The Glory of God for the Joy of All People
Posted on May 20, 2007
Romans 16:21-27
There is a strange argument that often takes place in Christianity today over what the chief purpose of the church is. One school of thought is that our great purpose is to worship and to glorify God. The opposing side says that our chief purpose is to evangelize the lost. I don’t understand the argument at all - it seems to me that the answer is both.
Paul closes out the book of Romans with a great purpose statement. He essentially says, “My goal is to make the gospel known, so that people might become obedient, all to the glory of God.” That’s a great purpose statement for life.
He closes out his book with some very general and simple statements about God, yet they are some of the highest themes to which he could have appealed.
TRUTH:
Our purpose is to bring glory to God by making the gospel known, so that all people might be obedient to Him and find their ultimate joy in Him.
THREE GREAT STATEMENTS ABOUT GOD:
God has the power to change lives. (v. 25)
God has the power to establish you, to grow you, to develop your life into something that it was formerly not. How does He establish lives? By revealing the gospel through preaching.
A full understanding of the gospel was “in the Old Testament concealed, in the New Testament revealed.” This doesn’t mean that nobody understood how to be saved. Abraham, David, Isaiah, etc., all of the Old Testament believers were saved by grace through faith based on their understanding that God would eventually provide the ultimate atonement for their sins, a Savior.
We and Paul live in the age in which that mystery is known plainly to be salvation by grace through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ… to God be the glory!
God has the prerogative to speak.
In this New Testament age, Paul says, God has spoken more plainly, more clearly, that all people might have the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. God has spoken in the present age in three primary ways (as Paul references them)…
- He has spoken through Jesus Christ, God incarnate.
- He has spoken through the New Testament Scriptures.
- He has spoken through preaching.
What is the final thought of the fact that God has spoken so that we might know Christ and grow in Him?
God deserves glory, honor, and praise. (v. 27)
Because God has spoken, therefore we live! Because of all that we know about God, He deserves praise and honor! Would you join me in a prayer of praise to God?
God has spoken through Jesus, through the Scriptures, and through the preaching of the Word. He has also been trying to speak to your heart today. Will you hear Him? Will you listen and obey?
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