Paul sums up his case

Easter 7 year A Sermon
Romans part 5

Don’t you dare preach to me young lady!
Don’t lecture me young man!

Did your teachers ever use that tone with you?
or your mum or dad? Implication being? You’re trying to teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

You……are trying to correct or persuade… someone who thinks they know a lot more than you do …you…who were only born yesterday…are talking to someone whose been around a long long time. Don’t preach to me! [pause]

Well that’s just the kind of response the first Christians used to get…when they tried to share the gospel… especially with people…who thought they already had … all the religious qualifications they needed thank you very much.

Over the past four weeks… we’ve studied the first part of Paul’s letter…to the struggling new church in Rome… Paul is trying to prepare and equip them for the daunting task of making disciples of Jesus Christ… and sharing the gospel of salvation... especially with difficult people who ask tricky question like: ‘Why do I need salvation? What do I need to be forgiven for?’

In his letter Paul teaches the early Christians in Rome how to approach three very different types of people who need the gospel…
who need forgiveness.

First remember Paul tells them about approaching
rebellious godless people…who hurt themselves and others by ignoring the revelation of God in creation...

then remember… Paul wrote about sharing the gospel with
respectable… self righteous people who think they have the right to judge others…when only God has the right to judge.

And today Paul’s talking about the hardest nuts of all to crack in the evangelism game
religious people…people who think "I'm not just a respectable citizen of this fair land… I'm religious." These were the people… who were likely to say… ‘don’t preach to me young lady!’

These were the religious Jews… in synagogues all over the Roman Empire… trusted their religion to save them.

Having been one himself…Paul knew religious Jews were going to be the hardest people to evangelize… so he wants to give the new church some powerful arguments… to convince even religious Jews…
of their need for the gospel of Jesus Christ…the power of God for the salvation of those who believe..

Paul wants the early Christians to realize…no matter how intimidating …no matter how pious religious Jews come across…they need their relationship with God healed…they need forgiveness…they need salvation… possibly even more… than atheists and pagans and respectable citizens of Rome...Why?

Because religious people think they’ve done it all themselves...simply by being religious…relying on religious rituals like circumcision...
to prove they’ve done it.

...never mind their judgmental selfish hearts

it's not your job to make people religious…
Paul’s telling them…it's your job to share Christ and his teachings with them… and because these religious types are such stiff opposition…you’re going to need some pretty strong arguments.

And so we come to today’s verses…where like a skilled crown prosecutor…in a courtroom drama...Paul sets out his closing arguments...and rests his case…that everyone… even religious Jews…everyone…needs the salvation that comes from a healed relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Even people who feel entitled because of their religion to eternity with God...

And like a good Jewish barrister ...Paul expects opposing counsel to yell out…I object your honour!

And so in today’s verses of Roman’s…
Paul masterfully anticipates… all possible objections his former brothers might make…and knocks them down… one by one....

First Paul imagines religious Jews would be asking... ‘Your Honour… is Paul seriously suggesting there’s no point at all… in being a Jew? No point having our sweet little boys circumcised?

Notice Paul asks rhetorically in verse one
What advantage then is there… in being a Jew,
or what value is there in circumcision?

Your honour… Paul responds....I’m certainly not saying there’s nothing special about Jews...I’m not saying there’s no value in being a Jew...
not by any means

‘First of all... above everything else...as a people...
they’ve been entrusted with... the very words of God.’ Which was intended for all humanity...

Why, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Temple in Jerusalem… had been built to hold and protect…
the precious Word of God. The tablets of stone...
the oracles of God... the scrolls of the prophets...
Why the Jews were to be evangelists to the rest of the world…called to take the Word of God and share it. But they majored on protecting it didn’t they.

And yes there were those who were religious but didn’t really believe. keeping up the rituals for appearances sake saying the right prayers on the right holidays...
though of course they didn’t see the need…
to keep up an actual relationship… with God.

Paul acknowledges them too… in verse three.
So what… if some didn’t have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? No your honour

Not at all!

Let God be true, and every man a liar.

I swear to you here Paul is as much an artist in his language as Shakespeare was in his...listen to the words...Let God be true, and every man a liar.

Every Jew…had memorized the words of the Law and the Psalms and the prophets…hadn’t Psalm 89 said "if they violate My decrees and fail to keep My commandment I will punish their sin ...but I will not take My love from him, nor will I ever betray My faithfulness.’

Paul knows among religious Jews the word of God would always prevail...and quotes as evidence a prayer from Psalm 51

"So you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."

By now Paul expects his opponent to cry out...
but I object your honour...Paul’s already argued God’s wrath is being poured out on sinful humanity.
Paul imagines their objections... In verse five...

But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say:
that God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us?

If our sins show the world how good God is in contrast… isn’t it unfair for God to pour out his wrath...on the Jews too!!!!!!!!

And in verse six Paul comes back...

Certainly not your honour. If that were so, how could God judge the world? That argument is ridiculous Someone might argue, equally crazily "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" Why not say—as we’re being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim we say—
"Let us do evil that good may result"?

your honour these arguments are bogus
Their condemnation is deserved.

Your honour...ladies and gentlemen of the jury...Paul says with a flourish…

'What shall we conclude then?'
can the Jews argue they don’t need salvation...they don’t need forgiveness?

'Are we'… the Jews… 'any better?'

No your honour

'Not at all!'

Your honour 'We’ve already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.'

In support of my argument I submit six Psalms from the Jews own scriptures...a quote from Ecclesiastes the preacher....and another from the prophet Isaiah.

Exhibit A:
10As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."[1]

Exhibit B:
"Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit."[2]

Exhibit C: "The poison of vipers is on their lips."[3]

Exhibit D:"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."[4]

Exhibit E: "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know."[5]

And finally your honour Exhibit F:

"There is no fear of God before their eyes."[6]

You honour Paul sighs... All this is completely logical...since their very value… is.as keepers of the Word...and the law… of God...so it must be concluded that...

‘… whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law [your honour]
so every mouth may be silenced…[pause]
and the whole world… held accountable to God.

Therefore your honour…no one will be declared righteous in Gods sight merely by observing the law; rather, through the law we Jews have simply become conscious of sin.’

Why do the Jews need the good news of Jesus Christ if they’re already God’s chosen people?

Your honour...Paul is saying...
I have sought to argue that everyone on earth needs salvation... everyone needs the gospel of Jesus Christ...everyone needs...the power of God…
for the salvation of those who believe.

Whether respectable, rebellious or religious.
Even and especially the Jews. If the bad news applies to everyone...then so does the good news... Your honour. I rest my case.

Questions for reflection:
Why do the Jews need the good news of Jesus Christ if they’re God’s chosen people?

How does Paul’s message encourage us to share the gospel with those who seem to have it all together already?

What parallels might there be between ‘churched’ people and religious Jews in relation to the gospel?

[1] Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccles. 7:20
[2] Psalm 5:9
[3] Psalm 140:3
[4] Psalm 10:7
[5] Isaiah 59:7,8
[6] Psalm 36:1

The Gospel and how to tell others

Easter 3 Year A Sermon Roman’s series Part 1
Romans 1: 1-6, 14-17

Author Professor Graham Hill
Introduction
Being too upfront about our Christian faith is frowned upon in these days. How can Christians have a monopoly of the truth? Why do we want to persuade everybody to become Christians? The prevailing view is that of tolerance, everybody has a right to believe in their own God or religion; there are other great faiths just as good as Christianity – leave me alone to believe what is best for me. On these quicksands it is a relief to turn to the New Testament, particularly the book of Romans.
The epistle to the Romans is the fullest, grandest and plainest Gospel manifesto and it encapsulates what is different about our faith compared to all others. In its simplest form the message of Romans is that all men are sinners and Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
This morning we are going to look at the first five verses of Romans where Paul wonderfully describes what the Christian Gospel is and before we finish we will look at a few verses further on that Paul states what evangelism is.
(A) What is the Gospel? vv 1 – 5
These verses are an elaborate statement of the Gospel because he had not yet visited Rome; the Christians there were not familiar with his teaching and he was not sure how well grounded they were in the faith. He feels the need, therefore, to establish his credentials as an apostle and to summarize his gospel.
Rom 1:1
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God. As a slave and as an apostle he is set apart it on the Damascus road two things happened – he was converted and he was commissioned. As an apostle it was Paul’s responsibility to receive, formulate, defend and proclaim the gospel. From verse 2 to verse 5 he now proceeds to give a six-point analysis of the gospel, to which he has been set apart.
1. The origin of the gospel is God
The Christian good news is the gospel of God. The apostles did not invent it; it was revealed and entrusted to them by God. What we have to share with others is not a pack of human speculations, nor one more religion to add to the rest – it is rather the gospel of God, God’s own good news for a lost world. Without this conviction all our outreach loses its content, purpose and drive.
2. The confirmation of the truth of the gospel is Scripture
V 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. That is to say, although he revealed the gospel to the apostles, it did not come as a complete novelty, because he had already promised it through his prophets in the Old Testament Scripture. The prophets in the Old Testament and the apostles in the New both bear witness to Jesus Christ, and this is what we come to next.
3. The substance of the gospel is Jesus Christ
If we bring verses 1 and 3 together, by omitting verse 2, we are left with the statement that Paul was set apart for the gospel of God regarding his Son.
Calvin writes: ‘The whole gospel is contained in Christ; to move even a step from Christ means to withdraw oneself from the gospel.’
Paul now describes Christ by two contrasting clauses: Rom 1:3-5
‘who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.’
This is probably a fragment from an early creed and speaks of the incarnation and resurrection.
4. The scope of the gospel is all the nations
V5 Through him i.e. the risen Christ (and for his name's sake), we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
Paul is saying the gospel is for everybody; like him we too have to be liberated from all pride of race, nation, and tribe and get it into our heads that God’s gospel is for everybody, without exception and without distinction
5. The purpose of the gospel is the obedience of faith
V5 ‘we received grace and apostleship to call people to the obedience that comes from faith from among all the Gentiles
The proper response to the gospel is faith and faith alone. Yet a true and living faith in Jesus Christ includes an element of submission and this leads inevitably into a lifetime of obedience. It is not possible to accept Jesus Christ as savior without surrendering to him as Lord.
6. The goal of the gospel is the honour of Christ’s name
The words ‘for his name's sake’, which the NIV places at the beginning of V 5 actually come at the end of the Greek sentence and so form something of a climax.
Why does Paul desire to bring the nations to obedience of faith? It was for the sake of the glory and honour of Christ’s name:
Phil 2:9-11
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
We should be jealous for the honour of his name – troubled when it remains unknown, hurt when it is ignored, indignant when it is blasphemed, and all the time anxious and determined that it shall be given the honour and glory which are due to it. The highest of all missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission ( vital as that is), nor love for people who don’t know Christ and are lost (vital as that is) but rather zeal – burning passionate zeal – for the glory of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes our outreach is no better than a thinly disguised form of imperialism, when our real ambition is for the honour of our nation, church, organization or ourselves. The only imperialism that is Christian is for the concern for His Imperial Majesty Jesus Christ and for the glory of his kingdom.

(B) How can we get the Gospel across? (vv 14-17)
Paul writes:
V 14 ‘I am bound I am obligated’-----the gospel is a debt to the world; we are under obligation to make it known to others; we have been given this gospel in trust
V15 ‘I am eager’. He was eager because he had been entrusted with this treasure and this good news is for sharing
V16 ‘I am not ashamed’. There is no sense in declaring you are not ashamed of something unless you have been tempted to feel ashamed of it. Paul facing his first time visit to Rome was tempted to be ashamed but he overcame it by remembering ‘it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

V 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"’. Martin Luther while preparing his lectures in 1514 tells how he gained a new understanding of righteousness from this verse.
“Night and day I pondered until ...I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before ‘the righteousness of God’ had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway into heaven.”

Study Guide
1. What is particularly striking about Paul’s description of himself as a ‘slave’ and an ‘apostle’? What do the two terms tell us about Paul’s view of his calling?
2. What is the first and most basic conviction which underlies all authentic evangelism?
3. According to what Paul says here, why is the Old Testament so important?
4. What do verses 3-4 say about the double identity of Jesus?
5. What is the scope of the gospel?
6. Paul’s gospel demands, literally, ‘the obedience of faith’ (verse 5). How would you answer the suggestion that this contradicts his emphasis elsewhere that justification through faith alone?
7. What is the highest of all missionary motives?
8. Why might we expect Paul to have been reluctant to preach in Rome? What was it that overcame these factors?
9. Are you at all ashamed of the gospel? Why? What is the antidote to this?
10. What is the ‘righteousness of God’?

Christ is Risen Ian Westergaard
Opening prayer
Let us pray in the beauty of the morning and in the quiet of the hills. Speak O Lord. In the words of the prophets and the message of the apostles, you speak O Lord. Now we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
There are 13 epistles or letters in the Bible which are credited to Paul. Of these Romans was written about AD 58 and is the sixth in chronological order but in the Bible it is placed first of all the epistles and comes immediately after Acts. Matthew Henry, who lived from 1662 to 1714, in his “Commentary on the Whole Bible” says it is placed first because of the superlative excellence of the epistle, it being one of the longest and fullest of all.
The fact is that these verses from Romans which we have just heard changed the world – it took nearly 1500 years but on the 31st October 1517 because of them a student and lecturer of theology called Martin Luther started a spiritual revolution, known as the Reformation, which simply turned the world upside down. That is a very simple statement of what Martin Luther did and why he did it but I don’t have time to tell the full story today.
Paul had not yet been to Rome but was writing from Corinth on his way to Jerusalem intending to travel to Rome afterwards. But in Acts 20:23 we read about the Holy Spirit warning him of the peril awaiting him in Jerusalem, what if he were unable to make it to Rome? The Church in Rome was well established. He must write them a letter so comprehensive that they had the gospel Paul preached, even if Paul himself were not able to visit them.
Romans is different from the other letters Paul wrote to the New Testament churches, those letters focused more on the church and its challenges and problems. The letter to the Romans focuses on God and His great plan of redemption.
I have seen it referred to as the “Roman road to salvation”. Martin Luther praised it by saying: “It is the chief part of the New Testament and the perfect gospel - the absolute epitome of the gospel.” John Calvin said: “When any one understands this Epistle, he has a way opened to him to the understanding of the whole Scripture.”
The Epistle to the Romans has life changing truth but it must be approached with effort and determination to understand what the Holy Spirit said through the Apostle Paul. In its simplest form the message of Romans is that all men and women are sinners and Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
In the first verse Paul introduces himself as “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God”
A servant - an apostle: Paul’s self-identification is important. He is first a servant of Jesus Christ, and second called to be an apostle.
Some translations use the word “slave”, there were several Greek words used to designate a slave, but the idea behind the Greek word for servant (doulos) is “complete and utter devotion”, voluntary and born out of love for the one being served - not the abjectness which was the normal condition of a slave.
Set apart for the gospel of God
The origin of the gospel is God - The Christian good news is the gospel of God. The apostles did not invent it; it was revealed and entrusted to them by God. What we have to share with others is not a pack of human speculations, nor one more religion to add to the rest - it is the gospel of God, God's own good news for a lost world. Without this conviction all our outreach loses its content, purpose and drive.
The gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
The confirmation of the truth of the gospel is Scripture. Although God revealed the gospel to the apostles, it did not come as a complete novelty, because he had already promised it through his prophets in the Old Testament Scripture. The prophets in the Old Testament and the apostles in the New both bear witness to Jesus Christ, and this is what we come to next.
Regarding his son, Who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.'
The substance of the gospel is Jesus Christ. If we bring verses 1 and 3 together, by omitting verse 2, we are left with the statement that Paul was set apart for the gospel of God regarding his Son.
Calvin wrote: 'The whole gospel is contained in Christ; to move even a step from Christ means to withdraw oneself from the gospel.'
Through the risen Christ and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles.
The scope of the gospel is all the nations. Paul is saying the gospel is for everybody; like him we too have to be liberated from all pride of race, nation, tribe, caste and get it into our heads that God's gospel is for everybody, without exception and without distinction.
To the obedience that comes from faith.
The purpose of the gospel is the obedience of faith. The proper response to the gospel is faith and faith alone. Yet a true and living faith in Jesus Christ includes an element of submission and this leads inevitably into a lifetime of obedience. It is not possible to accept Jesus Christ as saviour without surrendering to him as Lord.
The goal of the gospel is the honour of Christ's name
The words "for his name's sake" which the NIV places at the beginning of V 5 actually come at the end of the Greek sentence and so form something of a climax.
Why does Paul desire to bring the nations to obedience of faith? It was for the sake of the glory and honour of Christ's name:
Phil 2:9-11
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every nameThat at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, - to the glory of God the Father.
We should be jealous for the honour of his name - troubled when it remains unknown, hurt when it is ignored, indignant when it is blasphemed, and all the time anxious and determined that it shall be given the honour and glory which are due to it. The highest of all missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission (vital as that is), nor love for people who don't know Christ and are lost (vital as that also is) but rather zeal - burning passionate zeal - for the glory of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes our outreach is no better than a thinly disguised form of imperialism, when our real ambition is for the honour of our nation, our church, our organization or ourselves. The only imperialism that is Christian is concern for Jesus Christ and for the glory of his kingdom.
Romans 1:14-17
I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. 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. 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."
"I am not ashamed" – in spite of all the cultured Greeks who mock me for preaching foolishness and all the unbelieving Jews who deride me as preaching a false Christ – I am not ashamed of this gospel. Why? "For it is the power of God unto salvation."
"For it is the power of God unto salvation." In other words, this message of Christ crucified for the sake of sinners, of Christ raised from the dead as the Son of God in power, of grace given freely to those who will trust in Jesus – this message will bring all who bank on it to everlasting salvation.
Shamed, but not Ashamed
Christianity is under siege!
Being bold and outspoken about our Christian faith and principles is decried by our ever increasingly secular society. A society which asks “do Christians think they have a monopoly of the truth?” The prevailing view is that of tolerance, everybody has a right to believe in their own God or religion; there are other great faiths just as good as Christianity – leave me alone to believe what is best for me!
Why do we want to persuade everybody to become Christians? How do we overcome feelings of shame when we are shamed for believing and sharing the gospel? Answer: ponder the power of the gospel to bring forgiven sinners to final, everlasting joy. Nothing in the world can do this except the gospel of Jesus Christ. Judaism (that stops short of Jesus), Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam – they do not have a Saviour who can solve the problem of separation from a holy God through sin and offer sinners hope by grace through faith and not works. Only one message saves sinners, and brings them safely into the presence of God – the gospel of Jesus Christ. It alone is the power of God to salvation.
Therefore, Paul would say – Jesus himself would say – suffer, yes. Be misunderstood, yes. Be shamed, yes. But do not be ashamed. You will be shamed, but you need not be ashamed. Because the message of God's saving work in Christ is the only final triumphant message in the world. For the joy of salvation set before you, take up your cross, follow Jesus, be shamed and despise the shame.
It is the most loving thing in the world to tell the truth about the way of salvation. If Jesus has said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6), then, for the sake of love, we must pay our debt to the world, despise the shaming of our secular society and tell them.
God's power is available to everyone who believes. No one is excluded. Paul was God's servant sent with a message to call the world to obedience through a personal faith in what God had done through Christ. The power of the gospel unto salvation was and is available to everyone who chooses to obey the message through faith. Although the power to save resides in God, the key to that power is a personal faith that leads us to obedience.
In Acts 4:12 it says: "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved". The gospel of Christ alone is the power of God unto salvation.
Verse 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." It is through faith alone that we can attain salvation, no amount of good works can gain us salvation if we don’t have full, utter and unswerving faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ
Closing prayer. –
Heavenly Father help us believe and to have absolute faith in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to God and to Jesus Christ his son, and our caring servant. AMEN.