Unashamed Romans 1:1 Intro

Jul 16, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: The Servant Shakes Off the Snake

Paul was knocked to the ground on the road to Damascus. Jesus saved him and changed him into a servant. Later, as a prisoner, Paul was shipwrecked on an island. He built a fire for the cold, wet men. A poisonous snake bit his hand. Paul simply shook it off into the flames and kept serving.

Paul served because he knew how bad he was and how good Jesus is. His past failure fueled his present service. He found a purpose that transcended his pain and problems. They were shaken off like the snake, meaningless next to his mission.

Many of us let our past failures or present pains stop us. We believe the lie that we are too broken to be useful. Hear Jesus’s call to serve as Paul did. Your purpose is greater than your problems. What pain or failure are you allowing to keep you from serving today?

“For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.”
(1 Corinthians 15:9–10, ESV)

Prayer: Ask God to show you one specific way you can serve someone else today, just as Paul served the shipwrecked men.

Challenge: Identify one practical need in your home or workplace and meet it without being asked.

Day 2: Big Sinners, Brilliant Lovers

Jesus ate a meal with important religious leaders. A woman known as a sinner entered the room. She wept at Jesus’s feet, wiped them with her hair, and anointed them with expensive perfume. The host was scandalized. He thought a true prophet would never let such a woman touch him.

Jesus knew the man’s thoughts. He told a story about two debtors, one who owed little and one who owed much. Both debts were canceled. Jesus asked which debtor would love the moneylender more. He then applied this to the woman. Her many sins were forgiven, so she loved much.

Your capacity to love God is directly tied to your understanding of how much you have been forgiven. A small view of your sin leads to a small, complacent love. A large view of God’s grace leads to a brilliant, extravagant love. Do you love God little, or do you love Him much?

“Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
(Luke 7:47, ESV)

Prayer: Confess one specific sin to God and thank Him for the complete forgiveness He offers you in Christ.

Challenge: Write down the words “forgiven much” on a notecard and place it where you will see it throughout your day.

Day 3: God’s Disposition Toward You

We often believe God has turned His back on us because of our sin. This is bad doctrine. From the beginning, God has pursued sinners. Adam and Eve hid, but God came back for them. Cain killed Abel, but God came back for Cain. Jacob was a liar, but God came back for Jacob.

This pursuit culminated in Jesus. God became a man to eat with sinners and pull them into His holiness. He welcomed the woman at the well, the tax collector in the tree, and the woman caught in adultery. On the cross, He absorbed the violence of our sin and revealed the Father’s heart by forgiving us.

God’s disposition toward you is not one of turned-back rejection. It is one of open-armed reconciliation. He is not waiting for you to clean yourself up before you can come home. He is running toward you now. Where do you see the evidence of God’s pursuit in your own story?

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…”
(2 Corinthians 5:18–19, ESV)

Prayer: Thank God that He does not count your trespasses against you because of Christ’s work.

Challenge: Call or text one person and tell them one way you have seen God’s kindness in your life this week.

Day 4: The Gospel is Good News

The gospel is not advice. It is not a list of rules for better living. It is not a set of complex doctrines to debate. The gospel is good news. It is the retelling of events that have happened. News is about facts, not advice.

This is the good news: King Jesus, the Lord of everything, became a man. He lived the perfect life we could not live. He defeated sin and death on the cross. He demonstrated His power by rising from the dead after three days. He now offers a right relationship with God as a gift to anyone who trusts in His work alone.

This news changes everything. You do not need to behave for God to love you. You are invited to believe that Jesus has already behaved for you. Your standing with God is based on His finished work, not your fluctuating performance. How would your day change if you operated from this news instead of advice?

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved… For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”
(1 Corinthians 15:1, 3–4, ESV)

Prayer: Ask God to make the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection feel fresh and real to you today.

Challenge: Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 aloud to yourself, emphasizing the words “died,” “buried,” and “raised.”

Day 5: Delight and Your Deepest Desire

We sometimes fear God’s calling. We imagine He will send us to a place we hate or force us into a life of misery. Paul saw his apostolic calling not as a burden, but as a joy. He was compelled by love, not coerced by fear.

God’s call matches what we most deeply crave. His design for your life aligns with the desires He has planted in your heart. When you delight yourself in the Lord, He shapes those desires and then fulfills them. Your calling is not to a generic misery but to a specific purpose you were made for.

You were designed for a mission that brings you joy and God glory. Your calling is not a punishment; it is an invitation into the life you were created to live. What is one thing you deeply enjoy that could be used to serve others and glorify God?

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
(Psalm 37:4, ESV)

Prayer: Ask God to align the desires of your heart with His good purposes for your life.

Challenge: Set aside 10 minutes to do an activity you truly delight in, and thank God for the gift of it.

Sermon Summary

Romans opens as the Bible’s most thorough doctrinal book and issues a sharp warning: bad doctrine kills. Examples of widespread Christian ignorance and folk theology demonstrate how easily truth becomes superstition—misattributed sermons, invented Bible verses, and the popular belief that God rewards self-reliance instead of calling sinners to helpless dependence. Scripture and tradition both contradict simplistic cause‑and‑effect views of suffering; Lamentations and Job expose the danger of pinning every hardship to divine punishment. Bad theology turns intimacy with God into fear, breeding a religion of performance, shame, and legalism rather than a family shaped by grace.

Paul stands at the center of the opening passage as an unlikely apostle whose conversion and ministry model the gospel’s transforming power. His past hostility toward the church and dramatic conversion on the Damascus road illustrate how the triune God pursues sinners and reorients lives toward service. Paul’s letters, his missionary journeys, and his endurance under shipwreck, snakebite, and imprisonment display a gospel‑shaped servanthood: awareness of sin produces a relentless impulse to serve, not to hide. The New Testament pattern of Jesus eating with outcasts and forgiving sinners reframes holiness as restorative engagement, not exclusionary purity.

The gospel itself receives clear definition: the triune God became flesh in Christ, united full deity and true humanity, defeated sin and death through atoning death and resurrection, and now offers sonship and daughter‑ship as a gift received by faith alone. The gospel is not an ethical handbook, political program, or doctrinal fine print; it is a recounting of historical events that rewrites identity and restores relationship with the Father through the Spirit. The chair illustration emphasizes God’s persistent, reconciling posture—God repeatedly turns back toward humanity, culminating in Christ’s atonement and indwelling presence. Romans promises corrective theology: honest study will dismantle fearful religion, reframe God’s disposition toward sinners, and shape lives marked by joy, service, and belonging in the household of God.

Key Takeaways

1. Sound doctrine has life-and-death consequences Sound teaching shapes how people live, suffer, and serve. Misbeliefs about God produce patterns of fear, shame, and harmful behavior that affect real bodies and communities. Correct doctrine frees imagination to see suffering through covenantal and redemptive lenses rather than as divine caprice. Choosing theological truth is therefore a moral and pastoral act that safeguards souls.
2. Grace replaces fear-driven, works-based religion The gospel removes the need to earn God’s favor by performance. When righteousness is understood as imputed, not achieved, daily living shifts from anxiety over standing to grateful obedience born of acceptance. That reorientation heals moral bracing and invites restoration in relationships with God and others. Grace creates a cradle for repentance, not a gauntlet for proving worth.
3. Servanthood reveals gospel reality Paul’s conversion yielded relentless service rather than self-promotion or despair. True transformation surfaces as compassion for the marginalized and perseverance under hardship, not spiritual prestige. Serving others becomes the way identity in Christ is lived out and tested. Obedience to humble tasks often discloses the depth of one’s union with the King.
4. Gospel centers a triune, reconciling God The good news locates salvation within Father, Son, and Spirit acting together to restore relationship. God’s holiness and justice do not cancel God’s mercy; Christ bears wrath and opens the way back to fellowship. The Spirit’s indwelling makes this reconciliation present and progressive, not merely future. Theology that holds both justice and grace reshapes fear into hope.

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading: Romans 1:1

Observation questions

What three things does Paul call himself in the opening of his letter?
According to the sermon, what were some of the specific misconceptions or "bad doctrines" that people commonly believe about God?
What dramatic event changed Paul from a persecutor of the church into a servant of Jesus?
How is the gospel defined in contrast to being mere advice or a list of doctrines?

Interpretation questions

Why does incorrect teaching about God (bad doctrine) have such damaging effects on a person's daily life and relationship with Him?
Paul's life was marked by relentless service after his conversion. How does understanding the depth of God's forgiveness create a natural impulse to serve rather than to hide or perform?
The illustration of the two chairs presented two different views of God's disposition toward humanity. What is the fundamental difference between a God who must be turned back to us and a God who is always turning back toward us?
If God's holiness doesn't mean He avoids sinners but instead restoratively engages with them (like Jesus did), how should that reshape our understanding of what it means to be holy?

Application questions

Reflect on your own view of God. Is it more characterized by a fear of punishment or a secure sense of being a welcomed son or daughter? What is one practical step you can take this week to move closer to the reality of His grace?
Consider the statement "big forgiven sins birth brilliant lovers." How can remembering the specific ways you have been forgiven fuel compassion and service toward someone you find difficult to love?
Servanthood was presented as a key indicator of a transformed life. What is one mundane, humble task you can perform this week as an act of service to your family, a neighbor, or your community, doing it "as unto the Lord"?
Identify one area of "folk theology" or a simplistic belief you've held (e.g., God helps those who help themselves, suffering is always punishment). How can studying Scripture correct this and bring greater freedom and joy?
The gospel is good news about historical events, not good advice. Who is one person in your life who needs to hear this news recounted? How can you share the story of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection with them in a simple way?
Performance-based religion leads to either pride or shame. What is one thing you try to "do" to feel accepted by God? How can you instead rest in the truth that your standing is based entirely on Christ's finished work?

Sermon Quotes

Bad doctrines have body counts; sadly, many Christians struggle with doctrine and even basic facts about the faith.

In reality God helps those that finally understand they can’t help themselves.

This idea makes the self-righteous march up and arrogantly take communion while the sensitive saint stays in their seat, worried.

Gritted teeth miserable religiosity is replaced by being in God’s family, His sons and daughters, welcomed back home like the prodigal son.

He tried to squash Christianity—watching Stephen be stoned, franchising his killing spree to Damascus—yet Jesus knocked him down and saved him.

Worth noting that often the worst sinners become the greatest servants.

When you serve, you find a purpose that transcends pain; your problems are shaken off into the fire.

The gospel is not doctrine debates or advice on life; the gospel is good news about what God has done in Christ.

He offers sonship and daughter-ship — right relationship with our Heavenly Father — as a gift to anyone who places faith in His work alone.

If we submit to God he will call us to some scary, weird, dangerous, horrible place — and that call matches what we secretly crave.

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Unashamed Romans 1:1 Intro

Devotional

Day 1: The Servant Shakes Off the Snake

Day 2: Big Sinners, Brilliant Lovers

Day 3: God’s Disposition Toward You

Day 4: The Gospel is Good News

Day 5: Delight and Your Deepest Desire

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Quotes

Unashamed Romans 1:1 Intro

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