calls it that. And the Puritans totally got it.

The secret to a robust, thriving, significant, happy, passionate, constant, never-ceasing prayer life is meditation on the sacred text, which stirs the fires of passion to pray. William Bates said this: "The great reason why our prayers are ineffectual is because we do not meditate before them." Thomas Watson: "The reason why our prayers are cold is because they are not first warmed by the fires of meditation." Do you see?

They're exactly right. And so when every cinder in your soul feels cold, you crawl to the word of God and that will be the fuel that stokes the fires to pray. And among the many things Paul prayed for the Romans, notice what he asks the Lord to do in verse 10. "I make mention always in my prayers." For what? He says, beseeching, strong word, "if somehow at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you."

"I want to see you. I want to meet you. I want to come to Rome and I want to be with you physically and personally. And I want to serve you and I want to encourage you." But that's point four. We'll get there. But you can totally tell. He tried often to get to Rome. You look down at verse 13. He says, "Often I intended. I tried. I really, really tried to come to you."

But in verse 10, you notice we see Paul's theology of prayer. His doctrine of prayer here. He always prayed, he even beseeched and pled with the Lord to be able to come to Rome. That is darn near almost, not quite but really close, to a command. "God, get me to Rome." But notice, Paul knew. Look at the text. What did Paul know?

What did he know would be the only way he would ever actually get to Rome? What did he say? If it was what? "If it was the will of God." Do you see? If it was the will of God. "I'm praying that by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you." And what I love about that is that Paul didn't know. He didn't know what God decreed.

He didn't know what God had planned. He didn't know if that was ordained that he would make a trip to Rome. And yet, he never ceased to ask, did he? Paul knew that nothing happens in the world unless it has been decreed by God. But Paul also knew that God unfolds the plan that he decreed through the prayers of his people.

Does that make sense? And that should be our impetus to pray. You have to understand the sovereignty of God does not make our prayers meaningless. It doesn't. It gives the most meaning to our prayers. Don't you see the sovereign will of God is the guarantee that our prayers for the impossible cannot fail? If it has been ordained, it will take place, but only through the prayers of God's people.

So let me just ask you, let me put you on the spot. How is prayer going for you? What is your prayer life like right now? Because I'll just say few of us can say with Paul, always, unceasing, incessant, and constant. That's wild. And you see the reason why we can't is because we, I included, forget.

We forget. We don't pray the way we ought because we forget that prayer has more to do with God than it does with us. That prayer is wrapped in holy concern for the glory and kingdom of God. We don't pray the way we ought because we forget that life is war. That God asks us to pray not to increase our comforts, but that prayer is a weapon of war to unleash on a world of darkness and unbelief.

Prayer is not some mystical act of piety where we think we hear God's voice. No, prayer is God's instrument to break open the world. We don't pray the way we should, beloved, because we are not convinced that all we are on our own are spiritual cripples and beggars of grace. And we don't pray the way we should because we forget that prayer is a profoundly Trinitarian moment, isn't it?

The Father decrees our prayers. The Son mediates our prayers. And the Spirit empowers our prayers and makes them effectual. All of it is designed to put him on display, and so I am going to pray for you to pray. It's not that I don't pray for you, I do every single week. But before I read this, I had not prayed that you would grow in prayer.

Maybe your prayer life is fine, I don't know, but I'm going to pray that nevertheless. That you, me, we would grow in prayer because this too must be our passion. This too must be our conviction. And a really simple way to start corporate prayer together: 8:30 every Sunday morning, we meet down the hall to pray. join us if you can. Because prayer is the key that unlocks the power of heaven itself.

Passion number four. Passion number five Paul had, what I'm calling passionate longing. Paul longed with a passion to get to Rome. If you've been to Rome, that makes sense. The sights, the tours are absolutely incredible. If you go to Italy, there's no such thing as a bad meal. Everything is good. It's really a pretty magical place.

But that's not why Paul wanted to go. The reason why Paul wanted to go is found in verse 11. Look what he says: "I'm praying that I would by the will of God I can come to you." Verse 11: "Why? For I long to see you that I may impart some spiritual gift to you that you may be established. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you through the faith of one another, both yours and mine."

There it is. I'm coming to you because I really long to see you. That's a strong word. Strong internal passion and desire. Paul told the Philippians in chapter 1 verse 8, "God is my witness how I long for you all with the affections of Christ Jesus." He told Timothy, "I long for you, remembering you with tears that I may be filled with joy."

You can totally tell. Paul loved being with churches. He loved being with his people. Paul longed and ached to be with believers. Unlike many people in the church today who look for any reason to not show up and be with the body, Paul fought for every single opportunity to be with God's people. One writer said: "Paul very obviously is a warm man, glowing with fervor."

From start to finish, the letter to the Romans is not cold or didactic, restrained or guarded, but rather Paul writes in such a way that the church in Rome may feel as though they had contact with his very soul. He's right. And he longed to see them. He longed to meet them. And notice the reason why. Verse 11: "I long to see you. Why? That I may impart some spiritual gift to you."

I have a gift for you. I want to give something to you. And notice he calls it a spiritual gift, meaning a gift by the Spirit's power. A gift that would give spiritual power to their lives, that they would be strengthened and steadfast and grounded and mature, which is exactly what pastors are called to do. My job is to give you a spiritual gift.

A gift of spiritual power that would strengthen you and encourage you and help you and deepen you and sharpen you and grow your joy in trust in Christ above all things. This is the kind of pastor Paul was. And I think there's a lesson for us here. There's a lesson for us. You see, the question is, how can we long to be with one another?

Hard things happen in a church. Painful, difficult things happen in a church. How can we, despite those and in and through those, long to be together? Not just to catch up and visit, but to make every single conversation count for eternity. I mean, how do you know that when you walk in here and you come aim to serve, you come aim to be an encouragement to someone else's soul, that you won't say something that the Lord will use that will keep them from venturing into sin or apostasy?

The power that's at stake in true authentic fellowship. The question is, how can we so own one another's spiritual health and growth that we feel responsible for one another's holiness and joy and perseverance in our faith firm until the end? Do you feel that responsibility? Do you feel that? Do you own the spiritual health and growth of one another?

Because that's what church is. That's what biblical relationships are. And that's exactly what Paul longed for with the Romans. And I love what Paul does in verse 12. Notice what he does. He clarifies what he means by verse 11. "I want to show up. I long to see you. Why? So that I, the apostle, the entrusted sent-out apostle, I may give a spiritual gift to you. However, I don't want you to misunderstand. Notice verse 12. What I mean is, I am coming so that I may be encouraged together with you, by you, among you through the faith of one another, both yours and mine."

Do you see that? That's what kind of church this was. That the greatest pastor and missionary and theologian on the face of the planet could come to this church in Rome and have his own soul encouraged.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for the Unchanging Truth, the verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Jerod Gilcher and Christ Community Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. At Christ Community Bible Church, we exist to prize, portray, and proclaim the supremacy of Christ as we trust in His word and wait for His return.

We hope today's teaching has encouraged your soul and helped you trust and treasure Christ as your Redeemer, Savior, and King. If you're in the DFW area and looking for a church home, join us for worship Sunday mornings at 10:30. To learn more about the mission of the church, meet the pastoral staff, or plan a visit, go to ccbiblechurch.com.

You'll find ministry services and additional teachings there as well. Just click on the resources tab to get started. That's ccbiblechurch.com. Join us again next time as we open the scriptures together and proclaim the truth that never changes. This has been the Unchanging Truth.