STUDY THEME: THE MANGER AND THE MISSION. SS12-11-05.
ROMANS 1: 1-7, 13-17. 1: 1—7, 13-15, 16-17.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO ROMANS 1.
Last Sunday in our study of the Book of Jonah we were asked, “Why Should I care if others never hear?” God cares. Toward the end of his third missionary journey, Paul wrote a letter to the church at Rome. Paul probably wrote this letter from Corinth about A.D. 57. At that time, Paul was collecting an offering to aid the suffering Christians in Jerusalem.
Paul planned to travel to Spain after taking the collection to Jerusalem. In route to Spain he would visit Rome. He hoped for the church at Rome to support him on his Spanish mission with an offering, prayers and encouragement.
Paul began his letter to the Roman church by identifying himself as the writer and describing himself as a slave of Christ Jesus. The first fact Paul mentioned about himself was probably most important to him. He was a slave to Jesus Christ.
1. PLEASE READ ROMANS 1: 1-7.
Paul had given himself freely to become Christ’s slave after Christ set him free from the slavery of sin. As a slave, he now existed to do the will of Jesus, his Master. Since Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost, Paul was serving Christ, seeking the lost for Him among the Gentiles.
He made it clear that he was not his own man. He belonged to Christ who had the right to make demands of him. He also described himself as called to the task of being an apostle. The word apostle means “one who is sent” by another. Christ Jesus had laid an absolute claim on Paul’s life and sent him forth to preach God’s good news. He was commission by his Lord to proclaim God’s good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.
After God saved Paul on the Damascus road, He called him through Ananias to serve Him as an apostle to the Gentiles. Therefore, Paul was authorized by God Himself to preach in Rome, Spain, and anywhere else. Paul had been faithful to that calling. And as he wrote this letter, he was planning yet another missionary journey.
Having mentioned God’s good news, Paul moved from writing a description of himself to describe that good news. Though God’s good news is news to those who have never heard it, this news was not new or of recent origin. God spoke though His prophets in the Holy Scriptures of His plan to send a Savior. God has always had just one plan of salvation---faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul was referring to the various prophets whose ministries and messages were recorded in what we call the O.T. The word prophet means, “to speak forth.” Sometimes they prophesied of future events, at other times they heralded forth the message God gave them to speak.
Paul pointed out that God had promised the gospel long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Paul did not specify at this point exactly what prophetic passages he had in mind, but we can discern his intention from other passages. The comments in 1 Cor. 15:3-4 seem to refer to Isaiah 53: 10-11. Galatians 3: 14 may refer to God’s promise to Abraham in Gen. 12:2-3 that He would make him a blessing to all nations, and in Joel 2:28 that He would send His Holy Spirit “on all humanity” through faith.
Paul’s mentioning God’s promised gospel has significance. First, God’s provision through Jesus Christ is no afterthought, but a part of His eternal plan. Second, salvation through Jesus Christ is an integral part of God’s revelation to Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Then Paul defined the gospel as concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. God’s good news is a message about a man---Jesus---who lived at a particular time and place in history. He lived in Judea and Galilee during the reigns of Augustus Caesar and Pontius Pilate. Unlike the mystical gods of others, He belonged to our time and space. This Man, however, was far more than a mere man. He was the Son of God. That is, Jesus was the embodiment of everything God is. He was God in human form living our human life, suffering our pains and knowing our struggles.
Furthermore, Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. Christ translates “anointed one.” Again, calling Jesus Christ, or Messiah, rooted him in Israel’s faith as the promised anointed descendant of King David.
For centuries the nation of Israel had anticipated the coming of the “anointed one” who would deliver them from their enemies.
Paul continued this dual description of His Lord by describing Him as a descendant of David according to the flesh. God’s promised good news also had to do with His promises to David. In 2 Samuel 7: 8-16 God promised David that he would always have a descendant to sit on his throne.
Ps. 2 and 110 look forward to God’s victory through the Messianic King. Jesus fulfilled God’s promise to David and to Israel concerning the Messiah. At the purely human level, Jesus was descended from David. Both Mary and Joseph were descended from King David, though by different lines of ancestry. You may want to compare Matt. 1 and Luke 3 this Christmas.
Paul exulted in his calling to proclaim this marvelous good news about Jesus. The resurrection proved that Jesus of Nazareth was the embodiment of all God is. We call this truth the doctrine of incarnation. God had given Paul grace, the undeserved favor of proclaiming this good news. His apostleship was to proclaim the resurrection of the Son of God.
Christ had commissioned Paul to call all people of all the nations to obey God by believing in Jesus. He was called to proclaim Jesus on behalf of His name---that is, in Jesus’ name and on His authority. Paul’s commission by his Lord to proclaim the gospel to all nations included those believers at Rome to whom he was writing.
Having finished his lengthy description of himself and his call, Paul at last in vs. 7 addressed his intended readers as all who are in Rome, meaning all those in Rome who were believers in Jesus Christ. Then he described them as loved by God. God’s love for them had been demonstrated in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The Roman believers also were called saints. Just as Paul had been called as an apostle, all the believers were called of God. Saints means “holy ones” who are set aside to God’s service. All believers are set aside to God’s service as certainly as Paul was.
Paul concluded his salutation with a blessing. He combined the traditional Greek blessing grace with the Hebrew blessing peace. He tied these greetings to the gospel he proclaimed by adding from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul concluded his opening remarks by speaking in vs. 8-12 of his prayer regarding the believers in Rome. In his prayer, Paul thanked God for the faith of the believers at Rome. He expressed his prayer that God would bring him to Rome to minister to them. He concluded his prayer by saying in vs. 12 that he desired both he and the Roman believers “be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” This last comment also laid the groundwork for his request for financial assistance in missions. The Roman believers would encourage Paul as their faith produced the fruit of missions giving. He also might have pictured Rome becoming the base of his missionary labors like Antioch had been.
Paul’s opening comments hold tremendous significance for us. Just as Paul and the Roman believers were called of God, so we are called to serve God. Paul was called to be an apostle; we are called to be God’s holy people. Paul was called to proclaim the gospel; so are we.
Roman believers were to come alongside Paul to assist him on his missionary expedition into Spain; we are honored to come alongside those whom God has called today to go out as missionaries. Paul believed God wanted the believers to assist in his missionary enterprise. We should support the work of world missions with our financial contributions through the cooperative program and the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.
God does not call everyone to go to another country to preach the gospel. God does call every believer, however, to participated in missions. We all can participate in missions in two highly significant ways---by our financial contributions and by our prayers.
2. PLEASE READ ROMANS 1: 13-15.
Vs. 13-15 contain three admirable insights into Paul’s thinking and commitment to evangelize all nations. One reason the apostle wanted to visit Rome was to have a fruitful ministry among them like he had among Gentiles elsewhere. He knew that if he preached Christ in Rome, the gospel would bear fruit. He yearned to see what God would do in Rome. God promises much fruit if believers will sow the seeds of the gospel.
Paul spoke of the results of his ministry as fruit. He had found fruit in other places he had been, and he wanted to help in the harvest in Rome. Apparently he used the word fruit here to describe new converts. Bearing fruit in the Lord is not the same as getting results using human means. With proper training and a flair for selling, a person can get certain results, but only God can use the sincere testimony of an average believer to win someone to Christ.
The apostle did not say why he had been prevented from coming to Rome in the past. The reason might have been Satan. Or the time might not have been ripe for a missionary visit by him. He might not have finished his ministry in the east, though he had preached from Jerusalem in Palestine to Illyricum, the northeastern limits of his missionary labors up to that time. Though he had not been able to go to Rome, he had a heart for them and a desire to share Christ with them.
The term the wise and the foolish might refer to the same two groups of people as Greeks and Barbarians, seen of course from the Greek’s perspective. The apostle was emphasizing that he felt obligated to all people of every nation, language, education, and social standing to share with them the gospel of Christ.
At this point, Paul stated a powerful point in his message to the Romans, I am obligated, he wrote. None of the self-made-man nonsense for Paul! None of the I-owe-nothing-to-anyone attitude for this great missionary. Paul knew well that he stood under a great obligation. Paul was obligated to his Lord who redeemed him and called him into His service. He was obligated to Christ to whom he belonged as a slave. Christ had claims on Paul’s life that placed him under tremendous obligation.
Since the gospel is for all people, Paul felt obligated to tell everyone. In this context Greeks referred to everyone who could speak Greek. The conquests of Alexander the great spread Greek culture over the world of that day. Greek was a universal language, either primary or secondary. Even the Romans used it rather than Latin in many official functions.
Barbarians is the name the Greeks used of people who did not speak Greek. To the Greeks, non-Greeks seemed to be saying “bar-bar-bar.” The word Greeks and barbarians encompassed everyone. Paul used another pair of words to describe all humanity as either wise or unwise. He could have been thinking of educational levels, or he could have been contrasting the wise and the foolish.
Paul had found in Christ all he needed. Being silent at such a time would have been sinful. Christians should not be guilty of failing to share the good news.
This obligation was not only to Paul’s Lord. Jesus came into the world to redeem people of all nations. Jesus died and rose again. He had called Paul to join Him in this mission by proclaiming the good news of salvation. As Jesus’ mission was to all the world, Paul’s was also. For this reason, Paul recognized his obligation to all people everywhere.
3. PLEASE READ ROMANS 1: 16-17.
These two verses are often quoted to encourage courageous witnessing. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. In fact, he was profoundly proud of the gospel. In contrast to him, some Christians act as if they are ashamed of the Lord. Jesus warned in Mark 8: 38 that those who are ashamed of Him would someday hear Christ say that He is ashamed of them.
The words not ashamed are in another of Paul’s most familiar testimonies: He wrote in 2 Timothy 1: 12, “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that day.”
The N.T. and other records of that time show some of the reasons why some professing Christians acted as if they were ashamed of Christ. They were a minority who received ridicule and persecution. Their leader was a Jewish carpenter turned preacher. He was executed on the charge of being a seditionist.
Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 1: 23 that the preaching of the cross was foolishness to the Greeks. Many Christians, therefore, were tempted to remain silent about their faith, or even to deny Christ.
Acts 16 illustrates the challenge to be ashamed and Paul’s boldness. Paul was speaking to King Herod Agrippa II and Festus, the Roman governor. Paul was not timid in what he said. After mentioning Christ’s resurrection, Festus called Paul crazy. Paul denied that he was demented. Instead he pressed Agrippa about his own belief in the prophets.
Where did Paul get his boldness? Was he endowed with a personality that was naturally bold? Some people speak as if being bold came easy for a man like Paul. Paul was just a man---but one highly motivated and endowed by God. If being bold came easy for Paul, why did he so often ask Christians to pray for the Lord to give him boldness? He felt a keen responsibility to God and to others. His message was desperately needed. He was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
This is the good news of salvation from sin and death. This salvation is not something people earn. It comes by the grace and the power of God.
People’s response to this salvation is faith. Faith involves more than intellectual assent to statements about God? It is the kind of personal faith in Jesus Christ that involves commitment and trust.
According to Acts 17, when Paul preached to the Greeks on Mars Hill, in Athens, Greece, the story of a resurrected Savior impressed the philosophical Greeks as nonsense. Evidently the Romans as a whole felt the same way. They believed that a person who had been dead for three days simply did not rise again.
Moreover, their philosophy held the body in contempt, so resurrection held no attraction for their minds. Also, a gospel of a crucified Savior was contemptible to Roman minds obsessed with success and power. Crucifixion epitomized failure and powerlessness. These realities could have intimidated early evangelists preaching in the empire’s capital.
Paul, however, boldly announced that he was not ashamed of the Gospel. Neither Greek Philosophy nor the Roman empire’s pride in its power could intimidate this apostle and evangelist.
Paul was not ashamed of the gospel for one great reason---it is God’s power for salvation. The gospel proclamation may seem to some to be mere sounds in the air or ink prints on paper. Paul knew differently. When he preached the good news of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, marvelous things happened. Hearts were convicted; minds were changed; and lives were transformed. God’s salvation came to twisted, broken lives as Paul told the story of what God had done through Jesus of Nazareth.
The gospel exhibits this power in the life of everyone who believes. Jews divided the world into Jews and Gentiles. The gospel was first for the Jew because the gospel of a Jewish Savior originally came to the Jews. The gospel, though, is also for the Greek. Paul used the Greek here instead of Gentile because of the pervasive presence of Greeks and their culture in the Roman Empire. The Christians in Rome included both Jewish and Gentile converts. Again, his point was that God’s good news and salvation are for all people of all cultures everywhere.
Again Paul said
that God intends this good news to be for all people. When Paul
entered a city, he went to the Jew first. They were the Old
Testament chosen people whom God had prepared to see the Savior in
their Scriptures. But Paul boldly declared the good news also to the
Greek. The Greek here means “the Gentiles.”
Paul explained why the gospel has such power---in it God’s righteousness is revealed in two ways. God’s righteousness is revealed in His dealing with human sin by the sacrificial death of His Son.
God’s righteousness is revealed because by faith in the gospel we are made right with God. God’s righteousness is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith. These four words have been interpreted many different ways. One probable interpretation is that they mean, “faith from beginning to end.” Salvation is wrapped up in believing the gospel from the first to the last.
In Vs. 17 Paul quoted from Habakkuk 2: 4. “The just or righteous shall live by faith.”
Martin Luther, the great church reformer, was taught that the righteousness or justice of God was a threat of the wrath to come. He also was taught that the way to be saved from the wrath of God was by receiving the sacraments of the church. Then he became a teacher of the Bible and gained new insight into the way of salvation. He was especially impressed by this quotation in Rom. 1: 17. He spent much time pondering the meaning. “nights and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that “the just shall live by faith.” Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. “Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and have gone through open doors into paradise.”
Luther is not what we usually thing of as a missionary, yet he fits the larger definition of crossing barriers for the gospel. He crossed barriers of tradition and recovered the N.T. teaching of “justification by faith.”
Prior to Luther, the Bible was unavailable for most people; the Bible was read in Latin. Luther translated the Bible into the language of the common man. Luther showed the same kind of boldness as Paul in propagating his views. The impact of his teachings produced many evangelical churches. His proclamation of the gospel was virtually that of Paul’s. The N.T. view that Luther had recovered served to renew the churches.
Like Paul, we should not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our culture, similar to Paul’s, worships power and science. Our crucified Lord is contemptible to those who serve power. A resurrected Savior is nonsense to those who worship science.
We know, however, that when the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached and believed, lives are transformed. The gospel truly is God’s power to save all who believe.
Believers are called of God to take the gospel to all the world. We are obligated by our divine calling and by our knowledge of the gospel to take the gospel to all who have never heard.
If we are truly unashamed of the gospel, we will gladly and boldly take the gospel to people of every nation, culture, race, and language. God calls some of us to be missionaries. He calls all of us to support missions with our financial contributions and our prayers.
HAVING NOW COVERED “WHY CARE?” AND “WHY ME?” WE COME NEXT SUNDAY IN ROMANS 14 TO “WHY TRY?” WE CONCLUDE CHRISTMAS DAY WITH “WHY JESUS?” THAT WILL BE A HOME STUDY. WE BEGIN THE NEW YEAR, JAN. 1, WITH A FIVE LESSON SERIES TITLED “THINGS THAT MATTER.” A.V. DAUGHERTY