I think back on my nearly 60 years of life, and more than 40 years of active ministry, and so much I have wanted to do, and so much I still want to do. My natural competitive nature often sees the things I didn’t get to do as failure of some form or another. And yet, the things I have done have been driven by the “obligation” I feel to the call I have.

Paul, writing to the church in Rome says in 1:14-15 “I am obligated... so I preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.“

He writes with such passion for people whom he had not met. v8 “I thank God … for all of you because of the news of your faith is being reported all over the world… I constantly mention you always asking in prayers that if it is… God’s will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you.”

There is that word I relate to, “succeed”, this was something he had wanted for a long time, but still as of yet had not been able to succeed, which means in his mind, “I’ve failed to do this”.

And yet Paul was amazed at the power and scope of the gospel, without us. Paul didn’t start that church, he was just in awe of what God had done in the seat of world power, driven by some many things apart from God, and yet God was there and active.

Paul knew that the Gospel was the answer and the power needed in the world

v9 “I’m telling the good news”

v11 “I want to see you… that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you… 12… to be mutually encouraged by one another’s faith”

The Gospel was the answer to error in society, to error in politics and Paul wanted to share the gospel and shape his plans around that desire and belief, the power of the gospel.

God’s Plans are more important than ours

v13 I’ve often planned to come to you (but I was prevented)” – Sometimes God’s gospel plans are different than ours…

There Is An Obligation

Paul expressed his global, cross cultural, obligation to the Greeks and Barbarian… wise and foolish… and to these Romans in his heart.

Paul’s obligation was always to the Gospel Call and the will of God.

He had plans, things he thought would best serve his obligation, but God often has different plans. I thought immediately of Acts 16. Paul went to Phrygia and Galatia in v6 but was Forbidden by The Spirit.

He’s trying to move East, but God is pushing him West. In Mysia, v7, “tried to go to Bithynia, but The Spirit of Jesus did not allow” . Sometimes God says “no” to our best laid plans.

Then he came to Troas, on the coast of the Aegean Sea. God gave him a clear call in a dream to go to Macedonia (Greece) and so they set out to sea and came to Neapolis, near the modern day city of Kavala, and climbed the mountain, along the Via Egnatia – the ancient Roman Road, and went to Philippi. And begins a great part of Paul’s life and ministry.

God Shapes our Plans

Our obligation is not to the plans, but to our Lord and God, and to the Gospel we share along the way. Plans are important, they keep us moving, but we must be open to the redirection.

Paul was committed to the Gospel, more than the destination. He took it to the peaceful and the fierce, the civilized and the wild, to the wise and the foolish.

Why? Romans 1:16 – I am not ashamed of the Gospel – it is the power of God for Salvation to everyone who believes

If you look at the society Paul lived in, I don’t think it much different than ours, besides clothing and technology, much of the “problems” were the same. I believe Paul hoped to allow the Gospel to change the world, but was also in awe of the fact that God was already doing it without him. He just wanted to get in on it, if allowed.

It was an awful, sin-driven world as described in 1:18-32. That list of cultural sin in verses 26-32 is all because v19 what CAN be know is evident… God has shown it… 23 (they) exchanged truth for a lie

It’s the same things we face today. We often want to focus on “pet sins” in the list, but if you look closely you will find yourself in that list, as have I.

Ok, I HAVE rambled a bit, but Paul knew that the Power and the Plans belong to God

Paul knew that his job was to go where instructed. Paul knew then that “success” was defined by obedience, not desired destination.

Oh, and Paul DID get to go to Rome – but he went there in Shackles, on a Prison Ship, through a Shipwreck, under house arrest for 2 years, and then a second time, to the executioners blade.

But the longest reaching work Paul did in the “Roman Realm” was writing this letter from afar and teach the world, for all of history, about sin, salvation, and grace available through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

May our plans e shaped by our Obligation to the Gospel and the Author and Finisher of our Faith.