When Love Comes to Town

I was there when they crucified my Lord
I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword
I threw the dice as they pierced his side
but I've seen love conquer the great divide

Bono

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

Romans 1:16-17

Paul starts the theology of his letter to the Romans by declaring his affirmation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it's power. In the scope of Paul's letter, verses 16 and 17 serve as his thesis statement. The righteous shall live by faith. In the following verses, Paul will show how the attempts of both Jew and Gentile have failed in reaching salvation, how the law condemns men, and the role of Christ in the salvation of mankind.

First, lets look at verses 16 and 17. Paul defines the gospel as "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." It is important to note this distinguishing feature of Christianity. In every other religion, man has the power to save himself. It is with this declaration the church sets itself apart from other faiths that enslave sinful men in their attempts to please their gods. The gospel in short, has the power to save, because it is from God. This power that Paul speaks of is not the power of God in say, his omnipotence or in his creating. It is the power to overcome the sinfulness of man and bring him to repentance. One of the biggest lies in the church today is the lie that men choose to believe without the power of God intervening in their hearts. It is precisely this power to save that turns hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, that causes men to be born again, that preserves and keeps the saints from falling, and that sanctifies the believer, transforming him into the image of Christ. Many Christians believe a gospel that says man has a free will to choose Christ and all one needs to do is accept Him. If this lie were true, then the gospel would hold no power to save. The salvation of man would lie in his free ability to make a choice. This is a direct contradiction of John 6:44 and many other passages. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day." Jesus says that we cannot come to him, unless the Father draws us. Those that believe the lie of free will would say that the Father draws all men, but that is foolishness. Many are called, but few are chosen. If the Father drew all men, then is He powerless to save, since not all believe? What is his purpose in drawing men if He doesn't also give them the gift of faith and repentance? It is this power that Paul refers to. The power of God, to bring those in the dark into the light. So why is this power necessary, you may ask? Why can't man freely choose to follow Christ? Paul answers that question in Romans 8:7-8. "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." It is this power of the gospel that stands in opposition to the power of man. Man is powerless to save himself. We can't be good enough to stand in front of God's holiness. Left to ourselves, we are hostile to God. Note that Paul says the natural man is incapable of pleasing God. Your works are like menstrual rags to God. This includes "accepting Christ" as your personal savior. The ultimate way to please God is to believe in His Son and we are helpless without God's power.

Paul notes that this power came to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. Many believers exalt Israel and the Jews as God's special children, yet God is not in the business of dividing but unifying His people. True, it was to the Jews that God gave the covenants, the law, the land, the prophets, and the promises. It was from them that Christ came and that salvation came to Judea, Samaria, and all the earth. Here, Paul makes no distinction between the two, for in God's saving power, there is only one way to Him, and that is through the provision of His Son.

It is this power, that Paul marvels, and boasts in. Those that are wolves in sheep's clothing, leading the church astray, are ashamed of the gospel because they refuse to preach the gospel. Not only are they ashamed to preach it, they are ashamed to submit to it, living a lie, preaching a false gospel for worldly gain. The power of the gospel should never elicit a spirit of fear, yet these cowardly preachers are not the only ones that are ashamed. It has become a popular thing to ridicule Christianity and believers live in fear of being viewed as intolerant or uncool. Paul was not worried about being viewed as intolerant or uncool. To be shunned was a badge of honor; persecuted, a crown of gold; martyred, being glorified to the highest. How dare we be ashamed of the power of God to save!

In verse 17, Paul transitions to the details of the power of God to save. It is righteousness from faith. As said earlier, the natural man is incapable of pleasing God. Sin has spiritually killed men, enslaving them to it's powers, making them hostile to God, and condemned in His sight. All are guilty because all have fallen short of the glory of God. In Romans 6:23, Paul says "the wages of sin are death." Our wage for all our work is death. The gospel and its power has saved men by making them alive and then bestowing upon them the power of the Holy Spirit, to believe and repent, and then counting them righteous. This gift of righteousness was secured by Jesus Christ's death and resurrection and is given to all who believe. It is the power of God to predestine sons in the image of the firstborn, Christ, the power of the firstborn to pay the penalty incurred by those God predestined, and the power of the Holy Spirit to turn their hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, and to call them into faith. And it is by this faith, that we are imputed as righteous. By imputation and reputation, Christ is the chief of all sinners because he bore our sin. By imputation, we are counted righteous and are then justified before God because we bear Christ's blood. What man could not do on His own, God did for us and is revealed in the life of the church.

When You Got A Good Friend

When you got a good friend that will stay right by your side.
When you got a good friend that will stay right by your side
Give her all of your spare time love and treat her right

Robert Johnson

11For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— ¹²that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.¹³I want you to know, 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. ¹⁵So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Romans 1:11-15

The passage here show us a few things about what it means to live in Christ within the community of His church. I have often heard people say that the way to Christ does not involve the church. Many have been burned by other christians, myself included, yet that is no excuse to disassociate with the church, for Christ and the church are one. You cannot live a life of faith that is pleasing to God without living among and in fellowship with His holy church. I recently had a friend tell me that he didn't need church. He never told me why he didn't need it, but he did tell me that if he couldn't figure things out on his own, then he considered himself a failure. Oh, how more wrong he could be. He has already failed! In taking that step of faith, he has done it without Christ, for had he made a step of faith with Christ, he would love what Christ loves.1 Paul sees that the gospel is bound by community with Christ's followers which is why his faith is strengthened when he is around God's people.

As a pastor, Paul longs to minister to God's people. Note, he doesn't say he longs to see Rome or anyone else. He longs to see the christians of Rome, and this longing is prompted by love. As Martin Luther states, "The same longing is found in every faithful shepherd who does not seek what the sheep possess, but seeks only the sheep themselves; and this desire is prompted solely by love." By his own example he shows us the motivations of brotherly love in Christ and this should motivate our thinking and desires when we seek fellowship with the body of Christ.

The spiritual gift that Paul speaks of imparting is not a functional gift as we would find in 1 Corinthians 12. Rather, it is the exercising of a functional gift and the benefits received in relation to ministry. We all have gifts that God has given us to strengthen the body of Christ. It is our duty to exercise these gifts in love and not in any form of carnality that would lead to self promotion. One thing that must be stated in regards to spiritual gifts. They were given to strengthen, to sharpen, and to exhort believers. Their use in any other capacity, such as speaking tongues without an interpreter, are a perversion and misuse of the gift. Paul is clear that he seeks to impart this gift to strengthen the believers in Rome. By doing so, he strengthens his own faith, because as the Proverb states, "Iron sharpens iron."2

In verses 13-15, Paul states his intent to come to Rome and the prevention of his coming. We can presume that he was ultimately prevented from going to Rome by God, for we know from Acts and this letter, that Paul felt his ministry leading him to Rome. Often, our ideas of what we want to do and where we want to go are not God's. Instead of being frustrated, Paul exemplifies godly patience, in waiting for the Lord. We are commanded numerous times to 'wait on the Lord.' It is in our nature not to wait, to bite back at God, and demand that He give us what we think we need. Our culture brainwashes us into thinking we are far more important than we really are. We are bombarded with messages that tell us to have it our way and that our desires should be acted on. This impulsiveness did not plague Paul and it should not plague us. Though Paul felt obligated to preach Christ and to reap a harvest among the gentiles, Paul knew his place in God's kingdom and knew that all the works of his hands are frivolous wastes of time without first waiting on direction from the Lord.

Paul's obligation to preach is bound in his debt. He is indebted to Christ to minister to Jew and Gentile alike. We, too, are obliged to preach the gospel to both believer and non-believer alike, for we too are indebted to Christ. This preaching of the gospel refers to so much more than how we use are words. We see in the passage that Paul equates ministering and preaching to imparting of spiritual gifts in order to strengthen. His example not only shows the Romans of his sincerity in coming to them, but serves to show us how we are to serve one another, with humility and love. And with this powerful statement, Paul closes his introduction to the Roman church.

1.Ephesians 5:25-27

2. Proverbs 27:17

As Ugly As I Seem

I am as ugly as I seem
Worse than all your dreams
Could ever make me out to be
And it makes me want to scream

Jack White

8First, 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 ¹⁰always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

Romans 1:8-10

The mark of true Christian joy is to first and foremost, praise God for the good that we see in others and to rejoice with them. As Christians, when we receive praise, we should quickly redirect praise to God, for it is from God that all good things flow and from Him we bear fruit that is pleasing. Nowhere in scripture is this more explicit than in John 3:21. "But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." We know that no good comes from ourselves which is why we have no reason to boast. News of the faith of the Roman church had spread throughout the empire and Paul sees the sovereign work of God in bringing His people into the light. Martin Luther states, "Christian love manifests itself in this, that it rejoices at every good thing that it sees in others, especially in their spiritual blessings, and thanks God for them." Oh, how I have envied everything from material possessions to spiritual blessings from both my brothers and sisters in Christ to those that do not believe. Oh, how I have envied attention and praise from mortal men. Father, forgive us all for seeking the glory of men and comparing ourselves to others, for taking our eyes off the goodness You have bestowed to us and desired what others have. May we live like Paul, who though he did not plant the Roman church or disciple its leaders, saw fit to praise You for your glory and rejoice with them. Help me to rejoice in my brother's good news and like Paul, let my rejoicing glorify You and inspire my brother to continue to press on in faith, toward You.

The mark of true Christian witness is a life of prayer and intercession without ceasing. Just as Christ is interceding for us on our behalf, so we must intercede for our brothers and sisters, our natural families, and for the lost. We are to pray for the good of all because of the love of Christ that seeks the good of all. How often does the bulk of our time in prayer focus on ourselves? How often do we pray small minded materialistic prayers? How often do our prayers get lost in the recesses of our mind as we lose focus on the task at hand? Prayer is not something to be taken lightly. Jesus often snuck away to a place of solitude to pray for hours at a time. What keeps us from practicing this? I find myself thinking all sorts of things, from checking off my to do list to wondering what's for dinner, when I pray. Oh, to be like the Apostle Paul, that I would value the art of prayer and intercede for those that most desperately need intercession instead of worrying about myself and my temporal desires! When looking at myself in the mirror of God's holiness, any reason I thought I had to boast is exposed and I see the desperate sinner that I am. I am reminded of the lyric from the Caedmon's Call song, My Calm/Your Storm: "I wanna kill this thief that steals life from me and kill myself, the Pharisee." Let us all look in the mirror and the ugliness that we see, let that draw us all the more fervently to our Redeemed Lord, Jesus Christ, who has saved us from this ugliness and like Paul and the Roman Church, let our faith not only be a light to our brothers and sisters, that we are rejoicing with and interceding for, but also to a lost world that does not have the hope we have in Christ.