The Book of Romans Series – Sermon # 1 – Romans 1:1-17 – “Not Ashamed of the Gospel”
A while back a bunch of us got together for a CATM Academy course called Movie Making 101. When the class was gathered I simply introduced the course by saying that we had an opportunity to tell a story. What story do we want to tell? And the people in the class talked back and forth for some time. After a few meetings it became clear that the class wanted to tell a story about Someone who had radically impacted each person’s life for the good. We wanted to tell a story about Jesus. We wanted people to somehow experience, by watching our story, something of what happens when a life is touched by God. We wanted to tell a story to show the kind of difference Jesus actually makes in a person’s life. We wanted it to ring true, and we were ok if was kinda gritty.
To make a long story short, here is the result of Movie Making 101.
Play God’s iPod http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J05C8cVaBGA
Jesus touches lives. Jesus heals. Jesus reclaims us when we have gone astray. Jesus gives us courage and power to make essential changes in our lives. Jesus restores self-respect. Jesus remakes us…when He gets a hold of us.
Those in this room today who follow Jesus each have a story, a personal testimony, about how life is truly different because we have been touched, we have been changed by Jesus. I’m not talking about religion changing anyone. I’m not sure religion itself does much. But Jesus. It is powerfully hard to deny the experience of so many people whose existence has been altered for the good because of Him.
Over the summer we looked at the book of Galatians and I hope we got a sense of its author Paul…how he had been transformed from someone who was diligently religious into someone whose whole life was characterized by passion for Jesus.
Today we begin a look at a book, a letter actually, that the Apostle Paul wrote to Christians living in Rome. He wrote the book around 57 AD, or some 20 years after the Easter event…the crucifixion and…surprise!...resurrection of Jesus. We’ll be taking our time going through the Book of Romans – 12 weeks in fact. For those interested, this series on Romans is also a CATM Academy course, as we’ve already seen. If you choose to take the course, it means submitting weekly one-page reflections on the passage we study together each week. You’ll get feedback on your reflections from yours truly.
Even if you don’t want to or can’t take the course, I do want to challenge each and every person here to read through the book of Romans at least twice over the next number of weeks. (Show “Romans Challenge PPT”). Read it slowly and read it prayerfully. Let it simmer and sit with you. You’ll find it worthwhile.
Right now can we stand and read together the first 17 verses of Romans chapter 1. It is on page _____ in the red pew Bibles. Paul writes with passion, so let’s not read in a monotone. Let’s read with gusto.
First, a little background info about the book of Romans. Unlike other books by Paul where he is writing to people who he knows, Paul here is writing to the church in Rome that was planted by another. Paul was an apostle. That’s not a title of authority as much as it is a descriptive word. [ἀðüóôïëïò apostolos]
The word means: “One sent forth as a messenger”. So Paul, as one who was sent by Jesus, had indeed gone out and shared the message of the gospel with many communities, many cities. He had boldly gone where no one had gone before to tell people about Jesus, about the life-change that results when we receive Jesus into our lives. He endured all kinds of hardships for this (you can read about this in the Book of Acts, from chapter 8 onward). He endured hardships, but he successfully planted a whole bunch of churches. Most of his letters are him writing to people that he knew who needed encouragement and further teaching.
But the book of Romans is different. Paul didn’t know them. He hadn’t planted that church. In fact, no one knows who planted the church at Rome. As was the case with the church at Antioch and others, it wasn’t some big name that planted the church at Rome. Just ordinary believers, some of whom may have been present at Pentecost.
But Paul caught wind through people who travelled from town to town of what was happening at the church in Rome, and so he wrote to them to address concerns that had perhaps been brought up, but also he wrote because the Holy Spirit of God directed him. The big picture of course is that this letter to the Romans would become part of the Biblical canon, or the books that the early church agreed should be included as Scripture because it affirmed the common experience and understanding the early church had.
We believe that God had His hand powerfully on this whole process. Despite what some modern, terribly biased and poorly informed authors have to say, this book, and all the books of the Bible, became part of the Bible because what it contained resonated as true and authoritative to both the original witnesses of all that happened regarding Jesus’ life and to the Christian communities that grew out of the witness of the early church.
So it’s 57 AD. Paul was on his third missionary journey and already thinking about going on a fourth. He’s getting ready to go to Jerusalem with an offering from the churches in Greece. The church in Jerusalem, which included a lot of Jewish converts who in part perhaps due to their conversion found it tough to eek out a living, the church in Jerusalem was very, very poor. So he was taking an offering to them gathered from the churches in Greece who were better off to Jerusalem.
Paul wanted to go to Spain, and the best way to get to Spain would take him through Rome. He hoped the church in Rome would help support his missionary journey to Spain. But Paul had heard through the grapevine that the church in Rome may have heard some erroneous or pretty nutty rumours about the things that Paul taught. If the grapevine was accurate, the church in Rome might go in two directions. One, if they embraced Paul’s authority as a teacher and actually bought into the false rumours circulating about the things he taught, they could led astray.
As someone who loved the church with all his heart, Paul desperately wanted them to believe things that were true and accurate, because what we believe truly matters. Accurate teaching really matters. The gospel as it actually is, is the most important thing ever, because it is the ONLY way that you and I, that humanity can be in relationship with God, the kind of relationship that God wants, that God knows is the path to liberty, the path to joy, the key to a transformed life.
On the other hand if they thought the crazy rumours really represented what Paul actually taught, they might reject Paul out of hand. A third possibility existed too. That some of the church members would go one way and others would go the second way. That would, of course, result in disunity that would threaten the life of the church and, of course, would compromise the ability of the church to bear witness to Jesus, to the gospel of God’s grace. The gospel is the only thing that mattered to Paul.
So Paul wrote in order to clarify and correct, to encourage and to direct the hearts and minds of the church in Rome to Jesus.
Since we’ve read today’s passage together already, and because I don’t have a ton of time left to talk about the entire passage that we read, I’d like us to focus on verse 16 and 17 of chapter 1 because these two verses really summarize the message of the entire book. They also capture Paul’s passion for the gospel
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Paul says he is not ashamed of the gospel. You only need to review a portion of Paul’s experience before he wrote those words to understand what he meant.
Paul was...Imprisoned in Philippi, chased out of Thessalonica, smuggled out of Damascus and Berea, laughed at in Athens, considered a fool at Corinth, and declared a blasphemer and lawbreaker in Jerusalem. He was stoned and left for dead at Lystra...He was never intimidated...ready and eager to preach at Rome, the capital of sin and paganism. He was not ashamed, not even a little of the Gospel.
We all know the temptation of being ashamed of the gospel. We can be afraid...We know that the gospel is repellant to the person who is lost. It exposes human sin, wickedness, and depravity.
Geoffrey Wilson wrote. "The unpopularity of a crucified Christ has prompted many to present a message which is more palatable to the unbeliever, but the removal of the offense of the cross always renders the message ineffective. An inoffensive gospel is also an inoperative gospel. Thus Christianity is wounded most in the house of its friends."
What is the gospel that Paul is not ashamed of? What is this message that he is SO passionate about people hearing? What is this good news that Paul can’t stop talking about, can’t get enough of?
The gospel is the way God rescues people. The way He saves people, to put it succinctly, to put it simply. It is the good news that God sent Jesus into the world (that’s a few words that take volumes to unpack). God the Father sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, into the world to reconcile the world to God. To make a way, to create a bridge between humanity and God, God Himself, actually, took on human flesh. We’ve spent the last nearly 2000 Christmases trying to wrap out minds around this absolutely stunning reality. God lived among us. The Divine, almighty Creator and sustainer of all things…walked among us as a 1st century Palestinian, a Jewish carpenter.
Since the book of Romans is a defense of the gospel of Jesus, let’s take an introductory look at what the gospel actually is. What is it that Paul is so passionate about?
What is the gospel?
The gospel is Christ’s life lived for you.
Jesus came to earth and lived among us for the express purpose of, after teaching us the heart and mind of God, dying for your sins.
The gospel is His righteousness counted as yours
As hard as it is to swallow, the Bible teaches that our good works, on their own or stacked up against our sins, don’t amount to a hill of beans.
Is 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
But the righteous life of Jesus when stacked up against your sins and my sins does amount to something…something huge.
1 Co 1:30b Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Rom 3: 21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
The gospel is your sins paid for by His blood.
1 John 1b: the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
This is Good news. Because of Jesus, when we believe in Him, our sins are not counted against us.
How is the Gospel the power of God?
The English word ‘power’ comes from the word dynamite.
It is The Power that is a gift of grace. It is unearned, and unmerited. It is just given to those who believe.
The gospel is the power that restores relationships
The gospel is the power that conquered death; physical death no longer must lead to spiritual death. Death has been conquered, its sting, hell, has been broken.
The gospel is the power to defeat sin. Christ in the believer is the hope of glory. He enters into and fills the believer’s life with courage and strength to defeat sin, and with a powerful desire for holiness that repels us from sin.
The gospel is the power to set you free.
Gal 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. God wants you to be free. Unbound. Unentangled by sin. Liberated to live for God, liberated to love God and be a vessel of His love.
Scripture testifies to God’s power:
*Glorious power Ex. 15:6
*Irresistible power Deut. 32:39
*Unsearchable power Job 5:9
*Mighty power Job 9:4
*Great power Ps. 79:11
*Incomparable power Ps. 89:8
*Everlasting power Is. 26:4
*Sovereign power Rom. 9:21
Jeremiah 10:12 "He hath make the earth by his power..."
I was at the opening ceremony for Siloam Christian Teaching Ministries International at the Primrose Hotel downtown yesterday. It is the international ministry of Pastor Bonaventure, who speaks six languages. Bonaventure is the Associate Pastor of the Rwandan church that meets upstairs on Sunday mornings. Pastor Bonaventure is a prime example of a man set free to live a life of love and blessing to others. He is one happy fellow. A huge number of people have been loved and taught and blessed through his life. Jesus saved and untangled his life so that he could be free to live joyfully liberated. To live a life that impacts others, that impacts the world for good. Freedom matters to God.
So you see, Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. He has experienced and he knows, like so many in this room, that the gospel is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes. Don’t try to be good enough. Don’t put your hope in a misplaced notion that enough good works tip the scale of God’s justice in your favour. You don’t have to live in fear of what comes after this life. You can, through faith in Jesus alone, have a deep and profound and inspiring assurance and confidence that your place in heaven has been won by Jesus. With that confidence in place, you can live courageously, you can take smart risks that you wouldn’t otherwise. You life can be opened to whole new directions and pathways and blessings.
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. He is not embarrassed by or feel compromised by the message of Jesus Christ. Others, perhaps, who don’t understand or appreciate the gospel, and there are always a lot of people like that – in fact the majority – others might think that Paul should be embarrassed. I’ve had people say to me that the gospel is too simple. It’s too easy. It’s for beginners. They would then say something wacky, something that showed a complete ignorance of the gospel and of God. Something like we’re all gods. Or the universe is god. Or this podium is god. Things that to some sound deep but in truth are empty, hopeless, pointless…and untrue. When the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, opens our heart and minds to faith in Jesus we begin to grasp how wide and how deep, how vast is the love of God. And we begin to grasp the implications for our own lives being transformed.
There was a man who was an alcoholic and a drug addict. He became a follower of Christ, but the hard life he had lived showed on his face. He once saw a woman getting into a limousine and felt the need to witness to her, to share his joy about Jesus with her. She was appalled at him. She said, "You should be ashamed of yourself". He said, "Ma’m, I’m am ashamed of myself - I am ashamed of so many things I have done but one thing I am not ashamed of is the GOSPEL.
Righteousness, or right standing with God, is not attainable by merit, by good works. It is only attainable by faith from first to last. It is only through faith in Jesus, who IS the gospel message, that we can and will live life to its fullest, and have profound assurance that when this brief life is over, we will be, as God desires, in the loving arms of our Maker.
This is the gospel. And this is the core message of the book of Romans that we will be looking at more closely in the next 11 weeks. Again, I hope you read the book of Romans. I hope many of you will take the course based on the book of Romans, and that you will write your thoughts and reflections down, that you will chew on the content of Romans and allow it to penetrate deeply into your life.
God is amazing. His news is amazing. The life He offers to each person here and each person in our community is a beautiful life, a rich and rewarding life. A transformed life.
Are you ready to worship? Are you ready to offer yourself anew to God? Let’s begin with communion. Let’s celebrate His love; His love expressed in His willingness to go to the cross for you and for me. His power expressed in His glorious resurrection from the dead, and the fact that He is alive today, alive and present in the Holy Spirit and ready to move among us. Amen. [Move to communion]
