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“Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation: But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand.” (Rom. 15:20,21). In Romans 15:6 it is stated “That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The way we do this is by ever having a desire to see the gospel preached to the whole wide world. 1. This is one of the points made in the Old Testament scriptures. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” (Rom. 15:4). We learn from the examples of the Old Testament Scriptures and we also learn from their prophecies. Those prophecies include the fact that the Gentiles could be saved. “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.” (Rom. 15:9; Ps. 18:49). Other passages giving hope to the Gentiles are quoted in Romans 15:10,11 and then Isaiah’s prophecy is given that the root of Jesse would arise and reign over the Gentiles and in Him would the Gentiles trust (Rom. 15:12; Isa. 11:1,10). Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles ministering to them the gospel (Rom. 15:16). All Christians should be about the task of carrying the gospel to the entire world and not spending their time disputing over the personal opinions of men, which are not worth anything to the saving of souls. 2. With the burden of people’s souls on our hearts we will carry out these admonitions: “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.” (Rom. 15:1,2). We will be trying to get along with other Christians so that we will be a good example to the world. Also we will try to be good to our non-Christian neighbors so they will listen to the gospel and be influenced to obey Christ. It changes the attitude of the Christian toward the whole neighborhood when he sees the people as souls that need saving. Just like Paul we will be doing all we can to see that the gospel gets out to these neighbors and friends. 3. The attitude of the Christian is that every soul has more right to hear one gospel lesson than any soul has the right to hear two. In other words we want to do our best to reach all men. Paul said he always strived to preach the gospel where Christ had not been named (Rom. 15:20). He preached where others had been but he sought to reach out to men who had never heard it before. He was a planter while others watered. (I Cor. 3:6). He preached from Jerusalem to round about Illyricum so much that he could say that in all these places he had “fully preached the gospel of Christ (Rom. 15:19). Christ is coming. We do not know when. The time could be short, so let us reach out to a lost and dying world. If it should be that Christ is a long time coming still the lives of people are short. For all practical purposes when one dies there will not be another opportunity for the gospel to be preached to that person. We should not want any to die without Christ so let’s see that everyone knows his duty. The Gentiles need to be made obedient “by word and deed” (Rom. 15:18). 4. It was also Paul’s desire that these new Gentile converts should realize that they had an opportunity and a responsibility to send a contribution to the needy saints of Jerusalem and Judea. He said, “For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.” (Rom. 15:26,27). By the giving of this gift they would prove the sincerity of their love for the Lord. Paul intended to deliver this gift and then go to Rome and from there on to Spain to preach the gospel. He did go to Jerusalem but he was arrested and it was two years later that he went to Rome as a prisoner (Acts 21-27). We do not know if he ever made the trip to Spain. From his prison epistles and letters to Timothy and Titus he was released from prison after his first trial but later arrested again and this time was executed somewhere around 68 A.D. He did preach to the lost everywhere he was and that is what we also should do.
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