It’s All About God’s Plan
Romans 9:1?11:36
In a recent meeting of Southern Baptist collegiate ministry leaders, one of the participants continually asked the question, “What’s the goal?” After a while, he added, “If we don’t know where we want to go, then it will be hard to develop a plan to get us there.”
Throughout his letter to the Romans, Paul explains that God had a goal to restore a right relationship between sinful humanity and himself, and he worked the perfect plan to accomplish that goal. We know it today as God’s plan of salvation through Christ.
Paul had a goal, too – to share the gospel with as many people as possible. He wanted everyone to know the good news he had discovered. Do we have that same goal? Romans 9-11 helps us in cultivating a heart for lostness and gives us key elements of a plan to accomplish the goal.
Pray for others: In chapter 9, Paul describes his intense desire for his “brothers, my own flesh and blood” (v. 2), the Israelites, to know the good news of Christ. They had been provided so much to know God’s plan, but Paul was grieved that many of them were not embracing Jesus’ gift of righteousness. His top prayer and his central passion were for the salvation of his people (10:1). How about us? Are we desperate for our friends, family members, our neighbors to know the gospel? Are we praying specifically for their salvation?
Tell others: The gospel is good news that every person deserves to hear. Romans 10:9-10 and 13 are key verses in what many people call the Roman Road to Salvation (along with Romans 3:23, 6:23 and 5:8). The Roman Road provides a succinct synopsis of the gospel and can be easily referenced in witnessing encounters. The verses in chapter 10 reiterate the good news that God’s salvation and righteousness are available to each and every person who calls on Jesus to save.
Send and go to others: In Romans 10:14-15, Paul asks some penetrating questions. How can people believe in Christ unless they are told by someone who is sent with the gospel message? Each follower of Christ plays an indispensable role in God’s plan by going and telling others the good news of Jesus. We can’t abdicate our witnessing privilege and responsibility to someone else.
Include all others: No doubt about it, God’s mercy and way of salvation are available to everyone. Paul wanted his Jewish family to know that truth, and he relished in his missionary call to the Gentiles so they could know it, too. Southern Baptists have long embraced Paul’s goal – to spread the gospel to those familiar and those different, to those here and to those there. May our plan be like Paul’s, too – praying, going and telling – until every person knows the good news!
Owens– Lessons in the ETB series for the fall quarter are being written by Ken Owens, director of the collegiate ministry group for the South Carolina Baptist Convention.