Obedience in Word and Deed      Romans 15: 14-19

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- October 23, 2005

There was a farmer who had three sons: Jim, John, and Sam. No one in the family ever attended church or had time for God. The pastor and the others in the church tried for years to interest the family in the things of God to no avail. Then one day Sam was bitten by a rattlesnake. The doctor was called and he did all he could to help Sam, but the outlook for Sam’s recovery was very dim indeed.

So the pastor was called and apprised of the situation. The pastor arrived, and began to pray as follows: "O wise and righteous Father, we thank Thee that in Thine wisdom thou didst send this rattlesnake to bite Sam. He has never been inside the church and it is doubtful that he has, in all this time, ever prayed or even acknowledged Thine existence. Now we trust that this experience will be a valuable lesson to him and will lead to his genuine repentance.

"And now, O Father, wilt thou send another rattlesnake to bite Jim, and another to bite John, and another really big one to bite the old man. For years we have done everything we know to get them to turn to Thee, but all In vain. It seems, therefore, that what all our combined efforts could not do, this rattlesnake has done. We thus conclude that the only thing that will do this family any real good is rattlesnakes; so, Lord, send us bigger and better rattlesnakes. Amen."

Our text for today is found in Romans 15:14-19

14I am fully convinced, dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well that you are able to teach others all about them. 15Even so, I have been bold enough to emphasize some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder from me. For I am, by God’s grace, 16a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News and offer you up as a fragrant sacrifice to God so that you might be pure and pleasing to him by the Holy Spirit. 17So it is right for me to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God. 18I dare not boast of anything else. I have brought the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I lived before them. 19I have won them over by the miracles done through me as signs from God—all by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ all the way from Jerusalem clear over into Illyricum.”

The Apostle Paul tells us here that he won the Gentiles over to Christ by his message…the Word of God…and by the way he lived before them. All of this won them over by the miracles done through him as signs from God…by the power of the Holy Spirit.

What Paul is telling us here is that the weapons at his disposal to win the Gentiles were:

The Word of God
His manner of life
The power of the Holy Spirit

Paul expresses the fact that he was proud of his ministry among the Gentiles. We might be surprised that he expresses pride in what Christ has done through him. We usually think of pride as a spiritually negative and personally destructive.

Paul says, “In Christ I have reason to be proud of my work for God.” In the Christian life there is a place for pride…the right kind of pride.

The French have two words for pride:

1. Orgueil…which signifies haughty arrogance and inordinate self-esteem
2. Fierte…which means self-respect, loftiness, high-mindedness

The Greek word Paul uses here – while sometimes used for evil pride- cannot mean that here because Paul’s pride was not in himself. His pride was in Christ Jesus. The literal translation of his statement regarding this pride would be: “I am boasting in Christ Jesus concerning God’s service.”

It is not what we do for God that counts, but what we let Him do through us. That is what Paul is telling us here.

Remember, Christ did not say  “Without me you cannot do very much,” but, “Without me you can do nothing.” We must always keep in mind what we are. We are still human and prone to selfishness. A faucet begins to leak because water trickles past the worn washer. Try as you might you cannot get the faucet tight enough to stop the trickle of water. The washer is defective and until it is replaced it will allow water to trickle past it.

This is a picture of our lives as believers. We will always have a touch of the defective washer in us that allows a trickle of self through. We are human and until we are in heaven it will always be that way. God mops up all the trickles that get through. The purpose of the gospel is to win obedience from those who hear it and accept it.

There are always those who hear and seemingly make the commitment to Christ verbally. This is an important part of the process. However, if a person’s life does not become one of obedience to Christ and His Word, then the assent to Christ is merely intellectual assent and not a true matter of a converted heart. The pattern of our lives must change one Jesus Christ becomes our Savior. He must also become Lord Jesus Christ.

What does the verb “to win” mean?

According to Paul’s testimony here in our text “to win” means “to make the Gentiles obedient.” God was working through Paul to win the Gentiles to obedience. If there is no obedience, there is no true faith. The obedience may be like that of a child which slowly grows at first, but there will be growth in obedience or there is no real faith in Christ. Sin may hamper it for a time, but there will be continuing growth in faith and obedience in the life of the believer.

Paul’s weapons were the Word, the deed (manner of life – good works); signs and wonders and the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Word as it is preached that is in Paul’s view here. These were divine words given to him by Christ that have been preserved for us in the Scriptures. The deed he has in mind is the action of life, whether or not it is accompanied by words. The deeds are those of a man whose life has been transformed by the Holy Spirit. Words and works are joined together in Christ and in his followers. That is how it must be if we are to win others.

Remember last week I told you of seeing the quote from Francis of Assisi  “Preach the Gospel and perhaps you will be able to use words too.”

That is the thought here in the second weapon Paul has at his disposal. Do you remember when Jesus walked with the men on the road to Emmaus following his resurrection? He asked them the reason for their sadness. They told him of the death of Jesus. This is how they described their Savior: They said he was a man mighty in word and in deed before God. (Luke 24:19)

Stephen described Moses as a man mighty in word and deed when he presented his defense before the Sanhedrin. (Acts 7:22)

Paul tells the believers in Colosse “Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. (Colossians 3:17)

Here are several thoughts about the marriage of word and deed:  John said, “Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:18)  We need to express our love verbally, but need to back it up by the way we live our lives. It is then and only then that our expression of love holds true.

Acts 9:36 gives us this testimony about a woman named Dorcas. She was a woman,”full of good works and acts of charity.” What a Christian she was!

The Scripture tells us that we are saints. What is a saint? To answer that we often think of someone who really lives a life of love and good deeds. In our lifetime Mother Theresa comes to mind quite often in a conversation about this.

A little boy attended a church with beautiful stain glass windows. He saw depictions of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul among those beautiful windows. One day he was asked that question: “What is a saint?” He answered, “ A saint is a person whom the light shines through.”

The question for us is “Does God’s light shine through us?”  Matthew 5:16 tells us “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Your words of faith in Jesus Christ must be backed up by your manner of life and the good works that come from the faith you have in Christ.

Before we close we must consider this:  Paul’s words and good works would have produced nothing if God had not intervened in two ways.

1. His power was manifested through signs and wonders.
2. This combination of Word and the Holy Spirit alone can produce faith (Romans 10:17) and bring about new life (James 1:18)

Because Paul knew all this, he gave glory to God.

A sign was a distinguishing mark of some sort by which something is known. At Jesus’ birth the shepherds were told that as a sign, they would find the baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger (Luke 2:12)

Here Paul speaks of a sign and wonders…a sign or wonder consisting of a wonder or miracle, an event that is contrary to the usual course of nature. If Paul’s Word and the manner of his life for Christ were powered by signs and wonders and the power of the Holy Spirit, should we expect God to work any differently in our lives?

There are those who will tell you that God does not work in that way anymore because we have the New Testament now. My Bible tells me that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. It tells me that God never changes. If these statements are true, then why would God have changed from something that worked wonders in the power of the Holy Spirit for something that does not work at all?

That is how God used Paul. I suspect that we ought to be open to God using us in that way today, too! It is that combination of the Word of God proclaimed in a marriage with a life of good works and powered by the Holy Spirit that spiritual fruit will be produced and people will be won for Christ. It is that combination that will help us to lead people to obedience to God which is the true measure of a person’s faith. If faith is to be real, we must be people who are obedient to God, His Word and His will. Period.
 
In the reading of My Utmost for His Highest for yesterday I read: 

 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What understanding do you have of the salvation of your soul? The work of salvation means that in your real life things are dramatically changed. You no longer look at things in the same way. Your desires are new and the old things have lost their power to attract you. One of the tests for determining if the work of salvation in your life is genuine is—has God changed the things that really matter to you?

If you still yearn for the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born from above—you are deceiving yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the change very evident in your real life and thought. And when a crisis comes, you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing change that is the very evidence that you are saved.

You now have a new power…in the Holy Spirit to lead others to obedience to Christ. Use it for Christ’s sake. Combine that power with the Word of God and a life that is filled with good works and you will please God wonderfully.

It is not what we do for God that counts, but what we let Him do through us.

--Dennis Gleason