Do As the Romans Do

Intro

Last week we talked about how Paul viewed things.

How he viewed himself, Jesus, the Gospel, and his purpose.

He was a servant, Jesus is the Messiah the savior the son of God, The Gospel is Good New of Jesus it is old news from the Old Testament it is from God and it is needed by all people, Pauls purpose was to bring God glory by bringing out obedience in all people

Finish this sentence with me: When in Rome do as the ???????? Romans Do

This phrase actually started with the great Christian, St. Augustine when he was traveling. He went to a church that did not fast on Saturday as his church did. He asked a church leader, St. Ambrose, what he should do. St. Ambrose replied, “When I am at Rome, I fast on Saturday; when I am at Milan, I do not. Follow the custom of the Church where you are.”

Tonight we are looking at what Paul had seen and was expecting out of the want us to apply what the Romans were doing at the time Paul wrote this letter and what Paul was expecting them to do when he arrived in Rome.

So remember tonight we want to “do as the Romans do”

Great Faith

The first thing Paul mentions about the Romans is they had great faith. So great in fact in was being talked about around the entire Roman empire. (Show Map)

Paul writes that he is thankful for this because the message of the Gospel, which is what? The good news of Jesus Christ’s perfect life, the punishment of sin he endured, his death, and resurrection from the grave had reached Rome. What is so great about this is that Paul hadn’t even been to Rome, and neither had any of the other Apostels.

This church in Rome who Paul is writing to probably started when people who were at Pentecost were saved, went back to Rome, and started gathering together to worship.

These Roman Christians lived out their faith, showed evidence that they were truly Christians to the point that the news of Christians in Rome spread to Paul in Corinth where he was writing this letter and even to Jerusalem.

So what were these Roman Christian doing that Christians today need to do? They were living out their faith. To live out you faith means to live how the Bible tells us to live. It means to show evidence in your life that Jesus Christ has forgiven you of your sins, changed your heart, and that you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you.

In Paul list some evidences of being a Christian. They are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. All these should be displayed in the life of a Christian because these are the attributes of the Holy Spirit.

Turn to . What is the heading about these verses? Marks of the True Christian. Lets read these: Real Love, Hate Evil, Love each other, show honor or be humble meaning show appreciation and respect, serve God with enthusiasm and excitement and care, serve God and be devoted to following what he tells us to do, be in prayer often and frequently. Then he goes on but these are plenty for us to work on.

The Romans would have been doing at some of these in order for their faith to be talked about throughout the Roman Empire. Do we have these marks in our life so that people are talking about us? Are people talking about the love we have, about how much we don’t like evil, about how we show appreciation and respect, about how we obey? If they aren’t then are we showing marks of a Christian?

If we aren’t then through obedience and being led by the Holy Spirit we need to change so that people may talk about our faith and about how we live out our faith like people did with these Romans Christians

Teachable (

We see in the next verses that Paul prayed for these Roman Christians and that he had a deep desire to see them. Remember the last part of Acts Paul spent a considerable amount of time trying to get to Rome.

He wanted to see so that he may use his spiritual gifts to strengthen them and teach them and guide them. Remember this church in Rome wasn’t started by an apostle. Therefore, they hadn’t had the luxury of being taught by Paul or another Apostle who had walked with and talked with Jesus. Paul wanted to be there with them so that he could teach them, encourage them, motivate them. He wanted to disciple them. To disciple means to teach or to train. Paul wanted to teach them and train them on how to be Christians. But in order for this to be successful they must be willing to be taught. They must be teachable.

In school if your math teacher is trying to teach you how to work a new problem and you refuse to listen then you aren’t being teachable and you won’t know how to do your math work. If you are talking to your friends while your teacher is teaching you are not being teachable. If you are sleeping you are not being teachable!

In sports kids who refuse to listen to their coach are not teachable. If you keep doing the same thing after your coach tells you to change you are not teachable.

Paul expected the Romans to be teachable. He expected these Roman Christians to listen, to remember, to obey, to pay attention to what he said and what he did so that they would be trained and taught how to bring glory to God with their life.

When you come to church we want to disciple you. We want to train you on how to live as a Christian. We want to use our gifts given to us by God to teach you and train you. If you aren’t a Christian we want to teach you the Gospel and about your need for Jesus. But you have to be teachable. We expect you to be teachable just like Paul expected the Roman Christians to be teachable. So when you are staring off not listening that is not being teachable. When you and your friend have a whole different conversation going on while your teacher is talking that is not being teachable. When you want to say something so that people will laugh that is not teachable. It is being selfish.

But when you come with your Bible, expecting to learn something that you can apply to your life so that you may better serve and bring God glory that is being teachable. When you are listening, taking notes, writing down questions you have, answering questions with real answers not trying to make people laugh then that is being teachable. That is what Paul expected and that is what we expect when you come to church.

Responsive (

Paul tells them again he intends to come to them but has been prevented up to this point. God has prevented Paul from going to Rome because God had other plans for Paul like starting the churches we looked at in Acts. Paul wanted to go but God was telling Paul not yet.

Then we see Paul say he desires to reap some harvest among them and the rest of the Gentiles, and that he wanted to preach the Gospel to these Roman Christians and the others who are in Rome.

To reap a harvest means to obtain a return or reward. When you plant wheat or oats you put the seed down, pray for rain, spray for weeds, pray for more rain, and then you go and you obtain the results. If you got the right amount of rain and everything went well then you obtain a good crop you get a lot of return from what you planted.

Paul is using this to show that he wants people to respond. To reap a harvest in the Bible usually refers to proclaiming the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, and seeing people respond with faith and trust and be saved. He always wanted people to be responsive. Each time we meet here and on Sunday I expect somebody to respond to the message of Jesus Christ with faith and trust. I expect somebody to be saved every service. I desire a response out of at least one lost person each time we meet. Paul desired this as well! But he also desired a response from those who are already Christians.

Paul writes that he wants to reap some harvest among you. He is writing to Christians. He also writes in verse 15 that he wants to preach the Gospel to you who are in Rome. Again he is writing to Christians. Paul is talking about Christians responding in obedience. I say this often but it is true, every time you read the Bible, hear the Bible taught, or study the Bible you should be changed through responding in obedience to what you hear. Remember in verse 5 Paul’s goal was to bring about obedience of the faith for the sake of God’s glory. In order for that to happen people must respond to the teaching of God. When God teaches us we must listen and follow. We must be responsive people.

So when you come here on Wednesdays and Sundays I expect you to walk away changed. I expect you to respond to God. That is why we have a time at the end of each service for you to pray to God, think about what he is trying to teach you, or to come forward and share that you have trusted in Jesus Christ to be your savior and Lord. Go expects us to respond to him each time his word is proclaimed, each time the Gospel is taught.

Response

So tonight if you never trusted in Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord then tonight your response should be just that trusting in Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior.

If you are a Christian tonight your response could be a number of things. Do people know you are a Christian by your actions? We are not saved by what we do, but people will know us by what we do. Do you show love to people? Do you hate evil? Do you love another? Do you show respect and appreciation and encouragement? Are you patient? Do you frequently pray? Paul said these are marks of a true Christian.

Are you teachable? Are you responsive? If you know you lack or aren’t doing one or two or all of these things then your response should be confessing to God where you fall short and asking him that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may begin to live as a Christian and bring honor and glory to God.

If you have questions or need to talk then myself, Les, and Shelly are all available. You take this time and respond to God.