A Chosen Instrument

My own personal study of the
book of Romans in earnest this past summer. Just really setting
my sights on just getting going and we held off for a couple
of weeks and then last week I knew was going to be more of a what
I call a flyover of the book of Romans. Preach the entire
book in one Sunday if you missed it. I think we recorded it. But we finally this morning actually
get into and deep into the text of this great epistle. In all
of Paul’s letters, the greeting here in this book of Romans is
by far the longest of any of Paul’s opening greetings. I believe
that’s partly because this epistle, this greeting is introductory.
As we discovered last week, Paul had not yet been to Rome. Paul
had not physically been to Rome yet. He had met some saints. He had interfaced with them.
He certainly had heard of the work in Rome. But he hadn’t yet
been there. And so, it is not without warrant
that Paul needed to take some time in these introductory verses,
not only to greet them properly verses 1-7, certainly take the
form of the typical greeting that would be offered in the
opening of an epistle. The address label, if you would,
if you want to speak that simply about it, although there’s much
more there than that, as we’ll even begin to see today. In almost
all of Paul’s letters, Paul cites almost exclusively his apostleship
as a mark of his authority. And that is to be expected. Some
of the churches to whom Paul writes certainly knew him. But in some cases, he had to
remind them of his authority. We’ll see on several cases where
Paul actually had to defend his authority and his apostleship. And yet, in the book of Romans
and only a few other places, He uses another term to define
himself and to identify himself. And what more fitting way to
identify himself to the Romans who had never met him, not only
as apostle, but as bondservant. If you would, let’s pick up in chapter 1, verse 1 of the
book of Romans. Paul, a bondservant of Christ
Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy
scriptures concerning his son, who was born of a descendant
of David, according to the flesh, who was declared the son of God
with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the
spirit of holiness. Jesus Christ, our Lord, through
whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the
obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,
among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. To all who are
beloved of God in Rome, called as saints, grace to you and peace. from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, as we begin this, I should
apologize already because some of you are going to walk out
disappointed. There is a spirit at work in our age that says
that week in and week out, you should be moved and powerfully
swayed by a relevant message that changes your life. And I’ll
apologize ahead of time. This probably isn’t that Sunday. What I hope to do is lay a groundwork
for the credibility not only of God’s Word, but for this particular
work, which is exactly what Paul does. Paul lays forth, first
and foremost to the Roman Christians, his own credibility. and thereby
the credibility of everything that he says. In our own day, people have begun
to doubt the veracity, the truthfulness of God’s Word. And that is because
they begin to doubt the writers themselves. And it isn’t just
Paul as an apostle who is writing this epistle, but they begin
to doubt the God behind them. If we do nothing else this morning
but restore and renew your own trust and your hope in the Word
of God, and in particular, the book of Romans, then I’ve done
my job this morning. Paul certainly has done his.
With apologies also to my beloved friend Paul. Unlike his fellow apostle, Peter,
I’m not going to spend three weeks on his name. In a very real sense, over all
the epistles that we’ve preached and considered, I have laid a
great groundwork. And rather than redo that, I
would direct you back simply to Philippians or Titus or 2
Corinthians or 1 Timothy. To those epistles that have already
been preached and are already on record, there’s a great amount
of data on Paul. We’ll touch upon him but briefly
this morning. And so if you would back in verse
one, we pause for a moment, at least on that word, the opening
word to the Romans, Paul. Even as we read the word Paul,
we know that something has transpired. Something has taken place. Because it isn’t Saul that is
writing to the Romans, but one named Paul. We know from Scripture,
primarily from the Old Testament, that there was a prominent tendency
for God to rename a great many of prominent saints, Abram became Abraham. Jacob became
Israel. Simon became Peter. We know of
that tendency in Scripture, and many commentators hold to the
idea that God changed Saul’s name to Paul at the time of his
conversion to Christianity. And while that’s possible, there
just is utterly no scriptural support for that idea. We see
what happens that Saul becomes Paul, but we don’t see how and
when and why. We were introduced to Saul relatively
early in the book of Acts, and I know we just got to Romans
and just got underway, but if you would turn in your Bibles
to the book of Acts, keep your finger in Romans. I promise we’ll
get back there today. We meet up with a man named Saul
relatively early in the book of Acts. Specifically, in the
scene where we see Saul present at the stoning of Stephen. If
you’re in chapter 7, pick it up in verse 54. Now, when they
heard this, they were cut to the quick. I’ll pause because
I still hear people flipping. Now, when they heard this, they
were cut to the quick and they began gnashing their teeth at
him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into
heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right
hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the
heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right
hand of God. But they cried out with a loud
voice and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. And when they had driven him
out of the city, they began stoning him. And the witnesses laid their
robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” And even the
Scriptures paint the picture as if Saul is just a passerby
or an unwitting witness to this scene. Verse 59 continues, they went
on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. Then falling on his knees, he
cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against
them. Having said this, he fell asleep.
Unless you misunderstand the text, he died, he was killed.
Now, all that this passage indicates was that Saul was present. Kind
of a passive participant, a witness. But from what follows, we know
that there was probably much more to Saul’s presence there
than just a mere witness, a bystander. Because in the following verses,
Saul’s fury literally explodes upon the church. If you’re still
there, look at Acts chapter eight, verse one, where it records that
Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And
on that day, a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout
all the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen
and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging
the church, entering house after house, dragging off men and women. He would put them in prison.
The problem was Saul forgot one little thing. The God, the God that he claimed
to know and love is an almighty sovereign and he was about to
act. for that, if you would skip down to chapter 9 of the book
of Acts. There are a number of details
that Luke doesn’t record here in chapter 9 that Paul later
recounting his testimony, which he gives on a number of occasions. Acts 22, we find his testimony
given. Acts 26, he gives it again. There
are a number of details in those accounts that Luke doesn’t record
here that are rather fascinating and we’ll pick up today. But in Acts 9, Luke records this. Now Saul, still breathing threats
and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high
priest and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at
Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way, that
is Christianity, both men and women, he might bring them bound
to Jerusalem. Now, when Paul gives his testimony
in Acts 26, he says that they were being put to death and I
cast my vote against them. In other words, Paul was a participant. And that’s why I say he was probably
much more than a bystander at the stoning of Stephen. As he was traveling, verse 3,
it happened that as he was approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from
heaven flashed around him. And he fell to the ground and
heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me? And he said, who are you, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. As Paul
recounted this story, In Acts 22, he said, those who were with
me saw the light to be sure, but did not understand the voice
of the one who was speaking to me. They saw a physical presence. They did not know what was being
communicated to Saul. Verse 6 continues, and it says
that he was told to get up and enter the city and it will be
told you what you must do. The men traveling with him stood
speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. They heard
the voice. They just didn’t understand what
the message was to Paul. There is no controversy or contradiction
here in the slightest. Saul got up from the ground.
Though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. And leading
him by the hand, they brought him to Damascus. And he was there
three days without sight and neither ate nor drank. Later
on, In Acts 26, when Paul would give this testimony, he says
that he was told to get up, stand on your feet, for this purpose
I have appeared to you. To appoint you as a minister
and a witness. Not only the things which you
have seen, but also the things which I will appear to you, that
I will reveal and disclose to you. Rescuing you from the Jewish
people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. to open their eyes so that they
may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan
to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” That was Paul’s
mission from that moment onward. And you can imagine that the
people in the next town were more than a little frightened,
even still, of Saul This conversion experience, notwithstanding,
they knew that something had happened. Ananias himself testified
to him that even Ananias was a little frightened. In verse
13, it records that, Lord, I have heard from many about this man,
how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem. And here
he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call
on Your name. Ananias saw it as a trick. Trojan horse. But the Lord said
to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine.” And I got
more than just my sermon title from that. That word is an interesting
word, that chosen instrument. It is not a musical instrument.
It is more akin to a tool and really more of a weapon in God’s
hand. That’s what he says Paul is to
him. Now, Saul’s name change, as I
indicated, wasn’t immediate, as some might think. It isn’t
recorded there, as some might like us to believe. This individual
continues to be known as Saul, not only immediately after his
conversion, but even after he’d begun to truly serve the Lord
in the Christian ministry. He was known to many as Saul. As I said, all we know is that
Saul’s name change was abruptly changed to Paul. We see it for
the first time in Acts 13, verse 9. Go ahead and flip over to
Acts 13. We’ll be there in a moment. If you glance down at Acts 13,
9, it just records that, but Saul, who was also known as Paul,
filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze upon him from
that point forward. From that point forward, he is
known as Paul. One curious stab at the reason
for the name change comes in this very context. That’s why
I had you turn to Acts 13. Look at verse four. This is literally
the first missionary journey And it says that, so being sent
out by the Holy Spirit, they went down from Seleucia till
they sailed to Cyprus. When they reached Salamis, they
began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the
Jews. They had John as their helper. When they had gone through
the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish
false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul,
Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man, Sergius Paulus, summoned
Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. He’s
a seeker, interested. But Elemas, the magician, for
so his name is translated, was opposing them, seeking to turn
the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was known as Paul,
filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him and said,
You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil,
you enemy of all righteousness, will you not seek to make crooked
the straight ways of the Lord? Now behold, The hand of the Lord
is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for
a time. And immediately a mist and a
darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who
would lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul, Sergius Paulus,
believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the
teaching of the Lord. Now Paul and his companions put
out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga and Pamphylia But John
left them and returned to Jerusalem. Now, there are some. There are
some who say that when Paul met Sergius Paulus and he believed
on his first missionary journey, he said, that’s a good enough
name for me. I’ll take Paul. Well, that’s just silly. That
he would take a convert’s name and thereby rename. There’s nothing
to indicate that from the text. It just says in verse 9 that
he was also known as Paul, and it just happened to be a convenient
Greek name. And this individual with a divine
calling to the Gentiles, it only makes sense that the Jewish name
Saul would be set aside for the Roman name Paul. And in writing
and presenting himself to the Roman church, he uses three descriptives
to add to this Roman name Paul. We see that Paul is a chosen
instrument in God’s hand. A weapon, if you will. And we want to look this morning,
in the time remaining, at the features of this tool or this
weapon in God’s hand. First of all, one prepared for
use by God is as a slave yielded to his master. It is as a slave
yielded to his master. Look at verse 1 again. Paul,
a bondservant of Christ Jesus. This is quite literally how the
epistle starts. In the Greek, it is Paulos doulos. Paul, slave. The word doulos
means just that. Slave. And it’s translated as
such about half the time that it occurs in the New Testament.
in the New American Standard anyway. The other half of the
time it is translated as bond slave or bond servant, but the
meaning is essentially the same. Bond servant just seems to take
something off of our 21st century ears of the more offensive word
slave. Unless, of course, you think
for a moment about the bonds that a bond servant might wear.
One characterized our natural repulsion to this word slave
in this way. He said, since with the concept
slave we generally associate such ideas as involuntary service,
forced subjection, frequently harsh treatment, many have concluded
that slave is not the best English equivalent to this context. But
Paul is using thoroughly biblical imagery here. The idea of being
a slave or a bondservant or a servant, a vassal, if you will, to God
is a very biblical concept. As one writer put it, bondservant
or servant of God, servant of the Lord, is an Old Testament
phrase. It is applied to the prophets
from Anus onwards. Moses, Joshua, David, Isaiah. It is found in the greetings
of Philippians, Titus, James, Jude, 2 Peter. It is appropriate. It is biblical. Genesis 6.24
calls Abraham, my servant. Numbers 12.7 refers to Moses,
my servant. Joshua 24.29, Joshua, the son
of Nun, the servant of the Lord. David, my servant. 2 Samuel 7. Isaiah 23, Isaiah, my servant. Amos 3. To his servants, the
prophets. It is thoroughly biblical imagery
that Paul uses here. And he says that if I am called
a servant of the Lord, that is a good enough title for me. A
bond slave of Christ. So the Old Testament saints from
the least to the greatest didn’t mind this characterization of
being enslaved to God, servants of the Most High. And for Paul,
not only him, but all Christians are in this glorious bondage
to the Lord. One pastor pictured it this way.
For Paul, every Christian is a slave of Christ. The term expresses
a total belongingness Total allegiance, similar to the absolute ownership
and authority implied by that word. And as such, so often in Paul’s
writings, he speaks to us in that sense. Ephesians 6.6, to walk in mere
eye service as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing
the will of God from the heart. Romans 12.11, we are not to be
lagging behind in diligent, but fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord. as slaves might serve a master.”
Romans 16, 18, 1 Corinthians 3, 23, and on and on it goes. The language is there that we
are all, in a very real sense, in bondage to the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are in His service. So, when
Paul went to introduce himself to the Roman church, the first
thing he says about himself appended to his very name, his bondservant. Charles Hodge, whose commentary
is so excellent on the book of Romans, explains why he said
in calling himself a servant of Jesus Christ, he intended
to express his official relation to the church as a servant of
Christ. He is not introducing himself
as the bishop. who would oversee all of these
churches as the super-apostle? This implies implicit obedience
and subjection. It supposes the divine authority
of the Redeemer. We find the Apostle denying that
he was a servant of men, rejecting all human authority as it regards
matters of faith and duty, and yet professing the most absolute
subjection of conscience and reason to the authority of the
Lord Jesus. This is the one who would go
on to tell us in the book of Ephesians that God has subjected
all things under him. That he is in authority over
all. You see what Paul I would have loved to have coffee
with Paul. Because he would have disliked these titles that so
often are thrown at leaders in the church. He would have disliked
those as much as we do. Reverend. Minister of the Gospel. The very right reverend. Even
pastor. It’s only translated that one
way in all of the New Testament. and could just as easily, and
should have been translated, shepherd. Certainly not senior pastor.
I don’t like the word senior anyway. What title did Paul use of himself?
Scholar. Why didn’t he just keep the name
Saul, the first king of Israel? Saul. That has a nice ring to
it. No, he picks bond slave. which indicates his utter submission
in cooperation with God’s plan. As one said, Paul was preeminently
humble and called himself the very least of all saints, Ephesians
3, 8. But the purpose of calling himself
a bond slave is to avow at the very outset the completeness
of his commission and commitment to Christ Jesus as Lord. Paul
was utterly submitted. And as it continues, note that
he calls himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ. And check that. Of Christ Jesus. We have this
tendency. I just did it myself. We have
this tendency to use the word Christ as a last name. And Paul
occasionally will refer to the Lord as Jesus Christ. But it isn’t a last name. It
just means Messiah. Messiah Jesus. Messiah, Savior Jesus. And as one pointed out, the fact
that Paul quite often put Christ before Jesus is a strong indication
that he did not habitually think of Christ as just a proper name. I think we have good cause to pause
and think through what it is we call the Lord and how it is
we refer to Him. Because in our common day, in the songs we sing, in
the way that we talk of Jesus, Jesus is just our buddy. We refer
to Him as such. Jesus. It’s not wrong per se. As long as deep down in your
heart and deep in thought, you really ultimately refer to him
as the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the most proper way to
refer to him. He goes on to point out that
the order here gives special emphasis right at the beginning
of the epistle to the fact that the one whose slave he was was
the fulfillment of God’s promises and of Israel’s age-old hope.
He calls him Christ Jesus. Messiah Jesus. Paul says, if nothing else, I’m
a slave. I’m a slave of one. I have one
Master. He is Christ Jesus. You see, as one said, to be a
bondservant is terrible in theory. To think of being a slave for
most of us is an utterly frightful thought, isn’t it? but to be Jesus Christ’s bondservant
is paradise. Self-surrender taken alone is
a plunge into a cold void. When it is surrender to the Son
of God who loved and gave Himself for me, it is the bright homecoming
of the soul to the seat and sphere of life and power itself.” What
truth! But Paul has more to say to them.
It isn’t just that he was a bondservant of Christ Jesus. A chosen instrument
in God’s hand, one prepared for use by God, is not only a slave
as yielded to his master, but he is positioned by divine summons. As the old black preacher said
one time, some is sent, others just went. In Paul’s case, he
was sent. Look down at the text again if
you would. Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an
apostle. As we might expect, since Paul
didn’t squander his words, the word here for called is rich
in meaning. Kallene, Kallesis, Or rather,
clasis, kletos, describe, all of those describe a call to service
and often a divine call, whether it’s accepted or not. The emphasis on the word is the
invitation that is given, a calling. The idea that is encompassed
in this word refers to someone who is not only called, but chosen,
really. isolated out from among others,
singled out and summoned. Paul wasn’t self-appointed. Paul
didn’t sign up for this. Paul didn’t elect himself, but
he was chosen not by men, but by God Himself. As one said,
calling is another idea which has its roots in the Old Testament.
Eminent servants of God became so by an express divine summons. That shouldn’t surprise us. Abraham,
Moses, the prophets, all were summoned by God. All were called
into office by God’s doing, not men’s. By using this term, this analogy,
Paul places himself among them as one of them who was called
to service. We see Abraham’s calling in Genesis
12, where the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country to
Moses in Exodus 3.10. Therefore, come now. I will send
you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the sons of
Israel, out of Egypt. Isaiah was a willing participant,
but he didn’t pursue the Lord. The Lord pursued him. Isaiah
6 says, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I
send and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I. Send
me. And he said, Go. Tell this people. Likewise, to
the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to me saying,
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. which verse Paul
has in mind and we’ll look at later. Before I formed you in
the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated
you, for I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” That’s
why the whole process of scrutinizing elders and being very careful
in the work of ministry, it should have the mark of God’s hand upon
it. It should be a calling And that’s
something we sign up for and rotate through. It is used, this word is, to denote
God’s gracious choice in the matters of salvation. It is a
calling. It is a calling in our lives
to salvation, which is a call to faith and obedience and service. To the Galatians, Paul wrote
this. Paul, an apostle, not sent from
men or through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ
and God the Father. Paul was always willing to point
back and to say, look, I didn’t pursue this. God sought me. God put me in service. God called
me. The pivotal qualifications said
one, of an apostle was a divine calling. And it is by a call
that Paul became an apostle. It is the conscious authority
derived from this appointment that alone explains and warrants
the authority by which the apostle spoke and wrote. He wasn’t speaking
on his own authority. He wasn’t speaking because he
was so intelligent or so well trained. He spoke on God’s authority
because he was called. And it was called, if you look
at the text, as an apostle. That word, if you know it from
the Scriptures, has two senses, doesn’t it? The narrow sense in which it
was applied by Jesus Christ to the twelve. But in a wider sense,
it includes a lot of other people. In a general way, it’s used of
maybe someone who is an emissary, someone who is dispatched John
13, 16 uses it this way. Truly, truly, I say to you, a
slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent
greater than the one who sent him. Apostolos. The word just means, in its basic
understanding, sent. A sent one. 2 Corinthians also uses it this
way regarding Titus. He is my fellow partner. is my
partner, rather, and fellow worker among you. As for our brethren,
they are messengers, apostolos.” That doesn’t mean that everyone
who was ever sent for any purpose is an apostle. Philippians 2.25, “‘I thought
it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker
and soldier, who is also your messenger, apostolos, Does that
mean that Epaphroditus is an apostle? No, it means he was
sent for a specific purpose from the apostle Paul. You see, it’s
also used as a technical term in the New Testament to denote
initially the twelve, the twelve apostles. But it also advanced in time
to include a larger number. of men who were also referred
to, and we’ll have to get our heads and our hands wrapped around
this idea, it was referred to a wider number of men called
apostles beyond just the twelve. Listen to this, Acts 14.14. When
the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it. Well, Barnabas isn’t
in that original list. Galatians 1.19. But I did not
see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.”
Well, he wasn’t in the original list. Romans 16.7, “‘Greet Andronicus
and Junius, my kinsmen, my fellow prisoners who were outstanding
among the apostles.'” Well, they weren’t in the original list.
Could it mean that we just have to revert all the time back to
this word, apostello, to send? As one said, in the broadest
sense, an apostle is anyone who is sent by whom a message is
sent. An ambassador, an envoy, a messenger. Could we just call them, every
time that word refers, as an envoy? If that was the case,
you still would have envoys with a capital E. Apostles, right? See, in the New Testament, it
takes on, in many cases, a distinctly religious sense. And while in its widest sense,
it refers to anybody who’s a gospel messenger, anybody who takes
the word in that sense, we’re all apostles. We’re all sent,
we’re all dispatched, we’re all given the same commission in
that regard. But as one said, in the fullest,
deepest sense, a man is an apostle for life and wherever he goes,
he is clothed with the authority of the one who sent him. And
that authority concerns both doctrine and life. And that was
a very narrow group of people. The qualifications of apostleship
were that they were called and chosen, sent forth by Christ
himself. that they were ear and eyewitnesses
of Jesus’ words and deeds. They were endowed with a special
measure of the Holy Spirit. God blessed their work abundantly
and added to its value by way of signs and miracles. And furthermore,
their office was not restricted to a local church over a short
period of time, but over a lengthy period of time over many churches. These received a divine commissioning. And as such, they had the authority
to preach, to cast out demons, preaching and teaching and administration,
witnesses to Christ’s resurrection. They would impart Christ’s teaching,
lead in worship, administer, discipline, oversight, supernatural
gifts. That was the calling of an apostle.
And there were very few. Luke 6 records the first list
Simon, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas,
James, the son of Alphaeus. And we know that the Lord sought,
called, and named twelve. One defected and committed suicide.
Judas. And we know that the remaining
eleven put stock in the number twelve because they sought to
replace Judas by naming Matthias. The question is, was the number
of apostles fixed at 12? And the answer is no. It’s no,
because there’s at least 12 plus one, the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul presents himself
here quite clearly as an apostle. Was he an apostle in the greater
sense or was he merely a sent one? First Timothy, he wrote
this Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the commandment
of God, our Savior and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope. He was
an apostle according to the commandment of God. God sent him. Paul never waivers on that claim
ever. Paul never says, well, I’m here
on behalf of the 12. Paul, as one said, was an apostle
in the richest sense of the term. His apostleship was the same
as that of the twelve, yet Paul was definitely not one of the
twelve. The idea that the disciples had
made a mistake when they chose Matthias to take the place of
Judas and that the Holy Spirit later designated Paul as the
real substitute hardly merits consideration. There’s nothing
recorded in Scripture. We never hear of Matthias again. But it doesn’t say that the apostles
made a mistake and there are other apostles that come to the
fore. Listen to Paul’s commissioning. This is what Paul testifies.
Romans 1, called as an apostle, set apart as the gospel of God.
Galatians 1, an apostle not sent from men, nor through the agency
of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father. 2 Corinthians 1.1, Ephesians 1.1,
Colossians 1.1, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. And you can go on and on. Colossians
1.24, 1 Corinthians 3.10, Galatians 2.9 and on and on and on. Paul never backs away from this
claim. As John Calvin said, for the
sake of those who are not so ready to listen to him, that
they might not treat, they might treat lightly what he writes,
he affirms that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus according to
the commandment of God. There was no backing away from
that, none whatsoever. In fact, Paul, as I said, would
go on in his life and ministry to repeatedly defend his apostleship. 1 Corinthians 9, 1-2, 2 Corinthians
12, Galatians 1, and on it goes. And there was a last image that he was set apart that he was not only positioned
by a divine summons, but he was set apart, directed to a particular
task. Paul says it this way. Paul, a bondservant of Christ
Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. The word here that is used was
used so often of what the children of Israel were to do with the
firstborn, or the beast, or their offerings. They were to set it
apart. It was to be consecrated in a very real way for divine
service. And what Paul does here is really
just expand upon the idea of his calling. Not only was he
called by God, he was set apart, set aside for a particular purpose
by God. Turn, if you would, as we prepare
to close, to Galatians chapter one. That opening chapter of Galatians,
Paul again details his calling, his apostleship. And here he
says in verse 11, For I would have you know, brethren, that
the gospel which which was preached by me is not according to man,
for I neither received it from a man nor was taught it, but
I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have
heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to
persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy
it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries
among my countrymen, being more extremely jealous for my ancestral
traditions. But when God, who had set me
apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,
was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach
Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with
flesh and blood.” You know what? If you have that as your calling,
You don’t need seminary. Right? You don’t need to go consult
with flesh and blood. You don’t need to go gather and
have Bible study with mere men because Jesus Christ Himself
is revealing truth to you. It’s an amazing scene. Nor did
I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me.
But I went away to Arabia and returned once more to Damascus.”
He went to the hilltop. He went away. And he was set apart. for the gospel
of God. As one writer said, the words
for the gospel express the object to which he was devoted when
he was separated from the mass of God’s people. It was to preach
the gospel, the good news which God makes to men and the pardon
of sin and the restoration of his favor the renewal of their
nature, the resurrection of the body and eternal life. It was
the gospel. And for Paul, all of life was
about one thing. It was the gospel. Now, I know what you’re thinking.
One verse? One verse? And I’ve gone ahead
and I’ve already done the math for you. There are 429 verses in the book
of Romans. And at this pace, we’re looking
at eight years, three months and one Sunday. Why an entire
Sunday on this? We need something relevant. We
need something life changing with impact Sunday after Sunday. What Paul does in writing to
the Romans is underscore the veracity, the truthfulness of
God’s Word. Everything that he said, he needed
them to know that he had credibility. The Roman Christians needed to
know. And we have no less cause to scrutinize the messenger,
what we read, what we hear, to examine everything carefully,
to exercise discernment. Because ultimately, what’s at
stake is the gospel. We’ll look at the Gospel next
Lord’s Day. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for
our Friend and our Servant whom You so powerfully used as a weapon
in Your hand. We look forward with great eagerness
to His unfolding of the Gospel in the days and weeks to come.
We rejoice and pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.