Romans 1 is a tremendous chapter in the Bible for understanding the gospel message. What I learned from this part of the Bible is that the gospel is something/someone promised a long time ago. The promise was Jesus Christ, a human man that is also God's Son. How we know Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promise is the Resurrection. The gospel is God's POWER and God's RIGHTEOUSNESS. So, the gospel SAVES us! We receive grace.
The gospel calls us to belong to Jesus as apostles (sent ones) to call others to obey Jesus. It is proclaimed so that we will become an offering and sanctified to God - in other words, so that we will give our lives to Him. So, the gospel SENDS us!
The gospel SAVES us and SENDS us. A complete response to the gospel will have us embracing both parts - our salvation and our mission. So many times we settle for an inadequate response to the gospel and only want it to save us. If it doesn't move us to action, then we may question whether we have received it at all. This was one of the biggest ‘Aha!’ moments for me recently. Receiving Christ is not only "Come just as you are" but also "GO just as you are now." Why have I missed that second part for so long?
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