It brought an out of control party animal named Augustine to faith in Christ, and Augustine went on to become one of the most prolific and influential Christian thinkers of his generation. It sparked the Reformation, as a monk named Martin Luther discovered in it that the righteousness God demands is also the righteousness God gives to sinners. It brought a young Anglican pastor named John Wesley into a life-changing relationship with Christ. What is “it”? It’s the book of Romans!
Luther loved this book so much that he said that every Christian should memorize it and meditate on it every day. Why did he think this particular portion of Scripture was so important? The explanation is found in his study of the verses that serve as our text for this morning. In his commentary on the book of Romans he made this remark about the opening verses of this influential letter: “Here the door is thrown open wide for the understanding of Holy Scripture” (Luther’s Works, American Edition, Vol. 25, p. 4). Through this book God have him the key to unlock this treasury of divine wisdom we call the Bible. In the opening verses of this letter, Luther hears the voice of the true God announcing the source code through which all of Holy Scripture is deciphered. That’s why Luther loved this book – and that’s why he loved the words that serve as the sermon text for this morning. So perk up your ears and listen attentively as we ask ourselves: Do we hear what he heard? As we listen to the voice of the true God speaking to us in these first few verses of the letter to the Romans we will hear the incredible news that Luther heard. We will hear 1) God reveal that his Gospel promise is fulfilled. We will hear 2)God’s call to faith through the Gospel.
What did Luther hear in these verses? He heard God reveal that his Gospel promise has been fulfilled! What was that promise? It’s the promise of Christmas that God gave to our first parents after Satan brought death and destruction into this world when he succeeded in leading Adam and Eve to sin. While Satan may have won a battle, he would not win the war. That’s what God proclaims when he promises that rebellious 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” (Genesis 3:15). It’s the same promise that was repeated again and again by many different prophets at many different times throughout the Old Testament, like when the prophet Jeremiah said, “’The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness’” (Jeremiah 23:5,6). The prophet Isaiah adds even more specifics about what this ruler, born of the line of David, was coming to do when he proclaims, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:3-5).
But it’s not just a promise! It’s a reality. That’s the powerful revelation that the angel made to those shepherds outside of Bethlehem 2 millennia ago, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:10-12). The promise of Christmas first made nearly three thousand years earlier – had finally arrived. The promise of Christmas is the promise of the Savior. He was born to Mary, a descendant of King David, just as the prophets had foretold. He was the fulfillment of God’s promise with a real human face, and real, human flesh and blood.
But the Apostle Paul points out that the fulfillment of God’s promise was more than just a birthday party. If Christmas were nothing more than the story of an unfortunate boy whose first bed was an animal feeding trough, who later became an influential leader, and who died as a martyr for his cause – then the best that Christmas could be is an opportunity to celebrate religious diversity, about enchanting children with societal folklore, and helping boost the bottom line for retailers. But if that’s all there is to the promise of Christmas – then it ain’t very much at all. But the Apostle Paul shows us that in order to understand the significance of Christmas you first need to understand what happened at Easter when he says, “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” (Romans 1:4). Christmas isn’t really about the birth of a baby – it’s about the birth of God’s Son as a baby boy. Christmas is about the birth of God’s Son in human flesh who would face death on a cross. He would even experience death, but he would not be conquered by it. Instead he would grab death by the throat and crush its power when he could come back to life on Easter morning! Christmas is the inauguration of the fulfillment of God’s promise – the consummation of the fulfillment of God’s promise is found on Easter morning!
But the importance and relevance of this book is for us is more than just hearing an accounting of all of God’s accomplishments. What’s so significant and relevant about this book is that it is the record of God’s accomplishments FOR US! That’s why we can refer to these words about God’s Son as the Gospel – because they are good news FOR US! Through this good news God calls people to faith in the Gospel.
That’s the good news that Paul was commissioned to preach. As he writes, “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (Romans 1:6). Paul was commissioned to share the good news about Jesus with the Gentiles. He was called to preach the good news that God considers people righteous not because of what they have done, but because of what Christ has done for them. He spells that message out a little later in this letter where he writes, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:22-24). God gives away Christ’s perfection for free. Perfect obedience belongs to all those who receive it by faith.
It’s that good news that God considers us to be holy and perfect for Jesus’ sake that prompts us to want to obey God’s will. That’s the kind of obedience that Paul was talking about. The obedience that flows from a heart of faith that is hungry to feed on the words of God recorded by the prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles in the New Testament. That’s the obedience that flows from being called to belong to Jesus Christ as his disciples – not because any of us have earned it – but because he earned it for us. That’s the good news that prompts the kind of obedience that abounds in joyful service, that is filled with generous giving, that is glad to listen and follow the one who gave the world the very best that he had, himself. That kind of obedience isn’t forced by threats of punishment or enticed by the hope of a special payoff. It’s an obedience that flows from the heart, filled with love, welling up from the inside that urgently seeks to do all we can, willing to sacrifice what we have for him – because he gave all of himself as a sacrifice for us.
That’s the amazing message of the Gospel – through which God calls us and keeps us in the faith. He calls us to believe that he will not hold our guilt against us because he held our guilt against his Son. As a result he assures us that he considers us to be saints, that is, he sees us as holy, righteous people in spite of our sinfulness. That’s God’s grace – though we didn’t deserve it he loved us anyway. Though we didn’t earn it we stand at peace with him right now. Through that powerful Gospel revealed through the pen of the Apostle Paul, God calls us and keeps us in the faith.
Did you hear it? Did you hear what Luther heard that unlocked this treasury of divine wisdom so that he might fully understand life for what it truly is? Let’s listen to him summarize what he heard: “But now Christ wants our whole disposition to be so stripped down that we are not only unafraid of being embarrassed for our faults and also do not feel called upon to glory before men even in that external righteousness which comes to us from Christ. Nor should we be cast down by sufferings and evils which are inflicted on us for His sake. A true Christian must have no glory of his own and must to such an extent be stripped of everything he calls his own that in honor and in dishonor he can always remain the same in the knowledge that the honor that has been bestowed on him has been given not to him but to Christ, whose righteousness and gifts are shining in him, and that the dishonor inflicted on him is inflicted both on him and on Christ” (Luther’s Works, American Edition, Vol. 25, p. 137).
What does that mean? It means that the Bible shows us that there is something terribly wrong with us by nature. It means that the Bible exposes our false belief that treats the true God like Santa Claus, a happy, jolly grandpa type figure who conveniently overlooks our little mistakes – and generally considers us to be pretty good, little people. It means that the Holy Scriptures nail us against the wall and strip us bare of any hopes of earning heaven because of our own goodness. In fact, Scripture makes it clear that there is only one thing that all of us deserve as Paul writes, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Unless Jesus should return first, we will all face death – therefore it follows that we are all infected by sin.
Why does God speak to us in this way? God shows us that we’re sinners so that we don’t pass up the good news of the Savior. The problem with sin is that it keeps us in the dark about how fatal it really is until it’s too late. That’s why God lovingly shows us how badly sin infects us so that we don’t push aside his cure. That cure is the lifeblood of his Son, our Savior. The Bible shows us we need more than a few minor adjustments. It shows us that what we really need is a death and a resurrection. What we need most is to have God kill our old sinful spirit, and raise up the Spirit of living faith in its place. It means that the Bible is more than just a moral warehouse of what to do and what not to do, it’s also the good news about the one who has done everything commanded and refrained from everything forbidden in my place. The Bible is much more than a book that condemns me for my sin – it reveals to me the one who took my punishment in my place! The Bible doesn’t give me more rules – it gives me the reason to want to keep the rules – out of thankful obedience to my Savior who gave everything he had for me.
That’s what Luther heard, and it changed his life. Now that’s what we’ve heard too – and it can’t help but change ours. What a marvelous message from our marvelous God. That’s the good news that was revealed that first Christmas and still means everything to Christians even today. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Amen.
