Sent to All (Romans 1:14–15)

I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
– Romans 1:14–15

What a statement. This is Paul beginning the letter to the Church at Rome, what we know as Romans. And he says, “I am obligated to preach the gospel to all people, to Greeks, to barbarians, to the wise, the foolish”.

Romans 1:14–15 calls us to embrace our role in God’s Commission.

This is a way of him saying that he has a holy obligation. That he is responsible for spreading the gospel wherever God may lead him, no matter what that costs. And Paul’s writing this letter from the city of Corinth. He’s there on a journey, about to go to Jerusalem. And he knows that there is a great risk to his life, that imprisonment and hardships are waiting for him there.

And sure enough, that’s how he gets to Rome. He actually gets arrested in Jerusalem, and that’s why he comes to Rome in chains. But Paul is saying, “It doesn’t matter. I’m obligated. I have this holy responsibility entrusted to me by God to make the gospel known in the world”. And this is not just Paul. This is every one of us who has the gospel, the good news of Jesus.

In the very next verse, Paul goes on to say, “I’m not ashamed of the gospel. It’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”. We know this. The good news of Jesus has the power to save people for all of eternity in every nation, tribe, language, and people group in the world. Therefore, we are obligated not to keep this gospel to ourselves. We’re obligated to share this gospel. And when we think of obligation, we might think, “Okay, well, that means I have to do something”.

Romans 1:14–15 challenges us to eagerly share the gospel.

In one sense, yes, of course, we have news that can bring salvation to people for all of eternity. Yes, of course, we have to share this. But the whole point that Paul is saying here is what I want to share. He says, “I’m eager to preach the gospel to you in Rome because I know how glorious this gospel is”. And I just want to encourage you to live this way today. Live with holy obligation and eager desire to spread the gospel through your life.

God, we thank You for the gospel. We thank You for the good news of Your love for us, Jesus. We praise You for the cross. Lord, we praise You for taking our sin upon Yourself, for dying for us, for rising from the dead, for saving us from our sins, for putting Your Holy Spirit inside of us, for changing our lives for all of eternity. All glory be to Your Name.

So God, we pray, help us to live with this holy obligation to the nations, this responsibility to the people around us today who don’t know You. God, we pray that You would help us to live with holy obligation, responsibility, and eager desire to lead other people to life with You around us. God, we pray that You would help us to carry out this holy obligation today and in our lives as a whole. Especially, oh God, as we think about 3 billion people and thousands of people groups, nations, tribes, languages, where the gospel hasn’t gone yet. God, we pray, please help us to carry out this holy obligation to make the gospel known among all the nations. Please use our prayers right now.

A Prayer for the Northern Yemeni Arab People

God, we pray for Northern Yemeni Arabs, please, oh God, for 20 million of them, hardly any or very few followers of Jesus among them.

And God, I think about names I know of followers of Jesus among them. God, we pray You’d bless those brothers and sisters. That You would help them to spread the gospel among other Northern Yemeni Arabs. And God, we pray that You would raise up more harvesters for the work among Northern Yemeni Arabs. God, we pray, help us to give of our resources for the spread of the gospel among Northern Yemeni Arabs to carry out this holy obligation to see the gospel preached in Yemen and among all the nations of the world.

Lord, use our prayers, our giving, and our going today, sharing the gospel right where we live, God sharing the gospel among the nations right where we live. And we say in a fresh way today with this holy obligation before You, wherever You want to use our lives, our families, to make the gospel known among all the nations, we say, yes, whatever You want us to do, wherever You want us to go, no matter what it costs, help us to eagerly spread the good news of Your love wherever You want us to in the world. We pray all this in Jesus’ Name, in light of the holy, incredible, amazing obligation and opportunity You have given us to make Your love known in the world. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.