| | Every 8 weeks or so, on Sunday morning, Claire (who is 17 today!) and I lead a little service at a local retirement home. So here's what they get this Sunday... Romans 1: 1 When we think about the Apostle Paul, we tend to think of him as a great church leader, the author of several books in the New Testament, a great intellectual, a great organizer and founder of the early church. But Paul speaks of himself, not in such grand terms, but rather as a slave. Paul begins his letter to the Roman church by referring to himself as a slave of Christ Jesus. Paul began his career as a slave of Jesus somewhat late in his life. He had begun his life with the name Saul; he was named after the great king Saul, the first king of Israel. Like King Saul, the apostle Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin. Also like King Saul, the apostle Paul began his life as a most promising candidate for a prestigious career as a leader in the Jewish nation. Born to a good family, educated by the best teachers, Paul was "extracted" from his Jewish career by the Lord Jesus Christ himself when that bright light blinded him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). Pulled out of his life, his career, his religion, his family; Saul became Paul. Where King Saul would not submit to God’s judgment on his sin, this Saul did repent, giving up his life work for the Son of David. Where King Saul would not give up his kingdom for God’s anointed David, this Saul did give up his career hopes in Judaism for the sake of God’s anointed Messiah, the Son of David. The promising young Jewish leader died to his old life and was born again. Beginning with his new name, Paul had to start again with a new perspective on not only his life; he began again with a new perspective on his whole world. Paul, who began as Saul the Pharisee, is representative of the nation of Israel both in his early life and also in his re-birth as Paul the Apostle. How is Paul representative of Israel? The Jewish nation began when God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham was the first father of Israel. Like Paul, Abraham was given a new name (no longer Abram) and a new perspective, a new mission. He wasn’t merely to herd sheep and dig wells and be a father to his children; God gave Abraham a long-term perspective, outside of himself, that he would be father of a multitude; that through his Seed all the nations of the world would be blessed. Abraham was "extracted" from his Mesopotamian life to start over with a new nation. Israel was founded by God with a purpose; to bless all the nations through the promised Seed. Likewise, Paul was "extracted" from the ingrown nation of Israel near the beginning of the new nation which is the church, the new Israel. We now know that the promised Seed of Abraham was Jesus--the Jews 2,000 years ago only knew that they were waiting for the Messiah. But it seems as if they had lost sight of their God-given purpose; forgotten what the Messiah was supposed to do, to bless all the nations of the world, not only Israel. In fact, when Jesus, the promised Seed, the Messiah, came to them, the Jews didn’t recognize him. And the thought of blessing all the nations of the world would have seemed very foreign to those Jews; they thought of the Gentiles as inferior races, like human cattle. This is what Saul the Pharisee was like, I think. He was a leader of the Jews, but he was leading them into themselves, not out into the world. God had called the nation of Israel into being with an outward-directed calling, but they had become inwardly-directed. The Jews were more concerned with their culture, their land, their customs than with blessing the nations of the world. The Jews couldn’t see that Jesus was calling them to participate in the church, as the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, to bless the nations. In fact, they saw the nascent chuch as a threat to their nation, a heresy to their religion. In a way, the early church truly was a threat to Israel; it was in fact a new Israel, being pulled out of the old Israel. Just as Paul and Abraham were pulled from their families and careers to a higher calling, and Israel the nation was pulled out of the older Chaldean nation, the early church, the new Israel, was being pulled out of the old Israel to a higher calling. This higher calling was the original purpose of God’s promise to Abraham; to bless all the nations of the world. The gospel was not only for Jews; it was for all the peoples of the world. And so, on the road to Damascus, when Jesus called him, Paul had to turn away from his old career, from the strong tradition of Israel-ism, to begin again as a slave of the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. Paul had to admit that he had been going in the wrong direction, he had to let go of all that he thought he had accomplished. As a slave of Christ Jesus, he was given a new job; he was sent outward, to the Gentiles rather than inward, to the Jews. The gospel was sent first to the Jews, by the ministries of Jesus, Peter and James. With Paul began the fulfilment of the ancient promise to Abraham, the blessing of all the nations of the world. And so in the first line of the letter to the Romans, Paul makes it clear that: First, he has given up his old name, calling and career. Second, he has started at the bottom in his new career, as a slave of Jesus. Third, that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed, the Messiah, the hope of Israel. Fourth, that as an apostle, Paul is sent forth by Jesus. Sent to do the work to which Abraham looked forward in faith, which King Saul and the nation of Israel had forgotten about, which Jesus died to bring to birth, the work of the church, declaring the good news, the gospel of God. And what is this gospel, this good news? Verse 16 tells us the gospel is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek". Salvation means much more than angel wings and a harp. Salvation means life, health, and blessing from the Lord. This gospel, this salvation, is the same blessing Abraham looked forward to in faith. The Seed of Abraham, Jesus, gives salvation, life and blessing to all the nations of the world. In the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed; He is true to His promise. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; out from the faith of Abraham into the faith of the Church. Out from the death of Adam’s sin into the new life we the church have in Christ, the new Adam. Out from the Jewish nation into the whole world. The righteousness of God is revealed in the person of Jesus. And we partake of Jesus’ righteousness by faith: "The righteous shall live by faith", or as a footnote reads, "The one who by faith is righteous shall live." Our salvation is in Jesus; we need Jesus to extract us from our old life, just like He extracted Paul on the Damascus road. We come to Christ as his slaves, like little children, with empty hands. Our salvation is by faith. Our faith is the gift of God to us, not our gift to Him (Ephesians 2:8). Our faith results in righteousness. Our righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, again, a gift of God to us, not our gift to God. This saving Christ-righteousness is the plant that grows up from the seed of faith which is planted in us by God. As Paul wrote in another letter, "Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!" (2 Cor. 9:15). |
