Called to Serve 2023-01-22
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Let’s consider Romans
Let’s consider Romans
The book of Romans was written by Paul, he wrote it in about 57 AD while he was living and working in Corinth.
Paul's favorite places to work were where nobody had shared the gospel yet. He says later in Romans.....
20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
But Paul thought it would be nice to visit with the Christians at Rome on his way to Spain, he could teach them and they could both be blessed. Here is what he says toward the end of Romans.
23 But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, 24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.
The Christian Church in Rome has no particular founder.
As far as we know,
none of the Apostles made it to Rome before Paul.
More than likely,
Jews from Rome, were in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost in AD 33 and they heard Peter and others preaching, were converted and brought the Christian message back to Rome.
Paul's purpose in writing them was to introduce himself and his work to them, to prepare the way for his visit.
He was about to take donations to the poor Christians in Jerusalem and then head to Spain with a stop at Rome, or so he thought.
But God had other plans,
and 3 years later when Paul arrived in Rome, he was in chains.
One of the most important verse in Romans is
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
That phrase “since we have been justified through faith” was world changing.
That Idea can also be found in
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”
38 And,
“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”
and Heb 10.38
38 And,
“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”
Without faith in God,
without faith in Jesus work on the cross,
we are not saved,
no matter how good we try to act,
we can’t be good enough to impress God.
We will learn a lot and have a lot of fun as we work thru Roman’s for a while
with important breaks like Easter along the way.
The first part of Romans instructs us what to believe
and the latter part tells us how to behave.
I hope you come every Sunday as we work through this book and as Dan works thru Revelations.
The Bar or the Church
The Bar or the Church
Before we start into Romans this morning, let me tell you a story that Church Swindoll shared.
[Sermon Central/Lessons from a Tavern, Citation: Charles Swindoll, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1.]
An old Marine Corps buddy of mine,
to my pleasant surprise,
came to know Christ after he was discharged.
I say surprise because he
cursed loudly,
fought hard,
chased women,
drank heavily,
loved war and weapons, and
hated chapel services.
A number of months ago, I ran into this fellow, and after we’d talked awhile, he put his hand on my shoulder and said, "You know, Chuck, the only thing I still miss is that old fellowship I used to have with all the guys down at the tavern.
I remember how we used to sit around and let our hair down.
I can’t find anything like that for Christians.
I no longer have a place to admit my faults and talk about my battles--where somebody won’t preach at me and frown and quote me a verse."
It wasn’t one month later that in my reading I came across this profound paragraph:
"The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit that there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give his church.
It’s an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality--but it is a permissive, accepting, and inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable.
You can tell people secrets, and they usually don’t tell others or even want to.
The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved, and so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers.
With all my heart," this writer concludes,
"I believe that Christ wants his church to be unshockable, a fellowship where people can come in and say, ’I’m sunk, I’m beat, I’ve had it.’ Alcoholics Anonymous has this quality--our churches too often miss it."
Now before you take up arms to shoot some wag that would compare your church to the corner bar, stop and ask yourself some tough questions, like I had to do.
Make a list of some possible embarrassing situations people may not know how to handle.
A woman discovers her husband is a practicing homosexual.
Where in the church can she find help where she’s secure with her secret?
Your mate talks about separation or divorce.
To whom do you tell it?
Your daughter is pregnant and she’s run away--for the third time.
She’s no longer listening to you.
Who do you tell that to?
You lost your job, and it was your fault.
You blew it, so there’s shame mixed with unemployment.
Who do you tell that to?
Financially, you were unwise, and you’re in deep trouble.
Or a man’s wife is an alcoholic.
Or something as horrible as getting back the biopsy from the surgeon, and it reveals cancer, and the prognosis isn’t good.
Or you had an emotional breakdown.
To whom do you tell it?
We’re the only outfit I know that shoots its wounded.
We can become the most severe, condemning, judgmental, guilt-giving people on the face of planet Earth, and we claim it’s in the name of Jesus Christ.
And all the while, we don’t even know we’re doing it.
That’s the pathetic part of it all.
==============================================
That story came from Swindoll’s book Charles Swindoll, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1
Many churches are too judgemental and very few people are willing to share their struggles.
I hope we do good at that in the morning services.
I know we do good at that in our evening services with Celebrate Recovery.
My hope as we work our way through Roman’s
My hope as we work our way through Roman’s
We will not only have a better understanding of Sin and Forgiveness
We will also have a better understanding of the balance between accepting/supporting our fellow Christians and
Standing up for / encouraging right living
growing in our Christian walk
thru the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s read todays passage from Romans 1:1-7
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul has several thoughts here that he explores.
As he finishes with one thought he begins another.
He introduces himself and his background
He explains the Gospel
He explains what we receive
What we are called to
and then he closes this first section with a blessing of Grace and Peace to his readers
Who is Paul?
Who is Paul?
In verse 1 Paul tells us 3 things about himself
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—
He is a servant of Christ. Or as the NASB puts it a Bond Slave of Christ.
In the bible you have two kinds of Jewish slaves, indentured servants or slaves which serve for ex-many years and Bond-slaves or servants who serve for life. It is a wilful choice and bond slaves got a ring in their ear. (Exodus 21:5-6)
If you read of Paul’s adventures in the book of Acts, you will see that every time Paul mentions his Roman citizenship, guards and other soldiers take note because they could get in big trouble for mistreating a Roman Citizen!
For Paul to voluntarily proclaim he was a Bond Servant / a life long slave of Christ Jesus,
would be like a Plantation Owner in the deep south declaring his was the life slave,
voluntary servant of a former slave from Africa.
It was a bigger declaration in Paul’s world than we would expect.
So Paul is a servant of Christ, what else
The New International Version Chapter 1
called to be an apostle
He was called to be an Apostle, with a capital “A”. He was like the 13th Apostle, called by God to be sent.
In Christ each one of us is called to be His representatives, and apostles with a little “a”,
an ambassador for Christ but here in this text and in other places,
Paul makes it clear that he was called to be an apostle just like James, and Peter and John.
The third thing he said about his qualifications is that he was
The New International Version Chapter 1
set apart for the gospel of God
When they built the Tabernacle in the wilderness, God had raised up many skilled craftsmen to do the metal work, stone work, weaving and dying for the temple.
Paul was set apart for the Gospel of God.
He went all over the Roman world sharing the Gospel message wherever he could.
Who are you and I
Are we bond slaves of Christ, or do we just through his name around?
Do we live with a sense of calling to share the gospel with others?
Do we have any sense of being set apart by God?
What is the Gospel?
What is the Gospel?
2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
We know from other scriptures that the Gospel is the central message about Jesus Christ: He is the Son of God, He lived, He died, He rose again and He sits at the right hand of the Father now interceding for us.
From these verse we learn the gospel message of hope was:
1 promised, in prophets and other scriptures,
2 He was from the line of David and
3 He was appointed the Son of God in Power.
Promised in what verses?
Promised in what verses?
Here are a few verses
In the promise to Abraham in Gen 12.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
In the Psalms like
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
In the prophets, such as
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
and following
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
Born in whose line?
Born in whose line?
The line of David.
The root of Jesse.
as it says in verse three
The New International Version (Chapter 1)
regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David,
Who was he appointed in verse 4 ....
Who was he appointed in verse 4 ....
The New International Version (Chapter 1)
through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord
So Jesus was promised by the prophets and other scriptures
He is from the line of David
And by raising from the Dead, by the spirit of Holiness, He is acclaimed the Son of God.
Amen? Amen!
What do we receive?
What do we receive?
That’s a good question.
Let’s look at verse 5
5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.
Paul received grace, unmerited forgiveness for his sins and
apostleship, his calling to the Gentiles but
we too receive grace and a calling to be His representatives
Don’t we?
What are we called to?
What are we called to?
6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
We are called to belong to Christ.
Hey and maybe we could live like we belong to Christ!
And then Paul closes out this introduction with a blessing of Grace and peace
Whose Grace and Peace
Whose Grace and Peace
7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Whose grace and peace
one word beginning with a “G”
whose grace and peace
God’s
The only Grace and Peace worth having.
No, how about the Best Grace and Peace to have!
So this will be a big study:
So this will be a big study:
on God’s grace,
on how we our saved,
on how we should live
by Grace not works, least any man should boast.
Paul was called to serve Christ
So our we,
We are all called to imitate Christ
To be His hands and feet.
Let me pray for you that you will live like you belong to the family of God
because you do if you are in Christ.
Grace Peace of God.