From Paul's Pen - Romans

From Paul's Pen • Sermon • Submitted 6 months ago • Presented 5 months ago

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Today we will be in Romans as we begin our journey through the letters of the apostle Paul. It’s appropriate that we begin with Romans as it is perhaps the most beloved and most influential letter of Paul. But that’s not why it’s the first. It’s not first because it is most loved. It’s not first because it was written first. It’s first because it is the longest of the letters of Paul. That’s how these letters are arranged. First the letters to churches and then the letter to individuals and then according to length.

Romans has a great introduction:

Romans 1:1–7 (NIV) — 1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some things about the letter and the church:

Written around AD 57 near the end of Paul’s 3rd missionary journey from Corinth. Paul was eventually headed to Jerusalem where he would deliver a contribution he had been taking up from the Gentile churches to the church in Jerusalem who had been experiencing a famine. He was hoping that this contribution would help mend fences between Jewish and Gentile believers.

No apostle had been there. Apparently, the church had been started by Jews and converted to Judaism who were at Pentecost in Acts 2.

Paul had never visited Rome but expresses his intention to do so.

It was a major city and Paul felt a responsibility to it as the apostle to the Gentiles.

He wanted to build some rapport with the church as it could serve as a base for his prospective journey to Spain.

At the end of the letter he sums up a lot of this:

Romans 15:23–28 (NIV) — 23 But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, 24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.

There’s something important for us to note as we begin our exploration of Paul’s letters and especially as we take a look at Romans. There is a tension in the first century churches between Jewish believers and Gentile believers and this tension is a threat to debilitate if not destroy these churches.

There are many things that can disrupt the effectiveness of a church and one of those things is disunity. When one group feels superior to another group bad things are bound to happen. One of Satan’s strategies to destroy a church is get people mad at each other and to get people thinking they are more important than others.

And Paul was caught in the middle of this tension. Paul was a Jew and a very devout one. And he has great affection to his Jewish brothers and sisters. One of the most dramatic verses in Romans is when Paul expresses his sadness that many Jews had not accepted Christ.

Romans 9:3–4 (NIV) — 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.

Paul lamented the fact that his own people had not been more responsive to the Gospel. Among the Gentiles that could be perceived as a slight to them.

At the same time Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. That was his passion. That passion could be seen by the Jews as a slight to them. Paul also in his letters talks a lot about the insufficiency of the Law to save us. Some Jews saw that as an offense to Moses and the Old Testament. In addition, all his talk about salvation by grace and not by the Law was also being interpreted as an insult to Judaism.

That tension between Jews and Gentiles seemed to exist in most if the 1st century churches and it is likely that it existed to some extent in the church in Rome. The question facing theses churches was, “How can Jews and Gentiles live in harmony in one church?”

That’s the lens I want to look through as we take this trip through Romans. How can these two groups live in harmony? Now, of course, that particular question is irrelevant to us but don’t churches in the 21st century have tensions well. We struggle with a similar situation and we have to ask ourselves the same question, “How can we - with different backgrounds, passions and personalities - live in harmony with one another?” Paul’s advice to the tension between Jew and Gentile may be able to help us with tensions that we may feel today.

So, here are some points that Paul drives home to help them through the tension.

Jew or Gentile, you’re all sinners

This is such an important fact for us to know. However you categorize yourself, you are a sinner. You may think you’re better because you grew up in church, went to a Christian college, can recite the books of the Bible since you were 7, can spell Habakkuk, and your father was an elder and your mother taught cradle roll for 60 years. Guess what? You are a sinner. Or you may think that since you came from a disastrous family and now are a Christian that your conversion is so much flashier than others. You may say, “Look at me. I was an addict for years and God changed me. Aren’t I so wonderful?” You may have come from a family that never went to church and God rescued you from a terrible situation. But guess what? You’re a sinner.

Paul is pretty harsh at the beginning of this letter as he drives home that fact that Jew or Gentile both have failed miserably. Listen to what he says:

Romans 3:9–10 (NIV) — 9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;

And then,

Romans 3:22–23 (NIV) — 22 There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

One thing that really levels the ground is all of us realizing that we are all sinners. We are all really messed up people and none of us has a spiritual advantage over the other. It is so important for us to know how lost we all are without Jesus Christ. Only then will we appreciate what Jesus jas done for us.

You see, grace is only beautiful when we know how ugly sin is. Salvation is only celebrated when we know that condemnation is what we all deserve.

We are all in the same boat! There is no room for boasting.

Differences are our strength

There are different ways we can look at people who are different than we are. We can secretly wish they were like us, which usually leads to resentment. We can force them to be like us (or try to) which usually leads to some level of discord. Or, we can appreciate and embrace differences. Of course, there needs to be agreement on the core doctrines of Christianity. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about people who have different passions than we have or people who have different personalities than we have. We have to learn that people are different than we are and that’s not a bad thing. Paul addresses two areas of differences in this letter.

The first is differences in spiritual gifts in Romans 12.

Romans 12:3–8 (NIV) — 3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

These differences make us whole!

He also addresses differences that we may have in relationship to how we practice our faith. The situation in Rome is that some are fine with eating meats offered to idols and others are not (Romans 14). Paul’s advice is to accept one another in these kinds of matters. A verse that popped out to me this reading is:

Romans 14:19 (NIV) — 19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

Putting these two situations together I see two really important qualities that we must have to maintain unity – humility (don’t think more highly of yourself) and mutual edification (seeking peace.)

Greet one another with a holy kiss

Take a look at Romans 16. One thing that stands out in the letter is the number of personal greetings. Paul lists 26 individuals, 2 families, and 3 house churches. By far, more than any other letter of Paul and especially surprising since he had never been to Rome!

It is so important to have these relationships. It is so important to remind ourselves of how blessed we are to have Christian brothers and sisters in our lives. It’s so important to acknowledge the significance of encouragement.

We have a beautiful community here. We always need to appreciate that and to continue to invest in these spiritual relationships. As we know each other better and better it will be more and more difficult for Satan to tear us apart.

This is not the last verse of Romans, but close to it and I love Paul’s challenge and optimism:

Romans 16:20 (NIV) — 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.