Romans: A Life-Changing Letter
by, Tony Thomas
Sr. Minister, Woodland Heights Christian Church, Crawfordsville, IN
No. 45 in a series called, Route 66, a Road Trip Through the Bible
What’s the most important letter you’ve ever read? A baby announcement? A college acceptance letter? Maybe a Dear John letter? Or how about a friendly letter from the IRS requesting an audit? Perhaps some of you will remember receiving a draft notice?
If you like great endings, you might try reading Lost Letter, by Neil Mulligan. It’s the story of a woman who never knew her father, who cared for her mother just before she died, and a love-letter her father wrote before he died in WW2.
During WW2, Mary McDougal’s father fought at the Battle of the Bulge. He wrote a letter which the Army lost, and it wasn’t discovered until her mom was diagnosed with cancer sixty years later. The most important letter Mary McDougal ever read was her father’s letter to her mother.
One of the greatest letters that was ever written is Romans. It was written by Paul, the “chief of sinners.”
It was written to a church populated by Gentile sinners, urging them to welcome Jewish sinners.
That letter has literally changed thousands of lives, like Martin Luther who broke away from Catholicism. And John Wesley who launched the Methodist Revival. And Augustine who fled from a life of immorality. And Chuck Colson, the former special counsel to President Nixon.
I preached through Romans in 2012. I divided these sixteen chapters into 34 segments, and we covered this book, theme-by-theme. So let me reintroduce you to the book, the author, and the theme with five words that explain Paul’s message.
I. Introduction to Romans
1st, let’s start w/the background. The Twelve Caesars is a second century book that records early Roman history. The author is Suetonius, the Royal Secretary.
In 49 AD, Claudius, the Roman Emperor, expelled all the Jews from Rome. Why? Because the Christians protested Roman oppression. The persecution in Jerusalem scattered the Jews and some of them migrated to Rome and became violent. Like Barney Fife, Claudius decided to “nip it in the bud!”
During Paul’s second missionary journey, he met a Jewish couple who had who been expelled:
Acts 18:1 Aquila came to Corinth with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.
Because of Claudius, the church in Rome was Gentiles only, no diversity whatsoever! But in 54 AD, Claudius died and the edict was repealed. When the Christian Jews returned, there was tension!
The Gentile believers embraced God’s grace. But when the Jewish believers returned they insisted on all of their traditions. That tension produced an epic struggle!
Instead of recognizing their differences and appreciating their distinct heritages they questioned each other’s motives! They challenged each other’s convictions! They focused on their personal needs instead of finding common ground in Jesus Christ.
Eventually, the news of their conflict reached Paul’s ears and he decided to go to Rome. Ministry was no different in Paul’s day than ours. Paul intended to visit Rome, but there were daily interruptions and constant demands.
Three years later, he wrote a little letter. Romans is the most forceful, logical and articulate letter that God ever inspired! The Gospels tell the collective story of Jesus Christ, whereas Romans tells the message of Jesus Christ.
The first thing Paul does, is level the playing field:
1:14 I am obligated to Greeks and non-Greeks; to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Paul also reminded his audience that Jews and Gentiles deserved God’s punishment and condemnation:
9 As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 10 Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
The next time you feel superior, think of Romans 3. Last Sunday we had lunch with our middle daughter and after lunch my grandson, Gabe, asked me to play baseball with him in the basement. Naturally, Gabe asked me to pitch to him. I lobbed the ball in because I wanted to see him hit it, but he got bored. He decided to pitch to me!
It’s been a long time since I played baseball in high school or college, and I worried that I might actually hit the ball! I whiffed a couple of pitches on purpose but Gabe could tell I was playing it safe. “Hit the ball!” he said (rather forcefully for an 8-year-old!). So, on the next pitch I swung and that ball jumped off my whiffle ball bat and literally missed his forehead by an inch! I went white! My eyes nearly popped out of my head. All I could think about was what might have happened.
Then Gabe brought me down to earth. “Not bad … for your age!” Suddenly, I was under the power of sin!
Our world’s moral compass has become our immoral compass because we’re under the power of sin! Case in point: I saw a tweet this week from a high school kid that read, “How can anyone oppose same sex marriage?”
I’ll tell you how: it’s called humanism. The humanist values man’s opinion over God’s Word. If you aren’t mindful, you will fall under the power of sin, too!
Here’s another way we have fallen under the power of sin! Have you ever cheered for the bad guy in a movie? Hollywood writers capitalize on our ability to justify and excuse unholy behavior. Even when our reason becomes unreasonable!
In Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter is intelligent, witty, charming and calm. But his psychiatrist is an egotistical sadist, his guards are dimwits and the FBI agents are all liars.
By the end of the movie you’re cheering for Hannibal Lecter because you’ve fallen under the power of Satan’s spell. You say to yourself, “So he eats people? There are worse things.” (Personally, I can’t think of any – but I’m a dimwitted, judgmental, Bible-thumping misogynist!) I have nieces and nephews who actually cheered for Hannibal!
It is man’s nature to rationalize unrighteousness! Paul reminds the Romans that God’s righteousness has been made known (3:1). His righteousness, by contrast, comes by faith to all who believe. That’s the background.
2nd, let’s talk about the author. I preached an entire series on Paul’s life (2012). He was a first century terrorist who became a missionary. He’s the author of 13 New Testament letters – so that’s all you need to know today.
3rd, let’s talk about the theme. Romans is a life-changing letter that requires us to think differently about the Gospel! Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel – but some were! In Galatians 5:11, he talks about the “offense of the cross.” And in 1 Corinthians 1:23, he says that the “cross is foolish to the Greeks and a stumbling block to Jews.”
Why are some people offended by the cross and the Gospel? That’s what Romans is all about! There is always a small minority who are embarrassed by the message, and embarrassed by the converted.
We covered the books of Poetry last summer but I omitted a description of God in Proverbs 17:
17:15 He justifies the wicked, and he condemns the just … they are both an abomination to the Lord.
The NIV says that he “acquits the guilty” and he “condemns the innocent.” The world thinks that good people go to heaven, and bad people go to hell. Humanly speaking, that makes sense – but that’s not the Gospel!
The only humans who will be found in heaven are sinners. Think of it like this: the world’s religions can be divided into three groups. There are those that say sin does not exist, those that say salvation must be earned and Christianity – Jesus paid the penalty for our sin.
That’s the theme of Romans. God gave us His laws to obey, no man has ever kept those laws, the penalty of law-breaking is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!
II. Words That Explain Paul’s Message
I have attempted to outline most of the Bible books. Today’s outline is divided two ways. There are five sections to Romans and there are five words that explain Paul’s message in each section.
The 1st Word Is Condemnation (chapters 1-3) and that word is used 6 times. In the Old Testament, it was God who condemned. Ezekiel 18:20 states, “The soul that sins shall surely die.” But in the New Testament, we condemn ourselves by the choices we make.
Romans 1 …
1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed against every godless and wicked person who suppresses the truth by their own sinful behavior.
In the OT, God punished sinful behavior. God sent a big fish to swallow Jonah, God turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire, and God caused it to rain for forty days and night during the life of Noah.
But God is more subtle in the New Testament. You know what he does? He gives us over! In vs. 24 (Romans 1), “He gave them over to sexual impurity.” In vs. 26, “He gave them over to shameful lusts.” And in vs. 28, “He gave them over to a depraved mind.”
The Law of the Harvest is still true:
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
When you hear someone say, “My God would never …” remember the Law of the Harvest. We condemn ourselves when we choose to sin, and God gives us over to our own choices and consequences.
The 2nd Word Is Justification (Romans 4-5):
3:23 For all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Justification is a legal term; it’s a word of the court. It literally means, “To be declared not guilty.” The truth of the gospel is the fact that God acquits the wicked.
We call that the doctrine of atonement. God is holy, but instead of punishing us, He sent His Son to earth to become our punishment.
Romans 5 …
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You are not saved because you are good. You are not saved because you do good deeds. You are saved because Jesus Christ shed his blood to cover over your shortcomings – and by faith, you received his gift. That’s atonement.
The 3rd Word Is Sanctification (6-8). Salvation is more than saving you from something. God saved you to do something. We die to sin so we can live for God (that’s what your baptism is all about).
The world “sanctify” means, “set apart.”
6:6 We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be slaves to sin.
11 In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God.
If you are wearing a wedding band, you are sanctified (or you better be!). That ring is a statement of faith to your mate, that he/she is your one and only, that your affection is exclusionary … and everybody else better keep their hands off!
I read about four people who shared a train compartment: a wealthy woman, a gorgeous girl, a General and a buck private. They chatted aimlessly until the train entered a dark tunnel. In total silence, you could hear the sound of a kiss, followed by a loud slap.
As the train emerged into the light, they sat in silence. The old woman thought, “That sweet young girl had every right to slap that buck private for stealing a kiss.”
The gorgeous girl thought, “I can’t believe anybody, including that General, would kiss that old bat instead of me!”
The General, rubbing his sore face, thought, “I can’t believe anybody would think that a man in my position would even think about stealing a kiss in the dark.”
The private thought: “What a bunch of dopes! Only in America can a buck-private kiss the back of his hand, smack a General and get away with it!”
The 4th Word Is Vindication (9-11):
9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
CEV So I tell the truth and I am not lying when I say my heart is broken and I am in great sorrow.
Remember, Paul was writing the Gentile believers in Rome because there was tension between them and the Jewish believers. Beginning in Romans 9, Paul addresses the Jews and he lets them know that the Gentiles were unhappy with them because the Jews were in the wrong. But Paul was unhappy with them, too, because when Jesus came they rejected the truth.
So Paul reminds them of all the advantages they had:
4 You were adopted to sonship; you had divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
5 You have the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!
Could I have one minute to remind you of our purpose? We aren’t here to promote anyone’s name or ego, or to brag about our progress. We are driven by the Great Commission and guided by the Great Commandment.
If we do not have “unceasing anguish” for those who don’t know Jesus, then something’s terribly wrong! Paul had lots of reasons to give thanks to God: God used him to convert Lydia, Dorcas and the Philippian Jailor. And God is vindicated when we think of others first!
The 5th Word Is Transformation (12-16):
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
2b Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The word for transform is the word biology teachers use to describe a metamorphosis. When a tadpole becomes a frog, when a grub becomes a butterfly, when an Okie becomes a Hoosier … there has been an internal transformation.
My high school Biology teacher was Mr. Paul Cottam. Think of the science teacher on The Wonder Years. He used to tell the corniest jokes, like … Two caterpillars looked up to see a beautiful butterfly. The first said to the second, “You’ll never catch me up in one of those things!”
God can transform your nature and personality. Behaviorists claim your personality is set by age three. Without God you’ll never change! With God you can become a brand new person!
And Paul tells us how we are transformed: “By the renewing of your minds.” The key to changing your behavior is by changing the way that you think, and the way you think is determined by your input.
In the computer world, there is an axiom that is as true today as it was the day your computer was opened: Garbage in? Garbage out! Be careful what you allow to pass through your mind.
Henry Goodear was a London merchant without faith in God. His niece persuaded him to attend church and her pastor based his message on Genesis 5. In case you haven’t read Genesis 5 lately, it’s an obituary page! You’ll read about one person after another who lived and died.
Goodear said nothing afterward. All these men – wicked or good – lived and died. He was living but he would have to die. And then what? Goodear decided to live for Jesus Christ.
John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live again, even though he dies.”
