First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world Romans 1:8
Being a Christian should be a noisy business. It is not a life to be hidden under or bushel. Our love and good works should be seen by all, not for our glory but for His.
Does anything hold you back from making some noise with your faith?
If you have missed any of our discussion through Romans, they can be found on: THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Today we are finishing up our discussion on Romans 1:7
“To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
If you have missed any of our discussions through Romans you can find them on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Yesterday we spent our time talking about God’s blessing of grace. today we are going to talk about God’s peace. The Greek word used in verse 7 for “peace” is “Eirene” and it is defined as, “the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, it fears nothing from God and is content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is.”
Paul is not promising in Romans 1:7 that the Lord is going to remove the Romans (or us) from the battles or troubles of life when He blesses them with peace. Paul is declaring that there is a blessing of peace that can settle upon the Christian in the middle of life’s worst battles. This kind of peace can possess our hearts and minds and keep us soul-quiet even while the world rages around us.
I remember one particular point in my life when the battle got so overwhelming and powerful I really should have fallen apart. I kept expecting to. I kept telling myself, “Tomorrow I will probably have a nervous break down.” But the breakdown never came. It was not because I didn’t care about what was going on. In fact I spent whole weekends shut away from the world fasting and praying over the situation. The situation never changed. I did. God gave me His peace. He let me know He would walk with me. He let me know I was still blessed even though everything around me was a curse.
The key to walking in the blessing of peace is to keep your eyes on Jesus and off the world. Isaiah taught this in chapter 26 of his book when he stated, “You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isa. 26:3
So on a scale of 1-10 how strong is your sense of peace? What do you have to take your eyes off of so they can refocus on Jesus to bring that number up even one point?
Today as we walk through Romans we are talking once again about the power of Grace. If you have missed any of our discussions on the Book of Romans you can catch up on THE ROAD THROUHG ROMANS PAGE.
Yesterday we spoke about the Christian’s calling to a holy and separate life. The oft asked question is “how is holiness to be achieved by the ordinary person who cannot withdraw from the world into a monastery or some cave in the mountain heights?”
Let me start by saying that I don’t think God calls many people to the monastic life or the life of a hermit. Holiness or separation is not something you need to come out of the world physically to achieve. Holiness was meant to be achieved by every Christian not just full time clergy or cloistered brothers and sisters. As Christians we are to be in the world just not of it. The way we achieve that is through two gifts Paul continually blesses his audiences with: Grace and Peace.
He blesses the Roman Church with these in verse 7 of chapter 1 “Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Both grace and peace are gifts that come from God. We cannot earn them nor can we create them by our own power. Grace- charis is composed of two parts.
First, it is favor that comes to us even though we don’t deserve it. God likes you best and He likes me best too and there is nothing we can do about that. God always wants the best for us. God is always pulling for us and never comes to a point where He desires to dessert us. Even when He judges us or disciplines us it is in the hope that He will be able to get us back on the right track.
The second part of grace is the power to help us do those things we are too weak to do ourselves. God calls us to lives of supernatural achievement. He calls us to lives that can only be lived if He invades us with power to do things we cannot do ourselves. Don’t be surprised that the thing God requires of you is too hard for you to do. If it wasn’t bigger than you, too hard for you or in the realm of the impossible you wouldn’t need grace.
We cannot live without God’s favor or His power. We need His grace and we need to apply it to our practical situations. So let me asked where do you need to pray God’s grace to help you today?
Today we continue our discussion through the Book of Romans. We are currently in verse seven, but if you have missed any of our previous discussions you can catch them on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Today we are continuing to discuss Paul’s audience. Paul says his audience is, “all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:” Ro. 1:7
Because this book is included in the canon of Scripture it also means we are the audience of this book. It was written for the Roman church going through a particular set of circumstances, but the teaching which was directed to their specific circumstances can also be applied to our general Christian lives. Therefore “all in Rome” also applies to you and me. As the old saying goes, “When in Rome…”
Paul begins by reminding his audience that they are loved by God. He also states that as Christians we are called to live holy lives. The word “holy” means “separated”, “different”, “dedicated”. Our lives are to be separate or different from the world. Our lives are to be dedicated to obeying God.
I recently had an individual come to me feeling like they were “falling away from God.”
I asked the person if there was anything they were doing that was sin in God’s eyes. The person admitted there was. But when I asked this person if they were ready to repent or turn away from the sin the answer was a resounding “No!”
Well, holiness means never saying “no” to God even when your heart defies Him and wants to do what is contrary to God’s desires. Holiness means following God’s plan for your life even when the whole world is calling you in another direction.
Of course holiness is a work in progress. No one lives completely holy. Sometimes our hearts deceive us and lead us down paths that are anything but holy. It is the pursuit of holiness, the practice of holiness and not sinless perfection that we are called to here.
Separation and dedication are mindsets that begin to create a condition of ever increasing righteousness. As with most things in Christianity the battle of the mind has to be won before the battle for behavior can ever be addressed but once the mind is brought into submission behavior begins to change.
Before you go today, tell me some things you do to practice your holiness or dedication to God.
To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:7
We have missed a few days in our study through the book of Romans. If you missed any of our previous discussions or if you just want to refresh your memory about the things we have talked about you can find all the posts in this series on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Up until now we have been talking about Paul the author of the Book of Romans and his calling (and by extension our own callings).
Today we turn our attention to Paul’s audience, the recipients of this letter, the Romans.
Paul says they are, loved by God and called to be his holy people:
You know I am sure this was news to the Jewish believers of the time. Jewish men used to thank God daily that they were not Gentiles because they considered the Gentiles (everyone who was not Jewish) an abandoned people, a people rejected by God.
But here Paul says the people of Rome, a primarily Gentile people and for the most part pagan, are loved by God. He goes further to say that God is calling the people of Rome out of their paganism into a holy life, a life separated unto God.
No matter who we are or where we come from God is calling us into His love. The only questions is will we answer the call.
Are you hearing His call today? What are you prepared to do about it?
We are moving through the book of Romans a verse at a time and today we come to verse 6 of chapter 1. If you have missed any of our previous discussion they can be found on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Romans 1:6 reads,
And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
I don’t know what growing up for you was like. My experience was echoed in the movie Diary Of a Wimpy Kid. Only for me there never really was that moment where I exploded onto the hero’s stage. I was just a wimpy kid. I was the overweight guy, who got good grades, played flute in the band and got picked last in every gym class line up (not even kidding there).
One time in volley ball I got placed on the team and was told “if the ball comes to you just step out of the way. We don’t want you to foul up our game.”
I left the game and sat on the sidelines and that seemed to make everyone happy. I immersed myself in a book and went to that place all misfits go to when they are hurt, the imagination.
I share that to relay to you one of the reasons I am a Christian today. Like many others I know I found it hard to fit in to a world that valued certain attributes I didn’t have and downplayed other attributes I did have. When I came to Christ I found a place to belong. I found Someone who accepted me for who I was and what I could do and who actually valued it. More than that He told me that He was the One who made me this way and that I was CALLED TO BELONG TO HIM AND USE MY GIFTS FOR HIM.
Maybe I don’t fit in with the world. Maybe I don’t even fit in with most of the church. That is OK because I fit in with Jesus and He likes me just fine. I have discovered that, I can serve the world in the church on the basis of His acceptance. I don’t need any body else’s.
How has belonging to Christ healed your self-perception?
Our discussion through Romans is going strong. Kim just joined in and has caught up. You can too by going to THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Today we are finishing up with verse 5 in chapter 1. It reads:
Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. Ro. 1:5
Belief in our society had become a passive thing. We believe in lots of things, that is we give mental assent to lots of things. We believe in freedom of speech. We believe in the right to bear arms. We believe in the red, white and blue. We believe in apple pie, mom and we believe in Jesus!
But biblical faith or belief isn’t just mental assent to the reality of something. James says it this way, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” James 2:18,19
Paul tells us that faith (real faith) creates an obedience, a willingness to support and fight for the things we have faith in. How much you actually believe in Jesus is displayed by how well you live for Him. Strong faith creates right living. Weak faith creates careless living.
What mindsets, in our culture, does the teaching about “obedience that comes from faith” confront?
Yesterday we began talking about what it is that Christians receive from their Christianity. We receive grace but there is something else too.
Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. Ro. 1:5
We receive “apostleship”…a commission…a send off…a release or permission to go and do the things Jesus did.
Did you get that?!?
We don’t need permission to do the things Jesus did. We don’t have to beg Him to do miracles in and through us. We don’t have to pray unceasingly for supernatural power or ability to be better witnesses.
We can fully expect miracles to take place in and around us. We can expect that people around us will start coming to Christ and becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus… because we have been sent off to be miraculous people so the gospel will be proven when we speak.
The only reason this doesn’t happen is because we don’t expect it to. We don’t take hold of it intentionally (which as we said in an earlier post is what receiving really is. If you missed that post find it HERE) . Apostleship is the natural position of every Christian (not being an apostle but being apostle-like).
So have you taken hold of your apostleship? What does that look like?
Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. Ro. 1:5
Yesterday we talked about “receiving” as “intentionally taking hold of something”. If you missed the convo you can find it on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Today I want to begin a dialogue about what it is we have actually “taken hold of.”
We have received or taken hold of grace. In other words we have intentionally taken hold of or come into possession of the charis of God, the unmerited good will, loving-kindness, and favor of God.
What does grace accomplish in our lives?
Romans 1:5 reads,”Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.”
You know so many people view Christianity as an inherited religion. They believe they are Christians because their mother or their father was a Christian, or because their “Gramma was Catholic”.
THAT IS SO WRONG!
Christianity is not an inherited trait! It is a conscious decision. You don’t catch Christianity by being in close proximity to other Christians, like you catch a cold. You don’t get Christianity from your parents like you got your blue eyes or curly hair. Christianity is a personal decision to receive the promises of God through Jesus Christ’s work on the cross and in the resurrection.
Paul says “Through him we received”. Now that translation may be a little deceiving, because in our culture we consider receiving something as a passive activity. We receive the mail and we receive gifts. We don’t do anything to earn the mail. It just shows up in our mailbox. We don’t do anything to receive a Christmas present. We wake up Christmas morning and it is under the tree.
Well in one sense that is what Paul meant when he said “we received”, but the word in the Greek has a deeper meaning. Receiving as Paul meant it was an active verb not a passive word. The word is “lambanō” and it means, “to take with the hand, lay hold of, any person or thing in order to use it”.
Jerry Harris, one of the elders in our church likes to teach it this way, “You can receive a gift but before it really becomes yours you have to open it up.”
I would go a step further and say if a gift is really to become yours you have to use it for its intended purpose. It’s like this. Let’s say you get a new shirt at Christmas. Even if you unwrap it, and then take it out of the box, if you then hang it in your closet never to be worn is that shirt really yours?
This is what many people are doing with their Christianity. They were there when it was offered. They accepted the gift. But then they took it and hid it away never to be seen except on special occasions. They are like the servant who received one talent in the parable Jesus told.
“Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’
26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Ma. 25:24-30
Can I encourage you, if your Christianity is in the closet today take it out, dust it off and start living it in real time. Anything else is a big waste of faith.
If you have missed any of our discussions on the Book of Romans they can be found on THE ROAD THROUGH ROMANS PAGE.
Lillie-Put 