The Dynamics Of An Effective Church
Title: The Dynamics Of An Effective Church
Part: 3 of 27 Romans Series
Reading: Romans 1:7-17
Good to see you this morning. And if you have a Bible with you, I'm going to read some verses from Romans chapter one. I'm going to read from Romans 1:7-17. Paul writes,
"To all in Rome, who are loved by God and called to be saints: grace and peace to you from God, the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times. And I pray that now at last, by God's will, the way may be opened for me to come to you. I longed to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong. That is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you, but have been prevented from doing so until now, in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I've had among the other Gentiles. I'm obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I'm so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”
That's as far as we're going to read. And I want to talk to you this morning about what I'm calling the dynamics of an effective church. Paul is writing to this church in Rome. He's introduced himself. He's introduced his message, and now he introduces the church to whom he's writing. And there's some very impressive things that he mentions about the church in Rome, for instance, in Romans 1:8.
He says, "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is being reported all over the world." In other words, says Paul, you are world famous for your faith. That is for your trust in God, your dependency on God.
At the end of the letter in Romans 16:19, he says, "Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I'm full of joy for you." You're not just famous for your faith in God, but everybody knows about your obedience to God. Now let me tell you, you can't get much better than being well-known for those two things. Your faith in God and your obedience to God. Now I want to talk about this, and I want to talk about these dynamics we're going to look at this morning that make for an effective church.
But I want to begin by being honest and recognizing that some of us struggle with the church. Jesus Christ is OK. You love him. But the church is a different matter, and it may well be some of you watching on television right now are at home this morning. You're not in a place of worship, don't anticipate being there because you've been hurt or you feel your needs are not being met. And so you're seeking to live as a Lone Ranger Christian. But I want to tell you, it doesn't actually work, and I'll tell you why this morning.
You see, there are lots of frustrations that we do experience. I know that. There was once a Russian soldier who was wounded and ordered to go to a military hospital for treatment, and when he arrived at the large and imposing building, there were two doors, one said for the ‘slightly wounded.’ The other said for the ‘seriously wounded.’ So he went to the first door and found himself in a long corridor; at the end of the corridor there were two doors again; one said, ‘for officers,’ one said, ‘for non-officers.’ So he took the second door, went through that, found another long corridor; at the end of that corridor, another two doors, one said ‘for party members,’ one said for ‘non-party members.’ He went to the second door and found himself back on the street. When he got home his mother said to him, "How did you get on at the hospital?" He said, "Well, mother, to tell you the truth, the people didn't really do anything for me, but you ought to see the way they organize themselves."
And I think sometimes for some people, their experience of the church has become a little like that. Lots of things going on. Lots of programs. Lots of organization. But you feel like you’re going through a revolving door. And so what? What difference is it making to me? Well, let me tell you some of the differences it needs to make and potentially will make, because there are three things I want to pick out from these verses that Paul says about the church in Rome. Firstly, he tells them they are called to be saints in Romans 1:7. We'll talk about that. Secondly, Romans 1:8-11, he tells them they're called to be spiritual. We'll talk about what that means. Thirdly, in verse Romans 1:12-16, they're called to be servants.
Now, first of all then they're called to be saints. You see, it says in Romans 1:7, "To all in Rome, who are loved by God and called to be saints." Now let me clarify what that means because the word saint has been hijacked by some of the historic churches and becomes a designation for the heroes from the past. And so we have people like Saint Patrick and Saint George and Saint Stephen.
And of course, all the New Testament characters get included. So Saint Paul and Saint John and Saint Matthew and Saint James and so on. Usually, to qualify, they've had to have been dead for a long while, and then they get their portraits put into a stained-glass window and a halo above their heads. And that's what we call a saint. But that's not so in the Bible. Every Christian, according to the New Testament, is a saint. You see the word translated 'saint' here is the word 'hagios' in the Greek, and I'll tell you why I'm mentioning that because it occurs in three contexts. When this word is a noun, it's translated 'saint.' When this word as an adjective, a descriptive word, it's translated 'holy.' When it is a verb, an active word, it is translated 'sanctify.' And I want to talk about those three meanings of this one word.
First of all, as a noun, as a name, they're called 'saints.' Now, some of us think that to be a Saint means to be saintly and to be saintly normally means to be old, to be very nice, to walk as though you're six inches above the ground, normally have white hair and you kind of have a nice smile on your face. And that is what makes you saintly, a little bit above the rest of us. But that isn't what it means. When you become a Christian, you go through a change of identity. You used to be called a sinner, but now you're called a saint. And what turns a sinner into a saint is a saviour. You see prior to becoming a Christian, by a sinner, it means you miss the mark. That's what the word means. You've come short of the target, the glory of God, as Paul explains later in Romans, and what the Saviour does when he saves you is transfers the sinner into being a saint. He takes the sinner, cleanses him of his sin, covers him with his own righteousness and gives them a new identity.
You're a saint. Now, when the church officially makes a Saint, it's actually a very different process, there are actually five stages in making a Saint. First of all, normally the church hierarchy nominates somebody great and good who has usually died by the time they get around to nominating them, and they say this person is worthy of being designated a Saint. And the second thing they do is they form a committee, and the purpose of that committee is to find out everything bad they possibly can about this person. And the chairman of that committee is called the Advocatus Diaboli, which means the Devil's Advocate. And so they meet together. I know some people who would love this kind of committee - and they find out what's wrong with this person and they lay it on the table. And then when they've done their work, the third stage is another committee meets and this committee meets to find out everything that's good about the person. Not only good, but to be a Saint there are certain prerequisites. You have to have some kind of miracle associated with you or with your relics. And so they get all the information they can get together about any healings that may have taken place or any miracles that have taken place. And then the fourth stage is they have a trial and the first committee where the Advocatus Diaboli stands up and says, "This man is rotten, this woman is terrible" and tells you why. And they sift through the evidence.
OK, now the other committee, they tell you what's wonderful about this person, and all the evidences that they have for the good things and the great things that took place in their lives. And then when that trial concludes, if they conclude, if we think that the people who see the good side have got it right, then they go through the process, which is called beatification, which means you're now out of the normal run of the mill. You're not quite a Saint yet. And then everybody on that committee who made that decision dies, gets buried, and when everybody's died who knew anything about them, they bring it up again. Usually 100 years or so later, they discuss the whole thing again and they say, "Yeah, I think they were right last century when they made this decision," and so then they go through the fifth process, which is what they call canonization, and they declare the person as a Saint.
And then they do certain things. If it's Reg for instance, if they're going to do this to Reg, eventually they'll designate him Saint Reginald. Then they'll find a day in the calendar that has got a few gaps in it and they'll say, this is Saint Reginald's Day. And they'll build a church called Saint Reginald's Church, or whatever else you see around the place. Well, let me tell you, that has nothing to do with the New Testament saint. I'm sorry, but it doesn't. And if it did, most of us wouldn't qualify. The first committee would win hands down with me, and they would throw me out of court right away. But in the New Testament, every true Christian, and by that, I mean, everybody who has recognized their sin, recognized their need, has come to God in true repentance, has been cleansed of their sin and in dwelt by the Holy Spirit, is declared a saint. Paul does not write and say "this is from Saint Paul to all the ordinary Christians in Rome." He says, "this is from Paul to all the saints in Rome." Every one of us here this morning, if you are a Christian, is a saint.
I heard about a church once where at the point where everybody greets each other, the pastor said to them, turn around and greet everybody and address them as saint. So you turn to Saint Timothy, you turn to Saint Gerard, you turn to Saint Mary, you turn to Saint Reg. So everybody started to do this, and one guy left his seat and left the church and an usher followed him, and said, "are you alright," he said, "I'm not staying there," he said, "why not?” he said, "my name is Bernard." Well, whatever your name, you're a saint if you belong to Jesus Christ.
Now, the same word, when it's an adjective is translated as 'holy' and the word holy, as the word saint, literally means to be set apart. In the Old Testament scriptures it's used mainly to describe buildings and possessions. The Nation of Israel; talks about the temple as being holy. There's the holy of holies in the temple, the place the High Priest approached once a year with blood. God was there and it was set apart. Tithes were given were described as holy, the first fruit of the land. 10% was already set apart for God. That's the minimum of being holy. The Levites were a tribe who were set apart. They were holy. But in the New Testament, the word holy is used almost exclusively of either God and in particular, his spirit, the Holy Spirit, and a people. Paul says to the Romans in Romans 12:1, "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God," that is, set apart exclusively to God.
And it talks in the New Testament about certain parts of your body. For instance, it talks about holding up holy hands. That doesn't that mean you wash them first. It means that they are set apart to God, your hands. Therefore, your work is set apart to God. It talks about kissing one another with a holy kiss, whatever that means. Somebody said one day, "What's the difference between a holy kiss and a normal kiss?" The answer is about three minutes.
Now, that is, to be holy is to be set apart. You see, being a holy person is not being a goody goody and somehow abnormal. By definition, the difference a holy person and an unholy person is the holy person understands themselves as being set apart to Jesus Christ exclusively, for his interest, for his purposes, for his agenda. Whereas the unholy Christian sees themselves as available to whatever attracts their attention at the time. That's what makes a person holy. That every day our attitude to life is "I'm set apart to Jesus Christ, what is his business today? What is his interest today, what pleases him today?" That's the criteria by which we live holy lives. Now you can be designated as saint, but fail to be the saint that you are by failing to live a holy life. Because it's the holiness, the set apart that demonstrates our saintliness.
The third way this word can be used is as a verb. And there it means to sanctify. Now this word sanctify, it's an active word. Don't be too nervous about it. All it means simply is to be set apart for the purpose for which it was created. For instance, if I write with this pen, this pen is being sanctified, that's what it was made for. If I stir my coffee with this pen, it is not being sanctified. That isn't what it is made for. And so to be sanctified is to be set apart for the purpose for which we were created. That's why Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, "It's God's will that you should be sanctified and that you should avoid sexual immorality." Why does he say that? Because in 1 Corinthians 6:13, he says, "the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body." He says if you're going to be sanctified, that is, you're going to be holy, that is, you're going to be the saint you have been declared to be, you're not involved in sexual immorality, because that is not what you are made for.
Now, of course, you can get involved in that and you can enjoy it. I can stir my coffee with this pen and my coffee tastes good, first cup, but then what happens when the ink begins to melt? You see, however you live, set apart any other way than set apart for the purpose which your creator intended for you, you'll end up damaged. And you see being a saint, as Paul designates these Christians, means, as far as that description is concerned, they are wholly set apart, as far as their activity is concerned, they are sanctified. They are living lives set apart for the purpose for which God created them and therefore to be a saint and to
understand what it means to be a saint is to be someone who has discovered who they really are and what their life is really about. So he says you're called to be saints. Now what makes us a saint? How do we live as saints?
Well, there are three things that he says in Romans 1:7 that we'll look at very quickly. First of all, "to all in Rome, who are loved by God and called to be saints." The first thing he says, they're loved by God. Someone who is living as a saint knows they're loved by God. Now you say to me, "Isn't everyone loved by God?" And the answer to that is yes. God so loved the world, we are told. That includes every single person. But there's a difference between being loved, and experiencing and enjoying that love, that love relationship. You see, a teenager might fall in love with a pop singer, stick their photographs all over their bedroom wall, drool at the mouth when they're looking at them or listening to their music. But the singer hasn't got a clue, doesn't know anything about it, it means nothing to them at all. Because there's no reciprocation. And although somebody can be loved, they will never experience and enjoy that love until there's a reciprocation and a relationship that grows because of that. You see John says in John 14. Sorry, Jesus said in John 14:21, "He who loves me will be loved by my father. And I, too, will love him and show myself to him."
Does that mean if you don't love God, he doesn't love you? I mean, that's a kind of playground love, isn't it? "If you're my friend, I'll be your friend, if you're not my friend, I'm not going to be your friend." Now God isn't like that, but when he says, "he who loves me will be loved by my father and I too will love him," meaning that when you love me, says Jesus, you begin to enjoy the reciprocating of that relationship and you begin to enjoy being loved and experience being loved by my father, and I, too, will love you.
John 14:23, Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he'll obey my teaching and my father will love him, and we'll come and make our home with him." It's a reciprocating relationship. You see, that is why the church is described in the New Testament (as one of the images describing the church) as the Bride of Christ. Christ is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. Now, in describing them as bride and bridegroom, he's talking about a wedding event. And in a wedding, of course, the couple are deeply in love, and there's a wonderful sense of that relationship, it's the greatest day in their lives. He says the Christ is the bridegroom, eternally the bride groom. The church is eternally the bride enjoying this love relationship. And I'll tell you if you don't enjoy that love relationship with God, you'll stop living like a saint. You'll stop living as though set apart for his purposes. You'll simply run after your own purposes, and so he describes these saints in Rome first as being loved, loved by God and called to be saints.
The second thing he says is grace (the same verse, Romans 1:7) "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." So if they are loved by God, secondly, he says, they are recipients of grace, grace and peace to you. If you look at the beginning of all 13 of Paul's letters, you'll find he uses these two words grace and peace, I think in all of them. But in I think two, he adds another word. He says grace, mercy and peace from God the Father. And we best understand grace, I think, by contrasting it with mercy. Grace is one of these vague words that we don't always understand as fully as we might. But if we contrast it with mercy, I think we better understand it. You see, mercy is when we don't get what we deserve, not getting what we deserve, that's mercy.
So for an example, you're driving your car down the freeway at 140 kilometers an hour. A police car passes you, pulls you in. A big burly policeman comes to you and you say, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was going so fast. It's the first time I've ever done this. I'm sorry." "It's OK. Just don't do it again. All right. I understand that. I'll let you off this time." That's mercy. You don't get what you deserve. However, grace is something different. Grace is actually getting what we don't deserve. So you're driving down the freeway at 140 kilometers an hour. A policeman passes you, pulls you in and gets out, walks to your window and says "you're breaking the limit." "Yes, I know. I'm sorry. It's the first time I've done this. I'm sorry. Please let me off." He says, "OK, don't do it again. I'll let you off." That's mercy. But then he says, "Hang on, I'll get you a chocolate bar." That's grace. That's giving you what you don't deserve.
Now, listen, most of us have understood mercy, God does not give us what we deserve, we're so eternally grateful for that. But grace is God actually giving us what we don't deserve. And a saint is a saint, not only because they're experiencing and enjoying the love of God, but they're living every day with the fact that how God treats me has nothing to do with what I deserve anymore. He gives me what I don't deserve. Now in saying that, please don't let that open the door to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace, that is, live as you please and say, "God, clean up the mess because you like doing that kind of thing." That's cheap grace.
You see, if I'm in a love relationship with my wife and my wife is very kind to me, I don't say, "that's fine. I can treat you anyway I want because you'll always be kind to me." That would be a total abuse of the relationship of course. And so those who are called to be saints are called to be saints, to enjoy being saints because they're loved by God. Because they are recipients of the grace of God. And thirdly, he says, "grace and peace to you from God, the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." They are enjoyers of peace as a result. You see when you know that you're loved by God, when you know that you've been set apart by God, when you know you are the recipient of the grace of God. Let me ask you a question. What in the world have you got to be worried about? And he says you'll experience the peace of God. As one, we know and experience and enjoy his love, and when we depend on his grace and when we live as those set apart, we can face life head on with all its traumas, with all its anxieties, with all its threats, with all its surprises. And we can know the peace that Paul describes elsewhere as a peace that surpasses understanding.
Let me ask you, are you a saint now, you're born again? You're a saint if you're a Christian. But are you enjoying being a saint? Are you living every day with the consciousness of his love? Are you living every day drawing on his grace? Are you living every day, experiencing his peace? Because if you're not, I'll tell you what you'll do. You'll be tempted to not be set apart, to live for yourself.
Well, that's the first thing he describes them as in Rome, and if the church is going to be effective and dynamic, it's made up of saints who enjoy those three things. Secondly, they're called to be spiritual. Now the reason I say that is because in Romans 1:11, Paul says, "I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong. That is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith."
Now he talks there of imparting a spiritual gift, and the result is we are mutually encouraged - not, I'm the giver, you're the receiver. There's mutual encouragement. You see, the Church of Jesus Christ operates as a spiritual entity. I want to explain what that is, what I mean by that. Let me say what that implies. The Church of Jesus Christ does not function in the way a business down the road functions. Or a human organization down the road might function. Running the church simply as a Christian business is going to lead to sterility and deadness, because what sets the Church of Jesus Christ apart from every other organization that may exist, is its spiritual content. It's a spiritual entity. It's operating by spiritual means.
Now Paul says, 'I'm not coming to you because I am a great orator and I want to have some meetings you can draw big crowds to, because they will be impressed with my oratory.' In fact, Paul elsewhere says that he was a poor speaker. He doesn't say 'I'm coming because I have, you know, gifts of motivation and organization, and I'll help you to organize yourselves a bit better.' He doesn't say 'I'm a strategist. I'm experienced now in strategizing in churches throughout Asia Minor and Europe, I'm going to come and help you in Rome.' He may well have had all those gifts, but he's says, ‘What I'm coming to you with is something spiritual.' And by spiritual gift, if we were to define it, I would define that spiritual gift, is something which derives from God. Is energized by God. And is exercised for God. It derives from God, it's energized by God, it's exercised for God. That is, what I'm going to bring to you, says Paul, is that which derives from God. What I'm going to bring to will be energized by God because I'm living in dependency on him. And what I'm going to do for you, is not because I'm starting the Apostle Paul evangelistic crusade. And you can support me. It's done for the glory of God. For his purposes. Now, you say, is there any difference between natural gifts and spiritual gifts? Well, the gift may be natural, but what makes it a spiritual gift is that God is at work through that means.
Sorry. When Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to Israel, he protested. And he told God he didn't know how to speak. He was far too young. And God said to him, "Before I formed you in the womb..." in Jeremiah 1:4-5 "before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I set you apart. I appoint you as a prophet to the nations." Then he asked him, "who made your mouth? I'll put my words in your mouth," says God to Jeremiah. ‘Jeremiah, before you were ever born, I set your part as a prophet,’ meaning this. That the way I created you was to equip you for the purpose in the ministry I have for you. Always remember, of course, that God is our creator before he is our saviour. He doesn't say this and then think, 'what am I gonna do with this one?'
But he created you knowing the day would come, you would come to Christ, it's like Paul telling the Galatians that I was set apart from my mother's womb as an apostle. You say, well, that's rather interesting, because for the first years of Paul's life, he was an antagonist of the gospel. He was the arch enemy against the church in Jerusalem. But he says I was set apart by God as an apostle. So the very gifts that Paul exercised as a mobilizer against the church were actually gifts that would become spiritual gifts.
Natural gifts had become spiritual gifts when the Holy Spirit occupied him, began to work through him. Now I know that gifts that the Spirit gives may be apart from natural gifts. One of the marvellous things about the church as opposed to the way we run our businesses is that God takes the foolish people and confounds the wise with them. Now you always look for the wisest if you're in business. God takes the weak things and confounds the strong. You look for the stronger people when you're running a business, but when you're running, when you're working together with God in the Church of Jesus Christ, you recognize that God makes his power most evident in those who are most weak. That's why we don't come to God and say, 'God, I think I'm qualified now to serve you. I've just spent this last week speaking at a university in the United States in a Christian life conference they had for a week.’ We had a wonderful time that some of the students who I had conversations with. Well, now I'm qualified. God can begin to use me. Somebody said, 'now I'm ready to begin God's plan for my life.' What have you been doing for the previous years?
Now, of course, I believe in training and equipping and nurturing and studying. Of course, that's vital and necessary. But if we're going to really build people, not just run a program that may get bigger or may not get bigger, but even if it gets bigger. It's not the issue. We become channels for the spirit of God. That's why Paul says, 'I'm going to come and exercise some spiritual gift to make you strong that we may be mutually encouraged.' It's not just I'm the giver, you're the receivers, but in the ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ, every one of us is a receiver and a giver. Everyone is as much a giver and a receiver, that's why you need to be here. That's why you cannot survive without the mutual support, encouragement of one another.
Now, there are three aspects that Paul points out here, and I'll just point them out to you very quickly. They're called to be spiritual. That's what I'm calling an upward direction, three directions, because he says in Romans 1: 8-10, 'I thank God for you and pray constantly for you.' Paul says, I pray for you. Paul has had a fantastic prayer life. We understand him praying for the churches he had founded in Philippi and Ephesus and some of these other places, Thessalonica. But he'd never been to Rome. And yet, he says to these folks in Rome, I'm praying for you, and do you know what I believe, and I believe it's been borne out for us in this service here this morning already, that the first aspect in any work that God gives you to do is when you begin to pray for that kind of ministry.
And we heard from Beverly this morning that she began to pray for the AIDS orphans in Africa that God would send younger people. Not anticipating God would send her. But God tapped her on the shoulder at the 2001 missionary conference and said, 'You're the one I'm going to send.' Now, I've known many, many people where they began to pray, and as they began to pray in a period of time, God began to lead them. Ever since I was 18 years of age, I've had a map of the world on my wall. Used to be on my bedroom wall, then I got married, my wife didn't like that, so it went to my study. I have a map on my wall in my study here at the church. And since I was 18, I've looked at that map. Not every day, but day after day and I pray 'what do I know about the world, what don't I know?' I had no idea God would ask me to travel the world and preach the gospel. But it began with praying for the world, which I still do. If God lays a burden on your heart to pray, follow that through. That's the first door for whatever else he may do for you and want you to do.
And so Paul says, I'm praying for this, an upward direction. There's the inward direction of spiritual ministry. That's about imparting a spiritual gift. We talked about and being mutually encouraged. We won't say any more about that because time is running out. But this upward direction, dealing with God, would express itself and the inward direction of mutually building up one another. And the third direction of the spiritual life and ministry is the outward direction, because in Romans 1:14, 'I am obligated,' he says, 'to Greeks and to non-Greeks, both to the wise and to the foolish.' Now, he says, if we are going to exercise a spiritual ministry, we'll deal with God, the upward direction, deal with each other, the inward direction within the Church of Jesus Christ and we'll deal with the world, the outward direction.
You're called to be saints, loved by God, set apart by God, experiencing the grace of God, enjoying the peace of God. And you're called to be spiritual. Deal with God, serve each other and reach the world. And the last thing, the third overall title, they're called to be servants. Because he says in Romans 1:14, 'I am obligated both to Greeks and to non-Greeks.' Then in Romans 1:15, he says, 'I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.' And in Romans 1:16, he says, 'I am not ashamed of the gospel.' Three personal statements Paul makes about himself as a servant of the gospel. I am obligated. That's his first sense. Do you feel that, do you feel any obligation? Or has reaching the world become an option rather than an obligation? You can take it or you can leave it. If that's your kind of thing, get involved. If it's not, do something else. No, says Paul. I have a sense of obligation. And the reason why he has a sense of obligation is because he says the gospel is universal. It's for Greeks and non-Greeks. It's for the wise and the foolish. There is no discrimination between peoples here. I'm obligated because the gospel is universal.
Second statement, 'I am eager.' Why? 'I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.' Now he narrows it down to you who are in Rome, and I suggest to you, he says I am eager because the gospel is personal. It's for you people, who I'm going to meet face to face. And whose names I'm going to know, whose handshakes I'm going to become familiar with.
I am obligated because the gospel is universal. I am eager because the gospel is personal, and his third statement, 'I am not ashamed.' Why not? Because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. I'm not ashamed because the gospel is powerful.
You see, to be an effective witness to Jesus Christ, you don't have to be a good salesperson because you can twist all kinds of people into making responses that mean nothing. As a witness to Jesus Christ, we become the vehicle for God, the power of God to open people's understanding. Nobody can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. And as the Holy Spirit works, you see lives changed. That's the wonderful thing about preaching the gospel to folks, or witnessing to people, you're not responsible for what response you're going to get. You say 'Lord, I'm going to let you work in people's hearts,' and he does.
I am obligated because the gospel is universal. I'm eager because the gospel is personal, and I'm not ashamed because the gospel is powerful. Now says Paul, if these are the dynamics of an effective church, you've got to know who you are. I'm a saint. Loved by God, experiencing the grace of God, enjoying the peace of God, that's who I am. Secondly, you've got to know how they function. We function spiritually in dependency on God, in communication with God, mutually up-building each other, caring for the well-being of each other and then reaching out to a needy world.
We know who we are; saints. We know how we function; spiritually. And we know what we must do; be servants, servants who live under the lordship of Jesus Christ with a sense of obligation, with a sense of eagerness. We're not ashamed at all. Because we know there's nothing like the gospel of Jesus Christ that meets the deep needs of the human heart. And you'll never provide a better service to any man, any woman, any boy, any girl, anywhere, but by introducing them to Jesus. You're part of the Church of Jesus Christ. Not meaning you're a part of this church, though you need to be part of a church. But are you a part of the Church of Jesus Christ, because you've come and said, 'Lord, I recognize my need of you and my sin, please forgive me of my sin and come, by your Holy Spirit, forgive me, live within me, make me a saint.' And if you're a saint this morning, are you living like one? Set apart for him. If you're not a saint this morning, how about becoming one? It'll be the best thing that ever happens in your life.
If God has been speaking to you and you sit here this morning or listening to my voice and you say, 'I don't know any of this in my own experience,' then that need not last another minute. You can come this morning and say, ‘Lord, I recognize my need for you. Please forgive me. Come and live within my heart. Make me yours. Enable me by your Holy Spirit to live effectively and fruitfully and help me to serve you, in the context of your church, your people.'
Title: The Dynamics Of An Effective Church
Part: 3 of 27 Romans Series
Reading: Romans 1:7-17
Good to see you this morning. And if you have a Bible with you, I'm going to read some verses from Romans chapter one. I'm going to read from Romans 1:7-17. Paul writes,
"To all in Rome, who are loved by God and called to be saints: grace and peace to you from God, the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times. And I pray that now at last, by God's will, the way may be opened for me to come to you. I longed to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong. That is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you, but have been prevented from doing so until now, in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I've had among the other Gentiles. I'm obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I'm so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last. Just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”
That's as far as we're going to read. And I want to talk to you this morning about what I'm calling the dynamics of an effective church. Paul is writing to this church in Rome. He's introduced himself. He's introduced his message, and now he introduces the church to whom he's writing. And there's some very impressive things that he mentions about the church in Rome, for instance, in Romans 1:8.
He says, "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is being reported all over the world." In other words, says Paul, you are world famous for your faith. That is for your trust in God, your dependency on God.
At the end of the letter in Romans 16:19, he says, "Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I'm full of joy for you." You're not just famous for your faith in God, but everybody knows about your obedience to God. Now let me tell you, you can't get much better than being well-known for those two things. Your faith in God and your obedience to God. Now I want to talk about this, and I want to talk about these dynamics we're going to look at this morning that make for an effective church.
But I want to begin by being honest and recognizing that some of us struggle with the church. Jesus Christ is OK. You love him. But the church is a different matter, and it may well be some of you watching on television right now are at home this morning. You're not in a place of worship, don't anticipate being there because you've been hurt or you feel your needs are not being met. And so you're seeking to live as a Lone Ranger Christian. But I want to tell you, it doesn't actually work, and I'll tell you why this morning.
You see, there are lots of frustrations that we do experience. I know that. There was once a Russian soldier who was wounded and ordered to go to a military hospital for treatment, and when he arrived at the large and imposing building, there were two doors, one said for the ‘slightly wounded.’ The other said for the ‘seriously wounded.’ So he went to the first door and found himself in a long corridor; at the end of the corridor there were two doors again; one said, ‘for officers,’ one said, ‘for non-officers.’ So he took the second door, went through that, found another long corridor; at the end of that corridor, another two doors, one said ‘for party members,’ one said for ‘non-party members.’ He went to the second door and found himself back on the street. When he got home his mother said to him, "How did you get on at the hospital?" He said, "Well, mother, to tell you the truth, the people didn't really do anything for me, but you ought to see the way they organize themselves."
And I think sometimes for some people, their experience of the church has become a little like that. Lots of things going on. Lots of programs. Lots of organization. But you feel like you’re going through a revolving door. And so what? What difference is it making to me? Well, let me tell you some of the differences it needs to make and potentially will make, because there are three things I want to pick out from these verses that Paul says about the church in Rome. Firstly, he tells them they are called to be saints in Romans 1:7. We'll talk about that. Secondly, Romans 1:8-11, he tells them they're called to be spiritual. We'll talk about what that means. Thirdly, in verse Romans 1:12-16, they're called to be servants.
Now, first of all then they're called to be saints. You see, it says in Romans 1:7, "To all in Rome, who are loved by God and called to be saints." Now let me clarify what that means because the word saint has been hijacked by some of the historic churches and becomes a designation for the heroes from the past. And so we have people like Saint Patrick and Saint George and Saint Stephen.
And of course, all the New Testament characters get included. So Saint Paul and Saint John and Saint Matthew and Saint James and so on. Usually, to qualify, they've had to have been dead for a long while, and then they get their portraits put into a stained-glass window and a halo above their heads. And that's what we call a saint. But that's not so in the Bible. Every Christian, according to the New Testament, is a saint. You see the word translated 'saint' here is the word 'hagios' in the Greek, and I'll tell you why I'm mentioning that because it occurs in three contexts. When this word is a noun, it's translated 'saint.' When this word as an adjective, a descriptive word, it's translated 'holy.' When it is a verb, an active word, it is translated 'sanctify.' And I want to talk about those three meanings of this one word.
First of all, as a noun, as a name, they're called 'saints.' Now, some of us think that to be a Saint means to be saintly and to be saintly normally means to be old, to be very nice, to walk as though you're six inches above the ground, normally have white hair and you kind of have a nice smile on your face. And that is what makes you saintly, a little bit above the rest of us. But that isn't what it means. When you become a Christian, you go through a change of identity. You used to be called a sinner, but now you're called a saint. And what turns a sinner into a saint is a saviour. You see prior to becoming a Christian, by a sinner, it means you miss the mark. That's what the word means. You've come short of the target, the glory of God, as Paul explains later in Romans, and what the Saviour does when he saves you is transfers the sinner into being a saint. He takes the sinner, cleanses him of his sin, covers him with his own righteousness and gives them a new identity.
You're a saint. Now, when the church officially makes a Saint, it's actually a very different process, there are actually five stages in making a Saint. First of all, normally the church hierarchy nominates somebody great and good who has usually died by the time they get around to nominating them, and they say this person is worthy of being designated a Saint. And the second thing they do is they form a committee, and the purpose of that committee is to find out everything bad they possibly can about this person. And the chairman of that committee is called the Advocatus Diaboli, which means the Devil's Advocate. And so they meet together. I know some people who would love this kind of committee - and they find out what's wrong with this person and they lay it on the table. And then when they've done their work, the third stage is another committee meets and this committee meets to find out everything that's good about the person. Not only good, but to be a Saint there are certain prerequisites. You have to have some kind of miracle associated with you or with your relics. And so they get all the information they can get together about any healings that may have taken place or any miracles that have taken place. And then the fourth stage is they have a trial and the first committee where the Advocatus Diaboli stands up and says, "This man is rotten, this woman is terrible" and tells you why. And they sift through the evidence.
OK, now the other committee, they tell you what's wonderful about this person, and all the evidences that they have for the good things and the great things that took place in their lives. And then when that trial concludes, if they conclude, if we think that the people who see the good side have got it right, then they go through the process, which is called beatification, which means you're now out of the normal run of the mill. You're not quite a Saint yet. And then everybody on that committee who made that decision dies, gets buried, and when everybody's died who knew anything about them, they bring it up again. Usually 100 years or so later, they discuss the whole thing again and they say, "Yeah, I think they were right last century when they made this decision," and so then they go through the fifth process, which is what they call canonization, and they declare the person as a Saint.
And then they do certain things. If it's Reg for instance, if they're going to do this to Reg, eventually they'll designate him Saint Reginald. Then they'll find a day in the calendar that has got a few gaps in it and they'll say, this is Saint Reginald's Day. And they'll build a church called Saint Reginald's Church, or whatever else you see around the place. Well, let me tell you, that has nothing to do with the New Testament saint. I'm sorry, but it doesn't. And if it did, most of us wouldn't qualify. The first committee would win hands down with me, and they would throw me out of court right away. But in the New Testament, every true Christian, and by that, I mean, everybody who has recognized their sin, recognized their need, has come to God in true repentance, has been cleansed of their sin and in dwelt by the Holy Spirit, is declared a saint. Paul does not write and say "this is from Saint Paul to all the ordinary Christians in Rome." He says, "this is from Paul to all the saints in Rome." Every one of us here this morning, if you are a Christian, is a saint.
I heard about a church once where at the point where everybody greets each other, the pastor said to them, turn around and greet everybody and address them as saint. So you turn to Saint Timothy, you turn to Saint Gerard, you turn to Saint Mary, you turn to Saint Reg. So everybody started to do this, and one guy left his seat and left the church and an usher followed him, and said, "are you alright," he said, "I'm not staying there," he said, "why not?” he said, "my name is Bernard." Well, whatever your name, you're a saint if you belong to Jesus Christ.
Now, the same word, when it's an adjective is translated as 'holy' and the word holy, as the word saint, literally means to be set apart. In the Old Testament scriptures it's used mainly to describe buildings and possessions. The Nation of Israel; talks about the temple as being holy. There's the holy of holies in the temple, the place the High Priest approached once a year with blood. God was there and it was set apart. Tithes were given were described as holy, the first fruit of the land. 10% was already set apart for God. That's the minimum of being holy. The Levites were a tribe who were set apart. They were holy. But in the New Testament, the word holy is used almost exclusively of either God and in particular, his spirit, the Holy Spirit, and a people. Paul says to the Romans in Romans 12:1, "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God," that is, set apart exclusively to God.
And it talks in the New Testament about certain parts of your body. For instance, it talks about holding up holy hands. That doesn't that mean you wash them first. It means that they are set apart to God, your hands. Therefore, your work is set apart to God. It talks about kissing one another with a holy kiss, whatever that means. Somebody said one day, "What's the difference between a holy kiss and a normal kiss?" The answer is about three minutes.
Now, that is, to be holy is to be set apart. You see, being a holy person is not being a goody goody and somehow abnormal. By definition, the difference a holy person and an unholy person is the holy person understands themselves as being set apart to Jesus Christ exclusively, for his interest, for his purposes, for his agenda. Whereas the unholy Christian sees themselves as available to whatever attracts their attention at the time. That's what makes a person holy. That every day our attitude to life is "I'm set apart to Jesus Christ, what is his business today? What is his interest today, what pleases him today?" That's the criteria by which we live holy lives. Now you can be designated as saint, but fail to be the saint that you are by failing to live a holy life. Because it's the holiness, the set apart that demonstrates our saintliness.
The third way this word can be used is as a verb. And there it means to sanctify. Now this word sanctify, it's an active word. Don't be too nervous about it. All it means simply is to be set apart for the purpose for which it was created. For instance, if I write with this pen, this pen is being sanctified, that's what it was made for. If I stir my coffee with this pen, it is not being sanctified. That isn't what it is made for. And so to be sanctified is to be set apart for the purpose for which we were created. That's why Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, "It's God's will that you should be sanctified and that you should avoid sexual immorality." Why does he say that? Because in 1 Corinthians 6:13, he says, "the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body." He says if you're going to be sanctified, that is, you're going to be holy, that is, you're going to be the saint you have been declared to be, you're not involved in sexual immorality, because that is not what you are made for.
Now, of course, you can get involved in that and you can enjoy it. I can stir my coffee with this pen and my coffee tastes good, first cup, but then what happens when the ink begins to melt? You see, however you live, set apart any other way than set apart for the purpose which your creator intended for you, you'll end up damaged. And you see being a saint, as Paul designates these Christians, means, as far as that description is concerned, they are wholly set apart, as far as their activity is concerned, they are sanctified. They are living lives set apart for the purpose for which God created them and therefore to be a saint and to
understand what it means to be a saint is to be someone who has discovered who they really are and what their life is really about. So he says you're called to be saints. Now what makes us a saint? How do we live as saints?
Well, there are three things that he says in Romans 1:7 that we'll look at very quickly. First of all, "to all in Rome, who are loved by God and called to be saints." The first thing he says, they're loved by God. Someone who is living as a saint knows they're loved by God. Now you say to me, "Isn't everyone loved by God?" And the answer to that is yes. God so loved the world, we are told. That includes every single person. But there's a difference between being loved, and experiencing and enjoying that love, that love relationship. You see, a teenager might fall in love with a pop singer, stick their photographs all over their bedroom wall, drool at the mouth when they're looking at them or listening to their music. But the singer hasn't got a clue, doesn't know anything about it, it means nothing to them at all. Because there's no reciprocation. And although somebody can be loved, they will never experience and enjoy that love until there's a reciprocation and a relationship that grows because of that. You see John says in John 14. Sorry, Jesus said in John 14:21, "He who loves me will be loved by my father. And I, too, will love him and show myself to him."
Does that mean if you don't love God, he doesn't love you? I mean, that's a kind of playground love, isn't it? "If you're my friend, I'll be your friend, if you're not my friend, I'm not going to be your friend." Now God isn't like that, but when he says, "he who loves me will be loved by my father and I too will love him," meaning that when you love me, says Jesus, you begin to enjoy the reciprocating of that relationship and you begin to enjoy being loved and experience being loved by my father, and I, too, will love you.
John 14:23, Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he'll obey my teaching and my father will love him, and we'll come and make our home with him." It's a reciprocating relationship. You see, that is why the church is described in the New Testament (as one of the images describing the church) as the Bride of Christ. Christ is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. Now, in describing them as bride and bridegroom, he's talking about a wedding event. And in a wedding, of course, the couple are deeply in love, and there's a wonderful sense of that relationship, it's the greatest day in their lives. He says the Christ is the bridegroom, eternally the bride groom. The church is eternally the bride enjoying this love relationship. And I'll tell you if you don't enjoy that love relationship with God, you'll stop living like a saint. You'll stop living as though set apart for his purposes. You'll simply run after your own purposes, and so he describes these saints in Rome first as being loved, loved by God and called to be saints.
The second thing he says is grace (the same verse, Romans 1:7) "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." So if they are loved by God, secondly, he says, they are recipients of grace, grace and peace to you. If you look at the beginning of all 13 of Paul's letters, you'll find he uses these two words grace and peace, I think in all of them. But in I think two, he adds another word. He says grace, mercy and peace from God the Father. And we best understand grace, I think, by contrasting it with mercy. Grace is one of these vague words that we don't always understand as fully as we might. But if we contrast it with mercy, I think we better understand it. You see, mercy is when we don't get what we deserve, not getting what we deserve, that's mercy.
So for an example, you're driving your car down the freeway at 140 kilometers an hour. A police car passes you, pulls you in. A big burly policeman comes to you and you say, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was going so fast. It's the first time I've ever done this. I'm sorry." "It's OK. Just don't do it again. All right. I understand that. I'll let you off this time." That's mercy. You don't get what you deserve. However, grace is something different. Grace is actually getting what we don't deserve. So you're driving down the freeway at 140 kilometers an hour. A policeman passes you, pulls you in and gets out, walks to your window and says "you're breaking the limit." "Yes, I know. I'm sorry. It's the first time I've done this. I'm sorry. Please let me off." He says, "OK, don't do it again. I'll let you off." That's mercy. But then he says, "Hang on, I'll get you a chocolate bar." That's grace. That's giving you what you don't deserve.
Now, listen, most of us have understood mercy, God does not give us what we deserve, we're so eternally grateful for that. But grace is God actually giving us what we don't deserve. And a saint is a saint, not only because they're experiencing and enjoying the love of God, but they're living every day with the fact that how God treats me has nothing to do with what I deserve anymore. He gives me what I don't deserve. Now in saying that, please don't let that open the door to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace, that is, live as you please and say, "God, clean up the mess because you like doing that kind of thing." That's cheap grace.
You see, if I'm in a love relationship with my wife and my wife is very kind to me, I don't say, "that's fine. I can treat you anyway I want because you'll always be kind to me." That would be a total abuse of the relationship of course. And so those who are called to be saints are called to be saints, to enjoy being saints because they're loved by God. Because they are recipients of the grace of God. And thirdly, he says, "grace and peace to you from God, the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." They are enjoyers of peace as a result. You see when you know that you're loved by God, when you know that you've been set apart by God, when you know you are the recipient of the grace of God. Let me ask you a question. What in the world have you got to be worried about? And he says you'll experience the peace of God. As one, we know and experience and enjoy his love, and when we depend on his grace and when we live as those set apart, we can face life head on with all its traumas, with all its anxieties, with all its threats, with all its surprises. And we can know the peace that Paul describes elsewhere as a peace that surpasses understanding.
Let me ask you, are you a saint now, you're born again? You're a saint if you're a Christian. But are you enjoying being a saint? Are you living every day with the consciousness of his love? Are you living every day drawing on his grace? Are you living every day, experiencing his peace? Because if you're not, I'll tell you what you'll do. You'll be tempted to not be set apart, to live for yourself.
Well, that's the first thing he describes them as in Rome, and if the church is going to be effective and dynamic, it's made up of saints who enjoy those three things. Secondly, they're called to be spiritual. Now the reason I say that is because in Romans 1:11, Paul says, "I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong. That is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith."
Now he talks there of imparting a spiritual gift, and the result is we are mutually encouraged - not, I'm the giver, you're the receiver. There's mutual encouragement. You see, the Church of Jesus Christ operates as a spiritual entity. I want to explain what that is, what I mean by that. Let me say what that implies. The Church of Jesus Christ does not function in the way a business down the road functions. Or a human organization down the road might function. Running the church simply as a Christian business is going to lead to sterility and deadness, because what sets the Church of Jesus Christ apart from every other organization that may exist, is its spiritual content. It's a spiritual entity. It's operating by spiritual means.
Now Paul says, 'I'm not coming to you because I am a great orator and I want to have some meetings you can draw big crowds to, because they will be impressed with my oratory.' In fact, Paul elsewhere says that he was a poor speaker. He doesn't say 'I'm coming because I have, you know, gifts of motivation and organization, and I'll help you to organize yourselves a bit better.' He doesn't say 'I'm a strategist. I'm experienced now in strategizing in churches throughout Asia Minor and Europe, I'm going to come and help you in Rome.' He may well have had all those gifts, but he's says, ‘What I'm coming to you with is something spiritual.' And by spiritual gift, if we were to define it, I would define that spiritual gift, is something which derives from God. Is energized by God. And is exercised for God. It derives from God, it's energized by God, it's exercised for God. That is, what I'm going to bring to you, says Paul, is that which derives from God. What I'm going to bring to will be energized by God because I'm living in dependency on him. And what I'm going to do for you, is not because I'm starting the Apostle Paul evangelistic crusade. And you can support me. It's done for the glory of God. For his purposes. Now, you say, is there any difference between natural gifts and spiritual gifts? Well, the gift may be natural, but what makes it a spiritual gift is that God is at work through that means.
Sorry. When Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to Israel, he protested. And he told God he didn't know how to speak. He was far too young. And God said to him, "Before I formed you in the womb..." in Jeremiah 1:4-5 "before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I set you apart. I appoint you as a prophet to the nations." Then he asked him, "who made your mouth? I'll put my words in your mouth," says God to Jeremiah. ‘Jeremiah, before you were ever born, I set your part as a prophet,’ meaning this. That the way I created you was to equip you for the purpose in the ministry I have for you. Always remember, of course, that God is our creator before he is our saviour. He doesn't say this and then think, 'what am I gonna do with this one?'
But he created you knowing the day would come, you would come to Christ, it's like Paul telling the Galatians that I was set apart from my mother's womb as an apostle. You say, well, that's rather interesting, because for the first years of Paul's life, he was an antagonist of the gospel. He was the arch enemy against the church in Jerusalem. But he says I was set apart by God as an apostle. So the very gifts that Paul exercised as a mobilizer against the church were actually gifts that would become spiritual gifts.
Natural gifts had become spiritual gifts when the Holy Spirit occupied him, began to work through him. Now I know that gifts that the Spirit gives may be apart from natural gifts. One of the marvellous things about the church as opposed to the way we run our businesses is that God takes the foolish people and confounds the wise with them. Now you always look for the wisest if you're in business. God takes the weak things and confounds the strong. You look for the stronger people when you're running a business, but when you're running, when you're working together with God in the Church of Jesus Christ, you recognize that God makes his power most evident in those who are most weak. That's why we don't come to God and say, 'God, I think I'm qualified now to serve you. I've just spent this last week speaking at a university in the United States in a Christian life conference they had for a week.’ We had a wonderful time that some of the students who I had conversations with. Well, now I'm qualified. God can begin to use me. Somebody said, 'now I'm ready to begin God's plan for my life.' What have you been doing for the previous years?
Now, of course, I believe in training and equipping and nurturing and studying. Of course, that's vital and necessary. But if we're going to really build people, not just run a program that may get bigger or may not get bigger, but even if it gets bigger. It's not the issue. We become channels for the spirit of God. That's why Paul says, 'I'm going to come and exercise some spiritual gift to make you strong that we may be mutually encouraged.' It's not just I'm the giver, you're the receivers, but in the ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ, every one of us is a receiver and a giver. Everyone is as much a giver and a receiver, that's why you need to be here. That's why you cannot survive without the mutual support, encouragement of one another.
Now, there are three aspects that Paul points out here, and I'll just point them out to you very quickly. They're called to be spiritual. That's what I'm calling an upward direction, three directions, because he says in Romans 1: 8-10, 'I thank God for you and pray constantly for you.' Paul says, I pray for you. Paul has had a fantastic prayer life. We understand him praying for the churches he had founded in Philippi and Ephesus and some of these other places, Thessalonica. But he'd never been to Rome. And yet, he says to these folks in Rome, I'm praying for you, and do you know what I believe, and I believe it's been borne out for us in this service here this morning already, that the first aspect in any work that God gives you to do is when you begin to pray for that kind of ministry.
And we heard from Beverly this morning that she began to pray for the AIDS orphans in Africa that God would send younger people. Not anticipating God would send her. But God tapped her on the shoulder at the 2001 missionary conference and said, 'You're the one I'm going to send.' Now, I've known many, many people where they began to pray, and as they began to pray in a period of time, God began to lead them. Ever since I was 18 years of age, I've had a map of the world on my wall. Used to be on my bedroom wall, then I got married, my wife didn't like that, so it went to my study. I have a map on my wall in my study here at the church. And since I was 18, I've looked at that map. Not every day, but day after day and I pray 'what do I know about the world, what don't I know?' I had no idea God would ask me to travel the world and preach the gospel. But it began with praying for the world, which I still do. If God lays a burden on your heart to pray, follow that through. That's the first door for whatever else he may do for you and want you to do.
And so Paul says, I'm praying for this, an upward direction. There's the inward direction of spiritual ministry. That's about imparting a spiritual gift. We talked about and being mutually encouraged. We won't say any more about that because time is running out. But this upward direction, dealing with God, would express itself and the inward direction of mutually building up one another. And the third direction of the spiritual life and ministry is the outward direction, because in Romans 1:14, 'I am obligated,' he says, 'to Greeks and to non-Greeks, both to the wise and to the foolish.' Now, he says, if we are going to exercise a spiritual ministry, we'll deal with God, the upward direction, deal with each other, the inward direction within the Church of Jesus Christ and we'll deal with the world, the outward direction.
You're called to be saints, loved by God, set apart by God, experiencing the grace of God, enjoying the peace of God. And you're called to be spiritual. Deal with God, serve each other and reach the world. And the last thing, the third overall title, they're called to be servants. Because he says in Romans 1:14, 'I am obligated both to Greeks and to non-Greeks.' Then in Romans 1:15, he says, 'I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.' And in Romans 1:16, he says, 'I am not ashamed of the gospel.' Three personal statements Paul makes about himself as a servant of the gospel. I am obligated. That's his first sense. Do you feel that, do you feel any obligation? Or has reaching the world become an option rather than an obligation? You can take it or you can leave it. If that's your kind of thing, get involved. If it's not, do something else. No, says Paul. I have a sense of obligation. And the reason why he has a sense of obligation is because he says the gospel is universal. It's for Greeks and non-Greeks. It's for the wise and the foolish. There is no discrimination between peoples here. I'm obligated because the gospel is universal.
Second statement, 'I am eager.' Why? 'I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.' Now he narrows it down to you who are in Rome, and I suggest to you, he says I am eager because the gospel is personal. It's for you people, who I'm going to meet face to face. And whose names I'm going to know, whose handshakes I'm going to become familiar with.
I am obligated because the gospel is universal. I am eager because the gospel is personal, and his third statement, 'I am not ashamed.' Why not? Because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. I'm not ashamed because the gospel is powerful.
You see, to be an effective witness to Jesus Christ, you don't have to be a good salesperson because you can twist all kinds of people into making responses that mean nothing. As a witness to Jesus Christ, we become the vehicle for God, the power of God to open people's understanding. Nobody can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. And as the Holy Spirit works, you see lives changed. That's the wonderful thing about preaching the gospel to folks, or witnessing to people, you're not responsible for what response you're going to get. You say 'Lord, I'm going to let you work in people's hearts,' and he does.
I am obligated because the gospel is universal. I'm eager because the gospel is personal, and I'm not ashamed because the gospel is powerful. Now says Paul, if these are the dynamics of an effective church, you've got to know who you are. I'm a saint. Loved by God, experiencing the grace of God, enjoying the peace of God, that's who I am. Secondly, you've got to know how they function. We function spiritually in dependency on God, in communication with God, mutually up-building each other, caring for the well-being of each other and then reaching out to a needy world.
We know who we are; saints. We know how we function; spiritually. And we know what we must do; be servants, servants who live under the lordship of Jesus Christ with a sense of obligation, with a sense of eagerness. We're not ashamed at all. Because we know there's nothing like the gospel of Jesus Christ that meets the deep needs of the human heart. And you'll never provide a better service to any man, any woman, any boy, any girl, anywhere, but by introducing them to Jesus. You're part of the Church of Jesus Christ. Not meaning you're a part of this church, though you need to be part of a church. But are you a part of the Church of Jesus Christ, because you've come and said, 'Lord, I recognize my need of you and my sin, please forgive me of my sin and come, by your Holy Spirit, forgive me, live within me, make me a saint.' And if you're a saint this morning, are you living like one? Set apart for him. If you're not a saint this morning, how about becoming one? It'll be the best thing that ever happens in your life.
If God has been speaking to you and you sit here this morning or listening to my voice and you say, 'I don't know any of this in my own experience,' then that need not last another minute. You can come this morning and say, ‘Lord, I recognize my need for you. Please forgive me. Come and live within my heart. Make me yours. Enable me by your Holy Spirit to live effectively and fruitfully and help me to serve you, in the context of your church, your people.'