Messages on Romans Scripture: Romans 1:6-7 Topic: Called And Loved (6) And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ (7) To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul began his great letter to the Romans by identifying himself not in terms of what he had accomplished, but in terms of Gods work in his life. So the call of Paul to be an apostle was entirely gracious: it was free and undeserved. Jesus Christ took the initiative on the Damascus Road and broke into Pauls life and laid hold on him when he was on his way to imprison Christians. Pauls grasp of the freedom and the sovereignty of grace is profoundly stamped by his own experience of it. He was, in his own estimation, the chief of sinners(1 Timothy 1:15). And for some reason, not in himself, but only in the will of God, God chooses freely to set his saving focus on Paul and make him a Christian and an apostle and a servant of the gospel. So, when he finally comes in verses 6-7 to describe his readers in Rome (and by implication, all Christians!), it is not surprising that he speaks with the same emphasis on what God has done, not what we have done. Its not that what we do is unimportant: verse 5 says that the aim of Pauls apostleship among the gentiles is the obedience of faith. So what we do is utterly crucial: his whole ministry fails, if it does not bring about the obedience of faith in our lives. (And not just our lives, but the lives of all the gentiles – or perhaps better, all the nations, or peoples. O may God continue to give us a burden for the nations, the unreached peoples of the earth! May he continue to raise up Paul-type missionaries among us!) But when he describes what it means to have a Christian identity in verses 6-7, Paul does not put the first emphasis on what we do. He puts it on what is done to us and for us, just as he did in describing his own identity as a slave and apostle and servant of the gospel. Gods call is not an invitation, but a powerful and effective reaching out to claim individuals for himself. To accept Jesus Christ as Savior is to give up all rights to oneself. Christians belong to Christ! 1. We Are Called and Loved – the Audacity of It (6) And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ (7) To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul the apostle was the servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ! We who believe have placed ourselves at Christs disposal to be used as He sees fit. There is little room here for the mistaken idea that people can accept Christ as Savior without also allowing Him to be Lord of their lives. As we learned in v. 5, we have been called to the obedience that comes from faith. He uses two words that are massively important in this book of Romans and in the whole of Pauls vision of God and salvation – so massive that I will deal with only one of them this morning. We need to ponder these words as the key to our own identity and what it means to be a Christian. The words are called and beloved. You are among that number of the people God called and loved. And what God has done in loving you and calling you to Jesus Christ may have more eternal significance than who is the political leader of any other country. Now this seems utterly audacious. But if it seems audacious to us, imagine how it must have seemed to the early Christians. Here is the mammoth Roman Empire, plus the unknown hoards of barbarians beyond in every direction. And Paul is virtually unknown in this great empire. And the One he preaches has never been heard of before, Jesus Christ. And he tells this little band of believers in the huge city of Rome that God has loved them and called them and made them, in particular, the focus of his saving work. They are the called of Jesus Christ and the beloved of God. In other words, in all this mammoth empire and world, God is dealing with them in a special way. The audacity of claiming this! 2. We Shoud Know the Magnificence of the Lord of the Universe Which is, perhaps, why Paul inserted in verses 2-4 something about this gospel and something about this Christ. He is the fulfillment of the ancient promises to Israel that a ruler would come. And he was raised from the dead and ordained Son of God in power. (2) the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures (3) regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, (4) and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. So today, whether it looks like it or not, all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus Christ. And unless we know that and believe that with all our hearts, we will be overwhelmed by the apparent bigness of all that happens in the world. In the absence of that truth, Christianity looks hopelessly insignificant and Christians look foolish. So set your mind on the magnificence of Jesus Christ as the Lord of the universe, and on the power and wisdom of God the Father who created all this and plans all this and is managing all this, precisely for the building of his church, his people, by bringing about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations. Now back to these two key words: Paul describes the Roman Christians – and you and me – by focusing not mainly on what we do, but mainly on what he does: he says we are called and we are loved. That is what makes us Christians. That is what we should know about ourselves mainly. Other things are important to know. But nothing is more important that this. First, in verse 6 he says we are the called of Christ Jesus. And then, in verse 7 he says we are called as saints. So, at least twice in these two verses, he emphasizes that who we are as Christians is based on the work of another, the One who calls us. (1) Gods Call Is Not a Democratic Idea This will not move us and fill us with the gratitude and wonder and worship that it should as long as we think the way typical lovers of democracy think. As Abraham Lincoln once said, we believe in government of the people, by the people and for the people. Thats probably not a bad idea for humans governing humans. But when it gets transferred to the way God governs the world, it is a very bad idea. It creates the impression that human rights and privileges are at the center of the universe, and that the only thing that should distinguish one person from another is his own effort or intelligence or courage. Otherwise we must all be treated equally and God must do for everyone what he does for anyone. But what if the human heart is corrupt and hard and rebellious and blind and virtually dead to spiritual reality? In that case, the only thing that self-reliance can produce is more death. And the only thing that can save us from our own corruption is a divine, supernatural, powerful, awakening call from God. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. (Ephesians 4:18) If we say (in democratic fashion) that God must call everyone the same way he calls anyone, we do not yet understand how deeply sinful and rebellious and undeserving we are. If God calls anyone, it is grace, free and totally undeserved. And he is not obliged to call everyone if he calls anyone, because he does not call any on the basis of human merit or human distinctiveness. Democracy proceeds on the basis of universal human rights; but rebellious, sinful humans have absolutely no rights in relation to God. All divine condemnation is just; all divine salvation is gracious. As Romans 9:15 says, For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. And the fact that anyone is called from darkness to light is a wonder of grace. (2) God is the One Who Calls When Paul says in verse 6, You are the called of Jesus Christ, he probably doesnt mean called by Christ Jesus. He probably means, called by God into the fellowship of Christ Jesus. I say this because this is what he teaches elsewhere in Romans and his other letters. For example, in 1 Corinthians 1:9 Paul says, God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. So God calls, and the aim of the call is to put us into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. So in Romans 1:6, the phrase the called of Jesus Christ most likely means: those who are called by God to belong to Jesus Christ and enjoy fellowship with him. (3) His Call Is an Act of Grace Toward Some Sinners Another thing that needs to be shown is that this call of God into the fellowship of Jesus is given to some, not all, and that no injustice is done here because none has a right to the call. Look with me at Romans 8:28-30. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Here we see clearly that not all are called. All things do not work together for good for everyone, but only for those who are called. Then in verse 30 he says it again: And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. So again it is not everyone. The call of God, as Paul uses the term, is special and particular. Well, what is it then? Are we not to preach the gospel to everyone? Indeed we are. Jesus scattered the seed of the Word indiscriminately on every kind of soil. And Paul did exactly the same: he would come to a city and he would preach the gospel to the whole synagogue or the whole town square. He would call everyone to repent, without exception. The farmer sows the word. (Mark 4:14) In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:30) But that universal call of the gospel, which is the same as evangelism and missions, is not the call that Paul is talking about in Romans 1:6-7 and Romans 8:28-30. Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? (Romans 9:21-24) Well, what is this call – this call into the fellowship of Jesus? What is the call that enables Paul to say, Those whom he called he also justified? God does not justify everyone. But he does justify all the called. What then is this call? (4) His Call Creates What it Commands This brings us to that the saving call of God into the fellowship of his Son is effective, or effectual; it accomplishes what it calls for; it creates what it commands. The gospel is an offer to everyone that whoever sees the glory of Jesus Christ, and is drawn to him, and receives him in his beauty as his or her own precious portion in life, and trusts in this glorious Christ will be saved. Everyone who hears the gospel and believes, on the basis of this faith alone, will be justified and accepted by God. But when that gospel is preached, what is the final answer to why some believe and some do not? Why did you believe? Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:21-25. For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than mans wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than mans strength. Paul preaches indiscriminately to all – God means for every ethnic group to be reached with the gospel – all the nations, as Romans 1:5 says. As he preaches to all and offers salvation to all, most of the Jews regard a crucified Messiah as a stumbling block and reject him. And most of the gentiles regard a crucified Lord as foolishness, and they reject him. But in those two groups, among those who hear – out from them – some are called (a different call from the universal call to all). And the effect of their call is that this Christ no longer looks like a stumbling block, and no longer looks like foolishness, but rather he looks like the power and the wisdom of God. Why? Because the effectual call awakens the dead, gives sight to the spiritually blind, opens the ears of the spiritually deaf, humbles the proud, softens the hard, and brings forth faith. The call of God takes away every proud obstacle to faith and makes Christ irresistibly attractive, so that willingly, freely we believe.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 06:51:22 +0000
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