Romans: The Line in the Sand
Message Title: The Serving Line, Part I
Scripture: Romans 1:1
In Matthew 16, we see this familiar discourse between Jesus and His disciple Peter:
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Only through revelation by the Spirit of God was Peter able to say those words. This book, The Epistle to the Romans, offers us, through the revelation of the Spirit of God, a plethora of knowledge, an overabundance of wisdom, and a wealth of information. What knowledge, what wisdom, and what information might that be? It offers us a diagnosis. If offers man healing for a heart that God has said is deceitful above all things and beyond cure (Jeremiah 17:9). Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, puts his finger on the exact need that man has, a need that can only be put right by what is right before Him that is right above all.
Ministries come and go with men and women, but some remain long after the initial founder is dead and gone. Some ministries have survived through generations, even spanning centuries. Those that come and go were based on personality; those that remain long after find their roots and nourishment in God.
Jeremiah 17:
7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."
An expository study on the book of Romans requires diligence and much prayer, on everyone’s part. This study of Romans needs to be an experience, because without fully experiencing this epistle and the depths to which it reaches, you’re going to quickly grow tired of this study and you’re going to long to move on to something else; something less personal and more superficial.
If we’re not putting forth the effort and the prayer required to fully appreciate and experience this epistle privately and corporately we won’t grow as a church. If you want something topical and shallow to feed your soul, then you’re not going to see the very remedy needed for that self-exalting heart that is beating in your chest.
Only through the Spirit of God will we be able to recognize the things of God.
1 Timothy 4:1, 2
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
The very teachings that are contained within Romans are the same teachings that today’s society has given up. We need to go back to Romans, back to the wholesome nourishment that it contains. We need to go back to Romans, back to the sweet spiritual sustenance that it contains, and we need to drink deeply from the satisfying waters of its doctrinal fountain.
The Swiss commentator, Godet, pointed out that every movement of revival in the history of the Christian church has been connected with the teachings set forth in Romans. He says:
The Reformation was certainly the work of the epistle to the Romans and that to the Galatians, and it is probable that every great spiritual renovation in the Church will always be linked, both in cause and in effect, to a deeper knowledge of this book.
But history doesn’t stop there…
Martin Luther, when he came across the verse, "The righteous will live by faith." (Romans 1:17b), underwent a complete transformation in his life. Martin Luther had this to say about the Book of Romans:
"The epistle to the Romans is the true masterpiece of the New Testament and the very purest gospel, which is well worth and deserving that a Christian man should not only learn it by heart, word for word, but also that he should daily deal with it as the daily bread of men’s souls. It can never be too much or too well read or studied, and the more it is handled the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes."
John Wesley, in a prayer meeting at Aldersgate London, felt his heart strangely warmed when he heard the truth set forth from Romans. He was seeking a deeper commitment, a more personal relationship with God, and he found it in Romans.
The philosopher Samuel Coleridge stated that the epistle to the Romans is “the most profound writing that exists.”
Watchmen Nee (1903-1972), the persecuted Chinese minister, used this very book of Romans in his own book, “The Normal Christian Life.” He says that "the great exposition of the normal Christian life is found in the first eight chapters of the epistle to the Romans."
But, don’t let all of that scare you. They’re just simply saying that Romans got hold of their heart, the same way it got hold of John Bunyan’s heart while he was in jail in Bedfordshire, England, [arrested] for open air preaching. Romans got hold of him, and when he got out of jail, he had the manuscript for the Pilgrim’s Progress.
Great men come and go. Their personal ministries come and go, and these ramblings, though they are from notable and great men of history, are just their lofty way of explaining the way which Paul tenaciously digs into man’s heart aiming to sever that sin root that we carefully unknowingly guard with our lives.
It wasn’t other great men that made subsequent men great in preaching the Word of God. It wasn’t great men giving great messages that began the Reformation. It wasn’t great men using weighty words and philosophical verbosity that overcame the hearts of the simple-minded…it was the inspired Word of God. It was this epistle to the Romans that got hold of people’s hearts. It was the inspired Word of God, this epistle to the Romans that not only swept the house clean, but kept it clean and perfect for the Master’s use.
How can one small book of the Bible do so much? How can 16 short chapters prompt so many to turn away from their inner selves to God? What is it? Donald Grey Barnhouse says, “…the story of this great book: ‘salvation for individual souls from any stage of sin, and ultimate salvation for the nations through the intervention of God in Christ.’”
In other words, “Romans is aimed at everyone for any point in their lives.”
It doesn’t matter at what point in your Christian walk you’re at right now, Romans is for you. It doesn’t matter how old, young, mature, immature, smart, or inarticulate you are, or even how spiritual you may think you are, Romans was written just for you.
Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God-
There is the first verse of this great epistle. There is our starting point and it begins with a simple name: Paul.
How many Paul’s have you known during your life? I remember a fictitious one, Paul Bunyan. Paul Bunyan was a fictitious character that was created in the logging camps of Minnesota, and was bigger than life. He was a lumberjack that was so big and tall, that when he walked through Minnesota his footprints created Minnesota’s thousand lakes.
We all know that’s not true, but when we look at the life of Paul in the Bible, and what others who knew him at that time write about him, we cannot help but understand how stories of such magnitude about common men could get started.
Who is Paul? Well, without going into too much detail, Saul [later called Paul], was a zealous Jew that went about killing and putting into prison those that professed Jesus as their Lord and Savior. He met Jesus after the crucifixion. Saul was on his way to kill and imprison even more Christian Jews when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Saul was struck blind, and wandered into town with the words of Jesus still ringing in his ears, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4).
Then later, in Acts 13, we see Luke begin to use the name Paul rather than Saul.
Why the name change? Chrysotom suggests this:
It was, that he might not even in this respect come short of the Apostles, but that that preeminence which the chief of the Disciples had, he might also acquire (Mark 3:16); and have whereon to ground a closer union with them.
[Mark 3:16 lists the apostles…]
Chrysotom is basically saying that the name was changed to put him, Paul, at the same level as the original 12 apostles. Yet, we can also say that the name may have been changed simply to separate the two very different people. Saul killed Christians, Paul ministered to Christians. Saul brought imprisonment to those in Jesus Christ, while Paul brought freedom for those in Jesus Christ
What does your name suggest in the minds of those around you? Does it solicit the standard optical/cranial response? You know, eye rolling and head shaking. There is always someone, that, when you think about them it prompts you to roll your eyes and shake your head slightly at the very mention of their name as it conjures up thoughts of their actions in life or in the church.
When you say the name Paul, what is your immediate thought? When you think of the name Paul, with regard to the Bible, what do you think of? Do you think of him as the writer of over one third of the books of the New Testament: Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and [maybe] Hebrews? Do you think of him as a missionary? What’s your picture of him? The reason I ask this is because his writing shapes your thinking or memory of him, just like your words, actions, and deeds before others shape their thinking or memory of you. This thinking or memory of you that they have, in the bigger picture, can shape their overall thinking of Christianity. So, I’ll ask the question again, what do you think the mention of your name suggests in the minds of those at your work, church, or even in your family? In their minds, do they go on and end their thinking with ..., a servant of Christ Jesus?
Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God-
Paul, a servant of …
What or Who are you a slave [servant] of ?
There are several kinds of servitude. There is of course the broad term that covers everything and is covered in Psalm 119:91, where it says “…for all things serve you.
Even the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar was called a servant of God before he went in and killed many Jews and took many of the survivors away to Babylon [including Daniel]…
Jeremiah 25:9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon," declares the LORD, "and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin.
There is also civil subjection or servitude, the civil servant. Moses was called a servant of God (Josiah 1:2) to the Hebrews, who were indeed all servants of God.
And, there is one that is found in Romans 6:17,18:
17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Paul, represented all these forms and all those forms are represented in the statement… “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ.
Yet, there is still more within and without ourselves, that take us back to that individual word, slave or servant. We can readily see that there are at least three different kinds of slavery: Slavery to Sin, Slavery to Legalism, or Slavery to Jesus Christ.
Slavery to sin
While without Christ
This is the simple and lowest form of man. Man, without Christ, is a slave to his own body and mind, while still believing or thinking that he is the master of it. This is the very reason that successful businesspeople will take their own lives. In their Christ-less minds, they believe there is nothing more to accomplish other than their own immoral exploits, and if there is nothing more with which to take up their time, they kill themselves. Additionally, this is the very reason that many depressed and stressed out people take their own lives as well. They are slaves to their own sin, and they believe they can’t get out of it and that they can’t be found out, so they take their own life.
But it doesn’t stop their, for even many of those that have professed Christ as their Lord and Savior, are still in bondage to sin.
While with Christ
So often it happens that after someone puts their faith in Jesus Christ they fall victim to their own selves. And, rather than becoming a servant or slave of Jesus Christ, they instead become a slave to sin. They are held captive by past sins, or present recurring sins/habits and they are helpless to improve their Christian standing.
Watchmen Nee puts his finger on the exact cause of this in his book, The Normal Christian Life (page 28, 29, Tyndale Publishers):
"[you tell yourself] You have sinned, and you keep on sinning. You are weak, and God can have nothing more to do with you. This is his [Satan’s] argument. And our temptation is to look within and in self-defense to try to find in ourselves, in our feelings or our behavior, some ground for believing that Satan is wrong. Alternatively we are tempted to admit our helplessness and, going to the other extreme, to yield to depression and despair. Thus accusation becomes one of the greatest and most effective of Satan’s weapons. He points to our sins and seeks to charge us with them before God, and if we accept his accusations we go down immediately.
Now the reason why we so readily accept his accusations is that we are still hoping to have some righteousness of our own. The ground of our expectation is wrong…
God is well able to deal with our sins; but he cannot deal with a man under accusation, because such a man is not trusting in the Blood [of Jesus Christ]."
Like Watchmen Nee says, we are not trusting that the Blood of Jesus Christ covers all our sins, whether past, present, and future, and we instead live miserable Christian lives because we’ve been rendered ineffective by the Accuser, Satan himself.
But it doesn’t stop there. Rather than seeking the Word of God to remedy this slavery to sin, many people receive counseling to turn to other books other sources, other than the Word of God.
George Mueller
In the life of George Mueller of Bristol there was an epoch event, four years after his conversion, which he often spoke about as his entrance into the true Christian life. In an address given to ministers and workers after his ninetieth birthday, he spoke the following about himself…
“That leads to another thought—the full surrender of the heart to God. I was converted in November, 1825, but I only ‘came into the full surrender of the heart’ four years later in July, 1829. The love of money, the love of place, the love of position, the love of worldly pleasures and engagements were gone. God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else.
“I read a little of the Scriptures before but preferred other books. Since that time the revelation He has made of Himself has become unspeakably blessed to me, and I can say from my heart, God is an infinitely lovely Being. Oh! Do not be satisfied until in your inmost soul you can say, God is an infinitely lovely Being!”
“I fell into the snare which so many young believers fall into. The reading of religious books is preferred to the Scriptures. …I practically preferred the works of uninspired men for the first four years of my Christian life to the oracles of the Living God.”
There are so many snares and traps that can burden us, hinder us, or drag us down, and that is why the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 10:25, not to forsake the meeting of the saints. You need me, and I need you, and we need to keep a Spirit-led eye on each other so that we don’t fall and become a slave to sin…
But there is even more that can snare us and trap us.
Slavery/Servant to legalism
The Law…
The Jews had in their social and economic system set forth laws and regulations that governed the people. Not only did they uphold the laws as issued in the Bible, but they had laws in addition to these laws. They were very restrictive and burdensome laws that hindered the spiritual freedom of the people.
These laws, for the most part, were carried out to the very letter of the law, while many of the lawmakers were either not following the laws or using the laws to make themselves rich. The people were dieing spiritually, while others were gaining materially. The people were slaves to the law because it didn’t provide freedom, but instead bound them like servants.
Traditions
Laws were not the only things that made people slaves, there were traditions also. There were traditions that observed this or that phase of the moon, or a festival commemorating some past event that required mandatory attendance, and, if you didn’t attend, you would be talked about, or put in jail, or it would be said that you wouldn’t receive the blessings of God. People became slaves to traditions, and people still become slaves to traditions today. Saying such things as: “well that’s the way we’ve always done it…”
These two that we’ve talked about so far, Slavery to Sin and Slavery to Legalism, of course, are the two that we want to stay away from. There is one, the one that Paul ascribed to, that should be looked at as desirable by all…
Slavery to Jesus Christ
The secret of Paul’s greatness is in the order of his wording. He says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle….”
He is a servant first. He is a bondslave first to Jesus. Paul understood the necessity to totally surrender to Christ from the moment in which the Lord revealed himself on the Damascus road.
There is a hidden meaning in the word, “bondslave.” It’s a meaning of truth concerning the inner nature or inclination of a heart that is surrendered to Jesus.
Exodus 21:
1 "These are the laws you are to set before them: 2 "If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. 5 "But if the servant declares, ’I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ 6 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
Jewish slave owners were required to let their [Jewish] slaves go free when the seventh year of their captivity rolled around. Slaves once again became their own masters. Some of them, however, realized that they had it really good and that they would never really be able to take care of themselves or their families the way they had been cared for in the past. So, they would tell their owner that they desired to remain a slave the rest of their lives. The slave owner would then take the slave to the tabernacle, where the priest would lead the slave to the doorpost and bore a hole in the lob of his ear with an awl.
That’s the story of the life of Paul. He says in this epistle to the Romans, like Frances Havergall in her hymn “I love, I love my Master."
I love, I love my Master
I will not go out free,
For He is my Redeemer,
He paid the price for me.
He chose me for His service,
And gave me power to choose
That blessèd, ‘perfect freedom’
Which I shall never lose.
Rejoicing and adoring,
Henceforth my song shall be:
I love, I love my Master,
I will not go out free!
