Rom 1:1-7 "Paul's Salutation"

Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

-Lot’s of great events upcoming… and to add to it… starting in November we will launch a mid-week Bible Study going through Genesis… the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month.

-And, on the 2nd & 4th Wednesdays we will go through Calvary Chapel distinctives in preparation for launching Home Groups.

-More details to come next week.

But, now… let’s get into the word. Please turn in your Bibles to Romans Chapter 1.

If you are just joining us… we just began Paul’s letter or “epistle” to the Romans.

So, your timing is very good.

Last week we covered an Introduction to Romans… if you missed that… I recommend catching that message or our App or Website…

There is some foundational information to this letter as a general introduction to the epistle.

Last week we discussed how this is a highly regarded epistle…

I read several quotes from scholars throughout the generations… who hold Romans as the foremost writing on the Gospel.

In a few outlines that I shared, Romans 1:1-17 is considered the introduction to the epistle.

With vv 1-7 being the salutation.

vv 8-15 establishes rapport with Paul’s audience… as well as the salutation.

and vv 16-17 emphasizes Paul’s theme for his letter.

And as optimistic as I was that we would get through all 17 verses today…

We will not. I’m not very good at skirting over details…

And, there are some beautiful riches in these first 7 verses…

I hope you’re not in a rush to get through Romans!

Well… let’s get into the word… and see what the Lord has for us today… in a message titled “Paul’s Salutation.”

Let’s Pray!

In reverence for God’s word, please stand as I read our passage today.

Romans 1:1-7 “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Praise God for His word. Please be seated.

Last week… in our overview… I failed to mention why we call this “book” an “epistle.”

I mentioned an epistle is in general a “letter”… but I didn’t explain the root of WHY we call this an epistle.

Besides the Bible, I’m not aware of another context in which we use this word “epistle” but we do read the word “epistle” 14x in the NT.

In Gk it’s epistolē… which means a “written message” or “letter.”

Unlike a personal letter in which you would only expect the recipient to read the content…

An epistle, by one def. “is a public treatise that uses the letter format to present an essay or homily intended for general reading.”

At the end of Romans… in the final greeting… Romans 16:22 reads, “I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord.”

Confirming this indeed is an epistle… and who physically transcribed the letter… Tertius.

Whom we know little about… except that he was Paul’s secretary whom Paul dictated his letter to the the Romans.

Paul indeed authored Romans through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit… it is a God-breathed writing…

Paul’s name is the first word of the epistle… identifying him as the author.

And, Tertius served Paul as his “amanuensis”… his scribe or literary assistant.

And, why did Paul need an assistant?

Very likely Paul had some issue with his eye sight.

We don’t know if he had a disease like macular degeneration… or if maybe he was injured… in Acts 14 at Lystra… they stoned Paul and thought him to be dead…

Easily a rock to the eye socket could cause permanent damage.

He wrote of an infirmity that kept him humble… a “thorn in the flesh” he called it in 2 Cor 12:7…

Also in Gal 4… he called it a “physical infirmity” and “my trial which was in my flesh” and he even said in Gal 4:15 “… if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.”

In Gal 6:11… Paul closed that epistle writing … “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!”

Paul often wrote the closing of his letters with his own hand…

And, likely… due to weak vision… he wrote in “large letters”… as in a large font.

One of the things I love about Calvary Chapel, it the balanced view we hold on most of the tension points that have led to denominational splits…

For example… healings. It’s a gift… we believe God can move to heal…

I was delivered from alcoholism after getting baptized… that NOT a treatment methodology in any addictions treatment manual…

My wife had a 2.5 foot long blood clot that was healed in a month just two months prior to that… no surgeries… and defied the prognoses of the Doctors.

All in 2012… all just prior to calling into ministry.

Is that just coincidence?

For Paul… he personally experienced several miracles…

His miraculous conversion…

He was stoned to the point of death, but lived…

In Acts 28, he was bitten by a poisonous snake… the local expected him to die… but no harm befell him.

In 2 Cor 11, Paul gave a whole list of his sufferings he experienced for Christ… all of which he survived…

Paul was quite familiar with the miraculous…

And yet… he still had this thorn in the flesh… this physical infirmity… most likely related to his eyes.

Why was he not healed of that?

Paul wrote in 2 Cor 12 that he prayed three times for the Lord to heal him… and the Lord responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

God certainly can move in healing… but He can also move in withholding the healing.

Paul said it was to keep him humble.

We all want the healing, but Paul learned to rest in the lesson… that in the backdrop of human weakness… the power of Christ is displayed.

Quite the model for us in Christian living and resting in Christ.

This is the quality of person… we have the privilege of sitting under in this study of Romans.

All of this was part of Paul’s testimony… and all of these lessons were learned…

Shaping him into the man… who would write… this epistle to the Romans.

Paul had an amazing testimony… and an amazing love for the Lord…

As reflected in his opening verse to this epistle…

V1… “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God...”

We thoroughly discussed this verse last week…

Paul, foremost… had a relationship with Christ…

In the tradition of the OT Law of the Bondservant (Exo 21; Deut 15)… where one is released and has served their years as a slave… BUT wishes NOT to be released…

… because they recognize there is no more loving Master to serve…

Paul opens this letter… shocking his Roman audience with this description of himself…

As the class of the lowest of slaves… the foot washers… holding the most demeaning jobs.

That’s who he was… and what he did… how he served… was as an Apostle… ‘one sent on a mission’…

And, Paul’s mission was to carry the gospel of God to the nations…

And Paul would eventually settle into that calling by taking the gospel to the Gentiles.

And, then in vv 2-4, Paul deviates from the traditional greeting in an epistle… feeling led to give his readers a high level overview of WHAT the gospel of God is.

If you had just a few moments to describe the Gospel… and to summarize who Jesus Christ is… what would you say?

vv 2-4 gives us one such example of how Paul handled these most eternally important subject matters…

This is perhaps even a template for us today in how we could describe Jesus and the gospel…

In V2, Paul first anchors the gospel of God to the OT Scriptures… writing “… which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.”

For any of Paul’s Jewish readers living in Rome… it was important that they know the gospel is not new… but is old…

It’s as old as Eden… last week we discussed how Gen 3:15 is the protoevangelion… the first sharing of the Gospel.

And, Paul doesn’t specifically name the prophets in the OT who foretold the gospel… the good news that a messiah would come to deliver them from their sins.

But… he didn’t need to… there were a lot.

Deut 18:15; Isa 7:14; Ps 22; Isa 53; Mic 5:2…

Conservatively, over 300 prophecies of Messiah’s first coming were fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry.

“…scholar, J. Barton Payne, found as many as 574 verses in the Old Testament that somehow point to or describe or reference the coming Messiah. Alfred Edersheim found 456 Old Testament verses referring to the Messiah or His times."

And, don’t worry… we’re not going to go through these now… we’d have to change Fellowship Lunch to Fellowship Dinner.

GotQuestions.org has an article titled “How Many Prophecies Did Jesus Fulfill?”

And they list 9 types and a number of prophecies and the relevant verses predicting messiah in the OT… and fulfilled in the NT.

It’s 8 pages long… and not even exhaustive.

I printed a copy and laid it out on the info table if you want to give it a glance afterwards.

Herbert Lockyer wrote a 528 page book called “All the Messianic Prophecies of the Bible.”

If you really want to dig it… there’s a good resource.

Peter and Paul… Scripture was a key anchor for the foundation of their faith…

In 2 Pet 1:16, Peter wrote about the trustworthiness of the prophetic word, writing… “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

Peter combated false teachers in his day… a key theme in his Second epistle… who used clever stories to deceive their hearers.

There are many teachers still today following cunningly devised fables.

But Peter’s testimony was based upon eye witness… first of Jesus’ transfiguration… which showed Peter, James, and John what Jesus would be like in glory… and gave them a foretaste of His coming kingdom.

And…as the Father spoke from heaven, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

His voice gave approval of the Son… and made the word of the prophets certain.

So Peter wrote… 2 Pet 1:19 “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place...”

So, as Paul in V2 of Romans 1 that the gospel of God was “promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures”

His readers then… and his readers today… should have a level of confidence in the Gospel.

Don’t underestimate the importance of prophecy… it takes great cauterization of the mind… and denial of logic to have faith in God’s prophetic word.

The average person who has NOT sunken to that level of depravity… still has hope.

We read v2 and it gives us assurance in the reliability of God’s word… and thus we should be encouraged to share the Gospel of God.

And, what is contained in it… Paul next explains in vv 3-4…

“… concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

The Gospel of God… the good news pertains to Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ there is no good news.

There is much static today… many messages promising good news… promising paths to eternal life and contentment and peace now in this life.

But, they are anchored in age old lies and deceptions. There is only one truth…

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

And Paul… let’s his readers know Jesus Christ “was born of the seed of David according to the flesh...”

This testifies of Jesus fulfilling the David Covenant that Messiah would come from the line of David.

The LORD spoke to David in 2 Sam 7:12-13 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

The gospel concerns this Jesus… their Messiah… who came from the line of David… who’s throne is established forever.

And this Jesus who was born “according to the flesh...”

Which testifies of His incarnation… which was important…

Messiah had to be born human… why?

In order to die… to satisfy God’s wrath on sin.

Heb 2:9 declares “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”

One of Jesus’ favorite titles for Himself was the “Son of Man.”

He was fully man… and yet fully God.

Which is what Paul next emphasizes in V4 “… and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

Jesus was not only human… He was fully divine.

In Jewish reckoning… to be the “Son of God” was to be God…

And Jesus’ divinity made Him alone capable of being sinless…

… Him alone capable of being our Savior…

… because a sinner cannot save others because he would need a savior to save himself.

His sinlessness qualified him to save.

And, just as the evidence for Jesus’ humanity was being “born of the seed of David.”

So too… the evidence for Jesus’ divine nature was the “resurrection from the dead.”

The resurrection not only validated Jesus’ sacrifice as accepted… and His word to be true… that He would die and rise three days later…

And, not only did the resurrection fulfill many types like the sign of Jonah… and scriptures… “you will not leave my soul in Sheol” (Ps 16:10)…

But the resurrection also showed Jesus’ divine power… for He played a part in His own resurrection…

Truly… all three parts of the Godhead resurrected Jesus… Acts 2:24 declares “whom God raised up.”

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit… all played a part in the resurrection.

You see many examples where all three parts of the Godhead are involved… creation… salvation… baptism… the Great Commission… calling and sending…

For the resurrection…

Gal 1:1 declares the Father raised Jesus from the dead.

1 Pet 3:18 testifies that Jesus was “made alive by the Spirit”…

And Rom 8:11 states “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you...”

That’s the Holy Spirit…

And, Jesus declared John 2:19 “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Also, John 10:17-18 “My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”

No mere mortal could die and play a part in their own resurrection… but Jesus did… testifying that He is divine…

He is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25)…

He has authority over life and death… Rev 1:18 “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”

And, it’s this Jesus… and His gospel… whom Paul was set apart to… whom Paul was an apostle for… whom Paul was a bondservant of.

It was Jesus and His gospel prophesied of in the OT…

Every Jew in Rome reading this letter should have already been in awe by what Paul has declared about himself… the gospel… and of Jesus.

But then… in vv5-6… Paul now brings the audience into the picture and speaks about the impact Jesus has had on all our lives.

And, this remains personal for us today… Jesus has extended to all of us grace… calling… commissioning… sending…

Which Paul reflects in vv 5-6, “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ...”

I imagine if Paul’s readers truly internalized what this meant for them personally upon reading this.

If they paused for a moment to soak this in… and to reflect on the privilege they had to come into relationship with Jesus… and what that meant for them in life now and eternally…

I imagine some of Paul’s readers would have tears in their eyes… knowing how far they were from God…

How hopeless and lost and undeserving… and yet… Christ died for them.

Just some 25 years prior… Christ died for them.

And, look… here’s the impact of Christ… still… almost 2000 years later…

Raise your hand if coming into relationship with Jesus Christ has had a significant impact on your life?

Show of hands if without Jesus Christ you’re not sure how you would define “hope” and “peace”… that because of Him you are confident in eternal life.

This is the testimony of Jesus in our lives. This is the impact of Christ… and His Gospel.

Still 2000 year later.

And, in V5… Paul begins to introduce key ways coming into relationship with Jesus touched his readers…

Paul first mentions grace. “Through Him we have received grace...”

Grace… Gk charis. It’s the Hebrew word chên.

It means “undeserved or unmerited favor.”

The first mention of “grace” in the Bible is Gen 6:8 “But Noah found grace in the eye of the LORD.”

The wickedness of man had overwhelmed the earth… the thoughts of their hearts were “only evil continually.”

And Noah stood in contrast… he is described in V9 as “… a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.”

2 Pet 2:5 titles him a “preacher of righteousness.”

Noah was living in a world where corruption abounded… and as God “was sorry that He had made man” as “He was grieved in His heart”… because of the corruption and violence…

It was then that Noah found grace…

Not that Noah earned grace… the word says he “found grace”…

Maybe even… “grace found him” for the LORD revealed His plan for the flood and gave Noah instructions to build an Ark… salvation from the LORD.

None of us earn grace… we all find grace.

As Paul wrote in Rom 1:5 “we have received grace”…

Again… not earned, but received… “Through [Jesus] we have received grace...”

Not mercy… which is getting what you don’t deserve… like a sentence pardoned.

Mercy is kindness and compassion and often spoken of in the context of God withholding punishment on us… though we would be deserving because of sin.

Grace is mercy plus receiving a blessing… or gift… or favor.

Paul’s personal testimony includes both… 1 Tim 1:12-14 “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”

Paul deserved a punishment for his crimes against the church… which Jesus took personally… “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

But, instead of punishment… Paul received mercy…

It was not Paul’s ignorance that saved him, but it was God’s exceedingly abundant grace.

In the Greek, God’s grace “super abounded.”

And, God putting Paul into ministry was also an act of Grace.

Grace was not only exceedingly abundant, but was also accompanied by

… faith (opposite of unbelief)

...and love (agape- unconditional self-sacrificing love as opposed to the “blasphemer, persecutor, and violently arrogant person”)

...in (found their origin) in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the source from where faith and love flows to us.

By God’s abundant Grace, accompanied by faith and love, Jesus called called Paul into ministry...

Hudson Taylor, the missionary to China said, “All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them.”

I’m confident Paul would agree. Paul wrote to the Corinthians…

“God has chosen the foolish things of the world… the weak things… the base things… the things which are despised God has chosen… the things which are not… that no flesh should glory in His presence.”

Which is a good segue to continue in V5… “Through Him we have received grace… [and not only grace… but also…] apostleship...”

Paul identified himself as an apostle in V1… and now that same calling… that same vocation… is extended to the Christians in Rome…

Through Jesus… they too have received grace and apostleship…

Not that the office of the 12 Apostles was being expanded…

But they would be apostles in the sense of being “sent ones”…

“… for obedience to the faith among all the nations for His name...”

This is the Great Commission… Act 1:8; Matt 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21…

Grace was given and purposed for the disciples to act in the role of an apostle… to take the gospel to the world…

To be obedient to the faith… not disobedient… but obedient… Jesus commanded… “make disciples”… and “preach the gospel” in the Great Commission.

And, Paul reminds his readers they were to be obedient to carry this message… which is the message of “the faith”…

For obedience to the faith…

And the message was to go to “all the nations”… every nation, people, tribe and tongue…

“For His name...”

For the name of Jesus…

Not for self-promotion…

But to exalt the name above every name… the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

And Paul includes a message about their calling… either as a reminder or as an affirmation… in V6 “… among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ...”

They’ve receive much… grace, apostleship and calling.

Just as Paul was “called to be an apostle” in V1… so too were these Roman Christians “called of Jesus Christ.”

If you recall from last week… what Paul writes here in vv 2-6 was abnormal from the traditional greeting of ancient letters.

If you read the introductions to Paul’s other letters, he did not deviate like he does here in Romans to qualify what the gospel is… and who Jesus is… and to… as several scholars see it… to build rapport with his readers identifying their mutually shared calling.

Remember… Paul listed some 26 people by name that he knew in Rome, plus their households… so maybe a 100 or so people…

But, there were many he didn’t know…

Some of whom were likely there at Pentecost. Acts 2:10 tells us in the crowd who heard Peter’s first sermon where 3000 were saved… in that crowd were “visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes.”

And, so this repetition of Paul’s calling and commissioning in V1 as compared to their calling in commissioning in vv 5-6… certainly builds rapport…

But I think it also let’s the reader know that Paul is not highminded… he is not haughty or proud… lording a title over them, but writing to them…

To build them up in the faith… which is confirmed in V11. “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established...”

And, this is a beautiful motivation and model for us… to share our spiritual gifts to play a part in the spiritual growth of another believer.

Certainly the book of Romans has done so for countless saints throughout the generations…

And, we will sense this heart of Paul as we continue in this letter and especially in this introduction.

Paul concludes his general salutation in V7 with a traditional opening “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul writes to all the Christians in Rome… who are “beloved of God., called to be saints…”

What a great reminder… and what a great two-fold description of the Christian.

We are “beloved of God”…

Beloved in Gk is agapētos and shares the same root word as agapē.

So a very affectionate description of how God views Christians…

And let me remind you that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God...” (2 Tim 3:16)…

These are not merely the words of Paul, but Paul was a chosen vessel and God’s Holy Spirit worked with and through Paul to give us this writing.

And, the Spirit inspired Paul to write that Christians are “beloved of God.”

Never forget that God is deeply in love with you with a love that exceeds our ability to love and a love that goes beyond our comprehension of love.

Read 1 John 4 if you need a reminder of that love…

John, who was called the “apostle of love” wrote “God is love.”

If you want to define love… you can with three letters. G.O.D.

And, if you want the ultimate demonstration of love… 1 John 4:9-10 provides that…

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Love was manifested or made visible or clear… in God sending His Son from heaven to earth to die… satisfying God’s wrath on sin.

Don’t fly over and not take notice of the depth of what Paul is saying here…

God’s demonstration of love to the “beloved of God” came at tremendous sacrifice.

Paul then says, “called to be saints”… and if you notice “to be” is italicized.

And sometimes… please forgive me… but I presume we all know certain things about the Bible, but I’m often wrong.

Italicized words is one such example.

If you’re reading a journal article… italicized words are eye catching and are placed for emphasis.

But, that’s not why they are in the Bible.

The King James and New King James versions include italicize words because they were added by the translators to help the reader…

Translating from Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic (the three languages of the Bible) TO English is sometimes difficult…

… because these other languages sometime omit the subject, verb, direct object, indirect object or even the word “not” when the text requires it when translated into English

So… italicized word are “added” for us who read in English.

And, I appreciated that the KJV and New King James do italicize these added words…

V7 in my New King James has the words “to be” in italics… and when I look at the original Greek there are NO words for “to be”… again this was added… and I know it in my New King James.

I wouldn’t know this in several other versions… the ESV, NIV, and several other translations do not italicize “to be” for V7.

Which is a disadvantage.

So… there is a little bible translation lesson for you today.

And of course there is no charge for that information… it’s free.

Now… often these added words are helpful, but listen to how V7 reads if we exclude the italicized words.

“To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints...”

If you have faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible says… you are a saint.

Saint in Gk is hagiŏs… and the biblical definition means “holy, consecrate, sacred”… “separate from common condition and use; dedicated.”

In other words, Saints are simply “God’s Holy People.”

In the OT, the word “saint” and the word “holy” are sometimes used interchangable and have the same Hebrew word qôdesh meaning “apartness.”

Or “Set apart as dedicated to God.”

It’s that person who is not dedicated to the world… not dedicated to serving their own flesh… but given to God.

People of various denominations dispute the exact meaning and extent of what holiness and being a saint means…

And I grieve when some portray a “holier then thou” type attitude… those type confuse “holiness” with “high-mindedness” (i.e. pride).

Holiness is the “state of being set apart and dedicated to God, characterized by moral purity, righteousness, and conformity to God's will.”

And this is different from righteousness…

Both describe states of moral excellence… and both are gifts of God.

But, “righteousness is the condition of being proven or declared morally excellent, while holiness is the condition of being consecrated or dedicated to moral excellence.”

In the grand scheme of Salvation…

Righteousness pertains to justification.

Where Holiness pertains to the process of sanctification.

One scholar gave this example… “a ballerina who dances for the New York City Ballet has been declared good enough to be part of that company. From a young age, she has set herself apart to that purpose, to honing her skills, and she continues to practice and improve as she dances. In this analogy, righteousness is the ballerina’s position in the ballet company. She has been given a position, her talents have been approved, and she belongs to the company. Holiness is the ballerina’s dedication and devotion to her art. Everything in her life—what she eats, whom she knows, how she spends her time and money—bows to this purpose.”

There is a healthy balance in understanding our role and God’s role in the process of becoming holy… and owning the reality that if you are a saved believer… you are God’s people… you are a saint.

And there’s a danger of thinking too little of this where one cares NOT about holy living in their life… to justify sin. It’s easy for Christians today to say, “I’m not saint”… and to justify living in ways contrary to holy living.

And there’s a danger of thinking too much of sainthood and adding criteria that the Bible knows nothing about.

If you were raised Catholic… like I was… and if you think about the many steps to become a saint according to Catholicism....

The idea of becoming a saint simply through faith in Jesus Christ seems way too free… way too easy… it almost cheapens the idea of earning sainthood.

But… the problem is not with the Biblical definition of being a saint…

The problem is the Catholic definition skews what biblical sainthood is because it’s linked to works based theology and works based salvation… and the Bible says “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)

It’s WRONG to add a works based standard for salvation and sainthood… because the Bible knows NO standards like these.

My family is largely Catholic… and in some regards I appreciate that they have an interest in spiritual matters… and would quickly profess faith in Jesus Christ…

And, while I love them… I do disagree with Catholic theology…

For ex, to become a saint in the Catholic Church, a person must:

Live a virtuous life… Be martyred… Perform miracles… and undergo a formal canonization process at least five years after the person's death.

There are three stages to the process of sainthood: venerable, blessed, and saint…

And the Pope reserves the right to waive certain requirements…

… which I’m sure is not political at all.

That information is provided courtesy of Google Generative AI… because that’s how much time I wanted to devote to researching this topic.

But, it did match what I saw on Catholic websites…

And truly knowing these Catholic standards are ALREADY NOT BIBLICAL… if the details are slightly off… it matters very little to me.

I want you to hear this… for those of you who grew up in High Church… in Orthodoxy… where you knew more about your religion than you knew about relationship with Jesus Christ.

A disservice has been done where we have not embraced ownership of being saint presently… and we’ve written off the possibility of ever being considered a saint…

Because we look at our life and compare it to Catholic saints… and we say, “I’m no Mother Theresa.”

But Paul wrote to a group of relatively anonymous Christians in Rome…

And the words in his epistle… the words in the Bible read, “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints…”

It is not cheapened to be considered a saint simply through faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul said… through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit… and that’s the highest standard… that we are “called saints.”

We have no record of the good works of these anonymous Christians in Rome… or their miracles… they were not martyred… unless Paul was writing to dead people… and of course he was not.

Adding all these man made criteria to sainthood has done a disservice to Christians… especially in the view of holiness.

We are saints… and we should live as saints… and lives that reflect holiness.

And, today… we’re going to take a step to put this into practice… at our fellowship lunch… feel free to call each other Saints.

You can call me “Saint Mark”… it has a nice ring to it.

And, you don’t need to call me this to reassure me… this is for your own sakes.

My Pastor made a joke about hoping there was a Bernard in his congregation.

Well that’s one thing we have on their congregation… because WE DO! Saint Bernard… God bless you Bern.

You all have fun today!

Let’s close out looking at Paul’s final words in his salutation.

V7b “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Pause standard greeting was “grace and peace” unless he was writing to a pastor (Timothy and Titus)…

… and then his greeting read “Grace, mercy and peace...”

I’ll receive that.

Pastor Chuck Smith said “Grace and Peace are the Siamese Twins of the New Testament because they’re always coupled together.”

And, always in that order… which is not accidental… because if you don’t know grace… you’ll never know peace.

This “grace and peace” that Paul writes of… notice it is not FROM Paul, but FROM God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

Grace and peace find their origin in God…

Without God, you cannot know grace and peace… and never will obtain grace and peace.

It’s a gift freely given to you as you enter into relationship with Him.

Worship team please come.

Grace was a common Greek greeting… and Peace (Shalom in Hebrew) was a common Jewish greeting… and this is appropriate for Paul’s audience… Jews and Gentiles… who are now one in Christ.

They now shared a common union… in their communion with Christ… which is a blessing we still partake in today.

Common union with Christ… and common union with one another… every nation, people, tribe and tongue.

Praise God!

Let’s Pray, and then we are going to take communion… remembering our Lord.

Please posture your hearts in praise as I read our Communion Passage:

1 Cor 11:23-29 “...the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

Please distribute the elements...

Communion is a time for us to look three directions…

We look back remembering Jesus’ sacrifice… His broken body and shed blood for the remission of our sins.

His new covenant. Salvation by faith and in grace.

Look forward in hope of His imminent return… we proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. He is coming.

And, looking inward to examine ourselves… to take communion in a worthy manner.

Time to do business with God.

Once you have prayed… take the communion elements individually.

Our worship team will play one worship song, and then close us in prayer.

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If you have never accepted Jesus as Lord...

...either let the cup pass and do not partake in communion -or- the better option...

…first accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior today.

Our Elders will be up front to guide you in a prayer of faith… to confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

… then take communion.

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