The Obedience that Comes from Faith

The Summit of Our Salvation: The Book of Romans
Grace Community Church
Allen Snapp
March 10, 2024

The Obedience that Comes from Faith

Please turn to Romans chapter 1. This morning we begin a study of the book of Romans. We aren’t in a hurry – it’s going to take some time and we want to receive all this book has to offer us. We’ll probably take a break from it in the summer and then return to it in the fall.

I admit I’m both excited and a bit intimidated to tackle this amazing book! John Piper calls it the greatest letter ever written. It is a theological masterpiece but it’s not an easy read. I look at Romans as the Mount Everest of Biblical theology which is why I’ve titled the series The Summit of Our Salvation. As we climb the heights of Romans we will see a the peaks of God’s sovereignty, righteousness, and grace; and the depth of man’s sin. We will find parts of Romans incredibly encouraging and other parts challenging to understand as we encounter topics like the wrath of God being revealed, the universal depravity of mankind, God’s forecalling and predestination, and what Paul means when he writes that God created some as vessels of mercy and others as vessels of wrath. The book of Romans is not an easy climb.

In rock climbing lingo there is something called a “screamer”. Anyone think they know what a screamer is? A screamer is when you’re climbing and you lose your grip and fall a long distance before the rope stops your fall. The reason it’s called a screamer is because the fall is frequently accompanied with screaming. There may be points as we climb Romans where we lose our grip and have a screamer but for those in Christ there is nothing to fear: we might slip but God will never lose His grip on us. More than anything else Romans is about the gospel, the good news of God’s saving grace. Climbing this book may be challenging, difficult, even scary at points, but as my friend Tim Merwin says, the view is worth the climb!

Let’s begin the climb by reading the first seven verses and then pray.

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be 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 descended from David according to the flesh ⁴ and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, ⁶ including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

⁷ To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans. 1:1-7 (Pray)

Paul is writing to the church in Rome, a church he has never been to but hopes to go to soon. We don’t know exactly what’s happening there but we get the sense from this letter there is a tension between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. The Gentile Christians, who outnumbered the Jews, may have been treating the Jewish Christians as inferior members of the church, and the Jewish believers seem to have been promoting the law as part of the Christian faith. Paul is writing to correct the error of

both sides and unite them in the gospel.

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God

Paul introduces himself to the church in Rome by sharing three things about himself: the first thing he wants them to know is that he is a joyful slave of Christ Jesus. To Paul being a slave of Christ is a higher calling than being the king of a great nation. Who am I? Paul says I am a slave and Christ is my master.

Secondly he tells them that he was called by God to be an apostle. He is a lowly servant AND called to be an apostle – one of just 12 or so who were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ and have been given unique authority and power to declare the gospel of God. The gospel isn’t the invention of man, it’s from God and the gospel isn’t a “what”, it’s a “who”. The gospel is Jesus. Jesus is the gospel.

…the gospel of God³ concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ⁴ and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 

Jesus was born as a man (descended from David) and declared to be the Son of God in power by the Spirit resurrecting him from the dead where he now reigns as Lord of all.

Tim Keller writes: The gospel’s content is “his Son”. The gospel centers on Jesus. It is about a person, not a concept; it is about him, not us. We never grasp the gospel until we understand that it is not fundamentally a message about our lives, dreams, or hopes. The gospel speaks about, and transforms, all of those things, but only because it isn’t about us. It is a declaration about God’s Son, the man Jesus.

When the church tailors the gospel to center on us rather than Jesus – our importance, our potential, our dreams – it might feel good in the moment but it’s not the gospel and they do great harm to the church. The power of the gospel is because it’s not centered on us and how great we are, it’s centered on Christ and how great he is. As Keller says, the gospel transforms all those other things not by centering on us but by centering our gaze on Christ.

⁵ through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, ⁶ including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

I want us to spend most of our remaining time on that phrase “the obedience of faith”. Paul says his entire ministry – the authority and the power he received as an apostle we received power and authority to bring about the obedience of faith so that the name of Christ would be glorified among all the nations.

What does that mean, the obedience of faith? Does it mean our salvation is a matter of faith + obedience? A legalist could say, “see! If you aren’t obeying the rules God’s laid out then you don’t have faith and you’re not saved!” Is Paul saying here that we’re saved by faith plus obedience?

Whatever obedience of faith means we know it’s important because Paul literally says it’s the goal and purpose of his apostolic ministry. And as if to underline that fact, Paul not only opens Romans with this phrase but he closes it with the same phrase as well:

²⁵ Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages ²⁶ but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— ²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. Rom. 16:25-27

Obedience of faith opens the letter, obedience of faith closes the letter. So we need to understand what it means.

First, we know from all Paul’s writings – including Romans – that it does NOT mean that obedience is a condition to being saved. That is legalism and Paul will demolish the legalist’s arguments in the first chapters of Romans.

I remember years ago a dear family in the church was moving to another state, and as we were praying for them, the wife began to cry and shared how much their time at Grace had helped her heal from the barbs of legalism that had so deeply penetrated her heart. Legalism teaches we need to add doing to believing in order to be accepted by God which invariably leads to condemnation or self-righteousness. The barbs of “am I doing enough? Am I failing to do enough? Did my obedience today outweigh my disobedience in God’s sight?” lodge in our heart. Barbs of condemnation that says God would love you if you were what you should be but you’re screwing up…again!

We are saved by grace through faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. If obedience was a second condition for being saved, those verses would say we are saved by grace through faith and obedience but they don’t. We are saved by grace through faith alone!

So what does it mean? I think the NIV’s translation: the obedience that comes from faith is helpful. There is a kind of obedience that flows from faith. That comes from faith. Obedience can come from, or be motivated by, many different things. A father who threatens to beat his children might have very obedient children – but that obedience flows from fear not love. One of the barbs of legalism is fear: we fear that God is displeased with us and will cast us away in judgment. Any obedience we try to achieve will be fear-driven obedience. The obedience that comes from fear.

Obedience that comes from faith isn’t a condition to being saved, it’s a consequence of being saved! The more we know the undeserved love and grace of God, the more we experience of the forgiveness of Christ, and the freedom from condemnation because of grace received by faith – the more our hearts want to obey our heavenly Father! The more we believe that His way is life and our way ultimately leads to death, the more we want His way (obedience). Trust and obey go together because joyful obedience comes from trusting faith.

This protects us not only from legalism, it protects us from licentiousness that says “anything goes!” Just have faith and you’re free to do what you want, live like you want, and rule your own life as you see fit. Problem is, biblical faith means humbly receiving Christ as our King, and giving him the rule over our lives. It’s a lifelong journey and process, but it’s a real work that’s going on in our heart.

If we have a weak faith, we will have a weak obedience and the answer is to draw near to Christ and fill ourselves with his love, truth, and goodness. The more we taste and see that the Lord is good, the less we want the slop that sin offers us. Many Christians feel condemned because their faith is weak and therefore their obedience is small. Paul says, my entire ministry and calling is aimed at bringing about the obedience that comes from faith in all nations includingyou who are called to belong to Christ. I’m not writing you off, I’m writing you to encourage you and help you grow in a faith that produces greater obedience!

But if we find our faith is devoid of obedience – maybe we prayed a prayer at some point or believe the tenets of Christianity but nothing changed; there’s no sense of vibrant faith, no outworking of obedience, no desire to know God, no sense of love for Him, no hunger for His word in our hearts, no desire – even a weak one – to pray, no conviction when we sin, no joy or awe in worshiping Him, we need to face the possibility we may not have a saving faith.

If you find faith and obedience non-existent in your life, this book – indeed all of Paul’s ministry – is meant for you! He declares to you the good news – the gospel – that Jesus died for your sins on the cross and invites you to come to him and believe. Ask him to be your Lord and Savior and he will be all that and more to you. He will never leave you or forsake you.

The purpose of Paul’s ministry is to call all nations, all peoples around the world, to faith in Christ so that we can know we belong to Christ and he belongs to us.

⁷ To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul closes his greeting by affirming that they are loved by God and set apart as His people and he prays grace and peace on them from God our Father (how precious when we know God as our perfect heavenly Father) and the Lord Jesus Christ. His prayer is that as we read this letter the grace of God lavishly poured out through Jesus Christ might rest upon us.

Whether your faith this morning is non-existent, or weak and barely hanging on, or very strong, the starting point isn’t to focus on our faith and try to make it stronger. The starting point is to yield our lives to Jesus’ Lordship. To surrender ourselves to his love and Lordship and receive all that he has to give us.