A crusty, angry man is walking along a road. He’s on his way to a city where he knows there are lots of Christians. And he’s going to round them up, pressure them to renounce their faith and bring them to trial. Some of them will die. He’s okay with that. He’s doing the Lord’s work. But then, all of a sudden, everything changes. A light shone all around him and bowls him over. A deafening voice rings out around him, “Why are you persecuting me?” The Apostle Paul finds himself face to face with the risen Lord Jesus Christ and everything changes (Acts 9). The gospel changes everything.
The word ‘gospel’ means good news. It’s the announcement of the world changing news of Jesus Christ, promised in the Old Testament, descended from David, who died for our sins, is risen from the dead and exalted at God’s right hand. He now calls all people everywhere to repent and put their faith in Him to find forgiveness and new life forever. (Romans 1:1-6, Acts 17:30-31)
This good news changes everything. It changes the way we see ourselves, each other and the world. It has changed everything for Paul, and he’s writing Romans because he wants it to change everything for the believers in Rome too.
When Paul wrote, the church in Rome was doing it tough. Scholars think the church was likely started by Jewish believers, who’d heard the gospel from Peter at Pentecost (Acts 2:8-1
1), come to trust in Jesus and then returned to Rome with the good news. After great riots erupted in Rome in AD49, the emperor Claudius expelled all the Jews (including Jewish Christians) from Rome for disturbing the peace. Just imagine what would happen if all the leaders in your church were forced to leave town one day. The Gentile believers in Rome stepped up and took care of the church, until 5 years later Claudius died, and the Jews were allowed to return. It’s not hard to imagine the joy, tensions, conflict and power struggles in the church when the ousted Jewish leaders turn up to church again.
So a few years later, Paul writes them the letter of Romans all about how the good news of Jesus changes everything. Paul is not writing an abstract theological treatise or a textbook for Bible College students and wanna-be reformers. He’s writing a real letter to a real church to explain how the real good news of Jesus really changes everything.
Over the next few terms, we’re going to let this great gospel letter change us too.
We’re going to see how the good news of Jesus changes the way we view ourselves, understanding that we all fall short of the glory of God but can be made right with God by grace, through faith in Christ. United to him, Jesus sets us free to live in joyful obedience.
We’re going to see how the good news of Jesus changes the way we view each other. The gospel is for everyone, no matter their status or circumstances. So the gospel calls us to humbly love one another with a Christ-like mindset. Instead of passing judgement on our fellow believers, we are to strive for peace and unity together, to the glory of God (Romans 15:5-6).
And we’re going to see how the good news of Jesus changes the way we view the world. If the gospel is for everyone, then everyone needs to hear it! That’s why Paul wants the believers in Rome to support Him as he boldly goes to preach the gospel in Spain, where no missionary has gone before (Romans 16:18-24). That’s also why we want to see the people who live around us and around the world hear and understand the gospel.
As ministers of four sister churches across Queensland, in Graceville, Mackay & Sarina, Toowoomba, and Warwick, we have developed this series together because we are excited about how this powerful letter of Romans reveals the incredible truth of God’s gospel to us.
In this series, we will see how we are:
- Right Through Christ (Romans 1:1-5:11, Term 1)
- Alive in Christ (Romans 5:12-11:36, Term 2)
- Together with Christ (Romans 12:1-16:27, Term 3)
The good news of Jesus changes everything, we can’t wait to see how God changes us through it together.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17.
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