“To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.”
Although Paul is very clearly writing to the church in Rome it is interesting that he doesn’t use the word church at all until the final chapter of Romans where he uses it 5 times but not to describe the people to whom he is writing.
We find ourselves, the Leeds Vineyard church, worshipping in a building called a church for the first time in our history. Headingley Methodist church also meets in this church. Last week was a 5th weekend and the week before, when I asked you what that meant, someone replied, “there is no church”. We might say, “let’s do church”, or “we are going to church”, or “there is a church building”. Sometimes we talk about the church in the sense of an authoritarian organisation, “church speaks out against payday lenders”. Or in a more general sense of a cluster of churches – “the church in Leeds is working together to run the foodbank”.
It can all get a bit confusing. What is this in which you are taking part this morning?Whether you are a regular or a guest – seeking, asking questions, hoping to find God.Is church this building? Is it this 75 minute service? Is it the organisation?
The word church, ecclaesia, was, when originally used, never about a building or an event or an organisational structure.
No, it’s none of these. They are all evidence of there being a church in existence, but they are not the church. This building is not the church. This service is not the church. The leadership and organisation is not the church. Not in the way the bible means it.
Church is defined by this verse in Romans:
“to all in Rome/Leeds/Headingley who are loved by God and called to be saints.”
Elsewhere in his writings Paul uses various metaphors to help us understand the way church works – he talks about an army, a family, a body etc. But here he
defines what makes a church, and he defines it in relation to the gospel.
The Gospel defines the church
The "gospel" is a word to describe what happened when kings and emperors proudly declared their importance or their family news, "a baby has been born to Kate". A royal announcement. A gospel.
In Mark 1, right at the beginning of the Jesus’ story, he makes a huge announcement of the gospel of God,
"the Kingdom of God is here, repent and believe the good news". This is good news for the world, news that changes and transforms life.
John Stott, "What we have to share with others is neither a miscellany of human speculation, nor one more religion to add to the rest, nor really a religion at all. It is rather the gospel of God, God's own good news for a lost world."
It’s God’s Royal Declaration.
The arc of history told in the bible is a story of the Mission of God, his plan to pronounce the good news of salvation. The world and we are broken, but God reveals his love for us in Jesus. God makes a way for you and me to be restored to him, through the life, death and resurrection of this Jesus. Good news indeed. The gospel proclamation.
As Paul addresses Christians in Rome he uses a phrase which describes this gospel
and which also defines the church:
Romans 1:7 - “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.”
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Loved by God
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Called
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Saints
Loved by God
The word used here, agape, is most often used in the New Testament to describe the love Christians should have for one another.
When we know we are loved it conjures up all sorts of feelings – security, acceptance, trust, being valued, passion, sacrifice.
A baby, unable to do anything to earn or justify love, is the recipient of almost blind love. A mother will sacrifice an extraordinary amount for her baby – time, money, energy, convenience, sleep, clean clothes, angry looks when baby starts disturbing the peace. The baby doesn’t do anything to earn love. But the baby can do no wrong! A baby is beloved.
Here Paul attributes love to God. We are beloved of God.
That’s how God loves us – with a passion born out of his creative impulse.
He created us and loves us. His love is not conditional, it is just there.
This tide of grace and mercy and love sweeps over and around and through us.
God is love. He can’t not love. He is incapable of not loving. I am, you are, we are, beloved.
And, like a baby, we do nothing to deserve this love.
In fact we do the opposite, we walk away, turn our backs, we close our ears and eyes to him.
But I want you to know, wherever you are in your journey today, God loves you.
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You may have forgotten him – he has not forgotten you.
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You may have disobeyed him – he has forgiven you.
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You may have turned your back on him – he is still standing right behind you.
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You may have let him down – he’s giving you another chance.
He loves you so much that he sacrificed his own Son so that you can be forgiven and know his love again.
John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Paul starts his definition of the church by including all who are loved by God - which is everyone.
Called
We are loved and we are called.
There is God, reaching out to us with his extraordinary, unconditional, unending, again and again love. And with it comes a call.
More than an invitation, it is more like a command. Come.
It is not an if-you-feel-like-it do come along invitation. Not, “Caesar is Lord, so if you feel like you need to have a Roman-empire kind of experience you might want to submit to him.” (NTW)
Perhaps a better word would be “summoned”. This loving God has summoned us into his kingdom. Jesus said it right at the beginning of his ministry, “
Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Repent, turn around, come.
So far, the love of God, and his summons, are universal. We are all loved, we are all summoned. And implicit in this phrase is that some have responded to the summons. When Paul says that we are “called” – he is also implying that we have answered the call. We have been summoned and we have responded to the summons (CEBC).
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We are beloved of God
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We have been summoned and those who have responded make up the church
And we are called to be “saints”
And old-fashioned word to our ears. It could be translated, “a holy people”.
Let’s not get carried away, this does not mean that when you have accepted his call it’s as though you have popped in to a phone box, done a twirl and emerge as Mother Theresa or St Francis of Assisi, pure and holy. It doesn’t mean that every church is made up of perfect people.
When we have believed, we belong and as we learn to follow Jesus and live within his family, our behaviour does change and we become more like him. But although a holy people may begin to behave differently, that, the behaviour, is not the definition of holy people.
Paul doesn’t say, “You are loved and called to be morally good”. He says, “You are called to be a holy people.”
Let me explain.
Sometimes we talk about a holy person (Mandela, Ghandi) or a holy place (Lourdes) or a holy thing (bones of a saint). Something or someone that has a special status, usually a good thing which is treated differently from ordinary things. A shrine or a saint.
That is not generally how the bible understands holiness. The underlying meaning of the word is “set apart”, “marked off”, “withdrawn from ordinary use”. But what the bible talks about is the holiness of
God. It is the way
he is set apart, marked off, not available for ordinary use.
He is holy.
So what does it mean when Paul says that we are a “holy people”?
We become holy by interaction with and relationship with God. It is in encounter with Him that you are set apart. It is in relation to Him that you are marked off.
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We believe in the God who loves, loves endlessly, unconditionally, passionately;
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We hear his call, his summons. We choose to respond;
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We encounter God, the set apart, holy God. And as we receive His righteousness and forgiveness; as we are filled by His Holy Spirit, we are made holy, set apart.
It’s not our good behaviour but our allegiance to God makes us a holy people.
What does it mean to be a holy people? To be saints?
It means that the church community is
set apart, marked off, given a special use.
I don’t think this means that we should withdraw from society and culture and business and politics. Far from it. Paul was trying to get into the centre of the civilised world – to Rome. He isn’t telling the Christians to pack their bags and move away and into hiding. The church should be placed centrally within the dimensions of this world.
Jesus took a full part in life – working, eating, talking, laughing, engaging with his culture and society. And when He prayed for us He said,
"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one". (John 17:15)
The church is to be in the world. But it is not to be of the world.
We are set apart for God. We are rescued by a holy God who calls us into eternal life. Being set apart for God means that we live with an eternal perspective and that means we live differently. A huge subject which we touched on last month but for now here is a quote from Bill Hybels which descibed how the church is holy:
“There is nothing like the church when it is working right. Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in community. It builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides resources to those in need and opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden, the disillusioned. It breaks the chain of addiction, frees the oppressed and offers belonging to the marginalised of this world. Whatever the capacity for human suffering, the church has greater capacity for healing and wholeness. Still, to this day, the potential for the local church is more than I can grasp. No other organisation on earth is like the church. Nothing even comes close.”
That’s what happens when people:
who are loved by God;
respond to the summons from God; and
become a people set apart by God.
Conclusion
What is the church? Not a building or a service or an organisation.
Romans 1:7 - “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.”
That is who and what the church is.
You are each and together beloved of God.
You are each and together called and summoned by God.
You are each and together set apart for God – saints made for something special.
May you know his love.
May you answer his call.
May you be made holy.