Romans and beyond

What is the one thing you have to get right in life?

Let's make sure we do get this right. It isn't waist-size on pants ordered from Amazon, though that's important. It isn't the right time for a movie, though indeed I've messed that up and showed up at the wrong time at the wrong cinema. It's not flowers for Mama on Mama's day, though you might want to make sure you can still sleep in your own bed by remembering pro flowers.com or something like it.

Nah. Nothing is so important, so vital as I'm about to tell you. Nothing. Ever.

Let's walk up to it. The Apostle Paul, best writer and church planter and disciple and most assuredly apostle in my life, wrote a letter to some soon to be friends in ancient Rome. I believe it to be the most important book, save possibly John, in the New Testament if not the entire Bible.

The hidden gem is chapter eight, the most important of all the chapters in scripture.

Some relatively important theologians say this of the chapter: Ray Stedman calls it the "most powerful human document that has ever been penned."

John Piper writes of it: "Which of us, who has tasted the goodness and glory of God in this great gospel, does not count the book of Romans precious beyond reckoning? ... There is no greater exposition of the Gospel of God than the book of Romans."

Donald Grey Barnhouse says of it, "Every movement of revival in the Christian church has been connected with the teachings set forth in Romans."

Think of these very familiar verses just in Chapter 8. 
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Or "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Or "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all , how will He not also with Him freely give us all things." Or perhaps the most important, "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, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

One chapter from one great, inspired writer helped turn me from a hopeless, helpless ragamuffin to a hopeful, helpful ragamuffin.

But it doesn't end there. See, this is all about the need of a savior. In the 7th chapter, Paul wrote this, "So I find that, as a rule, when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me. ... I'm a miserable human being. Who will deliver me from this dead corpse."

The first time I read this, my life changed. Honest. I began to see for the first time that if a writer in the Bible could fail, if Paul could choose wrongly, then so might I. But what could I, could we, do to change that? 

Paul gave me the answer just a couple chapters later. In the 10th chapter of Romans, Paul wrote the most important, in my opinion, verses in scripture. More important than Philippians 4:13, Romans 5: 1-5, John 3:16, etc.

Romans 10: 9-10 told us, "Because if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead, YOU WILL BE SAVED." Trusting with the heart LEADS TO righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation."

Oh
My
Goodness.

This is the plan of salvation. See, it doesn't add anything to the recipe. It doesn't add no dancing, no smoking, no drinking, no bedroom antics, nothing. It doesn't stir into the pot no cursing, no hating, nothing at all.

Break it down. 
Confession (the beginning of repentance)
Proclamation that Jesus is Lord (repentance)
Faith (believing)
Faith that God raised Jesus (believing in the impossible)
Trust (belief plus grace equals trust)
Righteousness (doing the right thing follows believing the right thing)
Salvation (justification)
Leading to (sanctification).

There. Most important. Means everything.

We are saved by Jesus. We will change. Our actions will become more pure, in theory at least. But the moment of salvation, the action of salvation, comes from Jesus, not us. 

Perhaps while we Methodists argue in Portland about what we can do in the bedroom, and we fight strenuously about what Paul meant in Romans 1: 25 we might remember Chapters 7-10 in Romans. We can't live by one and not the others. 

Ultimately, I profess I couldn't possibly save myself, therefore I needed a savior. That Savior is Jesus Christ. I profess Him publicly and verbally. I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead, and will save me. I trust God, and that trust is leading me to righteousness in a process called grace that began upon the moment faith in Jesus was born. Through Jesus' grace, I will be saved, not from anything I can do myself.

See, clearly ? So, why do we fight? We are all equal at the foot of the cross. We are all in need of a savior. We all must profess, confess, proclaim and believe. It's that simple, and that difficult. Maybe, just maybe, we should concentrate on our own salvation and the state of our being rather than judging where others are. Maybe.