December 23, 2001 Romans 1:1-7
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. 6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Friends in Christ,
When I was in grade school I had a classmate who was in his own little world. He would be out on the playground and start playing an imaginary baseball game against himself. He wasn’t a bad kid or anything, and he generally got along with the other kids. But everyone just lived with the understanding that he was in his own little world.
God uses the same term to describe Christians. We are foreigners and aliens in this world. Even though we live in it, we are not of it - we live in our own little world. So many times we feel like we don’t belong. We feel odd. But when Paul addresses the Christians in Rome, he wanted them and us to know -
You Have Been Called to Belong
I. You belong to Christ
Paul started out his letter by telling them who it was from - Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God. Notice how Paul describes himself - as a “servant of Jesus Christ.” That word for servant is doulos - literally meaning a slave. In the Roman world, the whole idea of being a “slave” was completely insulting. A slave would lose any freedoms he or she had and would be completely dominated by his master. So it might sound surprising for Paul to start out by designating himself proudly as a slave.
Paul uses the same term to describe Christians in Romans 6:22 when he says, you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God. It still has a sour taste, doesn’t it? We tend to equate slavery with a chain around the neck and the ankles - or with the way the African Americans were treated when America was first coming into it’s own. Even being a “servant” isn’t real popular in our country. The typical American doesn’t like people telling them what to do, and we don’t like people telling us what to believe. Home businesses appeal to people by telling them that they can be their own boss.And so the Methodist church is appealing to people with the theme, “open hearts, open minds, open doors.” One other church’s flyer said, “we are in a constant search for the truth. We want you to decide for yourself what to believe instead of being told what to believe.” The idea is, “we don’t enslave you by telling you what to believe - we let you do and believe what you want.”
How come Paul didn’t mind calling himself a slave? First of all, because he knew what it was like to be a slave of the law - a slave of a false religion - that told him the only way to get right was to live by the strict legalism of the Pharisees. It meant never feeling adequate. It meant always having to do something to try and feel better. It meant having the threat of hell constantly paraded before him. Within this work righteous religion Paul was actually a slave of Satan, and on his way to hell, even though he didn’t know it. His “faith” had him going here and there and trying harder and harder to get right with God, feeling more and more guilty. He was locked into this religion.
But then, while he was on the way to Damascus, Jesus called (Paul) to be an apostle and set (him) apart for the gospel of God. When Jesus appeared to him on the way to persecute Christians, Paul realized who this Jesus really was! He was the true Messiah, descended from David. He really did die and rise from the grave - paying for Paul’s sins. Paul then realized that he wouldn’t be saved through living the life of a Pharisee, but only through faith in the life and death of Christ! With a new look at the promises of the Old Testament - Christmas took on a whole different meaning to him! It wasn’t about the birth of a false prophet. It was about God becoming man through the line of David, to shed his blood and save the world! In that moment God broke the chains of the law from Paul’s neck. He no longer belonged to the Pharisees. He now belonged to Christ! But when God set him free with the Gospel, he was now comforted with the promise of holiness and forgiveness through the blood of Christ. Since Jesus bought him, he had a free salvation. Jesus now owned him, but He didn’t abuse him as Satan did. He treated him well - fed him, clothed him, comforted him, and forgave him.
Our background is similar to Paul’s. Luther described it well in the hymn, Dear Christians, One And All, Rejoice:
Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay;
Death brooded darkly o’er me.
Sin was my torment night and day;
In sin my mother bore me.
Yet deep and deeper still I fell;
Life had become a living hell,
So firmly sin possessed me.
To me he spoke, "Hold fast to me
I am your rock and castle.
Your ransom I myself will be;
For you I strive and wrestle.
For I am yours, your friend divine,
And evermore you shall be mine;
The foe shall not divide us.
If I only have two options of belonging to Satan or to Christ - which would I prefer? Going to hell or heaven? Being guilty or not guilty? It was because of this that Paul still wasn’t ashamed to refer to himself as a doulos - a servant / slave of Jesus. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that Christ still owned him. He was proud of it! When you belong to a club, you also have access to all of it’s perks. As Christians we have many “perks”, so to speak. For if we are called to belong to Christ, Paul also says that we are called to be saints: Jesus doesn’t just share a new sweater or a new car with us, good health or fancy wealth. He shares His very essence - His holiness. Jesus says, “here is my robe of righteousness. Here is my innocence. Here is my blood bought forgiveness. Through these you will free from guilt and from hell. I will also share with you an eternity in heaven. Because I live, you also will live!” At your baptism Jesus wrote His name on you and made you His! Through his forgiveness God gives you His grace and peace. And the best part of it is that this membership costs us nothing! Jesus calls us through the phone of his gospel and offers us a lifetime membership for free! What’s wrong with belonging to Christ, then? Let’s see - free salvation? No guilt? No fear? Holiness? I can handle that.
There was once a young man whose father was very rich. He very badly wanted a new car for Christmas. However, when Christmas came around, the father gave him a Bible. The young man became very upset with the father. He accused him of being greedy and unloving, threw the Bible back at his father, and stormed out of the house, saying, “I don’t need this.” He never talked to his father again. After his father died, feeling a bit guilty, the son was going through his father’s study, remembering vividly the argument they had. And there it was, the Bible that he had thrown back at his father. He finally opened up the bible, and out fell a set of keys to the very key he wanted. The young man couldn’t believe his eyes. He took the keys, ran out to the garage, and found the car that he had wanted parked there - never having been started. For years the young man had rejected the gift of the Bible, and therefore also rejected his father and his gift of a new car.
Isn’t it sad then, that so many people of this world don’t want Jesus’ gifts. They look at Christianity as an ignorant religion - as a rule book of no fun and do’s and don’ts. They don’t want to belong to Christ - not realizing that they are then property of Satan. And so they throw away the gift of Christ and Christmas and never realize the gifts that lie within!
II. You belong to obey
Paul enjoyed the perks of Christianity. And yet he realized that God didn’t just call him to sit back and relax for the rest of his life. He said that he was called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. God had a special purpose for Paul long before Paul even knew it - he was literally “set apart for the gospel.” What is the gospel? It’s the good news about Jesus - as foretold in the Old Testament - that a Christ - a Messiah would be born. He would be a human descended from David, and yet he would also be God - as proved through his resurrection. Paul wasn’t just going to tell people about a baby being born. He was going to tell the whole story - about Jesus being born, dying, and raising from the dead. The Savior of the world. He had been called by God to go out and tell the Gentiles about Jesus - plain and simple. That was God’s purpose for Paul on this earth.
This was a very difficult duty. As Paul went to tell the Gentiles about Jesus, he was beaten, put in prison, went hungry, naked, whipped, stoned, you name it. This was the difficult part about being a slave of Christ. He was given the responsibility to share his faith. But look at what Paul called this responsibility! He said, “we received GRACE to call people.” Since God had brought him from guilt and hell to forgiveness and heaven, he looked at it as a great undeserved gift to be given the opportunity to tell people about Jesus. Who was he, one who had persecuted Christians, that God would allow him to carry on the torch of forgiveness to the Gentiles? What a great opportunity! And what would happen as a result? Gentiles too would be set free from guilt! Just the happiness of forgiveness and seeing others be brought to faith was enough to keep Paul going - no matter what persecution he had to endure!
And so Paul indicates that this is also a part of belonging to Christ. He said, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. God’s ultimate purpose would not only be to use Paul, but to use US as well. Think about it from a Christmas aspect. When you buy a present for someone and get it for them, but they don’t use it, what good is it? Was it money well spent? I can think of many toys that we have bought our children that continue to just sit in the basement and collect dust. What good are they? And so God doesn’t just call us to put us up on a shelf and collect dust. He makes us a part of his family and wants to use us - he calls us to obedience.
Yet how many have the attitude that Christianity only involves making it through a difficult confirmation class. It really causes difficulties as a pastor and as a church body. When people want to be members without going through instructions or being told what God’s Word says, it makes for a difficult relationship. How can we function as shepherd and sheep when members want to live their own lives without any guidance from God’s Word or don’t want to come and listen to God’s Word? Many think that it’s enough for a Christian to come to church once a year. Others think it’s asking too much to come to a Bible study once or twice a week. We don’t like to hear, “this is what God says!”, or “God’s Word tells you to do this!” We don’t like to volunteer because we’ve got too much to do or someone else can do it because I already put in my time.
In reality, we shouldn’t need to be told this. If we were 100% saint we wouldn’t say, “do I have to do this?” Instead we would say, “what can I do?” It is a sad reflection on the sinful nature in all of us that hates to be told what to do - no matter what it be. Where in the Bible is there an example of a Christian who had an easy life? Who had no problems? Who just called himself a Christian but never listened to God’s Word or proclaimed his faith? Jesus called such people hypocrites. God forgive us for our lack of zeal! Our lack of faithfulness! Our low expectations as to what Christ expects of us! Paul didn’t call the Gentiles for sleep, but for obedience!
But notice where this obedience would come from - the obedience that comes from faith. As much as the law convicts us of laziness and damns us to hell, it does nothing but make us angry. I would imagine that I raised some of your ganders by telling you you should come to Bible class and read your Bible more often. That’s what the law does. That may help to humble you, but it doesn’t help to motivate you, does it? You may then come to church more often, but it still won’t be God pleasing. The only thing that truly motivates to a God pleasing obedience is faith. Faith is motivated by the love of God in Christ. When you realize that God sent His Son to live and die for you - to make you holy - it will motivate you to say, “what can I do for you?” I’m hoping that it was faith that motivated you to come here this morning - to hear about the grace of God - to sing praise to him - to serve him with your offerings and song. To ask, “what can I do for you?”
When the world trade centers were bombed, America rose up and joined together instead of falling apart. They put American stickers and flags up and took pride in their country and their freedom. Millions of people gave millions of dollars and time to help support those who had been stricken by this terrible disaster. Even though many firefighters had to spend many hours cleaning up the mess, they willingly did it. Why? Because it was their duty. Many gave much time and effort to help. Why? It was a good cause, and they felt it was their duty as Americans to rise to the occasion.
In a similar way, when Paul realized that the world of unbelievers were headed to hell, he felt it was his duty as a Christian to be an apostle to the Gentiles. He knew what a privilege it was to be looked at as holy through the blood of Christ and live in the grace of God. Therefore he looked at it as an opportunity to spread that Gospel of Christ, no matter how much persecution it brought with it. And so will we. As Gentile Christians, we truly appreciate the freedoms of forgiveness and heaven that Christ has given us. And from this faith we are driven to do what our Lord asks us to do. We want to obey our parents. We want to tell others. We want to come to church. We want to help. Why? Because we’re Christians. That’s what Christians do.
And the beauty of it is that God has plenty for you to do! When men come for a work day, the last thing they want to do is stand around. They want to get involved and get their hands dirty! They want to be involved! And the neat thing of it is that you don’t have to put on a monk’s robe to serve God. You don’t have to travel across America and preach the gospel. God gives mom’s a sense of belong by saying, “take care of your children - just do it in a God pleasing manner.” If you’re an employee, God says, “keep working, just do it energetically and serve your employer as if you were serving Christ!” He gives us opportunities to grow in faith through Bible Studies. He gives us chances to praise God through worship. He gives us ability to spread the gospel through mission offerings.
When I was vicaring in South Carolina, a pastor’s son was helping to wash the windows. I was in a hurry to get the building cleaned. And so when the son had gone to play around, I impatiently finished the window that he was working on. I thought, “I don’t have time to wait around for him to finish. However, when he came back, tears welled up in his eyes. He wanted to help, and my actions had left him out. He no longer felt like he belonged because I took his job. And so he went crying to his father, who encouraged him to keep helping. I felt like a complete idiot.
Sometimes we are like that little child. And sometimes we act like the impatient vicar. We don’t always work as quickly as we could or we should. And some of us, like the vicar, work hard at what we do, and get impatient with the weaker members who don’t work or do as “good of a job” as we would. Because of it, there are often tears in our congregation and hurt feelings when people don’t feel like they “belong.” If you feel left out, go running to Jesus our shepherd. He won’t reject you. He’ll take you in his arms and say, “I want you here. I want you to belong. I didn’t call you because of your abilities. I called you because I’m a merciful God who died for you. I called you because I am a God of grace and love.” And so he says, “because of my forgiveness, you belong here. And I have plenty for you to do. I have called you to belong.” Amen.
