Farewell to the Book of Romans

This past May, Emily, my wife, completed the half marathon that Indianapolis does.

Pretty significant accomplishment, 13.1 miles, running the whole thing.

I know a bunch of you were there.

How many of you have ever uh run, walked, or been a fan, a cheerleader at the half marathon?

Can you show me your hands?

How many of you have been there?

Okay, a bunch of you have.

So the morning of the race, she got up really early, and so uh I got the girls up.

We got up early because we were gonna go down and greet her, and so we had a few thoughts of like how we would spend our morning.

Like maybe we go for a little walk or a jog around the neighborhood, like in solidarity.

She's gonna run 13 miles, we could run like a quarter of a mile or something.

Um, we thought better of it and just went to Long's Donuts.

And um so so there we get downtown, we've got our donuts, we drive, we get parked, we're walking like towards the finish line, which just felt super ironic, right?

To be like pounding donuts while you walk to the finish line of this 13-mile race.

But you get to the last little stretch right there.

In the last like 400 yards, they've got the grandstands up, there's a huge crowd, they got the hype music playing, they got the DJ trying to get everybody up and going, there's all the festivities, there's the the finish line with the like overpass thing that's super exciting to celebrate.

And the the people you're cheering on, they run through and they finish and they they get to the other side, then they start walking really slowly to make sure they don't tear a hamstring, and they've got all the snacks in the world, the protein bars, the bananas, the oranges, you know, all this stuff right there.

And eventually you get met up with the person for our family, it was Emily, and we we start to walk out, we get in the car, and we're driving home.

And what she was telling me is like on the drive home, you start to get this like flashback of memories.

It's like you're saying farewell to the race.

You remember back like setting my alarm for 5:15 a.m.

when it was still 28 degrees outside to get up and do that early morning run.

When it was like running when it was pitch black, and the conversations you had on that one run with your training partner, and that time you thought you sprained your ankle and you weren't gonna be able to do the race, but you got to anyways.

Like, there's all these memories scattered along the way as you drive off, you're saying farewell to it, right?

In a sense, that's today in the book of Romans.

We've run the race, we've got to the end.

We're getting in the car, we're getting ready to drive home and wave farewell to the book of Romans.

And Paul, in this last little bit here, is having this flashback of memories telling you, here were the major things, not in a half-marathon race, but throughout the book of Romans.

I wonder if there are some things in your life where God has stirred something in your spirit and you have not yet put it into action.

And this chance to look back and say farewell is an opportunity to say, no, no, no, I'm not gonna leave that thing there.

I'm going to put it into action.

Look, if you are new to the Bible or new to Parkside, today is a great day for you to be here.

It may not have seemed that way when Joanna read it.

You're like, hmm, that's a strange passage.

I wonder what Justin's gonna talk about from that.

But you actually get to see all the main things the book of Romans is about.

And so if you are unfamiliar with Romans, unfamiliar with the Bible, unfamiliar with church, today is a great day to see a picture of all of that.

In fact, I never really thought I would be a half marathon kind of guy, but I had a friend invite me one time, and I went down and saw it, and it was really different than what I expected, and I've been intrigued by it ever since.

And one of my prayers for you this morning is if you're newer to the Bible, that you would find something a little different than what you expected, and you'd say, wow, that's a lot better than I thought it would be, and you'll come back for more as well.

Now, Romans is one of the most famous books in the entire Bible.

And we've been telling you that for a while right now.

But let me give a quick review and a uh catching you up to speed.

If this is your very first Sunday here, what is the book of Romans?

Theologians say it's the greatest letter ever written.

It's written by the greatest church planter ever.

His name was Paul.

There was anybody in the first century that had aura, it was Paul.

It wasn't just the greatest letter from the greatest church planter.

He used some of the greatest rhetoric in the history of the world.

In fact, the Harvard Law School used the book of Romans for its first hundred years as a textbook in how to build a legal case.

The book of Romans has had some of the greatest impact of any of the books in the Bible.

Great theologian St.

Augustine converted by reading the book of Romans.

Great hymn writer John Wesley converted by hearing preaching from the book of Romans.

The modern missions movement, three, four hundred years ago, got started.

Guys like William Carey and Adaniram Judson taking the gospel to Asia and places that had not been in a very long time.

Through study in the book of Romans.

It's the greatest letter from the greatest church planner with the greatest rhetoric, with the greatest impact, because it contains the greatest message of how you can know God, have your sins forgiven, and have an eternal home in heaven.

And in Romans, we've tackled a whole host of difficult topics.

Paul hits head on what do we do with religious hypocrisy?

What do we do with our own sexuality and how do we bring that in submission to Christ?

He's hit doctrinal topics like predestination and the wrath of God.

He's hit practical topics like how we relate to the government and how Christians get along with each other on secondary issues.

Like it is a wide-ranging book touching all kinds of things.

It's an old book with a very modern message.

And I was really glad this morning if I can just be frank with the songs that we sang for great reminders of the truths we've been hearing over and over and over again.

God is for us.

Christian, if you are in Christ, God has made up his mind about you.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

That he will hold us fast.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And so here in this farewell to the book of Romans, what I want you to hear and to see from Romans 16 is four of the major threads that have guided us through the entire book of Romans, and Paul puts them together in this last 11 verses saying, here's the main things to remember as you drive away from the book of Romans.

Keep these four things in your mind.

Four threads.

Here's the first one Gospel.

Gospel, by far the most important thread of all of them.

But in verse 17, Paul introduces it in a little bit of a different way.

So keep your Bibles out.

Look back at Romans 16 and verse 17.

What does he say?

He says this watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles, contrary, and here's the key phrase, to the doctrine that you have been taught.

Paul says, I've worked hard to teach and defend this message of the gospel, and you also have to protect it as well.

The message of Romans could be summarized in one single word: righteousness.

Or add three words, the righteousness of God, the utter perfection.

Righteousness is this, demanded by God and missing in you and in me.

But good news, it is revealed in Christ, who lived the perfect life that you couldn't, died the death you should have, rose from the dead three days later to conquer sin, death, hell, and Satan, so that you, although having no righteousness, could have his righteousness if you would receive it by faith.

The righteousness of God, demanded by him, missing in you, revealed in Christ, received by faith.

We say this message of the gospel is good news, not good advice.

It is a good news.

It's saying, This has already happened.

It's not good advice for what you're supposed to do.

And then this shapes how we read the whole Bible.

We read the Bible, not primarily saying it's about me and what I'm supposed to do for God, but the main message of the Bible is about God and what he's done for you in Christ.

And that's a game changer for a lot of us in how you open your Bible on a Monday or a Tuesday or a Wednesday morning reading saying, the main thing is about God and what he's done for me.

And yes, I must respond, but the main thing is never about me and what I'm supposed to do for him.

This word gospel that I've been explaining was used in the original context in a military sort of way.

So you'd be in a Roman outpost, a town controlled by the Roman Empire, and the military would go out and they'd fight a battle.

It was kind of a matter of life and death for the townspeople, because if the Roman military lost, the barbarians were coming and they were not going to show mercy to you.

And so when the Roman military would win, they would send someone back proclaiming victory, victory, good news, good news, gospel, we win, even though you didn't do anything.

And now all the benefits of their victory come to you by virtue of your citizenship.

And your citizenship, Parkside Bible Church, is in heaven because of the finished work of Christ, if you receive that by faith.

And so you, like those townspeople, could say, Hooray, victory, we won! Even though we never lifted a finger.

It didn't depend on you.

And that is really, really good news.

This means in your life, you are living from a place of acceptance before God, not living to earn that acceptance.

It means you are living from a place of free and full forgiveness, not working to gain forgiveness.

It means you are living from a place of radical love shown to you by Christ, not living to earn that love.

You're living from what's been given, not from what you can earn.

And the utter uniqueness of this message sets it apart from every other religious system in the whole world.

And that's why Paul says with urgency at the very end, watch out for people who distort this message.

It's all over the place.

You cannot get it wrong.

You must get it right.

There's only one way to God.

It's like saying there's a specific recipe, and you can't change it at all.

A couple months ago, we went to the store and uh we got this sauce that looked like the Chick-fil-A sauce, but it was the knockoff.

Sometimes you can get the knockoff brand, and it's okay.

When it comes to Chick-fil-A sauce, you cannot get the knockoff.

Like the bottle looks the same.

It's got that kind of orangey lid, and the bottle's kind of whitish cream, and you squirt it out, and it's the same little, like, I don't even know what that color is.

Like off-orange.

I don't know what it's called.

The consistency is the same, but you put that stuff in your mouth, you're like, that is not Chick-fil-A sauce.

I will guard that doctrine.

That's what Paul's saying.

He's like, look, there are some things in life you cannot change the recipe, and there is only one way to know God.

There's only one way to have your sins forgiven.

There's only one way to live in forgiveness and freedom and life.

But be careful because there are knockoffs out there.

Look what he says in verse 18 at the very end.

He says, watch out for the knockoffs.

He says, by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive.

And I don't exactly know in the Roman church how these false teachers were saying it, but I know what it looks like in the American church.

Here's the message in the American church I hear all over the place.

You are enough.

You've got this.

The Bible is there to help you discover your true self.

The Bible is here to help you be a good person and a hard worker and a good team player.

Go for it.

Guys, that's a huge shift.

The Bible is not there getting you to generally believe in a God who will generally help you find the best version of yourself, who will help you to be prosperous and healthy and have all the things you want.

That is not the gospel.

That is not biblical Christianity, and it's everywhere in the American church.

And it sounds really good because it fits with American exceptionalism.

Like there's there's nothing we can't conquer, there's no mountain range we can't climb.

Like that is that is the American way, right?

It's not the gospel.

And it shows up in churches everywhere, and we have to be on the lookout and say, no, no, no, no, no.

The righteousness of God is demanded by Him, missing in me, revealed only in Christ and received only by faith.

You see, the gospel that we've been describing to you and defining is the diving board into Christianity.

This is how you become a Christian, by believing the gospel.

But it's not just the diving board, it's also the entire swimming pool.

And learning to grow as a Christian is by learning to swim in the deep end of the gospel.

Where I go deeper and deeper and deeper into this message that saves me and then it shapes me and it sends me out on mission.

That's what it is to go deeper into the gospel.

And so when you start to go deep in the gospel, you're starting, you're gonna start to become more comfortable saying this.

Boy, I am a lot worse sinner than I ever thought I was.

You're gonna start to be comfortable saying, God doesn't need me at all.

You're gonna start to be comfortable saying, boy, I am a royal failure spiritually.

And when those statements start to become more natural, you're saying, yeah, the gospel is humbling me.

It's saying I'm not enough.

I don't have it all together.

You're gonna get together at the Fourth of July parade.

Maybe some of you say, What'd you do over the weekend?

Went to church, what'd your preacher tell you?

I'm a sinner, I'm not enough, and God doesn't need me.

Like your church must be a big punching bag.

Well, the gospel humbles you, but it also dignifies you.

Like it's not just worm theology, because the gospel also says you are worthy of saving.

The sinless Son of God left eternal riches in heaven, came down, seen you in all your failures, all your frailties, all the sinful responses you're gonna have in this coming week, and said, I will shed my blood for you because it's worth it.

And the gospel dignifies you and says, You're no longer defined by your failures.

That's not who you are anymore.

They're still real, they're still there, but they're not you.

The blood of Jesus Christ defines you, and it speaks a better word over your life.

It says to the Christian, Christian, God has made up his mind about you, and he's not changing his mind.

And on that foundation, you can build an entire life and live a life that goes out in radical ways, honoring and glorifying God.

The gospel is a major theme throughout the book of Romans.

And that theme must become the functional center of your life, because if it's not, you will bend to one of two things pride in your accomplishments or despair over your failures.

And most of the time we live our lives yo-yoing between those two things pride in my accomplishments, despair over my failures, because the gospel is not yet the functional center.

That's what Paul wants you to understand.

It's how you get saved and it's how you grow as a Christian when that becomes the center of your being.

That's the first major theme.

Second major theme: transformation.

Transformation.

I've already started to talk about this a little bit, but I'm gonna show it to you in the passage and then explain it even a little bit more.

Verse 19.

What does Paul say to the Roman church?

Your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you.

He says, Look, you guys have been transformed.

And not only have you been transformed, but it's known by everybody, and I praise God for it, because transformation is what the gospel produces.

Look at verse 26 at the very end.

He says even more about transformation.

He says, it is meant to bring about the obedience of faith.

It did bring it about in you, and it should bring it about in others.

This phrase obedience of faith is in the second to last verse in Romans, and it's the exact same phrase that Paul used in Romans 1 5, obedience of faith.

I start there, I end there, the message of the gospel, how you get saved, how you grow as a Christian.

Now, maybe you're reading that, and that word obedience shows up twice in chapter 16.

I pulled it back to chapter 1 as well.

Why do we say transformation instead of obedience for the main theme?

Maybe it's a good question.

In chapter 12, Paul says, Don't be conformed, but do be transformed.

So I'm pulling on his language there.

But transformation is a bigger word than obedience because you can obey in an external way, you can obey in a superficial way, you can obey in a temporary way.

But that's not actually gospel transformation.

And the apostle Paul is the perfect case study for this.

The Apostle Paul grew up in the church.

He was a youth group all-star, he went on all the mission trips.

Like we had a team get back from New Orleans yesterday.

We're thrilled to have you guys back.

I can't wait to hear how that went.

But the Apostle Paul went on the mission trips just like they did.

He had a PhD in religious studies from the Ivy League of the first century, wherever that was.

And all his obedience and all his knowledge produced was self-righteousness and judgmentalism and justifying the actual murder of other human beings.

See, he felt like he was obeying, but it was this mere external, it wasn't actually a transformed heart.

And Paul writes to this church at Rome and says, Your complete obedience, your full transformation in the midst of a really hostile culture is known to all, and I praise God for it.

And it's going to bring obedience to all the nations.

That all of life must be conformed to Jesus Christ.

Park said, listen to me here.

Could Paul write this to you?

Your obedience is known to all.

Could he write that to you today?

Listen, I wonder if there are some of you here this morning that you say, man, the Apostle Paul couldn't write that to me.

In a sense, you've made a peace treaty with sin in secret corners of your life.

And you think you can keep it at bay, and it's not gonna like overcome the rest of your life?

You can lock it up in the closet.

You feel like it's been there for so long that putting it to death is impossible, and you just have to manage it.

Listen to me, guys.

Jesus didn't die so that you would manage your sin.

He died so that you would kill your sin and receive full transformation through his son.

Listen, I get that it's hard to open up and admit the things that are controlling our thoughts.

The things that get us anxious and twitchy, the things that get us angry, the things that get us excited that shouldn't get us excited.

Understand that.

But I also want you to know this, especially if you're newer with us.

This church, Parkside Bible Church, is a church that is filled with recovering legalists and people with skeletons all over their past.

And they're not here because they somehow cleaned up their act and got it together.

They're here because they found grace.

A controlling identity that's not based in their religious and moral performance.

But on Jesus Christ, who paid the price and gave them a righteousness they could never attain to.

And once you realize That forgiveness is available.

His love is available.

His life is available.

You don't have to hide anymore behind the veneer of looking good on the outside.

The gospel brings transformation because it offers you victory over what others think of you and over what you think of yourself.

Listen, it's real easy to live in bondage to what others think, is it not?

It's real easy to live that way.

But Jesus' death speaks a better word.

His blood says, What I say about you matters infinitely more than what anyone else thinks about you.

It is so easy to live in bondage to anxiety and depression and the darkness that won't lift, and Jesus' life speaks a better word.

It says, your future is incredibly bright if you are in Christ.

And you may not be able to see it right now.

But as surely as he was raised from the dead, so too there is a good, sovereign God behind all of it who intends good things for you.

You don't have to live in bondage anymore.

It's so easy to live in bondage to the next dopamine hit of scrolling or temporary pleasure of something that comes from a vacation or a pay raise or a house, something on the on your phone you're looking at, this video, this image.

It's like it's easy to live in bondage to those things.

And yet the gospel says you have infinite riches in Christ that will free you from any of these lesser pleasures.

You have all you need.

You don't need to look there for that release.

You see, the gospel is the only truth in all the world that can actually free your heart from heart-level bondage to these things that seek to enslave us.

And there are 900 million ways in the world to do behavior modification.

Self-help podcasts, books, stuff to watch on YouTube, but the gospel is the only thing that will actually transform the core of your heart.

Look, there are some of you that know this.

And today you're in a period in a pattern of delayed obedience.

I wonder if your big takeaway this morning is just to write the word yes proverbially on a three by five card and put it on the table.

Say, God, my yes is on the table.

And you can go put it wherever you want on the map.

You can put it on the map of my finances.

My yes is already on the table.

You put your yes on the table.

God, you can put it on that relationship where there needs to be forgiveness.

I'm saying yes.

You put your yes on the table.

Say, God, where are you taking that?

And in my experience, when I pray that prayer, Lord, my yes is on the table.

You put it where you want.

It doesn't take him very long to tell me where it goes.

It just takes me a little while to listen.

Can I get an amen?

Put your yes on the table.

Go back to the gospel for the power to free you at the heart level to walk in obedience and let God put that yes on the map.

That's the second major theme, transformation.

Third major theme of the book of Romans: relational beauty.

Relational beauty.

It's been a theme really throughout the entire book.

The last 25% or so, we've seen this a lot more.

But in today's text, you see it reflected in the people that Paul talks about.

So I want to tell you a little bit about these people that are referenced and then apply it to us.

So in verse 21, he talks about Timothy.

Verse 22, there's a guy named Tertius.

Verse 23, there is Gaius and Erastus.

Erastus, the city treasurer, and then Cortus comes after that.

So let's just think about these guys for a second, because it's a motley crew and an unlikely bunch.

You got Pastor Timothy.

There's a few Jewish dudes, because he says, my kinsmen.

One of them listed was Jason.

Jason, in a different section of the Bible, had hosted Paul and actually posted Bond for him when he was in prison.

Then you have Gaius and Erastus, these two influential businessmen.

They're like Roman first century power suits getting together.

And then you have two guys, Tertius and Quartus.

We know almost nothing about them, but Tertius means third, and Quartus means fourth.

And we know that in that context, the firstborn was the most important.

And so I think what happened is by the time you got past the first and then the second, they just stopped caring about these guys.

We're just going to name you three.

And then we have another kid, and we're going to name you four.

And when it were in a world where names were incredibly significant, Paul was saying, listen, I got the pastor here, I got my Jewish buddies who bail me out of jail, I got the power brokers in the city of Rome, the city treasurer, the political leaders, and I've got the people kicked to the curb who don't even literally get a name.

And they're all brought together by the gospel.

They're all dignified by the gospel.

They're all humbled by the gospel.

And they come together and they say, My worth is not in what I own.

My worth is not in what I bring to the table socially or politically or economically.

My worth is not in my spiritual gifting.

My worth is in Christ.

And because of that, there is a beauty that's brought together.

There's an ethnic diversity in these guys.

Everything being brought together under one.

White collar, blue collar, wealthy, poor.

The whole thing.

Listen to me, Parkside.

Relational beauty in the church is not optional.

I think sometimes we see it as optional.

Like you think about the church, what are the things that really matter?

Let's get some good doctrine, good preaching, let's check out the music, think about the kids' ministry, see what the youth group is doing.

And Paul would say relational beauty in the church is not optional.

Relational beauty is a mark of healthy churches that are advancing the gospel.

This is exactly what Jesus said, John 13, 35.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

And when the church stagnates, when it's unhealthy, do you know what happens?

It bases its unity on earthly priorities, not heavenly realities.

That's when the church stagnates.

There's this picture I saw 15 years ago.

It's been burned into my mind.

I think it was taken in the 1930s or 40s.

And it's of a Baptist church facing the front, kind of a small town Baptist church, and it looks like the choir is up there.

It almost looks like a team picture from like a high school basketball team, except the Baptist church choir up there.

Maybe you can picture something like that.

And every single member in the picture is wearing the uniform of the KKK.

And above them stands a sign that says Jesus saves.

It's despicable, it's ugly.

The life of the church denies the message of the church.

Relational beauty is not optional.

And you look at that picture and you say, What is wrong with these people?

Right?

It must not be that way.

It cannot be that way.

How does anybody ever get to that place?

Something so extreme as that.

When you begin to let the life of the church be marked by earthly priorities instead of heavenly realities.

And it's a creep and it's slow.

And we begin to divide over things we ought not to divide over.

What does that look like here at Parkside?

Like, how do we know?

What are the things that I, as your pastor, am looking for, saying, like, this is what relational beauty looks like when it shows up?

Let me just paint a picture for you of some of the things that I dream about when I think about the best vision of relational beauty that we're after.

I dream about when public school and homeschool families show up to Parkside and they tell me they are overwhelmed by the warm welcome they receive, that a church as a Christian school that sometimes can be a little insular, sometimes it feels like a click to people, is say, no, it doesn't matter where we send our kids, we're so warmly welcomed.

I'm shocked by that.

That's relational beauty.

It's relational beauty when guests show up and they don't just have four or five people greet them, they have somebody invite them to lunch the first Sunday.

This is not a holy whole huddle of us four no more at the local Mexican joint.

You come in and join.

God's arms are open wide, and so are ours.

Welcome one another as Christ is welcome, you to the glory of God.

Romans 15, 7.

Relational beauty that I dream about looks like retirees and 20-year-olds getting together for discipleship and coffee.

Not being segregated based on their ages, but saying we both have something to give.

We can grow from one another here.

20-year-olds don't freak out if they want to eat dinner at 3:30.

You can still have coffee.

It's okay, you can laugh at that too.

Can I get a little more personal here?

Relational beauty shows up, and here's what it looks like when prayer and confession of sin with brothers and sisters in the church is just as regular as talking about your summer plants.

I'm willing to let you in and see how the gospel is changing me.

We're not gonna be stuck at surface level conversations about which splash pad you're going to and where you're playing pickleball and how you're smoking your meats.

I love all those things.

To the glory of God, yes and amen.

Let's go shoot some fireworks.

But we're gonna go deeper than that because that's what relational beauty looks like in a church that's being changed by the gospel.

It's not optional.

And Paul drives that home with the guys he's with, and it's a model for us for what it's supposed to look like.

Here's the fourth theme: the book of Romans, mission.

We said the themes were gospel, transformation, relational beauty, and fourth, mission.

Now, if your neighbor fell asleep, it's a good time to wake him up.

So give them a little elbow here, they're going to hear this part.

Now that's hilarious right there, because everybody's like, oh man, if I elbow them, what are they gonna say to me afterwards?

I wish I could have shown you the look on your faces when I said that.

That was that made my morning.

All right, you got everybody awake?

We're here?

Good.

Okay.

What's the mission Paul's driving?

To bring glory to God in every single thing that happens.

It's the only wise God.

There's fraudulent gods, there's fake gods, there's unwise ones.

There's only one wise one.

And we bring him glory by more people hearing this message.

Let's look at verse 25.

It starts with him.

Look at this.

To him who's able to strengthen you.

Pause.

What does that tell you?

You need to be strengthened.

You're weak, but he's able to.

Keep going.

According to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.

The mission starts with recognizing your weakness, his strength, his sufficiency, his message, not the power of your life, the preaching of Jesus, not of you being good enough.

It is profoundly not about you.

It's to the strong one who's worthy of glory, to the one with good news who's worthy of glory, to the only Messiah who's worthy of glory.

And we walk outside on a summer day, and you see his handiwork everywhere.

The sun coming down, the sunset over the cornfields, the birds chattering, the flowers blooming, the bursting forth of the grass, because you're mowing three times a week right now.

And we see God's good and kind hand doing all of that.

And in his infinite wisdom, the God who made all of that looked down at us who had turned away and were like, nah, God, I got this on my own.

And in his mercy and in his wisdom and his goodness, he sent his son to die.

Like, it is remarkable that we would walk outside and see everything that God has made and turn away.

Like, guys, you need YouTube to figure out how to get the wax ring on your toilet installed.

How do you think you're gonna figure out God on your own?

It ain't gonna happen.

He has to come down and he did come down.

He lived the life you couldn't, offers it freely.

Died the death you should have, offers his blood freely.

Rose again for resurrection life, offers that life freely.

And people don't know.

They haven't heard.

There are people still walking around thinking that God is this like strict parent in the sky, the ultimate killjoy with really strict rules, who's just trying to shut down all the fun.

Like, look what he gave for us, despite us turning away from him.

And that's why Paul says this message has to go to all people everywhere, all nations and all neighborhoods.

That's the mission.

Tell people how glorious God is.

When it comes to mission, I don't think we actually have to explain that much how mission works.

Because I think we're pretty well acquainted with it.

And if you just think about AI, we're basically all on mission for AI in various ways.

We're going to tell people how glorious Claude is, or ChatGPT is, or whatever our engine of choice, and this new thing we got it to do, we're willing to pay for it.

We want to take it to the next generation and figure out how the elementary school can learn to use these things.

We want to take it to all nations and help the third world countries figure out how their lives can be better.

And you didn't need me to tell any of you how to take AI to all neighborhoods and all nations and all generations.

You just know, you do it.

It's like it's worth it.

Now, maybe you're not all in on AI, but the example makes sense.

You know how that goes.

The same is true of this one and only wise God and his message.

Look at verse 27.

What does it say?

To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ.

Paul says to the church at Rome, he says, Rome, go invest your life.

Go sell your possessions, go tell everyone.

Because the mission of God goes forward through regular Christians being sent.

There are no Navy SEALs, there are no Super Saints, there is no SEAL Team 6, there are no Hall of Famers.

It's regular Christians being sent out to their neighborhoods and some to the nations, all going with the message of the gospel, saying, I can go tell someone.

Whether it's you being sent across the street or around the world.

Like this is why 20% of our budget goes to missions every single year.

One out of every$5.

Let's get it and let's go.

Let's get it and let's go.

Let's get it and let's go.

That's why we talk aircraft carrier model.

You come in on Sunday, you land on the aircraft, and you are sent out on mission.

That's why we're talking about planting a church so that we can take serving and giving members and send them somewhere else.

Like if I'm gonna tell you that you can't outgive God and giving is worth it, then we better model it as a church.

And we better be really confident saying we're gonna send people who are actively serving and actively giving.

Some of you have asked me, like, Justin, are you concerned about making budget after we send these people out?

Listen to me, guys.

My job is not to make budget, my job is to make disciples.

And disciples sent will make disciples, and we will let God figure the rest out.

So let's embrace the mission he's given us.

That there's only one wise God, and people need to know.

And he's given us the message to go with it.

There's not somebody else we're waiting on.

This is the task.

And it's not just a task, it's a privilege that we get to invest our lives in this.

What else would we want to do?

So let me tell you one closing story for the book of Romans to illustrate the privilege that we have.

If you rewind the clock 30 years, 1996, and you had$1,000, and you invested that in Apple stock, today you'd be sitting on about 2 million bucks.

Now it's a good thing that Steve Jobs came back, saved their bacon a couple of times.

But let's just say I told you today, guys, you can take a grand and go back to 1996 and you can have a do-over on it.

What would you say?

Is it a task or a privilege?

It's a privilege.

You mean Steve Jobs is gonna run the company and I can invest in it?

Like the one and only Steve Jobs who will always bring a great return on this investment?

Like, yeah, sign me up.

How can I get in on that?

Can I come up with two grand for it?

Or three?

The one and only Steve Jobs holds nothing in comparison to the only wise God to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

And his return on investment is always better than what Wall Street gives you.

His word never returns void.

And I pray to God that the mission of this church in this city, this county, this state, this world multiplies forward through this message we've seen in the book of Romans, through you all going out, making disciples, as God has called you to go out, and in 30 years we look back and say, we couldn't believe it if you told us.

What a privilege we're invited to.

I wonder if you just open, keep your Bibles open there, and let me read the last phrase again, Romans 16, 27.

To the only wise God, to whom be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Father, we thank you for the gift of your word.

What a powerful gift it is.

What a good gift it is.

Would you change our hearts by the power of the gospel?

Transform us.

Show us relational beauty in the church and send us out on mission so that all the nations will see that you are the only wise God.

We pray all these things in your name.

Amen.