Romans 16:17-27

In 2018, The New York Times published an article titled, “Scott Hamilton Was Demoted as an Olympic Broadcaster. Don’t Feel Sorry for Him.”  Throughout the 80’s, all that Hamilton knew was winning.  In 1981, Hamilton won the National and World Figure Skating Championships and then won his first gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.  After a long career as a figure skater, Hamilton was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.   

When asked during an interview by the Times about his demotion as an NBC figure skating analyst how he was taking the demotion in light of his past successes, Hamilton reflected that change is an inevitable part of life.  It wasn’t just change that Hamilton was familiar with, he was also very aware of the brevity of his own life after facing Stage 4 testicular cancer followed by three brain tumors… one of those tumors he is still living with today.  In light of his past successes, failures, and his present suffering, Hamilton said something that was not included in the interview but has afforded him the ability to understand his demotion with the right perspective: “I understand that through a strong relationship with Jesus you can endure anything… God is there to guide you through the tough spots. God was there every single time, every single time.” 

Hamilton said something else that was included in the article that I think is interesting, especially in light of what he said about his faith in other interviews.  Here is what he said about the secret to his success: “I calculated once how many times I fell during my skating career — 41,600 times, but here’s the funny thing: I got up 41,600 times. That’s the muscle you have to build in your psyche — the one that reminds you to just get up.”

By the time Paul wrote his letter to the Christians gathered in Rome, he too had experienced his share of successes and suffering; in his letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote: “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7–8, NIV).  For Paul, the gospel of Jesus Christ was everything.  In his second letter to the Corinthian Christians, he described the kind of suffering he faithfully endured while carrying out his mission to tell others about Jesus:

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (2 Corinthians 11:24–30)

What he wrote to the Philippian and Corinthian Christians, he wrote before his letter to the Romans, which makes his opening remarks in the epistle even more poignant: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” 

The first and last chapters in Romans serve as bookends in what many consider the apostle’s Mangum Opus.  In chapter one, Paul stated that the reason he was not ashamed of the Gospel was due to its power to transform lives and in Romans 16:17-27 he warns against the forces that threaten it and our only hope in keeping it. 

Keep Watch Over the Gospel

What is the Gospel?  The gospel is the good news that I

Romans 15:1-13

Sin vandalizes peace.  This is what we are seeing in our nation and in our world.  I read a quote from Voddie Baucham that gets to the heart of the real issue we are experiencing in our country, Baucham said the following: “We are not seeing terrible things in our culture because we vote the wrong way, we are seeing terrible things in our culture because men love darkness rather than light.”  Think about that quote for a minute.  In one of the best treatments on sin, besides the Bible, is Cornelius Plantinga’s book, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin.”  About halfway through his book, Plantinga wrote the following about the world we live in:

The biggest biblical idea about sin, expressed in a riot of images and terms, is that sin is an anomaly, an intruder, a notorious gate-crasher.  Sin does not belong in God’s world, but somehow it has gotten in.  In fact, sin has dug in, and like a tick, burrows deeper when we try to remove it.  The stubborn and persistent feature of human sin can make it look as if it has a life of its own, as if it were an independent power or even a kind of person…. 

The reason is that sin is a parasite, an uninvited guest that keeps tapping its host for sustenance.  Nothing about sin is its own; all its power, persistence, and plausibility are stolen goods.  Sin is not really an entity but a spoiler of entities, not an organism but a leech on organisms.  Sin does not build shalom; it vandalizes it.  In a metaphysical perspective, evil offers no true alternative to good…. Good is original, independent, and constructive; evil is derivative, dependent, and destructive.  To be successful, evil needs what it hijacks from goodness”[1]

I told you some time ago that the reason I have redundantly included COVID-19 in every sermon title in this sermon series on Romans is because COVID-19 reminds me, in a metaphorical sense, of the kind of world we live in.  It feels like a tick that burrows deeper and deeper every time you try to remove it.  Sin is more than a tick; it is a parasite whose only hope of survival is to tap into what is good to rob it of life and to replace it with something perverted and dead.  We are seeing this happen before our very eyes because things are not the way they are supposed to be because men love the darkness rather than light. 

I am going to tell you something that you already know: What we are seeing today is the same thing every generation has witnessed since Cain murdered his brother Abel; the only difference is the dress.  Don’t you think that the Christians in Rome were experiencing the same type of anxiety, fear, and sadness that comes when you live in a world that is vandalized by seven bullets in a black man’s back and the ashes left in the wake of those who, while claiming that black lives matter, overwhelm and tear down communities with violence.  Everything in us screams: “OUR WORLD IS NOT THE WAY IT SHOULD BE!”

The Apostle Paul answers three questions in Romans 15:1-13 for why we of all people can live and respond to our world with hope.  The three questions Paul answers in light of who we are as Christians are the following: 1. How are we to live differently?  2. Why should we live differently? 3. What assurance do we have for living differently?  I want to explore each of those questions with you this morning.

How are We to Live Differently?

Last week when we looked at Romans 14, I said that when we are humble we are freer to love one another.  The apostle Paul picks up on what he said earlier, but this time lumps himself in with the strong: “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”  I said last week that the “weak” were not necessarily Christians who were new to their faith but those whose conscience was bothered by certain things that the “strong” were not bothered by.  The weak are Christians whose consciences are bothered by things that are not for

Romans 14:1-18

I read an article the other day titled, Too Many Pastors are falling on their own Swords, which was published just this past week.  I want to read to you a portion of it not because I am your pastor, but because of what it says.

I was on a Zoom call recently with 10 pastors across three denominations, when one of the participants shared a struggle with suicidal thoughts in these challenging days. By the time the meeting concluded, four of the 10 had found the courage to admit their own suicidal ideations.  I was the youngest person in the group, so these aren’t young, green pastors. These are veterans who have gone through plenty of difficult things in their time, but today’s intensity and difficulty is unprecedented.

One pastor shared the heartbreaking story of going back to church too early and losing a beloved church member to COVID-19. Another shared how congregants were daily emailing him with threats to leave the church if they didn’t reopen immediately — and withholding their tithes until then….

I know of another pastor who wasn’t in this meeting who after preaching about race one week, a congregant came to the church office and kicked his office door off of its hinges in an attempt to incite the pastor into a fistfight.

One shared that the survey results the congregation took about whether they should return to in-person worship or not resulted in a nearly perfect 50/50 split, with several members writing in the comments section that they would leave if the church (1) didn’t open immediately or (2) attempted to open at all.

Leading anxious congregations amidst a pandemic, a hyper-partisan culture, a civil rights movement, and an upcoming election is destroying the lives of our pastors. Literally.

Meadowbrooke is not this way… but I do know that what many pastors are feeling is real; in another church I experienced first hand Christians at their worst. 

I believe that the topic the article is addressing is symptomatic of a systemic problem in the Church. The problem is our own pride. 

We Are More Judgmental When We are Less Humble

What Paul was addressing in these verses is the tendency we all have to make little things into really big things.

The weak is not immature Christians who pride themselves on the things that they do not do, and the same is true of the strong whose conscience is not bothered by where their meat came from or whether what they are drinking has alcohol in it. 

Look at verses 5-6, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.” (Romans 14:5–6).

So the weak is the person who esteems certain days or things as better than other days or things (share examples).

The issue Paul is addressing is not what bothers or does not bother a Christian’s conscience, but how their choice to abstain or indulge in certain things affects the way they treat those in the church who do not feel the same way as they do. 

I love what one person said about the little things we tend to make into big things:

Wide disagreements exist today in our churches over certain practices. A Christian from the South may be repelled by a swimming party for both men and women, then offend his Northern brother by lighting up a cigarette. At an international conclave for missionaries, a woman from the Orient could not wear sandals with a clear conscience. A Christian from western Canada thought it worldly for a Christian acquaintance to wear a wedding ring, and a woman from Europe thought it almost immoral for a wife not to wear a ring that signaled her status. A man from Denmark was pained to even watch British Bible school students play football, while the British stu

Romans 13:8-14

The average person lives 78 years, which is a total of 28,488 days.  Of our 28,488 days, we sleep 8,541 of our 28,488 days away leaving us with only 19,947 days on earth awake.  So, how does the average person use his/her average number of days on earth?

 5,300 days are consumed watching TV and/or playing video games. 3,988 days are consumed with work.1,305 days are spent with training and education to make you a better employee1,460 days are spent with housework416 days are spent in the bathroom325 days getting dressed.150 days are spent looking for things we lost.25 days a year on social media.23 days a year are spent on our cell phones, which will only increase over time.Seventy-eight years (28,470 days) may sound like a lot of time, but…We are only left with about 5,000 days on this planet to make a difference. 

When you consider just how many days we do have, the prayer of the Psalmist makes a whole lot more sense: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). 

In the epistle of James, we are admonished: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.  What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15).

There are three ways you can live your life. 

You can continue living out your years with little thought about what happens after the last of your days comes to an end. A second option that is perhaps more relevant to 2020 is that you can avoid every possible danger by staying home with as little interaction with people and the outside world as safely possible

Video of the 2013 parody music video titled YOLOThe song begins with what seems to be less parody today than it was in 2013:“YOLO, you only live onceThe battle cry of a generationThis life is a precious giftSo don’t get too crazyIt’s not worth the risk” (see music video).

The third way to live your life is what is expected of the Christian in light of who we are as citizens of a different kingdom. 

Romans 13:1-7 reminds us that while on earth, we must do three things. 

First, we need to give proper respect to those in authority over us that is due recognizing that God has given the sword of judgment to the government, and not the Church, to suppress the evil that we humans are capable of. 

Second, we must live out our days understanding that, “The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will” (Dan. 5:21), and that when we are forced into civil disobedience, we must do so respectfully, honorably, and charitably.   

Third, as we live out our lives on earth, we must never forget that we have a responsibility to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what belongs to God (Matt. 12:13-17). 

The Only Debt The Christian Owes is the Debt to Love

As we live out our days on this planet, we are told to live by the following principle: “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed” (v. 7). 

We are to live this way so that the only debt that we are left to pay is the one that never ends: Love. 

Jesus said that the two greatest commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and fist commandment.  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matt. 22:34-40).

Think about the reality of who you are in light of what Paul wrote in Romans concerning what God has done for you through his Son Jesus:

In Jesus, I am experiencing the power of God through the gospel (Romans 1:16-17)In Jesus, I am justified freely by His grace (Rom. 3:24)In

Romans 13:1-7

By the time Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, it was around AD 56-57.  He most likely had already experienced his first of several imprisonments by the time he wrote his letter, and he certainly had experienced his share of harassment and physical abuse at the hands of people in authority.  During his lifetime as an Apostle, Paul had experienced the reign of three Roman Emperors, of whom none were friends of the Church; and of which two of the three Emperors were murdered. The most ruthless of the three emperors was Nero, who died by suicide, but not before Paul was sentenced to death by beheading sometime in AD 64-65. 

In Paul’s day, Christians and Jews were considered atheist because they claimed to worship only one God, unlike the hundreds of deities worshiped in the Empire.  Christians were accused of cannibalism because it was rumored that they ate human flesh and drank human blood during their sacred meetings, which is an obvious mischaracterization of communion.  Christians were accused of incest because they referred to each other as brother or sister, even those who were married to each other. 

Christians were often beaten and murdered with little protection from the law.  In fact, it was common for Christians to be tortured, imprisoned, sentenced to death, and eventually forced to participate in the colosseum where they faced animals and gladiators.  To be a Christian in the first century was often a death sentence, yet Paul wrote Romans 13:1-7 to Christians on how they were to respond to the laws of their government.

The Christian Response to Government (v. 1-2)

There are three major institutions that have been established by God. The first is the family, the second is the Church, and the third is human government.  In many ways the family is a microcosm of both the Church and human government, for it is in the family where spiritual formation and worship begins; as well as the place where authority and discipline are experienced, modeled, and taught first to our children.  The family is where a child ought to learn what it means to follow Jesus and how he/she can be a contributing and healthy member of society.  Just as the Church was not invented by mankind so it is true that government was not invented by mankind either. 

The Church’s role in the world is to serve as the priest of God in that we speak on behalf of God and we represent God to those who do not yet know or worship him; this is called special grace. Special grace is all things related to one’s eternal salvation.  The Church’s mission is redemptive by making disciples of all nations.  The government’s role is different.  Human government is designed by God for the well-being of everyone; this is called common grace.  The primary role of government is to maintain order and justice in a world under the curse of sin (more on this later).  Even the worst of Governments, no matter how tyrannical, serve to provide some sense of order and justice. 

Anytime it is assumed that mankind is inherently good or can become better without God, it has always gone from bad to worse.  We are seeing examples of this very thing in Portland and Minneapolis.  The reason Romans 13:1-7 is relevant is because Romans 3:10 is true: “None is righteous, no, not one.”  This is why Paul wrote what he wrote: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (Rom. 13:1-2).

“Let every person…” is not a suggestion but is written in the imperative; it is a command.  Why must we be subject to the governing authorities?  Because it has been instituted by God.  So Paul continues: “Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”  If you violate the laws that are suppos

John 2:22-3:17

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Ephesians 4:1-3

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Romans 12:1-2

Do you know what the number one complaint among millennials is according to Tess Brigham, a millennial therapist?  After more than five years of meeting with patients between the ages of 23 and 38, the reason most of them keep coming back for help is because they said: “I have too many choices and I can’t decide what to do.” The fear that brought them into Brigham’s practice had to do with making the wrong choice.  Brigham has diagnosed this phenomena as “Decision Fatigue.”

My guess is that you have experienced some level of decision fatigue, as I have during certain seasons of life.  Maybe you experienced it while searching for a new job or the stress that comes in deciding what job offer to accept.  Maybe you experienced decision fatigue while shopping for a house.  Maybe you are experiencing decision fatigue right now while trying to figure out what is false, what is true, and what is noble in our world right now.  Maybe you are asking the very real question: What should I do, what can I do, or what must I do right now? 

When the Apostle Paul wrote Romans, he wrote it during a time when the government was corrupt and seemed fragile.  Also, when this epistle was written, there was rampant sexual immorality everywhere, justice was hoped for but rarely experienced, and the life of a human being was not valued much at all.  The only real difference between the world of Paul’s day and the world of our day is the dress: same problems, but different dress.  Romans 12:1-2 is Paul’s antidote for how to live your life and how to know the will of God for your life. 

Live Sacrificially 

Paul begins: “I appeal to you therefore…”. What the apostle is about to say in chapter 12 was written in light of chapters 1-11.  Romans 12 is the antithesis of Romans 1.    What does Romans 1 say?  For starters, it states the following about our world, and what we see reported through the media: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (v. 18).  Paul continues to observe that even though the evidence of God’s existence is all around us, most people continue to ignore him; Paul, in his own words, writes: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools…” (vv. 21-22).  So what did God do, and what is he doing today?  In Romans 1:26, Paul tells us: “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.”  That was Paul’s world and it is also our world today.  Listen to how Paul concludes the first chapter regarding the evil, idolatry, and gross immorality of our world: “…they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (v. 32b).

But not you Christian!  You have been called by the living God out of the world.  Even though you were unrighteous, Jesus died for your sins to provide you with his righteousness (Romans 3). When you were an enemy of God, he loved you anyway and sent his Son to die for the purpose of reconciling you (Ch. 5-6).  When you were far off, God called you, predestined you, justified you, and will one day glorify you, and in doing all of that you can know that nothing will ever be able to separate you from his love and faithfulness (Ch. 8-9).  You who were not considered the people of God, are now the people of God; you who were once not beloved by God, are now loved by him; you who were once a child of his wrath, are now sons and daughters of the living God (Ch. 10).

In light of everything Paul wrote in Romans 1-11 that is true of the Christian today, we are to live differently because we are no longer dead, but alive to Christ.  So, in light of the mercy you have experienced by the God who had every right to pour out his wrath upon you, Paul wrote: “present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God” (12:1).  Worship, since t

Romans 11:25-36

There is a lot of talk about being “woke” today.  To be “woke” is to be “aware of and actively attentive to import facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).[1] The phrase “stay woke” describes a state of being self-aware while questioning the dominant paradigm while striving for something better.  I believe that the phrase “stay woke” is gaining popularity today not only because of the death of George Floyd, but because at the core of our being, we know that something is very wrong with the world we live in.  To look at the issues in our world, especially issues related to racial and social justice, without knowing the deeper reasons why such issues still exist, is to still be asleep.  The belief that painting a phrase on the road will help fix a problem that is much deeper than ignorance and prejudice is to be far from being woke. 

Do not misunderstand me, I believe that we need laws, that we need better laws, and that we need to continue reforming some of the bad legislation we still have in our nation.  However, what we learn from the Bible, what we ought to learn from our own experiences, and what I hope you have been able to see during our time in Romans, is that laws cannot fix the real source of our problem.  Racial problems, the failure of justice, murder, crime, and every other problem has to do with the problem with the human heart.  What we learn from the Bible about our own selves is simply this: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it” (Jer. 17:9)?

As you know, the title of this sermon series is, “Following Jesus in a COVID-19 World.”  Did you know that viruses are not considered living organisms?  In fact, viruses are more like zombies than anything else currently on planet earth. The closest thing that you will ever come to experiencing a zombie apocalypse is what happens inside your body when infected by a virus.  The oversimplified explanation of what happens, is that the virus attaches itself to a living cell, inserts itself into the cell, then replicates itself until the cell dies and then releases more of the virus to do the same to other living cells.  If we are all born spiritually dead in this world, then on some level, we are like spiritual zombies.  The only cure for our problem is the gospel of Jesus Christ; this is why Paul began his letter to the Romans with these words: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).

The evidence of being made alive spiritually, is love.  What kind of love?  A genuine love for our Creator and a love for those who are created in his image.  The evidence that you have been spiritually “woke” is found in Romans 12:9, “Let love be genuine.  Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” 

Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said, “Every ant knows the formula of its ant-hill, every bee knows the formula of its beehive.  They know it in their own way, not in our way.  Only humankind does not know its formula.”  The formula we were made for is a relationship with God that overflows into a love for our neighbor.  There is no room for bigotry or hatred for another human being if you have been made spiritually alive to God through faith in Jesus.  This is why the Bible claims the following: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.  Whoever does not love abides in death” (1 John 3:14). 

There is only one being who can wake us up from spiritual death, and that being is God.  Until you are spiritually woke, you cannot love God or love your neighbor as you ought.  I say that because you cannot love God if you do not know him, nor can you know the kind of love for your neighbor that is only possible if you fully appreciate that person as being created in the image of God.  God is in the business of resurrecting the dead and you are living proof

Romans 11:1-24

Nationalism, according to Anthony Smith, is the “ideological movement for attaining and maintaining autonomy, unity and identity for a population which some of its members deem to constitute an actual or potential ‘nation.’”  A person’s “national identity” flows from his or her sense of belonging to a state or nation.  One’s national identity flows out of language, cuisine, and skin color.  The positive expression of a person’s national identity is patriotism where a person’s national and civic identities are celebrated.  Nationalism gives birth to one’s national identity, but one’s national identity, while remaining a product of nationalism, can take on its own personality. 

When America was attacked on December 7, 1941 the national identity of the United States became a common bond.  After the attack on 9/11 we had a shortage of American flags because every person wanted one to display on their cars or outside of their home as an act of unity under one banner as Americans.  The creed of American Nationalism is found in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.  

Throughout our history, when there seemed to be a conflict between our national creed and the laws or behavior of those who were charged with upholding our laws, Americans either went to war over it (i.e. the Civil War), or protested against the injustices that threatened our national creed (i.e. Martin Luther King Jr.), or turned to violent means to force a particular ideal of a certain segment or community within our nation (i.e. the KKK, domestic terrorism, etc.).  Today it almost seems that our nation is suffering from dueling national identities that makes our nation look schizophrenic.  I think that happens when the people of a nation worship the creed of that nation while ignoring the Creator who, according to the Bible: “He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away” (Job 12:23).

There is only one nation in the history of mankind that God has sworn his faithfulness to, and that nation is Israel.  Think about that for a moment.  This does not mean that regardless of Israel’s religious views, God will turn a blind eye from their lack of faith in Jesus for the purpose of saving them as a nation.  Paul makes it very clear that regarding his covenant promise to Israel as a geographical nation, it will only be those who worship him in spirit and in truth out of a dependence on Jesus as both savior and lord that they will experience the physical and spiritual prosperity Israel will enjoy nationally. 

There is coming a time when God will gather Hebrew men, women, and children who believe in Jesus as their messiah, and he will place them in a geographical place on earth known as Israel.  Here is what the prophet Isaiah says about that day: “For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob”(14:1).  Later in Isaiah, we are told what will be the spiritual climate of those Hebrew people God will lead back to the land of Israel: “Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified” (60:21).  This is what the apostle Paul writes about in