As
we see our Lord Jesus calling people into His kingdom, and adding
them to His church, one thing you can count on is, God’s purposes
will often unfold slowly and in surprising and unpredictable
ways. One of the most striking proofs of this is our Lord’s choice
of His first disciples, especially those who would become foundation
stones of His church. How He chose mostly unprofessional men
for spiritual leadership; men with no previous background in
teaching the Word of God: fishermen, laborers, tax-collectors,
and such. Plain guys.
And
then the mystery of His purposeful choice of one man would betray
Him, even making the comment on reflection: “Did I Myself not choose
you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”, Jn 6:70. Not
that it was a blunder in judgment; don’t think that. Not at all.
Part of the Divine plan, for our Lord Jesus to go to the cross,
included having a man from His inner circle to be a key in the
plot to get Him to the cross. So that was in the hands of God too.
Well,
the Lord who surprises us first one way: choosing disciples with
no teaching credentials to be the primary preachers of His kingdom
– then surprises us another way: choosing for a disciple one whom
He knew would betray Him – continued the surprise when He chooses
another disciple after His resurrection, of a whole different kind.
I wonder if the disciples had gotten used to Him choosing ordinary
men and perhaps expected now that He would only create leaders
out of common people who had been faithful followers? And so He
breaks the mold again.
So
yeah, why not surprise the church again. Pick a Jewish OT scholar.
A man of massive intellect, skillful in study and in writing, schooled
in the arts of languages and rhetoric; intensely skilled in argument
and reasoning – we’d call it “logic”. And top it off: let him be
a violent, aggressive persecutor of the rest of the disciples:
Saul of Tarsus. That’s King Jesus’ final pick for an Apostle.
When
the Lord ordained to re-create a man and give the church the Apostle
Paul, we know it was unexpected. It was a huge surprise. The early
church found it very hard to swallow that Saul of Tarsus had been
genuinely converted; and even after accepting that – ok, he’s converted
– some still found it difficult to accept that he’d been called
to be an Apostle. But his career which followed certainly should
erase all question about that. For of all the Apostles, none had
as wide and fruitful an evangelistic and church-planting ministry
as the Apostle Paul: a fact so obvious that, even this humble man
had to admit it, in 1 Cor 15:10, “I labored even more than all
of them”, and yet taking no credit, for it, adding quickly: “not
I, but the grace of God with me.”
Paul
founded numerous churches all over Asia Minor and eastern Europe,
in the cities of Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, Thessalonica,
Berea, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Pamphylia, Athens, Sardis, Laodicea,
Thyatira, Philadelphia, Smyrna, Pergamos, even a church on the
island of Crete, and still having a leading influence in the church
at Antioch, and later even on the original Jerusalem church. Small
wonder that the man says that the Lord has placed on him “the care
of all the churches.”
He
became the Holy Spirit’s chosen tool to write more of the NT than
any other author, composing 13 – or maybe 14 NT letters, depending
upon whether or not Hebrews was his. And what key, foundational
writings they are! It is difficult for us to fully appreciate and
rightly estimate the enormous impact of the work of the Apostle
Paul on the advance of the Christian faith.
Here
is a scholar who was destined to have a tremendous future as a
Rabbi, educated from his teen years by Gamaliel, grandson of Hillel,
founder of one of the foremost Jewish theological schools of all!
Gamaliel, one of the most famous teachers of his times, a Pharisee,
but not just a Pharisee – a Rabbi! But not just a Rabbi. A holder
of the title “Rabban” – master of Rabbi’s. If you were one of Gamaliel’s
students, you had studied under a rigorous curriculum and you had
credentials which immediately established you as an authority on
the OT and opened doors of opportunity to speak in synagogues –
anywhere you wished! You could teach anywhere! All you had to do
was tell them you were coming and Wow! Sure you’ll teach! Everybody
stands down for you.
Paul
is one of those students. That’s who Lord Jesus makes His final
choice for Apostle. But Jesus waits a bit first. First, for Paul’s
scholarly training to be complete. Also waiting until Paul has
reached a raging furor of zeal and hatred for the Christian faith
and a blasphemous animosity to Jesus of Nazareth, who as far as
Paul was concerned, was nothing more than a faker, and all claims
that He was Messiah was one of the most ludicrous suggestions possible.
And after allowing him to arrive at that opinion, the Lord Jesus
saved that man, appearing to him on the road to Damascus and changing
his mind.
Now,
after being converted and used of God to plant all those churches
and probably more we don’t even know of, Paul still had one great
aspiration which was not realized until late in life: he wanted
to travel to the heart of the Empire, to preach the gospel: he
wanted to go to Rome. This was the New York City, the London, the
city of power and influence in the world. “All roads lead to Rome”,
they said – not making a point about geography or highway construction,
but a statement of Rome’s centrality in politics and influence.
A young man could say in those days what Frank Sinatra sang of
NY City: “If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.”
Paul
eventually got there. But not early enough to start the church.
It got started way before him. We actually know very little about
how the church at Rome got started. The best evidences are that
it was started just by a bunch of ordinary Christians who found
themselves in the same city, many of them moving there from other
cities. So, a lot of Christians reached Rome before Paul; and other
Jews living there (Rome had a large Jewish population) had heard
of Jesus Christ and had come to faith in Him. Paul wanted for the
longest time to go to Rome, to help the brethren there grow in
the faith and to help them in their efforts to evangelize their
city. But for years, his desires were frustrated.
So,
unable to get there in person, Paul decided to write the Christians
at Rome a letter. He probably wrote it while he was in Corinth.
There are some good evidences of that. It became Paul’s longest
letter – just a little longer than his 1st letter to the Corinthians
– of course that letter was long, considering all the problems
he had to sort out at Corinth! But Romans, while covering many
of the same subjects as Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians,
it covers them far more extensively. I don’t know any book of the
Bible which is better suited to ground us in the truth solidly
than Romans.
So
I’m telling you: it’s kind of like this. I was raised a New Yorker,
you know? I climbed a tree in my yard with kids to show them the
Manhattan skyline. And by the time I was about 18 or 19, I knew
that, when somebody comes to visit us, and wants “the tour”, you
can take them to Yankee Stadium. And to the Empire State Building.
And to the World Trade Center. And to Rockefeller Center, and Times
Square. But you have to take them to the Statue of Liberty. That’s
the big sight. And if I am the GBC tour guide through the Word
of God, I truly feel obliged to take you to see the Big One! The
big one is Romans.
What
would you think of a famous cook who fed you every wonderful dish
he could make, but would not cook you his most famous recipe? The
best meal he had, that he was known for? That’s Romans.
So
yes, if you haven’t guessed it by now, we embark on GBC’s next
major book study: Paul’s letter to the Romans. We need firm grounding
in the Word. This is the right time for Romans at GBC. I almost
opted for something that would require a lot less work of me. But
I feel duty-bound to this. And: I can hardly wait.
Paul’s
huge desire to reach Rome and his decision to write an extensive
letter when he couldn’t, to fully explain gospel, was certainly
because there was truly no other city in the world as important
or strategic, as Rome. Paul wrote this letter about 56-58 A.D.
That means Jerusalem was destroyed only 10 to 15 years later. That
leaves Rome as the city with the largest Jewish population in the
world, with more synagogues than in any other city in the world.
So, since he cannot get there, he writes them. He can’t explain
the gospel to them by preaching, so he does it with his pen. God
does amazing things. Paul didn’t get what he wanted, so we could
have this letter.
It’s
exciting to begin a study of Romans from a number of vantage points.
Many of the great revivals in church history have come in connection
with coming to a new understanding of Paul’s epistle to the Romans.
So
with that, let’s read Romans 1:1-7 (read) – and here’s the outline
of what we’ll cover today:
1) I Serve the Gospel
2) God Promised the Gospel
3) His Son is the Gospel - and then:
4) Recapitulation: So, as I was Saying, I (we) Serve the Gospel!
It’s
all about the gospel! The good news of how God saves sinners. The
word “gospel” is mentioned 60x in this letter! Let me show you.
Look at your Bible as I show you each point:
1)
I Serve the Gospel – v 1
“Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart
for the gospel of God”
2)
God Promised the Gospel – v 2
“which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures”
3)
His Son is the Gospel – v 3
“concerning His Son” – and then the rest of vv 3-4 elaborate on Who
that Son is – “…Who was born of a
descendant of David according to the flesh, Who was declared the Son
of God with power by the
resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus
Christ our Lord”
4)
Recapitulation: So, as I was Saying, I (we) Serve the Gospel! –
v 5
“through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about
the obedience of faith among
all the Gentiles, for His name’s sake.”
V 5 basically says – “As I was saying, I was set aside from everything
else, to be an Apostle to serve the gospel of God, to spread that.
And I don’t mean just me, but “we” apostles have been have been set
aside to do that, and we’re supposed to work at it until a multitude
of Gentiles are living set apart, obediently to Him also, for the glory
of His name.” This is the letter of a zealous missionary!
This
letter is the masterpiece of the NT. It’s the one letter that so
fully explains what we’ve got to know, for a stable Christian life:
justification, grace, faith, the atonement, the resurrection, sanctification,
assurance, good works, sin, imputation, union with Christ, the
sovereignty of God, spiritual gifts, living under your government,
Christian liberty, even a chapter on how we struggle with sin!
– and so much more – and all at more length than found in any other
letter of Paul. It’s been said: he who learns Romans, learns his
whole Bible.
It’s
precisely because Paul did not know them personally and had not
been to Rome, that he writes so much, to give them all he possibly
can, from a distance. A lot of his letters: Galatians, Colossians,
the Corinthian letters, Paul wrote with intimate personal knowledge
of the brethren – he’d been there. He was part of their church
formation. He knew what they needed instruction about and what
they needed correction about. But Romans is the full-length version
of everything that’s rock-bottom foundation to Christian faith
– he covers all the bases.
1)
I Serve the Gospel – v 1
“Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart
for the gospel of God”
Paul is chosen by God to write the Magna Carta of the Christian faith.
And look what he calls himself: “a bond-servant of Christ Jesus” –
before he uses a title (apostle) that distinguishes him, he picks a
title that identifies him with all Christians! A bond-servant of Christ!
And this is more significant than we think.
Paul
is not merely saying, “I believe in Christ” – he chooses “doulos”
– a word for slave. He writes that to residents of a Gentile city,
who had lots of slaves in their churches. They knew what enslavement
involved: absolute submission to a master. For Paul, that Master
was Jesus Christ. Complete ownership and unrestricted authority
over my life: Paul has happily granted that right to Jesus Christ.
And
it’s important to say that Paul willingly, happily granted it,
because our concept of slavery has all negative connotations to
it, none positive – we associate with it involuntary service, harsh
treatment, forced bondage, chains. None of that enters Paul’s mind
when he thinks of Christ. He is a picture now of what his OT had
taught in saying, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy
power.” Transformed into a man willing and glad to serve.
But
Paul not only knew that “bond-servant” was a name his readers could
relate to and understand, but being a Hebrew guy, and knowing that
many of his readers had a Hebrew background, it’s even more likely
that calling himself “a bond-servant of Christ Jesus” came right
out of the OT, where the servants of Jehovah were called this –
as the Lord called Abraham “my servant”, Gen 26:24. And “my servant
Moses, who is faithful in all My household”, Isaiah and David,
Joshua and Daniel are all called “my servant” with a term – ebed
– very parallel to the Greek “doulos”.
Understand
the ramifications of a former Jew saying that – Jewish readers
would see this and it would provoke one of those “such a fellow
does not deserve to live!” moments. All our great fathers in the
faith were “servants of Jehovah.” Paul, a man schooled as well
as anybody in the fact that the Lord, “Him alone you shall worship
and Him alone you shall serve”, says, “I’m the bond-servant of
Jesus Christ.” You get the idea.
Paul
adds, I’m also “called as an apostle”: a sent-one. One commissioned
to speak on behalf of another. I like how Paul calls himself “bond-servant”
first and Apostle second. Bought and owned by Jesus, first. How
Jesus chooses to use me, second. Paul never calls himself “apostle”
to boast in high and mighty titles. He says it to show them how
secure they are to listen to him. You’re reading a letter from
a representative Jesus appointed.
They
have not met him personally; so he assures them that what he writes
is the truth from the mind of Jesus the Lord. This is for their
sake. As for his own sake, Paul never evidences in any of his letter
a pomposity in being an Apostle. And that’s a mark of a true servant
of Christ – true servants of Christ are never fond of titles and
do not crave respectful titles; an honorable man may have an honorable
title, but he won’t require you to use it. Like John the Baptist,
when he was asked, “Who are you?”, he said “I’m a voice. Crying
in the wilderness.” When men fell down in front of Peter, he said
“Stand up – I am just a man.” To insist on honorable titles from
one man to another is just one worm exalting another worm.
Paul
teaches us that to be an apostle was to be one who had seen Jesus
Christ risen from the dead, and so can give first-hand testimony
to Him; and who had been commissioned and authorized by Christ
to represent Him, speak for Him, and be a teacher of what is foundational
to His church. And in this consists some of the oddity of Paul
being an Apostle; for all the other 11 saw Jesus in person during
His days in this world. But Paul saw Jesus on the Damascus Road
in a heavenly vision. It was there that Jesus called him into apostolic
ministry.
There
Jesus said to Paul, “For this purpose I have appeared to you, to
appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which
you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to
you", Acts 26:16. And based on that calling, Paul became one
of those Eph 2:20 speaks of in saying that the church has been
“built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus
Himself being the corner stone.”
If
we ask today where the foundation of the apostles is for the church
and its life and ministry, the answer is: in the deposit of writings
that they left behind. And this might just be the richest one.
So, Paul reminds, “I am called to be an apostle” so that the churches
– whether the church at Rome or the church in Tulsa – will receive
the letter to the Romans as the message not just of a man, but
of Christ through His appointed messenger.
Both
of these titles: a bond-servant of Christ, an apostle of Christ,
are in order to be “set apart for the gospel of God” – “set apart”
being a word you’d use for a piece of property you partitioned
off by a fence. I’m separated. Separated from whatever else I would
have done with my life, the point is, to give that life to the
spread of the gospel. Now listen carefully to the next few minutes,
because I really want you to get this. What is true of Apostles
and preachers and pastors in a larger way – that our lives are
“set apart for the gospel of God”, is also true to a lesser extent
for every one of us. Your life has also been “set apart” to be
lived unto the gospel.
That
means nothing less than what Paul meant in saying “For me, to live
is Christ!” We need to be people who think like that. People who
don’t love the world more than God; who don’t care if we don’t
make as much money as the world, because we’d rather have Jesus;
who don’t have to own a house, if Jesus wants them to sacrifice
that; who don’t have to have new cars to be content; who don’t
live to shop so they have up-to-date styles and stuff; who don’t
care if they miss out on fancy frills and fine foods; who don’t
have the expectation that life must be comfortable or easy; who
don’t wash their brains out with worldly entertainment; who don’t
get paralyzed by other people’s disapproval; who don’t hold grudges,
who don’t hang out in cliques but love the whole family of God.
Who are enamored with God; who are filled with the Spirit; whose
breath is taken away by the height and depth and breadth of Christ’s
love; who die to sin daily so they can live to righteousness; who
love the Scriptures; who are so thrilled by the wonder of free
grace that they can’t help but tell about it.
If
you’re not quite all that yet, but working on it, then try gaining
practice at living life “set apart” to the gospel of God. Live
up to your “set-apartness”, since it’s a fact and let that fact
impact how you spend your days and hours. Everything I just named,
you can be and do in, or out of, full-time Christian service.
Now,
Paul was. Notice this: when was he “set apart”? Look at Gal 1:15
for an interesting comment on this: do you see there that Paul
says God set me apart “from my mother’s womb.” Before Paul was
ever bought as a slave, before his bitter rebellion and resistance
had been overcome by grace, before he was born! – God had already
decided what he would be and what He was going to do with him.
And there is no way you can understand “set apart” here to say
merely that God looked ahead down the halls of time and saw that
Paul would give his life to the Lord, and eagerly awaited when
that would happen so He could use the man for His gospel. No, Paul
says that I understand that the choice was made about me before
I was born: I was chosen to be a disciple of the Savior and a preacher
of His gospel, before I was ever born.
Which
is an astonishing reality, when you remember then that the pathway
between the tomb and the Damascus Road conversion was through years
of legalistic Pharasaism and hostile persecution of Jesus’ church.
That means, when you’re converted, whatever your lifestyle was
before, however sinful it was, whatever ways you resisted, disobeyed,
disbelieved or dishonored God, He can work it together now for
good. Not a bit of it has to diminish your ability to live to the
gospel, be a servant to the Savior, be a witness for the gospel,
any of that. It can all serve the great end.
Paul
made his evil background serve the testimony of the gospel – so
that he could say 1 Tim 1:16a – and you can too. Don’t let it paralyze
you or keep you discouraged. Put the bonds of your bond-servanthood
on it and harness it for the gospel. I’ve known people who murdered
others who turned that into service for the gospel. Women who have
had abortions, who don’t dwell in guilt and misery – they turn
into opportunity for the gospel. People who lived most of their
adult life controlled by racial hatred, who turned that now into
a path to witness the gospel. Members of gangs and drug addicts
and drug dealers, people with dozens of things to regret that they
could let the regrets master and control them, but instead they
choose to have Christ be Master and funnel the regrets into zeal
for the gospel.
I’m
telling you! Your past sins need not ruin either your present joy
nor the witness of your Christian life. Your past sins can become
part OF your witness as a Christian!
2)
God Promised the Gospel – v 2
“which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures”
Why does Paul consider it useful here to point out that the gospel
was promised by the prophets of the OT Scriptures? Because “the promise”
was, of all things, the most important to Jews. The assurance that
this teaching which has come is not some new, fly-by-night idea that
just arose – no, this gospel of Jesus Christ is what God has told His
people was coming, for a long, long time. In Gen 3, in Isa 53, in Deut
18, in a lot of places. From a man who was accused all the time of
preaching something that was contrary to the Moses and the prophets,
Paul says “this is what was always promised through Moses and the prophets.”
That’s
not just useful for Jewish converts in Rome 2,000 years ago to
know. It’s useful to you. Every one of us has insecure times when
questions about the faith arise in the mind – some are afflicted
by this a little, some by it a lot. Well, the faith in Jesus Christ
the Lord that you hold is not just some imaginative religion whipped
up by men in the first few centuries A.D. – even conservative estimates
show that the OT contains well over 300 prophecies about Christ,
some say over 400. This ain’t no new religion. This is the completion
of the old religion. And it doesn’t have questionable or vague
roots. Look at the depth and security of what is named just in
v 2: you have God’s promise; you have prophets – many of them.
You have Scriptures – they wrote what God told them and what He
promised. Those Scriptures are holy. They are the most separated,
unique, distinct thing in the world. It all adds up to a lot of
solid foundation.
3)
His Son is the Gospel – v 3
“concerning His Son” – and then the rest of vv 3-4 elaborate on Who
that Son is:
“concerning His Son, Who was born of a descendant of David according
to the flesh, Who was
declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead,
according to the Spirit
of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord”
We’re going to have to just touch on vv 3-4 today and come back to
give it more study next time, because we can’t do a “short job” on
this – this is the heart of the content. The gospel is about the Son
of God. The coming of the Son of God is the good news. And just to
give it to you in a nutshell this morning, all of which we’ll come
back and treat at greater length in another week:
It’s
the Son of God coming into the world that I proclaim! What about
Him? He was:
“born
of a descendant of David according to the flesh” – He is a direct
descendant of King David, which is just who the Savior had to be
related to. In the flesh, He wasn’t impressive and didn’t come
from an impressive family. But that was concealed glory. Those
who loved Him recognized Who He was. Those who were willing to
do God’s will and loved salvation from sin, they knew Who He was,
by His teaching. And soon they were vindicated, because He also
was:
“declared
the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” –
Oh, man is there a lot to say about this! You have no idea how
much I want to go on for another hour! Don’t worry – I won’t! Just
the nutshell this morning: He was the Son of God when He came.
He was the Son of God before He came. He had forever been the Son
of God. But after declaring that He was the Son of David, marked
as such by birth, Paul says, He was also the Son of God, and He
was powerfully marked as that, by the resurrection. That was the
act which so loudly shouted Who He was, announcing it in the most
striking of all signs possible: coming back to life from the dead!
That published to everyone: this is the Son of God.
Other
religions of the world can bow in worship at the grave of some
founder. We have no grave to worship at! We worship at the throne
of the King of Kings who lives. What other founder has the claim
that He first humbled Himself for our salvation, and then was exalted
to powerfully rule the world for our blessing.
Well,
we will come back and examine all the phrases in v 4 very carefully,
but I will point out in closing that in v 5, like I said, Paul
has a recapitulation. What’s that? You’ve heard of a recap? To
concisely re-state what you said, but to bend the nail over:
4)
Recapitulation: So, as I was Saying, I (we) Serve the Gospel! –
v 5
“through whom we have received grace and apostleship…” – I call it
a recap, because Paul already told us he was an Apostle, but here it’s
a “we” sentence – “we have received grace and apostleship” – I’m not
the only one with this office. Several of us have received this grace
– and here you see Paul using “grace” not in speaking of salvation,
but in speaking of his ministry and gifts – that’s of grace, too. Whatever
the Lord calls you to do and equips you to do for His glory, whether
it’s preach or help, whether it’s lead or serve and assist, it’s also
a form of grace. It’s a free, undeserved gift. You and I are unworthy
of the kind favor of having our lives elevated to serving the goals
and aims of the kingdom of God. But by grace, He lets us. And then
enables us. And our gifts all serve the same purpose:
“to
bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for
His name’s sake.” When you read “for His name’s sake”, read: for
His glory. God’s glory. And nothing quite glorifies God like people
who used to live disobedient lives, being transformed so that they
become “obedient to the faith”. I guess if there was ever a phrase
that put receiving Savior-ship and Lord-ship together, that would
be it, eh? What have I been telling you from James on Wed nights,
but that the faith which saves is a faith that creates obedient
people.
Ask
Mack McKinney & Jim Fowler what it’s like to see people who
just heard the gospel brought into “the obedience of faith” – submitting
their lives to Jesus Christ the Lord.
You
will be a slave to something! If you’re not a slave to Christ,
it’s not as if you’re free. You’re a slave to someone much worse.
But I’m a slave to such a good king! And doing the best work. Especially
when I get a chance to be the tour guide who can show you the best
sights – like romans.
Yes,
I’m a slave of Jesus Christ. And I want to make people from all
nations of the world to join me in that. Because this slavery is
not what they think. It’s wonderful.
