His Perfect Love

Matt VanderVen: Let's hear the word of God in context and what he's trying to say to us because we need this today. We're at a Romans road. We're at a Romans road, not only in our days that we're living in the society around us, we're at the Romans road. We're in the Susquehanna Valley. It'd be a beautiful place for God to do another revival, wouldn't it?

It'd be a beautiful place for God. But how does that begin? When the hearts of his people cry out to God and say, "I will not elevate man's wisdom over the authority and providence of his holy word."

Guest (Male): Someone has said you don't discover that God is all you need until he's all you have. And when he's all that you have, it's then that you realize he is all that matters. For if you have him, you have everything.

Consider with us, who is your master? As we get back to our introduction of Romans here on His Perfect Love. Pastor Matt VanderVen will be looking at the first verse of Romans with us, but before we get there, let's consider the purpose of this letter, who it was written to, and the theme.

Matt VanderVen: Now, let's move into purpose. Paul was not writing this letter like he wrote other letters. How did Paul write other letters in epistles to churches? They were very corrective. Do you notice that? To the church in Corinth, where he spent quite a bit of time besides Ephesus, a year and a half. "Hey guys, stop doing this, stop doing that." And where was Paul when he wrote the book of Romans? He was in Corinth.

Remember what I started with in my introduction? When I said how our lens affects us? If you remember what was going on in Corinth at that time—we'll talk a little about it—where we even get the word to "Corinthianize," not a good thing. It's important because it's giving us context of what was on Paul's heart as he was being inspired by the Holy Spirit.

There's no coincidence that God had him in Corinth to write that letter. He could have had him anywhere, but there was something he was seeing in Corinth that God was mindful of for him or telling him to be mindful about as he was writing to the church plants in Rome. Because that's going to have everything to do with the letter compared to the letter to the Corinthians or any of his other letters, the Thessalonians as an example, Galatians.

This letter appears to be bought by natural reasons. Paul was going to stop over in Rome to make his way to Spain. Who is this letter taken over by? Romans chapter 16 verse 1 tells us it's Phoebe. Phoebe from Cenchreae, she's the one that brings this letter there. And who is the letter addressed to? Well, chapter 1 verse 7 tells us: "To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints," Hagios.

You're a saint. That's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible teaches. There are some people that believe saints are only those that have to die first and then their bones are put together under an ossuary and the whole thing like that. But that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches Hagios is a very simple term and he says, "To you all." They're alive.

It gives you a whole new idea next time you see that little saint sitting on the dashboard moving around. Aren't you glad somebody doesn't say, "Well, you're a saint, I'm going to take you and throw you in the backyard, bury you down, face you this way?" No, that's not what God said. Hagios. Some of you are going, "Oh, Pastor Matt went there. Can somebody clean that up?"

No, but it's real because that's how false doctrines get spread. That's how religion begins instead of relationship. It's important. We need to be students of our word and the Bible said you and I are Hagios. We're saints. And that's who it's addressed to. He's writing again to the Jewish and Gentile Christians here that come to faith during the Passover or those after AD 49 when they were booted out.

Now, Paul has many purposes here in this letter. Think about all his three missionary journeys. All this must have been top of mind as he was in Corinth. Lots of prayer going on. We talked a little about Corinth, but just to refresh your memory, I'll bring this up in context and purpose because visual perspective impacts your mental lens. There's no coincidence here where God had put Paul and the Holy Spirit inspires him to write this letter.

Haven't you heard the saying "All roads lead to Rome?" So play the movie in your head now. Paul's witnessing all that's going on in the church in Corinth. He's there. He's written two letters to them. He's meeting Aquila and Priscilla. He's hearing about Rome and how they were kicked out of Rome, but he's hearing about all these Gentiles and Jewish Christians in Rome that are now scattered.

Possibly thinking about the impact. If all roads lead to Rome, then he's in Corinth. If he's in Corinth, the population is very similar to the Susquehanna Valley, somewhere between 500,000 to 600,000. So that means Corinth would have been a lot like where we are. What do you think Paul did? Did he lock himself in a hotel room there?

No. What did Paul do? He got out and saw the sights. And when he would get out and saw the sights, what's he going to see? He's going to see excessive sexual immorality. Why do I say that? Because Corinth had the temple to Aphrodite. Who was she? She was the pagan goddess of love. Scholars say they had over thousands and thousands of temple prostitutes.

So picture it. Paul's walking down the street, he's looking at the sights. He's there writing a letter. God's putting on his heart to write this letter to Rome. He's looking at these things and not only does he probably feel a little bit with sadness—I don't want to say disgust, that's the wrong word—but sadness because he's seeing these things. He's being propositioned as he walks different places and he's dealing with sexual immorality.

He's dealing with all these things that are going on. It's also filling him with sadness. Corinth was also host to the games like the Olympics, but they called them the Isthmian Games. They had chariot races, boxing, wrestling. That's fine, but they got into gambling and it became very much around entertainment.

All this is going on and he's seeing this and it's reminding him of what it shouldn't be like. He's saying, "If this happens in Corinth, if all roads lead to Rome, which is this big metropolis, what's going to happen when all these Jewish Christians or all these Gentile Christians end up going back to Rome and they begin to learn these things?"

If somebody doesn't adopt them spiritually as an undershepherd and pour into them the word of God, the biblical foundations, the literacy of what the Bible teaches, what's going to happen? It's going to spread, but it's going to be a false doctrine. It's going to spread and it's going to be heresy. It's exactly what we're warned in the end times, the days we're living.

There would be doctrines that would be espoused by men, that would be taught from a pulpit, that would lead people astray because they sound good or they tickle the ear, but they're not based on the word of God in context. Heck, most of them aren't even reading out of context. It's man's wisdom. It's topical. It's whatever you want it to be, whatever I feel like at the moment.

Where's the accountability in that? You go line by line, verse by verse. Guess what? The Bible talks about some heavy things: marriage, homosexuality, sexual immorality. We don't get to skip that. As a pastor, I don't get to go, "I'm not feeling this today. I'm going to upset the people." No, we open the book, we read it, and when it comes up, we talk about it.

That's the word of God. That's what calibrates us. That's what washes our mind. That's what Paul knew the Romans needed because they didn't have that underpinning. He was already seeing what happens in Corinth even in the Christian church there. This was a burden on Paul's heart. He was concerned for this.

I know this is going to be hard for us to relate to today, and I'm going to say that with a little cynicism, but it was a place where the world's wisdom reigned. First Corinthians 3:18 tells me that. Sexual immorality was present within the church: man having relations with his father's wife, First Corinthians 5. People suing brothers and sisters, First Corinthians 6.

Marriage issues, First Corinthians 7. Improper behavior for singles and widows, again First Corinthians 7. People actually getting drunk at the communion table, First Corinthians 11. Do you see the gross immorality that Paul was experiencing at that moment and the church in Corinth where he was?

And now he's thinking of the metropolis over there in Rome and he's not there. Who's God sending or got there? It was his desire to go there because he knows that all roads lead to Rome. And if this false gospel gets there and spread and permeates, what's going to happen? Isn't it your prayer for the church today and the pastors that God raises up to stay in the word and return to the word of God?

Isn't that your prayer as believers? Aren't you praying for our country, the President, the Governor of our state, the Commonwealth here? We have an election coming up. On the table out there, I encourage you to pick up one of the brochures. Look, I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. That's not my job. My job is to tell you to let the Holy Spirit be your guide.

You vote according to what the Spirit of God is showing you according to the word of God. But we have a responsibility to do that, just as Paul had this on his heart, we should have this on our heart. This is where God has given us. This is our Jerusalem here, the Susquehanna Valley. Are we concerned about what's going on all around us? Are we concerned about our neighbors? Are we concerned about strangers?

Is it on our heart? Are we torn up when we read about some of the things that are going on in this area? Are we torn up when we hear another church closes because they turned around and they got caught up in a program or an identity or an entertainment or something that sounds good and tickles the ears? You know of it. It's happening all around us.

Most churches are getting smaller and the Lord is allowing truth to go forward and this church is growing, not because of a man, because the word of God is being taught and people are hungry for truth. It all points to Jesus, just like this whole letter points to God. J. Vernon McGee said it far better than I could.

He said, "The picture of the gross immorality of the Gentiles in Rome is a picture drawn from the Corinth of Paul's day." Now, I don't know how many of you have studied the book of Romans. I don't know how many of you have thought about this in context. It changes everything, doesn't it? When you think of this letter and you think of how he's writing to Rome, it changes everything.

It's no longer "Am I going to side more with the Arminians? Am I going to side more with the Calvinists? Am I going to be looking at this or am I going to be looking at that?" It's got nothing to do with the philosophies of men. You won't find those words in your Bible. There's no word that says Calvinist, Reformed, Arminian, non-Reformed.

Yet men everywhere have taken this beautiful work of God and through their philosophy on it. That's why I asked in the beginning: please, brothers and sisters, lay your presuppositions down. Let's hear the word of God in context and what he's trying to say to us because we need this today. We're at a Romans road.

We're at a Romans road, not only in our days that we're living in the society around us, we're at the Romans road. We're in the Susquehanna Valley. It'd be a beautiful place for God to do another revival, wouldn't it? It'd be a beautiful place for God. But how does that begin? When the hearts of his people cry out to God and say, "I will not elevate man's wisdom over the authority and providence of his holy word."

But that requires humility. And that's exactly what the world isn't teaching. But that's what you're getting here because the Holy Spirit and the word of God testifies to it. And all of us are wrecked by this because we come in here with our ideas and ideology of how things work. And God just washes us and he's like, "I never saw that. I never knew that he was writing in that context. This is a totally different letter than what I ever thought before."

I treated this like a systematic theology book instead of a love letter from God that he was ministering to my heart and saying, "Watch, be careful. I want you to know who I am." And oh, by the way, I want us all to be united in the fact that we're all sinners and we fall short of the glory of God. We all need Jesus.

And it's Jesus where we begin. He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He tells us that and he tells us in love. It's a book of love. He says, "Grace and peace." What's the key theme of this book? The righteousness of God. To Paul, the Gospel was a great unifier in Rome, with the center of the world for the Gentile believer for which Jesus Christ died.

The Susquehanna Valley is the center, literally, when you look at where we're located. You've got Pittsburgh, you've got Philly, we're right in the middle or near the middle. Aren't we that center where Jesus Christ died for the Susquehanna Valley? He died for the whole world. This quote from J. Vernon McGee just wrecked me:

"Let me state in a subdued language that Romans is an eloquent and passionate declaration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by a man who made an arduous but productive journey to die for Christ." If that doesn't wreck you, I don't know is your heart beating? The one who died for him. Romans is more than cold logic. It's the Gospel stated in warm love.

What's the key verse of Romans? Chapter 1 verses 16 and 17: "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Greek." Not talking about priority, but speaking of order. "For it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'"

So let's turn our focus now that we've had our introduction to this book. Let's turn our focus to verses 1 and 2. Like I said, I didn't think we'd get very far, but verses 1 and 2 in the book of Romans. Now that we understand what was on Paul's heart as he was writing this, the first thing we're going to see in this chapter is the Christology.

That is the theology relating to the person, nature, and role of Christ. It's the foundation of this letter. Paul's understanding of Christ is the only topic of point. Romans chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 begins with Paul describing the content of the Gospel in terms of "through Jesus Christ our Lord." That's Christology.

So let's look at verse 1: "Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the Gospel of God." Let's take that apart. We're going to go word by word, not line by line, word by word here. Paul's self-identification right there in verse 1. Paul says, "I'm a slave." But I've got a question. Isn't everyone here a slave to someone or something?

Really think about it for a minute. Either a slave to a man, an ideology, an object that you might worship, or something else. But you're a slave to something. Even a born-again believer in Christ, we're a slave to someone. We have a master. His name is Jesus Christ. It's Doulos. But it's an interesting term in the Greek, this bondservant.

When you really take it apart, I said, "Lord, who is it that people say that Jesus is?" It really comes back to that question that Jesus said. Obviously God's brilliant. But he's so brilliant because you look at it and you're like, it's everything. Who do you say that I am? Who is Jesus? Well, you're going either worship man or the God of the universe.

The word for slave or bondservant here is Doulos. This is where we get our understanding and position in Christ as disciples. So what is a bondservant? This word's used over 127 times in scripture. The usage here, however, because there's three different usages you can have for Doulos and bondservant, specifically one who gives up himself to another's will.

Those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men. That's the exact usage here. Morris, a scholar, put it this way: "A complete and utter devotion." A complete and utter devotion, a willing—because bondservants are willing—utter devotion that way. Friends, is that you? That was Paul.

His master was Jesus Christ. Now, Christos in the Greek, Christ, the anointed one. That's not his surname. It's Jesus of Nazareth. That's who Paul's master is. It's Jesus the anointed one. So who's your master? You have a master. Either you've made yourself a master, you've made other people masters, you've made other objects.

But who's your master this morning? Get that question answered before you leave here. Who's your master? Capital One has this cool commercial. They all come out, they're all different. But the question is all wrong. It's "What's in your wallet?" Just once, I wish they'd come out and say, "Who's in your heart?"

Who's the master of your heart? Now that's a good question. Who's the master of your heart? Paul begins by making sure everyone reading this letter knows what Jesus Paul is talking about. Jesus the Messiah. Next we read he says "called." Now in your Bibles, you might see here some people have it italicized in the King James and different where it says "to be" and it's in italics.

That is what the interpreter did when he was trying to make it relatable to the translation of our day. But that's added. That's not in the original manuscripts. You should read "Jesus Christ called." Not "to be called." "Called" is the proper in the Greek, if we're taking this correctly. What's that about?

If you remember his Damascus Road experience in Acts chapter 9, that's what it is to experience Christ. He was called, wasn't he? He had that experience. He saw the bright light shining down as he falls down. Actually, we learn later on in the book of Acts also that others people there heard the same thing.

That they heard the audible voice, but they didn't know where it was coming from, and they too fell to their knees. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord. Even those that say "I'll never do it." Oh yes, you will. You will. Everyone will. Well, here they fall down and what happens?

Paul has this experience, he's looking at Jesus. He's hearing the voice of the Lord. He says, "Who is that? Who is that?" He says, "Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he says, "Who is this, Lord?" And he says, "It's I, it's Jesus, the one you've been persecuting. Why have you been kicking against the goads?" Or the pricks.

Why have you been doing that? In other words, what is he telling us? He's saying this didn't happen all of a sudden. It wasn't on the road to Damascus the first time that Paul has this moment with Christ. What this tells us is that he's been kicking. You know what the goads are?

When you had an ox in front of you and you had something you were riding behind it, whatever carriage or contraption, and they had spikes that would come out and if the animal tried to turn around and kick like this, what would happen? He'd hit the spike or the pricks and it would cause a consequence. Oh, I shouldn't do that. It was a reminder. I'll give you all the same thing.

It's the same idea. You don't do that. You're kicking against the goads. What's that tell us? Paul had been doing this. This wasn't something that was the first time. Paul had been doing this. And when did it begin? Well, certainly it began in Acts chapter 6 and 7 where we see Stephen.

And Paul was there and he had the clothes and they're laid right at his feet. As the clothes are laid at his feet, Paul consenting to it, Stephen's martyred. And I can't help but thinking, this is the one I'm looking at, this is the deacon Stephen who was there to wait to take table so when the brethren got together said, "This is a good man, he can serve, he's got a good reputation."

And he was martyred. And Paul was consenting to it. And God was yelling in Saul of Tarsus's ear: "No, he's mine." And Stephen looks up and I just believe I'll find out when I get to watch the video back in heaven, but he probably looked right in Paul's eye. "Forgive them for what they do. Forgive them. Forgive him."

He was called. God had been after him. It wasn't just the first time. Now what was he called to be? Apostolos. An apostle. That's a delegate, a messenger, one sent forth with orders specifically originally given to the twelve apostles. In our modern vocabulary, we've often used the term for it as missionary. One who's sent.

But I want to say this and this is very important, I'm not trying to offend anybody here, but we certainly don't see anywhere in scripture where this term is used to defined an office outside of the original twelve apostles. We don't see a modern-day undershepherd or even in the disciples through the word of God afterwards being called an apostle.

An apostle was one that was given the word of God, the original text of the word of God. The book of Revelation capstones that or ends that, if you will, and says there's nothing to be added or taken away from this word. If there is, it's an anathema, a curse. There is no modern-day apostle. That's what the Bible teaches.

You do with that what you want, but it said he was separated to the Gospel. Aphòrizo in the Greek. Aphòrizo, separated. Meaning to appoint, to set apart one for a specific purpose to do something. Singlemindedness on the Gospel and the Gospel alone. But then we gotta define what the Gospel is.

What was the Gospel? And there's many usages of the word the Gospel. The Gospel's an account of life describing the deeds, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah. The Gospel of God.

Guest (Male): Well, thanks for joining us today for His Perfect Love. You can hear this study from Pastor Matt VanderVen again when you visit hisperfectlove.org. Catch up on what you might have missed in Romans at hisperfectlove.org. Look for us on oneplace.com and most of the major podcast platforms.

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