Romans 1:1-15: A Missionary Lifestyle

Romans 1:1-15: A Missionary Lifestyle

Please turn with me in your Bible to Romans 1. If you’re using one of the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 778. Our typical practice here at Redeeming Grace is to work our way passage by passage through a book of the Bible. And since we just finished the book of Nehemiah, we’re moving on to another book this morning—Paul’s letter to the Romans. Now unlike many of the other churches Paul wrote letters to, Paul didn’t start the church in Rome. He was actually writing this letter in preparation for his first visit to them. And as we’ll see, this letter is probably the richest repository of gospel truths anywhere in the entire Bible, so I’m super-excited even to the point of being a little bit giddy at the fact that we get to study it. So Romans 1, and we’ll look at verses 1-15 this morning. Romans 1:1-15:

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 

If you’ve been coming to our church for any length of time, you’ve probably heard us make some reference to the fact that God calls every Christian to be a missionary. I think even as recently as last week, during our missions moment, Caitlin made reference to the fact that missionaries aren’t just the people we put up on the screen who are serving in foreign countries. Every believer has a missionary calling. And if you listen carefully during our missions moments, that’s usually something Caitlin tries to bring out. She prays for the overseas missionary we’re focusing on that particular month, but then in her prayer, she prays for all of us—or at least those of us who are Christians—that we would be the missionaries God calls us to be. And every day, as I personally pray through the list of names of people in our church, that’s one of the key things I pray for—that each individual who’s a part of this church would both embrace and embody their missionary calling. That’s actually the very first item on my prayer list for you guys. 

But I believe there’s something that has to happen before we can live like the missionaries God calls us to be, and we can see it here in Romans 1. We as Christians have to acquire a healthy understanding of our identity. That’s the main idea I’d like to draw out of this passage. A missionary lifestyle grows out of a healthy understanding of our identity. Check this out. In verses 8-15, we get a glimpse of Paul’s missionary lifestyle. He talks about how his deep longing to visit the church in Rome. And the reason for that, as he states in verse 13, is “that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.” Then he continues in verses 14-15, 14I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. So this was a man who was obsessed with spreading the gospel wherever the greatest opportunities presented themselves. That’s the picture of him we get from these latter verses in the passage. But if we look at this passage as a whole, we see that that missionary zeal grew out of Paul’s understanding of his own identity, which he unpacks in verse 1. So…I’d like to use our time this morning to focus on what Paul says in the very first verse about his identity. According to verse 1, there are three aspects of Paul’s identity that fueled his missionary passion. They’re actually simply listed there. Number one, a servant of Christ Jesus. Number two, called to be an apostle. And number three, set apart for the gospel of God. 

A Servant of Christ Jesus 

So first, a servant of Christ Jesus. That’s what Paul calls himself in verse 1. A servant of Christ Jesus. And that word “servant,” in the original language that Paul wrote in, was actually the word for a slave. So verse 1 might also be translated, “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus.” And that term slave really brings out what I believe Paul’s trying to communicate here, which is the idea of absolute ownership. A slave is owned by his master. He doesn’t own himself. He’s not in charge of his own life. He doesn’t make his own decisions. A slave simply does the will of his master. His master has all the ownership rights over him. And in the same way, Paul says, that’s the way he views himself in relation to Jesus. Of course, we have to be careful here not to take the metaphor too far. Paul’s certainly not implying that Jesus is oppressive or abusive in any way. That would be a radical departure from other ways God’s pictured in the Bible, such as a Shepherd and a Father. So Paul’s definitely not implying any kind of oppression in describing himself as a slave. However, slavery is still a pretty radical metaphor. It’s intended to be a bit provocative and to shock us out of some of the misguided ideas we sometimes have about Christianity. In Paul’s mind, one aspect of being a Christian is being a slave of Christ Jesus—giving Jesus full control and full ownership over your life so that, in a very real sense, you don’t belong to yourself any longer. You’re his. You exist for his will and his purposes. 

I love how Paul expresses it in Acts 20:22-24. He states, 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. So Paul understood the risks of going to Jerusalem. He knew that imprisonment and afflictions awaited him. Yet, he was determined to go preach the gospel there anyway. Verse 24 tells us why: “I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus.” That’s the way someone thinks when they’ve given away all ownership rights over themselves. They don’t regard anything as their own—not even their own life. Their only concern is to please the one they serve. 

It reminds me of the group of overseas missionaries during the 1800’s who eventually became known as “one-way missionaries.” And the reason they were known as “one-way missionaries” was because their destination was so dangerous that they didn’t expect to come again. In fact, instead of packing their belongings into suitcases, they literally packed their things into their own coffin. One of these missionaries was a Canadian named Walter Gowans. In 1893, Walter packed his coffin and went out with two of his friends to take the gospel to the 60 million unreached people in sub-Saharan Africa. This region of Africa was known as “The White Man’s Graveyard” because of the high mortality rate of Western missionaries from diseases like malaria, yellow fever, and typhoid. And not surprisingly, within their first year in Africa, Walter and both of his friends contracted malaria. Two of them would die from it, including Walter. But here’s what Walter wrote in his journal during his final days on this earth: “August 9, 1894. Written in view of my approaching end, which has often lately seemed so near but just now seems so imminent and I want to write while I have the power to do it. Glory to God! He has enabled me to make a hard fight for the Soudan and although it may seem like a total failure and defeat it is not! We shall have the victory and that right speedily. I have no regret for undertaking this venture and in this manner my life has not been thrown away.” So Walter’s assessment was that it was worth it. He had no regrets. Serving Jesus was worth his life. 

Now God may not be calling you to literally die for the gospel. But he has called you to release your grip on everything you’re holding onto and let him have complete control over your life. Let him determine your agenda and your priorities. That’s what it means to be, in Paul’s words, a slave of Christ Jesus. So ask yourself this morning what would be different about your life if you started viewing yourself as a slave of Christ? In fact, if you have a pen and some paper, why don’t you take a moment and write down the answer to that question. There’s a space in your bulletin for taking notes. Just jot something down real quick. What would be different about your life if you started viewing yourself as a slave of Christ? Think about the agenda in life you’ve adopted, the priorities that drive your day-to-day decisions, and everything else about you. How would those things change if you started viewing yourself as a slave of Christ? I’ll give you a moment to write that down.

Called to Be an Apostle 

Then moving on to the next way Paul describes himself back in verse 1 of our main passage, he says that he’s not only a servant or slave of Christ Jesus but also that he’s “called to be an apostle.” That’s the second aspect of his identity that fueled his missionary passion. “Called to be an apostle.”  Now, an apostle in general was someone who was sent to proclaim a message. That’s the definition of the word. But Paul was a particular kind of apostle, what we might call an Apostle with a capital “A,” meaning that he was one of the 13 people who had seen the resurrected Jesus face-to-face and who had been endowed by Jesus with a unique level of authority in the church. So one reason why Paul references his calling as a capital “A” Apostle here is in order to establish his authority for writing this letter to the Romans. He wants them to listen to what he has to say. But I think there’s also another reason he reminds them of his apostleship as well. I believe he’s alluding not only to his authority for writing this letter but also to his reason for writing the letter—and his reason for doing everything in life. Paul does the things he does because he has a strong awareness of his calling. His calling as an Apostle fuels his missionary passion. 

And here again, God may not have called you to be an Apostle with a capital “A,” but if you’re a Christian, he has called you to be an apostle with a lowercase “a.” Remember our definition of an apostle: someone who’s been sent to proclaim a message. That’s a commission every Christian has received. The Bible teaches that pretty clearly in a lot of places. For example, in John 17:18, as Jesus is praying to the Father, he says this about his followers: “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” He’s talking about you and me there. We’re the ones he’s sent into the world. In a sense, we’re apostles. 

So let me encourage you to remember your calling. You know, it’s not wrong to have fun and to just kick back and relax and enjoy the blessings God’s given. In fact, us enjoying God’s blessings actually brings him great delight. Remember, he’s our Father. He likes seeing us enjoy his blessings. Kind of like when I watch my kids eating ice cream I’ve purchased for them. Seeing their enjoyment brings me enjoyment. So don’t get caught up in any false ideas about what it supposedly means to be “spiritual” and start feeling guilty for enjoying God’s blessings. But at the same time, don’t forget that God has you here for a reason. There’s a reason why he didn’t immediately take you up to heaven when you became a Christian. He’s left you here to do something. 

We find a great example of this in Mark 5. In Mark 5, Jesus casts a whole hoard of demons out of a man. Those demons had been making this man behave like a crazy person, but Jesus delivers him. Then here’s what the text says in Mark 5:18-19: 18 As [Jesus] was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So this man wanted to go with Jesus and just be with him. And that’s very understandable; Jesus had just done something wonderful for the man. But rather than take this man along, Jesus told him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So Jesus told him to stay in that region because there was work for him to do there. He was supposed to tell everybody about the mercy Jesus has shown him. And likewise with us, what a wonderful thing it would be to go straight to heaven when we become Christians. What a wonderful thing it would be for us to be with Jesus in heaven right now. But that’ll have to wait until later, because Jesus has work for us to do here. He’s called us, just like the man in this passage, to go and tell everyone about what he’s done for us. That’s our calling. 

And think about what a glorious calling that is. We get to tell everyone about the way God’s loved us and forgiven us and redeemed us and adopted us and changed us and given us a hope that stretches into eternity. If you’ve even begun to comprehend the glories of the gospel and the extraordinary things God’s done for you, I’d think you’d be eager to share that with all the people you can. And that’s your calling—to tell people about the wonders of the grace of God in your life. So are you living, like Paul, with a strong sense of calling—an awareness of the fact that God has you here for a reason? And not just here on this earth in general but in the exact places where you are. It’s no accident that you live where you live, work where you work, and know who you know. God has you in those particular locations and spheres of influence and social networks for a reason. You never need to wonder about God’s plan for reaching the people around you. You in fact are that plan. He’s sent you to bring the hope of the gospel to the people in desperate need around you. So are you approaching life and all the people in your life with that distinct sense of calling? Basically, are you living like a missionary? 

Set Apart for the Gospel

Then finally, back in our main passage, not only does Paul say he’s a servant or slave of Christ Jesus and not only does he say that he’s called to be an apostle, but he also describes himself as being set apart for the gospel. And that’s our third point this morning—the third aspect of Paul’s identity that fueled his missionary passion. He views himself as set apart for the gospel. Now when you think about what it means to be set apart, think about it in terms of being reserved for something. Like when I’m in my living room at home and I want to relax, my living room recliner is reserved for me—unless of course my wife desires to sit on it. But if it’s just the kids wanting to play on it and do hand-stands and stuff like that, I tell them, “Sorry, but I’m gonna sit there.” That chair is set apart for me. Or if my wife has prepared dessert for a particular occasion, we might say that dessert is set apart. Maybe we’re having guests over or she’s going somewhere where there’s a need for her to bring dessert. Whatever it is, if that dessert is set apart for something, I’ve had to learn to exercise self-discipline and not touch it. It’s been a bit of a process for me to learn that, but I think I’ve finally learned it. I can hope for leftovers, but I can’t touch it. 

So if something’s set apart, that means it’s reserved for a particular purpose. And the particular purpose for which Paul says he’s set apart is the gospel. That was his focus. That means he didn’t allow himself to get too caught up in other things even if there was genuine value in those things. And we would do well to follow his example. In fact, I think it’s imperative that we follow his example, particularly when it comes to the way we as Christians engage with political concerns. Listen: there are a lot of really important issues in our society that we as Christians should pay attention to. There are even some issues that are so important and so clearly addressed in the Bible that we should say something publically about them as a matter of moral obligation. However, as your pastor, I would encourage you to be extremely careful about making political statements, especially on social media. Be extremely careful both in deciding whether to publicly speak out about an issue and in deciding how to speak about that issue if you do believe you need to address it. Because the last thing you want to do is make it unnecessarily difficult for someone else to embrace the gospel. If you have a non-Christian friend who disagrees with you about a political issue, why create an unnecessary obstacle to them becoming a Christian? Why needlessly alienate them? Like I said, there are times when we’re morally obligated to address something. But the vast majority of the time, we’re not. As one pastor I respect a lot wrote, “We may be wrong about policy, but we aren’t wrong about the gospel, and we don’t want our opinions on the former to prevent people from hearing the latter.” In other words, don’t let your opinions about policies and politics keep people from listening to you when you talk about the gospel. Instead, imitate Paul in his focus on the gospel. Recognize that you also are “set apart for the gospel” just like he was. 

Conclusion

You may think that there are a some things you have insight about and that other people could benefit from hearing, and maybe you’re right, but don’t lose sight of the fact that there’s only one thing people truly need to hear. There’s only one thing that makes the difference between people experiencing eternity with Jesus and them experiencing eternity without Jesus. Focus on that one thing, that one message. Help people understand that their biggest problem is that they’ve sinned against God. Help them to see the seriousness and the devastating consequences of their sin—that they stand condemned before God and have every reason to be distraught and alarmed. But then, tell them about what a wonderful Savior we have in Jesus—about how Jesus died on the cross to bear the punishment our sins deserved. What love! What mercy! Make sure they understand that that should have been us on the cross but that Jesus took our place and that he then resurrected from the dead to show that everything he taught was true. And if they’ll simply renounce their sin and look to Jesus for rescue, he’ll rescue them. He’ll wash away all their sins and make them into a new person and give them hope for eternity. That’s the message people need to hear. So make sure you live and speak in such a way that they’re truly able to hear it. Let’s pray.