Sermon for May 19

Romans 1:1-17

 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,  which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 

the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 

To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. 

For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God's will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, 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 I have among the rest of the Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous will live by faith."

The message

During the past 2 weeks, we heard readings from the Book of Acts.  The full name of the book is the Acts of the Apostles and that pretty much tells us what it is.  It tells the story of the Holy Spirit guided, Holy Spirit listened to, Holy Spirit centered actions of Jesus first followers in the years after his death, resurrection and ascension. It is the Holy Spirit that prompts and gives Peter the words on the first Pentecost, the preaching that leads to

 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers,^[i] what should we do?” ³⁸ Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” ⁴⁰ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. ⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Acts isn’t just all preaching, teaching and success. It is the story of how a group of imperfect people go into the world to show the others the tomb is empty, to tell the others Christ is Risen, to baptize all nations in the name of the father, son and holy spirit and to teach what Jesus taught through their lives, words and actions. The main characters include Peter, James and the apostles (excluding Judas who betrayed Jesus and then hung himself). These are the people who started following Jesus in the beginning, who were called from their work as fisherman and tax collectors and other jobs for something much more important. They see Jesus heal, teach, cure, calm the storms, multiply food and welcome all people.   There are also new believers in Acts, people like Barnabas who travels with Paul on missionary journeys and Lydia, who is baptized, instructed in the new faith and then runs the church in her home in Corinth.  Throughout Acts, one of the major tensions is “do you need to convert to Judiasm, keep the law, learn the rituals, observe the sabbath and dietary laws, before being Baptized and part of the church.  This is part of a larger struggle to understand what is the power of the Gospel,  who and how are we saved. What does Christ is Risen mean for us, for our neighbors, just how world changing is it. (turns out to be an amazing amount).     

Today, we jump ahead a number of years and we start Paul’s Letter to the Romans, a letter he writes to the church in Rome.  This is the only church Paul writes to that he did not plant, start, teach or even know the members of.  It is probably the last letter that Paul writes and it is his most refined theology, his summary of what the gospel of salvation through Christ means,an appeal for prayer and support and an exhortation for holy, Gospel living. Paul also dedicates several chapters to divisions in the church there.  Rome was a divided church, started by Jewish believers, who were exiled. The church is continued by Gentiles and then when the Jews are allowed back into Rome, there is conflict between the 2 groups.  (same today, we started it, well we grew and cared for it in the hard years, yeah but we were here first and forced out, not our fault, well what about us). 

It is a standard ancient letter, with introduction, points, arguments, supporting evidence and addressing possible counter arguments. We hear some of Paul’s conclusions in these opening verses, statements he will explain and defend throughout the rest of the letter. In terms of the question that filled acts, who and how is some saved, by the law, by good works, by Jesus  Paul answers.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written in the book of the prophet Habbakuk, "The one who is righteous will live by faith."

This might sound familiar to some of you who remember your conformation, small catechism, Lutheran classes of all kinds. This is faith alone, sola fide, These 2 verses, Romans 1:16-17 are what starts the Reformation, where Luther finds the answers to his struggles with knowing forgiveness  and  dissatisfaction with the church.   In 1515-1516, Luther was lecturing on Paul’s letter to the Romans. He was also personally struggling with the question “how can I know I am forgiven, I am saved, I am not going to hell”.  The sacrament of Confession and Penance weren’t cutting it for him (and many others). You can’t just say “well this sucks” without an explanation and an alternative. He finds the explanation and alternative in those verses.  In Luther’s preface to the Book of Romans, he explains what faith is and how it saves.   

  Faith is not that human illusion and dream that some people think it is. When they hear and talk a lot about faith and yet see that no moral improvement and no good works result from it, they fall into error and say, "Faith is not enough. You must do works if you want to be virtuous and get to heaven." The result is that, when they hear the Gospel, they stumble and make for themselves with their own powers a concept in their hearts which says, "I believe." This concept they hold to be true faith. But since it is a human fabrication and thought and not an experience of the heart, it accomplishes nothing, and there follows no improvement.

Faith is a work of God in us, which changes us and brings us to birth anew from God (cf. John 1). It kills the old Adam, makes us completely different people in heart, mind, senses, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it. What a living, creative, active powerful thing is faith! It is impossible that faith ever stop doing good. Faith doesn't ask whether good works are to be done, but, before it is asked, it has done them. It is always active. Whoever doesn't do such works is without faith; he gropes and searches about him for faith and good works but doesn't know what faith or good works are. Even so, he chatters on with a great many words about faith and good works.

Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God's grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God's grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire. Therefore be on guard against your own false ideas and against the chatterers who think they are clever enough to make judgements about faith and good works but who are in reality the biggest fools. Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain eternally without faith, no matter what you try to do or fabricate.