Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

In addition to planning, Paul believed that vision required provision. Have you ever received a fundraising letter? Perhaps it was from a college student who hoped to go on a mission trip or a pastor deployed overseas to do ministry internationally. Romans is the best fundraising letter ever written. Paul had never been to the church in Rome. We don’t know who planted it, though it could have been one of the 3,000 people who got saved on the Day of Pentecost.

Paul wants the Roman believers to provide partnership for his plan. He needs their help—their provision— for his ministry. He hopes they will be generous in their “material blessing,” as he calls it in verse 27. Blessings come from God, and when we share them, we give provision to His vision. A blessing is twofold: spiritual and material. Spiritual blessings include forgiveness of sins and mistakes, lifting burdens, passion for God’s Word, and hope for the future. Material blessings are physical or tangible such as a job, an inheritance, or a gift. Paul says the Jerusalem church has many spiritual blessings but not many material ones. They are spiritually rich but materially poor. The church in Rome, however, is materially rich and can bless the church in Jerusalem with physical, tangible blessings.

In a way, this is a form of payback because the church in Jerusalem had spiritually blessed the Roman church. After all, without the first Jewish Christians, there would never have been any Roman Christians. Think of the image of a tree. Jesus set up the early church, so Jerusalem was the trunk, and other cities and regions, such as Rome, were the branches. Before ascending to heaven, Jesus told His followers, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Paul has been working with the churches in Macedonia and Achaia, and they have given him an offering for the Jerusalem church. When the apostle comes to the church in Rome, he will ask for an offering to go to Spain. Is it wrong to ask believers to give financially to help others? Allow me to tell you what I always told my children as they were growing up: You cannot mature by taking; you can only mature by giving.

Did you know when you give generously, the Lord multiplies supernaturally? There was a little boy in John 6 who got to be part of a massive miracle in the earthly ministry of Jesus because of his generous giving. The little boy was listening to Jesus preach to a crowd of 5,000 men plus women and children (perhaps upward of 15–20,000 people). The boy saw that the people were hungry, so he brought his lunch to Jesus. What did Jesus do? He began feeding the entire crowd. Thousands of people were fed from this boy’s lunch! Jesus could have easily fed everyone without the boy’s lunch, but He allowed him to be part of this incredible miracle of supernatural multiplication because of his generosity.

Today’s Reflection

How have you seen God supernaturally multiply when you are generous?