BEING FAITHFUL TO THE GOSPEL

Romans 1:1-17

 INTRODUCTION:   

I love antique tractors…especially orange ones!  I know why.  It’s because of the memories.  My grandfather had an Oliver 88 and an Allis Chalmers WC.  I associate a lot of pleasant memories with an old WC.  Antique tractors can be beautifully restored but strictly ornamental.  It is really kind of odd because these machines were made to do work but we’ve turned them into collectables that we mostly just look at, rarely doing the work for which they were designed. 

I’m afraid some people may regard the church about the way I think about antique tractors: a curious but useless relic of a bygone era.

When Jesus founded the church, he intended for it to be a vital organism.  He called it a family, a flock and body.  It is to be living and functional, fulfilling the work for which it was created.

The purpose of the church, according to Jesus, is to defeat Satan and rescue the captives that the enemy has seized.  The method for releasing the captives is to tell them the truth.  Jesus said that the truth would set people free so the church is to be the herald of the truth, confronting the lies of the enemy and proclaiming the truth of God.

Too often, however, the church can be a bit stingy with the truth.  We talk about the truth to one another but we don’t tell it to the people who’ve never heard.

Al Gore’s book and movie about global warming is titled, An Inconvenient Truth.  The church has been entrusted with a number of inconvenient truths.  Sin is an inconvenient truth.  Judgment is an inconvenient truth.  Hell is an inconvenient truth.  We don’t like to talk about such things because we don’t want to be unpopular.  But the fact is that people cannot embrace the truth that will set them free until they have heard the inconvenient truth that they need it.

As the singer, Steven Curtis Chapmen put it, “In the Gospel, we discover we are far worse off than we thought, and far more loved than we ever dreamed.”

In a letter to the church in Rome, the apostle Paul told them that he was eager to preach the Gospel to them.  He was excited about sharing with them the liberating truth of Jesus Christ.  Would you listen to what Paul wrote in the first part of that letter?

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 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. ^5 Through him 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. ^6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

^7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul’s Longing to Visit Rome

^8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. ^9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the Gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you ^10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

^11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— ^12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. ^13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

^14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ^15 That is why I am so eager to preach the Gospel also to you who are at Rome.

^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 was not raised in a Christian home.  He was raised in a Jewish home.  And when Paul first heard about Jesus, Paul did not believe that he was the Christ or the Messiah.  Paul thought Jesus was a fraud and an enemy of God. 

When Paul was a Jew, he said he was a Pharisee.  The Pharisees were the most devout and zealous of the Jews.  In fact, the name, Pharisee, means “set apart”.  Now Paul tells the Christians in Rome that he has been “set apart” for the Gospel.  The term he uses comes from the same root word as “Pharisee”. 

Once he became a Christian, Paul was no less devout or zealous about the Gospel than he was about Judaism.  His zeal and faithfulness to the Gospel is an example to us.  May I point out three characteristics about how Paul shared the Gospel…because we should be sharing the truth of God in the same ways. 

I.            WHOLEHEARTEDLY (1:9)

Paul said he served God with his whole heart in preaching the Gospel.  As you would know, when Paul wrote this letter to the Romans, he wrote it in the Greek language.  In the Greek, the word translated “wholeheartedly” literally means “from the spirit”. 

For Paul, sharing the Gospel was not a mere academic exercise or a rhetorical device: it was a heartfelt outpouring from his inner being.  When Paul told people the truth about Jesus, his message came from deep within his spirit.

You know, we were not called to be defense attorneys for Jesus Christ.  In courtroom terms, we are called to be witnesses.  A witness is expected to give a truthful testimony to what he has seen, heard and experienced firsthand.  Secondhand or borrowed testimony carries very little weight.  But when you can truthfully tell what Jesus has done for you, you can be an effective witness. 

Paul’s testimony to the good news of Jesus was heartfelt, earnest and from the deepest place in his spirit.  That is why he was such an effective as an evangelist.

II.    EAGERLY (1:15)

Paul shared the Gospel wholeheartedly and he shared it eagerly.  He was excited to share God’s good news with everyone.

One reason Paul was so eager to share the truth of the Gospel with everyone was because of the impact the Gospel had made on his life.  Paul’s life was dramatically changed once he accepted the truth that Jesus is the Messiah.  His values were changed.  His priorities were changed.  His calling and his career were changed.  And ultimately, his destiny was changed.  He went from life with a hopeless end to life with an endless hope and he was eager to share that hope with others who needed it.

Another reason Paul gives for why he was so eager to share the Gospel is because he had a heavy debt to discharge: an obligation to God and to all men regardless of race or culture. 

Most of us do not like being in debt.  That is not to say that most of us are not in debt, we just don’t like it.  A debt that is owed is a demand upon us and it tends to weigh us down until we can get out from under it.

Paul said he was under obligation to all people.  He was under obligation to those who were Greek and to those who were not.  He was under obligation to those who were wise and those who were not.  Taken like that, he means that he was under obligation to all people no matter who they were.

A debt demands to be paid, an obligation demands to be fulfilled and a duty demands to be performed.

The day of Paul’s conversion to Christianity, he was traveling to the city of Damascus with orders in his hands that instructed him to persecute Christians to try to persuade them to renounce their belief in Jesus as God’s son and the savior of the world.  Paul took that duty seriously.

Once Paul accepted Christ as his savior, he also accepted him as his Lord.  That meant that Paul was under the command of a new master: Jesus Christ.  When Paul came under the command of Jesus, he took Jesus’ orders just as seriously as he took the orders he’d been under from the Jewish council.

Those of you who’ve been in the military, do you take Jesus’ command as seriously as you took your military commander’s?  Those of you who have worked for a supervisor or a manager, do you take Jesus’ instructions as seriously as you do your bosses’?  Those of you who have a wife, do you…?  Oh, never mind.  You get the point.

If Jesus is your lord, you are a soldier under orders and a person under obligation…both to Jesus and to those who have not yet met him.  Such orders are not to be obeyed reluctantly or hesitantly but eagerly.  Paul said he shared the Gospel wholeheartedly and eagerly.

III.    UNASHAMEDLY (1:16)

Paul also said he shared the truth of the Gospel unashamedly.  It almost seems as if some might have been saying Paul was embarrassed to bring his message to the sophisticated city of Rome. 

But Paul said he was not ashamed of the Gospel because it reveals both God’s great power and God’s great plan.

David Urey was desperate. His wife lay critically injured from an auto accident in West Virginia. Doctors said she needed immediate attention from a neurosurgeon if she were to survive.

Urey tried to charter a helicopter to fly her to Washington, D.C., where the nearest adequate medical care was available. He failed.

Finally he declared, “I’m going to call the White House.” It was a bold act, but as a result, President Nixon’s private helicopter was immediately dispatched to Urey’s aid.

It was a bold move but when the life of someone you love is at stake, you’ll be willing to be bold, daring, unashamed. 

Do you believe that the lives of people you love are at stake?  Do you believe that what they decide about Jesus will make an eternal difference?  Do you believe that it is within your ability to tell them about God’s cure for their terminal illness of sin?  If you know that the life of someone you love is at stake and that you can do something about it, you will be willing to do something bold, daring and unashamed.

Paul was unashamed to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ because that Gospel reveals both God’s great plan to redeem and His great power to save.

CONCLUSION:           

I have not always been a minister.  I used to be a real person.  And I have not always wanted to be a minister.  I used to want to do a normal job.

 When I was very young, I wanted to be a firefighter.  Once in a while, I still think about it and wonder what my life would have been like if I had become a firefighter. 

Would you please indulge me and let me pretend that I am a firefighter and that this is our firehouse.  No one can be a firefighter by himself.  It takes a houseful of firefighters to get the job done.  So in my firehouse, I’ll need some colleagues.  I’m going to appoint a few.
 

Dorothy Fishel, I want you to be one of my firefighters.  I’ll appoint you to be my captain and I want you to take care of the department’s Dalmatian.  You do like dogs, don’t you?  You’ll feed the dog, water the dog, walk the dog, train the dog, take it to the vet and anything else that needs to be done for the dog.

Jack Osborne, I want you to be one of my firefighters.  I’ll name you first lieutenant and you’ll maintain the fire truck: change the oil, fill the tank, check the air in the tires…all of that stuff.  You are to maintain the truck.

Bill Staser, I want you to be one of my firefighters.  I want you to be my second lieutenant and I want you to be the chief cook and bottle washer.  You are responsible to wash the chief cook and all of the bottles.

OK – that is a start of a department.  Let’s review:

·         Dot, what is your job?  Take care of the dog??  No, I don’t think that’s right.

·         Jack, what’s your job?  Take care of the truck??  No, I’m sure that is not right.

·         Bill?  Wash the chief cook and the bottles??  No, no, no!

None of that is correct.  You are firefighters.  Your job is fighting fires.  All those other tasks are what you do to help us be ready to fight fires.  But our job is fighting fires.  If we have the best dog, the finest truck and the cleanest chief cook and bottles in the state but we never get around to fighting fires, we’ve not done our job.

And in the church, we are to be like Jesus.  Jesus invested his life, spent his life, gave his life to bring the good news of salvation to all people.  We may play a musical instrument, teach a Sunday School class, preach, eld and deac but until we’ve told the gospel story to others, we’ve not done our job.

INVITATION:                        #107 – “Jesus Saves!”

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