Romans 1:16-17

A Pocket Paper
from
The Donelson Fellowship

September 20, 2009

______________________

 

Message by Robert J. Morgan, Senior Pastor

The Donelson Fellowship

3210 McGavock Pike

Nashville, TN  37214

615/871-4769

www.donelson.org

 

I want to begin today by telling you about a letter I received a few weeks ago from a woman in Indiana.  She said she was arrested on May 29th of this year in Indianapolis, on a forgery charge.  Her whole life, up to that point, had been one of lying, manipulation, and deceit.  She had done everything for herself without any thought for the feelings of others.  When she was taken to her cell on that day, May 29th, she was very hurt, lost, and angry.  She was disconnected from her family, whom she had hurt very deeply.

 

By and by, she began searching for something to read.  She found a copy of the Bible, and it happened to be one for which I had once written an introduction.  In that introduction, I had suggested some places to read and had explained the Gospel as best I knew how, and had suggested a prayer for those wanting to receive Jesus Christ as Savior.  I had also suggested some places in the Bible that would be helpful to those in need, and had listed the page numbers.

 

Well, this woman climbed into the top bunk of her cell, read that introduction, looked up those passages, read them, and started crying.  She spent about 30 minutes reading and crying, and then she went back to the introduction and prayed the prayer asking Jesus Christ to be her Lord and Savior.

 

This woman remained in jail about a month and a half, until her parents were able to have her released to home detention.  And since that day, her life has been as different as day is different from night.  And with the letter she sent a check.  She said, “In the process of my newfound faith, I have learned about tithing as well.”  And she enclosed a check for our ministries. 

 

It reminded me of the man who bought a little leather-bound copy of the New Testament, and when he took it out of the box, he noticed three letters stamped on the spine:  TNT, for The New Testament.  It is the TNT of God, for this message we hold in our hand has changed history, it has transformed millions of lives, and it has the power to turn around any and every life on earth today.  It is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.  And that brings us to our Scripture passage today.

 

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.”

 

***

 

When I was in college we used to sing a little chorus that came from one of the hymns of Charles Wesley.  It said:  Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, and trusts in God alone.  Laughs at life’s impossibilities, and cries, ‘It shall be done.’

 

From first to last, Christianity is a relationship with God that is well-founded on faith.  So for a few weeks here at The Donelson Fellowship, we’re working on memorizing some of the great faith verses of the Bible.

 

Ø      We began with Ephesians 2:8-9, that says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… not by works.”

 

Ø      And then Galatians 2:20:  I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live, I live by faith…”

 

Ø      Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”  That’s what fuels our faith.  The Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

 

Ø      And now today we’re coming to Romans 1:16-17, two verses that serve as the Gateway Arch of biblical doctrine.  These verses are the portal and the passageway through which we enter the book of Romans, which is Theology Central in the Bible.  There are some famous gates on this planet.  There’s the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, signifying the fact that St. Louis was the Gateway to the West.  There’s the famous Jaffa Gate that takes you into the old city of Jerusalem.  There’s the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, and the ancient Arch of Titus that served as the gateway into the streets of ancient Rome.  Well, our text today is the gateway into the stated realities of God concerning our salvation.

 

We’ve Been Given a Vocation

The first thing I’d like to point out about this passage is that we’ve been given a vocation, we have a calling.  I can explain that by looking at the contiguous verses and at how the book of Romans begins.

 

The book of Romans is the letter that Paul wrote at the end of his third missionary journey in AD 57.  He was finishing his third missionary trip and had completed all he wanted to do in evangelizing the eastern half of the Roman Empire.  Now he was envisioning moving on to Central and Western Europe and doing the same there.  As he wound up this third tour of duty at the beginning of Acts 20, he stopped in the city of Corinth, rested for a few weeks, and wrote this letter to the church of Rome to prepare them for his intended visit and to articulate for them the essence of his message.

 

The book of Romans gives us the Bible’s fullest expression of what it means to be justified by grace through faith.  One commentator said that it is the most tightly organized of all the New Testament letters, which helps explain why it reads like a theological treatise as well as an epistle or letter.  It is bedrock theology.  It is at the foundation of the Bible’s teaching about salvation.

 

Now, since this is a tightly-organized letter and a well-put-together treatise, you would expect it to open with a prologue or introduction, and that’s what we see here in the first part of chapter 1.  The apostle Paul begins by introducing himself and his message, his Gospel.  Look at Romans 1:1:

 

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God….

 

And now, not even one sentence into his letter, he’s going to start defining the Gospel for us.

 

…the Gospel He promised beforehand through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures (the Old Testament) 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.

 

All that is incredibly rich, but we mustn’t tarry there.  Paul goes on to designate his readers in verse 7:  To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:  Grace and peace be with you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

And now in verse 8, Paul begins to discuss how he has wanted to come to see the Roman Christians and what his plans are.  And there are three phrases that I especially want to show you.

 

·        Verse 14:  I am obligated…  Some of the older translations say, “I am indebted, I am debtor.”  We who know the Lord Jesus Christ have an obligation to tell someone else what we have discovered.  Let’s suppose I found out there was a gas leak on my street, and odorless but toxic fumes were enveloping my neighbor’s house.  I’d have an obligation to warn him.  Let’s say that I found out someone had developed a cure for your terminal disease.  I’d have an obligation to tell you.  We have an obligation to share the message of the Gospel.  We have an obligation to warn others.  We have an obligation to pass on the Good News of Jesus Christ.

 

·        Verse 15 says:  I am eager.  The apostle was saying:  “When I share my testimony, or invite someone to church, or preach the Gospel, or send out a missionary, or try to tell someone else about Christ, it’s not just out of obligation.  I’m eager to do it, excited, I can hardly wait, I look for opportunities to do so.”

 

·        Verse 16 says:  I am not ashamed.  We’re obligated and eager, and we’re also unashamed.  We’re not going to be intimidated by a hostile world or shamed into silence by critics.  “Jesus, and shall it ever be, a mortal man ashamed of Thee? / Ashamed of Thee, whom angels praise, whose glories shine through endless days?”

 

Every one of us who has discovered the life-changing, eternity-impacting message of Jesus Christ has a vocation, a calling.  We are obligated, we are eager, and we are unashamed!

 

We’ve Been Given a Vocabulary

Second, we’ve been given a vocabulary.  Sometimes in my preaching and church work, I become worried that I’m using too many “church words,” terms that represent a sort of “insider talk” among Christians.  We want to be so fresh and so clear and so understandable here in our preaching and teaching that anyone and everyone can understand things.  We don’t want to talk in church-ese, as someone put it.  But at the same time, the Bible does give us a distinctive vocabulary.

 

Do you remember having vocabulary drills when you were in elementary school?  I have a very vivid memory of being in the first or second grade and studying the teacher’s word chart.  It’s funny how there are little moments that stick in your memory, and I recall my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Simmons, whom I dearly loved, standing at the board with a series of cards that had words on them.  These words were on flash cards, and she had some kind of board with slots in it, and she could put the cards here or there, in any kind of order and arrangement, and we were learning the words.  One day she stuck cards in those slots, and when she read them it spelled out the phrase:  “I GO RIDE MY CAN.”  She got so tickled about that, and we all laughed with her and thought it was the funniest thing we’d ever seen.  Somehow that has stayed in my memory.  When I look back to my days in that little brick schoolhouse and my teachers and their word charts, I’m very thankful that I learned the basic vocabulary skills I needed for life.

 

Romans 1:16-17 represents God’s word chart.  You can take your pencil or pen and underline the distinctive words that we find in these verses:  It is the word chart of God’s love.  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.”

 

A.  Gospel

The first key turn here is GOSPEL:  I am not ashamed of the Gospel….  In the Old Testament, the Hebrew equivalent of this word had the general meaning of proclaiming good news.  It was frequently used to signify bringing a city good news regarding a victory.  In those days, of course, they didn’t have CNN or satellites or telephones or telegraphs.  Suppose the fate of your nation hung in the balance and the lives of your husbands or sons were in jeopardy.  I don’t suppose any of us can imagine the tension and strain of an entire city left with the uncertainty of news from the warfront.  Many times they knew a battle was over or that the war was over, but they did not know the outcome.  Up in the tower, a watchman shouted:  “A courier is coming!”  Everyone knew that life would never be the same after the messenger arrived inside the walls of the city bearing his news.  Everyone rushed to the square.  Every nerve was strained.  The air was tense.  The gates opened, and the courier galloped in and shouted:  The battle is over!  We have won the victory!  Causalities were low!  The army’s on the way home!  We’re safe!  We’re saved!”

 

That was the basic meaning of the Old Testament word that was the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word for Gospel.  It meant “Good News.”  So when the New Testament writers came along, this was the word they used to announce the victory Christ makes available for us over sin, death, hell, and the grave.

 

In Romans 1:16, Paul said, “I’m not ashamed to be this messenger.  I’m not embarrassed.  I’m galloping in and out of all the cities of the Roman Empire shouting out this message, and I want to march through the gates of Rome itself announcing a happy message of Good News.”

 

B.  Power

The Greek word δύναμις means “strength and power, capacity and ability.”  When you see how often this word is used in the New Testament, you begin to realize that the Gospel isn’t just an old story or a religious legend or an interesting bit of history.  In electrical terms, we would say it is wired, it is hot, and it is high-voltage. 

 

·        Jesus told the Sadducees, who didn’t believe in the resurrection, that they were mistaken because they did not know the Scriptures or the power of God (Matthew 22:29).

·        He told His disciples that when He returned again, it would be with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30).

·        After He had risen from the dead, He said to His followers, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

·        First Corinthians 1:18 says:  “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.”

·        Second Corinthians 12:9 says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”

·        The Bible talks about “His incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19).

·        We’re told to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power (Ephesians 6:10).

·        First Thessalonians 1:5 says, “Our Gospel came to you not simply with words, but with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction.”

·        Second Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.”

·        Second Peter 1:3 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”

·        Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.”

 

All hail the power of Jesus name,

Let angels prostrate fall;

Bring forth the royal diadem

And crown Him Lord of all.

 

People aren’t transformed by the Gospel merely because of sentimentality or emotion or romanticism or melodrama or hyperthermia.  The Gospel is the articulated and authorized summation of what God Himself has done to turn history on its head and set humanity on its feet.

 

C.  God

The third word is GOD:  I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God….  In other words, the strength and capacity and ability and might of God Himself are conveyed through this message of Good News.  It is not just some words strung together in a dusty book.  It isn’t just a nice sounding platitude.  It isn’t just a creed or catechism.  It is the funnel through which the infinite power of almighty God is conveyed and conducted into a human life like yours or mine.

 

D.  Salvation

The next word is SALVATION:  I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation….

 

The essence of this word is deliverance, release, escape from danger or death or slavery.  A few weeks ago, I had the joy of preaching for several nights in an African-American church in Tampa, Florida.  Earl Mason is pastor, and one day we began talking about the joy of helping people at Christmas.  Every year the church there collects gift baskets for needy families. “We don’t take it to their homes” he said, “because we want them to come and hear the message of Christmas as we provide gifts for their families. Many of them come for the gifts, but get more from the discourse than from the gifts.” One year, for example, a single mother showed up, five children in tow. The children were from four different fathers, yet there was no dad in the family. The oldest child had behavioral problems. Pastor Mason shared the story of Jesus, and the family found Christ as Savior. Now they’re a regular part of church life, the mother is a faithful volunteer, and the oldest child is a blessing to the congregation.  The power of God was conveyed to that home by the message of the Gospel, and they were saved.

 

We’re saved from death, hell, and the grave.  We’re saved from ourselves and from Satan.  We’re saved from the bondage of sin and the tyranny of evil.  We’re saved from depression, defeat, and despair. 

 

Saved by the blood of the Crucified One!

Now ransomed from sin and a new work begun!

 

E.  Believe

And that brings us to the last key term in the verse:  BELIEVE:  I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes….

 

The apostle Paul could have said:  I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who… keeps all the commandments.

 

He could have said:  I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who… earns enough merit badges in life.

 

He could have said:  I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who… has perfect attendance at church.

 

But there’s only one word there:  The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who… believes.

 

I began the message by telling you about a woman in Indiana who was sitting in her jail cell when she read the introduction I’d written for a particular edition of the Bible, and she had prayed the prayer that I suggested.  I’d like to lead you in that very same prayer right now.  If you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, make this your own prayer and receive Him now as your Lord:

 

Dear God,

I believe You love me and that Jesus Christ came as Your gift, dying on the cross and rising again for me.  I confess my faults and failures; I ask You to forgive my sins.  I now ask Jesus to come into my life as my Lord and Savior.  I accept His promise of eternal life.  Help me live for Christ alone from this day.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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