Category Archives: Romans

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Sovereignty And Election Are Extremely Relevant: My Only Post On Preaching Through Romans 1-11

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I never thought I would write that the sovereignty of God and His election described in Romans 9-11 are easy to apply to the church! But they are. And I’m getting ahead of myself.

First, when I began preaching through Romans 1-11 a year ago Easter, I determined not to write posts from that series. The reason was simple: I do not consider preaching epistles like Romans to be difficult.

[I realize some of my friends and colleagues just ran to get their EpiPens!]

What I mean is that, although there are difficult theological concepts to explain, the structure and applicability of most epistles most of the time are not too difficult. In the case of Romans 9-11 one of my favorite commentators, Douglas Moo puts it this way:

“…while certain points remain hard to understand, Paul is claiming to be transmitting truth to which his readers are to respond” (p. 740).

Here’s how to locate the intended response for Romans 9-11 and all the heavy discussion of unconditional election:

First, when you begin working through chapter 9 you will need to point congregants forward to 11:17-22. This is Paul’s first indication of how the section functions for the church. There you find instruction for us not to be arrogant toward unbelieving Jews (v. 18), to stand fast through faith (v. 20), not become proud (v. 20), and to live as God-fearers (v. 20). The reason: “for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you” (v. 21) and the warning in v. 22, “Otherwise you too will be cut off.”

It is easy to get lost in election in chapter 9 and forget what the section is intended to do to the faith-family.

Two other connections can and should be made. First, the entire section ends with a marvelous doxology in 11:33-36. Everything ends with praise to God. Second, the more practical section that begins in 12:1 stems from all the mercies of God highlighted in 9-11 (“…by the mercies of God”). Unconditional election magnifies the mercy of God which provides motivation for all the instruction in chapters 12-16.

I hope you have had or will have an opportunity to preach through Romans with your faith-family and God will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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Instructions That Make Us Uncomfortable

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This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching on Romans 12:16 “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited.”  Sometimes it’s helpful to make people see the awkwardness of carrying out some commands.  For instance, in order to “associate with the lowly,” you must make a judgment call on them; you must acknowledge that they are actually in that category.  The term “lowly” doesn’t reflect God’s estimate of them, but their estimate of themselves and possibly the estimate of some in the faith-family.  Anyway, don’t shy away from pointing out how uncomfortable such a command can be.  One congregant said to me afterwards, “I hope too many people don’t come up to talk to me after this teaching because it will make me feel like I’m lowly.”  Exactly.  We have to come to grips with how uncomfortable a command is for us at times, before we can know what it means and how to apply our lives to such Scripture.

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Meaning Through Contrast

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Romans 12:12 reads, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”  I have found it helpful to explain the meaning of commands by exploring the opposites of these attitudes and actions.  If you decide, for instance, to preach verse 12, each command becomes one major thought block.  Each thought block might contain a brief segment on how the un-renewed mind thinks and acts (cf. the context of Romans 12:2 where the renewing of your mind is the way the transformation of a Christian occurs).  So, instead of being patient in tribulation, the un-renewed mind is focused on the irritation the troubling circumstances are causing and wants out.  The contrast helps everyone understand the meaning of being patient in tribulation.

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Find Meaning in the Transitions

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Recently, I completed a series through Isaiah 1-40 and have begun the latter part of Romans (chapters 12-16).  It’s been a while since I was in an epistle and I had forgotten how important the transitions are.  The logical connections within and between verses often create meaning.  That means, for instance, that when you’re preaching on 12:3 and the subject of humility, the character traits means something in relation to understanding the will of God (v. 2).  Having an accurate or proper assessment of yourself serves the larger thought of living out God’s will.  Of course, in a relatively short section like the first few verses of chapter 12, you can keep allowing the connections and transitions to flesh out meaning.  Work your way back up through the paragraph so that you see every connection.  Then decide how far back to you have to take your congregants in order to allow v. 3 and humility to mean what God intended through all those connections and transitions.  This is easier at the beginning of a section like chapter 12, but gets more difficult to remember and implement the further you get into a lengthy section of epistolary instructions.