Sermon Tone Analysis

Romans 1:8-10.

"The Attitude of a Servant"

Safe Haven Community Church.

Sunday May 1st, 2022.

Romans 1:8-10.

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

(ESV)

This past week has Elon Musk offered US$54.20 ($69.38) per share as part of his bid to buy Twitter for US$44 billion ($56.3 billion).

Twitter has become famous over the past few years for DE platforming those they politically disagree with while still allowing international terror organizations to post.

When the offer by Musk was first made, the board of directors for Twitter was looking for ways to reject the deal but with the threat of personal legal action, they relented from their opposition.

As board members they had a fiduciary duty to serve their shareholders and not their personal political aims.

People serve the Lord from many motives.

Some serve out of legalistic effort, as a means of earning salvation and God's favor.

Some serve the Lord for fear that, if they do not, they will incur His disfavor and perhaps even lose their salvation.

Some, like Diotrophes (3 John 9), serve because of the prestige and esteem that leadership often brings.

Some serve in order to gain preeminent ecclesiastical positions and the power to lord it over those under their care.

Some serve for appearance's sake, in order to be considered righteous by fellow church members and by the world.

Some serve because of peer pressure to conform to certain human standards of religious and moral behavior.

Children are often forced into religious activities by their parents, and they sometimes continue those activities into adult life only because of parental intimidation or perhaps from mere habit.

Some people are even zealous in Christian work seeking unjust personal financial gain as an aim unto itself.

The Apostle Paul was greatly used of the Lord because, by God's grace and provision, he always kept his motives pure.

Because his single purpose was to please God, the displeasure or disregard of other people, even of those he was serving, could not deter his work or lead him into bitterness and self-pity.

In his opening words to the believers at Rome, Paul tells of his sincere spiritual motives in wanting to minister to them.

With warmth, affection, and sensitivity that permeate the entire letter, he assures them of his genuine devotion to God and his genuine love for them.

Although Paul had not personally founded or even visited the church at Rome, he carried the heartfelt passion of Christ for their spiritual welfare and an eager desire to develop their spiritual and personal friendship.

When they first received Paul's letter, the believers in Rome probably wondered why this great apostle whom most of them did not know would bother to write them such a long and profound letter.

They also may have wondered why, if he cared so much for them, he had not yet paid them a visit.

Beginning in verse 8 of Chapter 1, Paul gives the answers to both of those questions.

He wrote them because he cared deeply about their spiritual maturity, and he had not yet visited them because he had thus far been prevented.

Even when the Lord is served from a right motive and in His power, for us, there always lingers near a ready temptation to resentment and self-pity when one's work is not appreciated by fellow Christians and perhaps goes completely unnoticed.

No matter how orthodox or helpful to other people our service might be, unless it is done out of a sincere desire to please and glorify God, it is not spiritual nor acceptable to Him (cf. 1 Cor.

10:31).

It is, of course, possible for a person to begin Christian service out of genuine devotion to God and later fall into an occasion or even a habit of performing it mechanically, merely from a sense of necessity.

It can be easy to neglect service or do it out of mere habit, thereby carelessly leave our first love and fall into a rut of superficial activity that is performed in the Lord's name but is not done in His power or for His glory.

In order to avoid common pitfalls in service and fine tune godly service, in Romans 1:8-10, Paul's words suggest three marks of true spiritual service: First it is marked by: 1) A Thankful Spirit (Romans 1:8), 2) A Concerned Spirit (Romans 1:9-10a), and finally 3) A Willing and Submissive Spirit (Romans 1:10b).

The first mark of true spiritual service involves having and attitude of:

1) A Thankful Spirit (Romans 1:8)

Romans 1:8.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

The first mark of true spiritual service, which Paul had in abundance, is thankfulness.

He was grateful for what God had done for and through him, but he was equally grateful for what God had done in and through other believers.

He perhaps did not thank the Roman believers themselves, lest it be considered flattery.

He said, rather, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you.

Paul's thankfulness was intimate, first of all because of his spiritual closeness to God.

I thank my God, he declared.

No pagan would have made such a statement, nor would have most Jews referred to God with a personal pronoun.

For Paul, God was not a theological abstraction but a beloved Savior and close friend.

As he testifies in the following verse, he served God in his spirit, from the depth of his heart and mind.

Anyone who has given attention to a study of human personality and human relationships knows the importance of thanksgiving for a person and for interpersonal relationships.

It is important that we, as Christians, not simply express gratitude because it works and because it helps in getting along with others.

We must practice thanksgiving because it is the Christian thing to do.

The rewards will follow.

(Forlines, F. L. (1987).

Romans (R. E. Picirilli, Ed.; First Edition, p. 16).

Randall House Publications.

* Unless we start our service recognizing what God has done for us, we will certainly get frustrated and derail our efforts.

When we start with our expectations, our whim's change.

When we start with how we think we will be appreciated by others, we will be disappointed.

But if our service starts with a response in gratitude to what God has done for us, then we anchor our actions to His unfailing provision and love, which never changes or disappoints.

Paul gave thanks through Jesus Christ, the one eternal Mediator between God and man.

"No one comes to the Father, but through Me," Jesus said (John 14:6), and believers in Him have the privilege of calling Almighty God, my God.

"There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim.

2:5).

It is because we have been given access to the Father through Jesus Christ that we always can "draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need" (Heb.

4:16), and can say, "Abba, Father" (Rom.

8:15).

Christ is the one who has created the access to God for such thanks to be offered.

(Moo, D. J. (1996).

The Epistle to the Romans (p.

57).

Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)

Paul's thankfulness was also intimate because of his spiritual intimacy with fellow believers, even to such as those in Rome, most of whom he did not personally know.

I thank my God ... for you all, that is, for all the believers in the church at Rome.

His gratitude was impartial and all-encompassing, making no distinctions.

Paul wrote most of his letters to correct wrong doctrine or unholy living.

But even where the need for instruction and correction was great, he found something in those churches for which he could be thankful.

The Romans believed, out that their faith was of such a character as to be everywhere spoken of, was recognized by the apostle as cause of gratitude to God.

God therefore is the giver of faith.

(Hodge, C. (1882).

A commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (New Edition, p. 35). Louis Kregel.)

* How do most people come into conflict in their relationships: be it in business, congregations, social or personal: It's in terms of expectations.

If we start with the assumption that our first task is to change someone, then we don't appreciate who they are and an immediate barrier is formed.

If we acknowledge their worth and seek to growth with them, then a bond if formed for development.

Please turn to the NT book Philemon

The book of Philemon is about reconciliation and relationships between Christians.

Onesimus (which means "useful") was a slave of a believer named Philemon in Colossae.

Apparently Onesimus had stolen from Philemon and fled.

At some time while Paul was under arrest, Onesimus met him and became a Christian.

Paul apparently wrote this letter at the same time as Colossians and gave it to Onesimus to carry back to Philemon (cf.

Col. 4:9).

Paul appealed to Philemon to accept Onesimus back into his household, but as a brother in the Lord rather than a slave.

In Paul's estimation, Onesimus was far more "useful" (v.

11) now that he was a Christian.

Paul even promised to pay whatever debt Onesimus might owe Philemon.

(The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Phm).

(2016).

Crossway Bibles.)

The Apostle Paul writes to Philemon:

Philemon 1-7. 1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

(ESV)

* During his second Roman imprisonment, the Apostle Paul may have spent time in the wretched Mamertine prison.