Presented to Swift Current Corps, 26 July 2009
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click HERE to read Romans 5.
Our next stop on our walk down ‘Romans Road’ is Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love for us, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Can anyone tell us any of the earlier stops we’ve made along the ‘Romans Road’ or the scriptures we’ve look at. The first one we looked at wasn’t exactly on Romans Road but I thought we needed to have it before we embarked on this journey.
That is Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”
Next stop, Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Last week we stopped at Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
INTRODUCTION
Today is Susan’s birthday. I was looking at some of those ‘today in history sites and I found out some other interesting things that happened on this day in history.[1]
Here are some of the things. Actually maybe I’ll give you a little bit of a quiz to go with it. Can anyone tell me who Jimmy Hoffa was?
- Teamsters President. On July 26th 1964, Jimmy Hoffa was convicted of fraud & conspiracy.
Who was Winston Churchill? (British PM during WW II) On July 26th 1945, Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister.
More difficult maybe: Can anyone tell me who Rembrandt was? (Famous 17th Century Dutch artist) On July 26th 1656 Rembrandt declared he was insolvent.
We don’t seem to have too many good things…here’s one. Can someone tell me who the Scottish James I was. (King of Scotland) He became King on this day in 1524. His descendent –of course was James VI (AKA James II of England) who oversaw the translation and unified standardization of the English Bible (the AV or KJV).
What else have we got? On this day in 1758, British battle fleet under General James Wolfe conquered Louisbourg and…
197 years ago this month was the famous capture of Detroit. This was a key battle in the early part of the War of 1812: a significant war in which Canada repulsed an American invasion.[2]
92 years ago this month began the Third Battle of Ypres, more commonly known as the battle of Passchendaele where Canadian troops captured the town of Passchendaele in World War I. Recently there was a Canadian movie released by that name. I haven’t seen it yet.
These two battles, Passchendaele and Detroit, though not as famous as Vimy Ridge and Queenston Heights are very important for Canada. The Third Battle of Ypres (Passendale) cost us over 500,000 casualties: Allied soldiers that were captured, missing, wounded or killed.
Romans 5:7,8: “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die (8) but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
SALLY ANN’ RISKED THEIR LIVES FOR US
The Salvation Army often plays a big role in Remembrance Day ceremonies in this country because of the great work that the Lord did through us during the so-called the First and Second World Wars.[3] "It would be easier to forget one's name than fail to remember the times without number when The Salvation Army was, in truth, our comforter and friend," remarks General Harry Crerar (Former Commander of the First Canadian Army, Second World War)[4]
During both world wars and throughout the Cold War, The Salvation Army provided Canadian military personnel with comforts such as hot drinks and snacks and helped maintain morale by establishing leave centres for rest and recreation.
Very close to the battle front, The Salvation Army showed films, established canteens, organized sporting events and other recreational activities, provided reading material, stationary, cigarettes and other items which the troops greatly appreciated. The Salvation Army also offered spiritual guidance and personal counselling to all military personnel seeking it: comforting the wounded, even helping bury the dead. In short, they did whatever was necessary to help maintain military morale. The Salvation Army instructed its supervisors to “care for the body, mind and soul of every [service person] irrespective of creed or personality.” The Salvation Army tried to offer a ‘touch of home’ in the midst of the horrors of War.
In Canada, The Salvation Army Home League raised funds and sent tens of thousands of comfort packages containing socks, underwear, Christmas presents, and other items directly to The Salvation Army chaplains for distribution. Salvationists also visited the homes of departed soldiers to look into the welfare of their dependants and comfort many bereaved families. In short, The Salvation Army “provided the reassuring link between the fighting man and his world of peace and kindness and sanity.” [5]
Personally, in the very short time we have been here, I have heard individual accounts from no less than 3 veterans of WWII or their widows about just how much God used ‘Sally Ann’ during ‘the war’.
Canadian Salvationists were sent overseas to serve Christ by serving the soldiers in the hopes that some might be saved. Canadian soldiers were sent overseas in the world wars to fight and to die for ‘God, King, and country’. Many were saved and many did lay down their lives in the name of God, our King, and our country (cf. John 15:17).
CHRIST LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US
Romans 5:7,8: ‘Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die (8) but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.’ Christ died for all of us when we were still sinners (cf. Romans 4:5).
Romans 5:10 tells us that not only were we still sinners but we were more than that: we were his enemies (cf. 1 John 4:10). Christ died for us while we were still his enemies. What is an enemy?[6] An enemy is one who means us harm. An enemy is one who is in opposition to us. An enemy is against us. When we were still in our sin we were indeed Christ’s enemies. When we were not under Christ’s lordship and leadership, we were necessarily under our own and/or someone else’s. We were not part of his kingdom and indeed by our actions, our deeds, our words, and our thoughts, we were his enemies. By our actions, our deeds, our words, and our thoughts, we fought against Christ even though his only desire in this was for all of us to be saved and come to a full knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). It was in this condition that we were when Christ died for us.[7]
WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS
One might say, “… that while I didn’t know Christ, I was not his enemy, really. I led a good life. I didn’t hurt anybody. I just happened to get to know God later on in life and then become ‘born again’…that doesn’t mean that I was God’s enemy does it?” The Apostle Paul argues here that the sinner is an enemy of God and a sinner here is anyone who is not experiencing the joys of ‘life with Christ’ (Cf. Romans 5:1, 12:12, 14:17, 15:13) – the sinner here is anyone who has not yet grabbed hold of the salvation that Christ offers. The Greek word in verse 7, ‘hamartōlŏs’, comes from ‘hamartanō’ that we looked at two weeks ago[8] and, as we remember, it means to ‘miss the mark’, to be short of the standard,[9] which is what we are when we don’t serve the Lord. Paul makes a real distinction between the ‘sinner’ and the ‘saint’. The former (the sinners) are God’s opponents. The latter (the saints) are the ones on his side; this is where we want to be.
GOVERNMENTS MAY MAKE ENEMIES OF PEOPLE
A good way to understand how we were as sinners and indeed even as enemies of Christ could be expressed in an analogy of military conflict. We know of the horrors of war and the crimes that our enemies commit. We, and our allies, however, are far from innocent. In WWII, the UK and the US mercilessly created an horrific firestorm in Dresden killing many innocent women and children and, of course, the US dropped the Atomic bomb on Japan at the time of day when the Japanese mothers were walking their children to school in order to maximize casualties.
Indeed in Canada during the Second World War, we treated anyone who was of German, Italian and especially Japanese ancestry as our enemies. We most certainly went overboard in this and placed many Canadians of Japanese descent in internment camps. (Famous Canadian scientist and environmentalist, David Suzuki, even spent part of his life in a Canadian internment camp.) We treated innocent people as our enemies. I say ‘we’ intentionally. As is shown through the official government apologies and tax money paid by future generations of Canadians, who had nothing to do with these actions, the responsibility for this does rest with all of us.[10]
In recent times in the US, with their ‘War on Terror’, their president declared that ‘whoever isn’t with us is against us’ and proceeded to establish torture chambers in Guatanamo Bay (and elsewhere) with the explanation that in this remote location, it is okay to flout international law. These actions of the US government and her allies, no matter how well intentioned (and I have no doubt some people involved in these actions were well intentioned!), these actions have made many enemies all over the world for the rest of us. And as a result, terrorism, suicide-bombing, and mass political murders are on the rise precisely because countries in this world are falling short of the standard of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
You and I may never actually drop a bomb on a family sitting down for dinner but just like there are consequences for the family who receives the bomb, especially in a democracy the guilt of our countries rests to some extent with each of us. The consequences of our countries’ actions do affect us all. When I was younger, Canada was still seen as a peacekeeping nation. At that time we saw more clearly not only the blessings of being a peacemaker (Matthew 5:9) but also the consequences of overt military aggression. I don’t know if you remember but in those days American students when travelling around the world would wear Canadian flags on their backpacks, so that no one would want to harm them. Canada as peacemakers, which we were back then, didn’t make the enemies that the US did. And even though the American students never killed anyone themselves, their government – rightly or wrongly – had waged (or sponsored) many wars, killed many people, and in the process made enemies for all of its citizens -even those not yet born!
SIN MAKES US ENEMIES OF CHRIST
Likewise, sin makes us enemies of Christ. When we sin, we are warring against Christ. Before we served Christ, our moral self-government was perpetually warring against Christ. When we were sinners, though we may not have even been totally aware of it, we were very much Christ’s enemies and we obviously could never win this war and the consequence of this war, this rebellion against Christ is death (Romans 6:23). Paul in his letter to the Romans explains it in terms of Adam (Romans 5:12-21; cf.1 Corinthians 15).[11]
Adam and Eve were the original sinners.[12] They were the first to transgress the will of God. God told them that they could pretty much do anything that they wanted in all the world so long as they ‘go forth and multiply’ (Genesis 1:28, see 9:1) and abstain from eating the fruit from just one of the many trees in God’s garden that he let them look after(Genesis 2:17). And then what is one of the very first things they do after a short conversation with some snake they meet? They disobey God; they sin. In doing this in essence our fore-parents declare war on God and humankind has been in rebellion against him ever since (Romans 3:23).[13] Furthermore, as the author of Hebrews tells us, every time we sin we are taking up arms against Christ (Hebrews 10:28-30).
CHRIST DIED FOR US
But even so, at a point in our history, at a point in history that was probably about as bad as it is today in terms of disobedience to God, at a certain time, Romans 5:6, “…at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” And Verse 8, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
I have heard on more than one occasion a true story about a preacher in an English church who one day caught the attention of two young boys who were in the pews. The illustration he used to explain to the congregation about Christ’s death for us went something like this:
There was a father and his son who often went fishing together in the waters off the coast of England. On this one particular occasion the father told his son that he could bring a friend along. Now the father was a parish priest or something like that. He was a deeply religious man anyway. He and his son were speaking about the Lord quite a bit. The boy’s friend did not know the Lord and he did not know entirely what to make of all this.
While they were out on the water one of those terrible sudden storms came up. The storm tossed their little ship to and fro and among the rocks in the English Channel. Try as they might, the three of them were not strong enough to regain control of the boat. When the storm reached its fiercest at one point both boys were thrown overboard. The father ran to grab the life preserver. There was only one (and there wasn’t much time so even if there was more than one he couldn’t possibly throw two in two different directions then pull them both to safety). There was only one. The sea was frantically trying to claim the life of both boys. It would get one for sure. There was no time to save them both. The father grabbed the preserver and he threw it. He threw it … he threw it to… his son’s friend. The friend grabbed the preserver and was pulled onto the boat – but by the time the father had gotten his child’s friend aboard, there was no sign of his own son. The father sacrificed his own son, his only son so that the other boy could live.
This is what it is like for our heavenly father and his son (Ephesians 1:7; John 15:1-17). God let his son -whom he loves- die so that even those of us who do not know him, even those of us who are sinners, even those of us who are his enemies can be saved. God’s son died for us at just the right time so we all could be saved.
After this sermon, the boys queried the old preacher. They asked if that was a true story or if he was just making it up. He said it was true. They were unconvinced. One boy asked why a father would let his own son die for a kid he doesn’t even know.
The preacher told him that the father knew that his own son knew Jesus. He knew that even if his own son were lost, yet he would be saved. He knew that his own son, even if he died, yet would he live; he would see him again at the resurrection of the just. His son’s friend however did not know Jesus then so if he died, he would be lost forever. The father sacrificed his son to save the other boy.
‘How do you know that that story is true?’ demanded one of the two boys listening to the story.
‘I was the boy who was saved that day,’ replied the old preacher.
And so it is with all of us. Today we have the choice before us of life and death. God the father has already sacrificed his one and only son so that we can live. All we need to do now is to grab hold of the life preserver of our salvation, hold tight in holiness, and not let it slip away. Christ died so that we can live.
So today I urge us all not to let Jesus’ death to have been in vain in our own lives. If there is anything we are holding onto today that is preventing us from grabbing hold of our salvation, let us cast it aside. If there is any aspect of our lives that we are holding onto so tight that we are not fully clutching that preserver of our salvation, today let us cast it aside. If there is any sin in our life that we have not confessed to God, let us today take this time, confess it to Him and in so doing, reach out and grab hold of that life preserver of His salvation so that we can all be gloriously saved.
Let us pray.
www.sheepspeak.com
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[1] TodayInHisotry. On-line at: http://www.todayinhistory.com/
[2]Victories like this one helped us to remain independent of the American Empire for more than 100 years; It wasn’t until August 18, 1940 the Prime Minister of Canada submitted to the Ogdensburg Agreement which provided for Permanent Joint Board for the Defence for Canada and the United States. Cf. US Naval Chronology of WWII, 1940. Available on-line: http://www.navsource.org/Naval/1940.htm
[3] Both the Napoleonic Wars and the Seven Years War before were also very much world wars – even more so than WWI.
[4] General Harry Crerar (Former Commander of the First Canadian Army, Second World War). THE SALVATION ARMY, A PRESENTATION BY THE CANADIAN WAR MUSEUMon-line: http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/salvationarmy/index_e.html
[5] WarMuseum.ca – A Touch of Home: The War Services of the Salvation Army http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/explore/military-history/dispatches/a-touch-of-home-the-war-services-of-the-salvation-army - MORE: ‘…In all, Red Shield services in Canada and overseas cost $21 million and provided Canadians with more than 270 million sheets of writing paper and envelopes, 38 million hot beverages from mobile canteens, and 35 million meals served in huts and hostels. More than 68 million people attended Salvation Army films and concerts. Over 200 Salvation Army supervisors served overseas, the last one not returning home until December 1946.
[6] Cf. Everett F. Harrison The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Romans/Exposition of Romans/IV. Justification: The Imputation of Righteousness (3:21-5:21)/D. The Benefits of Justification (5:1-11), Book Version: 4.0.2 for a more in-depth look at this question
[7] Cf. F.F. Bruce, ‘Romans’ (TNTC: Leicester, U.K.: Leicester Press, 1985), 118.
[8] Michael Ramsay, 'Romans 3:22b, 23: There is no difference for all have sinned’ Presented to Swift Current Corps, 12 July 2009. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/07/romans-322b-23there-is-no-difference.html
[9] The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. ‘268: ‘hamartōlŏs’ and ‘264: hamartanō’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.5.
[10] The residential school settlement is another example of a generation paying (money) for the sins of a previous generation.
[11] See N.T. Wright, ‘The Letter to the Romans’ (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 470.
[12] See John Stott, ‘Romans’ (Leicester, UK, IV Press, 1994), 162-166 for an interesting discussion about the ramifications of Adam’s sin.
[13] Cf. F.F. Bruce, ‘Romans’ (TNTC: Leicester, U.K.: Leicester Press, 1985), 96.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Romans 3:22b, 23:There is no difference, for all have sinned…
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 12 July 2009
and Warehouse 614 in Toronto, 21 January 2018
By Captain Michael Ramsay
There is a Disney movie for kids that came out a while ago called ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’.[1] Basically what happens is that some people try to kill the Emperor with a magic potion but they get it mixed up and accidentally instead turn him into a llama, a talking llama. The movie then progresses as the Emperor attempts to regain his throne and be turned back into a person. There is this one clip at the climax of the movie where the emperor finds a bunch of magic potions (only one of which can turn him back into a person) but all the magic potions have been mixed up and while he is being pursued by the royal guards, who are trying to kill him, he is drinking these potions very quickly.
(View clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cdTYNxqIas&NR=1)
Each potion seems to amke it worse as his pursuers are closing in. He turns into a turtle at one point (not so good for eluding one’s pursuers). Trying to turn into a person, he turns into a small bird at another point and is frantically trying to get away as he drinks potion after potion: turtle, small bird, giant whale, and then finally he drinks this one potion and looks down and he changes and cheers, “yeah… I’m a llama again! … oh wait…” That isn’t what he wanted at all: he wanted to be a person; all those potions and adventure and there is no difference (yet), he still isn’t a person again yet. There is no difference.
Romans 3:22b, 23: There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul has already been building his argument about how neither the Jew nor the Gentile is saved in any different way than the other. According to Paul in Romans 1:18-32 and 2:1-16, anyone who denies the abundant evidence of God’s eternal power and divine nature (1:19-20) is rightly exposed to the wrath of God (1:18, 2:8) which results in being given over to their unnatural desires to act upon a debased mind (1:28). As a consequence of their sin, this rebellion that they commit, they are condemned and deserve to die. Neither moralizing nor the Torah can save anyone.[2] At the conclusion of the second chapter of Romans, it is clear that both the Jew and the Gentile stand on equal footing. The Law and the works of Torah, that is, those practices which mark Israel out from among the nations, cannot be the means of demarcating (as some Jews in Paul’s time had suggested) a true covenant people; they merely point to the fact of sin (3:20, looking back to 2:17-24 and on to 5:20 and 7:7-25).[3]
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Greek word for ‘sinned’ in this passage (hamartanō) carries with it the classic definition of sin that we have probably heard before: that of ‘missing the mark’.[4] It brings to mind the idea of an archer shooting for a target and falling short – missing the target. On the surface this seems innocuous enough but if we then find out that that archer is William Tell – who is famous because he shoots apples off of people’s heads – and if we then find out that indeed the apple is about to be placed on your head, it becomes important. You don’t want him to miss the mark. William Tell, of course, used to shoot the apples off the head of his own sons and so if he missed, the consequences could be most devastating for both father and son (as is our own sin). When we continually sin – the consequences are often fatal. Romans Chapter 3 tells us here that indeed, we have all sinned, we have all fallen short of this glory of God (3:23) and Romans 1 and 2 tell us that because of that we deserve to die (1:32, 2:12).
For those of us that did read a little bit of Romans this past week, you will have no doubt noticed that the first two chapters of this book really do point to the fact that there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile: both fall short of the glory of God, as does each of us individually no matter who we are, and as such we all deserve to die (3:9, 3:23).
I read a story by John Phillips, he tells us[5]:
‘Paul describes sin as a coming short of the divine standard.
Two men went to the recruiting office in London to join the guards regiment. The standard height for a guardsman was a minimum of six feet. One man was taller than the other, but when they were measured officially both were disqualified. The shorter of the two measured only five feet seven inches and was far too short; his companion measured five feet eleven and a half inches and, stretch to his utmost, as he did, he could not make it any more. Nor did his pleas avail. It mattered nothing that his father was a guardsman, that he promised to be a good soldier, that he had already memorized the drills and knew the army regulations by heart. He was short of the standard.’
There was nothing he could do. Yes, he is taller than his friend (just like some people seem holier than the rest of us) but it doesn’t matter.[6] It doesn’t matter that he is taller, he still isn’t tall enough and there is nothing he can do about that. There is nothing at all that he can do to grow any bigger at this stage of his life. Thus he failed to obtain his goal. Likewise, it doesn’t matter if we are Jew or Gentile, male or female, employer or employee, a missionary, a relatively good person, or what have you…for we have all sinned and thus fall short (Galatians 3:28).[7]
Now this could be playing out in a couple of different ways in the text before us today. It could be speaking about each of us falling short or missing the mark on our own accord - that happens. Ignoring the heretical idea that ‘we all sin all the time without even realizing it’ (this is simply neither true nor possible), every one of us has transgressed the will of God. Each of us has sinned but this passage may be simply referring to the first sin when Adam and Eve originally disobeyed YHWH in the garden and then tried to hide from Him (Genesis 3): this was St. Augustine of Hippo’s idea of ‘Original Sin’. New Testament Scholar Tom Wright tells us that here the verb “tense is aorist, indicating a single moment… [thus] Paul seems to be again thinking of Adam.”[8] But, as Biblical scholar F.F Bruce claims, Paul also could be simply referring to the fact that each of us on our own have sinned and therefore fail to make the grade.[9]
Failing to make the grade: that reminds me of when I was in high school. There was this fellow John in my Algebra 11 class. John –in those days anyway- was not exactly the scholarly type. His friends mercilessly nick-named him ‘Scarecrow’, from the Wizard of OZ: “I wish a had a brain.” The last day of Algebra 11, the teacher, Mr. Lobensoft, decided to read out everyone’s mark in descending order from top to bottom. Now this actually made Scarecrow – I mean John – very happy because even though he received a meagre 11% on the course, he looked over at a friend’s paper as they were being handed out and saw that his friend had achieved only 4% on the course (that friend was me!): for once he was not the lowest mark in the class. As the names were read down the list: Tony, 88%; Janet, 86%; Suzy, 84%; Billy, 72% - and all the way down past the failing marks – Alex, 49%; Trevor, 32%; you could see John actually getting more and more excited because THIS TIME he wasn’t going to have the lowest mark – someone else might just earn the moniker of ‘Scarecrow’, Silvia 22%, John 11%…and then… the moment he was waiting for… and… the teacher stops reading out the marks… and dismisses the class. As everyone is quickly exiting the room, ‘what about Mike?’ John yells, ‘what about Mike?’ ‘Read out Mike’s mark’…John knew I had only 4% but the teacher refused to read my mark so poor John - who did all on his own manage to fail Algebra 11 again - indeed wound up being last on the list again. Now there are a couple of things here that are relevant to our text:
1) In the grand scheme of things it really didn’t matter for John in any tangible way what I or anyone else got, John still received a failure on his report card. He missed the mark; he ‘failed to obtain the prize’.[10] Just like us. It doesn’t matter if you are a ‘better person’ than Charlie Manson, Adolph Hitler, Woodrow Wilson, or your next-door neighbour – that is not what is going to ‘get you into heaven’ as they say for ‘all have sinned and fall short’. (And you know that if any of the characters we just mentioned repented and accepted Christ, they may actually be there at the resurrection of the just. It is not our actions earn us eternal life.) It is God’s gift not our performance that saves us.
2) Relevant - I didn’t actually fail Algebra 11, which is why my mark wasn't read out. I did only get 4% on the course but because I realised that I was doing horribly in Algebra 11 on my own, I dropped the course and audited it instead. This means that I had to do all the same homework as everyone else. I had to write all the same test as everyone else...and I fell short just like John did but it didn’t matter because, by auditing the course, I was saved the failing mark.
That is not entirely dissimilar from the case we have here today before us in Romans 3. You see in the heavenly classroom, we have all scored less than a passing mark; we have all fallen short and deserve to die. But Jesus does not read out our marks, nor does he condemn us (John 3:17) but like a student auditing a course, he still wants us to complete it (1 Cor 9:24, Gal 5:7, 2 Tim 4:7, Heb 21:1). In my case, it didn’t matter how the class was passed (in regular school or summer school) what mattered was that the class was passed – the 4% mark was erased forever from my transcripts and replaced with an A-range mark. This is somewhat like justification.
NT Wright writes[11]:
'Justification' is thus the declaration of God, the just judge, that someone is (a) in the right, that their sins are forgiven, and (b) a true member of the covenant family, the people belonging to Abraham. That is how the word works in Paul's writings. It doesn't describe how people get in to God's forgiven family; it declares that they are in. That may seem a small distinction, but in understanding what Paul is saying it is vital.
So we know that “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22b-23) but now we also know that we “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).
This is the good news. Like so much in this world, it is not ‘what you know’ but it is ‘who you know’. Now to some this sounds unfair but when you take into account that no one knows enough to actually pass the test, to merit salvation, then we really do appreciate this grace.
Speaking of grace, I don’t know if anyone knows what grace actually means, Sarah-Grace? (gift of God). Yes. Grace means a gift from God. It is a present. It is not a trophy we can earn like the Grey Cup, the Stanley Cup, or the World Cup – as nice as those things may be none of us in this room (none of us who are over the age of ten anyway) are ever going to earn those things. Grace is something even more precious than that. It is a special present from our father. It is like a little unicorn named ‘Lovely’ that I bought for Rebecca on her third birthday. It is like the little lamb that I gave Sarah-Grace when she was just born. It is each of my girls first pictures that they ever drew for Susan and I that I have sitting on my desk at home. Our salvation is a special ‘love present’, a special gift from God that He gives us because He loves us and all we have to do is accept that gift (or not reject it).
Now God loved the world so much that he did send his only begotten son to die so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. He sent His Son into the world to save the world not to condemn the world (John 3:16-17) and since He did that at such a great personal expense, let us please accept that gift today and let us please – let us not be ashamed of this good news (1:16-17), let us please let all our friends and family know that indeed the Lord our God loves us all, and He has purchased this special gift of salvation for us all and all we have to do is accept (or not reject) it so please let us each accept that love present, that gift of eternal life today.
Let us pray.
www.sheepspeak.com
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[1] Walt Disney Video, ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ (May 1, 2001). Youtube video clip available on-line at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cdTYNxqIas&NR=1
[2] Michael Ramsay, 'Paul and the Human Condition as reflected in Romans 1:18-32 and 2:1-16', Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Winter 2007). Available on-line at: http://sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Paul%20and%20the%20Human%20Condition
[3] Michael Ramsay, 'Paul’s Understanding of the Role of Law as Reflected in Romans 2:12-16, 17-24, and 25-29,' Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Winter 2007). Available on-line: http://sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Paul%20and%20the%20Law
[4] The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. ‘264: hamartanō’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.5.
[5] John Phillips, ‘Exploring Romans’ (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1969), 67.
[6] Cf. John Stott, ‘Romans: God’s Good News for the World’ (Leicester, U.K.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 109.
[7] Cf. F.F. Bruce, ‘Romans’ (TNTC: Leicester, U.K.: Leicester Press, 1985), 96.
[8] N.T. Wright, ‘The Letter to the Romans’ (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 470.
[9] F.F. Bruce, ‘Romans’ (TNTC: Leicester, U.K.: Leicester Press, 1985), 96.
[10] Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. ‘264: hamartanō’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.5.
[11] NT Wright, ‘The Shape of Justification’, April 2001. Available on-line at: www.thepaulpage.com/Shape.html
and Warehouse 614 in Toronto, 21 January 2018
By Captain Michael Ramsay
There is a Disney movie for kids that came out a while ago called ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’.[1] Basically what happens is that some people try to kill the Emperor with a magic potion but they get it mixed up and accidentally instead turn him into a llama, a talking llama. The movie then progresses as the Emperor attempts to regain his throne and be turned back into a person. There is this one clip at the climax of the movie where the emperor finds a bunch of magic potions (only one of which can turn him back into a person) but all the magic potions have been mixed up and while he is being pursued by the royal guards, who are trying to kill him, he is drinking these potions very quickly.
(View clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cdTYNxqIas&NR=1)
Each potion seems to amke it worse as his pursuers are closing in. He turns into a turtle at one point (not so good for eluding one’s pursuers). Trying to turn into a person, he turns into a small bird at another point and is frantically trying to get away as he drinks potion after potion: turtle, small bird, giant whale, and then finally he drinks this one potion and looks down and he changes and cheers, “yeah… I’m a llama again! … oh wait…” That isn’t what he wanted at all: he wanted to be a person; all those potions and adventure and there is no difference (yet), he still isn’t a person again yet. There is no difference.
Romans 3:22b, 23: There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul has already been building his argument about how neither the Jew nor the Gentile is saved in any different way than the other. According to Paul in Romans 1:18-32 and 2:1-16, anyone who denies the abundant evidence of God’s eternal power and divine nature (1:19-20) is rightly exposed to the wrath of God (1:18, 2:8) which results in being given over to their unnatural desires to act upon a debased mind (1:28). As a consequence of their sin, this rebellion that they commit, they are condemned and deserve to die. Neither moralizing nor the Torah can save anyone.[2] At the conclusion of the second chapter of Romans, it is clear that both the Jew and the Gentile stand on equal footing. The Law and the works of Torah, that is, those practices which mark Israel out from among the nations, cannot be the means of demarcating (as some Jews in Paul’s time had suggested) a true covenant people; they merely point to the fact of sin (3:20, looking back to 2:17-24 and on to 5:20 and 7:7-25).[3]
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Greek word for ‘sinned’ in this passage (hamartanō) carries with it the classic definition of sin that we have probably heard before: that of ‘missing the mark’.[4] It brings to mind the idea of an archer shooting for a target and falling short – missing the target. On the surface this seems innocuous enough but if we then find out that that archer is William Tell – who is famous because he shoots apples off of people’s heads – and if we then find out that indeed the apple is about to be placed on your head, it becomes important. You don’t want him to miss the mark. William Tell, of course, used to shoot the apples off the head of his own sons and so if he missed, the consequences could be most devastating for both father and son (as is our own sin). When we continually sin – the consequences are often fatal. Romans Chapter 3 tells us here that indeed, we have all sinned, we have all fallen short of this glory of God (3:23) and Romans 1 and 2 tell us that because of that we deserve to die (1:32, 2:12).
For those of us that did read a little bit of Romans this past week, you will have no doubt noticed that the first two chapters of this book really do point to the fact that there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile: both fall short of the glory of God, as does each of us individually no matter who we are, and as such we all deserve to die (3:9, 3:23).
I read a story by John Phillips, he tells us[5]:
‘Paul describes sin as a coming short of the divine standard.
Two men went to the recruiting office in London to join the guards regiment. The standard height for a guardsman was a minimum of six feet. One man was taller than the other, but when they were measured officially both were disqualified. The shorter of the two measured only five feet seven inches and was far too short; his companion measured five feet eleven and a half inches and, stretch to his utmost, as he did, he could not make it any more. Nor did his pleas avail. It mattered nothing that his father was a guardsman, that he promised to be a good soldier, that he had already memorized the drills and knew the army regulations by heart. He was short of the standard.’
There was nothing he could do. Yes, he is taller than his friend (just like some people seem holier than the rest of us) but it doesn’t matter.[6] It doesn’t matter that he is taller, he still isn’t tall enough and there is nothing he can do about that. There is nothing at all that he can do to grow any bigger at this stage of his life. Thus he failed to obtain his goal. Likewise, it doesn’t matter if we are Jew or Gentile, male or female, employer or employee, a missionary, a relatively good person, or what have you…for we have all sinned and thus fall short (Galatians 3:28).[7]
Now this could be playing out in a couple of different ways in the text before us today. It could be speaking about each of us falling short or missing the mark on our own accord - that happens. Ignoring the heretical idea that ‘we all sin all the time without even realizing it’ (this is simply neither true nor possible), every one of us has transgressed the will of God. Each of us has sinned but this passage may be simply referring to the first sin when Adam and Eve originally disobeyed YHWH in the garden and then tried to hide from Him (Genesis 3): this was St. Augustine of Hippo’s idea of ‘Original Sin’. New Testament Scholar Tom Wright tells us that here the verb “tense is aorist, indicating a single moment… [thus] Paul seems to be again thinking of Adam.”[8] But, as Biblical scholar F.F Bruce claims, Paul also could be simply referring to the fact that each of us on our own have sinned and therefore fail to make the grade.[9]
Failing to make the grade: that reminds me of when I was in high school. There was this fellow John in my Algebra 11 class. John –in those days anyway- was not exactly the scholarly type. His friends mercilessly nick-named him ‘Scarecrow’, from the Wizard of OZ: “I wish a had a brain.” The last day of Algebra 11, the teacher, Mr. Lobensoft, decided to read out everyone’s mark in descending order from top to bottom. Now this actually made Scarecrow – I mean John – very happy because even though he received a meagre 11% on the course, he looked over at a friend’s paper as they were being handed out and saw that his friend had achieved only 4% on the course (that friend was me!): for once he was not the lowest mark in the class. As the names were read down the list: Tony, 88%; Janet, 86%; Suzy, 84%; Billy, 72% - and all the way down past the failing marks – Alex, 49%; Trevor, 32%; you could see John actually getting more and more excited because THIS TIME he wasn’t going to have the lowest mark – someone else might just earn the moniker of ‘Scarecrow’, Silvia 22%, John 11%…and then… the moment he was waiting for… and… the teacher stops reading out the marks… and dismisses the class. As everyone is quickly exiting the room, ‘what about Mike?’ John yells, ‘what about Mike?’ ‘Read out Mike’s mark’…John knew I had only 4% but the teacher refused to read my mark so poor John - who did all on his own manage to fail Algebra 11 again - indeed wound up being last on the list again. Now there are a couple of things here that are relevant to our text:
1) In the grand scheme of things it really didn’t matter for John in any tangible way what I or anyone else got, John still received a failure on his report card. He missed the mark; he ‘failed to obtain the prize’.[10] Just like us. It doesn’t matter if you are a ‘better person’ than Charlie Manson, Adolph Hitler, Woodrow Wilson, or your next-door neighbour – that is not what is going to ‘get you into heaven’ as they say for ‘all have sinned and fall short’. (And you know that if any of the characters we just mentioned repented and accepted Christ, they may actually be there at the resurrection of the just. It is not our actions earn us eternal life.) It is God’s gift not our performance that saves us.
2) Relevant - I didn’t actually fail Algebra 11, which is why my mark wasn't read out. I did only get 4% on the course but because I realised that I was doing horribly in Algebra 11 on my own, I dropped the course and audited it instead. This means that I had to do all the same homework as everyone else. I had to write all the same test as everyone else...and I fell short just like John did but it didn’t matter because, by auditing the course, I was saved the failing mark.
That is not entirely dissimilar from the case we have here today before us in Romans 3. You see in the heavenly classroom, we have all scored less than a passing mark; we have all fallen short and deserve to die. But Jesus does not read out our marks, nor does he condemn us (John 3:17) but like a student auditing a course, he still wants us to complete it (1 Cor 9:24, Gal 5:7, 2 Tim 4:7, Heb 21:1). In my case, it didn’t matter how the class was passed (in regular school or summer school) what mattered was that the class was passed – the 4% mark was erased forever from my transcripts and replaced with an A-range mark. This is somewhat like justification.
NT Wright writes[11]:
'Justification' is thus the declaration of God, the just judge, that someone is (a) in the right, that their sins are forgiven, and (b) a true member of the covenant family, the people belonging to Abraham. That is how the word works in Paul's writings. It doesn't describe how people get in to God's forgiven family; it declares that they are in. That may seem a small distinction, but in understanding what Paul is saying it is vital.
So we know that “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22b-23) but now we also know that we “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).
This is the good news. Like so much in this world, it is not ‘what you know’ but it is ‘who you know’. Now to some this sounds unfair but when you take into account that no one knows enough to actually pass the test, to merit salvation, then we really do appreciate this grace.
Speaking of grace, I don’t know if anyone knows what grace actually means, Sarah-Grace? (gift of God). Yes. Grace means a gift from God. It is a present. It is not a trophy we can earn like the Grey Cup, the Stanley Cup, or the World Cup – as nice as those things may be none of us in this room (none of us who are over the age of ten anyway) are ever going to earn those things. Grace is something even more precious than that. It is a special present from our father. It is like a little unicorn named ‘Lovely’ that I bought for Rebecca on her third birthday. It is like the little lamb that I gave Sarah-Grace when she was just born. It is each of my girls first pictures that they ever drew for Susan and I that I have sitting on my desk at home. Our salvation is a special ‘love present’, a special gift from God that He gives us because He loves us and all we have to do is accept that gift (or not reject it).
Now God loved the world so much that he did send his only begotten son to die so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. He sent His Son into the world to save the world not to condemn the world (John 3:16-17) and since He did that at such a great personal expense, let us please accept that gift today and let us please – let us not be ashamed of this good news (1:16-17), let us please let all our friends and family know that indeed the Lord our God loves us all, and He has purchased this special gift of salvation for us all and all we have to do is accept (or not reject) it so please let us each accept that love present, that gift of eternal life today.
Let us pray.
www.sheepspeak.com
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[1] Walt Disney Video, ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ (May 1, 2001). Youtube video clip available on-line at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cdTYNxqIas&NR=1
[2] Michael Ramsay, 'Paul and the Human Condition as reflected in Romans 1:18-32 and 2:1-16', Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Winter 2007). Available on-line at: http://sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Paul%20and%20the%20Human%20Condition
[3] Michael Ramsay, 'Paul’s Understanding of the Role of Law as Reflected in Romans 2:12-16, 17-24, and 25-29,' Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Winter 2007). Available on-line: http://sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Paul%20and%20the%20Law
[4] The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. ‘264: hamartanō’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.5.
[5] John Phillips, ‘Exploring Romans’ (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1969), 67.
[6] Cf. John Stott, ‘Romans: God’s Good News for the World’ (Leicester, U.K.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 109.
[7] Cf. F.F. Bruce, ‘Romans’ (TNTC: Leicester, U.K.: Leicester Press, 1985), 96.
[8] N.T. Wright, ‘The Letter to the Romans’ (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 470.
[9] F.F. Bruce, ‘Romans’ (TNTC: Leicester, U.K.: Leicester Press, 1985), 96.
[10] Cf. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. ‘264: hamartanō’ (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1995), p.5.
[11] NT Wright, ‘The Shape of Justification’, April 2001. Available on-line at: www.thepaulpage.com/Shape.html
Friday, July 3, 2009
Romans 1:16: I am not ashamed of the Gospel!
Presented to Swift Current Corps, 05 July 2009
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read a 2014 version based on 1 Corinthians: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/05/1-corinthians-117-25-romans-1-and.html
Click here to read an abridged 2018 version: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2018/01/romans-112-17-i-am-not-ashamed-of-gospel.html
Wednesday was Canada Day. I love Canada Day – (or Dominion Day as we used to call it) – I always have. You know what one of the things that I love is? I love the quizzes that come out around this time – I know, who loves quizzes but, hey, I used to be a teacher – let’s see how you do…
Who is our head of State?
What is our national animal?
What are our two national sports?
Who was the first PM of Canada?
When did Saskatchewan join confederation?
Upon what passage of scripture was Canada founded?
(answers at bottom)[1]
I also love the picnics and all the fun things to do. This past week, Susan the girls and I had the opportunity to check out the Canada Day events at the park. It was good. It was fun. It was a good break from unpacking and there was even free cake!
It is neat the way different communities celebrate Canada Day. In Nipawin – where we just came from – as part of the festivities, a preacher would be invited to conduct a service for the community at an historical church there. (Last year we had that opportunity and Susan preached a great sermon.)
Growing up in Victoria, every year we used to have a big picnic and fireworks. It is a perfect chance to see everyone. I remember one Canada Day in Victoria when Rebecca was very little. We went to some Canada Day celebrations at Fort Rodd hill (which is an old historic fort). It was fun: they had a lot of things that we could see and do from days gone past. We could see people dressed up in historical costumes. They even had various mascots dressed up like animals walking around: great for kids, right?
And there was even one person who was dressed as a tree giving balloons to the children and telling them about the environment and this tree came to say hi to us and leaned over to offer Rebecca (who was 2 at the time) a balloon and asked her, “Do you like trees?” and she answered – as sweet as can be – “not trees that talk and walk”
Young kids are great for innocently speaking their mind. They are not ashamed to speak their mind. This is actually some of what Paul is speaking about in the passage we are looking at in Romans today, Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”
This is important and the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans is clearly an important work. World-renowned Biblical scholar, N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham claims that “Romans is neither a systematic theology nor a summary of Paul’s lifework, but it is by common consent his masterpiece.”[2] Romans 1:16-17 clearly states Paul’s idea of salvation[3] and so I thought this would be a good passage to begin our walk down Romans Road which we will be taking this summer because, as Susan has mentioned, we would certainly all like to feel comfortable enough to lead our friends and others to the Lord. In order to do this we can’t be ashamed of the gospel.
We are talking about being ashamed of the gospel but first can anyone tell me what the gospel is?[4] (This is important) The word gospel literally translated means ‘good news’ – it is a rendering of the Greek word euangelion, which means ‘good news’ or ‘good message’ (cf. Isa 40:9, 52:7) - so the gospel is good news. And what is this good news? The good news is that we can be saved from eternal death and damnation.[5] We can actually be bodily raised from the dead to eternal life and even more than that: it is the totality of the Christian message[6] and through the power of God we can start to experience that new life this very day! And this is good news and we should definitely not be ashamed of this!
There are some things that people are more commonly ashamed of; What are some of these other things? I know that many people are not forthcoming about their weight either because they have too much of it or, like me, not nearly enough. I know that I was caught off guard the other week when a reporter asked for my age and then he asked for my wife's age – I gave him mine. As far as Susan’s was concerned, I told him he’d have to asked Susan himself.
We can sometimes be ashamed of our mistakes as well. I was reminded the other day of a story relating to Susan and my honeymoon. On our Wedding night, we had reservations at a bed and breakfast (Abigail’s in Victoria, BC) that was a grand old building and looked just like a castle from the brochure. It was in a really neat area of the city too with a number of castle-like buildings around but none of these castles seemed to want to put their addresses where they could be easily seen so after quite a little bit of driving around we find the one that looks like the brochure and I leave the car out front and go up the main entrance in my kilt, in my full wedding regalia. I knock on the door. I tell them that we have reservations for the night. And the lady who answered says, “not here you don’t” – it is at that time that I realise that she is dressed in a Nun’s Habit…I had knocked on the door of the nunnery…an interesting place to wind up on your honeymoon. Whoops. She was kind enough to direct us to the correct castle though…this event was more than a little bit of an embarrassing mistake: one that I was at times certainly a little ashamed to tell.
I have also attended more than a few Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in my time. I can tell you that their meetings provide a very safe place for people to tell stories that we would certainly be otherwise ashamed to tell. The format for discussion there is very much like a testimony Sunday. We mention what we were like, what happened, and what we are like now. The reasons we wouldn’t want to share the stories in too many other places are twofold. 1) We wouldn’t want anyone to think that we are celebrating our sins and as a result tempt anyone else into the life of a drunkard (Dt 21:18-21; Prov 23:21, 26:9; 1 Cor 5:11, 6:10). And 2) we have changed. In many cases we are ashamed of what we have done. We are ashamed of how we were before we invited God to deliver us from our addiction but we should not be ashamed of what God is doing with us now.
This is gospel: Jesus died and rose again so that we can be free from sin. And we can be free from death. There are some people who don’t realise this yet. They aren’t yet experiencing the power of the gospel of Salvation. They live as if they are not free. It reminds me of last September.
Last September, After Hurricane Ike struck, I was asked to head down to Galveston Island in Texas as part of a team from Canada to help out with Emotional and Spiritual care.[7] More than 1 million people were saved from the hurricane and flood that followed as they obeyed the evacuation order but some refused to evacuated. No one needed to die but some refused the offered salvation and around 100 people were found dead as a direct result of Hurricane Ike. Bodies were still being found while I was down there. I spoke with people whose family members had refused the provided salvation from the storm and suffered the natural and logical consequences. It was not easy - the people knew that their loved one's rejected the salvation from the storm.
Homes were destroyed. Businesses were destroyed. The sewers, the water, and the phones were still not working when we were down there. People were housed in shelters both on and away from Galveston Island. Many still had no place to go. Power was still out in some of the parts while we were posted there. The power outage means that even for families that did not lose their stoves and refrigerators in the hurricane and the subsequent flood – and most did; there were many refrigerators destroyed and lying on the side of the road for pick up – they were unable to keep or cook any food. They didn’t have food and they didn’t have water.
Food and water: this is a big part of the salvation that the Lord provided through The Salvation Army mission down there. We had around 30 food trucks (called canteens) from which we help to serve around 75 000 hot meals every day and give the people water and ice. Ice is very important. It was around 90 F during our time there. And the food: many people told me that without The Salvation Army they wouldn’t have eaten at all. They wouldn’t have survived. We thank the Lord for the service He provided to this community through many people. We prayed for them. We continued to pray that the Lord would continue to save the people down there. Our work there was very much His saving work through us.[8] This I think is also very much a part of the totality of salvation that the Apostle Paul is speaking about in Romans 1– the real salvation for both the here and now as well as forever in Jesus’ impending, proleptic Kingdom.[9]
We were honoured and privileged to see many people saved not only from their suffering here and now but we were honoured and privileged to celebrate with people as they gave their lives to the Lord so that they could experience that salvation forever. We weren’t ashamed of the gospel, we shared the good news and some people grabbed hold of it and chose to live.[10]
In our own daily lives here - in our regular Monday to Friday and Saturday and Sunday lives - do we point people to that same salvation that is offered to all or are we ashamed of the Gospel? Jesus tells us that if we deny Him before men, he will deny us before God (Matt 10:33). That sounds fair.
How do we do at not being ashamed of the gospel? How do we do at being bold for the gospel (Phil 1)? As our friends or colleagues are speaking about life, do we tell them what we have heard from God or what we have read in the Bible? When someone shares their struggles with us do we share with them the strength to persevere that is offered through Jesus Christ? If we feel that God is prompting us to ‘lead someone to Christ’ – do we do it? I have one friend of mine who didn’t. The next day he heard that fellow he was ashamed to share the gospel with died. No more chances.
There is even more than this - of course - because Salvation is about the future but it is also about the present. We were missionaries in Vancouver’s infamous Downtown Eastside a few years ago; Salvation is this: Can you imagine if you have a friend who is living on the street? He is very poor and suffering from various illnesses and struggles through the most painful of lives thinking that he is all-alone. Now, imagine that you know his father. Imagine that you know that his father wants your friend to come home and live with him because his father was very well off and in his father’s house there are many, many rooms (John 14:2). Imagine that you know his father’s first born – his only truly begotten. Imagine that he told you to invite him home and imagine that you don’t and your friend lives out his whole life alone and sick. Imagine that you didn’t share this information because you were afraid? Imagine that you didn’t share this information because you were ashamed? Imagine if every time you saw your friend it became harder and harder to share the good news of his father that loves him because you were too embarrassed to admit that you hadn’t told him yet? Imagine if he suffers and dies and you didn’t remind him on every possible occasion that there is another way, that he could have turned to his father and lived. If that happens, what kind of friends are we?
This is what it is like. When Christ returns it will be like a thief in the night (Matt 24:42-44). The time and the hour is unknown (Matt 25:1-13) but we know it is coming and he is coming to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42, 2 Tim 4:1, 1 Pet 4:5) and some will go off to eternal happiness and some to hearing weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30; Luke 13:28). To know this is good news, believe it or not. It is like when the hurricane struck Galveston Island. Even though 100 people chose to stay behind and perished, even though we met with, spoke with and prayed with people whose family members chose to reject salvation from the hurricane. The people knew it was coming, they had a choice, and as a result thousands of others were saved.
Can you imagine if the news announcers were so ashamed of the fact the hurricane was coming that they didn’t share information that it was coming? Can you imagine if the meteorologists were so ashamed of the fact that they did not know the exact time and hour the hurricane was going to strike that they didn’t tell anybody? Can you imagine if your neighbour knew that the hurricane was coming and she evacuated but she never told you because she was ashamed because she couldn’t explain exactly what, why, where, how, and when the hurricane was coming? Can you imagine the horror as you look up to see your life being swept away – and no one ever told you how to be saved because they were ashamed?
Well, there is no need to be ashamed: an eschatological hurricane is coming and it is a lot more dangerous than Hurricane Ike. There are people in this city here today who are sleeping in their beds or watching their TVs right now who have no idea that the end is coming. There are people like the homeless man of our earlier analogy who are living their life away from the shelter of our Heavenly Father’s house when he wants nothing more than to have them safely at his side. There are people out there who are lost and just waiting for us to point them to salvation.
So today, let us do that. Today let us be like the rescue workers who go around pointing people to safety. None of us know when our lives are going to end. We may be taken tomorrow. None of us know when the Lord is returning and bringing with him the end to our world. But, like the weatherman watching the storm, we do know that the things of this earth are going to pass away (Matt 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33, Rev 21:1) and it is our job to share with everyone we meet the good news of the way to salvation so that they do not need to perish but instead can experience the full power of God for Salvation.
It is our responsibility to share the Gospel for, indeed, the Gospel is the power of God for all to be saved both now and forever. To this end then, I encourage us all to look for opportunities to share the good news of salvation in the upcoming weeks here so that all of us here may turn to God and experience the full power of His Salvation.
Let us Pray.
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www.sheepspeak.com/
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[1] Answers: Queen Elizabeth II, the Beaver, Lacrosse and Hockey, Sir John A. MacDonald, 1905, Psalm 72.
[2] N.T. Wright, The Letter to the Romans (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 395.
[3] Michael Ramsay, 'The Good News of Romans: Paul and the Gospel and Salvation (Romans 1:16-17)', Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Winter 2007). Available on-line: http://sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Paul,%20the%20Gospel%20and%20Salvation
[4] James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), p. 47: “The gospel is not merely the initial proclamation of Christ which wins converts, but is the whole Christian message and claim in terms of the rest of the letter.”
[5] Cf. Don Garlington, “A ‘New Perspective’ Reading of Central Texts in Romans 1-4,” Prepared for Evangelical Theological Society: 15 August 2006. Cited 20 02 2007. Online: http://www.thepaulpage.com/Rom1-4.pdf.12. and James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), p.39.
[6] James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), p.45.
[7] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay,' 2 Corinthians 9:12-15: Thanks be to God for His indescribable Gift! (Hurricane Ike relief)' Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 12 October 2008 and the Rotary Club of Nipawin, October 2008. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/10/2-corinthians-912-15-thanks-be-to-god.html
[8] James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), p. 47
[9] Cf. Joel B Green. ‘The Gospel of Luke’. NICNT. Vol. 3. (Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), p. 25.
[10] The term translated ‘salvation’ has a range of meaning from ‘bodily health, preservation, and safety (cf. e.g., Mark 5:23,28,34; 6:56; 10:52; Acts 27:34), to – as is frequently the case in the Psalms and Isaiah - deliverance from peril and restoration to wholeness. God’s righteousness here is linked with the provided salvation. (cf. e.g., Pss 35:27-28; 72:1-4; 85:9-13; 96:13; 98:2-3, 9; Isa 9:7; 11:1-2; 45:8, 22-25; 51:5-6; 53:10b-11; 61:1-2, 11; Jer 23:5-6; Mal 4:2). Don Garlington, “A ‘New Perspective’ Reading of Central Texts in Romans 1-4,” Prepared for Evangelical Theological Society: 15 August 2006. Cited 20 02 2007. Online: http://www.thepaulpage.com/Rom1-4.pdf.12 :“In other Psalm texts, it is surely striking that the psalmist prays for the Lord to deliver him in his righteousness (Ps 31:1; 143:1, 11; 71:1-2, 15; cf. 79:9). In these instances, deliverance from the enemy is the godly person’s salvation.”
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Click here to read a 2014 version based on 1 Corinthians: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/05/1-corinthians-117-25-romans-1-and.html
Click here to read an abridged 2018 version: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2018/01/romans-112-17-i-am-not-ashamed-of-gospel.html
Wednesday was Canada Day. I love Canada Day – (or Dominion Day as we used to call it) – I always have. You know what one of the things that I love is? I love the quizzes that come out around this time – I know, who loves quizzes but, hey, I used to be a teacher – let’s see how you do…
Who is our head of State?
What is our national animal?
What are our two national sports?
Who was the first PM of Canada?
When did Saskatchewan join confederation?
Upon what passage of scripture was Canada founded?
(answers at bottom)[1]
I also love the picnics and all the fun things to do. This past week, Susan the girls and I had the opportunity to check out the Canada Day events at the park. It was good. It was fun. It was a good break from unpacking and there was even free cake!
It is neat the way different communities celebrate Canada Day. In Nipawin – where we just came from – as part of the festivities, a preacher would be invited to conduct a service for the community at an historical church there. (Last year we had that opportunity and Susan preached a great sermon.)
Growing up in Victoria, every year we used to have a big picnic and fireworks. It is a perfect chance to see everyone. I remember one Canada Day in Victoria when Rebecca was very little. We went to some Canada Day celebrations at Fort Rodd hill (which is an old historic fort). It was fun: they had a lot of things that we could see and do from days gone past. We could see people dressed up in historical costumes. They even had various mascots dressed up like animals walking around: great for kids, right?
And there was even one person who was dressed as a tree giving balloons to the children and telling them about the environment and this tree came to say hi to us and leaned over to offer Rebecca (who was 2 at the time) a balloon and asked her, “Do you like trees?” and she answered – as sweet as can be – “not trees that talk and walk”
Young kids are great for innocently speaking their mind. They are not ashamed to speak their mind. This is actually some of what Paul is speaking about in the passage we are looking at in Romans today, Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”
This is important and the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans is clearly an important work. World-renowned Biblical scholar, N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham claims that “Romans is neither a systematic theology nor a summary of Paul’s lifework, but it is by common consent his masterpiece.”[2] Romans 1:16-17 clearly states Paul’s idea of salvation[3] and so I thought this would be a good passage to begin our walk down Romans Road which we will be taking this summer because, as Susan has mentioned, we would certainly all like to feel comfortable enough to lead our friends and others to the Lord. In order to do this we can’t be ashamed of the gospel.
We are talking about being ashamed of the gospel but first can anyone tell me what the gospel is?[4] (This is important) The word gospel literally translated means ‘good news’ – it is a rendering of the Greek word euangelion, which means ‘good news’ or ‘good message’ (cf. Isa 40:9, 52:7) - so the gospel is good news. And what is this good news? The good news is that we can be saved from eternal death and damnation.[5] We can actually be bodily raised from the dead to eternal life and even more than that: it is the totality of the Christian message[6] and through the power of God we can start to experience that new life this very day! And this is good news and we should definitely not be ashamed of this!
There are some things that people are more commonly ashamed of; What are some of these other things? I know that many people are not forthcoming about their weight either because they have too much of it or, like me, not nearly enough. I know that I was caught off guard the other week when a reporter asked for my age and then he asked for my wife's age – I gave him mine. As far as Susan’s was concerned, I told him he’d have to asked Susan himself.
We can sometimes be ashamed of our mistakes as well. I was reminded the other day of a story relating to Susan and my honeymoon. On our Wedding night, we had reservations at a bed and breakfast (Abigail’s in Victoria, BC) that was a grand old building and looked just like a castle from the brochure. It was in a really neat area of the city too with a number of castle-like buildings around but none of these castles seemed to want to put their addresses where they could be easily seen so after quite a little bit of driving around we find the one that looks like the brochure and I leave the car out front and go up the main entrance in my kilt, in my full wedding regalia. I knock on the door. I tell them that we have reservations for the night. And the lady who answered says, “not here you don’t” – it is at that time that I realise that she is dressed in a Nun’s Habit…I had knocked on the door of the nunnery…an interesting place to wind up on your honeymoon. Whoops. She was kind enough to direct us to the correct castle though…this event was more than a little bit of an embarrassing mistake: one that I was at times certainly a little ashamed to tell.
I have also attended more than a few Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in my time. I can tell you that their meetings provide a very safe place for people to tell stories that we would certainly be otherwise ashamed to tell. The format for discussion there is very much like a testimony Sunday. We mention what we were like, what happened, and what we are like now. The reasons we wouldn’t want to share the stories in too many other places are twofold. 1) We wouldn’t want anyone to think that we are celebrating our sins and as a result tempt anyone else into the life of a drunkard (Dt 21:18-21; Prov 23:21, 26:9; 1 Cor 5:11, 6:10). And 2) we have changed. In many cases we are ashamed of what we have done. We are ashamed of how we were before we invited God to deliver us from our addiction but we should not be ashamed of what God is doing with us now.
This is gospel: Jesus died and rose again so that we can be free from sin. And we can be free from death. There are some people who don’t realise this yet. They aren’t yet experiencing the power of the gospel of Salvation. They live as if they are not free. It reminds me of last September.
Last September, After Hurricane Ike struck, I was asked to head down to Galveston Island in Texas as part of a team from Canada to help out with Emotional and Spiritual care.[7] More than 1 million people were saved from the hurricane and flood that followed as they obeyed the evacuation order but some refused to evacuated. No one needed to die but some refused the offered salvation and around 100 people were found dead as a direct result of Hurricane Ike. Bodies were still being found while I was down there. I spoke with people whose family members had refused the provided salvation from the storm and suffered the natural and logical consequences. It was not easy - the people knew that their loved one's rejected the salvation from the storm.
Homes were destroyed. Businesses were destroyed. The sewers, the water, and the phones were still not working when we were down there. People were housed in shelters both on and away from Galveston Island. Many still had no place to go. Power was still out in some of the parts while we were posted there. The power outage means that even for families that did not lose their stoves and refrigerators in the hurricane and the subsequent flood – and most did; there were many refrigerators destroyed and lying on the side of the road for pick up – they were unable to keep or cook any food. They didn’t have food and they didn’t have water.
Food and water: this is a big part of the salvation that the Lord provided through The Salvation Army mission down there. We had around 30 food trucks (called canteens) from which we help to serve around 75 000 hot meals every day and give the people water and ice. Ice is very important. It was around 90 F during our time there. And the food: many people told me that without The Salvation Army they wouldn’t have eaten at all. They wouldn’t have survived. We thank the Lord for the service He provided to this community through many people. We prayed for them. We continued to pray that the Lord would continue to save the people down there. Our work there was very much His saving work through us.[8] This I think is also very much a part of the totality of salvation that the Apostle Paul is speaking about in Romans 1– the real salvation for both the here and now as well as forever in Jesus’ impending, proleptic Kingdom.[9]
We were honoured and privileged to see many people saved not only from their suffering here and now but we were honoured and privileged to celebrate with people as they gave their lives to the Lord so that they could experience that salvation forever. We weren’t ashamed of the gospel, we shared the good news and some people grabbed hold of it and chose to live.[10]
In our own daily lives here - in our regular Monday to Friday and Saturday and Sunday lives - do we point people to that same salvation that is offered to all or are we ashamed of the Gospel? Jesus tells us that if we deny Him before men, he will deny us before God (Matt 10:33). That sounds fair.
How do we do at not being ashamed of the gospel? How do we do at being bold for the gospel (Phil 1)? As our friends or colleagues are speaking about life, do we tell them what we have heard from God or what we have read in the Bible? When someone shares their struggles with us do we share with them the strength to persevere that is offered through Jesus Christ? If we feel that God is prompting us to ‘lead someone to Christ’ – do we do it? I have one friend of mine who didn’t. The next day he heard that fellow he was ashamed to share the gospel with died. No more chances.
There is even more than this - of course - because Salvation is about the future but it is also about the present. We were missionaries in Vancouver’s infamous Downtown Eastside a few years ago; Salvation is this: Can you imagine if you have a friend who is living on the street? He is very poor and suffering from various illnesses and struggles through the most painful of lives thinking that he is all-alone. Now, imagine that you know his father. Imagine that you know that his father wants your friend to come home and live with him because his father was very well off and in his father’s house there are many, many rooms (John 14:2). Imagine that you know his father’s first born – his only truly begotten. Imagine that he told you to invite him home and imagine that you don’t and your friend lives out his whole life alone and sick. Imagine that you didn’t share this information because you were afraid? Imagine that you didn’t share this information because you were ashamed? Imagine if every time you saw your friend it became harder and harder to share the good news of his father that loves him because you were too embarrassed to admit that you hadn’t told him yet? Imagine if he suffers and dies and you didn’t remind him on every possible occasion that there is another way, that he could have turned to his father and lived. If that happens, what kind of friends are we?
This is what it is like. When Christ returns it will be like a thief in the night (Matt 24:42-44). The time and the hour is unknown (Matt 25:1-13) but we know it is coming and he is coming to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42, 2 Tim 4:1, 1 Pet 4:5) and some will go off to eternal happiness and some to hearing weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30; Luke 13:28). To know this is good news, believe it or not. It is like when the hurricane struck Galveston Island. Even though 100 people chose to stay behind and perished, even though we met with, spoke with and prayed with people whose family members chose to reject salvation from the hurricane. The people knew it was coming, they had a choice, and as a result thousands of others were saved.
Can you imagine if the news announcers were so ashamed of the fact the hurricane was coming that they didn’t share information that it was coming? Can you imagine if the meteorologists were so ashamed of the fact that they did not know the exact time and hour the hurricane was going to strike that they didn’t tell anybody? Can you imagine if your neighbour knew that the hurricane was coming and she evacuated but she never told you because she was ashamed because she couldn’t explain exactly what, why, where, how, and when the hurricane was coming? Can you imagine the horror as you look up to see your life being swept away – and no one ever told you how to be saved because they were ashamed?
Well, there is no need to be ashamed: an eschatological hurricane is coming and it is a lot more dangerous than Hurricane Ike. There are people in this city here today who are sleeping in their beds or watching their TVs right now who have no idea that the end is coming. There are people like the homeless man of our earlier analogy who are living their life away from the shelter of our Heavenly Father’s house when he wants nothing more than to have them safely at his side. There are people out there who are lost and just waiting for us to point them to salvation.
So today, let us do that. Today let us be like the rescue workers who go around pointing people to safety. None of us know when our lives are going to end. We may be taken tomorrow. None of us know when the Lord is returning and bringing with him the end to our world. But, like the weatherman watching the storm, we do know that the things of this earth are going to pass away (Matt 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33, Rev 21:1) and it is our job to share with everyone we meet the good news of the way to salvation so that they do not need to perish but instead can experience the full power of God for Salvation.
It is our responsibility to share the Gospel for, indeed, the Gospel is the power of God for all to be saved both now and forever. To this end then, I encourage us all to look for opportunities to share the good news of salvation in the upcoming weeks here so that all of us here may turn to God and experience the full power of His Salvation.
Let us Pray.
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[1] Answers: Queen Elizabeth II, the Beaver, Lacrosse and Hockey, Sir John A. MacDonald, 1905, Psalm 72.
[2] N.T. Wright, The Letter to the Romans (NIB 10: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 395.
[3] Michael Ramsay, 'The Good News of Romans: Paul and the Gospel and Salvation (Romans 1:16-17)', Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Winter 2007). Available on-line: http://sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Paul,%20the%20Gospel%20and%20Salvation
[4] James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), p. 47: “The gospel is not merely the initial proclamation of Christ which wins converts, but is the whole Christian message and claim in terms of the rest of the letter.”
[5] Cf. Don Garlington, “A ‘New Perspective’ Reading of Central Texts in Romans 1-4,” Prepared for Evangelical Theological Society: 15 August 2006. Cited 20 02 2007. Online: http://www.thepaulpage.com/Rom1-4.pdf.12. and James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), p.39.
[6] James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), p.45.
[7] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay,' 2 Corinthians 9:12-15: Thanks be to God for His indescribable Gift! (Hurricane Ike relief)' Presented to each the Nipawin and Tisdale Corps 12 October 2008 and the Rotary Club of Nipawin, October 2008. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/10/2-corinthians-912-15-thanks-be-to-god.html
[8] James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38A: Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1988), p. 47
[9] Cf. Joel B Green. ‘The Gospel of Luke’. NICNT. Vol. 3. (Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), p. 25.
[10] The term translated ‘salvation’ has a range of meaning from ‘bodily health, preservation, and safety (cf. e.g., Mark 5:23,28,34; 6:56; 10:52; Acts 27:34), to – as is frequently the case in the Psalms and Isaiah - deliverance from peril and restoration to wholeness. God’s righteousness here is linked with the provided salvation. (cf. e.g., Pss 35:27-28; 72:1-4; 85:9-13; 96:13; 98:2-3, 9; Isa 9:7; 11:1-2; 45:8, 22-25; 51:5-6; 53:10b-11; 61:1-2, 11; Jer 23:5-6; Mal 4:2). Don Garlington, “A ‘New Perspective’ Reading of Central Texts in Romans 1-4,” Prepared for Evangelical Theological Society: 15 August 2006. Cited 20 02 2007. Online: http://www.thepaulpage.com/Rom1-4.pdf.12 :“In other Psalm texts, it is surely striking that the psalmist prays for the Lord to deliver him in his righteousness (Ps 31:1; 143:1, 11; 71:1-2, 15; cf. 79:9). In these instances, deliverance from the enemy is the godly person’s salvation.”
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