The main idea is this: we encourage each other’s faith through prayer, community, and the gospel.
When reading this section, my first thought was, “That’s the type of church I want us to be.” What a statement this is about a local church: “Your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” Their devotion to Christ was known by all the other churches. That’s a good goal for a church to have. As Christians, we are called to make our lives all about Jesus — and when we make our lives all about Jesus, that includes making our lives all about his church.
We are a bunch of independent people, raised on the ideals of American individualism. This vision of independence has infiltrated our thinking, and we tend to think that somehow our faith is just between me and Jesus. This is pride. And it’s also pride when a church doesn’t think it needs other churches or gifts from the outside to encourage its faith. Even Paul was yearning for the encouragement the Roman church would give him.
We encourage faith through prayer.
Paul’s aim with the Romans is mutual encouragement, and it’s important to take note of where he begins: it’s all about prayer. He thanks God for them and prays for them constantly — and he has never even been to this church.
It’s important to note what he’s thankful for. He is thankful for their faith. Their devotion to Jesus is being talked about everywhere. Do you know that it is difficult to encourage someone that you’re not grateful for? If in your heart you can only think of negative things about the church, you will not express gratitude for her. Let’s cultivate hearts of thankfulness for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s thank God for each other and for the faith we see God working in each other.
Paul also makes clear that he is not just trying to be nice. He calls on God as his witness that he is telling the truth. God is the witness to our prayers. We should not tell people we are praying for them if we are not actually praying for them. There should be a deep desire to pray for other believers expressed in private moments of prayer to God. Sometimes we think about others in the church, we feel thankful for them, and we even have a desire to spend more time with them — but then it just ends there. In that moment, pray for the person, and pray that God would give you a chance to spend time together.
We encourage faith through community.
Paul longs to be in community with the Romans so that they may be encouraged by each other’s faith. He wants to impart some spiritual gift to strengthen them — but he also recognizes that he needs encouragement from the Roman church. Just because you are a great apostle doesn’t mean you don’t need encouragement from other believers. Being a part of the church is not a one-way street. The church is a place where we each play a part in building each other up. I need your encouragement, you need my encouragement, and we all need each other’s encouragement.
None of us are designed to be self-sustaining islands. It’s not just you and Jesus. We cannot mature in our faith apart from our relationships within the church. If you find yourself stunted in your spiritual growth, I can almost guarantee you that you do not have the kind of community Paul is talking about in these verses.
Paul’s longing for these relationships gives us a model for how we are to view our relationships with our own church and with other churches. Spiritual strength comes through the work of the Spirit in the community of the church.
We encourage faith through the gospel.
Prayer and community are essential, but they must be centered around the gospel in order to build up our faith. Paul desired to preach to all kinds of people — both the sophisticated and the unsophisticated. The gospel is for everyone, the wise and the foolish of the world. We can never hear the gospel too many times. There’s never a time when we don’t need the gospel.
Every time we hear this message, our faith is encouraged. In fact, there is no better way to encourage another’s faith than to remind them of the gospel. Every time you are reminded of it, it’s like another wave hitting sand, shifting things around in your mind and soul. The gospel casts down human pride. It unmasks the lie of shame. It covers over our guilt. It breaks the power of sin. And it offers healing from our past.
The gospel isn’t just a philosophy — it’s good news about God himself coming to us as a man to bring his power to bear on all of our lives and to rescue us from the curse of our sin. Jesus rose from the grave and sits at the right hand of God, where he prays for us from his position as Lord over everything.
That should encourage your faith today, even if you’ve heard it a thousand times. So let’s be a church whose faith is known everywhere — praying to that end, building our community to that end, and preaching the gospel to that end.
When reading this section, my first thought was, “That’s the type of church I want us to be.” What a statement this is about a local church: “Your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” Their devotion to Christ was known by all the other churches. That’s a good goal for a church to have. If what people think of when they think of us is, “Those people really love Jesus,” that’s success. As Christians, we are called to make our lives all about Jesus — and when we make our lives all about Jesus, that includes making our lives all about his church.
We are a bunch of independent people, raised on the ideals of American individualism. This vision of independence has infiltrated our thinking, and we tend to think that somehow our faith is just between me and Jesus. This is pride. And it’s also pride when a church doesn’t think it needs other churches or gifts from the outside to encourage its faith. Even Paul was yearning for the encouragement the Roman church would give him.
We encourage faith through prayer.
Paul’s aim with the Romans is mutual encouragement, and it’s important to take note of where he begins: it’s all about prayer. He thanks God for them and prays for them constantly — and he has never even been to this church.
It’s important to note what he’s thankful for. He is thankful for their faith. Their devotion to Jesus is being talked about everywhere. Do you know that it is difficult to encourage someone that you’re not grateful for? If in your heart you can only think of negative things about the church, you will not express gratitude for her. Let’s cultivate hearts of thankfulness for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s thank God for each other and for the faith we see God working in each other.
Paul also makes clear that he is not just trying to be nice. He calls on God as his witness that he is telling the truth. God is the witness to our prayers. We should not tell people we are praying for them if we are not actually praying for them. There should be a deep desire to pray for other believers expressed in private moments of prayer to God. Sometimes we think about others in the church, we feel thankful for them, and we even have a desire to spend more time with them — but then it just ends there. In that moment, pray for the person, and pray that God would give you a chance to spend time together.
We encourage faith through community.
Paul longs to be in community with the Romans so that they may be encouraged by each other’s faith. He wants to impart some spiritual gift to strengthen them — but he also recognizes that he needs encouragement from the Roman church. Just because you are a great apostle doesn’t mean you don’t need encouragement from other believers. Being a part of the church is not a one-way street. The church is a place where we each play a part in building each other up. I need your encouragement, you need my encouragement, and we all need each other’s encouragement.
None of us are designed to be self-sustaining islands. It’s not just you and Jesus. We cannot mature in our faith apart from our relationships within the church. If you find yourself stunted in your spiritual growth, I can almost guarantee you that you do not have the kind of community Paul is talking about in these verses.
Paul’s longing for these relationships gives us a model for how we are to view our relationships with our own church and with other churches. Spiritual strength comes through the work of the Spirit in the community of the church.
We encourage faith through the gospel.
Prayer and community are essential, but they must be centered around the gospel in order to build up our faith. Paul desired to preach to all kinds of people — both the sophisticated and the unsophisticated. The gospel is for everyone, the wise and the foolish of the world. We can never hear the gospel too many times. There’s never a time when we don’t need the gospel.
Every time we hear this message, our faith is encouraged. In fact, there is no better way to encourage another’s faith than to remind them of the gospel. Every time you are reminded of it, it’s like another wave hitting sand, shifting things around in your mind and soul. The gospel casts down human pride. It unmasks the lie of shame. It covers over our guilt. It breaks the power of sin. And it offers healing from our past.
The gospel isn’t just a philosophy — it’s good news about God himself coming to us as a man to bring his power to bear on all of our lives and to rescue us from the curse of our sin. Jesus rose from the grave and sits at the right hand of God, where he prays for us from his position as Lord over everything.
That should encourage your faith today, even if you’ve heard it a thousand times. So let’s be a church whose faith is known everywhere — praying to that end, building our community to that end, and preaching the gospel to that end.
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