Paul and the Master He Served

1:16 John Knox, not the Scot, but the New Testament scholar, said Romans is unquestionably the most important theological work ever written. So here's the question this morning. How did that happen? How did a former Pharisee who hated Christianity with all his might breathe out murders against it, according to Romans 9.1? participated in killing the first Christian martyr, persecuted the church violently, how did that man come to write a 7,100 word letter, about 22 pages long in my Bible, that has changed the face of the world?

2:17 that every Christian leader for 2,000 years has lit his smoldering wick in this flame for all these centuries, how did a man like that come to write such a thing? And the answer is given in verse 1 of chapter 1. And that's all we're going to look at this morning. And so if you wonder, how long is this series going to be?

2:47 I have absolutely no idea. I reckon at least four weeks on the first seven verses. But if I see things that I think you need to see, all I've got is heaven in front of me, Chuck. Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.

3:24 Now, there are three phrases there. We'll look at them. And I want you to see the man. I want you to see his letter. I want you to see his God. and just by way of application right off the bat you know sometimes you read a verse and and even before the exposition comes it says a word to you so personally that it sort of skips over the exposition and i i just have a feeling that the word that just blurts itself out here is it isn't who Paul is it's whose Paul is you see that in those three phrases a servant one bought by another a called one called by another a set apart one set apart by another there's somebody else in this verse right Paul looks like he's what this verse is about This verse is not about Paul.

4:28 The one who bought him, the one who called him, the one who set him apart. There's somebody lurking behind this man. And I think, I said to the children in the first service, and most of them are not here, so we're all children now. I said, you can get this. Children, it isn't life. The big questions in life are not, who am I?

4:51 The big question in life is, whose am I? And I told him to go home and ask Mommy and Daddy what that meant. To force the parents to come to terms with this. So I'll just press this on you now. You've got to answer that question, whose are you? Whose are you? That's the issue. We get all, in the 20th century, we get all bent out of shape about self-identity and stuff. Who am I and my worth and my esteem and my value and all that? But when you read the Bible, the huge issue is right relation with God and whom you belong to, whose you are. So let that be the question hanging over this verse. Phrase number one, a bondservant of Christ Jesus.

5:48 Now we religious types who read the Bible for dozens of years, we've got to realize what a shocking phrase that is. We've got to decide here if this man's crazy. Jesus Christ according to Tacitus secular witness as well as all the Christian witnesses as well as Josephus said Jesus died 25 years ago he's dead he's not master of anybody and Paul says he's my master and he's alive I am a slave to the living Christ Jesus so you've got to decide now at the beginning of this book are these the rantings of a madman who thinks people die and then pop up out of the grave three days later and then become masters of people Is he a crazy man?

6:56 Or did possibly that happen? And that's reality. And all the people in the world who ignore that or mock that are unreality. You've got to decide this. These are huge issues. Is he crazy to call himself the bondservant of Christ Jesus? What does that mean to be the bondservant? It means he's bought by Jesus, owned by Jesus, ruled by Jesus. I'll show you where I get that. 1 Corinthians 7, 23, he says, You were bought by a price, with a price. do not become slaves of men. So to be a slave of somebody is to have been bought by them.

7:54 So he calls himself a slave or a bondservant of Christ, which means Christ bought him. And that's what he says. Christ bought me. And since he bought me, he owns me. If you're a Christian this morning, you are doubly owned by God. You are owned by virtue of creation and you are owned by virtue of purchase. You are doubly not your own. Doubly his. He owns you. He can do with you as he pleases. Which leads us to the third thing it means. Namely that he rules you and that what you want to do is please him. Where do I get that? Galatians 1.10 Am I striving to please men? if I were still trying to please men, Paul says I would not be the bondservant of Christ if I were trying to please men I would not be the bondservant of Christ but I am the bondservant of Christ therefore I don't give a rip about pleasing men unless my pleasing them might lead them to please my master.

9:13 Which is what Romans 15 says. Let us seek to please one another for edification that we might glorify God through bringing others to him. But what's driving this man is a radical Christ orientation because Christ bought him, owns him, and rules him now. and all of his thinking is, how can I please him? How can I honor him? How can I magnify him? And what we want to create at Bethlehem, and I know that the vast majority of you are with me on this, what we want is a church of people who are radically oriented on pleasing Christ, honoring Christ, magnifying Christ, and letting the chips fall where they will, instead of being what most people are, namely second-handers. Thank you. You get that phrase from Ayn Rand, who wrote the novel Atlas Shrugged, who despised secondhanders.

10:14 That is, people who have no vision and values of their own, for which they live triumphantly, and are always looking over their shoulder wondering, I wonder what they think about this, and I wonder what they think about this, and I wonder what they think about this. And they live their whole lives secondhandedly, always trying to get into other people's good graces and be liked and stroked and praised and complimented and paid. It's a horrible way to live. And Paul said, I am owned by another. I have been bought and I am ruled. And I have one person to please, Christ. And he has revealed his word in me. And that's my life. Let's be like that. So, we're not dealing here with a man and his genius. We're dealing here in Romans with a man and his owner.

11:11 His ruler, His God. This is no ordinary letter. Second phrase, called as an apostle. Notice the passive verb again. Every phrase here, there's somebody else at work. You were bought and you belong to another. You were called by another. You were set apart by another. Who is this other?

11:41 God in Christ. He's the main actor here in verse 1. We're not dealing here with the work of a man. We're dealing here with the work of God in a man. What does apostle mean? To be an apostle, you had to have seen the risen Christ with your eyes so that you could be an authoritative, authentic, firsthand witness. That's number one. Number two, you had to have been commissioned by the Christ to be an authoritative spokesman and representative on his behalf. That's what it meant to be an apostle.

12:21 Now, Paul claimed to be that. 1 Corinthians 15, 7, Jesus appeared to James. He says, then to the apostles, last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. That's the Damascus road. What Jesus did in breaking into Paul's life on the Damascus road, standing forth, revealing himself in glory, was to enable him to join the twelve and be a latecomer in the apostolic band. as one born out of season, he said. Then Acts 26.16 describes the commission. Jesus says to him, For this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you as a minister and a witness, not only to things you've seen, but also to the things which I will appear to you in.

13:22 And then on the basis of the seeing and the commissioning, Paul teaches that he and the other apostles are the foundation of the church. Ephesians 2.20. The church founded on the apostles and the prophets. Now if we ask today, all right, if the apostles are the foundation of the church, where are they? Where's the foundation today? The answer is right here. In the book. Especially Romans.

14:01 The apostolic deposit was left behind. They died. That's not a repeatable office. That authoritative seeing of Christ, being commissioned by Christ, speaking his authoritative word, so the church would be built on a rock. That's over. And now we stand here as a church. And if John Piper ever stands anywhere else than here, you go to those elders and get me removed, but fast. Phrase number three. Not only was he bought and made a slave and owned and ruled, not only was he called as an apostle, but he was set apart for the gospel of God. Now, when did that happen?

15:02 When was Paul set apart for the gospel of God? And he answers that question in Galatians 1.15 like this. God set me apart from my mother's womb. Same verb. God set me apart from my mother's womb. From the time before I was born, I was set apart for the gospel of God. That's amazing. You know why that's amazing? Because the detour between the setting apart and the Damascus Road is horrendous. isn't it? He's a murderer. He's a hater of Christians.

15:56 He's a persecutor of the church. That's the man set apart for the gospel before he was born. which means that right here in verse 1, we're already smack up against 1133. Right? The climax of the whole book. Oh, the depth and the riches of the wisdom of God. How inscrutable are his ways. How unsearchable are his judgments. Who has ever known the mind of the Lord? Who has ever been his counselor? Who has ever given a gift to him that he should be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever and ever. You see something like that and you put your hand on your mouth and say, God, what were you about?

16:53 was it that you lost control of Paul you wrung your hands and said oh no what is becoming of the one I've set apart for the gospel or are you Loosening his leash and permitting for holy purposes this man to walk into being the chief sinner for a reason. And Paul gives the answer to that in 1 Timothy where he says, God had mercy on me, the chief of sinners who persecuted the church of God, in order that he might demonstrate his perfect patience to all who would believe on him after me. He did it for you this morning, you sinner who feel like you have done so much bad, And it has been so long that nobody ever, especially God in His holiness, could forgive you.

18:02 That's why God let him go. So that when He chose him on the Damascus Road, it would be plain to all, you mean you're willing to choose somebody like that, who for perhaps 30 or 40 years hated what you stand for? and came to a climax with rage against your people and through men and women in prison in Jerusalem and hated your name, that's who you choose to spearhead the Gentile mission? And God says, yes, do you get it? Do you get Romans?

18:42 Do you get the gospel? Verse 1 is about the gospel. Verse 1 is about mercy. Verse 1 is about sovereign, free grace. Well, we come to the end here of this verse, and we see that phrase, gospel of God, set apart for the gospel of God. Could have said gospel of Christ, and he said gospel of God. I want to close with a reference or a quotation from Leon Morris. Leon Morris, in his exposition of verse 1, closed it like this, and I can't think of a better way to draw things to a close now. He said, God is the most important word in this epistle. About 160 times.

19:38 Ten per chapter, roughly. Everything, continuing to quote, Romans is a book about God. No topic is treated with anything like the frequency of God. Everything Paul touches in this letter, he relates to God. In our concern to understand what the apostle is saying about righteousness and justification and the like, we ought to not overlook his tremendous concentration on God. There is nothing like it elsewhere. End quote. That's true.

20:11 God set him apart before he was born. God did that. God permitted him to go his own way for a season then God on the Damascus Road called him he had already in the midst I think this is why Paul says in Romans 5 Romans 5 verse 6 while we were yet ungodly Christ died for us in the middle of that in the middle of that rebellion between his being set apart and his being called Christ died for him he couldn't get over that he couldn't get over it Christ died for him and in dying bought him and now he calls him and now the gospel of God is his life so you see that God is at the bottom of his life God is in the middle of his life God is at the top and goal of his life which all sounds like Romans 11 Thank you.