October 15, 2019
Romans 1:15-17
That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome  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.  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.”
New International Version (NIV)
                Do you know the “Roman Road?”  When Melanie and I visited Rome, I asked our tour guide to take us out to the Appian way, a road which the Romans built before the time of the Apostle Paul.  She and I stood on the smooth black stones of the original road and imagined Paul walking that way on his way into the city for his trial.  There Paul would preach to all who would listen. According to history, eventually he would be martyred there.  My friends Vic and Joan Varner brought me a replica of Paul’s tombstone there in the catacombs. 

                Paul had written to the Romans in anticipation of his visit.  He had a lot of friends in the city including Priscilla and Aquila who had a church in their house.  In his letter to the Romans, Paul said he had been set apart for the gospel of God.  Then he said he was eager to preach the gospel.  Finally, Paul wrote that he was not ashamed of the gospel.  So what did Paul mean by the gospel?  Could he have envisioned that people in the United States would take the parts of his letter in Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8-9 and 10:9-10 to make a shorthand for God’s plan of salvation?   Early in my life someone taught me the “Roman Road” plan of salvation from these verses.  I have shared it many times.

                I am so glad we are reading Romans together for the next few weeks.  Be sure to read two chapters a day starting today and going through next Thursday.  The verses we know best are part of a larger narrative.  We will understand them better if we read the whole thing.  Paul’s gospel was not simply a four point plan to get to heaven when we die.  The Bible Project has done a brand new video on the gospel which helps us.  The Old Testament word which came to be equated with gospel when it was translated into Greek was the word for announcing the good news of a new King.  Paul likely did not know it would one day be the name for a genre of church music or even a four point plan. 

                Why was Paul not ashamed of the gospel?  It represented power to save people’s lives if they would believe.  This gospel was inclusive.  The end of the book of Acts shows us Paul teaching about the Kingdom of God from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.  When the leaders of Jews of Rome disagreed with Paul that Jesus was the Messiah, he told them that he would preach to the Gentiles because they would believe (Acts 28:17-28).  Paul wrote in his letter that the good news of God’s kingdom is power for salvation to all who believe.  Quoting the prophet Habakkuk, he told them that God always intended righteousness to come by faith or trust in Jesus.  This is good news.  We do not earn our relationship with God.  He gives it to us.  Do you believe?  The gospel is the road to relationship with God.  It tells us we were worse off than we thought, and more loved that we ever dreamed.  Why would we ever be ashamed of that?  
Pray with me:       
Father, we thank you for the good news which possesses power to save us if we believe.  Let us find our righteousness not in our good deeds but in your good news.  Help us to believe, be declared righteous and then to live our whole lives by faith.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.   
This year our Every Day with Jesus readings will follow The Bible Project Read Scripture Plan.  Copies of this reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download 
the app at readscripture.org.  Read through the Bible with us in 2019!
Joyfully, 
Duane 
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