Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Hook:

Paul has written a lengthy letter full of dense, robust instruction.

The gospel, the good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes

People need salvation because every person is hopelessly broken and has rejected and rebelled against God, thus trading the source of all life for idols that will only bring death

God has provided a way by which sinners can be justified before him, forgiven of their sins, freed from the chains of their sins, and redeemed from the law: Jesus, who offered his life as a propitiation, that is, a substitutionary sacrifice where God’s just and righteous wrath would be averted from us and poured out on Jesus

This must be believed and received with faith

As a result, God has reconciled us to himself and made peace with us

He has adopted us into his family as sons and daughters

He has put his own Holy Spirit in us to guide us, help us, teach us, convict us, and make us more like Jesus

Why has Paul written this letter?

Why does Paul give such instruction?

Is it because the Roman Christians were deficient in some way?

Was Paul dissatisfied with something in their community and felt the need to correct it?

Were they way off track and needed to be steered back in the right direction?

NO!

It was exactly BECAUSE they were gospel people that Paul wrote to them.

I.

We are a gospel people who still need the gospel

Paul was writing to gospel people

Full of goodness

Full does not equal occasionally good; rather, they have a plentiful supply of goodness

They have a consistent and characteristic desire to be and do good, with a contextual bent toward holding the good of each other in high regard

In other words, they had a consistent concern for what was good not just for themselves but for their church and community

Filled with all knowledge

A robust understanding of the Christian faith, genuine comprehension of the gospel, the teachings of Scripture

A true gospel oriented worldview, not informed primarily by the cultural norms of the day but by the scriptures that bear witness to Jesus

Able to instruct one another

Goodness + knowledge = ability to instruct one another

Desire to do good without knowledge is impotent

Knowledge without goodness is malicious

Instruct = admonish, correct what is going off track

Mutual obligation and accountability, part of what it means to be a member of a church

Every member of the church has the obligation to help each other toward spiritual maturity

None were so wise that they had nothing more to learn, and none were so inept that they had nothing of value to share.

None were so wise that they had nothing more to learn, and none were so inept that they had nothing of value to share.

Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol.

27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 266.

A Few Honest questions

Is our church characterized by these things?

How do we need to grow?

Where are we strong, where are we weak?

Where do you need to grow as a member of this church?

Do you have a robust enough understanding of the scriptures to give biblical counsel to your brothers and sisters?

Have you cultivated a desire not just for knowledge in order to be right, but genuine concern for the good of your brothers and sisters?

Sometimes Christians have a tendency to just want to have knowledge of the Bible and use it as a club to beat people up with

Sometimes Christians give profoundly unbiblical counsel because they don’t actually understand the scriptures very well

We are a gospel church - we are defined only and always by the gospel, our response to it by faith in Jesus, and our proclamation of it

Some of you are asking, “what other kind of church could we even be?”

GREAT QUESTION!

“Gospel Church” is kind of redundant - like saying “organic apples,” because all apples are organic, but we have to nevertheless label them to differentiate, emphasize and make sure that an essential quality is known and understood

Paul was writing to a gospel people that still needed the gospel

The Roman church is in good shape; why then does Paul write these things?

Because he was writing to a gospel community that still needed the gospel.

Why?

Because gospel people still need the gospel; we have to continually be reminded of it

Because we drift

Our default direction is not to drift toward Jesus

No one accidentally matures in their faith in Christ

Because we never graduate from the gospel

Every issue of great importance comes back to the gospel - we begin our journey in Christ by receiving the gospel, and we continue it by the gospel

First example, serving in the church is ultimately a gospel issue

Why I serve is a gospel issue - If God has given everything for me, the only right response is to give everything to him

How I serve is a gospel issue - if Jesus is ultimately the Lord of my life, all that I do is not for the purpose of pleasing my boss or friend or family, but ultimately under the Lordship of Jesus, which is why Paul says in Colossians to work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that you are really serving the Lord Jesus.

On what basis I serve is a gospel issue - what qualifies me to serve in God’s house is not my greatness or competency

Some of us have a tendency, on the basis of past sin, regret, brokenness, that we are disqualified from service in some fashion

Does the blood of Christ redeem us from our sins or does it not?

If you are redeemed by the blood of Jesus by receiving him in faith and repentance, on what basis can you disqualify yourself from ministry?

To be sure, a person cannot lead in the church while simultaneously rejecting the Lordship of Jesus by continuing in unrepentant sin, but that’s a whole different animal than “I am disqualified because of past sin that I have repented of”

Second example, Leadership is a ultimately a gospel issue

I am not ultimately the leader of this church, nor are the elders: Jesus is the ultimate pastor and leader of this church

The gospel changes leadership

Rather than being in a place of authority over others, I am under the authority of Jesus to serve his people in the way he tells me to

My leadership is not about what I want to achieve, but the mission that God wants to achieve

My leadership is not about pleasing my constituents, but about presenting a people holy and blameless before God by the power of the gospel - I don’t really care if you are comfortable and happy all the time, I care if we are together living out our belief in Jesus in every sphere of live

Gospel people still need the gospel, because no matter how far we have come, we still have a long way to go

All issues of great importance are ultimately gospel issues

Gospel people still need the gospel, because no matter how far we have come, we still have a long way to go

Transition

Paul’s qualification for writing to this church: even though he had never been there, God had appointed him as apostle to the gentiles

God had given Paul a mission to preach the gospel to the gentile world

II.