Gracepoint Devotions

Devotional Sharing, Submitted by Steve Kim, Gracepoint Berkeley

Romans 1:14-16

• Reflect on how Paul saw his life as being obligated to everyone in his generation.  To what extent do I see myself as “obligated,” and to whom and for what purpose?

Paul’s ‘obligation’ to everyone, irrespective of ethnicity, socio-economic background, or anything else that may distinguish one from another conveys God’s heart to reach everyone in the world.  Paul regarding his life to be obligated in this way also conveys how as followers of Christ we too are called to share in God’s heart to reach the lost souls all around us.  Also Paul’s sense of obligation to others was not regarded as some debt he owed God in a begrudging attitude, but rather there’s a note of excitement and passion as he says this ‘obligation’ causes him to be ‘eager’ to preach the gospel also to those in Rome.

This challenges me again in how I go about viewing the people I interact with or may even pass by each day.  C.S. Lewis wrote, “You have never talked to a mere mortal.”  Each person is an eternal being, who is infinitely loved by my Creator, Lord and Savior, and so “obligation” is an appropriate word that ought to describe how I’m supposed to view my responsibility and connection with people in this world.  I’m obligated to love and search for ways to help people hear, understand and respond to the gospel.  I’m obligated to be burdened and passionate in going on an all out search for lost souls like the shepherd who left his 99 sheep for the sake of that 1 sheep…like the woman turned her house upside down to find that lost coin (Luke 15)

It is this sense of ‘obligation’ that causes me to push through my fatigue, feeling pressed for time to make use of my lunch time to take care of my agendas, so I can make time to reach out to my co-workers.  I’m obligated and eager to find ways to steer conversations I have with them over lunch and on coffee breaks to topics that would be a step further towards conveying the gospel with them, or at the very least to leave them a favorable impression of Christians.  I’m obligated and eager to be efficient and productive at work and take reach out to college students in Berkeley to not only share the gospel with them, but also to help Christians to grow in their faith and become co-laborers in God’s kingdom work.  This is why I try to be efficient and productive at work, so i can be blameless and allowed to rush out the door to meet up with students for outreach dinners or one on one meetings to counsel and guide students in their spiritual journeys.  I’m also obligated to my sons and wife to love and encourage them to seek and love God.  I’m obligated to pray for the needs of the various ministries of our church, my friends, the younger brothers and sisters who are fellow kingdom workers in our church and more.   I even find myself obligated to show compassion even to a random, homeless man, who was sitting one frigid morning facing the bay with a forlorn look, bundled up in his ragged layers of clothing.  He was someone I was about to just walk past on my way to work along the Embarcadero in SF, but I felt God’s finger pressing on my heart to love the man and give him some encouragement for the day.  So I turned back to offer him money, gave him a pat on the back, said, “God loves you”, and prayed for him as I walked the rest of the way into work.  I’m reminded that I do all this and regard my life obligated to everyone, because of God….because God first loved me, a foreigner and even once an enemy of the cross of Jesus because of my sins.  I gladly say along with Apostle Paul that I too am ‘obligated’ and ‘eager’ for the sake of the gospel.

Devotional Questions:

Romans 1:14-16

“These… verses express the theme for the book of Romans, and they contain the most life-transforming truth God has put into men’s hands. To understand and positively respond to this truth is to have one’s time and eternity completely altered. Paul was imprisoned in Philippi, chased out of Thessalonica, smuggled out of Damascus and Berea, laughed at in Athens, considered a fool in Corinth, and declared a blasphemer and lawbreaker in Jerusalem. He was stoned and left for dead at Lystra […] But the Jewish religious leaders of Jerusalem did not intimidate Paul, nor did the learned and influential pagans at Ephesus, Athens, and Corinth. The apostle was eager now to preach and teach the gospel in Rome, the capital of the pagan empire that ruled virtually all the known world. He was never deterred by opposition, never disheartened by criticism, and never ashamed, for any reason, of the gospel of Jesus Christ […] Although every true believer knows it is a serious sin to be ashamed of his Savior and Lord, he also knows the difficulty of avoiding that sin. When we have opportunity to speak for Christ, we often do not […] criticism, ridicule, tradition, and rejection prevent many believers from leaving the security of Christian fellowship to witness to the unsaved.”[1]

• Reflect on how Paul saw his life as being obligated to everyone in his generation.  To what extent do I see myself as “obligated,” and to whom and for what purpose?
• Given the kinds of hardships Paul suffered, what is remarkable about his declaration, “I am not ashamed of the gospel?”  What would have enabled him to be like this?
• Reflect on how I have experienced the gospel as “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”

Romans 1:18-32

• What is Paul’s view of mankind?  How does this compare with my view?
• How is Paul’s view related to his attitude towards suffering for the gospel?

Romans 1:21-28

• According to these verses, what happens when people fail to respond to the knowledge of God that is available to all humanity? Why are there these natural consequences to not responding to our knowledge of God?
• Note the “exchanges” described in the text.  What is so tragic and absurd about these exchanges?
• Are there areas of my life in which I have “exchanged” a God-given blessing with something that is inferior?  What lasting consequences have I reaped from these “exchanges?”
• What does the recurring statement “God gave them over” say about the nature of God’s judgment?
• Reflect on the state of this world as described in these verses.  How much does this heighten my sense of mission in this world?  What changes do I need to make in my life in order to fulfill my mission in this world?

Additional Questions:

Romans 1:1-6

• What is my identity compared to Apostle Paul’s identity?  Have I accepted the fact that I have been “called” and that I am to be “set apart for the gospel of God?”
• What is the goal of my salvation according to v.5?  What implication does the phrase “[t]hrough him and for his name’s sake” have on my life as a Christian?
• Have I accepted the fact that I am called to a life of “obedience that comes from faith?”  How does this challenge some people’s notion that grace lessens the importance of obedience?

Romans 1:7

• Reflect on the phrase “loved by God” and “called to be saints.”  What is the relationship between God’s love for me, and his desire to sanctify me?

Romans 1:8-13

• What is the basis of Apostle Paul’s relationship with the brothers and sisters in Rome, a church he has yet to visit?  Do I feel close to people based on similar grounds?

Romans 1:18-20

• How is “what may be known about God” plain to people?
• What is the relationship between truth and wickedness?  Are there some truths I have suppressed because of some sin I am refusing to repent of?

Romans 1:32

• In what ways is the description in vs. 32—“not only continu[ing] to do these very things but also approv[ing] of those who practice them”—being played out in our society?  Am I guilty of giving approval to others’ sins?

Commentary:

v.2 “The gospel comes in fulfillment of a promise. In Genesis, God spoke of the heel of the woman’s offspring crushing the serpent (Gen 3:15). Messianic psalms portray the coming deliverer (Pss 45; 72). Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant (Jer 31:31–34). The Old Testament continually points beyond itself to a time of fulfillment, the age to come. God made his promise ‘through his prophets’ in the Old Testament. He entrusted his message to men chosen to speak for him. Beyond that, he allowed his message to be written down. What the prophets wrote became ‘Holy Scriptures.’”^[1]

vv.16-17 “Verses 16–17 are pivotal verses in the New Testament. They state concisely and with unusual clarity a fundamental tenet of the Christian faith. The heart of v.16 is that the gospel is the saving power of God. Salvation is not only initiated by God but is carried through by his power. To say that the gospel is ‘power’ is to acknowledge the dynamic quality of the message. In the proclamation of the gospel God is actively at work in reaching out to the hearts of people. The gospel is God telling of his love to wayward people. It is not a lifeless message but a vibrant encounter for everyone who responds in faith. […] To really hear the gospel is to experience the presence of God.

“The gospel is not simply a display of power but the effective operation of God’s power leading to salvation. It has purpose and direction. The salvation Paul spoke of is more than forgiveness of sin. It includes the full scope of deliverance from the results of Adam’s sin. It involves justification (being set right with God), sanctification (growth in holiness), and glorification (the ultimate transformation into the likeness of Christ; cf. 1 John 3:2). […] Becoming a child of God requires deliverance from what we are as children of Adam. It is not something we can do for ourselves. It requires the power of God himself working through the gospel.

“The gospel does not negate a person’s free will but is God’s power for ‘everyone who believes.’ God does not force himself upon people against their will. For the power of the gospel to effect salvation, the hearer must respond in faith. Our faith is in no way meritorious, but without faith there can be no individual salvation. Paul noted the universal nature of salvation by faith when he added ‘first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.’”^[2]

v.17 “By nature we view righteousness as something we can achieve by our own meritorious action, the result of what we do. The righteousness of God is totally different. It is a right standing before God that has nothing to do with human merit. It is received by faith. […] This radical departure from conventional wisdom had to be ‘revealed.’ It runs contrary to all the basic instincts of fallen human nature. Virtue has, since the beginning of time, been thought of as an achievement by human endeavor. But God’s righteousness is a right standing he freely gives to those who trust in him.^[3]

v.18 “In v.17 Paul wrote that in the gospel ‘a righteousness of God’ is being revealed. Then he added that from heaven the ‘wrath of God’ is being revealed. There is an essential relationship between God’s righteousness and his wrath. If God responded to wickedness with no more than a benign tolerance, his righteousness could be called into question. That which is right necessarily stands over against and defines by contrast that which is wrong. We recognize that divine wrath is not the same as human wrath, which normally is self-centered, vindictive, and intent on harming another. God’s wrath is his divine displeasure with sin.

“Although the wrath of God is primarily eschatological, it is at the same time a present reality. […] Furthermore, vv.24–32 describe divine wrath as currently operative in the lives of the ungodly. That God’s wrath is present does not mean that it will not also be eschatological. God’s present wrath anticipates his final withdrawal from those who do not respond to his love.

“The wrath of God is being revealed against every sort of ‘godlessness and wickedness.’ C. Hodge takes these two terms to mean impiety toward God and unjustness toward humanity. Lack of respect for God leads to a lack of justice for people. […]

“The people of whom Paul spoke were those who by their wicked and sinful lives ‘suppress the truth.’  Truth cannot be changed, but it can be held down or stifled. Wickedness ‘denies … truth its full scope.’ We will learn in the verses that follow that God has revealed to all humans something of his eternal power and nature. Yet people refuse to believe, and as a result their understanding is darkened. To turn willfully against God is to move from light into darkness. The blindness that follows is self-imposed.”^[4]

v.20 “Verse 20 explains that certain invisible attributes of God have been clearly perceived since the world began, specifically, his ‘eternal power and divine nature.’ They are understood from what has been made. […] God has revealed himself in nature in such a way as to hold all people responsible. They are ‘without excuse.’ Seeing the beauty and complexity of creation carries with it the responsibility of acknowledging the Creator both as powerful and as living above the natural order. Disbelief requires an act of rebellion against common sense. It displays fallen humanity’s fatal bias against God. Although the created order cannot force a person to believe, it does leave the recipient responsible for not believing.”^[5]

vv.24-25 “The word translated desires (epithumia) is the key to this passage. […] It is the desire which makes men do nameless and shameless things. It is the way of life of a man who has become so completely immersed in the world that he has ceased to be aware of God at all.

“It is a terrible thing to talk of God abandoning anyone. And yet there are two reasons for that.

“(i) God gave man free-will, and he respects that free-will. In the last analysis not even he can interfere with it. In Ephesians 4:19 Paul speaks of men who have abandoned themselves to lasciviousness; they have surrendered their whole will to it. Hosea (4:17) has the terrible sentence: ‘Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.’ Before man there stands an open choice; and it has to be so. Without choice there can be no goodness and without choice there can be no love. A coerced goodness is not real goodness; and a coerced love is not love at all. If men deliberately choose to turn their backs on God after he has sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world, not even he can do anything about it.

“When Paul speaks of God abandoning men to uncleanness, the word abandon has no angry irritation in it. Indeed, its main note is not even condemnation and judgment, but wistful, sorrowful regret, as of a lover who has done all that he can and can do no more. It describes exactly the feeling of the father when he saw his son turn back on his home and go out to the far country.

“(ii) And yet in this word abandon there is more than that—there is judgment. It is one of the grim facts of life that the more a man sins the easier it is to sin. He may begin with a kind of shuddering awareness of what he is doing, and end by sinning without a second thought. It is not that God is punishing him; he is bringing punishment upon himself and steadily making himself the slave of sin. The Jews knew this, and they had certain great saying upon this idea. ‘Every fulfillment of duty is rewarded by another; and every transgression is punished by another.’ ‘Whosoever strives to keep himself pure receives the power to do so; and whosoever is impure, to him is the door of vice thrown open.’

“The most terrible thing about sin is just this power to beget sin. It is the awful responsibility of free-will that it can be used in such a way that in the end it is obliterated and a man becomes the slave of sin, self-abandoned to the wrong way. And sin is always a lie, because the sinner thinks that it will make him happy, whereas in the end it ruins life, both for himself and for others, in this world and in the world to come.”^[6]

^[2]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (70). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

^[3]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (73). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

^[4]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (76). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

^[5]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (78). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

^[6]The letter to the Romans. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev.ed. (Ro 1:26). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.