Jesus Calling Us (Romans 1:1-6)

Introduction

Growing up, did anyone ever answer a phone call in a phony way? I mean, did anyone here ever answer, “Joe’s mortuary, your stab ‘em, we slab ‘em”? Or, “Rick’s Crematorium, you ghost ‘em, we roast ‘em”? Now that may be an expected answer of a call by an ornery teenager. Yet, if you called here at The Center Hill Corps during the week, you wouldn’t expect for Cindy to respond to your call with “State Farm, this is Jake.” Normally, a call assumes a proper response.

In our text today, Paul is introducing himself to the believers in Rome, hoping to establish this assembly as his base of operations to the western part of the Roman Empire. Paul relates to the Romans his response to the call of Jesus and announces that his vocation is wrapped up in calling Gentiles to Jesus. As with a call to our corps, the call of the gospel of Jesus requires and appropriate response and that is what we’ll aim at expositing today.

Who is Paul?

Paul identifies himself as an apostle. What is that? Most often, outside of the New Testament, an apostle was an authoritative messenger that announced the ruling wishes of an ruler and was commissioned by that ruler to carry-out those wishes. In Ancient Greece, it was related to a lead ship that forged and landed to announce and lead an expedition. So, in a sense, Paul was an authoritative messenger and executor of the Gospel of Jesus. Yet, what was this Gospel or Good News? In the First Century, Euangelion was the common word connected with the reign of a Roman Caesar. “The new Roman Caesar was in charge and there would be peace”, would be the line often heard when “Good News” was uttered. So, The Gospel of Jesus was politically loaded with meaning, alluding that Jesus and not Caesar was in charge. Now the Caesars had their historic claim to rulership, told in the Aeneid and also rooted in the myth of Romulus. However, Paul frames the authority of Jesus to be much more ancient.

The Gospel of Jesus

Jesus’ rulership was promised by the Holy scriptures long ago and it’s substance was both political and spiritual. First, according to fleshly ancestry, Jesus was of the line of David. This line of rulership was more ancient than the Roman Caesars, and was declared to be an eternal rule, according to 2 Samuel 7:11-13. Yet, Jesus’ right to authority was not just contained to physical descent, but 1:4 states that through the Spirit of holiness he, “…was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” A word of importance is “appointed”. It is the Greek Word “orizo”, which means to be marked-out or differentiated. To illustrate, LeBron James has always been a top notch player. However, seeing that he is approaching 40 years of age and still one of the most dominant players on the court of a sport that is so physically taxing, he is marked-out as at least one of the greatest players of all-time. Again, we always knew he was good, but his high performance despite advanced age for an athlete has marked him out. So with Jesus. Everyone knew His greatness. In Mark 7:37, the crowd announced, “He has done all things well.” However the event of Jesus’ Resurrection has marked Him out, apart from the rest. So, how has the resurrection defined Jesus, according to Paul?

Jesus, The Son of God

The resurrection of Jesus defined Him as The Son of God. Now, we understand the Divine implications of such a title, however, in the ancient world this title held significant meaning. First of all, in a political sense, it meant that Jesus was king. This was clear as the Roman coins that bore the image of the Caesars often included the inscription “Divi Filius” or “Son of God”. The picture on the slide of a coin with the bust of Caesar Augustus, the ruler of the Empire when Jesus was born, was inscribed with this title. So, for Jesus to be marked-out as The Son of God held a very political charge that He was king and not Caesar.

Yet, this title also bore spiritual significance. In the Hebrew Bible, we encounter certain spiritual beings called The Sons of God. These are best described as high level angelic beings that made up God’s Divine Council. God is God. He is the CEO of the universe. However, His communal nature leads Him to work in a family and in a community. We too bear that image, as any of our worthwhile organizations run with someone at the head, but also a group of advisors and agents that lend ideas and help in the decision making and direction of the organization. We see a picture of this in the divine realm in Job 1, as well as 2 Kings 22, to name a couple of instances. These Sons of God are titles for spiritual beings that make up God’s Divine Council. In Genesis 6, we see that some of these Sons of God stepped out of bounds in their vocations and their actions worked to precipitated the great violence and agitation that moved God to act in the Great Flood.

In addition, we see a rebellion of these spiritual characters in the aftermath of the Tower of Babel incident. Chapter 10 of Genesis lists the table of nations, the people groups that are divided and dispersed throughout the world at that time. Chapter 11 provides the context of how that happened. The Tower of Babel sees mankind seeking to make a name for themselves by consolidating their efforts instead of expanding the order of God in the world by filling the earth and stewarding it. However, God disrupted their plans by confusing their languages and dispersing them thereby. In that God disinherited the nations and allotted them to his Sons of God to guard them and, eventually, steward them back to Yahweh. This understanding is derived from Moses’ song in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 (see footnote that reflects “sons of god” in oldest manuscripts). These Sons of God failed in stewarding the nations and harbored their worship in stead. These beings who rebelled became the gods of the nations that worked antagonistically against the purpose of Yahweh God and His people. They were patron beings but became pagan gods. However, Psalm 82 depicts Gods judgment on them for their failure at stewarding the nations and ends with God rising up to claim His inheritance of the nations. How does He do this? From Paul’s writing, it is through the resurrection of Jesus that He is declared the true Son of God and Patron. He is the true guardian and steward of the nations, as well as the true King of the World. Although Caesars made their claims to divine authority, they died. The Sons of God took their claim at being god, but as Psalm 82:6-7 declares, “...they will die like mortals.” Yet, Jesus is King and Patron because death could not hold Him. He was appointed, marked-out to be The Son of God in power by the resurrection from the dead! He is Lord!

What Does It Mean?

Just like the Good News of a new Caesar invited all to come under their auspices and the announcement of a new President calls all nationals under his administration, so the definite declaration of Jesus as Lord calls us under His rule to belong to Him (vs. 6). Folks may say, “I’m my own man or woman. I serve myself!” The truth is that autonomy is a mirage. We all answer to someone. We all follow the pattern and demands of another. Ironically, those who only serve themselves follow the pattern of the quintessential rebel, Satan, the one who was so enamored with himself that he sought to rise above God Himself (Isa. 14:12-15). Just as the Sons of God in Psalm 82, Isa. 14:15 declares that Satan was brought down to the grave. Being your own man is not unique at all, but following a die that already been set. As Bob Dylan sang those years ago, “You may be somebody’s landlord, you may even own banks. But you’re gonna have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the Devil or it might be The Lord. But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”

It is the resurrection of Christ that declares His ultimate authority that sounds forth the call for us to come under his auspices. Rather than living under my own that surely leads to ruin, like Satan, the King of Babylon that Isaiah was comparing to Satan, and countless others, I’d rather live under the guardianship of our Loving Lord Who poured out His life for us, taking our death and exhausting it, so that we could live and participate in His gracious purposes. Friends, we’re gonna have to serve somebody. Let it be the Resurrected Lord Jesus!

What Does It Look Like?

Paul said in verse 5 that this call is to obedience. The Greek word for obedience is “hu-po-ko’ay”, which is the noun form of a verb that gives the picture of porter or gatekeeper in a temple. This gatekeeper would be devoted in all of life to tending to not only the entering and exiting of the temple (greeting and guarding) but making sure that the contents of the temple were well cared for and in order. In a sense, obedience to Jesus calls for a life of devotion in caring for His temple. What is His temple. It is the body of believers. We are to tend to its gates. We are to be welcoming, as well as protective of the assembly of God’s people. We should be active in bringing folks in and in turning danger away from the body. We are to be encouraging and building up each other in the unity of the faith, prayerfully looking for ways to influence each other to be formed into Christlikeness. We approach our engagement with the body of Christ with a focused mind to serve and not to be served. We don’t come to be entertained or to be pampered. We come ready to serve the needs of those within the assembly of Christ, His temple.

Here’s the questions to answer in light of Jesus’ Resurrection: Have I responded properly to the call that the Good News of Jesus brings? He is Risen and declared to be Lord. Have I properly responded to the call of Christ’s Lordship? How do I know if I have?

One litmus test that may reveal if I have properly responded to the call of Christ is how I approach His body. Do I come willing and ready to serve in obedience or do I come to be served? Is my walk of faith all about me or do I resemble Christ and trod the path that leads beyond the self? If we’re walking the selfish path, let us repent of self service and take up obedience. May we ask our Lord to help us not only see others but serve their needs in His name and, in that, declare that He is Lord, Son of God, The Resurrected King, Who raises us from death to a life that lives for the sake others in obedience to Our Lord.

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ro 1:4.