Sermon Tone Analysis

*Romans 1:1-17*

*Big Idea: *Get excited about the gospel

!

What gets you excited?

Are there any Big Kev fans here this morning?

I think there's something admirable about an overweight man who peddles cleaning products for a living being able to capture the imagination of a nation.

And he's done it with one great catch phrase.... "I'm excited."

What gets you excited?

Brighter brights and whiter whites?

A particularly good dishwashing liquid?

When I was growing up...

I had a friend who got excited by cats.

She had three of them.

Every weekend she would travel with her family and the three cats... to whatever town was hosting the next cat show... and groom the little fur balls to within an inch of their life... and wait all day for someone with a funny hat and bad eyesight to tell her what a fine specimen she had in her cage.

Cats... the love of cats... the preparation of cats... the showing of cats... cats were her life.

Cats got her excited.

What gets you excited?

What do you most love talking about?

What do you day dream about?

Over the next couple of months, here in church each Sunday morning, we are going to be reading and looking together at Paul's letter to the Romans... and we are going to be struck this morning by what excited Paul.

What really got him going.

Over the years, this letter has actually been the thing which has excited some of the greatest Christian leaders in history.

Augustine, Martin Luther, John Wesley and Karl Barth all put their conversion down to the influence of reading this letter.

I first understood what it meant for Jesus to die for me... as I read this letter.

I'm excited about looking at Romans with you... and as we look at it together... we are reading words written by someone who was excited too.

!

1.    Who wrote it?

Have a look at the letter with me.

The first bit we come to

is the letter head... that tells us who wrote it.

READ        Romans 1:1

!! Paul

describes himself in three over-lapping ways.

He is;

!!! • a servant of Christ Jesus...

!!! • called to be an apostle.

!!! • a man set apart for the gospel of God

That's who he is.

A servant, a slave of Christ, a chosen and authorised ambassador... an apostle, set apart for the gospel.

So as we read this letter, we're not reading the musings of a

wise man... a few thoughts from a guru... a bit of advice

from a church leader... the distilled wisdom of the early

Christians...

We are reading a letter written by one of Jesus' own hand

picked apostles who was set apart for the gospel.

So who's

the letter to?

!

2.    Who was he writing to?

Look at verse 7 with me.

READ         Romans 1:7a

The most important part about who this letter was written to, was not that they lived in Rome... but that they were loved by God and called to be saints.

In verse 6 he describes this same group as those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Are you a saint?

Do you think of yourself as a saint?

To belong to Jesus Christ is to be a saint.

Saints are people who are pure... who have been washed clean, and no-one becomes pure by their own goodness... or by having miracles conjured up in their name.

People are made pure by the forgiveness that Jesus' death on the cross brings.

And so as Paul writes to people who belong to Christ, he calls them saints... and here this morning, if you belong to Jesus... then you are a saint too... and this is a letter for you.

Let me ask you another question.

Why does a man write a letter to a group of people, most of whom he's never met?

Why does he write a letter to a city, so far away?

Why does he say that he wants to visit them?

Why does he thank God for them?

Why does he go to such trouble?

*What is that has got P**au**l so excited?*

 

 

! 3.   Q: What got Paul excited?  A: The Gospel

"Why?"

The answer is the gospel.

The gospel is the thing

that's got Paul so fired up.

On my count he mentions it six times in the first 16 verses.

Its the gospel in verse 1 that Paul's been set apart for.

Its the gospel in verse 2 that he goes on to describe.

Its the gospel that he preaches in verse 9 as way of serving

God.

Its the gospel that he wants to preach in Rome in verse 15.

And then look at verse 16, because Paul says something

very strange here.

!! "I am not ashamed of the gospel."

Not ashamed of the gospel... why would he write a thing

like that?

Why would he have to?

You know, I think Paul wrote that... because being ashamed of the gospel is a very real temptation.

It was a real temptation for Paul... it was a real temptation for the Christians in Rome... and it’s been a real temptation for Christians and Christian leaders ever since.

How many people will you tell tomorrow, about where you were this morning?

If someone was to ask you, what would you tell them?

And if they did know that you came to church and they asked you why... what would you say then?

Good music... good friends... good-looking preacher... Or are they just my answers!

Look at verse 2 again with me, as Paul describes this gospel... this proclammation... this message of good news... that he's been set apart for and is so excited about.

In fact even before verse 2, we're told that it is the gospel of God.

That is, its God's gospel... its not Paul's, it doesn't belong to the church... no person invented it... its God's gospel.

It's God's gospel that the Holy Scriptures... (Paul's talking about the Old Testament here...) the Holy Scriptures promised.

And in verse 3 we see that this gospel is all about God's Son.

The Son who was born a descendant of David... and at his resurrection from the dead was powerfully declared to be the Son of God.

The gospel is all about Jesus Christ our Lord.

If you say you want to be with friends on a Sunday morningt... sing great music... that's OK...

But if you start talking about Jesus and a resurrection from the dead... as if anyone really believes it, or it makes any difference... well... its all a bit awkward isn't it.

But Paul says in verse 16.

READ         Romans 1:16

!! The gospel is powerful to save

I am not ashamed of the gospel... the gospel is the power of God to save people.

The irony is that when we become embarrassed, ashamed of the gospel... we let go of the only way that God has given us for people to be saved.