God's Radical Gospel!

Bible - 883

Introduction

Over the past few weeks, we have been taking up the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering which gives 100% of the proceeds to international missions and missionaries. We learned about Lottie Moon’s missionary work in China during our Hanging of the Green ceremony. I have been putting Lottie Moon quotes in our bulletins over the past few weeks as well. Here are two that didn’t make the cut:

“Why this strange indifferences to missions? Why these scant contributions? Why does money fail to be forthcoming when approved men and women are asking to be sent to proclaim the ‘unsearchable riches of Christ’ to the heathen?”

“A young man should ask himself not if it is his duty to go to the heathen, but if he may dare stay at home. The command is so plain: ‘Go.’”

John Piper, while preaching on missions stated:

“If you love the glory of God, and if you love people you have three possibilities: Go. Send. Or Disobey. And if you are not a conscious goer or a conscious sender, you are disobedient to the glory of God and to love.”

We hear those two quote from Lottie Moon and that one from John Piper and there are hundreds of similar quotes from missionaries and pastors throughout the century and we think: that’s so radical! It’s fanatical! And we would be right. Those are radical words but those radical words are backed by a radical gospel. They are fanatical words from fanatics because they seem to realize how fanatic the gospel message really is. To be radical or fanatic is to go to extremes, and that is exactly what God has done. That is exactly what the good news is. For God to come in human flesh to live the perfect life for us and then die a substitutionary death on our behalf to take his wrath that ought to be for us, is radical! For God to be both the Just and the Justifier is fanatical!

Paul understood this radicalness of the gospel. It seems to me that he is trying to teach us just how radical the God’s gospel is even in the first seven verses of Romans. That being said, if I were to pick a short description of what Romans is all about from beginning to end, it would be the same title I give this sermon: God’s Radical Gospel!

In the first seven verses, we can see Paul teaching us four lessons about this radical gospel.

There is a Gospel Call

There is a Gospel Confession

There is a Gospel Command

There is a Gospel Change

The Gospel Call

The first lesson that Paul taught was that there is a gospel call. People will use that term in different ways. Sometimes, it is used in an evangelistic way. The gospel is calling you to salvation. However, in this way, the gospel called Paul to ministry.

Romans 1:1 ESV

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

Paul described himself in three ways. The first is that he was a servant of Christ Jesus. The word for servant literally means “slave.” But that word comes with some pretty negative ideas, and rightly so. When we think of slavery, we think of chattel slavery. We think of owners buying and selling slaves against their will, beating and mistreating them, based on race. That wasn’t slavery back in the first century. That being said, to use the word servant is probably not the best word either. When I think of servant, I tend to think of a maid or a butler or a chauffeur. That’s not exactly what Paul meant either. Probably the best term would be bond-servant. A bond-servant was a Jewish term in which a person typically was in debt and sold themselves into slavery to get out of debt. After six years, the servant can look at his situation and if he likes working for his master, he can willingly pledge to stay on. It is a willful servanthood but also one of undying devotion. That’s what Paul considers himself. He is a willing, devoted bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and we will get to why in a moment.

But he also is called to be an apostle, or more literally a called apostle. An apostle was one sent out on a mission. Thus Christ Jesus, his master, had sent his willing, devoted bond-servant Paul on mission. This calling was not by Paul’s choice. He doesn’t say, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, a self-called, self-made apostle.” He explained as much in the next description. What did it mean for him to be called an apostle? It meant being set apart for the gospel of God.

Imagine for a moment that you are given a vocation, a calling. Maybe your boss has selected you among your colleagues and given you a title. At some point you’d need to know where your focus should lie. What department are you in? What division are you over? To what are you appointed to oversee? Paul was an apostle, called by the master to take up a certain task and move it forward. What task? The gospel of God.

That’s interesting wording. He doesn’t call it the gospel of Christ. Instead, it’s the gospel of God. It’s not the gospel of us or our gospel, but it is the gospel of God. If Paul had stated that it was the gospel of Christ, it would mean that the gospel was about Christ. If he had said it was our gospel, it would mean that the gospel affects us. But Paul called it the gospel of God. Now, while the gospel can be about God, that isn’t what Paul means. Neither does he mean that the gospel affects God. It doesn’t. What he means is that the God is the originator and source of gospel.

This is important to understand. The good news that saves people from sin and death has its origin and source in God the Father. Some have this notion that the God of the Old Testament is some mean, malicious God. And Jesus had to somehow wrestle him into submission so that we lowly human beings could be saved. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. This is God’s gospel. This good news was his idea all along. And it is to this gospel that Paul has been called.

But it is not only what Paul has been called to. We have all this same gospel call in some fashion. As John Wesley said, “You have one business on earth -- to save souls.” We may not be apostles, but we are set apart for the gospel of God. Though Paul doesn’t explicitly say in Romans 12 that we are set apart for the gospel, it is understood that is what he meant when he tells us to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed and then goes on to say,

Romans 12:4–5 ESV

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

To what end? To the gospel confession, the gospel command, and the gospel change that we are about to look at! We do not all have the same function. None of us are apostles, but we are called to be something so as to focus on the gospel of God. That’s God’s radical gospel calling us to focus on the proclamation of the gospel.

The Gospel Confession

The first lesson that Paul taught in this text is that there is a gospel call. He was called as an apostle set apart for the gospel of God. The second lesson that Paul taught in this text is there is a gospel confession. Paul wrote of the gospel:

Romans 1:2–4 ESV

which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

The gospel has its source and origination in God, but it has its revelation in Scripture. A few weeks ago we saw what is called the proto-evangelium, the first gospel promise in

Genesis 3:15 ESV

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

And through the centuries, promise after promise was made that there would come a Messiah who would set things right and deliver God’s people. So Paul pointed out that the gospel was prophesied about for centuries, but he goes on to give us the content, the confession of the gospel. The gospel is about Jesus Christ our Lord. Starting in verse four, we see him telling us what that gospel confession is: it is concerning his Son. For the next couple of verses, he is describing “his Son” in various ways building up to his name: Jesus Christ our Lord.

But notice the two ways in which Jesus Christ is described. It’s like Paul describing Jesus as two sides of the same coin: first according to this humanity and then according to his divinity. The ESV doesn’t quite get this across and so I’m going to get quite literal on you for a moment as we see Paul’s description of Jesus and thus, the gospel confession.

In verse four, we find that Paul called Jesus, “his Son” meaning God’s Son.

In verse five, we find Paul called Jesus, “the Son of God in power.”

In verse four, we find Paul saying that Jesus “was born.” That doesn’t come through in the ESV, but it is literally what Paul wrote.

In verse five, Paul said that Jesus “was declared.”

In verse four, Jesus was born “from the seed of David.”

In verse five, Jesus was declared “from the resurrection of the dead.”

In verse four, Jesus is spoken of “according to the flesh.

In verse five, Jesus is spoke of “according to the spirit of holiness.”

Verse four is all about Jesus’s humanity. He is the son of God, but according to the flesh (humanly speaking) he was born from the seed of David. Verse five is all about Jesus’s deity. He is the Son of God in power and according to the spirit of holiness, he was declared to be so from the resurrection of the dead. I think the human side of Jesus is pretty self-explanatory, but the divine side is a bit more complicated and so I want to spend just a couple of minutes more.

First, what does it mean that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God in power? Some have taken that to mean that Jesus was not originally God’s Son, but was adopted to be his Son. Thus, at some point (some say at his baptism, others at the resurrection) Jesus was declared to be God’s Son. But that is not what Paul meant at all. Remember, he already stated that Jesus was God’s Son before stating he was born from the seed of David. Paul added the words, “in power” in verse five. Though Jesus showed himself powerful in his pre-death life, there is no greater power displayed than in his resurrection. To declare so is not to make it so.

We have recently celebrated Christmas and all the presents from under the tree were taken out to be unwrapped. Everyone waits to see what everyone else has gotten. It is inevitable that someone will say, “What did you get?” And it is inevitable that at some point, the response will be “A box!” That’s true as far as it goes, but it isn’t the whole truth. When all the wrapping paper is stripped away and the tape on the box is ripped off, the eyes light up and the gift is seen for what it really is. Suddenly, the gift is declared to be what it always was but not known to those watching from the outside. That’s the same with the gospel confession.

Hence, Jesus could say at his crucifixion, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” They knew they were putting a man to death, but they did not realize the full truth of his identity. Hence Peter could say at the tail-end of his sermon,

Acts 2:36 ESV

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

But then there’s the question of what “according to the spirit of holiness” means. If you look in your Bible, you’ll most likely see that Spirit is capitalized indicating a reference to the Holy Spirit. However, it seems more probable to me not to mean the Holy Spirit (as this would be the only time the Holy Spirit is referred to in this way), but Jesus’s own spirit of holiness. His divine spirit though admittedly that is the only time we see it stated that way also. Remember that Jesus was a divine spirit, just as the Father and Holy Spirit were up until he was incarnated, that is up until he was conceived in Mary’s womb. According to that divine spirit he is declared to be the Son of God in power.

Though Paul doesn’t go into it in his greetings to the Romans, he does address the reason for Jesus’s being both man and God. In Romans 8, we find these words:

Romans 8:2–4 ESV

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

In essence, Jesus had to be a human being because sin is required to be condemned in a human being. But that human must be the Son of God so as to absorb the wrath of such condemnation. That’s God’s radical gospel that confesses Jesus, the eternal, divine son of God, was born as a human to die, but he did not stay dead. Instead he rose from the dead proving he was who he claimed to be.

The Gospel Command

This leads us to the third lesson that Paul taught in these verses. The first was that there is a gospel call. The second is there is a gospel confession. Third, there is a gospel command. In other words, the gospel commands us to believe.

Romans 1:5 ESV

through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

Let’s quickly look at the beginning of this verse. It is Jesus Christ our Lord who has become the agent by which we receive grace. In this instance, Paul used what is known as “epistolary we.” That’s kind of like the “royal we” but a little different. He doesn’t mean to indicate that the Romans were apostles and he most likely wasn’t referring to any other apostles since he hasn’t mentioned any. Still, we can apply this even to our situation in the sense of Jesus is the agent of grace. Without him, we cannot receive grace from God. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him. As Jesus said in

John 6:40 ESV

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

There is no other way to receive eternal life. There is no other way to be raised on the last day. It is all by the grace of God through Jesus his son. This was what John was getting at in

John 3:36 ESV

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

But we go back to that calling of apostleship. His focus was on the gospel of God and having described what the gospel confession is, he now points out that there is a purpose to his explanation: “to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations.” His appointment to the gospel of God was to see that the Gentiles obey the gospel command—the command to believe. That’s what obedience of faith means. It is faith’s obedience.

You see, if you believe the gospel confession, then you live the gospel confession. It affects who you are and the way you live. We’ll see this in a moment. But the gospel confession commands one to believe so as to act. This again is what faith is. Faith moves. It acts. It is never stagnant. Even if God is calling us to be still and trust him, the act of self-restraint is still an act of faith. We prove our faith by restraining ourselves from taking over. Faith obeys, but disobedience proves one does not believe.

Thus, we go back to Romans 8:

Romans 8:7–8 ESV

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

This is a person who does not believe. He is hostile to God. He does not submit to God’s law; he doesn’t obey. He cannot even obey. And so he cannot please God. As the writer of Hebrews wrote,

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

A profession of faith is not enough. Obedience of faith, that’s what the gospel commands. As R. C. Sproul stated, “Salvation comes through the possession of faith, not just the profession. You can profess to have something you don’t really possess.” Paul’s mission was to proclaim the gospel confession and beg people to believe. That’s why he wrote a few verses from now:

Romans 1:14–15 ESV

I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

The gospel call to proclaim the gospel confession so the people would obey the gospel command put Paul under an obligation to everyone, regardless of language or intelligence. But notice Paul’s motivation: for the sake of Christ’s name:

Romans 1:5 ESV

through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

Christ’s reputation among the secular world is at stake. Paul not only sees the need to live in obedience of faith himself, but to bring others to it as well for the cause of Christ’s reputation! One of the reasons we give for not evangelizing or being on mission is that we are afraid of what others will think of us. We are concerned for our own reputation. But not Paul. Paul was concerned for Christ’s reputation.

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 ESV

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

God’s radical gospel calls us to not only profess to believe, but to possess faith and live it and breathe it and speak it to those who are perishing. It is the gospel command.

The Gospel Change

Which leads us to the last lesson Paul taught. The first was that there is a gospel call and we saw that we all have it in one way or another. The second is that there is a gospel confession that Jesus is the eternal son of God who was born as a human and died and rose again proving his deity. The third lesson is that there is a gospel command to believe so as to act and live. And finally, we see that there is a gospel change in the lives of those who live in that obedience of faith. Look at what Paul wrote to the Romans:

Romans 1:6–7 ESV

including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So here is Paul’s telling the Romans that he desires to work among them to see that they too have an obedience of faith. They are among the Gentiles, the nations, to whom Paul brings about the obedience of faith. And then notice how he described them. This is clearly a letter directed toward the church in Rome, but he calls them “loved by God” or even better, “God’s beloved.” This is the gospel change. Without God’s gospel design, we would never experience God’s love. In fact, it is God’s love that even makes the gospel possible. It is God’s gospel that makes God’s love not only known mentally, but known experientially.

But also notice that they are called saints. This is a major change that the gospel makes. Sadly, we don’t consider ourselves saints. Instead, in either genuine or false humility, we refer to ourselves as “sinners saved by grace.” That’s not the typical way that the Bible describes us. We were sinners; we are now saints. There are less than a handful of times that we see saints being called sinners and those are in James toward those who are leaving the faith to be friends of the world. In the original, there is no “to be” in Romans 1:7. They are called saints. While it isn’t wrong to insert the words, “to be,” it does make it seem like a state to aspire to rather than one already realized. We are called saints. That’s what the gospel does; it changes us from sinners to saints.

It is to these that Paul wishes grace and peace. Both come from God and Jesus both.

Conclusion

As we conclude this study in Romans, I hope we see that this book has gospel written all over it. There is a reason we have what has come to be known as the Romans Road taking people all the way through the gospel. It is the reason for Paul’s writing the letter. The gospel of God is his life. It is his obligation, his calling, his joy. So, he from the beginning he teaches us about this gospel; there is a gospel call, a gospel confession, a gospel command, and a gospel change.

If you have never put your faith in Christ, there is a gospel command to you to believe. You have heard the gospel confession. You’ve heard what the gospel is: Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was born as a human to die and absorb the wrath of God on your behalf, and rose from the dead proving he was God in the flesh. Now, you have heard, and you are accountable for what you’ve heard. Paul wrote later in Romans,

Romans 10:13 ESV

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

And says that faith comes through hearing, but then goes on to say,

Romans 10:16 ESV

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”

Obey the gospel and believe! You’ve heard it and are now accountable to believe it!

If you profess to believe, examine to make sure you are living in obedience of faith. Is your faith active or stagnant? Do you have a strong sense to live for sake of the name of our Lord? Do you know your gospel call? Though you may not be an apostle, a missionary, or even an evangelist, there is a call of the gospel to be some type of ambassador for Christ among those around you: your family, your neighbors, your coworkers, your fellow-students.

You are changed, not for change’s sake, but for Christ’s sake. You are saints, called of Jesus Christ for the sake of his name. May we live for his fame.