Open Door Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC

The contents of this page have been adapted from a sermon preached by Dwayne Milioni on our Annual Renew Sunday on August 29, 2010 at Opendoor

Introduction

Renew Sunday is an annual event for us to Refresh our hearts, to Remind us of our purpose and to Recommit ourselves to the task at hand.

At a recent meeting of local church planters, it was estimated that there are currently 900,000 lost and unchurched people in the Triangle area—900,000. With such great lostness, what is our plan and purpose as a local church? We need to believe the gospel, live it out and share it with others. Believing in the gospel results in living in biblical community with one another as we fulfill the great commission.

Believe | Live | Share // Gospel | Community | Mission

1. Believe the Gospel:

1:1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as 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 born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, [4] 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,

1:1-4 Paul was an ambassador and bond-servant of Jesus Christ. Through his conversion and calling, he was set apart to proclaim the gospel that belonged to God. He unashamedly considered himself a slave to the gospel, knowing its potential and power to transform individuals and cultures. Paul wrote to a church that was confused about its mission. They did not fully understand the gospel. They were not living out the gospel within the local church. They were not engaging all the nations with the gospel. Paul feared disunity would hinder their effectiveness. He wanted the church at Rome to become a church-planting base that would send the gospel to Western Europe.

[5] through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, [6] among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; [7] to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:5-7 With single-minded devotion, Paul desires to bring God’s gospel to the nations. The gospel is a transforming power that invades a wicked world to bring about transformation into righteousness. It is the gospel that unites us all on mission. It is “for his names sake”, the ultimate goal is not the salvation of all the Gentiles, but rather by way of their salvation, all types of people will bring glory to Christ. Faith is the root, obedience the fruit; faith is what connects us to Christ, and glad obedience follows. God calls all nations to repentance and faith in order to bring glory to Christ

The gospel transforms everything it touches. It completely changes the individual which can lead to a transformation of a community or a nation.

 2. Live out the Gospel in Biblical Community [8-12]

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

9  For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, [10] always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.

Paul is grateful for the church in Rome because their testimony of faith in Christ had spread across the known world. Paul was thankful for their faith and wrote this letter to help them understand saving faith much better. Paul serves the church by praying for them and making requests on their behalf. He wants for the power of the gospel to be unleashed through his preaching

11 For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; [12]  that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.

Paul is encouraging the church, desiring that they be established in the faith God has given them. He wanted to come and strengthen them by granting some spiritual gift, mainly to serve them in such a way that they will be built up (general, like preaching to them). He desires to serve and strengthen them & that they might serve & strengthen him He wants to do life together with this local church so they can mutually encourage each other. He expects the church to be a source of encouragement & ministry 

3. Share the Gospel without Shame [13-17]

13 I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Paul’s desire is to see others come to faith in Christ through his preaching to them. He had been prevented from coming up to this point, but still had a great desire. Paul reveals his commission from God was to reach the Gentiles with the gospel, all of them without distinction, the cultured & uncultured, learned & unlearned, etc. Paul was indebted to the Gentiles, he felt the weight & responsibility of delivering the good news to the lost nations. So, Paul wanted to preach the gospel to the Romans so that many would believe and the church would become a base for church planting in Spain. He desires for Christ to be named in places where he isn’t being named.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

Here we see Paul’s motivation for his preaching & mission and the theme of his entire letter. His desire to preach the gospel to the Romans is based on the content & power of the gospel itself, for in the gospel the saving power of God is revealed. Paul is willing to profess his faith publicly and bear witness to its saving power. Many consider Paul’s message foolish, but he knew it to be powerful. God uses his good news to effectively call people to believe and to be delivered from His righteous judgment, to receive his righteous salvation, and to become his blessed children. The righteousness that we need does not come from within us, but from God who clothes us with the righteous of Christ upon our believing in him. The righteousness of God allows God to declare us “Not guilty” of all our sin. Not only does God’s righteousness change our legal status before God, it also transforms our lives and has the potential of transforming societies, like our city. We are both justified and transformed by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul concludes by saying that this has always been God’s plan and purpose and he cites Habakkuk 2:4. Faith brings life. It brings about new life in Christ, but more important it brings about life everlasting, which is probably in Paul’s mind here.

God does all of this to bring glory to himself and his Son

Believe >  Live > Share

Believe:

Understanding the gospel and getting it right

Get as much Bible as possible: study it, meditate on it, memorize it.

Bible information allows us to conform our lives to it, which results in a transformation of who we are.

Live:

Walking by the Holy Spirit’s power

Enjoying fellowship with Christ

Enjoying life together in the local church

Living out our faith in biblical community

Serving one another through Care Group Life

Establish Christ-centered marriages and families

Share:

Investing in the lives of others

Intentionally seeking to build relationships with the lost

Inviting them to experience our faith

Loving the lost and unchurched.

We cannot stop at belief, it will only lead to intellectualism, pharisaism, legalism and we will become self-righteous.

We cannot stop at living in community, it will lead to cliques and groups that are comfortable with each other, but not to those on the outside

Our Care Groups must become missional.

Believe > Live > Share

Opportunities to believe, live, and share:

Children, Youth, College, Adult ministry (Calendar of events)

Romans study

Party On Block; Community Day

Establishing international ministries at Open Door first

In order for the gospel to advance globally, it must first advance locally.

Conclusion

This simple, saving, all-encompassing gospel is what we must share with others and leave the results to God.

We must live the gospel out in front of others

We must love those who are still lost and allow our heart to break for them.

We must let them know that is faith in Christ alone that can rescue them.

We must pray that the power of the gospel will be unleashed through our witness.