The Romans were known for lots of things. Including building massive above-ground water pipes. (Photo by Maria Bobrova on Unsplash)
Before we go any further, let me first off apologize for using the subtitle “Squad Goals” for this piece. Is that even still a thing? Do people still say #SquadGoals? Should they have ever started? I don’t know the answer to these questions.
Anyway…moving on.
Legacy is such a strange thing to think about. I mean, nobody wants to ask the question, “What will the world think of me when I’m dead?” Better yet, nobody wants to think about being dead. So there’s that.
At the same time, none of us want to leave the world without leaving an impression. As a writer, I dream of writing a novel that touches people for generations to come. I dream of writing something that changes lives and shapes the world for the better.
Oh, yeah…I write books. And sell them. Y’all should really look into buying those books. Okay?
More importantly, I want to leave a legacy as a father who loved his children and raised them to be Godly young men and who loved their mother. I want to be known for these things. That’s an easy sell.
“Hey, Adam. Do you want to be a world-famous author who also is a perfect father and husband?”
Yes. Sign me up.
While working for those things is much harder than just deciding that you want them, the decision to strive for a certain legacy is the first step.
So the question that hit me when I was reading Romans 15 this week is decidedly more difficult to grapple with.
How should we be known as Christians?
In John, Jesus tells His Disciples that they should be known for how they love one another. Obviously, as Christians, we should be known for how we love others.
From reading Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, though, I believe we can gather a few other solid ideas of what we should be known for as believers and followers of Christ.
When I taught this passage to my Sunday School class this week, we read Romans 15:14-33. The folks in there are quite sharp and pulled out a bunch of amazing observations and noticed some things that they all wanted to be known for as Christians.
For now, we’re going to look at a few select things that stuck out to me because I’m the one writing here. That’s kinda how this whole thing works, right?
I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God’s grace, I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:14-16 (NLT)
What people usually focus on when they read this passage is the two-headed compliment of goodness and knowledge. I’m going to sort of mash those two ideas together and simplify things a little bit.
When I read this passage, I see Paul praising the people in Rome for being teachable. After all, goodness is hard to come by if you don’t know how to be good, but knowledge can be had without follow-through. When you put these two ideas together, you become teachable.
I think about what is said in Hebrews about God disciplining His children. Paul is not shy about correcting the believers in Rome on a number of topics all throughout his letter to them. He really lets them have it. But why would you bother correcting someone who you didn’t think would bother to learn from you?
It can seem backwards to us when we consider being chastened by someone who turns around and lifts us up at the same time. I believe that’s what we call “gaslighting” these days? Is that right? Probably not.
Sure, some people can bounce back and forth between praising you and verbally beating you down, but that’s not what Paul was doing here. He was teaching the Romans, and he is teaching us. And he does so because we have a lot to learn.
Am I a teachable Christian? When I approach God’s Word, do I do so knowing that my own attitudes and beliefs have to be put on the table? My opinion isn’t what matters when it comes to addressing God’s Word, just like I wouldn’t ask an ant how it feels about my culinary choices. Why would I care what the ant thinks of me?
“Didn’t the doctor say you should limit your sodium intake?” (Photo by Faris Mohammed on Unsplash)
We have to be teachable Christians. We have to approach the Bible with humility, knowing that what God says in His Word is so much more important than what we want God to say in His Word.
After teachability, I was struck by how Paul described his own goals and desires.
My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says,
“Those who have never been told about Him will see,
and those who have never heard of Him will understand.”
Romans 15:20-21 (NLT)
The phrase that comes to me when I read this passage is “tilling new ground” for the Gospel. It is pretty easy to talk about my faith with other believers. I can spend all day talking about the Bible with church people. Even if we disagree!
I would even argue that the problem is far too many of us prefer to talk about the Bible with other church people whom we disagree with. It’s more fun to debate the Bible with Christians than it is to take the Gospel to those who have no idea what is in the Bible, isn’t it? And that’s not really the point.
God calls us to till new ground with the Gospel. To go to people who have never heard His Word before. And while foreign missions are great, and certainly achieve this purpose, we are fooling ourselves if we think that traveling to Timbuktu is the only way to reach people who have never heard the hope of Jesus Christ.
Even people who might know the name of Jesus and who know that Christian churches exist could be walking through life without ever knowing the true message and beautiful hope of the Gospel. That’s new ground to be tilled!
“...we are fooling ourselves if we think that traveling to Timbuktu is the only way to reach people who have never heard the hope of Jesus Christ”
If I can chase a personal pet peeve for a second here, too many of our churches today are competing with one another. Churches are trying to find ways to attract church people, and that’s just not the point. Our churches should be looking to reach the group of people I’ve heard referred to as “the unchurched” among ministry circles.
When we talk about the unchurched, we’re talking about both non-believers as well as believers who may have stopped going to church altogether for one reason or another. These are the people we need to be concerned about.
Anyway, personal tirade over and soap box put away.
The final thing that I saw in this passage that hit me was when Paul describes the generosity of some of the believers in Greece who wanted to provide a financial gift to the poor believers in Jerusalem.
But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there. For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially. As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain. And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together.
Romans 15:25-29 (NLT)
What’s really interesting about this passage is that we get the full historical context of what Paul describes elsewhere in scripture. If you read Acts 11, you see where a man stood up and prophesied by the power of the Lord that a famine was coming for all of the Roman world. Because of that, these believers collected money to send to the impoverished believers in Jerusalem.
So let’s hold on now. These people collected their money and sent it off to people who might possibly potentially need it for an event that hadn’t actually occurred yet?
“I foresee you being very hungry next week. Maybe you should consider grocery shopping?” (Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash)
Acts also tells us that this famine did, in fact, come to fruition, and we see here in Romans that Paul was one of the men responsible for delivering it. Because it was needed.
We hear stories about missionaries and others in ministry who go to their mailbox and find a check from some kind soul providing for their needs without even realizing it. We don’t often think about the faithful generosity on the other end of someone sending money without ever knowing exactly why God urged them to send it.
When I read this chapter in Romans, I’m seriously convicted. I have to wonder what kind of letter Paul would write to me. I can confidently say he wouldn’t be praising my generosity in this regard. I can confidently say he probably wouldn’t be praising my efficacy at tilling new ground, either.
Maybe Paul would consider me teachable, but I’m like anyone else. I often have to be hit over the head a few times before the message really sticks.
And I’m going to take it a little bit further here. When I think about building a legacy from Romans 15, the temptation is to read a passage like this and just move on. It’s easy to think about it and then do…nothing. We have to be willing to do the work involved with actually building this legacy.
Let me rephrase that a little bit. I have to be willing to do the work involved with actually building this legacy.
So what do I want to be known for as a follower of Christ? What do we want to be known for as Christians? Frankly, that’s a long list of stuff.
If you’ll allow me to be so bold, I think these three ideas from Romans 15 are a great place to start.