Good morning and welcome to day one of the book of Romans! It’s always exciting to start a new book in God’s Word and especially when we change genres. There are 7 different genres in the Bible: Gospels, history, prophecy, epistles, poetry, law and wisdom. The book of Acts was history and the book of Romans is an epistle (letter) from Paul to the church at Rome. It’s always very enlightening when I change genres, the books can be so very different to experience. When I went from the gospel of John into the history book of Acts it was dramatic. Now this morning as we move from the Acts into one of Paul’s letters it is no less dramatic. It’s basically like moving from a world history book to reading a letter from a friend…big difference!
It was good to see the sun back yesterday and I took some time for a nice long walk through the Ft. Worth botanical gardens. This is one of my favorite spots to just be quiet, walk and enjoy God’s beautiful creations. It’s here I also take a lot of my pictures for the 5MC posts you see.
Last night we had session 2 of our home group and looked specifically at where we hear from God. It was a fantastic lesson with great discussion. We talked about a ‘favorite spot’ you have and how it relates to a spot where you ‘connect’ with God. We also talked about making hearing from God a priority in your life. You MAKE time to spend with people that are important to you and where does God rank for you in this process? This also fits well with what we do here with the 5MC. Encouraging all to spend daily time in God’s Word. Making God a priority in your daily routine is the best use of your time you could ever imagine.
Well, lets launch into the great book of Romans, written by the apostle Paul. We just finished the book of Acts and about half of the book involves Paul so we are somewhat familiar with him as we start looking at his letter to the church at Rome. This is the single longest letter in the New Testament and Paul wrote it in the winter of 56-57AD while he was ministering in the city of Corinth. This would have been during Paul’s third missionary trip which he mentions in Acts 20:1-3. (you can read the study of Acts 20 at the5mc.com under the Acts tab)
Now at this time Paul had never been to Rome and no other apostle had been to Rome either. So how is a church even there for him to write to? Back in Acts 18, Paul encounters Aquila and Priscilla, believers from Italy that were fleeing from persecution in Rome. Remember that they were tentmakers like Paul and they developed a ministry together in Corinth. Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned no less than 6 different times in four different letters from Paul. This was a great missionary couple and its very likely that they made their way back to Rome and started a church there. God’s Word ties together beautifully, you just have to connect the dots!
The first chapter of Romans and the book itself teaches the total depravity of man and his need for God. Man is irrevocably and hopelessly lost and must have the righteousness of God since he has none of his own. The truth of this epistle is that man does not understand God, neither does he seek after God. Basically, when the tire hits the pavement, if mankind is left to his own devices he will always move away from God not towards God. This is what a sin nature does.
Now I can’t think of a more unpopular thing that I could possibly type into this computer this morning. The above paragraph does not sit well with most anybody on this planet. Sorry. The truth hurts, but this is the nature of every man and woman born onto this planet. We are in a constant rebellion to God and because of this rebellion and sin nature, we can never stand in the presence of a Holy and perfect God.
But there is good news. Literally the word ‘gospel’ translates to good news! God realized that because of the introduction of sin in to the garden of Eden, that there would have to be a perfect sacrifice made so that one day we could gaze upon the perfect face of God. That, my friends, is why Jesus Christ, the son of God, the perfect lamb of God, came to earth as a man, to be sacrificed to pay the penalty for our sins. It’s all about grace. Because of God’s love and grace towards us we can be saved from our sin.
Now again, I fully realize how unpopular this topic is in the world today. We don’t like to think of ourselves as sinners. We like to prop ourselves up as great people in the world today right? I mean I see the news every day, I’m not nearly as bad as those people I see on the news killing each other. Doesn’t matter. We are all sinners and imperfect before God. In fact, 2 chapters later here in Romans, Paul says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23.”
So why the tough love from Paul? Why make such a hard point that we’re all good for nothing sinners? One reason. To prove to you your need for a savior. To make you address your true nature and that by yourself you cannot hope to achieve righteousness before God.
Speaking of righteousness, lets look at that word a little closer. It appears 92 times in the New Testament and 36 times alone in the book of Romans so it must be pretty important right? The Greek word is ‘dikaiosune’ which is from the root ‘dike’ meaning right. It basically means to be right. To be right before God. God demands righteousness from us and it is what God provides though Jesus.
As Paul moves along through chapter one he continues to clearly make his case about the true nature of man and his desperate need for the saving grace of Jesus Christ. He continues to state the fact that when man is left alone he will continually move away from God. It always gets worse, never better. I think you can look around at the world today and safely make this assumption. Just in my life time I have seen our schools go from a jovial, carefree place where young people could be safe, to a literal battleground where school shootings are common and students need to be protected by police officers. In fact, check out this data I pulled off Wikipedia on school shootings by decades. I couldn’t even believe it as I read it.
1950-1959 – 16 shootings
1970-1979 – 29 shootings
1990-1999 – 65 shootings
2010-present -193 shootings
So is man getting closer to God or in a continual pattern of moving away from God and the righteousness he desires from us? I think it’s pretty apparent as we look at the data above and around our world today.
Now Paul goes on to address specifics. He addresses mans perversion of sex and that man’s degeneration is measured by his perversion of sex. Romans 1:26-27. He also goes on to mention specific sins that troubles the soul of man then and continues to do so today.
Acts 1:28-32, “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness and malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those that practice them.”
Paul holds nothing back here. He nails the nature of man down pat. You wouldn’t need to watch the news for very long today to probably see a headline with every one of these traits in it. We live in a fallen world full of sin, of that there is no doubt. That, my friends is why we need Jesus. When you accept Christ He changes your heart. He changes you from the inside and you will hunger for the righteousness of God. When you hunger for God and His righteousness you will be ever moving closer to Him and farther away from the evils of this world.
I pray that your 5 minutes in God’s Word this morning will speak to you in a beautiful whisper that guides your day along the path that He already has planned for you.
コメント