The next section of Paul’s letter is interesting because the Apostle wants to “preach the gospel to you,” the Roman believers. Why would he want to preach the gospel to believers? Notice in the text, Romans 1:8-17, that Paul affirms their faith, prays for the opportunity to give and receive encouragement with them, and expects that when he does visit there will be spiritual fruitfulness in his visit. Why do believers need to hear the gospel? With all that the church is experiencing from the external culture of Rome and the internal strife of the church, why does Paul see the gospel as the essential teaching for the believers?

Verses sixteen and seventeen present the answer: the gospel is the power of God advancing for the salvation of all ethnicities; and it humbles believers as recipients of grace by faith, not as laborers receiving a wage. This presentation strikes the heart of the church’s divisions and our distortions of self, others, and God. Join us Sunday as we worship together.

As we considered Sunday, we know Paul’s overarching purpose in the Roman church is “to establish” them in the gospel, 1:11 and 16:25. The word “gospel” is a compound word of “good” and “message.” We often call it “the good news.” When the news channel posts a breaking story, we call it “breaking news,” though it’s often a tragedy, because that’s what sells. Well God’s news has been breaking forth since the creation narrative, and it is good news about his promised Son.

Our text this week explains the good news in those terms: breaking, good news about God’s Son and chosen Lord. For the Roman believers, living in the decadence and oppression of Rome, the news is of a King, David’s descendent, who will transform the world, by bringing about the “obedience of faith.” Why is that important news? Because God’s grace, initially extended to the Jews, has been extended to the Gentiles, “including you.” Join us Sunday as we worship God’s appointed Lord and rejoice in our participation in the good news!

Sunday, we begin our study of the book of Romans. Below are two links to a great explanation of Paul’s letter for you to watch and prepare for our study. The Roman church was divided along ethnic lines (Jew and Gentile). The Jewish believers had significant misunderstandings about themselves, justification by faith, the law of God, the Spirit, and the church of Jesus Christ. Those misunderstandings generated a distorted view of themselves, God, and Gentile believers. Distortions create division.

Our study will focus on the Apostle’s prescription: the gospel of Jesus. He writes to “establish” them in the gospel because he knows it will heal their divisions by removing their self-distortion. Join us as we engage the Lord through his Word.

Romans, Part 1 Romans, Part 2 

So far, we’ve considered the person of the Holy Spirit and his essential ministry of applying what Jesus has provided. The Spirit regenerates us, so that we can respond to Jesus’ offer of salvation with faith and repentance. He justifies us, applying the obedience and sacrifice of Christ. He seals us in the graces of our Savior, preserving us and sanctifying us, so that we share in the holiness of Jesus. Finally, he glorifies us, applying the full life of Jesus’ resurrection. This is the essential ministry of the Spirit.

But he does more than this. Jesus refers to him as our “helper,” who mediates the presence of Christ to us. What does it mean to “mediate the presence of Christ”? A very simple illustration is your phone when you facetime someone. The phone mediates their presence, connecting you to the person you’re talking to. Well, the Spirit is better than a phone! As the Third Person of the Trinity, he is the presence of God, connecting you to the ministry of your Savior and all the goodness of God. He prays for you according to God’s will; he reveals God to you, especially through the Scriptures; he comforts you in hardships; he empowers you to say no to temptations; et. al.

Sunday we’ll consider some of the varied activities of the Spirit in your life. Praise and worship God the Spirit.

This year we’ve discussed many of the ways that our heavenly Father works to communicate his goodness to us: giving us access to his presence in the throne room of grace; providing us the Incarnate Son to intercede and minister to us; giving us his law as a presentation of his character; providing his people sacraments within the covenant of grace. God uses each of these to bless us in Christ and communicate our adoption into his family. God wants us to know that we belong to him.

But there is one person in this that is central to our experience of all God’s goodness. Jesus says that this person is intentionally sent, so that we will know that we aren’t orphans. This person will guide into truth, comfort, counsel, and apply all of Christ’s benefits. This person fills us with the presence of Christ. This person takes all that the Father has given and ministers it to us: this is Holy Spirit.

Join us as we take the next few weeks to consider Him.

This past Sunday I argued that God is meant to be experienced within community. Adam didn’t just need a companion for himself, he needed a companion to experience God with, so Eve was created. Eve doesn’t mediate God’s presence, but she adds to Adam’s experience of God through her perspective, interpretation, and partnership.

When Adam and Eve sinned, the Son was offered to atone for their sin and ours and to bring us back into the family of God. All the goodness of God comes to us now, not directly, but through the mediation of the Son of God. Like light passing through a diamond, all the facets of Gods’ goodness are presented to us through Jesus. We experience all the facets of God’s goodness, not individually, but through the people of God gathered. Paul says that when Jesus ascended, he gave gifts to men, grace individually meted out to members of God’s family, or Jesus’ church (Ephesians 4:7,8). When we gather, we experience through each other, the various facets of Jesus’ mediation of God’s goodness and glory. If we want to experience the greater fullness of God, we need to gather together
 
This week, we’ll consider the goodness and glory of God presented to us through the graces distributed within Jesus’ body. The goodness of God in the church is intended to communicate that we belong, that we are part of God’s family. Join us for worship as we consider the beauty Jesus in the church. 

All year we’ve focused our time in the Scriptures on presenting the overwhelming goodness of God. The Apostle Paul says of Christ, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us,” Ephesians 1:7,8. God has not horded his massive fortune of grace, but has showered us with temporal and eternal benefits of his goodness.

As we conclude this series, we’ll consider the gracious words of Christ as he is about to end his earthly ministry, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also,” John 14:1-3.

 Jesus’ final words to his followers assure them that they are part of him and will be brought together to dwell forever in the presence of God with him. We belong together because we’re family. Nothing on earth communicates our family ties like the body of Christ, the church. Join us Sunday as we consider our family relationship with God.

God’s grace is so good when we are facing trials and troubles.  Many believers are comfortable turning to God when our trouble is not our fault. We rightly cry out for deliverance in those times.

When our trouble is our fault, some of those same believers are so burdened with shame that they are slow to turn to God for deliverance. This week in Psalm 3 we will see how God guides His people, no matter whose fault our trouble is!

James Jardin currently serves as the RUF Campus Minister at Western Kentucky University.  RUF stands for Reformed University Fellowship and is the official college ministry of our denomination. Also, James is married to Joyce Leonard’s daughter, Leah who came up through the youth group at ECPC.

Sunday we’ll finish our study of how the Lord’s Table communicates that we belong to God. The focus is on how the table presents salvation from God. In Genesis 22, Abraham is taking Isaac up on Mount Moriah because God had told him to sacrifice his son. As they walk up the mountain, Isaac asks about the missing sacrificial lamb. Abraham, confident in the promises and power of God responds, “God will provide for himself the Lamb a burnt offering, my son,” (v8). Why is that important? In the Gospel of John, John the baptizer, sees Jesus and declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” John 1:29. Through the narrative of Abraham and Isaac, God is explaining how he can offer his people salvation by grace through the Lamb that he would provide.

As we read, we learn that the Lamb is none other than God’s beloved Son. This deeply affects our understanding of the communion meal. As we partake by faith, we declare our union with the Lamb. His death is our death. His sacrifice is our sacrifice. But this Lamb is God’s Son, the one who is accepted, beloved, with whom God is well pleased, so symbolically we join ourselves to the One who truly belongs. Join us Sunday as we worship the Lamb of God.

This week we will continue to consider how the Lord’s Table communicates that we belong to God. If you have ever watched The Office, in one episode the character Michael Scott is deep in debt. He learns that he can be freed from his debt by declaring bankruptcy. So, in classic form, Michael walks in the Dunder Mifflin office and says, “I declare bankruptcy.” What happens? Well, nothing because as he learns, declaring something doesn’t make it a reality.

In our text, 1 Corinthians 11:26, the Apostle Paul urges regular participation in the Lord’s Table as a declaration of the Lord’s death. Partaking of the meal doesn’t create a reality, it declares a reality. Proclaiming the Lord’s death reminds us of why we have a seat at God’s family meal. Put simply, we sit at the Lord’s Table in fellowship with God because Jesus took our judgment upon himself. The bread and wine symbolize God’s pledge to forgive our sins through Jesus’ sacrifice.  

Our souls need to see, touch, and hear this reality regularly (some would argue weekly). Our place at God’s table has nothing to do with us. Our righteous choices, our sacrifices, our good works, even our devotional intimacy (piety), while meaningful, are not the basis for our seat at the table. It is all of Christ. God sent his Son to redeem us through his obedience unto death, raising him in life, so that we might have a right to his table.

Join us Sunday as we consider this reality and declare together, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:3,4.