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Barry G. Carpenter
Romans 1
(1) Paul an bond-servant of Christ Jesus, call as an apostle, set apart for the
gospel of God, (2)which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the
holy Scriptures, (3)concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David
according to the flesh, (4) 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 (5) through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about
the obedience of faith, among the Gentiles for His names sake (6) among
whom you also are called of Jesus Christ: (7) 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. (8) First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all,
because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
Paul an bond-servant of Christ Jesus- - the word doulos is
the Greek word for slave. The English attempts to communicate this idea by
using the word bond. Most translation use either bond-servant or servant.
When we say bond-servant we are saying one who is in bondage. Like a person
who is in chains. Paul paints for us what a Christian is. A Christian is a person
who is a slave to his master Jesus. We are servants and Christ is our Lord. Do
not be deceived. Christ is not your savior if he is also not your Lord. A person
who would say no to Jesus is a person who does no know Jesus. To know
Christ in a saving way is to be transformed to love Him, to serve Him and to
obey Him. Those who are saved love Him and Christ said If you love me keep
my commandments. Christ also said My sheep hear my voice and I know
them and they follow me. Let me be very clear at this point. According to
Scriptures, those who will not obey Jesus do not know Him. And according to
Scriptures, those who will not follow Him are not His sheep. There is no savior
where there is no Lord.
One of the things that salvation accomplishes is a restored relationship between
God and man. When Adam sinned that relationship was severed- it was cut.
When God comes into the heart by the Holy Spirit the fellowship is restored.
Another thing that happens at salvation is the right place of God is restored.
Through the sin of Adam all people become not only aliens but rebels. We
became the enemies of God. At salvation not only is the relationship restored
but the rebellion is removed. We are brought into submission of His kingship.
He rules and reigns in our heart. He is not just the king of the universe but He is
now our king- as He should be. Salvation restores what was lot in the Fallrelationship and kingship of God.
Paul says he is called as an apostle. The qualifications for Apostles is that one
must have seen the risen Lord and one must be called. Paul encountered the

risen Lord in a vision on the road to Damascus.

In Acts chapter 9, we read that there was a light from heaven and a voice that
called to him saying Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
There are two points I would like make from the passage of Acts 9. The first
point is that Paul sees Christ and receives his commission as an Apostle. And
the second point is that when Paul has an encounter with Christ, he is changed.
He is changed forever. He falls to the ground as a persecutor of the church and
a hater of Jesus and he rises a follower of Christ and an apostle. There is a
picture of every persons salvation in the story of the conversion of Paul. We
use terms like regeneration, salvation, the new birth -to describe what occurs
when we are given faith and repentance from God. These terms are much more
descriptive of what happens then the term saved. It is common in our context
as Baptists to use the term saved. We might say He got saved or She got
saved. Yes, at salvation we are saved- saved from the wrath of God. The
saving is a by-product of what happened but it does not accurately describe
what occurred. When we are granted illumination by the Holy Spirit to see that
the Word of God is addressing our condition, we feel guilt. We feel fear. We
feel sadness and the way we have treated God. And we are given new life. We
are born again. We are regenerated. We move from a heart that is dead toward
the spiritual things of God to a heart that is alive to the things of God. And by
virtue then- or as a by-product - of this new life we are also saved from the
wrath of God. That is what happened to Paul and that is what happens to us at
salvation. Life!
set apart for the gospel of God- This phrase speaks specifically of his calling
and of his duty. Paul has been called and set apart to take the Gospel into the
world. We should note that his first preaching is in Damascus. He starts to
proclaim the Gospel where he is. Acts 9 tells us that he goes into the synagogue
and proclaims that He is the Son of God.
Another point that should be made about the conversion of Paul is that he is not
a silent Christian. Conversion is a personal event but it is not a private event.
When a person is saved they declare it to the world. Paul has a commission as
an Apostle and as a Gospel minister.
which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,What was it that God promised beforehand? Paul answers in the next phrases.
concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the
flesh
- God promised to send Jesus. God promised to send Messiah- a savior who
would come through the line of David to save His people. And let us not forget
that His people are not Jews but the elect of both the Jews and the Gentiles.
That was the promise made to Abraham that his seed (which is Christ) would

bless the nations.

who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the
dead- The resurrection of Christ is proof that He is the Son of God. The
resurrection is the proof to the world that the Sacrifice of Jesus was accepted by
the Father and sin has been atoned. Further proof of the deity of Jesus is seen in
that after His resurrection He ascends into the heavens show that this is where
He came from. He goes back to the Father.
according to the Spirit of holiness - It was the Holy Spirit that declared that
Jesus was the Son of God. It was the Holy Spirit that opened the eyes of the
disciples to see the truth of Jesus in the resurrection. And it was the Holy Spirit
that led the disciples the write about the resurrected Christ.
Jesus Christ our Lord- This phrase goes back to the point I made earlier.
Jesus is savior and Jesus is Lord. Interestingly we see Jesus referred to in
Scripture as savior but we always see Him addressed as Lord. I think of the
words of Thomas when he said My Lord and my God.
through whom we have received grace and apostleship-Paul is again referring
to himself. He receives grace which is a converting grace and grace which is a
calling grace. And he receives the office and duties of an apostle. Remember
please it is the office of Apostle that is the representative of Christs authority
on the earth after Jesus returns to heaven. The apostles have the authority to set
in order the church and to compose the Scriptures.
to bring about the obedience of faith, among the Gentiles- Paul is an Apostle
which a special mission to the Gentiles. Paul begins his preaching in Damascus
where he was first converted. Then he goes to Jerusalem where the other
disciples were and he preaches there. Then in Acts chapter 13 we have the
calling of Barnabus and Saul. They went to Salamis where the preached in the
synagogues to the Jews. Then at the end of Acts 13 the Gentiles received the
Good News.
for His names sake - And that is the motivation for everything we do. As
Christians our primary task is to seek the glory of God in everything we do.
There are missionaries who forsake all and leave behind family and friendswho spend their money -w ho voluntarily accept a life of poverty with no
promise of a retirement- to travel to places which are alien and uncomfortable
to them- for the glory of God. And there are Christians, who work a job, for a
secular boss, and in their everyday work, and normal life they minister and
serve the Lord for the sake of His glory. As Christians we all have different
gifts. We are in different places. We have different jobs. We have different
callings and different ministries but we all have the same task- the same goal.
Our goals -whatever the calling and where ever we are- is to make Gods name
great on the earth.

among whom you also are called of Jesus Christ- the church at Rome may
have been a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles. But being in Rome, we must
conclude that contains some if not the majority of members who are Gentiles.
And Paul connects himself with them by saying that he is an apostle called by
the grace of Christ and they also were called by Christ.
(7) 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.
to all who are beloved of God in Rome- Paul addresses his letter to all the
believers in Rome. It was very common that if one group of people in a place
received a letter from an Apostle then that letter would be circulated among all
the believers in that city and sometimes also in that area. Also, it was common
for copies of these letters to be made by hand so that they could be shared with
other Christians. It is from those copies that we get the manuscripts from which
our Bible was assembled.
called as saints- Please notice that Paul is addressing people who are alive.
And he is addressing all believers in Rome as saints. The RCC is wrong to say
that the word saint can only be given by the church to a special person who is
already dead. That does not agree with what the Apostle Paul and others in the
NT say. If you are in Christ you are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation.
And you are a saint today.
Paul ends his greeting with a very common phrase that he uses in many of his
epistles: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
(8) First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith
is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
Rome is the center of the world at this time. The Roman empire rules the world
in this region. So then what happens in Rome is known in other areas. But that
is not really the point. The point is that the church at Rome is not a sleeping
church. It is an active church.
Please notice in verse 1 we have the regeneration of Paul and the calling of
Paul. His salvation experience is no different than yours and mine. He is born
again. He has life. He was once blind to the very God he claimed to serve but
even though his physical eyes were blinded by the light of Jesus, his spiritual
eyes saw God as God truly is for the first time in his life. His mind was opened
and renewed to understand the things of God. He was forever changed and
never again would he be the same. A zeal for Christ burned in his heart.
Now we said that Pauls salvation experience is no different than our. Paul will

go on later in the book of Romans to talk about the universal condition of

humanity. That condition in one word could be described as lost- as fallenas sinner as dead. He says all have sinned- none are righteous. That is
universal language. So what we need is what Paul needed. Life. New birth.
Regeneration. There is only one salvation.
After Pauls conversion- after he has received this new life, he is given a
calling. He is called to be an Apostle. His calling is to work as the other
Apostles work to build what will become the New Testament church. He also
(like some of the other Apostles) will write letters and accounts and books that
God will preserve which will later be assembled into our Bible. So that the
words of God given through the Apostles will be for all the church for the rest
of time.
We have a salvation just as Pauls salvation but we do not have Pauls calling.
Remember that the qualifications - the common things we see in those who
were Apostles were that they had seen the risen Christ and that they were
commissioned by God to that office. So, there are no Apostles today. But that
does not mean there is no calling today. Those who are saved are called to labor
in the vineyard of their master. All who are saved receive the very same
salvation of Paul- the very same indwelling that Paul and others had of the
Holy Spirit- and we all receive a calling. Some times the calling is very clear.
For those who are called to serve in an office - such as pastor/elder, or
missionary, the calling can be very clear. Others who do not hear a vocational
ministry calling, they still are called. And all receive gifts of the Holy Spirit to
use in the church. Gifts of teaching- gifts of administration- gifts of
craftsmanship- talents of creativity- of encouragement- more than we can even
name. Some have the blessing and the gift of earning money. Some been given
talents and knowledge that allows them to have good jobs so that they can have
extra resources to support the church. Some will give of their time. Some have
special blessings to endure long in prayer so that they can pray for the church
and others.
All are saved the same way and all the saved are called. Everyone who is
converted has a purpose. There is a giant- overarching purpose- to bring God
gory. That is the purpose of us all. The only question is what role we will play
to do that?
A saved person is a bond-servant, a slave to his Master. The master has a goal.
The master has given us the task of bringing glory to Him in the earth. That
glory is to be displayed in the church and in the world. It is displayed in the
church in how we minister and care for one another. It is displayed in the
church in how we meet the needs of the church and the needs of the pastors
who labor in the pray and preaching. And this glory is displayed in the world in
how we minister to the people of the word and how we make disciples in the
nations.

There are no unemployed Christians. There are no slaves without tasks. There
are no laborers without labor. And the slave cannot say no to his master. If he
could say no then the master would not be the master- the slave would be the
one who decides. But no, Christ is our master, just as he was Pauls master. And
the Christ has saved us has called us to bring Him glory, just as Paul was called.
We work in the vineyard of God as individual people in the vocations and
callings that God has given us. And we work together as a church to bring Him
glory within the four walls and outside of them.
Please look with me again at verse 8.
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is
being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
How do we know that they have faith? Can we look with our eyes into their
hearts and see if it is alive to God or dead? Can we concentrate and read the
thoughts in their minds? Of course we cannot. How do we know that Paul was
a committed Christian? We know because of his activity. We know because if
his behavior- because of his actions. And that also must be the way in which the
church of Rome was known throughout the Roman kingdom. It was by their
actions.
And that is the way that we know if one if a Christian today. We know them by
their deeds- we know them by their activity.
Let me ask a question: (1) Are you known in your school, in your work place in
your family- in your community as a Christian? Do they see your good deeds
and praise the Father? Another way to ask this question would be to ask: in
what ways are you bringing glory to God in the places where God has put you?
Because that is the task of us all.
Just as the individual Paul was known so the entire church of Rome was known
for their faith also. So let us ask the question: How is Grace Baptist church
going to be known in the whole of Cagayan de Oro? How we will be known
throughout Mindanao? Philippines? Asia? The World? Yes I know we are just a
new church- we are still a baby church. But should this not be our goal? Not
that we would seek our our fame and our own glory but that we - Grace Baptist
Church- would seek the glory of God.
When we come to a new year it is often common for people to make
resolutions. We review the past year and see where we have come from and we
look forward to the new year to see where we want to go.
Last Sunday we looked at some of the things that God has done for us in the

past year. Many of you gave encouraging testimonies of the things you were
thankful for in your life that God has done for you in the past. I was so
encouraged by the work of the Lord in many of your lives. But now let us turn
our eyes to look at the future. We will not make resolutions that can easily be
forgotten. Nor should we make promises that we cannot keep. Rather let us set
a goal for ourselves that in the coming year in our personal lives it will be
known by everyone we encounter that we are slaves to the Master Jesus. Let us
set aside time in our personal lives to see the areas we can improve in to show
Gods glory on the earth.
Secondly, let us consider how we as a church can make the name and the fame
of Christ known in CDO. Yes there are many churches in CDO and we praise
God for our co-laborers in the Gospel but there is still much work to be done in
CDO. So like good disciples let us begin in our Jerusalem to spread the fame of
God in all of CDO for the sake of His glory. We are a new church- still a babybut that does not excuse us. There are things we can do. Each of you must
decide how you will in your lives bring glory to God. But I wold like to suggest
some ways we as a church can lay a stronger foundation to work together to
make GBC stronger and Gods name greater. Understand these are not just my
thought but I will try to express the thoughts of Pastor Ben and Pastor Virjohn
that we have shared together over the past year. These are things we have
observed and have seen the need for.
1) Prayer. I know many of you pray and I praise God for that. I hope in the
coming year we will begin to pray more as a church. Maybe we can do this in
our cell-group meetings or as a corporate body. But prayer is one source of our
power and one of the means God uses to get his will done on the earth. What
will we pray? We will pray Gods will- this is not a mysterious thing that we
have to wait for God to reveal but we will pray the revealed will of God as he
has given it to us in His Word.
2) People. I hope in our prayers we will include people. Bu let us not just pray
but let us find ways that we can help,minister and support each other. And as
God allows, let us find ways that we can reach out to others- through ministry
and most importantly through the Gospel.
3) A stronger church- spiritually and physically. When we begin to pray
together and work together we will grow in unity and love for each other. But
we must also consider the physical needs of the church. It is my hope and my
prayer that in the coming year Grace Baptist Church will be self-supporting.
That the needs of the church and the needs of the pastors will be fully met by
the church. Secondly, it is my hope and my prayer that in the coming year God
will give us a place- a permanent place to call our own so that we can be more
effective in ministry.
Maybe some would say that our offerings are too small for that. Maybe but I

know that our God is big. He can take the 5 loves and 2 fishes and feed five
thousand. So I would challenge us to just do the best way can and trust the Lord
to bless. We will labor, and pray and sacrifice and do all we can trusting that
God will bless our efforts.
We do not have to pray that God will allow us to do these things. We know in
His Word that it is His will that His name would be great. We know in His
Word that it is His will for us to disciples the nations. We know by His Word
that it is His will that the Gospel would go forward in CDO- that our good
works would be known for His glory. We have clear revelation and in some
cases even commands. The only question that remains is we will be obedient
and faithful so that in the coming year and in the years to come His name and
fame would be known in our place and he would receive the glory that is due
Him.