Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Meets weekly at 907 Hillsboro Boulevard, Manchester, TN, 37355. Currently, our church is without a pastor/elder and the members meet weekly for praise and worship in hymn, prayer, reading of Scripture, study of the word, and fellowship.
What are you passionate about? We all harbor inner thoughts about what we truly value most in this world. In times of opportunity we make known those deep-seated convictions, especially to those we hope to convince to our way of thinking. So what is your passion? Is it a hobby? Is it a possession, maybe a sports car or a new technological gadget? Maybe it’s a person. Is it your boyfriend or girlfriend? Some are passionate about themselves. The way they look or the way they appear is an all-consuming passion. A few minutes before the watching world may take hours before a mirror! Only you know what your heart truly longs for or values most.
There was a man who lived in the first century. He was known as Saul of Tarsus. A Jew of Jews, he was trained in rabbinical theology, zealous for the Law and determined to snuff out the new religious movement known as the Way. Yet on a specific day, as Saul was on his way to a nearby city determined to round up more followers of the dreaded Way, he had a strange encounter. This moment changed his life forever. He even changed his name, or as some think, used a more common Gentile name that was also his. Now he would be known as Paul. Today that is usually sufficient to introduce this figure: Paul! A.K.A. The Apostle Paul. Now a renewed man on a mission to serve the Way he once sought to destroy. Now he is a self-declared slave of Jesus the Messiah. This is amazing in and of itself. Paul remains the strongest apologetic for the Christian faith in the face of Jewish detractors. Of course some hail him as an anti-Semite, forgetting that he is Jewish, of the stock of Benjamin. Some claim that he disparaged the Law, forgetting that he clearly claims in his writings that Christ fulfills the purpose of the law, as the Old Testament itself predicted of the coming Messiah.
“What of Paul?” I hear you ask. What is his passion? Very simply, it is Jesus. The way he expressed his undying devotion to his newly revealed Lord is by living for the sole purpose of proclaiming His glorious good news, or Gospel. In, perhaps, his most famous letter, Paul starts out in Romans speaking of God's Gospel in the very first verse. The Gospel he proclaims is a message of grace, that is undeserved favor that creates new life, just as he received on the Damascus road as Jesus Christ the resurrected Lord appeared to Paul and provided him with a new start. This grace, Paul asserts, is in the message of the Gospel. As Paul makes plan to visit the Roman congregation, three things are on his mind. This forms a trinity of devotion that encapsulates Paul's passion as nothing else.
First, a deep sense of obligation fills Paul's heart. He claims that he is a debtor to all men (Romans 1:14). Paul has been given a second chance. He also has been entrusted with the message that brings hope and is the only way men and women can receive forgiveness. In light of Jesus being the only way of salvation, Paul senses the widespread guilt of humanity and knows full well that every person is lost without the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This itself fills Paul with a certain obligation to tell everybody about Christ. It is in this sense that Paul is a debtor. Paul owes the world this specific Good News!
Second, Paul is ready, determined and eager to preach the gospel in Rome. Of course, Paul has spoken at other places and has seen the transforming work of God in people’s lives. Now he is eager to see the same among the Romans. He says, "I am ready to preach" (Romans 1:15). Not only is Paul passionate for souls in general, he is specifically burdened for those in Rome. He is passionate about the Gospel to such a degree that he is set to proclaim it. He is both determined and prepared.
Finally, Paul mentions the heart of his conviction concerning the specific message about Christ. “I am not ashamed,” declares Paul (Romans 1:16). Ashamed? Why should he be ashamed? Well, one must consider the fact of his Jewish ancestry. In face of the many hostilities that the emerging church faced, it was not popular, nor safe to become a Christian let alone a propagator of the Christian Gospel. Moreover, Paul is on his way to the capital of the empire--indeed, to Caesar’s territory, with the express purpose of declaring that another than Caesar is truly Lord! The Gospel would surely mean trouble for Paul in the Empire’s capital, Rome. Nevertheless, in a burning declaration he affirms his wholehearted commitment to the message of Jesus. It is God’s Gospel concerning His Son, which Paul is not ashamed of. His reasoning continues, and it signifies both his own belief in its salvific message that he has embraced, and that this can benefit anyone that believes the message about Christ.
Paul’s passion is here simply repeated. Says Paul, “I am a debtor, I am ready to preach, and I am not ashamed of Christ’s Gospel.” If you have been given grace, then this is the model to follow. What are you passionate about?
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