Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Family
MBC
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Introduction
I would like to begin today telling you a story.
I would hope that all of you know what happened on Dec. 7, 1941.
A day that will live in infamy as spoken by President Roosevelt.
Not as many people today however still remember or know about the Doolittle raiders.
Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack, President Roosevelt tasked senior U.S. military commanders with finding a suitable response to ease the public outrage.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a difficult assignment.
The Army Air Forces had no bases in Asia close enough to allow their bombers to attack Japan.
At the same time, the Navy had no airplanes with the range and munitions capacity to do meaningful damage without risking the few ships left in the Pacific Fleet.
In early January of 1942, Captain Francis Low, a submariner, visited Norfolk, VA to review the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet.
During this visit, Captain Low realized that Army medium-range bombers might be successfully launched from an aircraft carrier.[1]
The bombers however would not be able to land on the carrier.
They would have to proceed on to land in China.
Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle was selected to lead the mission and put together a team of volunteers to complete the mission.
These men who volunteered did not know the final mission, only that it was one of great importance.
On April 18 1942, not yet to their designated launch point but having possibly been sighted by a Japanese patrol boat, 80 men in 16 aircraft left the flight deck of the USS HORNET and flew to Japan.
After attacking their targets 15 of the plains continued their paths on to China, one however went on to Russia as it was closer and that plane was the lowest on fuel.
Of the men and planes, 7 men died, 3 were prisoners of war in Japan, the 5 that landed in Russia were held for 13 months.
This was not a particularly successful mission in terms of destruction of enemy infrastructure.
It was however an extreme morale boost to the American people and had the strategic impact of the Japanese pulling back to protect their homeland.
I tell you the story of the Doolittle raiders for a purpose.
These men volunteered for a special mission, of the utmost importance.
They knew the mission had to be accomplished and set out to do so.
We see this frame of thought in the opening verses of our text for today, Romans chapter 1:1-7.
Please open your Bibles with me as we look into the text that Paul wrote to the believers in Rome.
Read Text
[1] http://www.uss-hornet.org/history/wwii/doolittle.shtml
It can be easy for those who know their Bibles well to simply glance at the beginning of these letters and dismiss them as formality, wanting to get deeper into the text to really get at the meat and potatoes of the subject.
We shouldn't however go running by these introductions so quickly because they are often the foundation upon which the rest of the letter is written.
This can often lead us to mistaken ideas such as the book of Romans being merely a book of doctrine.
Through this introduction we see that Paul is building the idea that we have a mission.
A mission of the utmost importance.
We as believers can see in Paul's introduction to the Romans that we have been given a mission to share the gospel of Jesus just as he was.
Paul as our example.
Paul is writing the letter.
V. 1a
Writing to believers in Rome.
v7
1. Different translations of the Bible have this word listed in a few different ways.
a.
The ESV translates the word to be servant.
b.
The NASB and NKJV have the word listed as bond-servant.
c.
The HCSB and NLT have translated the word to be slave.
d.
The reason for this is that the word δοῦλος in the original Greek has a deeper meaning.
The word means "being under someone’s total control, slavish, servile, subject."[1]
e. Paul is using this word as a description of his relationship to Jesus.
f.
So what does that mean though?
The slavery of New Testament times more often did not look like what we often think of slavery being today.
Often today the word brings up thoughts of abuse and neglect but slavery in this context it was often a way to repay a very large debt or a way to simply survive when someone was so broke they had no other way live.
Often these people were treated more as servants, hence the differing translations.
A slave or servant however still has a job to do.
That person is someone who does things when they are asked or commanded to do so.
g.
Through this we can see as an example that Paul belonged without reserve to Jesus.[2] He was completely devoted to Jesus and the mission which Jesus had placed him on.
h.
Paul by claiming himself to be a slave or servant of Christ does something else in our minds as we read the text.
It elevates the position of Jesus.
Most of us, especially if we have read our Bibles have high view of Paul, and for him to place himself in such a low position brings Christ to a greater position in our minds as we read and understand the text.
[3]
Paul sets about to establish his authority in writing the message.
i.
A final point that can be made here is that Paul actually lived what he was writing.
We can read of Paul's missionary journeys and the joys and the sorrows that he faced as he traveled.
2. I would like you to think for a moment of your own relationship with Jesus.
As sinners, we have no other way out.
We have such a great debt that there is no other way that we can possibly repay it.
Jesus is the only one that can make that payment and all he asks for is our devotion and service.
[1] William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 259.
Paul’s credentials
[2] Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol.
27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 59.
Paul labels himself a servant of Christ
Paul does so using the Greek word δοῦλος.
[3] Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 36–37.
ESV translates the word servant.
NASB and NKJV translate to bond-servant.
HCSB and NLT translate to slave.
The word carries the idea of “being under someone’s total control, slavish, servile, subject.”
This describes one aspect of Paul’s relationship to Jesus.
Paul described himself as a pharisee of pharisee’s
Paul took his mission and call very seriously.
Paul views himself as being und Jesus total control, His slave, His servant, His subject.
Slavery in the NT did not look like what we think of slavery as today.
Slavery today conjures up thoughts of abuse and neglect but this is not the context of the NT.
In those times it was used as a way to repay a debt.
If someone was at the point they could no longer survive, they could become a slave as a way to survive.
These people were treated more like how we would view a servant which is why we have the differing translations.
They still however, had a job to do or tasks to accomplish.
They were people who did things when asked.
Paul belonged to Jesus without reserve.
Paul stating himself to be a slave or servant also helps us a readers to see how Paul views himself in relation to Jesus.
Most of us have a high view of Paul as we should but here he is showing how he compares to Jesus.
He is trying to place Jesus at the forefront as we continue in the text.
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