Prayer fuel for Romans 1:14-17

1. FEEL OBLIGATED.

"I am obligated...” ()

When we read the Bible, we see that evangelism isn’t an idea thought up by traveling revivalists or marketing specialists.

It was the risen Lord Jesus Christ who commanded his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” ().

We know from the book of Acts that the early disciples did this.

And Paul refers to his own compulsion to preach the gospel ().

Preaching the gospel was an obligation he had been given ().

To evangelize was to obey.

And the command wasn’t only given to these original disciples.

4 "So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.” ()

And those scattered ones weren’t just apostles or elders.

Later on in we find the story of Philip the deacon evangelizing the Ethiopian official.

So we’ve got a obligation because we’re in possession of the best news that the world has ever heard.

Look with me at verse 14. Paul refers to being “under obligation.”

It is a strong word, often translated “debtor.”

Paul is saying that those of us who have the message of the gospel are debtors.

Therefore, we should feel a profound sense of obligation to share Christ with others.

Unfortunately, we have become experts at rationalizing away our obligation.

We say things like, “It’s not my gift.”

Or, “I’m not very good with people.”

As He gave the Great Commission, Jesus did not say “Go into all the world, all you extroverts.”

Evangelism may be a gift, but it is also a command. God says, “Don’t rationalize, evangelize!”

2. REACH MANY GROUPS.

Beougher, T. K. (2001). Sermon: Good News Is for Sharing . Southern Baptist Journal of Theology Volume 5, 5(1), 71.

2. REACH MANY GROUPS.

Notice to whom Paul says he is a debtor to or obligated to: “both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish.”

The Greeks proudly looked at their language and culture as the pinnacle of civilization.

Therefore everyone else was viewed as “barbarians.”

They prized learning and separated persons into categories such as “the wise and the foolish.”

Taken together these terms encompass all humankind.

Paul is using the categories of his day to emphasize that because of the salvation he had received and his calling by the Lord Jesus, he was a debtor to all people.

Like the ancient Greeks, we also have a tendency to categorize, to separate people into different groups based on our own criteria.

We may feel that some “groups” are more worthy or more deserving than some other “groups.”

God says, “Don’t categorize, evangelize!”

Good news is for sharing! Possessing good news obligates us to share it.

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

3. BE EAGER.

“So I am eager to preach the gospel...” (v15).

“What do you do?” a man asked this Christian woman.

I love her answer. She responded:

“I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, on mission for Him, cleverly disguised as an emergency room nurse.”

That woman has the picture!

She has God’s perspective!

To have good news obligates us to share it!

Paul makes it clear (in v15) that he intends to fulfill his obligation.

Regardless of what others may or may not do, he is going to do his part.

But notice that Paul does not consider his obligation a heavy burden he must bear.

Paul did not need to be coerced or have his arm twisted to get him to share his faith.

He was not only willing, he was eager!

I am convinced that all you had to do to get the Apostle Paul to share Christ with you

was to take your hand off his mouth!

Understanding just how good the good news is causes us to share it eagerly.

4. BE CONFIDENT.

4. BE CONFIDENT.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel...” (v16)

What strikes me immediately is Paul’s use of the negative. “not ashamed”. Why does Paul change from the positive to the negative?

Why did he not simply say, “I glory in the gospel,” or “I am proud of the gospel?”

Remember to whom Paul was writing—to citizens of Rome, the selfproclaimed intellectual capital of the world.

In he has already reminded us that to the wise of this world the gospel is foolishness.

Paul had encountered opposition and ridicule to his message before.

But would he be deterred by such responses? No!

Why? Because he knows that the gospel was the power of God for salvation.

That’s why he was ashamed of its simple message even among self-proclaimed intellectuals.

He believed in its power to change lives.

Beougher, T. K. (2001). Sermon: Good News Is for Sharing . Southern Baptist Journal of Theology Volume 5, 5(1), 74.

5. MARVEL AT THE GOSPEL.

v17: "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.”

By faith we receive a righteousness that actually prevails with God!

The righteousness to which Paul refers is by God freely granted or imputed to the sinner who,

Dever, M. E. (2007). The Gospel & Personal Evangelism (p. 96). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

by the power of the Holy Spirit,

accepts it—that is, appropriates Christ and all his benefits—by faith.

This righteousness comes from God, so He is the Author of it.

He imputes this right standing to the sinner, who accepts is by faith.

From start to finish, this righteousness is by faith alone.

We ought to marvel at this as a church.