I want to take you into the mind of the Apostle Paul. We have this refreshing, life-giving gospel. In Romans 1:16 the Apostle Paul says, “I’m not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” In Romans 1:15 he says, “I’m eager to preach the gospel!” When it comes to preaching the gospel, are you eager? Are you unashamed? Are you enthusiastic? Are you adventurous and bold? Are you doing something with Jesus, and for Jesus? Paul wasn’t content “being refreshed” by the gospel—he set about preaching, and refreshing others with the gospel.
I mean consider how Paul identifies himself in Romans 1:1. He introduces himself as “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.” Part of our identity is we get to decide who our life revolves around. Are you someone who is always looking to your own interests, or to the interests of Christ Jesus?
Paul tells us he’s been called to be an apostle. Apostle means “you’ve been sent!” How do you view your life? Do you believe God has a purpose for your life? Do you believe God is not only calling you by his gospel, but also sending you into the world to serve a higher purpose? And how do you see yourself in relationship to others? Do you see the people around you as “chance encounters” or do you see every conversation as a “divine appointment?” What does Paul mean he has been “set apart for the gospel?” Is that only something God does for special people, or has maybe God set you and me apart as well?
What I find remarkable is that by the time we get to Romans 10, Paul begins to flip the script on the church. All of you are God’s servants. All of you are being sent. Paul’s argument goes like this… Romans 10:9-10, “If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It’s with your heart that you believe and are justified; it’s with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” If this is how a person gets saved, then who all can be saved?
Romans 10:11-13, “As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame… the Lord richly blesses everyone who calls on him… Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” The door stands open to anyone who believes, anyone who calls on Jesus, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Romans 1:16, “the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 1 Timothy 2:4, “God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
So if that’s true, what’s keeping people from being saved? One thing that keeps being from being saved is Romans 10:14-15, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Who is Paul talking about? He’s talking about the church! He’s talking about you and me! He’s saying our preaching is one of the missing links to salvation. If we’re not willing to be sent. If we’re not willing to be called and to preach. If we’re not willing to engage… how can people ever believe? This is why at the end of his earthly ministry Jesus said, “Go and preach the gospel to every creature on the earth”
Let me ask. What scares you more? That your life matters, or that your life doesn’t matter? That your life is “eternally” relevant, or that your life is “insignificant and inconsequential?” What kind of work excites you more? Work that perishes, and matters not. Or work that really matters and stands for all eternity?
This past week I had to go to the DMV. Everyone loves going to the DMV. “Next. Next. Next.” I brought books to read while I waited. They need to get those shirts like they have over at Texas Roadhouse that say, “I love my job!” But actually I was quite impressed, there was zero waiting! What’s going on Springfield!
I wonder if you’ve ever felt you were in a go no-where job, stuck in go no-where life, stamping paper work, “next, next, next.” But what if you saw every “next” through God’s eyes? What if you saw every person you encountered through gospel lenses? What if you saw every person as a divine appointment? What if you were excited by the prospect that one more person might believe and call on the name of the Lord… because of you! What if you saw yourself as the missing link… not between apes and mankind… but between mankind and God? Maybe we get bored and transactional in relationships because we’ve missed God’s purpose for relationships!
Paul isn’t mincing words here. We must preach, every single one of us, it matters! But notice something else Paul calls our attention to. Romans 10:17-18, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ… but I ask, did some just not hear? Of course they did!” Romans 10:19-21… Did some just not understand? Did some just never seek out God? Did God’s patience run out on some folks? Is that why they weren’t saved? No, No, No. God isn’t ever to blame. Romans 10:20, God reveals himself to people all the time, even though they don’t seek him. Romans 10:21, God holds out his hands all day long to people, even though they are disobedient and obstinate. It’s painful to watch, but despite all God does, and all we do, people (like Israel) still may resist our message!
About a week before my Dad died, he was up late one night on Facebook, and we started messaging. It was late, and dad couldn’t sleep. He was blaming himself because all of us kids believe in Jesus except my brother. I want to say this very clearly. It’s never God’s fault, I believe he gives everyone ample opportunity to believe. Parents, it’s not always your fault either. If God can have his hands slapped away, it stands to reason, you can have your hands slapped away too. The most you can do is create opportunities for our children to believe—you can reveal God even to those who do not seek him or ask for him. But you can’t make your child believe. You can have great sorrow. You can be filled with anguish. You can wish yourself accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of your children, those of your flesh and blood. Like Paul, you can pray to God for your children to be saved. But you cannot coerce them. This is what Romans 9-11 is actually about. Some people despite all their privileges, despite all God does, despite all the preaching in the world… are simply stubborn and disobedient. God didn’t reject them, they rejected God. As we will see next week in Romans 11… God hasn’t given up on them, neither should we.
I want to end with four practical suggestions about how preaching actually works, in the real world.
First, to preach we must CARE.
How did Paul feel about the plight of the lost? He was filled with sorrow. He agonized. He wept. He prayed night and day. He lost sleep. I think of Philippians 3:18-19 where Paul writes, “For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.” Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. We should never allow ourselves to become calloused, and ambivalent, about our mission!
Second, to preach we must CONNECT.
Great preaching never happens in a vacuum. Some years back I led a young father to Christ. It all happened naturally. I’d meet him for coffee, I’d visit him at his workplace, we went out fishing a dozen times, and eventually he came to know the Lord. After he confessed Christ, he became quite zealous for the Lord. We would be out on the lake at night and he’d say, “Jon, look at those guys over there putting their boat in the water. Go tell them about Jesus.” He got discouraged because no way was I going to walk up on strangers and drop a Jesus bomb on them. I’m not saying it can’t work, I’m just saying it almost never does. I’ve chopped down trees, mowed lawns, ridden in combines, built websites, fixed computers, gone fishing, repeatedly subjected myself to caffeine comas… all to build relationships for the sake of the gospel.
Third, to preach we must CULTIVATE.
Contrary to popular belief, great preaching begins with listening not talking. Look no further than the book of Romans. In Romans Paul is trying to share the message of Christ with Ethnic Jews. But everything he writes in response to an invisible, unknown questioner.
Paul why are you so eager to preach? What is the gospel? Who is Jesus? Why does he matter? Why do Gentiles need Christ? Why do Jews need Christ just as much as Gentiles? How can a person be saved? If a person can be saved by faith, what was the purpose of the law? Is the law sinful? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? If God is for us, who can be against us? If Israel was God’s chosen people, why did they reject Christ? Did God’s word fail? Did God reject his people? Is God unjust, saving Gentiles instead of Jews? Did they stumble beyond recovery?
A lot of times we’re answering questions nobody is asking. If we’re to be effective sharing the message of Jesus, we need to start with where people are at. Learn to ask better questions. “What keeps you up at night? What do you think? What do you believe? Why do you feel that way? What do you want to know?”
Fourth, to preach we must CALL.
There comes a logical point when we must call people to obey the gospel message. In Romans 1:5-6 Paul says, “Through Jesus Christ we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” Romans 10:13, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:14-15, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
God does the sending, we do the preaching. I’d like to say one final thing about preaching. It’s not enough to be zealous, to be religious enthusiasts. In Romans 10:2 Paul talks about how the Jews were zealous, but didn’t have any knowledge. I’ve been to churches, and camps, and conferences that use lights, glitz, smoke machines, electric guitars, and Christian chicks and babes, and emotional appeals. . .
At the end of the day we need to make sure we’re calling people to Christ, and that we’ve preached Christ well, and that he’s the center of all this. Zeal doesn’t save us. Enthusiasm doesn’t save us. The words in our mouth, and the words we believe in our heart, is what saves us. Let’s make sure we’re holding out Christ okay?
[Read Romans 1:1-6]