The Roman Road

Welcome

Alright, well good morning Lifepoint! If we haven’t met yet, my name is Dan and I serve here as the teaching pastor. I’m really grateful you’re here with us today.

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If we haven’t connected yet…

Lifegroup Term Begins

If you’re not in a Lifegroup…(notes)

Series Set-Up

Alright, every year we take a few weeks to remind ourselves of our global vision as a church - that we believe God has called to His people to go to our neighbors and nations.

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We’re in the New Testament letter of Romans, so if you have a bible you can meet me there in chapter 10. Romans 10 and we will primarily be in v. 9-11 today.

Introduction

And while you’re turning there…

Just before the dawn of the First Century, an unknown Roman slave began to push back on the people, systems and structures that enslaved him. After gathering a small group of followers, he initiated what the Roman Government saw as an insurrection - an obvious rebellion against their own power and authority.

His group slows started to gain traction and followers in a series of altercations with Roman military units and what initially began as an insignificant nuisance, had swelled into an army of around 100,000 followers - all seeking to free the roughly 1.5 million slaves all throughout the empire - and in a very real way - threatening everything about the way of life in Rome.

Finally, as a way to once and for all deal with this, the Roman government called in the best generals they had, who methodically cut this force of 100,000 down to 6,000 and they finally surrendered.

The question was, what do you do with these left over rebells? They couldn’t just let them go. This was the third major revolt in under 100 years - and this one was the closest to succeeding! So they wanted to send the strongest message possible that would let EVERY ONE else know, you cannot challenge Rome. Your allegiance is to Rome. [EXPAND]

So they took the 6,000 remaining rebells and along the 105 mile stretch of the most famous road in Roman history, the one that started in the very center of the city, the one you’d need to use to enter they city, they crucified all them.

Think about that.

6000 men crucified - one of the most brutal and agonizing forms of torture and execution imaginable. For a hundred miles.

Today, this is the equivalent of driving to Cincinnati, seeing a a crucified man every 92 feet all the way up the center of the city.

The impact of the what happened on this “Roman Road” was overwhelming. The sheer amount of fear unleashed silenced the lower class - and was, by design, a public picture of the absolute and unquestionable dominance of Rome. And at the same time, it was a crystal clear message that this horrifying outcome awaits anyone who would once again challenge Rome or place their allegiance elsewhere.

Why am I telling you any of this?

PAUSE

Because I think sometimes in our 21st century, American context, words and phrases that show up all over the place in the Story of Jesus - words that are intended to be jarring, radical and powerful - words intended to draw us in to a way of life that is all encompassing - are words that instead, end up neutered - stripped of all their rhetorical force simply because we’ve grown used to hearing them.

It might even be that foundational framework we have for understanding what it even means to be a follower of Jesus is flawed, incomplete, and so weak, that this part of our lives easily slips on the priority list from what should be the most important part of our identity - to fourth of fifth tier - or worse, even if we would never say it out loud - in our heart of hearts, being a follower of Jesus becomes synonymous with an actively we occasionally engage in on the weekends.

You see, I’m sharing this brief story of a slave revolt and the Roman response because the Roman government took this very event - and their response - as license to re-envision their authority structure. The dominance and power of Rome would soon consolidate around a single figure - Caesar: the emperor - supreme leader - of Rome.

And this Caesar gave himself titles to reinforce his power.

He was called the son of god. He required absolute faith from his people. And to reinforce his absolute rule, reign, and authority, he coined a phrase It would show up on money, plaques, carved into stone, and confessed by every loyal Roman citizen: Caesar is Lord.

And anyone who refused to fall in line could expect the same treatment those 6000 rebells experienced just a few years before on that great Roman Road.

But now, with all that background, I think we’ll hear some of the most famous words recorded in the New Testament for how jarring they really are.

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

9 For, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and have faith in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one has faith and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Let me pray.

PRAY

Romans Road

Alright, let’s get started.

Here’s what I want to do today, I want us to go back through this passage that is so ripe with “church” language that I think we loose sight of what’s actually being said here.

Ultimately, I hope we walk away feeling the weight of what it means to follow Jesus - that the title “christian” is not a flippant category — it’s not a political ideology — and it’s not just an intellectual framework or worldview, but is actually radical claim of allegiance to King Jesus.

Look again at the passage:

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

9 For, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and have faith in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one has faith and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

There is something simply about what’s said here, right? At least it sounds simple.

In becoming a follower of Jesus, there is not a series of feats you have to accomplish first…there’s no “boxes” you have to check.

You confess - and have faith.

In fact, I think Paul’s overall point here about becoming a follower of Jesus is simplicity.

Jump back a few verses, and you see him make this exact point. Look at v. 6:

Romans 10:6–7 ESV

6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

It sounds a choppy - but Paul’s saying the righteousness, or a “right relationship with God” is not given because we move heaven and earth to find it! Instead, God has made a way for us to enter that relationship - something we can do here a now.

Confess and Believe. That’s it.

Confess that Jesus is Lord. Believe that He was raised from the dead. And you will be saved.

Interestingly enough, Romans 10:9-10 the climax of what’s often called the “Romans Road.”

And the idea is that by looking at the letter of Romans, you can follow a few key passages that layout the process of becoming a follower of Jesus.

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 6:23 ESV

23but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And the way your receive this gift is exactly what’s laid out in our passage:

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

9 For, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and have faith in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one has faith and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

And if it sounds simple, that’s Paul’s point!

God has created ALL of us to live one way, but in our brokenness we have lived another way. We have fallen short of his way of life but instead of being rejected for our failure, God has made a way for a restored relationship the person and work of Jesus - who lived the life we should have lived - died the death we should have died - but was raised again from dead…and what He requires of us for our restored relationship with him is confession that Jesus is Lord - and belief that he’s been raised from the dead.

Now, there is nothing wrong about the Roman’s Road - actually it can be a very helpful framework for sharing the message of Jesus with someone else.

But the problem is that we generally don’t do a good job of translating what this actually means into our modern context. And when these words are left at face value can so easily become something more like “script” for what we have to say to “get saved.”

It’s a quick box to check - off. “I prayed the prayer.” “I said the words.” Sometimes with the question, is that all I have to do?

And just like that, what Paul intends as a simple Gospel - gets mistaken for a simplistic Gospel.

Simplistic Gospel

But if we look closely here, we will find there is nothing simplistic about what Paul means here. More than that, to say that is is simple is not to say that it’s easy…and this is especially jarring in our world that seems to be unaware of our addiction to ease. You see, when we actually stop and think about what Paul’s saying here, we’ll see he’s presenting something that, sounds a lot less like a religious belief and a whole lot more like treason.

Look with me again at v. 9 and I want to take these phrases and see how they would have been heard by Paul’s original audiance.

The first thing Paul talks about is our need to “Confess with our mouth.”

Now, at first pass that might have some religious flavor to it - like when you have to “confess your sin.”

In the original language, of the NT, which Greek, it means to “say the same thing” or “agree with.” But what we probably miss is that this that in Paul’s day, this was a word that was almost always used in the legal world…it described the process of making a treaty with another leader or ruler. Maybe the best way to think about it is like a pledge - and in that you are conveying a level of loyalty - allegiance - and commitment…it’s not just reiterating a phrase - it’s that from deepest part of who you are, you’re saying, “I’m with you…”

And here is Paul saying we confess…pledge…not what the Romans had beat into everyone’s mind, that Caesar is Lord, but in following Jesus, we are making that deeper confession that JESUS is Lord!

You see, to confess that Jesus is Lord was not and is even now not, just expressing a theological belief.

It is the declaration that you are calling upon Jesus as your supreme, chief, leader. That He is now the one who is calling the shots in your life - that you’re will - you’re desires - in fact, every single part of your life - is offered up in service to Him: Your future. Your plans and goals. Your vocation and profession. Your identity. Your sexuality. Your money. Your home and where you live. All of it!

To confess that Jesus is Lord is to say that I am going to live my life in such a way that I relinquish control to YOU and what YOU want for me.

Do you see why there’s nothing simplistic about this?

Because in just the first part of what Paul says here, to make this confession is an absolute declaration of war against ourselves! And from the very beginning it’s violation of our deepest held beliefs, especially in the west, that “I get to call the shots for my OWN life!”

But Paul saying, in following Jesus you are saying: He is my Lord. He is my King.

And he says all this on the backdrop of 6,000 crucified rebells who dared to pledge their allegiance elsewhere. In fact, every one of Pauls audience would have known people who SAW that Roman Road with 6,000 crucifixions - and history tells us they left the bodies up for months to make the point.

The problem is obvious… Confessing that Jesus is Lord put the earliest Christians in Rome in direct conflict with the Roman government who demanded total allegiance - who had no patience or room for another; for them the only acceptable confession is Caesar is Lord.

And history tells the story of the persecution of of the Christians who over and over again saw their pledge of allegiance to Jesus as something far from simplistic belief system…far from just an intellectual belief - but as the foundational and all encompassing reality of who they were!

Between 54-68 A.D., Christians were first exposed to widespread, state-sponsored persecution under the Roman government. The Roman historian, Tacitus tells us,

“Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn apart by dogs, crucified, or burnt to serve as nightly illumination.”

They had a conviction that led thousands of them to their death - knowing all along that follow Jesus was in actually to do exactly what Jesus himself had said:

Matthew 16:24 ESV

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

In many ways they knew that to follow Jesus, to follow this Romans Road in Paul’s letter would actually lead to THAT first Roman Road!

And this was the known punishment in the Roman World for being found out as a Christian!

For a moment, imagine yourself in that world?

You would regularly hear stories or even see for yourself these executions! The only logical response is this “following Jesus” thing should shrivel up…because who in their right mind would want that!

And yet even as this is going on, Tom Holland - the modern author and Historian, not the actor who plays spider-man, in his book, Dominion says by 350 AD, this small ragged movement of followers of Jesus had blossomed into a movement over 30 Million.

Tertullian, a second century philosopher and pastor is recorded as saying,

“Kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to dust…The more you mow us down, the more we grow; the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

Here’s my question.

PAUSE

What produces that?

PAUSE

What was even attractive enough about Christianity for people to willingly join and identify with this so early on, knowing that allegiance to Jesus was treason to Rome?

And I think we have to ask…do we have that? Sure, what Paul is talking about here is simple…but have we settled for a simplistic, counterfeit, version it? A kind of faith in Jesus that, we might not say is cheap, but we also wouldn’t say it costs us very much.

What produces that kind of faith Paul is talking about? What produces that kind of relationship with Jesus - that embraces the risk - that looks at all of what I hold dear in my life and says, Lord I lay this all before you?

In other words, what actually produces the kind of faith that genuinely says…confesses…pledges…Jesus is Lord over me?

Let’s keep reading the passage.

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

“You will be saved.”

This is another one of the “church” words that sometimes get’s lost in translation.

A lot of times, it gets used as a theological short hand for, “Being a follower of Jesus.” You may talk about “when you were saved.” Or question whether or not someone is “saved.” meaning don’t know if they are a follower of Jesus or not.

But I think we some times miss what’s actually being communicated here because it’s so overused.

In the original language, it means “To make whole or heal.” And I think this is important because it breaks the pattern of what we normally hear when we use the word “saved.”

I think without realizing it, we tend to think of “saved” specifically as implying there is something we are saved from. And yes, this is a part of the message of Jesus - that in our failure to live the way God has created us to live, we have earned judgement - and part of what it means to be saved is that we are saved from - spared from that judgment - that Jesus takes our place!

True!

But thats not all it means to be saved.

You see, the promise that we have in following Jesus is not just that we don’t go to hell when we die, to receive the gift of salvation means that we are experience, holistically, a new life and new way of life!

To be saved, also means we find healing and wholeness in a relationship with Jesus - we find one who satisfies our longings…who fills our emptiness…who heals our wounds…who makes whole what is broken in us. In other words, it’s exactly what Jesus means when he says He offers us life to the Full - an everlasting life!

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You see in this way, to say that Jesus is Lord is actually the proclamation that all of what we are looking [EXPAND]

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

So What

Connection to W.O.W.

Here is the question: What does my faith in Jesus cost me?

Honestly.

Finances? Location? Time?