Sermon Tone Analysis

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.....

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.

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

That phrase “since we have been justified through faith” was world changing.

That Idea can also be found in

and Heb 10.38

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

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

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

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?

In verse 1 Paul tells us 3 things about himself

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.