If you miss it, you miss everything about Christianity, and it's a word called surrender. If you think you're the one that's in control, your Christianity is shallow, and it will not last the storms of life. We want it to be about us, and Paul said it's not about you. It's about what God wants to do through you.
Christianity is not just what you get from it. It's what you get to give through it.
And so today, we're kicking off a brand new teaching series called Romans, the foundation of faith. And guys, this is going to be a new lifestyle of Sunday morning going through the Bible, and not in a kind of a verse-by-verse concept, but it's going to be a new lifestyle. So it just means that we aren't going to be able to stop on every verse, right? I mean, it's a Sunday morning, by the way, okay? Sunday morning is different than your life group. Sunday morning is different than if you were to have a different night where you were just going to go through and study the Bible.
You know, we were all going to be together in a tighter group where there was more interaction. I mean, Sunday morning is more of me presenting material to you. It's not a time where you get to raise your hand and ask a question. So if you're truly wanting to go through the Bible verse-by-verse, I would encourage you to join a small group that we have here at New Life. You can go through stuff at a much deeper level than you ever can even on a Sunday morning.
So our approach to a verse-by-verse study through the book of Romans is what we're going to experience over the next nine weeks. So you're here on week one, high-five the person next to you and go, "We made it on week one of a new series," right? This is a brand new series. It's brand new. And if you're watching online and it's on Tuesday or Wednesday or whatever, you're in at the brand new teaching series as well.
So if you have a Bible, what I want you to do is open it up. Most of you do that with a phone of some sort. Why don't you get out your phone, open up a Bible, all right? Turn to Romans chapter one and go to verse one. And we're going to be looking at verses one through 17 today.
This book of Romans is written by a guy, I already mentioned his name, named Paul. But many of you may not understand that Paul was actually, before he was a part of Team Jesus, he was on Team Anti-Jesus. Paul was what we call a Pharisee. He was one of the religious leaders of the Jewish sect that mandated and controlled Judaism upon the people. It was basically like a religion and a policy. It was a political group all wrapped up into one, and they provided governance over the people, mandating hundreds and hundreds of rules about how the people had to live.
And this is who Paul was. He was a man of strict rule. And because of that, he hated people that were following Jesus because the people that were following Jesus were not following the Jewish customs and traditions. And so Paul went after them to persecute them, to find them, to hunt them down, and even to kill them.
One day, while he's on that journey, somewhere in the beginning of the book of Acts that you can read about later, Paul's on a journey to a place called Damascus. And on that road to Damascus, he ends up finding Jesus, and his whole life gets turned around. In fact, he has a conversion where he surrenders his life to Jesus.
So now Paul is on Team Jesus, and he's learning what it means to follow the ways of Jesus. But his passion for Jesus is causing him to go out on these multiple journeys to these small communities and large communities all around the known world and to preach the good news, meaning to preach Jesus to them. And as he's preaching Jesus to them, he's planting churches all throughout the known world.
While Paul was on one of those missionary journeys, he was in a place called Corinth, Greece. You might understand that better from the New Testament because there's 1 and 2 Corinthians. These are books that he is writing to them, words of instruction to correct their behavior or to correct their false doctrine or to get their worship into alignment. He's writing to them to both encourage and instruct them and to keep them in line.
So he's on one of these journeys, and he's in Corinth, Greece, which you can still go to today. And he ends up writing this letter to the believers that are in Rome. Now, he writes this letter 25 years after the death and the resurrection of Jesus, right? So he writes it somewhere around 55 AD.
Let me tell you about the background, though, of Rome and the believers that are there and what's going on. All of the Jewish people that had converted to Christianity, that actually brought Christianity from Israel, from Jerusalem, to Rome, had been expelled from Rome by the Emperor Claudius in 49 AD. After Claudius dies, they're able to return.
So from 49 AD to 54 AD, all the Jewish believers were kicked out of Rome, which left only what the Bible refers to and what Paul calls Gentile believers, meaning non-Jewish believers. If you're not Jewish here, then you are a Gentile with me. So he left the Gentiles to run the church.
Well, in 54 AD, one year before Paul writes the letter to the church, the Jewish believers are allowed to come back. When they come back, they discover that the Gentile believers have not been running the church the exact same way that the Jewish believers who started the church felt like it ought to be run.
It sounds a lot like things that happened from the church I grew up in with my grandparents to the church that we run today. If my grandparents showed up and they saw the way we run church today, they may not like it. They may say, "Hey, why are you doing it that way? It was good enough when we ran it the way we used to run it." But everything changes in life. Methodology changes in life. The mission doesn't change, but the methods, the way that you do ministry, change over time. And I'm thankful for that.
So these Jewish believers come back and discover that these Gentile believers are running the church differently than the way that they would run it. It causes conflict. That conflict is being heard about in other places around the world, which is one of the primary reasons why Paul even takes time to write this letter.
Because now it's been a year where they've come back together. And how many of you guys know, man, conflict can happen like this, and conflict soars after that. So conflict has been soaring in the local church in the capital of the Roman Empire, and Paul wants to address this as he feels an obligation to help them.
Another reason why he writes is because he wants to go and be with them. He has a strong desire to be with them. So after Paul writes this letter in 55 AD, two to three years after that, Paul gets arrested for his own faith. He gets arrested for his own faith and is sent to Rome in chains. After being in Rome for four or five years, the Apostle Paul, who writes this letter that we're going to be looking at, dies.
So with that as the background and the context of why this book was actually written and what is really going on, let's dive in and take a look at what Paul has to say and see what we can apply to our own lives.
Paul starts with a greeting in Romans chapter one, verse one. He says, "Look, this letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his good news."
Paul instantaneously highlights three critical things about himself that are important if you want to be a true believer of Jesus. He says this: first, "I am a slave of Christ." Then he says, "I am chosen by God." Then he goes, "I am sent by God."
These three things are essential if you really want to live a life for Christ that's going to sustain, that it's going to go someplace, that it's going to last for a long time in your life. You have to have these same three things as the foundation anchors of your life.
You first have to say, "I am a slave of Christ." That's why you hear me and our staff drive home something that is crucial to Christianity. If you miss it, you miss everything about Christianity. And it's a word called surrender. A slave is surrendered to their master.
Paul starts out by letting us know if you truly want to be a follower of Jesus, you have to start with an attitude of all-out surrender to the authority of Christ in your life. And then you have to continue that way. Without surrender, without seeing yourself as a slave to Christ, you think you're the one that's in control. Paul would drive home the idea and say to you, "If you think you're the one that's in control, your Christianity is shallow, and it will not last the storms of life."
So first, he says, you have to be a slave to Christ. Then he says, "Look, you've got to see yourself as chosen by God." You are not the one—he continues the thought—you are not the one who chose God. God chose you. God chose you, though the Bible tells us, before the beginning of the world. And God chose every single human being to follow him.
When we think we chose him, then we're the one in the driver's seat. You're not the one in the driver's seat of life. God is the one in the driver's seat of your life. He chose you. You didn't choose him first. He chose you and said, "I want you to come follow me. Be a son or be a daughter of mine."
See, what happens is this: if you think you're the one that chose him, arrogance is going to rise where God wants humility to rise. Humility rises when you go, "God, thank you for choosing me." So you come to God with an attitude of gratitude and say, "God, thank you that you chose me to be on Team Jesus."
But then thirdly, Paul says, "Look, if you really want a salvation that thrives in your life, be more like me." Because I'm saying these things because Paul later on in his writing says these words, "Follow me as I follow Christ." So I'm trying to help you follow in the teachings of the Apostle Paul so that we could also follow Christ because that was his mission.
So he says, "I was sent by him." I think one of the tragedies of Christianity in modern day is that we are very consumer-minded believers. We want things that make us feel good, make us happy. We want it to be about us. And Paul says, "It's not about you. It's about what God wants to do through you."
So you better be a slave to the Lord. And then you better recognize that he's the one who chose you so that when you are sent, you aren't taking toxic thoughts to the world around you, but you're bringing blessing and peace and goodness to the world around you.
But Christianity is not just what you get from it; it's what you get to give through it. These three things are essential, and they become the foundation, the bedrock of Paul going, "Look, this is who I am. And if I come to you, I'm going to teach you this. I'm going to help you understand that this becomes the foundation of your faith, and everything gets built on top of that."
So first and foremost, I think you need to ask yourself, "Am I a slave of Christ? Am I truly surrendered to him? Do I really see myself as being chosen by him, or do I see myself as being the one in control? And then thirdly, do I have a desire to be sent by him? Or am I just having a desire in my Christianity to just absorb and absorb and absorb and absorb?"
Because if that's your attitude, you've got the wrong attitude. Paul would say that from day one, and he would also say that to you in year 20 of your faith, that it's always about these three things. Are you still surrendered? Do you still recognize he called you? And are you still willing to be sent?
Then listen to what he says next in verse 2. "God promised this good news long ago through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The good news is about his son. In his earthly life, he was born into King David's family line, and he was shown to be the son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ, our Lord."
So first and foremost, when you look at this, you have to say, "Well, what is the good news?" When you hear this statement, "the good news," it's basically driving home a concept. And the concept is that you and I are saved by the grace provided through Jesus Christ. That is the good news. The good news is that I am not saved by my works and by what I can do, but I am saved by what he has done and what he has done alone.
Then, therefore, Jesus becomes the good news. And Paul helps us understand how Jesus is the good news, and he needs to be the good news of our faith. So just in case you guys don't know who Jesus is, he says these words. He goes, "Look, first and foremost, Jesus came from heaven." But he said it in reverse. He goes, "In his earthly life." Think with me. If Jesus had an earthly life, then Jesus had a heavenly life.
So in his earthly life, meaning that Jesus didn't come from here. Jesus came from heaven. He was born of a virgin, meaning he was born in the King David's family line, Mary and Joseph. King David's family line, Old Testament prophecy, says it all about Jesus. That's exactly what would happen, and that's exactly what went down.
Then thirdly, he goes, "Look, let me tell you why Jesus is the good news. Because he was raised from the dead." Raised from the dead. And if you don't believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, then your faith is anchored in the wrong thing. And because he's been raised from the dead, he is Jesus Christ, our Lord.
So how is Jesus the good news? He came from heaven. He was born of a virgin. He was raised from the dead. He is Jesus Christ, our Lord, meaning he is the good news. There is no way to be saved. This has to become the essential doctrine at the core of your faith, that this is who you surrendered to. This is who you are following. This is the Jesus that is portrayed in the Bible. This is the Jesus you raise your hands to and you sing about.
This is who he is. He didn't come from here. He was born of a virgin's birth. He did raise again from the grave. There is no grave with the bones of Jesus in it. He is risen, and he is in heaven. Amen to that? Right. And he is your Lord. Or another way, he is your leader. You are following in his footsteps.
That's essential. So these two things, these two things go together: a slave, chosen, and sent, and who Jesus is—the good news. These become the anchor or the foundation of your faith. Now everything else can build on that.
So this is how he starts out in just the first few verses. Because we don't have time to go to all the verses, let's jump to verse 8 and see how he continues it.
He jumps in in verse 8 and says these words: "Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world."
So the Roman Empire in 55 AD was pretty much made up of the shoreline of the Mediterranean Sea. If you're good with geography at all, then that would include most of the southern part of Europe. You would have the southern parts of France, Italy, Greece, parts of Turkey, parts of Syria, Lebanon. It would come down through the Middle East in that area and go down through Israel, then over into Egypt, and then keep coming along to Tunisia, Libya, and maybe even over to parts of Morocco and parts of Spain on the north side.
That would be the shoreline in 55 AD, the main Empire of Rome. It had not even hit its peak; it wouldn't hit its peak until about 117 AD when it took over all kinds of more land. So the Roman Empire is growing, and it's growing rapidly.
So why was their faith being talked about all over the world? Well, some of it's just practical. Rome conquered the known world. Rome conquered all the seaports of the Mediterranean Sea where the majority of people lived. That was what they would consider the known world. And Rome itself, not just the empire, but Rome the city was the capital, and people would come and go from there, spreading messages and words all over the place.
But why was their faith being talked about all over the world? I think the key word is faith in him. It was their faith in him, which tells us something about this church that was not started by Paul. It was started by Jews who converted to Christianity, and after the death of Jesus in 30 AD, they moved their way up to Rome and started propagating the good news of Jesus. They started creating converts of the Gentiles and other Jews that might live in the area, and they banded together as this church.
This church starts there, and this church has a strong faith. This church is bold with its faith. It's telling other people about Jesus. People are coming and going through Rome, and people are hearing about this church, and they're taking the message of this church throughout the world.
Can I just say this? That's what we want here at New Life. Every church on planet Earth should desire to have a faith like the church of Rome that was being spread throughout the known world.
Let's be a church that has such a strong faith that people are talking about what you're doing and the impact you're making in your community and your desire to impact other places. Like, let's be that kind of a church. We're that kind of a church in what we do locally by planting campuses. We're that kind of a church through what we do through Kingdom Builders. That's an example of the kind of church you want to be.
So in light of a church that has a strong faith, then what does Paul do because of their strong faith? What does he do? I find this very interesting.
In verse 9, he says, "God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night, I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the good news about his son."
One of the things you see Paul recognizing in the depth of his spiritual maturity is that wherever God is at work, wherever believers are going public with their faith, Satan is right there to try to attack.
If a church is growing like New Life is growing, Satan is right there trying to attack it. If your personal faith in your family or in your personal life is growing, Satan is right there trying to snuff it out. He's trying to attack it.
And so what does Paul do in light of that spiritual maturity and recognizing that? He says these words: "Day and night, I bring you and your needs in prayer to God." Day and night.
I love that because here's Paul giving the example of what he teaches in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. He says these words: "Never stop praying." What does that look like? It looks like this: "Day and night, I'm praying for you because I love you. I have a concern for you. I want to see you be everything God wants you to be."
Look, as parents, we say, "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you." We should be praying day and night over our children. As a couple in your marriage, pray day and night over one another.
Now, that's not prayer down on your knees with your hands clasped together and your eyes closed, knelt down next to your bed. You can't stay there all the days of your life. Paul is going, "Look, I'm constantly in communication with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, about you. You continually be upon my heart right now. And day and night, I'm praying for you."
This is the model of what true Christianity looks like.
So listen to what the desire is that's in the heart of Paul. What he really wants to see happen in verse 10 and on through 15. He says, "Look, one of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. For I long to visit you so that I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord.
When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you, and I want to see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles.
For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike. So I'm eager to come to you in Rome too, to preach about the good news of Jesus."
I find it interesting, though, that Paul has this prayer, "Lord, please let me go to Rome," and that God grants that prayer. But he grants it two to three years later when Paul is sent there in chains.
We don't always get that. The prayer answered the way we think the right way is. But God knows the best way. He got sent in there in chains. And while he's in chains, and I've been in that prison that Paul was held at in Rome—many people have that have traveled there. It's a very iconic place to go to, especially if you're a Christian.
I've sat there in that dungeon, and there's something that comes over you as you realize that Paul wrote so much of the New Testament from that prison. Maybe we wouldn't have some of these letters of instruction and teaching to us if it wasn't for the fact that he was in chains, and he couldn't do anything else but to write words of instructions as he understood the heart of God.
The other thing I love about this passage—there's a few things, but before we get to the big thing—verse 12 in that passage is really the reason why we go on go trips.
In verse 12, he basically drives home the idea that, "Look, I want to come to you guys. I want to see you. But here's what I want to do when I see you. I want to encourage you." And then he goes, "And I want to be encouraged by your faith."
This is why we go on go trips. We go overseas someplace to encourage other brothers and sisters in the faith. But at the same time, you get encouraged when you go. So why should you go on a go trip? Because there's something you have to give, and there's something that you need.
So I would definitely encourage you, sign up and go on a go trip.
But what's the main reason that I really wanted you to see this? It really boils down to this problem. I've had a lot of people ask me, "Jeff, how do I know what God's desire is for my life? How do I know what God's purpose is for my life?" And I'm like, "I don't know. I don't know."
Maybe many of you have been in that same situation. How do I know what my purpose is in life? I've had people that have really just not found their purpose in life, and they've chased after it with emotions. Their emotions have caused them to do just strange, crazy things that brought a lot of harm to them, brought harm to their family, brought harm to the people that were trying to follow them.
I've had other people that were called by God but just didn't have the faith. They feared and they doubted the call of God on their life. So they just stayed stagnant, and they didn't go anywhere. They were just frustrated. They were always the kind of people that pick at you and prod at you because they're just not where they're supposed to be.
I've had other people that want to follow after the desire and the call of God and the purpose of God on their life, but man, they've got everything wrapped up into these earthly things like finances and work and go on and on, and they just can't break out of it. So they lack the faith to really take the bold step that's needed to really be the person that God's called them to be.
So how do you know if God's the one who's giving you this drive and this purpose and this desire versus it just being you? Paul helps us understand that. He says, "Look, there are three critical things that you really have to focus on."
One, you have to have a strong vision. Here's how Paul drives home the strong vision. First, he says this: "When I come to you, I want to encourage you."
Okay, but when I'm with you, I want to work with you to also produce incredible fruit of ministry. So in those two places that you just saw highlighted, that starts to define the strong vision, meaning when I'm with you, we're not just going to waste time. I've got an agenda. I'm going to encourage you. I'm going to preach to you. I'm going to share stories from other people around the world. I'm going to help you understand God's word in a better way.
I have a vision to encourage you. But when I'm with you, I'm expecting that the ministry we're going to do together at the church and through the church to the community is going to produce a lot of good fruit.
What would that good fruit actually look like? That looks like souls. People are going to get saved. More people are going to be a part of the local church. We're going to be evangelistic in our nature and what we do. And also when I'm there, it's going to produce good fruit inside of you as well. I'm expecting these kinds of things to happen. That's the vision that I have for you.
So first and foremost, you've got to have a strong vision. But secondly, he says these words: "I sense a strong obligation to do this."
Now, another way to say a strong obligation to come to you is to say, "I feel a strong call to come." Meaning, I sense that God has put this burden on my heart. This is not just me. I can't get away from it.
I've exercised it a little bit, and it's proven the fact that God is the one who called me. And so there's this obedience inside of me. I feel obligated to follow the obedience of God and to come to you. That's how I know that this is from God and not just from me.
But thirdly, he says this in verse 15: "I'm eager to go." I'm eager to go. Meaning, "Look, I would drop everything right now. I would walk away from my job. I would walk in. I would tell him, 'Look, I got to go in two weeks. I'm giving my two-week notice.' I would cash in my savings account. I'm all in. I know the cost of what I'm talking about."
Paul knew the cost. Paul had been left for dead outside of communities after being beaten. Paul had been flogged and beaten with rods. Paul had suffered in many, many different types of physical ways because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? And more was to come in his life, by the way. It wasn't over yet.
So Paul says this: "You want to know the difference between just your desire and God's desire in your life? It starts with a strong vision, and then it goes to a strong obligation or a strong call. And thirdly, you have to have an eagerness to want to do it."
Now, here's what I've noticed. If you only have one of those, then you'll get burnt out, you'll get frustrated, and unfortunately, you'll lead other people astray.
So you can have a strong vision for something but not be called by God. If you launch out to do it just out of your vision, out of what you can see, you'll get frustrated, you'll frustrate others, you'll get burnt out, and you'll lead people astray.
You could have an eagerness. "I want to make a difference. I want to go out and do something big for God. I'm eager to do this." But you're not called by God. Again, you'll get frustrated, you'll get burnt out, and you'll lead tons of people astray.
It's all three of them together. There has to be an obligation, a call from God. There has to be a clear vision. These are the things I sense that God wants us to accomplish. And there has to be this strong eagerness that's inside of you that's willing to drop everything and abandon it as a slave to God, chosen by God, so I can be sent by God.
So he comes back and tells us that these are the three things that every believer has to have in their life if they really want to thrive and if they want to find their purpose and their mission in life.
Some of you are here today, and this is what you've been missing. You've got one or two of them, but you don't have all three.
And let me tell you what the work of the Holy Spirit is. The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to highlight all three of these and bring them into alignment so that we can actually be sent. It's the work that he wants to do in our lives.
Paul wraps it up, so let's wrap this up together. And he says in verse 16 and 17, "Look, for I'm not ashamed of this good news about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. The good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the scripture says, it is through faith that a righteous person has life."
I love this because Paul's reminding us of a few things. First thing he reminds us of is this: "Look, I'm not ashamed of the good news about Christ."
And church, I just want you to know today, you have nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to the good news of Jesus. His love is pure. His mission is generous. Like, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Be bold in your faith.
Paul reminds us that the good news is the power of God at work. It's the power of God at work. He reminds us that, man, Jesus is all-powerful, and there's nothing that's going to stop him. Nothing.
So link yourself to Jesus and don't let go. Because in the end, Jesus is going to win. He comes back and goes, "Let me also remind you about the good news. The good news is saving everyone who believes. Everyone who believes. No one is being left out. If they believe in Jesus Christ, they are being saved. They will be saved, and they're going to be made right in God's eyes."
That's powerful truth. But then he ends with this: "Don't forget this promise that God will accomplish this from start to finish by our faith."
He says this: "Your faith matters." Yes, it's what Jesus has done. Yes, it's not about the works you can do that's going to change your life, but your faith in him matters.
So hold on because he goes, "Look, it's through your faith. It's through faith that a righteous person has life." As you have faith, it's like locking onto Jesus and wrapping your arms around him and going, "I believe in you."
Like, I'm following you. And I fall down, and I get back up, and I wrap my arms around you and hold myself tight to you because if you do that, then here's what he's saying: Jesus will finish what he started in your life.
And watch this. This is the part you've got to get. He says, "Jesus will be the one to sustain your righteousness."
You want to live right before God—that's what the word means. You want to live right before God, but you've been trying to live right before God, and you've been failing and falling flat on your face. It's because you can't sustain it, but Jesus can.
So these first 17 verses are like Paul seeing a drowning man and he throws out a life preserver to them. He throws it out there and goes, "Look, this is what life looks like. You guys have got these conflicts going on, but you've forgotten what really matters. You first have to be a slave, then humble yourself and thank God that he chose you, and then go do something for God."
He says, "Look, seek after God and sense the call of God on your life. Get a clear vision for it and be eager to drop everything to chase after him."
But just like a drowning man, you can throw the life preserver, but if the drowning man doesn't lock onto it, the life preserver does nothing.
So our mission today with the first 17 verses of Romans chapter 1 is to grab a hold of it. What part do you need to grab a hold of? Is it the peace of salvation? "Jesus, I just need to put my faith in you."
Like, I need to recognize you didn't come from this earth; you came from heaven, that you were born of a virgin, that you've got a kingdom that's not of this world, and that you are Jesus Christ, my Lord.
Like, I need to wrap my arms around that. Maybe for some of you, it's like your Christianity is stalled out, and you need to get back on your knees and seek after him for a fresh call of God to get that desire to get that focus in your life.
Asking God for clear vision and this eagerness to serve God just to rise up inside of you. "God, make me more eager to serve you. Make me more hungry just to abandon it all so that I can chase after you."
I don't know what it is for your life, but the life preserver has been thrown—17 verses of life-giving scripture—and now it's your opportunity. Can you wrap your arms around it and hold it close to you and say, "God, save me with these words. Deliver me with these words. Inspire my faith with these words."
on Feb 16, 2025
