Effective Evangelism

 

The last thing Jesus said to His disciples before His ascension was: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

 

Let me repeat a portion of this text for emphasis. Jesus commanded, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” By definition, a disciple of Christ is one who obediently follows the Master and assists Him in spreading the gospel message. A disciple is one who, as the prophet Isaiah wrote: (Isaiah 52:7) “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who announces peace . . . who announces salvation.”

 

So, the focus of my message today addresses the question, how might we be effective evangelists for Christ, effective sharers of the good news of salvation? To answer that question, let’s look at our primary text for today in Paul’s first letter to the Christians at Corinth.

 

(1 Corinthians 3:9-15) “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

 

It should be clear from this text that Paul is using the construction of a house as an analogy to our working together with God to build the kingdom of God. In his analogy, Paul makes at least two points germane to our effectiveness as evangelists, as co-workers with God in building His kingdom. The first point: Jesus and only Jesus is the foundation of God’s kingdom. The second point: Be careful what materials we use in our construction.

 

Let’s spend some time with that first point – Jesus is the only foundation of the house, which is also called the Church – meaning the people of God as one Body with Christ. The Church, according to Scripture, is not a building or even a denomination. It is Christ’s body with Him as the head. Here is  Colossians 1:17-18 “He [Christ] is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” 

 

That Christ is the foundation of the true Church is immutably central to saving faith. But it’s crucial we understand that foundation is the Jesus as described in the Bible, not the Jesus of our own making. The Jesus of the Bible is much more than a gentle Lamb; He is also a consuming fire. Listen to the apostle John’s description of Christ:

 

Revelation 1:14ff “His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. ¹⁶ In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. ¹⁷ When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.” 

 

Paul – indeed, all the New Testament writers – write about the Jesus through whom alone the world was created. If you know your Bible well, you know the New Testament writers speak of the Jesus who is Almighty God incarnate in the form of a man. They write of the Jesus who is the only door to eternal life, which means that everyone – Jew, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, agnostic – even Catholic or Protestant – who denies the Jesus of the Bible is self-condemned and unavoidably doomed to an eternity in the Lake of Fire.

 

That might seem a harsh statement, but it is a harsh reality for all who follow the Jesus of their own desires instead of the Jesus of Scripture.

 

The New Testament writers tell us about the Jesus who demands obedience to His all His Commandments. They do NOT write about the Jesus who is updated with every century or in some cases with every decade to fit in with the culture. Such satanic-birthed lies are evidenced all around us. Just think of the churches you may have attended for a while, or heard about or read about where, for example, same-sex marriage is promoted, or abortion is an acceptable means of birth control. Whether in Catholic churches or Protestant, such evil is sweeping across pulpits and pews.

 

For example, you might have read a recent news article about Yvette Flunder, the lesbian pastor of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ in Oakland, California. She contends that the Bible needs a third Testament because she doesn’t agree with the Scriptures that address sexual immorality.

 

No, the Jesus of the Bible demands repentance from sin, a repentance which must always lead to a turning from that sin. If our repentance is not accompanied by a commensurate intent to turn from that sin, then that repentance is a worthless in God’s sight – to whom we all will give an account at the Judgement.

 

Listen to CS Lewis speak to this point about sin and repentance: “We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present speaker’s and even with laughter.  But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ: if we have repented these early sins we should remember the price of our forgiveness and be humble.” C. S. Lewis

 

So, to not belabor the crucial point, the Jesus of the Bible is the only foundation God provides us upon which to build our lives AND to build His Church. Which now brings us to the second point, the second element of effective evangelism. With Christ as the foundation of the Church, we must be meticulously alert to the materials we use to build on that foundation.

 

Again, here is Paul in our text: Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)

 

God separates into two categories what we use in our building His Kingdom, in sharing the gospel with others. The first category are things of value and permanence such as gold, silver, and precious stones. The things of inferior quality, things perishable, things cobbled together, He categorizes as wood, hay, and straw.

 

Many of you remember the fable of the Three Pigs and the Wolf. Three little pigs went out into the world to seek their fortunes. The first pig built his house of straw, the second from sticks, the third with bricks. One day a hungry wolf came along and demanded of the first pig: “Let me in! Let me in!”  The pig refused and said, “Not by the hairs on my chinny chin chin!”

 

So, the wolf huffed and puffed and blew the straw house down, forcing the pig to flee to his brother’s house made of sticks.

 

The wolf followed and said to the second pig, “Let me in! Let me in!” When the second pig refused, the wolf huffed and puffed and blew down the house of sticks. Then both pigs ran to the third pig’s house made of bricks. When the wolf demanded, “Let me in! Let me in!” the three pigs refused.  But this time, although the wolf huffed and puffed, he couldn’t blow the brick house down and the pigs were safe.

 

I hope the point of the fable is clear as it relates to building God’s house, God’s kingdom. So, what constitutes inferior and temporary materials that will be burned up at the Judgment, and what constitutes valuable and durable materials that will last into eternity?

 

Poor motives certainly qualify as inferior building materials. Why do we do what we do, say what we say, go where we go?  Is it for self-aggrandizement, or is it to point others to Jesus? The Lord Jesus addressed this question in His sermon on the mount when He said, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1)

 

And Matthew 6:2-4 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.” 

 

For good reason the Scriptures warn, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways,
according to the results of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

 

We can EASILY deceive ourselves into believing our motivations are admirable. But as Solomon also warned: (Proverbs 16:2) “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the Lord weighs the motives.”

 

A note of encouragement here: The Holy Spirit will not allow the honest Christian, the one who truly seeks the please God, to remain unaware of his or her impure motives. James tells us: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5) In other words, if we want to serve and to build with pure motives, we only need to ask God to reveal to us our true motives; and if He shows us what we are doing is rooted in self, we merely need to repent and ask Him to change our hearts. It’s really that simple.

 

The essential point here is that whatever we do for the Lord as we co-labor with Him in building His kingdom must be done from pure motives if we hope to build with valuable and permanent materials. (1 Peter 4:11) “Whoever speaks,” the apostle Peter wrote, “is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

 

Compromise is another perishable and worthless material that will be burned up at the Judgment. When we speak the good news with others, are we more concerned about offending them by speaking truth, or by offending God by not speaking it?

A pastor in this town told me he doesn’t speak about abortion because he doesn’t want to offend anyone in this congregation. Another pastor in this town joked from the pulpit that he wouldn’t speak about the Biblical directives of how wives must be submissive to their husbands. Why? I can only speculate it was because he didn’t want to offend the women in the congregation.

 

It is the fear of offending congregations that many pastors compromise the hard truths, the inconvenient truths, the annoying truths of Scripture and won’t talk directly about sin but rather speak around those issues in the most general terms. It’s why many in the pew rarely if ever hear their pastor speak specifically about fornication, adultery, homosexuality, same-sex, marriage, transgenderism, and all the other demonic social ills sweeping across the Church.

 

Well, let’s start bringing this message to a close. We’ve looked VERY briefly at building materials of poor and transitory quality. There are others we could have examined, but I think you can extrapolate from what we’ve already seen to what other inferior materials might be. So now, let’s look at building materials of eternal value, what Paul spoke of as gold, silver, and precious jewels.

 

As we should expect, Scripture helps us here. Listen to Paul’s final words to Timothy – and by extension, to us: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, ⁴ and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:2-4).

 

In other words, tell other about the Jesus of the Bible, without compromise and without seeking either praise or reward. 

 

Listen now to Peter: (1 Peter 3:15) “Sanctify [set apart] Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

 

In other words, living holy lives has eternal value. We cannot hope to effectively tell others of Jesus if we ourselves do not openly and consistently seek to obey Jesus.

 

Another valuable material for building on the foundation of Christ is our maturing in Christ. What we do not want to find ourselves as those to whom Hebrews was written: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.” (Hebrews 5:12)

 

How does a child of God mature? I hope we all know the answer to that – study God’s word: “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”  And be consistent in prayer –“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. (Jude 1:20);

And routinely fellowship with other Christians, “Not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

 

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

 

We cannot effectively make disciples unless we build on the foundation of the Jesus of Scripture and with valuable and permanent materials.

 

On October 12, 2019, the Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans partially collapsed, killing three. Investigations found weak structural elements and questionable material quality.

 

In 2021, in a suburb of Miami, the South Champlain Towers collapsed, killing 98 people. Investigators linked the disaster to the poor quality concrete used in the tower’s construction.

 

Too much is at stake – ETERNITY is at stake – for us to cheat the Lord, to cheat ourselves, and to cheat others by not, for any reason, building Christ’s kingdom according to His blueprints.

 

 

Second-Class Children

 

Frenchie, our Bichon Friese, loves to curl up next to me while I’m watching television or typing on my laptop. On the other hand, Happy Bear, our Pomeranian, usually stays across the room on the carpet as Frenchie cuddles next to me. I can’t help but melt when I see him looking at me, his front legs tucked under his muzzle and his coal-black eyes staring mournfully at me as if to say, “Don’t you want me to be next to you, also?”

Of course I do. So, I get up, gently carry him to the couch and lay him on my chest. Invariably, Happy takes a deep sigh, rests his muzzle on my thigh, and falls asleep as I continue watching television. Those who own dogs or cats know it just doesn’t get any better than that.

I suppose I could be accused of anthropomorphizing our dogs, associating human characteristics to them. But it happens nearly 100% of the time when Frenchie is curled up next to me and I have to gather Happy Bear to be with us on the couch.

 

I use that image to try to illustrate an important point about God and His children who have come to Him by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

One day recently, when Happy was looking desolately at Frenchie and me, a thought dropped into my head. How many Christians feel like they’re less loved than others in God’s family?

 

In the past half-century that I’ve walked with the Lord, I’ve met many Christians who, like Happy Bear, think of themselves as second-class children of God, as if the Father prefers to snuggle up with others of His children but remains distant to them.

 

What a tragedy it is to believe God plays favorites among His own children. We’ll find NOTHING of that in the whole of Scripture. Indeed, we find quite the opposite. For example, listen to James speak to that false idea: (James 2:9) "But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors." Or this text in Proverbs 28:21 – “To show partiality is not good, because for a piece of bread a man will transgress.” And since God warns us against showing partiality to others, do we think He violates His own commandment? Of course not!

 

Now hear our Lord Jesus speak: John 16:27 “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.”  Listen to the apostle John: (1 John 3:1) “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”

 

These texts, and every one like them, are not directed at the few of God’s children, or even to the many. They are directed to 100% of them. Why do you think Jesus spoke of the Good Shepherd who left the 99 to look for the one? It’s because He loves the one as much as the 99.

 

Some of you might remember the Smothers’ Brothers Comedy Hour. The audience roared with laughter when Tommy complained to his brother Dick, “Mom always liked you best.”

 

But it’s never funny when such things are true in a family, as happens far too often even in Christian families, when a child feels his parent cares more for a sibling than for him or her. And such poisonous relationships hold within themselves the seeds of family discord and destruction.

 

Think for a moment about how it turned out for Isaac and Rebecca’s sons – Jacob and Esau. Jacob knew their father cared more for Esau than for him, and Esau could easily sense their mother cared more for Jacob than him.

 

AND how did that all turn out? If you know the story, Esau’s progeny remained at war with Jacob’s progeny for generations. It’s all recorded in Genesis and throughout the Old Testament when the writers talk about Edom – another name for Esau. In fact, Herod Antipas – ruler over Israel in the days of John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ – was of Edomite (Idumean) descent.

 

The sin of favoritism carried over to Jacob’s children. Jacob made it no secret that he cared more for his son Joseph than he did for his other eleven sons. They, in turn, were so jealous of Joseph that they sold him into Egyptian slavery and let their father, Jacob, believe a wild beast had killed him.

 

So, what does all this have to do with us in 2026? I know that kind of destructive favoritism happens in a lot of families. And it should not be surprising when a Christian who comes from such a family carries that hurt into their relationship with God, thinking God doesn’t love them like He loves others. It’s not surprising that they think of themselves as second-class children in the family of God.

 

Some of you may come from families like that, which is why you’re not absolutely convinced that your Father in heaven loves you equally as he loves the person sitting next to you.

 

Oh! But He does. God is Love itself (1 John 4:8,16). He’s the very essence of love. There is no part of Him that is not 100% love. Therefore, it’s impossible that He would be partial to any of His children. In fact, Jesus Himself tells us that the Father loves EVERY child in His family as much as He loves His Son, Jesus. I won’t read it now but look at John 17:23 later for homework and you’ll find that inviolable assurance.

 

I repeat that last statement for emphasis: God’s love for you is the same length and depth and height and breadth as is His love for Jesus. My brothers and sisters in Christ, I hope the Scripture once and for all puts to rest the lie about God’s alleged favoritism.

 

And that brings us to another, yet related, question: Can we do anything that will make God love any of us less? To answer that question, let’s look again at God’s infallible words to us and first ask: What did you do to make Him love you in the first place?

 

The answer is – nothing. As God tells us through Paul’s pen: (Ephesians 2:1-2) “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”

 

Please hear this: Before God called you to Himself, you were dead. D-E-D dead. And dead people can’t do anything to make someone else love them. Therefore, that means God loved you before He even drew you to Himself. God loved you as much as He does now, even when you were dead in your sins.  As the apostle wrote to the Christians at Rome: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

 

So, then, And again, (Galatians 3:3) “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

 

So to answer that question, “Can we DO anything that will make God love any of us less – or more?” The answer is, of course, a resounding no. God loves you today as much as He has ever loved you. And the height and depth and breadth and length of His love for any and every one of His children through Christ will always be equal to His love for Jesus.

 

Period. End of story.

 

But despite that Biblical truth, some still argue, “Then why do such bad things happen to me while other Christians live such easy lives?”

 

Okay, fair question. My answer?  I don’t really know. I’ve asked the same question myself at times. But let’s turn again to God’s infallible words to us and see if we can’t draw some conclusions.

 

For example, listen to Romans 5:1-5 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and  perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

 

I do not know why some Christians seem to float along gently flowing streams of life while others often struggle with loss and pain and heartache. But I do know this, based on the whole testimony of Scripture – God does not love any less the one who struggles than the one who floats nearly effortlessly. AND – and this is important – God uses all of our trials and failures and broken hearts and shattered dreams – He uses them all for our GOOD who have been called to His divine purposes.

 

Furthermore, and intricately coupled to that truth, we also need to be reminded of this divine and binding promise: Nothing will separate us from His love. Nothing – except, of course, ongoing willful sin.

 

Listen again to the Scriptures: Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

And I say it again for emphasis – this promise is not for only some, or even for most, of God’s children. This promise applies to 100% of those who have entered God’s family through repentance and obedient faith in Christ Jesus.

 

I hope that now we are all on the same proverbial sheet of music, that being, God does not play favorites with any of His children, and that He equally loves each of us as much as He loves His Son, Jesus.

 

I also hope that we all believe that there is NOTHING we can do to make God love us less than He does, or more than He does right now. And finally, although we will never fully understand why some Christians seem to float through life on gentle streams while others move from one tumultuous series of rapids to another – the truth is that God uses every circumstance in our lives for our ultimate good.

 

The 23^rd psalm is not a promise only for a few of God’s children. The promise of the psalm applies equally to 100% of His children: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

 

Now then, as I begin to bring this message to a close, let’s change our focus 180° and ask a pointed question most Christians rarely ask themselves. Instead of wondering how much God loves me and you, let’s turn it around and ask ourselves how much do we love God? Instead of asking, ‘Does God love me less He loves others, let’s ask ourselves, “Do I love God less than I love myself?” Do I love God less than I love my comfort, or my family, or my friends, or my finances, or my entertainment, or living life ‘your way,’  . . . or whatever.

 

Said another way, “Do I love anyone or anything more than I love God?

 

That’s a question worthy of long and careful consideration. And that question raises another yet question: What is the test of my degree of love for God?

 

The answer to that question is easy when we look into the Scriptures, all of which serve as a mirror of our hearts. As the Holy Spirit tells us: (Hebrews 4:12-13) “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

 

What is the test of my degree of love for God? Listen to Jesus: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) And again, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” – or anything else, for that matter. (Matthew 6:24)

 

In other words, to the degree that I obey God is the degree to which I love Him. Now, let me pause to make an important point: No one has ever served God with 100% obedience 100% of the time. That’s why Scripture repeatedly tells us, for example, (Romans 3:23) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;” And (1 John 1:8) “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 

 

That’s why God’s gift of forgiveness to the penitent is so incredibly wondrous. But his willingness to forgive our sins does not nullify our responsibility to demonstrate our love for God by making the correct choice between two masters – ourselves or God. It does not abrogate our responsibility to demonstrate our love for God by doing His will instead of our own.

So, please, my brothers and sisters, for the sake of your spiritual health and maturity in Christ, let’s stop entertaining the question of whether God loves you as much as He loves someone else. Let’s stop acting like my Pomeranian who seems to think I love our Bichon more than I love him. From Genesis through Revelation, God has answered the question of His equally measureless love for all His children, regardless of and despite their individual life circumstances. God has revealed to us through His infallible words that He loves equally all who name the name of Jesus as their Lord.

 

Let’s leave off with such questions which all have their yes and amen in Christ. Instead, let’s ask ourselves – often ask ourselves – the more relevant question: Do I love God less than I love something or someone else? And if the answer is not what it should be – then ask what must be done about that.

 

Repent, of course. And ask God to change our hearts toward more confidence in His promises and to be more consistently obedient to His will.

 

 

If Not, Why Not?

 

My text today is from the first verse of the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome. But because context is always important when we study any subject – and especially so when we study God’s word – I will read the first several verses of the chapter:

 

Paul, a bond-servant 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 saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Obviously, the apostle Paul did not take a composition class in high school. I don’t know how many words there are in this run-on sentence in the Greek language, but in this English translation, there are 132 words. Yes, he used a lot of commas – but no periods to let the reader catch his breath.

 

Well, I am not here today to critique the apostle’s writing. What I AM here to do today is to focus our attention on some important points Paul makes – points directly related to our walk with Christ – and to our work for Christ.

 

Before we get there, I need to first say that I believe what I am about to say is nothing that most of you have known and believed for many years. But as the apostle Peter communicated to his readers, so I now do the same thing: “Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.  I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.” (2 Peter 1:12-15)

And as an aside, no, I do not have any premonition that the Lord will soon be taking me to Himself, but – who knows what a day or a week may bring?

So, back to the first verse in Romans chapter one. I want to draw attention to three foundational points in this first verse:

 

First, we ought to remind ourselves who Paul was before his Damascus Road encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. The man – known at the time as Saul – was a religious terrorist. This is not a point to gloss over. Here is his own testimony as he spoke before King Agrippa and the Governor Festus: (Acts 26) “I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. (Acts 26:9-11)

 

Why is Paul’s history important? Because God demonstrates through this man – as He has repeatedly shown us throughout Biblical history – no one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy.  No one. Not you. Not me. No one.

 

Therefore, for us to say about someone – or about ourselves! – “There is no sense in praying for him, or inviting him to Bible study, or to talk with him or her about Jesus. To say and believe such things is to deny God’s power.

 

Here is what Paul said of himself in this regard (1 Timothy 1) - It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:15-15)

 

I hope you caught that last part of this section. Paul, the former violent blasphemer and persecutor of every Christian man and woman he could find, wrote: “For this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

 

That is precisely why Paul could also write to Timothy: “I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience . . . .” (2 Timothy 1:3)

 

A clear conscience. Why do you think Paul had a clear conscience, considering all he had done to Christians? Because he knew God’s mercy took all his sins and placed them under the blood of Jesus. He knew his dark slate of sin was wiped clean, on one side and then the other, through and through. Not a stain remained.

 

The relevance to 2026? Do you have a clear conscience? Are you as certain of that YOUR sins are completely erased as the former terrorist Paul was certain that His were gone, washed by the blood of Jesus?

 

I know you’ve heard this point from me a hundred times over the years you’ve sat in those seats – and you will hear it another hundred times if the Lord continues to give me this podium. So hear it is again: You can have a clear conscience, if only you repent of whatever sin is holding you back from a close and intimate relationship with God.

 

The promise God made and fulfilled for the former blasphemer and persecutor of the Church is also offered to you and me – and to everyone at your table in the dining room, and to all the other tables in the dining room, and to everyone who works in this building. And to everyone beyond the perimeter of this building.

 

I love what Fanny Crosby wrote about this message of evangelism:

 

“Rescue the perishing, care for the dying/Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave/Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen/Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.

 

Though they are slighting Him, still He is waiting/Waiting the penitent child to receive/Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently/He will forgive if they only believe.”

 

Time is too short to miss this urgent call of God who said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.” How many residents here died in the last 12 months? How many of them were not Christians? Do you realize where those who died without Christ are at this moment?  I didn’t ask where they ‘might be’ – but do you understand where they ARE right now if they died without Christ Jesus.

And how many in Ashwood Meadows will die in the next 12 months? Maybe someone at your table, or at the tables around your table. Listen again, God saved Paul. Don’t ever think God is not able to save anyone.

 

And let me be quick to say, sharing your faith with others does not require you or me to do anything extraordinary. For example, and we’ve talked about this before – do you bow your head before you eat your meal in the dining room?  If not, why not? Are you praying for people here? Do you have a prayer partner?  If not, why not?

 

Do you invite people at your table to the Thursday Prayer meeting, or the Friday Bible study, or Sunday church service? If not, why not? If some have told you they won’t come because I’m not of their particular church – well, they have you to vouch for what I have to say about God that transcends denominational labels. Invite them to ‘come and hear’ for themselves.

 

Brothers and sisters, I’m trying to encourage each of us to help others learn again of God’s love for them while they still have time to learn – and respond favorably – to His love.

 

Let’s now look at what else Paul tells us in that first verse

 

Paul calls himself a bond-servant of Christ Jesus. A slave. Paul’s readers knew exactly what a bond-servant was. Much of their population were slaves. Paul understood he was no longer his own. He had been bought with a precious price.

 

What does it mean to be a slave of Jesus Christ?  That’s a good question, isn’t it? A reasonable question. We’ve looked at this question before. And let me add, if we know our heart is soft toward God, then we also know what it means to live under the ownership of Christ.

 

Paul often wrote about what such slavery to Christ looks like. For example, here in his what he wrote to the Christians at Galatia: (Galatians 5:19-24,26 NLT) “ When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. . . .Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there . . . Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”

 

Is this easy to do, to be a slave of Jesus Christ? Of course not. Our flesh recoils at the idea of fully and unquestionably submitting ourselves to someone else – even to God. But such submission is God’s absolute requirement for spiritual growth and learning to walk by faith with the Master. Will I – will you – fully submit to God’s will in our day-by-day interactions? We have a choice, don’t we?

 

You may remember what Joshua said to the people after they’d crossed into the Promised Land – a land full of flagrant immorality and idolatry and a culture of death not too dissimilar to our culture in America today. Listen to what he said to the people then – and what God says to us here today:

 

(Joshua 24:14-15) “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

 

As I prepared this message I was reminded of the hymn by Isaac Watts:

 

When I survey the wondrous cross/On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss/And pour contempt on all my pride.

 

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast/Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most/I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet/Sorrow and love flow mingled down!/Did e’er such love and sorrow meet/Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

 

Were the whole realm of nature mine/That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine/Demands my soul, my life, my all.

 

Paul continues in this first verse to the third point. He tells his readers that God called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” God called him to tell others the good news of salvation.

 

And that raises an important principle related to our hearing, reading and reflecting on God’s word. You may remember this vignette in Matthew 21:

 

“When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. (Matthew 21:23-27)

 

My brothers and sisters here at Ashwood: If what the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome is NOT fully and inerrantly from God Himself through His word, then we are wasting our time trying to learn how to please and serve and follow our Lord because we have no sure word of faith and truth to guide us.

 

But, on the other hand, if what Paul and the other writers of Scripture wrote is from God Himself through His word we call the Bible, then we are responsible to obey its dictates and commandments – and that without wiggle-room. 

 

Let me now conclude my message today:

 

In those first few words of chapter one the Holy Spirit declares to us at least three points of reference which undergird the rest of the 16 chapters of this book:

 

1. Never think anyone is outside of God’s reach of mercy. If God’s mercy extended to the former terrorist Paul, God’s mercy will extend to anyone anywhere on this planet.

 

2. Being a slave of Christ means we have voluntarily chosen to go and to do and to say WHATEVER He commands. But if we choose to not be a full and complete slave of Jesus Christ, then we have also chosen to not belong to Him. That’s a very simple equation. If Jesus is not fully Lord of my life, then Jesus is not my Lord at all. And I remind us of what Jesus asked those around Him in Luke 6:46 - “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” 

 

Good question, isn’t it? A reasonable question, isn’t it? An eternally consequential question, isn’t it?

 

3. God called Paul to give the one-of-a-kind message of hope, exhortation, challenge, and warning to a world in need of hearing from God – not only those in first century Rome. The same God calls you and me to give to others the same one-of-a-kind message to our generation – including those here as Ashwood Meadows in 2026.

 

A one-of-a-kind message: God became human for one purpose – to seek and to save the lost. God became human to call sinners to repentance. God became human so that everyone who comes to Him by faith in Christ’s sacrificial atonement could live forever with Him in His eternal kingdom.

 

His command to “Go into all the world” was not consigned only to the first century. If we don’t go, if we don’t speak, if we don’t give so others can go – then why not?