What's the Point

Romans 1:14-17

I really believe that most of the people in our neighborhood who do not go to church probably have at least heard about it, or were even in Sunday School when they were kids. For a lot of them the reason they are not in church today is because they wonder, “What’s the point?” To them church is a burden of rules and additional responsibilities. They think all we want is their time and their money to do what we want to do, or get them to do what we want them to do. They think other things are more important, like having fun with the family, or being in school sports programs, or just having a real day off from work. They think our morals and commandments are too uptight for modern life anyway. They think we are way behind and need to learn how to relax and just let people be whatever they want to be and do what they feel is right.  

Think of the person you have been praying for these last few weeks. What do they think of church? How much do you know about their history with church? How well do you understand their point of view? Have you been listening? Do you know what questions they would ask you if they wanted to talk about church? If you say, “There is a god.” Would they say, “Yeah, I know.”, or would they ask, “How do you know?” But where do you go from there? If they say “yeah,” they probably also think they worship God in their own way and he is cool with that. If they say “How do you know?” that usually means they already believe you can’t know.

So maybe they have a real question for you. What’s the point of all this gospel preaching stuff? Are you ready to share about that? You may be ready to tell people how to become a Christian. You might be able to teach them how to pray to God so that they could repent of sins, ask for his forgiveness and pledge to follow him for the rest of their lives. But these days practically nobody is asking those easy questions anyway. So, what if somebody asks you, “What’s the point? Why should I want to be a Christian? What difference would it make?” Can you answer those questions? What answer do you have?

How about this one, or something like it? Along with all the good stuff about life, life is hard. It’s full of curve balls and hard balls and pain and injury and big, unhappy surprises. Worst of all, life is full of death. There are resources to handle all of life’s ups and downs, especially the downs. The church offers a real time connection with God and with other Christians as a support network so that you don’t have to face life alone. You may be strong and that’s great. But you can’t conquer death and live forever! You are not as strong as God, and our God loves you and wants to help you. He can give you a new life now, not a problem free life, but a strength to endure anything life can throw at you life.

What’s more, you really need God’s guidance so that you can have confidence that you are on a life path that is worth your while and leads to eternal glory rather than eternal suffering. I am really happy to report that it is working for me. God is good, all the time. This is a matter of life and death. Everybody is going to die, but only those who are connected to God can survive death and keep on living after death.

But way before you ever get a chance to say anything like that, your life is going to have to demonstrate that you believe it and live by it. For example, let me take you back to a prison cell once more to hear from a gospel preaching prisoner who really gets the point. He wrote a letter in which he says, “When we were in prison we sang almost every day because Christ was alive in us. The Communists were very nice to us. They knew we liked to praise God with musical instruments, so they gave every Christian in prison a musical instrument. However they did not give us violins or mandolins—these were too expensive. Instead they put chains on our hands and feet. They chained us to add to our grief. Yet we discovered that chains are splendid musical instruments! When we clanged them together in rhythm we could sing. “This is the day (clink, clank), this is the day (clink, clank), which the Lord has made (clink, clank), which the Lord has made (clink, clank).” What a joyful noise unto the Lord!”

They had lost so much and the guards were trying to shame them. But they were not ashamed of the gospel that kept them in prison. They proclaimed their confidence in it all the more. The gospel has power to sustain prisoners, just as it did when Paul and Silas were in prison. Just like Paul and Silas, these more recent Christian prisoners still retained the hope and the joy of the Lord. They were not ashamed of their chains. They turned them into musical instruments for singing praises. That’s the point, even though for most persecuted prisoners today, there are no earthquakes that set them free and scare the jailers who then become receptive to the gospel. It ought to be pointed out that even though God had his own reasons for setting Paul and Silas free from prison, the vast majority of prisoners even in that day, simply endured their imprisonment in the strength and joy of the Lord. The power of the gospel is shown today in the ways that our brothers and sisters endure their suffering. The power of the gospel today is shown in the ways that you endure your suffering in the strength and joy of the Lord.

What is the power of God? I think when we think of God’s power we usually think of miracles of healing or turning water into wine. But Paul doesn’t seem to be talking about that here. The power that Paul is talking about brings salvation to everyone who believes. That power is greater than any power to heal. Jesus himself said so when he asked, “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” Apparently Jesus was asserting that “get up and walk” is actually easier, and he used that miracle as a sign pointing to the greater power of salvation. He could heal the sick just by speaking a word. But he had to die in a cross to forgive sin. 

Some say that we need the power of God to be shown in signs and wonders to confirm our message is from God. Certainly that is the way Jesus talked about his ministry. And it sure happened a lot in the early days. Also, signs and wonders are still happening today in places where the gospel is fresh and new, out on the mission field. And we may insist that today we are surrounded by many lost people who need to see evidence that God is powerful and knows who they are and cares to bless them.

Certainly we pray for such miracles to bear fruit. And sometimes it happens. We have seen it. But it says in 1 Cor. 1:22-24, “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” The point of the gospel is to point to Jesus! It is great to ask for miracles. God understands. But a more mature faith also rests in the power of Christ to sustain us in the midst of suffering without miracles of deliverance. That peace that passes understanding that gets us through the tough spots may be more likely to cause those who are watching how you handle life to ask for an explanation of the hope you have within you. Then, be ready to talk, even feel obligated to tell them that your hope is in the Lord and not in your own strength.

Why does Paul say he is obligated? Do you feel any obligation to preach the gospel? What could possibly make you obligated? Perhaps the urgency of the need could get you motivated. If you were to see a person about to cross the street without looking at the big truck headed right toward him, are you obligated to try to save him from being run over? To be fair maybe you are thinking, that depends on who it is. But really, the moment you see that perilous situation something inside you would feel the impulse to try to rescue the person from danger. “Hey! Look out for that truck!”

We just need to be more aware of the very real danger of hell and the very real suffering of eternal loneliness that will be the very real fate of anyone who doesn’t know the Lord. That ought to fill us with a deep desire and even a desperate desire to find a way to warn them about hell and share the only hope of salvation. It is even more urgent than yelling at somebody to look out for that truck!

Another word on obligation. Paul is also talking about his indebtedness to God for saving him. He is telling us that he believes he owes it to God to try to save others as an act of gratitude for his own salvation. What’s the point of that? Well, what if you had cancer and a man shared with you a perfect cure and said, “This cure for cancer is way too expensive for you to pay for. But I am not in it for the money anyway. The cure is free of charge to you, but I do want you to tell every other cancer patient you know, meet or see. I want you to tell them where to get the cure. You can’t cure them. But you can tell them about me. You owe me that.” Isn’t that reasonable? Paul in our text is saying that’s how he feels about sharing the good news of salvation. He owes it to God to tell other people how they can be cured of death.

So are you eager to share? We have a good guideline in 1 Pet. 3: 15-16. “In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience.” Key words are gentleness and respect.  

And we have great news to share! We have the cure for death! We have a story about grace. The point is: We have something here. It is a tremendous gift from God and it is not just for ourselves alone. We have the power to save souls from a most horrible fate just by telling them about the gospel that has the power that can save them. We have the good news about God’s power to set people free from hell and his willingness, even eagerness to do so, if they would just believe what we share! Amen.