Romans: Unity in the Heart of the Father | Associate Pastor: Matt Armstrong

Well, last week Russ kicked us off in a new sermon series in the book of Romans, which is just every pastor's, you know.

I'm just so excited.

So excited.

We're going through Romans.

Um, this is St.

Paul's Magnum Opus.

It's the most thoroughly theological, dense, it's beautiful.

It's got incredible teaching and insight.

But I want to ask this morning, why was it written?

Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles.

He was uniquely called not to just bring the gospel like the other apostles to the Jews, the people of God, but to bring this message to the Gentiles, those outside of uh historically God's chosen people, the Jews.

Um, in fact, this is the, oh, but this is, but the Roman uh church is was not started by Paul.

It's the only letter that he wrote was not to a church that he started or helped to start.

Um, but of course, Rome is the M the golden city, the empire's capital, it's where Caesar lived.

And so, of course, he was excited for the gospel to take hold.

Well, how did the gospel get to Rome?

We're told in Acts chapter two that on the great day of Pentecost, when Peter preached his great sermon, and 300 Jews came to faith in Jesus, that there were Jews from Rome there.

And so, of course, they returned home and brought the gospel with them.

But scholars believe that the gospel remained probably more inside the Jewish synagogue community because that's who the Messiah was for.

That's who they believed Jesus came for.

But in AD 47, the emperor Claudius expelled all the Jews from Rome, which is kind of crazy to think about.

But the reason that we're told by historians is that there was a dispute, a conflict over a guy named Crestus.

But scholars think that this was a misspelling of the word Christus.

And so what we think happened is that these Jews brought back the gospel of Jesus, the Messiah, and it started to spread throughout the Jewish community.

But some Jews didn't believe.

And so it actually led to this great conflict within the Jewish community that spilled over into kind of social unrest.

And so the emperor, it got so bad that he actually expelled the Jews from Rome, saying, I'm tired of this.

Even so, a fledgling group of Gentiles, non-Jews, had heard the gospel, maybe some of those God-fearing Gentiles who were drawn to worship the God of Israel.

And so even after the Jews and the Jewish Christians were expelled from Rome, this small group of Gentile Christians in Rome, their faith became known and it spread throughout the Greco-Roman Empire, again, because Rome was such a famous and important city.

And that word came to Paul himself.

And so, of course, he wanted to write to them.

He wanted to encourage them and strengthen them.

Now, eventually the Emperor Claudius died, Nero came and took his place, and you know, the Jews were allowed to return.

And that's why, even in our section here, Paul says to these Gentile Christians, I'm making plans to come and visit you.

Now, what was hindering him is removed.

But by this time, scholars believe that the Jewish Christian community that had now returned to Rome and the Gentile Christian community that had begun to form were actually two communities and they were separate.

Jews and Gentiles, if you know anything, and it's particularly Romans and Jews, they didn't really like each other for lots of reasons.

We'll talk about in a minute.

But Paul uniquely understood that the church was one body.

And so this is the reason Paul writes the letter to the Romans and why it's so thorough, why it's so dense, why it is so long.

Because he knew at the core of his being that there was one church, that the Jews were God's chosen people through whom this gospel message would go to the whole world.

This was kind of a surprise after Jesus' death and resurrection, surprise to the Jews themselves.

And so Paul is writing this letter to model for them and for us what it looks like to love with the Father's love and the community of faith, because he wants these two separate communities to come together.

So let's jump back into our passage in verse eight.

Paul says to these Gentile Christians whom he's never met, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

Point one, Paul embodies the welcome of the Father through gratitude.

As we said, Jews and Gentiles, and particularly Romans, they didn't like each other.

The Romans didn't like the Jews because they were this piddly little people who were kind of high maintenance.

They refused to worship the Roman pantheon.

They worshipped one God.

Oh, they're so special.

So they were uh kind of a thorn in the side of Rome, and Rome looked down on everybody.

The Jews looked down on the Romans because they were pagans, they were unclean, they worshipped idols and false gods.

Plus, they were their military and cultural oppressors.

They literally hated the Romans.

And Paul, in his previous life, he was one of the most devout and zealous Jews there were.

Not only did he hate Rome, he hated the newly emerging uh Christian Jews who were worshiping and proclaiming Jesus as the coming Messiah.

He went out and persecuted that group.

And yet now Paul is rejoicing in giving thanks for these Gentile Christians in Rome.

Why is that?

Because he had experienced what Thomas Chalmers calls the explosive power of a new affection.

That the love of God, not just for his people, but for the whole world, and the gift of his son, who came to die for the sins, not just of the Jews, but of the whole world, had overtaken Paul's heart.

And that's why he became the apostle to the Gentiles.

And so his heart flipped.

Rather than hating the Romans, now he rejoices that God's love and grace would extend even to those who are in Rome.

So these raises some reflection and maybe prayerful questions for us.

Who do you struggle to love in the church?

What factors would make it difficult for you to worship next to someone in this very room?

This can actually be difficult for us.

We're in a pretty unified and kind of monocultural context right here.

But what if you, like these Roman Gentile Christians, were now being thrust back into fellowship with these Jewish Christians or vice versa?

It can raise objections we may not have even known were there in our hearts to begin with.

Maybe we struggle with denominational differences.

Maybe it's someone's political persuasion.

Maybe it's their wraith or race or ethnicity.

Maybe it's someone's socioeconomic class.

Maybe it's that they smell.

You ever think about that?

Often the uh socioeconomic lines, uh, you can tell the difference by someone's odor.

And it can ask you, make you ask some real tough questions uh when someone smells in the in the sanctuary.

Amen.

When my wife and I were missionaries, when we first got married, we were missionaries with Campus Crusade, and we went to Eastern Europe and we were ministering to college students in Croatia.

We were so excited to give our lives for Jesus.

And very quickly after we found ourselves in the country, we found ourselves homesick and isolated.

And it was kind of a surprise.

There was language barriers, cultural barriers, faith barriers.

We felt very much alone.

And kind of an unexpected thing is that not unuh, not every day, but also not infrequently, we would come in contact with other missionaries, um, English-speaking missionaries, often from the States, but also other places.

And it was just like finding a glass of cold water in a, you know, in a hot, dry place, right?

We'd just like, oh, you want to go get a coffee?

You want to just talk in English?

How about that?

And I realized that in America, I could be very judgmental about other denominations or missionary or organizations, how they do things.

Maybe we would compare, contrast.

But in the field, to find another Christian, especially a missionary who was there for the same purpose to share the same gospel, just overtook any divisions we had among us.

And beloved, it can be easy to take for granted the things we have in abundance.

It is, it is a blessing.

It's a miracle that any of us have put our faith in Christ.

Amen.

God has overcome the sin in us, our own willfulness, our own fears and pride.

It's not what we have done, but what he has done in us.

And so, Paul, the Apostle Paul, challenges us to refresh our gratitude in one another.

That often we uh we get annoyed with our family members, those who are closest to us.

And Paul says, Rejoice that you have a community of faith among you.

Where you have felt yourself gro where have you felt yourself growing impatient or bitter or grumbling against your brothers and sisters in the faith?

And how might a refresher in God's love for you refresh your love for the church?

Let's continue.

Verses nine through eleven.

Paul writes, For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow God, by God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you, for I long to see you.

Point two, Paul embodies the service of the Father's heart through prayer.

What's amazing to reflect on is that Paul is passionately caring for these Roman Christians whom he has never met.

And he loves them enough to pray for them and try to go see them.

When I read this this week, it brought my memory back to just last week in church here when Russ prayed for a new church plant here in Marietta.

It's called Gem City.

And um, and he's done it before.

Usually, when a new Marietta church or a church gets a new pastor, last year we prayed for two new pastors coming.

And I think this is an incredible gospel perspective.

Too often in the church we feel like competitors, right?

And and churches get um uh they they feel threatened when a new church moves in down the street.

Believe me, I know, because I planted a new church and I experienced that.

And then I was an established church pastor 10 years later, and a new church plant came in.

I said, What?

What is wrong?

We're the church plant, we're the new guys.

Uh it is it is a deep temptation.

And but but God invites us not to be in competition, but to love and to support one another through prayer.

And that's what Paul does here.

He prays for the Romans.

And so he invites us not only to have gratitude for one another, but to pray for one another.

Yes, other churches, established churches, new churches, but also one another in this congregation.

God invites us to partner with him through prayer.

God loves to work in and through the lives and prayers of his people.

Prayer is one of those things that, I mean, at least for me, a highly educated Christian, I can, my theology can get in my head.

Why does, why do I need to pray?

God's gonna do what he's gonna do.

Is he not gonna do it if I don't pray?

No, he doesn't need me.

But when we look in scripture, again and again, we see God may not need our prayers, but he deeply wants our prayers.

At Paul's own conversion, right?

He's going about uh persecuting the church and seeking out these Jewish new Christian believers.

And Jesus meets him along the road and he strikes him blind.

And then Paul goes into the city and he's kind of hunkered down, he doesn't fully understand what's happened.

And Jesus, who confronted Paul personally, spoke directly to Paul.

Now he sends a man named Ananias to go pray for Paul and to lay hands on Paul and to give him instructions.

Now the ascended, seated Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father, could have done all this apart from involving human beings.

But here and throughout the scriptures, God loves to involve his people in what he's doing.

And so what a gift! This is what it means to be part of the body of Christ is that we get to be part of what God is doing in the lives of one another.

So join a small group, uh shameless plug.

Or talk to each other out there over coffee, get to know what's going on in each other's lives, hopes and fears and struggles, and pray for one another.

This is what it means to be part of the body of Christ.

All right, let's keep going.

Paul says, For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you.

That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

Point three, Paul embodies the incarnational love of the Father through humility.

Paul tells this Roman church, guys, I long to see you.

I have the Father's heart of love and longing for you.

And when I come, I want to bring you a gift, a gift of blessing, a gift of hospitality to show you the love that I have for you.

Now, many scholars think that that gift is actually the content of this letter.

With this divided church and Paul's deep understanding of what God is doing, especially at this time of the writing of Romans, of how God is working through both the Jews and the Gentiles, it would be an incredible gift to them to come have him preach and teach and strengthen the church in Rome.

But notice that mid-sentence, he basically stops and corrects himself.

Not only can I come and uh encourage you, Romans, but I want to come to you because you can encourage and be a gift to me.

This is incredibly humble.

Paul is an apostle, he's one of the most highly educated Jews that there is.

He's been given a task to evangelize his whole known world, and yet he knows that these mostly untaught Roman Christians can encourage and bless him.

Why?

Because they too have the Holy Spirit.

And so, beloved, how are we humbly coming to one another in the body of Christ?

What he's saying here in this verse is a hint at what he will unpack in chapter 12 when he says this.

For by gra the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly than he ought to think.

For as in one body there are many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

This is the analogy Paul loves to give for the church, the body of Christ.

Some of you are hands, some of you are ears, some of you are eyes, and some of you are little toes.

All necessary and all a gift to the other.

He'll say in another place, the eye can't say to the ear, I don't need you.

We're not a full body apart from one another.

And so we need one another, beloved.

This is why we come to church.

This is why we have a church home.

Let us not be consumers of spiritual goods, but rather members, body parts of the community of faith.

You see, God has intentionally gifted each and every one of you uniquely with something that this community needs.

But he has also specifically, intentionally, not gifted you with certain things that he has given to someone else.

Because not only are you needed, but you need this community.

And that's true for every one of us.

And so some more reflection questions.

In what ways have you withheld your gifts from the community of faith?

In what ways have you held yourselves back from receiving the gifts of this community?

And where might Jesus be calling you to greater humility, the humility of interdependence in the body of Christ.

Okay.

Our fourth and final point.

Paul writes, I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.

I am under gobbl obligation, both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish.

So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Paul embodies the missional heart of the Father through evangelism.

Paul says he wants to come to them to reap a harvest among them.

He says that he's under obligation to Greeks and barbarians, the wise and the foolish.

Basically, these are this is everybody, that Jesus has given him charge.

And so he's obligated.

He longs, he loves to preach the gospel because he understands that it is through the Jews that God's redeeming, saving, gracious message now comes to the whole world.

Paul has been overtaken by the heart of the Father who loves not just the sons and daughters of Abraham, but the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.

The Jews were not simply chosen by God, but they were chosen to be his vessel.

And that same missional heart of the Father exists today and includes Redeemer, Christ the Redeemer, Church of Marietta.

It remains intact until the fullness of the Gentiles are brought in.

Paul will write in Romans chapter 11.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

God's heart is that everyone everywhere will hear and receive the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and come in, receive full redemption, adoption.

And beloved, again, Redeemer is part of this mission.

Now, we are not all called to be evangelists.

Collective sigh.

The application is not for all of you to leave here and find one person and share the gospel with them and make sure they come to church next week.

Amen.

But maybe it is for some of you.

Maybe you would love to strike up a conversation with a neighbor, get to know what's going on in their lives, and prayerfully seek an opportunity to talk about Jesus or invite them to church.

But some of you have been gifted with an incredible heart of welcome.

And just being reminded that Redeemer is part of God's missional work in the world reminds you that, okay, I can keep my eyes open, find a stranger, find someone visiting the church, or someone I just don't know, and I'll go and offer them a firm handshake and a warm smile.

And maybe it's just loving others in Redeemer, in the Redeemer community well.

Beloved, what are your gifts and how might they be used in harmony with the missional heart of the Father?

Again, we're not all called to be evangelists.

We're not all called to go to Eastern Europe and be missionaries and be lonely.

But we are all called to be part of God's missional work here in Marietta as long as we are part of this church.

And I love the way Christine Pohl puts it.

She says, This the character of our shared lives as congregations, communities, and families has the power to draw people to the kingdom or to push them away.

How we live together is the most persuasive sermon we will ever get to preach.

Jesus said, They will know you by your love.

Beloved, did you know, have you forgotten, or were you never told that the way you treat one another, the way we live together in community, is a gospel message, one that we can all participate in and we all have a part to play.

In these few verses, we've seen Paul embody the heart of the Father for these Gentile believers who don't quite see how they fit in.

And he loves, he loves them though he's never met them, and he is modeling for us how we can overcome grumbling and division within the body, our own unique body of Christ.

And the heart and foundation of all this flows from the fact that Paul's own heart was overcome by the love of the Father, and the same is true for us.

We love because he first loved us.

And so let us be overwhelmed by the love and the missional heart of God and give ourselves and our gifts away as he calls us to.

If you have any questions about the sermon or if you would like prayer, I'll be right down front after the service.

I'd love to meet with you.

Let's pray.

Our Father and our God, uh, Lord, we thank you that we get to see your heart, your heart of welcome, your heart of humility, your heart of mission.

Thank you, Lord, that you know us.

You know our shortcomings.

Thank you that you give us your Holy Spirit.

We pray, Father, that we would be overwhelmed again by your love and drawn into your mission here in this place.

Amen.