1. Planning
Studded throughout Paul’s letters are indications of the plans he made regarding his gospel work. The details he records are very interesting, not least because they show the impact the gospel has on our planning.
i) Practical – Hoping for their help when on his way to Spain; on his way to Jerusalem with monetary help from Macedonia and Achaia. Both are very practical details; the finer details do matter and there is a time & a place to sort then out (nb: seems Paul had no qualms in asking for material help, both for others and himself).
But notice that these practical details are determined by the gospel itself. It is because there is a message to share that Paul needs to be helped on his way; it is because the gospel creates a new family of God and unites Jew and Gentile that there needs to be practical and genuine expression of that new unity.
ii) Purposeful – Paul’s plans are very purposeful: he knows where he wants to go and why – “there is no more place for me to work in these regions”. Couldn’t he have found a pastorate somewhere and settled down? Of course! But his purpose is to extend the work, not to settle down.
Some (many?) must settle into a longer-term pattern of ministry but our mentality (whatever our particular Christian service might be) must always be expansive, because the gospel demands it, the very character and heart of God demands it. And if our mentality is expansive, it will, of necessity, affect our planning.
2. Praying
But if the gospel affects and determines our planning, the same is true about our praying. Planning and praying are to go hand in hand, whatever our temperament may be, and both are entailments of the gospel itself. The same gospel that impels us to plan also impels us to pray.
i) Joining the struggle – Paul here describes such prayer as joining with him in his struggle. We may find prayer hard and there may be many reasons for that but part of the reason is that it is a sharing in the reality of the spiritual warfare that is at the heart of the gospel. When the gospel is preached and lived, a cosmic struggle is joined. We may – we will – find it hard going but the call is to join the struggle.
ii) Two-fold struggle – But what is noticeable here is that the struggle operates on two fronts. Paul asks for prayer that he will be rescued from unbelievers; a quite natural request and a very realistic one, since wherever he went Paul encountered trouble.
That’s the nature of the gospel and the battle we’re involved in. The world as a whole is not ambivalent to the gospel; it is hostile to it, since the natural mind is hostile to God. The need for the same prayer still exists today; the struggle hasn’t changed.
But the second area of struggle is less expected yet still as much in need of prayer. Paul asks that his service will be acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem. The reasons aren’t hard to work out – such a gift, from Gentiles to Jews, might offend some people’s sensibilities and some proud hearts might need to be humbled.
Whatever the particular details, this request reminds us that because the gospel creates one new family we need to pray that the life of that new family will honour and reflect the nature of the one who has brought it into being. Still today there is a need to pray that suspicion will be removed and genuine love fostered among all God’s people, in whatever situations.
The gospel itself demands we plan as Paul did and pray as he requested. Methinks there is some work to be done.
