“________formed” [Matt's Messages]

“________formed”

Family Bible Week 2024 - Breaker Rock Beach

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

July 28, 2024 :: Romans 12:2

Our Lord wants us to change because He always stays the same.

I really enjoyed our theme this week. It was different from years gone by. One of the reasons I enjoyed it is because Heather and I have just come back from visiting her family in the Pacific Northwest!

I’m sure that Vicky didn’t know that we were going to vacation there when she picked this out theme, but Heather and I came home from Vancouver Island and Washington State, and Karen and Shelly transformed our building into a Breaker Rock Beach!

Here’s some pictures I took from the beaches I walked on just last month. Rocks. Driftwood. Some tall trees. Lots of water. Sand. It looks a lot like the videos we watched this week.

The point of the theme this week is that Jesus Christ is the Solid Rock and His Word is trustworthy and true. Unlike the shifting sands of the world around us.

Every morning when I went out for my before breakfast walk, the beach had a re-set. The tide came and the tide went out and the sand was all different. Footprints were erased. The landscape had changed. There were different little rocks. Different sea-shells. Different driftwood. The beach was worn down just  a little bit more. Everything was different. The ocean is powerful and the beach is shaped and formed by it.

Have you ever been to the beach? You know what I’m talking about?

But a solid rock, in contrast, does not move so easily. It stands there even if the waves beat against it. [I wish I had snapped a picture of a great big rock on one of those beaches. I never thought of it.]

Now, of course, all analogies break down at some point because even all rocks will eventually get shifted by the ocean. But imagine a rock that is completely un-shiftable. 

That’s what we’ve been talking about this week. Jesus Christ is such a Rock, and His word is unshakable.

And here in Romans chapter 12, His unchangeable Word says that we need to be changed.

We need to be _____formed.

In verse 2, the Apostle Paul gives us two different commands that are like two sides of the same coin. He says: 

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2, CSB).

Nearly all of the English translations have this great little play on words in verse 2. It’s not actually in the Greek words, as they come from different roots, but it very effectively captures the meaning of the two words.

Do not be con-formed to this age.

But be trans-formed by the renewing of your mind.

Notice: Being _____formed is inescapable.

We will all be _____formed in one way or another. 

The question is what will form us? And what eventual form will we take? What will capture our minds and hearts? What will we become?

Romans 12:2 says that if we make the right choices here, we will increasingly know the right thing to do. I don’t know about you, but I want to be able tell what is the right thing to do! I want to be able to “discern [to pick out and love] what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

Let’s look at this verse more closely.

We don’t have time this morning to explain everything that has led up to Romans 12:2. [See our study “All Roads Lead to Romans 2014-2016.”] Paul has been explaining the truth of the Gospel and how it’s the good news for all who believe. Eleven chapters of God’s amazing grace and mercy on display! And in chapter 12, Paul is beginning to unpack what a difference that gospel of grace makes in the lives of all true believers.

In verse 1, he says that it means that we must give our whole selves over to God in total worship. He says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship” (Rom. 12:1 NIVO).

Hold nothing back. He held nothing back for us at the Cross. We should hold nothing back from Him.

And in verse 2, he says what that looks like in terms of letting God change our whole lives. “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2, CSB).

#1. DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS AGE.

This is what we are supposed to avoid. This is what we are supposed to resist. This is where we say, “No.”

Followers of Jesus are supposed to be different from the world. We are supposed to go against the flow.

Paul says to not be conformed to “this age.” What “age” is that? The NIV calls it, “the pattern of the world.”

This “age” is this present time, this world that exists, between the Fall of humanity and the Return of Christ and the coming of His Kingdom.

It’s this long evil time period that we are living in while we wait for His Kingdom to come. And this time, this age, is marked by wickedness and rebellion against God. And by a completely different set of values than the values of the Kingdom to come.

Do you feel pressure to conform to this age?

To become like the world?

How the world talks? 

How the world dresses?

How the world entertains themselves?

How the world works?

How the world acts?

The ocean is a powerful thing! There is amazing pressure on us to conform.

And, often, it’s so powerful we don’t even feel it. It’s an undercurrent.

The worst temptations to conform are the ones where the world is telling us to do what feels right to us already. Where it’s the thing we naturally want to do.

For example, to complain. The world says, “Complain! Grumble. Get your way. Get on social media and blast those people who are doing it wrong. Stand up for your rights and get what is coming to you. Be outraged and pour on the shame and condemnation.”

And, boy, does that feel right! (And, yes, there is a right way and time to do something like it righteously.)

But I often want to complain sinfully. So it doesn’t take much to “conform to this age!”

But Philippians 2 says, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life” (Phil. 2:14-16 NIVO).

Like the Milky Way on a dark night, we are supposed to stand out and shine.

That’s why I was so happy with how everyone handled the water problem at church on Wednesday night at Family Bible Week. You weren't complaining. You weren’t conforming.

Years ago, J.B. Phillips paraphrased this so well. He put it, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould.”

What are some of the ways that the world has squeezing you recently?

I think a lot of us immediately think about the pressure in “this age” to celebrate sinful sexuality and gender confusion. Same-sex romance and “marriage.” Trans-genderism.

The world wants us to conform.

And if you are tempted to reject God’s good design for males and females, then I urge you to resist. Do not conform. 

But I think “this age” is also happy to get us to conform in another way on those issues.

“This age” is happy to have us become hateful and unloving with our words and actions towards people who are different from us or who have different struggles than we do. Being judgmental and condemnatory and rude and unkind. And pushing people into rigid stereotypes aren’t biblical either.

I’ve had several private conversations recently with a bunch of you about how to love people in your lives that identify as LGBTQ. To not conform to an worldly ideology and at the same time not conform to a worldly animosity. I’m so proud of you for resisting both directions.

By the way, I want to recommend this book that the kids got to hear about at Challenge. More to the Story: Deep Answers to Real Questions on Attraction, Identity, and Relationships by my friend Jennifer Kvamme. It's the best book out there right now for young people, especially.

Do not conform. Either way.

Where are you feeling the squeeze? Where do you feel the undertow? Where is “the ocean” trying to take you these days? Shape you, form you? And it even feels so right. Do not conform. But, instead:

#2. BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND.

The Lord wants us to change because He always stays the same. The Lord doesn’t just tell us to resist culture. He tells us to change our minds and to be transformed. Just like Karen and Shelly transformed our building into a beach for the month, the Lord wants to do a total make-over of us, but permanently.

Be transformed.

This is different from the beach analogy. We aren’t just supposed to keep from being shaped by the world, we are supposed to be shaped by the Word. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

That says that true change starts in our minds and hearts and then works out into the rest of our words, deeds, and lives. And we renew our minds by reviewing biblical truth.

That’s why we have Family BIBLE Week, right? Because the world is blaring at us 24/7, we need to regularly come back to see what God’s Word says. Jesus’ followers are constantly bathing our minds in biblical truth so that they get renewed.

We don’t have to wonder what God wants us to actually be like. If you keep reading Romans 12, 13, 14, and 15, you get a picture of how God wants to, by His grace, radically transform His people.

For example, the world wants us to believe in ourselves and have high self-esteem and follow our hearts and believe that we are the best!

But what does verse 3 say? The very next verse.

“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 measure of faith God has given you” (Rom. 12:3 NIVO).

The Lord seeks to make us humble people. Transformed into humility. Our adult class this week learned a lot about humility by thinking about the greatness of God.

God is God, and we are not.

 

Let that renew your mind. This is what our church is all about. It’s in our purpose statement. We exist to glorify God by bringing people into a...what?

A life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

He loves us just as we are but He loves us too much to leave us that way. He wants to transform us by the renewing of our minds.

This is what our parents' class was talking about this week. What they are trying to do with their kids. Teaching them solid-unchanging biblical truth so that they can be transformed by the renewing of their minds.

 

Change is hard. It’s hard to change, isn’t it? It’s easy to go along with the undercurrent. It’s hard to fight against it.

What does it take to change? 

It takes something unchanging to change! You have to have something solid to hold onto. You need a rock. You need a God like the One we learned about this week. Great and forever unchanging. 

And you have to know what He says (and always says!) so that you can let that change your mind. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Learn His new pattern of thinking.

For example, this age says, “Be greedy. Grab all the money you can. And keep all the money you can. That’s where happiness is. Money makes the world go around.” Is that what God’s Word says?

No. Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Lk. 12:15 NIVO).

Or skip down to verse 13 here in Romans 12. “Share with God’s people who are in need.” 

So God owns all the money, right? And He has given it to us to enjoy and to be generous with.

And so we are sending Keith, Steph, and Mary Beth with our money to share with God’s people in Malawi who are in need.

And we have a big group planning to do it, not just in Africa but also, in America. You know we’ve been working on sending a group to Kentucky with Crisis Response next summer? Well, we have so many generous people in our congregation who want to go, that we are going to have to send two different teams on two different weeks in 2025 to share with God’s people who are in need.

That’s because we’re being transformed here by the renewing of our minds.

Listen to that whole section. Verses 9 through 21.

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.  

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:9-13:1 NIVO).

Those are the values of the Kingdom! That sounds a lot like the Sermon on the Mount to me, as I’ll bet it does to the Challenge Crew.

But it does not sound like the values of “this age.” “This age” says to hate our enemies. To blast our opponents on social media every chance we get. Give “them” a taste of their own medicine.

But our Rock says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Lk. 6:27-28 NIVO).

That’s not easy to do[!], but Jesus did it. He showed us how. And He does not change.

And as we fill and renew our minds with biblical truth, we can be transformed into His image. We can increasingly share in the shareable attributes of God Himself.

And as we continue do this, we will increasingly be able to make wise choices. We’ll increasingly know the right thing to do. Verse 2 says, “...be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” By God’s grace, we can live out the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God! I want that for me, and I want that for you.

And there’s only one way to get there. And it’s through Jesus Christ.

The kids have learned this week that “this age” says that there are many ways to get to heaven.

But we have renewed our minds, so we know that is false and as untrustworthy as shifting sands.

We know what we have learned in John 14.

Jesus said of Himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6 NIVO). But everyone who comes through Him and what He did for us at the Cross gets to the Father! 

Jesus Christ is the only way, and He is the only Rock.

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Mrs. Russell and the Message of Romans

I learned today that a very special woman, Karen (Huston) Russell Mott, has gone to be with the Lord. 

Years ago, for our church's inaugural "Back 2 School Sunday" event I wrote the following sermon in which she played a major part. 

I share it here as a tribute to her wonderful influence in my life and a wish for many more to know her Savior.

 

***

"Mrs. Russell and the Message of Romans"

Back-2-School Sunday :: Lanse Evangelical Free Church

August 29, 1999

I've been a student in school for most of my life.  In fact, I went to school for 21 straight years, from the time I was 4 (and went to preschool) to the time I was 25 and graduated from seminary, I never took 1 year off.  Every Fall, it was the same story--Back-2-School.  This is only the second Fall that I can remember that I didn't have to buy school supplies, and school clothes, and get my schedule and find out who my teachers are going be, and so on.

And you can imagine that in 21 straight years of school, I had a wide variety of teachers.   Some were brilliant people who gave stimulating lectures and led thought-provoking discussions.  In Bible School and Seminary, I had the privilege of sitting under some of the leaders in their fields of study–a truly awesome educational experience.  On the other hand, I've had some teachers who were as boring (to me) as watching golf re-runs on television, and some who I would pay large sums of money to not take again.  Counting substitutes, I have easily been taught by over 100 different teachers.

And this morning, I want to pay tribute to one special lady who taught me 9th grade English.  Her name was Mrs. Karen Russell.

Mrs. Russell was a 9th Grade English Teacher at Shelby Senior High School in Shelby, Ohio.  She had been teaching for a number of years there and had children about my age, one a couple of years older than me, the other a couple of years younger.

Mrs. Russell had a great sense of humor, an infectious laugh, a bright-red head of hair,  and a winsome and attractive way of conducting her class.  She knew how to bring the best out of her students, of which, I was glad that I was one.

Mrs. Russell taught us about parts of speech (like verbs and nouns and gerunds and adjectives) and made us read stories like The Lottery and plays by William Shakespeare, and write our own stories.  She was one of those people who encouraged me as a writer--and you folks who have to listen to my sermons from week to week are the judge of whether or not she was doing a good thing!

In many ways she taught me a love for English.  I had already obtained a great respect for English because my mother was also an English teacher.  But, right about the time that I had Mrs. Russell, I began to realize that English was not just grammar and vocabulary and hard work, but that words in English put together in the right way could convey great thoughts and important ideas.

But English wasn't the only thing that I learned from Mrs. Russell.  I also learned that a teacher and a student could be friends, too.  Many days after school was over and the bell had rung, I stopped by Mrs. Russell's room.  My locker was just down the hall from her room, and after stuffing my things in my locker, we'd talk–sometimes for 1/2 an hour!  She never stopped being a teacher or my elder during those discussions, and I never stopped being a student or respecting her, but during those discussions we didn't just talk about English.  We talked about life and about choices–and about Jesus Christ.  You see, Mrs. Russell was a Christian.  And though you didn't hear about it every day in class, it affected everything that she did and said–and after school hours, we could talk about how her faith and my faith in Jesus made a difference in how we lived.  I visited her classroom, and we had these discussions long after my 9th grade year.  In fact, after Heather and I got engaged, one of the people I wanted her to meet before we married, was Mrs. Russell.

One of the most poignant lessons that I learned from Mrs. Russell was how to go through tough times.  It was during that year I had her for English that her husband Mr. Terry Russell, died.  He had some disease in an internal organ–I never paid attention to the details–that was a constant, up-hill battle that year.  Mrs. Russell missed a lot of school that year, taking him to different doctor's appointments and dealing with the painful truth--we had a lot of substitutes for 9th grade English.

But Mrs. Russell didn't fall apart.  She was obviously going through something incredibly painful–some subjects in our class and in our discussions would bring tears to her eyes.  But even though she was in pain (and she didn't deny that), it was obvious to some of us that she had something or someone who was getting her through her trials and suffering–even with joy.  And it was also obvious that that something or someone was the Lord Jesus Christ.  I've never talked with her about it, but her example of persevering in faith even through adversity was a great example for me.

I'm really grateful to God for Mrs. Russell.  From interacting with her, I learned about English, friendship, Christianity, and persevering through trials.  I'm thankful that God brought her into my life.  I hope that you all had a Mrs. Russell in your life at some point, and that you will in some way try to be a Mrs. Russell for someone else.

But there was one thing that she taught me that I hated with a passion.  In fact, all of my classmates in 9th Grade English hated it.  We used to joke about it scornfully behind her back.

It was a exercise that she made us do to everything that we read for her class.  It was something she called–“Universal Truths.”

Ugh.  Just the thought of it makes my blood run cold.  My classmates and I thought that finding Universal Truths was a dirty rotten trick that English teachers had thought up to torture 9th grade students!

The process of finding Universal Truths in a piece of literature is really quite simple.  First, you read the book or story or poem and then you pick out its key themes.  And you do that by choosing just a few sample sentences or passages that you think are key to the whole and that explain the whole thing...and...(this is the key)...you state the key thoughts that explain the whole thing in terms that affect all people everywhere.

Ugh.  I hated looking for Universal Truths for Mrs. Russell!  And so did my classmates.  We always seemed to get it wrong.  Or, when Mrs. Russell would say what a sample Universal Truth might be from a particular story, we would just shrug and say, "I would have never thought of that!  Where did you get that?"  Did you have this experience with English teachers?  If I hadn't been raised by one, I would have thought that they were a sinister bunch of people!

But, as you might guess, even Mrs. Russell's Universal Truths have been helpful to me in my life. Especially in interpreting the Bible which is full  of Universal Truths that are backed up with a divine guarantee.  In fact, talking about Universal Truths is what I want us to do together this morning as we look into God's Word.

We're going to take one Bible book, the book of Romans–and look at the Universal Truths found there, using Mrs. Russell's technique.  Remember, to find Universal Truths, you read the entire book (which I've done for us in advance), and you pick out its key themes by choosing just a few sample sentences or passages that you think are key to understanding whole book and...you state the key thoughts that explain the whole thing in terms that affect all people everywhere.  Got it?

I've picked the book of Romans because Romans is the clearest explanation of the whole Bible in one book.  It is the Capitol City of the Universal Truth Nation.  Someone has said that all roads in the Bible intersect at some point in Romans.  So if you want to know in a nutshell what the message of the Bible is, first, learn the message of Romans.

So, to make my 9th Grade English teacher happy, and so that we can learn the central message of the Bible, let's look together at the Universal Truths found in the Book of Romans (God's principles that affect all people everywhere).

The first 2 universal truths come under the heading Our Universal Problem.  This problem is one that affects everyone on the face of the planet–you and me and everyone.  And it's bad news.  The first Universal Truth is found very simply stated in chapter 3, verse 23 or Romans (1114).  Romans 3:23 encapsulates the ideas found from chapter 1–all the way up to this point.  Let's read it together.

[Read Romans 3:23.]

Simply put, the first Universal Truth is this:  Everyone is a sinner.

Notice this verse says, "ALL have sinned."  All. There is no one that is outside of this sentence. God, through the writer, Paul, is telling us that all humans have rebelled against God.

Sins are disobedience to God's laws of right and wrong.  This doesn't just include big sins like rape, and extortion, and murder, but also stuff like lies, and cruelty, and losing your temper, and cheating, and drunkenness, and lust, and self-centeredness, and gossip.  I don't think that there is anyone in this room who would not admit that they have done at least one of those things and probably recently.

Those are sins.  They are rebelling against God.  And every human alive has practiced sin.  Everyone is a sinner.  And that sin has caused every person to not reflect God's glory in the way they should.  We have all fallen short of the glory of God; God's glorious standard has been broken by every person on the planet.

Now that certainly sounds like a problem, but it probably doesn't worry you very much until you begin to understand the second universal truth in the book of Romans.  And that's found in Romans 6:23.  Let's turn over a page and read Romans 6:23.

[Read Romans 6:23]

I want to focus first, on the first half of that key verse.  "For the wages of sin is death..."  

This is a universal truth because everyone is a sinner.  So the effects of sin affect everyone–you and me and everyone.  What this verse says is that our rebellion has earned us something.  We get a wage for our sin.  We have something due us because of our sins.  And that is death.

Everyone has earned death.

Everyone has sinned and those sins have earned us a penalty of death.

Death is separation from something.  Physical death is separation from our bodies.  But spiritual death, what this is talking about, is separation eternally from God.  You see, we were created to have a perfect love relationship with God. But because of our sins, we have been separated and alienated from God.  And that separation is caused by our sin.  The wages of sin is death.  That separation or death for eternity is what we call Hell, and according to this verse, we have all earned it because of our sin.

I'd like to illustrate that.  On June 4, 1961, the K-19, a Soviet nuclear submarine, was conducting a training exercise in the North Atlantic when a pipe carrying coolant to the nuclear reactor burst.  In the reactor room, the temperature quickly soared to 140 degrees, and the radiation level mounted.  The reactor had to be cooled or it would burst, poisoning the sea with radiation.

The Captain of the sub, Nikolai Zateyv, called for volunteers to go into the reactor room and weld a new cooling system.  The men would work in three-man shifts for five to ten minutes, wearing only raincoats and gas masks for protection.

The first volunteer stumbled out of the reactor room after only five minutes.  He tore off his gas mask and vomited.  Volunteers continued to go into the reactor, however, and eventually they succeeded in fixing the cooling pipe.  The Soviet Sub did not explode.

But the radiation had done its harm.  The appearance of the men who had gone into the reactor changed.  Skin reddened and swelled.  Dots of blood appeared on foreheads and scalps. Within 2 hours, the sailors could not be recognized.  Within days, eight had died.  Within two years, fourteen more eventually died of radiation poisoning.

Sin is like that radiation; sin is deadly to our souls.  Noone who comes in contact with it (and that's everyone (remember point #1)) is exempt from its destructive and deadly effect.  Everyone is a sinner, we have all gone into the reactor room of sin.  And everyone has earned death, we all experience the destructive penalty of that radiation–death–eternal separation from God.

That's the bad news.  And its Our Universal Problem.

I am so glad, that Romans does not stop here.  There is more to the message of Romans than this bad news.  In fact, there is more to this verse than this bad news.

The second two Universal Truths from the Book of Romans can be classified under the heading, God's Loving Solution.   God has provided a loving solution to Our Universal Problem.  Let's look at that!  The 3rd Universal Truth is found at the end of Romans 6:23, let's read it again.  Follow along in your Bibles.

[Read Romans 6:23.]

Here's where the good news begins!  Simply put, the 3rd Universal Truth is that God has provided the gift of eternal life.

I call this an Universal Truth, not that everyone has the gift, but it is freely offered to everyone on Earth.  It is Universal in its scope.  God has provided the gift of eternal life.

Imagine owing 75 billion dollars and having only 25 cents to your name.  And then imagine that debt being forgiven.  What a gift that would be!  It's not something that you could earn in a lifetime of trying–it would have to be a gift–freely given with no expectation of a payback.  Our sin-debt is like that– more than we could ever repay– ever!  

But God has provided a means of salvation for us–a rescue from our sin-debt, forgiveness of our sins, restoration of that love-relationship that we were made for, and eternal life with Christ in heaven.  All that is offered in a gift.  A gift.

"The wages of sin is death BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

God has mercifully and lovingly provided a solution to our greatest problem.

That's good news!

But, you may be wondering "how?"  How can God just forgive our debts like that? Our sins have earned a penalty–death–and someone had to pay that penalty.

And the next Universal Truth from Romans shows just how much God loved us.  Turn back a page to Romans 5:8. 

[Read Romans 5:8.]

This is one of the most sobering and joy-bringing truths that you will ever hear.  Our 4th Universal truth is this:  God's gift comes from the death of Jesus Christ.

Someone had to die–and Jesus volunteered.  While we were sinners (and all of us are sinners who have earned death), Jesus died for us because of God's love for us.  The gift of eternal life is in Jesus Christ because it was his death that made it possible.  He paid the penalty for our sins.  On the cross he took upon himself your sins and mine and suffered the death we had earned.

On the Cross, God looked at Jesus, a sinless man, and said--Guilty!--and judged him with all his wrath for our sins.  This is the Great Exchange--his life for our sins bought a great gift that is offered to everyone here.

Eternal life is possible because of the death of Jesus Christ.

Have you ever looked at the cross and thought about what that awful day meant?  We are told that it was an act of love–what made it so loving was that he didn't have to die.  He hadn't earned death like we have, instead he took upon himself the effects of our rebellion–in our place.

His great demonstration of God's love–dying for us–made it possible for God to offer the gift of eternal life!

That's good news!!!

However, just because it is offered to all who hear about it--does not mean that everyone has received the gift.  A personal response is required of all who will enjoy eternal life.

The last 2 Universal Truths in the Message of Romans come under that heading--the personal response that God requires of ALL who would enjoy the gift of eternal life.

I think that Romans 10:9-10 capture in a nutshell what this personal response should look like. Turn there with me please.

(Can I just say right here, that this is not just an academic exercise? Your eternal destiny rides on these Universal Truths.  This is what God says about who has eternal life and who doesn't.  This is important stuff.)

Let's read Romans 10:9-10.

[Read Romans 10:9-10.]

There are two basic responses that are mandated by this passage.  We must believe in Jesus and must confess Jesus as Lord.  Those are our last 2 Universal Truths.  I call them Universal because EVERYONE who will have eternal life must have responded in these 2 ways.

Let's take them one at a time.  First, we must believe in Jesus.  Look at v.9.

[Read Romans v.9b & 10a.]

This says that there is something and someone that we are supposed to believe in.  We are to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.  Jesus died for our sins--but that wasn't the end of the story.  God demonstrated his approval of Jesus' death on our behalf by raising him from the dead!  It happened almost 2000 years ago.  Jesus was resurrected and that is the proof that he paid for our sins and that the gift of eternal life is available.  And right here, God says that to receive the gift of eternal life, you must have your heart   trust in Jesus.  If you do, according to this verse, then you will be "justified," that is, declared NOT GUILTY by God because of Jesus' death on your behalf.

Believe in Jesus!  Belief or faith is, at heart, a full reliance or trust.

Belief is not just mental assent to a set of facts.  Take this chair for example.  I might say that I believe that this chair will support my weight.  It looks strong and trustworthy (it's got 4 legs, I've been around it a long time, I've seen other people sit on it.)–but that is not what is meant by the biblical word "believe."

When Romans 10:9 says that we need to believe in our heart in Jesus and his resurrection, it does not mean "O, I believe in God and all that." It means that we stop relying on anything else and put all of our weight down on Jesus.  Full reliance and trust in him and his death/resurrection.  We trust him, personally, with our salvation.

We are called to respond in belief.  Full reliance, total trust.

The second response, and our last Universal Truth is that we must confess Jesus as Lord.

Let's read that passage again.

[Read Romans 10:9-10.]

We are called to personally respond by confessing Jesus as our Lord.

What does that mean?  A Lord is a ruler, a boss, a king, a master.  We are not supposed to just believe in Jesus, we are supposed to recognize Jesus' mastery of our lives.  We are to give him the control of our lives.

To confess means to recognize something and demonstrate that you believe it.  It means to agree with your life that Jesus is your Lord.

This is not earning your salvation, this is receiving it, by giving away the control of your life.

The best way that I know how to illustrate this is to use a steering wheel.

This steering wheel looks like it was taken off of a lawn-mower.  Before you become a Christian, you control the steering wheel of your life.  You have control.

But Romans 10:9 says that you have to open your hands and hand off the steering wheel to Jesus (the Lord) to be saved.

We are called to put Jesus in the driver's seat of our lives.

I think that this is one of the most ignored truths about Christianity.  A lot of people think that they are Christians because they go to church or give their money or belong to a Christian family or attend a Bible study or say various prayers.

Many people because they agree that Jesus died for the sins of the world think that they have eternal life.  But the Bible is clear–only those who put their whole weight down on Jesus and his death/resurrection and those who hand over the steering wheel of their life to Jesus as Lord receive and enjoy eternal life.

It is a personal response.  Everyone on Earth is called to do it.

Let me put it this way:  Just because you hang around airports doesn't mean that you're flying.  You might know all about airports–schedules and aerodynamics and wingspans and flight procedures–but that won't get you off the ground.  You have to personally get on board and trust the airplane and its pilot to get anywhere.

God is calling you to personally believe in Jesus (chair) and to confess him as Lord (steering wheel) to be saved.

This is important.  Some of you, whether first-time guests or long-standing attenders here,  have never taken this crucial step.  You have agreed all along that you "believe."  You  don't disagree with anything that I've said today.  But you have never personally trusted Jesus in this way–with your whole life.

You can do it right now.  It doesn't require a prayer but a prayer is a good way to formalize it in your mind and heart.

Let's review these Universal Truths:

Everyone here is a sinner.

All sinners have earned eternal death.

But God has loving provided the gift of eternal life.

That gift was made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

To receive that gift, you need to put your weight down on Christ, to fully rely on him and nothing else to give you salvation.

To receive that gift, you need to recognize with your life and your words that Jesus is your Lord, giving him the steering wheel of your life.

To everyone who truly does that, God has promised forgiveness of sins, restoration of a permanent love-relationship with him, and eternal life.

If you want that, you can pray right now to begin a new life.  Tell God that you are a sinner, confess your need for salvation from the death-penalty that you earned and  trust Jesus, giving him the control of your life.

Mrs. Russell eventually remarried.  She is Mrs. Karen Mott now, and I saw her a couple of weeks ago at my brother's wedding.  Though she has permission to ask me just about anything, anytime she wants, when I saw her she didn't asked about Universal Truths, and I certainly didn't bring it up.  But, I know that she agrees that these 6 truths are the most important ones in the whole world.  Paul has much more to say in Romans, read it sometime from start to finish, he's got a lot to say.  But this is the heart of the message of Romans and the message of the Bible–in spite our sin, Christ died to bring us eternal life if we believe in him and confess him as Lord.

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All Roads Lead to Romans

All 37 messages in the sermon series that ran from August 31, 2014 to February 21, 2016.

01. All Roads Lead to Romans
02. I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel
03. The Bad News
04. Hope for Holy Sexuality
05. The Even Worse News
06. The Worst News
07. Justified
08. Father Abraham
09. The Blessings of Justification
10. How Much More
11. New You
12. Slaves Of...?
13. A Life-Changing Relationship with Jesus Christ
14. No Condemnation
15. If the Spirit Lives in You
16. The Spirit of Sonship
17. We Know
18. For Us
19. Who?
20. God's Word Has Not Failed
21. Israel Stumbled
22. God Raised Him From the Dead
23. God Always Keeps His Promises
24. Therefore
25. How to Think of Yourself
26. A Transformed People (Part One)
27. A Transformed People (Part Two)
28. A Transformed People (Part Three)
29. A Transformed People (Part Four)
30. God's Servants
31. What Time Is It?
32. Returning to Romans
33 Striving for Unity (Part One)
34. Striving for Unity (Part Two)
35. Striving for Unity (Part Three)
36. Gospel Full

37. Greetings, Grace, and Gospel

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[Matt's Messages] “Greetings, Grace, and Gospel”

“Greetings, Grace, and Gospel”
All Roads Lead to Romans
February 21, 2016 :: Romans 16:1-27 

Believe it or not, we’ve finally reached the end of the book of Romans.

I told you when we started this series on August 31, 2014, that I was not going to be one of the those preachers who go into Romans and never come out again. In fact, I didn’t think we would take a whole year go through it.

But now it’s February 21, 2016, and we’ve finally reached the last chapter. You might be surprised to hear that this is only the 37th message in this series. So it’s really been only 2/3 of a year’s worth of sermons, it just took me almost two years to write and deliver them!

But any way about it, here we are.

Romans chapter 16.

Which, if you’ve ever read it before, can seem on first glance to be a pretty...boring part of the letter.

Chapter 16 is not as elaborate or eloquent as the explanation of the gospel in chapters 1 through 7.

Chapter 16 does not soar like the great chapter 8.

Chapter 16 is not as thorny in interpretation or pointed in application as chapters 9 through 15.

But Romans chapter 16 is important. And it is holy Scripture.

Yes, most of it is a list of names. Some of them, hard to pronounce names. As I’ve said before, I don’t pretend to know the correct pronunciation of all of these name. I’m just going to fake it and make it sound like I do.

But Romans 16 is not just a list of information. It is the Word of God.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16).

And that includes Romans 16.

This chapter is just as inspired as John 3:16 even if it’s not as important as that passage or others in the Bible.

Romans 16 is holy Scripture.

I love that. Because it means that even as I read and think about these greetings that Paul sends along, I can expect to learn and grow through them. I can expect to be thoroughly equipped through Romans 16 for every good work.

I can expect to receive grace from reading Romans 16 and grow in God’s gospel.

So, here’s the title for today’s message, the 37th and last in our “All Roads Lead to Romans” series,“Greetings, Grace, and Gospel.”

Paul begins his ending with a commendation. Let’s look at verses 1 and 2.

“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me.”

What can we learn from these two verses?

Well, first of all, we are reminded that this is a letter from real people to real people.

Sometimes we fall into the error of thinking that this is all just a fairy tale or a myth.

That Christianity is basically just a set of abstract ideas with some stories attached to them.

But Christianity is deeply historical. It is embedded in and arises from history.

When we read these names, and there are 26 separate people named in these verses, we are reminded that these were real people with real needs and real deeds who really lived.

There really was this woman named “Phoebe.” And she was almost definitely the bearer of the letter to the Romans. She was the carrier of the Epistle to the Romans. Phoebe carried it, probably from Corinth, where Paul was, to Rome. Cenchrea is a port city near Corinth. Kind of like a suburb of Corinth on the sea.

And she was a servant (Greek word “deakonon”) of the church there. She served that church faithfully and has now traveled all the way to Rome.

And in this letter from Paul to this church he has never met, her name appears. And he says, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cencrea.”

She’s a real woman, and she had some needs.

I think that the second thing we see. It’s not just that this is history, real people. But they had real needs. And they needed each other. V.2 again.

“I ask you to receive [Phoebe] in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints [you’ve got to act like the church is supposed to act] and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me.”

Including “the great Paul!”

I think that’s interesting, don’t you? Paul had needs? Phoebe probably had some wealth, enough to travel, at least. And at some point she had been benefactor, a patron, a helper to Paul.

Ministry is a team sport. We need each other.

That’s one of the big take-aways from a passage like Romans 16. We need one another to do ministry.

Even Paul did! Paul would just laugh at that statement. “Of course, we need each other in gospel ministry. None of us can do this on our own. We’re a body, remember?”

So, the Wild Game Dinner, for example. Andy can’t do that on his own. Everybody needs to play their part whether it’s simply praying for the event or showing up with an apple pie or a crockpot of venison chilli.

We need each other. Gospel ministry is a team sport.

And women get to play on that team.

That’s third thing I see here in just the first two verses.

Phoebe is a sister in Christ. And she’s carrying the Epistle to the Romans!

Some people have the mistaken idea that the Apostle Paul was anti-woman. Or that Christianity is somehow anti-woman.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

As we read these verses, you might be astounded to see how many of Paul’s friends and co-workers in gospel ministry were ladies.

His sisters in Christ.

Just because Paul taught that there were some leadership roles in ministry that men alone should fulfill, the ones bearing the brute brunt of responsibility for the home and the church, doesn’t mean that Paul belittled or devalued women and their contribution to the church and its gospel mission in any way shape or form.

We’ve got a great set of ladies in this church, and they are active in gospel ministry and should be honored. Like Phoebe was.

Ladies, every time you hear a female name in this chapter (and there’s going to be  a bunch), think of your name being put in there, too.

And it sure seems to me that Phoebe was a single lady. There’s no mention here of a husband. So, I think it’s a shout to the single ladies, too. Christian sisters full of the gospel and worthy of commendation.

We’ve got a bunch of you here, too. We have got a church with a good many Phoebes in it, and we are blessed because of you.

Don’t worry. I won’t take this much time for every name on this list.

But you get the idea? These names are important and what Paul says about these people is important. It’s holy Scripture, and we can learn from it.

In verse 2, Paul turns from commending Phoebe to greeting the people in the Roman church that he knew. Some he probably knew better than others and some he may have only known by reputation. It’s hard to say.

But he greets them. Paul greets people in other of his letters, but this is the longest greeting of all of them. Colossians, another letter written to a church he’s not met, is the only one close to this one, and there are a lot more names here.

These are Paul’s personal greetings to these people.

Every time it says, “Greet,” think, “I send my personal greeting to...” whomever.

These are folks in Rome that Paul knows and to whom he is sending his warm personal affection and regard. V.3

“Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.”

Wow. Wouldn’t you love to receive a greeting like that from Paul?

We learned about this ministry couple back in the book of Acts. Priscilla and Aquila (interesting that she is named first here and everywhere else they are mentioned in the Bible, Priscilla and Aquila) were tentmakers like Paul was, and Paul met them on his second missionary journey, and they were the ones who schooled and straightened out the great orator Apollos in the gospel.

What Paul emphasizes here is that they risked their lives, literally “risked their neck” for him. We don’t know how, but Paul did. And he was very thankful. And so were all of the Gentile churches.

“Thank you, Lord, for Priscilla and Aquila!”

They had apparently moved to Rome, and Paul’s letter was catching up to them with this greeting. V.5

“Greet also the church that meets at their house. [The church in Rome was probably too big for any one meeting place and they evidently distributed out their church family into smaller house churches. Priscilla and Aquila hosted one.] Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.”

Paul knew him, too.

One of you asked me last week, if Paul didn’t plant the church in Rome, where did it come from?

And we don’t know who planted it, but by this time there was a already a number of Christians in it from other parts of the Roman Empire.

Epenetus was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. Now, he’s a member of the church at Rome. V.6

“Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.”

We aren’t told any more about this Mary, but what we know is enough. Isn’t it sweet?

Some Sunday, I should stand up here and just greet each one of you by name and say something wonderful about you.

Something that the Lord has done through or in you.

How would that make you feel?  Paul knew Mary and so did the church at Rome and they both knew how hard Mary had worked for them. How she had ministered among them.

And the Lord knew, too.

Do you feel like a nobody?  He knows your name. And He knows your ministry. V.7

“Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.”

It’s likely that these two are a married couple, as well. Though there is some question about whether Junias is a male or a female name. Either way, they were active in ministry and reaching out. Perhaps they were a gospel missionary couple like so many of those couples whose pictures grace our back wall.

They were Christians before Paul was. Maybe they planted this church?

What I want us to not miss is that little word “relatives” in verse 7. Did you see that?

I don’t think that means that they were cousins. I think it means they were Jewish.

Most of the names here are not Jewish but a few of them are.

That brings back home all that we’ve learning about Jews and Gentiles in this church, right?
The Jews were first but the Gentiles were bigger. And they had to learn to live with one another in gospel unity. V.8

“Greet Ampliatus, whom I love in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. Greet Apelles, tested and approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my relative. [There it is again.] Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.”

Do you feel it?

Do you feel the love here?

The church is a family. It’s not just a bunch of people who believe the same thing, but the gospel brings people together into relationship, into community.

Paul loves these folks, and he’s not afraid to say it.

Greeting others is a good and biblical and loving thing to do.

We take greetings for granted, but they are a wonderful blessing.

I hope that you were all warmly greeted by many people as you came in today.

And I hope that you all warmly greeted many people as they came in today.

You don’t have to do it just like Paul did. But presents a great model. He not only greets them but commends them for their hard work in the Lord.

It’s not wrong to commend people for their ministry. It’s right and good and loving.

I love what he says about Rufus and his mom, huh?

This might be the same Rufus who was the son of Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus’ cross. We’re not sure.

What we are sure of is that he was chosen in the Lord and his mother had been a mother to Paul!

We need more of that in the church. We need moms to be moms of people without moms.

And moms to be “second moms” and “third moms” to people.

Paul needed a mom, and Rufus’ mom fulfilled that for him.

Moms, who can you be “adopting” so to speak for the sake of the gospel, out of love for the Lord?

The church is a family.  And it’s an adopted family.

We adopt people into our family. “You’re one of us, now!”

Verse 14. “Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the brothers with them.  Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them.”

There’s more we could say about these names.

Heather pointed out to me that a number of them had the names of Greek and Roman gods. And strangely, they didn’t see the need to change them. Like Daniel in the Old Testament. That’s interesting.

Another interesting thing is that these names are common names for different levels of society in that time and culture.

There are people here from every social strata. Every level of social class!

Some of these folks were slaves. Some were freemen. Some were citizens. Some were poor. Some were rich. Some were rulers.

It’s not just that some were men and some were women. These folks had nothing in common culturally with each other in the rest of their lives.

But now they were family in Christ!

The church is supposed to be diverse. We are supposed to be different from one another. Different races. Different ethnicities. Different political parties. Different social spheres. Different financial classes. Different nationalities.

We are all supposed to be different and brought together as one in Jesus.

If you look around, and you don’t feel like you quite fit with this church culturally, I say, look again. We want different here. And verse 16 gives the command.

“Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.”

This greeting stuff is not just for Paul or for then and there.

It’s for today. It’s okay with me if we don’t kiss.

But we need to greet each other. We need to welcome and love and express our affection and care and support and respect and regard for one another.

That’s what Christians do.

“All the churches of Christ send greetings.”  The churches Paul had just served all send their greetings to the Roman church.  That’s what Christians do. We love one another, and we tell each other.

And then, all of a sudden, Paul drops the hammer. He says that there are some people whom we should not give a warm welcome. V.17

“I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.”

Here’s some people to not greet. In fact, we’re supposed to show them the door.

They are false teachers. They are snakes. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

They are smooth talkers, but they don’t love Jesus and they don’t really love you. They just love themselves.

Friends, doctrine matters.

Paul is warning these Christians that there are people out there who claim to be Christians but are actually troublemakers.

And there are more today than there were then.

People who (v.17) “cause divisions and put obstacles in your way.”

That’s people who won’t strive for unity, like we were learning about in chapters 14 and 15.

And they don’t do because they are “contrary to the teaching you have learned.” That’s the gospel.

They are believing and teaching a different gospel.

Maybe it’s gospel of works. You have to earn your salvation.
Maybe it’s a prosperity gospel. Where you are guaranteed health, wealth, and prosperity if you believe it.
Maybe it’s a painless gospel. Where you are promised that you won’t experience any hardship. But Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble!

Those are false gospels.  There are plenty of them out there.

And there are plenty of people trying to sell them to the church. Paul warns the Romans to be on guard.

Are you on guard?

Are you on guard against false teaching?

These were good folks who knew Jesus. We just read about them. How much he loves them. But he still feels the need to warn them. V.19

“Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”

There’s stuff out there that you have to beware of.

You’ve got to know what is good and not dabble with what is evil.

And you have to be able to tell the difference.

I’m afraid that many Christians have very little discernment.

And there are people who can’t wait to take advantage of that.

Watch out!

But also don’t despair. Because of the promise of God’s grace. V.20

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

Does that verse sound familiar? I hope so. We previewed it back around Advent this last year when we learned about the First Gospel in Genesis 3:15.

When God told the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet.

The God of peace. That is the God who brings peace either by enforcing it or reconciling His enemies to Himself.  Either way, He brings peace.

He will soon crush Satan under our feet.

Not just the foot of Jesus, but ours.

In other words, the victory of Jesus will be experienced by us, His people.

The false teachers and false Christians will not win. As they are snakes, they will, too, be crushed.

Because of God’s grace.

We don’t deserve rescue from Satan and His people.

But we sure need it.

Where do we get it?  “The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

Because of what Jesus did on the Cross, we are promised peace with God and our enemy crushed.

Isn’t that good? That’s the gospel!

Paul then turns over the mic to the rest of his team to add their greetings to the letter. V.21

“Timothy, my fellow worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my relatives. I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord. [He was the secretary for Paul.] Gaius, whose hospitality I [Paul] and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city's director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.”

And then he comes back to the gospel.

He always comes back to the gospel. V.25

“Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him–to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.”

This last paragraph has a lot in common with the very first paragraph. Some time, maybe this afternoon, open up both at the same time and look at the similarities.

Paul is giving glory to God through Jesus Christ because He is so wise.

He was wise enough to have the gospel be a mystery, something hidden, still running in the background like a program behind the scenes on your computer, and then at the exact right time bring it to the light of day. Making known the good news so that all nations might believe and obey Jesus.

Believe in Him as Savior and follow Him as Lord.

All nations.

Not just the Jews.

Not just the Romans.

But even us Gentiles sitting here in Lanse, Pennsylvania.

The gospel came to us and it is able to (v.25) establish us. To strengthen us.

To set us on our feet and give us a Rock to stand on.

The gospel is powerful. It is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

So we need to believe it, every one of us.

And we need to (v.25) proclaim it to everyone.

And as we do we join with the church throughout the ages who bring the Lord glory for His gospel.

To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Amen.


***

Messages in this Series:

01. All Roads Lead to Romans
02. I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel
03. The Bad News
04. Hope for Holy Sexuality
05. The Even Worse News
06. The Worst News
07. Justified
08. Father Abraham
09. The Blessings of Justification
10. How Much More
11. New You
12. Slaves Of...?
13. A Life-Changing Relationship with Jesus Christ
14. No Condemnation
15. If the Spirit Lives in You
16. The Spirit of Sonship
17. We Know
18. For Us
19. Who?
20. God's Word Has Not Failed
21. Israel Stumbled
22. God Raised Him From the Dead
23. God Always Keeps His Promises
24. Therefore
25. How to Think of Yourself
26. A Transformed People (Part One)
27. A Transformed People (Part Two)
28. A Transformed People (Part Three)
29. A Transformed People (Part Four)
30. God's Servants
31. What Time Is It?
32. Returning to Romans
33 Striving for Unity (Part One)
34. Striving for Unity (Part Two)
35. Striving for Unity (Part Three)

36. Gospel Fullhttp://matt-mitchell.blogspot.com/2016/02/matts-messages-gospel-full.html

37. Greetings, Grace, and Gospel

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[Matt's Messages] "Gospel Full"

“Gospel Full”
All Roads Lead to Romans
February 14, 2016 :: Romans 15:14-23 

This passage of Romans is what I tend to call “the first ending of Romans.” So, we’ve reached the beginning of the end. Next week, we’ll look at Romans 16 which is the second and extended ending of the book.

But you really get the feeling when you’re reading Romans 15:13-33, that Paul is landing the plane.

And the main reason is that in this section, Paul begins to circle back where he began the letter and tell them about his future plans for ministry. It’s the kind of thing you say to someone as you are rounding off your conversation and talking about the next steps.

Paul has finished applying the gospel to the unity problem that the church was experiencing between the Jewish Christians and the Gentiles Christians at Rome, and now he’s going to explain what he’s going to do next which includes plans for a personal visit to this Roman church.

I’ve entitled this message “Gospel Full” because four different times in this short passage Paul emphasizes the word “full.” Even in the Greek, there is one root word that we tend to translate “full,” and it appears in four different places in these few verses.

Because of the gospel that Paul has been teaching them in the book of Romans, the Christians at Rome are not lacking in anything essential or important. They are full. They have abundance. Paul prays for abundance for them and assures them of the fullness of God’s blessings because of the gospel.

So I call that “Gospel Fullness.”

Because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have everything we need and will have everything that we need forever and we should fully share that gospel with everyone else who needs to hear it.

That’s what we’re going to see today as we read Romans 15:13-33.

How the Roman Christians were “Gospel Full.”

And I think that’s great place for us to be on Celebration Sunday 2016 as we celebrate 124 years of God’s Faithfulness to Lanse Evangelical Free Church.

Gospel is our middle name. Evangelical means “centered on the gospel.” And because we believe the same gospel that Paul was sharing with the Romans, we experience the same gospel fullness that they did.  124 years of gospel fullness for Lanse Evangelical Free Church.

Let’s start right where we left off last week. Romans 15:13 is a prayer wish of Paul for the Roman church. This is what Paul prays for them, and it’s what we are memorizing together.

Last week, we emphasized that it was a prayer for all of the Christians, both Jewish and Gentile Christians. But today, I want to focus on the result of the prayer. What Paul prays that they would receive. V.13

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

First gospel fullness:

#1. FULL OF JOY, PEACE, AND HOPE.

It’s a prayer.

Paul prays that the God of hope, a God who he says I characterized by hope would FILL the believers at Rome with ALL joy and peace as they trust in Him.

That’s a big prayer!

Have you prayed for joy and peace this week? I know I have.

Paul prays that these believers would be filled with both of them.

And he says that the joy and peace come AS THEY TRUST in the God of hope.

We get more and more filled with joy and peace as we put our faith in our Lord.

And in His gospel. In His good news.

And Paul says that he prays that they would be so full of this joy and peace that they would overflow with hope.

Joy, peace, and overflowing hope.

Sound good?

That’s what I want for Lanse Free Church. And it’s bound up in the gospel.

And it’s given to us as a gift of the Holy Spirit.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

May the Holy Spirit do that to us. He has given us so many gifts over the last 124 years. It has not always been easy. Those of you have who have been here a long time know that just because you have the gospel doesn’t mean that life is easy. In fact, if you have the gospel, Jesus says that life will be hard.

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world.” Jesus said that and He said that so that in Him we might have...peace, which gives us joy, which gives us hope (Romans 15:13).

Let’s memorize this new verse together and every time we say it, let’s make it our prayer.

Now, in verse 14, Paul tells them that he has confidence in them. It’s a little surprising. Look at verse 14.

“I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.”

Paul has not written this letter because he thinks that they are all messed up over there at Rome.

He has had some important things to teach them, but they were not different from what they had already learned. These folks at Rome already had the gospel.

Even though Paul had never visited them yet!

But he knows enough about them to know that they had the gospel right and that because of that they were good.

In fact they were:

#2. FULL OF GOODNESS AND COMPETENCE TO DO MINISTRY.

You see that word “full” in verse 14?

“I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.”

Now that doesn’t mean that they had all of the goodness that someone could ever want.

Just like it says that they are complete in knowledge. Well, obviously they didn’t know everything. Here is Paul telling them things!

But they had what was essential. They didn’t have an insufficient amount of goodness and knowledge. They were full of goodness and knowledge.

They had the gospel! And they had it right.

And that’s the basic requirement for doing ministry.

Raise your hand if you are competent to do ministry.

Every Christian should raise their hand. Every Christian who has the gospel has what it takes to do ministry.

Not to do every ministry. Nobody but Jesus is competent to do every ministry!

But the gospel qualifies us to minister to others.

If you have the gospel, then God is calling you to serve others with it.

In fact, Paul says that they are competent to “instruct one another.” Or to counsel one another. Or to admonish one another.

If you understand the gospel, then that qualifies you to use the gospel in personal ministry with another believer.

We need each other.

I may be the twenty third or whatever pastor of Lanse Free Church.

But I am not the minister of this congregation. We are all the ministers of this congregation.

You have what it takes to minister here.

Find out what your gifts are and get busy doing it.

I love how many people are involved in active ministry at Lanse Free Church. Some churches have an 80/20 rule. Have you heard of that?

80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people?

But that’s not the percentages here. Here people get involved with the Wild Game Dinner, with the Celebration Choir, with the Greeting Ministry, with Kids for Christ and ABC Kids, with the Youth Group, with whatever needs done.

And outside of those programs, we also minister the gospel to each other in person. Admonishing, counseling, encouraging one another.

You know who was great at that? Blair Murray was.

Blair never went to seminary. He was never formally ordained into the pastoral ministry. But he understood verse 14. He had gospel fullness.

Blair knew that he had the gospel and that meant that he had what it took to minister to others. And he did to his last day.

And I say verse 14 over you, church.

“I [Pastor Matt] am convinced, [Lanse Free Church], that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.”

So let’s continue to do it.

Now, Paul has said this, I think to indicate he has no doubts about them as a church even if they are not perfect and definitely need a deeper understanding of the gospel and how it applies to the conflicts within them. He says, verse 15:

“I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”

Paul is saying that he’s been kind of strong with them, I think especially in these last couple of chapters, because they need to hear it. And he’s the guy to do it because he’s been called to be the apostle that really opens up the gospel to the Gentiles.

And there were a lot of Gentile Christians at Rome!

So Paul has a better handle on this than anyone else at this point in church history. He’s taking the gospel to the non-Jews.

And he says that it’s like a priestly ministry. He’s like one of the Old Testament Aaronic priests, and the offering he’s bringing is the Gentiles. Christian Gentiles who have believed the gospel and are set apart by the Holy Spirit. Now they worship the Lord through Jesus the Messiah!

Gentiles! Who would have guessed?!

That’s Paul’s calling.

This might sound a little familiar. He said this sort of thing in his greeting, back in chapter one.

It’s another sign that the letter is coming full circle to a close.

Paul has been called to be an apostle to the Gentiles, and that’s why he’s writing.

And it’s really exciting. But he isn’t prideful. He glories not in himself but in Jesus. V.17

“Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.”

I think that’s another verse for us today on Celebration Sunday. It would be easy to pat ourselves on the back for being such a great church.

“Those are great people up there!”
“We sure are!”

And I am proud of you. You are full of goodness and competence to do ministry.

But you get it from the gospel. You get it from Jesus.

“Therefore [Lanse Free Church glories] in Christ Jesus in [our] service to God.”

We don’t take the credit. We give the glory where it’s due. V.18

“I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done–by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.”

Paul doesn’t brag on himself and his accomplishments.

He brags on Jesus. It was Jesus who led those Gentiles to faith in Christ through Paul’s preaching of the gospel. It was Jesus through His Spirit that did the miracles that attested to the truth of the gospel.

It was Jesus who had accomplished these things through Paul, and so Paul bragged on Him.

That’s what we’re doing today, too. We’re bragging on Jesus.

We celebrate 124 years of Christ’s accomplishments at Lanse Free Church. Of the gospel fullness that Jesus has given to us.

Now there in verse 19, Paul said something that was pretty surprising, I think.

Did you see that word “full” again? V.19

“So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.”

Literally, “I have fulfilled the gospel of Christ.”

#3. FULLY PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL.

Paul is saying that his mission has been accomplished.

From the starting point of Jerusalem in Israel to the ending point of modern day Albania, Paul said that his gospel mission was completed, fulfilled.

That’s somewhat surprising because I’m sure he would agree that there was still plenty of ministry left to do in those areas.

They weren’t all Christians there yet! And not every single person from Jerusalem to Illyricum had heard about Jesus yet.

But for Paul, his mission was accomplished. The gospel had taken root there. There was a certainly level of gospel saturation because he’d planted gospel-proclaiming churches.

The gospel was fully proclaimed.

And now it was time for him to move on.

Here’s why. Paul was specifically called to be a pioneering church planting missionary. V.20

“It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written: ‘Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.’ This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.”

Paul hasn’t made it yet to Rome because he’s had too much work to do in reaching people who have never heard the name of Christ.

He knows that other people will come after him and build on his gospel foundation. But he is called to break new ground.

It is said that some of the pioneers here in America would pull up stakes and move whenever they could start to see the smoke from their neighbor’s cabins.

It was time for them to head West. To virgin territory.

That was Paul with the gospel. Not everybody has that calling. Some are called to stay behind and build on the previous foundation.

That’s me. I know that I’m called to stand on the gospel foundation of those old Swedes who brought the gospel here to Lanse and started this work.

But there are also plenty of people who don’t yet know Jesus as their Lord Savior in the world and in our community, so we need to stay committed to fully proclaiming the gospel to the world and to our community.

The author John Piper has said that missions exists because worship does not.

In other words, as long as there are people who don’t have the gospel, we have a mission to take it to them.

That’s gospel fullness. We should be so full of the gospel that we want to fully proclaim it to the world. And to our neighbors.

Not just to those folks in Oaxaca. Not just to those people living in the mountains that John and Roper are probably with right now.

But to the people in Lanse and Winburne and Grassflast and Kylertown and Drifting, and Hawk Run and Morrisdale and Allport and Graham Township and Forest and Clearfield and Philipsburg and West Decatur.

We aren’t done yet.

We’ve got some full proclaiming to do!

You know one way we do that is by supporting missionaries. This is one of the key passages in the New Testament for teaching on missionary support. Paul says that he’s planning to visit them and one of the reasons was to pass the plate so that he could go even further into enemy territory with the gospel. V.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 see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.”

Get ready; Paul’s coming!

Paul tells them about his plans. He’s hoping to go to Spain with the gospel. And Italy is on the way to Spain. So, he’s planning to make a stopover and encourage them there at Rome and share with some spiritual gifts. And also to ask for money so that he could go on to Rome.

Do you ever think it’s weird for a missionary to ask for money?

Heather and sister and brother-in-law are missionaries now to Germany and last year was a key year for their fundraising.

It’s not always easy to ask people to give you money if you’re a missionary.

“Hey, give me money! I’m on a mission for God.”

But here’s Paul doing just that. It’s not a demand. He’s not coming to tax them a certain amount, but he is thinking that they will want to help him get to Spain with the gospel.

They received the gospel, and now they’re going to give it away.

Missionary support is that important.  I love that our church supports so many missionaries. I love that the back wall is full of gospel proclaiming partners in ministry. And this church has done that for 124 years. I’ve read the history. It was very soon after our church was founded that we began to send money and missionaries with Frederick Franson, a Swedish church leader who was sending missionaries to China.

That’s what we are all about. Gospel fullness means fully proclaiming the gospel in the whole world. Sending the gospel to those who need it most.

But Paul says that before he makes it to Spain or even Rome, he has another place to stop first. V.25

“Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there. For Macedonia and Achaia [in Greece] were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 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.”

He can’t help it, can he?

He’s got to bring in the Jews and the Gentiles again. I think he’s making another subtle point about how they ought to be unified!

The Gentile Christians in Macedonia and Achaia have taken up an offering to help the financially challenged Jewish Christians back in Jerusalem.

We read about this special compassion offering in Paul’s two letters to the Corinthians.

The Gentile Christians owed so much to the Jewish Christians because they had launched the gospel and even helped to launch Paul. They had paid it forward. And now the Gentile Christians were paying it back.

Here’s another place where I’m proud of this church. You are compassionate and give help to people who need it.

Not just the gospel, though that’s the most important gift. But also material blessings to the poor and the needy.

And Paul is doing that, too. He’s headed to Jerusalem first with this gift. V.28

“So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.”

That’s our fourth and last gospel fullness for today. And it’s everything!

#4. FULL OF THE BLESSING OF CHRIST.

Paul believes that when he comes to Rome, it will be good for all of them.

He believes that God has only good things in store.

That they will share the gospel with one another and revel in it together.

That they will experience the full measure of the blessing of Christ.

I don’t know all of what that means, but it sure sounds good.

And Paul is sure that’s coming.

I think it basically means that Jesus is full of good things and that through His gospel we have everything good.

And we will enjoy it together forever.

Now, that doesn’t mean that it will come easily.

It will come through trials and tribulations and trouble.

And that’s why we need to pray. Paul calls on them to pray for him. V.30

“I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed. The God of peace be with you all. Amen.”

Paul clearly knows that he’s headed into trouble.

He calls up on them to pray by the name of Jesus and the love of the Spirit–those are big things to call on! And he asks that they pray for him to be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that the believers would affirm his ministry there.

And then that Paul would make it safely to visit them in Rome.

How did God answer those prayers?

Anybody know?

He said, “Yes.” But he gave Paul a crazy path to getting there.

Read the end of the book of Acts to get the full story.

But it included arrests, imprisonments, preaching before rulers, a journey on the Mediterranean like those Syrian immigrants are doing every day on those little boats.

And a shipwreck. And a snake bite.

God said yes to this prayer for the full blessing of Christ to be experienced by Paul and the Roman church.

But it was through the fire.

So the lesson for us, I think. Is that we need to pray for gospel fullness, as well.

But to not think that means it will be an easy road to travel.

If the Lord tarries, I pray that our church would stay faithful for the next 124 years.

That we would trust in Jesus for joy, peace, and overflowing hope.

That we would know ourselves to be full of goodness and competent for gospel ministry.

And that we would fully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to our community and to our needy world.

But if we do, it won’t be easy. There will be trouble, trials, and tribulation. The devil will not be happy that we are doing this.

But we can rest assured that because we have Jesus. Because we have His gospel, we have everything.

We are full. We are full of the blessing of Christ.

****

Messages in this Series:

01. All Roads Lead to Romans
02. I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel
03. The Bad News
04. Hope for Holy Sexuality
05. The Even Worse News
06. The Worst News
07. Justified
08. Father Abraham
09. The Blessings of Justification
10. How Much More
11. New You
12. Slaves Of...?
13. A Life-Changing Relationship with Jesus Christ
14. No Condemnation
15. If the Spirit Lives in You
16. The Spirit of Sonship
17. We Know
18. For Us
19. Who?
20. God's Word Has Not Failed
21. Israel Stumbled
22. God Raised Him From the Dead
23. God Always Keeps His Promises
24. Therefore
25. How to Think of Yourself
26. A Transformed People (Part One)
27. A Transformed People (Part Two)
28. A Transformed People (Part Three)
30. A Transformed People (Part Four)
31. God's Servants
32. What Time Is It?
33. Returning to Romans
34. Striving for Unity (Part One)
35. Striving for Unity (Part Two)
36. Striving for Unity (Part Three)

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