2014년 2월 9일 주일 영어예배 설교
로마서 16:25-27

(Romans 16:25-27)

Here, the Apostle Paul is closing his epistle to the Romans. He spent the earlier part of the epistle teaching the essence of the Christian gospel, the sinfulness of human beings and God’s redemption through Jesus Christ, and in the later part of the epistle he directed how Christians should live their lives as followers of Christ according to the gospel. This closing part of the Epistle to the Romans also shows that after all, the core of the gospel and the reason of all the existence of the universe is for the glory of God. Not only here, but also in the other Epistles of the New Testament, we find this kind of expression in the letters as their final conclusions. This is what we usually call doxology. The word, doxology, comes from the Greek words doxa, which means glory, and logos, which means word. So the expression, doxology, is ascribing glory to God. The conviction behind the New Testament doxologies is that everything exists and everything happens to draw attention to the glory of God.

But here, today’s text shows one of the ways of how God is glorified, and it is awesome good news to us and the source of our victorious lives. Through today’s text, we are going to be appreciating how God strengthens His people in his being glorified, and which strengths are given to His people through his being glorified.

In verses 25-26, “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith.” God takes his own glory because only God deserves all glories in the universe. But in being glorified, God does some great things for his people. It is ‘to strengthen you.’ The word ‘who is able to strengthen you’ means that only God is able to do this. Nothing else and no one else is able to truly strengthen you as well, only God is able to strengthen you, his people. It means that when God is glorified, it strengthens you. For you, Christian people, the powerful and unexhausted source of your strength is God’s glory. The grea  ur strength. T  trength. “To him who is able to strengthen you…..be glory forever more…..”

So then how does God strengthen you? Now in order for us to get the answer to this question, we need to check again the contents of the book of Romans even briefly. First, we are strengthened to not only win against the power of sin but also struggle with sins. As Romans emphasizes, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We are atoned from our sins, that is, the power of sin is not able to drive us to death that is the result of sins including the original sin. We are given strength to struggle with sins. Of course, before we turn into the perfect glorious being, as Jesus returns and completes our salvation, the struggle is not perfect and we do not always win in the struggle with sin due to our sinful nature. But the strength that is given by God is sufficient, effective, and consistent. It means that we will be able to stand sinless without condemnation owing to Jesus’ merits on the last judgment day. Second, God strengthens us to lead our lives through the Holy Spirit. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, specifically its illumination, nobody is able to have the right confession of faith and have the mind that they want to live according to the faith. To lead our lives through the Holy Spirit is one of the great privileges that only Christian people have. Third, by being strengthened by God we finally will reach the perfect glorious status as Jesus Christ our Lord. That will be the completion of the salvation and the regenerated. On the day, non-Christians including atheists will naturally and clearly know, even without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the fact that a human beings’ life is not just a biological mechanical being, and there is no other god except the God of Christianity. Lastly, God strengthens us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God in our daily lives. As we learnt through The Westminster Shorter Catechism, our life itself is worship for God. Our life should be toward and for God being based on the Words of God. It is our spiritual worship. In doing this, God strengthens us.

In a more practical aspect, what kind of strength does the text mean that God is able to give? It’s not a strength that the world knows or gives. It’s not just the kind of strength of being assertive, forceful, aggressive, sexy, and self-confident. It’s not just the kind of strength of being smart and moving through all the channels of influence into positions of power. The strength that today’s text shows here is the strength that you are confident in God, and who you are in God. The strength makes you definitely recognize and be confident that you are in God as the children of the king of the universe. The strength makes you see what God has done for you and the promise to you through Jesus Christ our Lord so that you never fear of anything but God and laugh at the time to come – whatever it holds. “Now to him who is able to strengthen you . . . be glory forevermore.” Again, what kind of strength does today’s text mean? It’s not the kind of strength of being very good at physical activities like sports. It’s not the kind of strength of being the most influential and able man who wields power with money and authority. It’s not the kind of strength of being well educated and intelligent so you can hang around with people in so-called high society. Yes, they are not wrong. If God wants, he gives you that kind of strength. Why not? But the strength that the text says is not that kind. They are not eternal. They are temporary and pass away and fade. They are not ultimate. They never truly strengthen you. But the strength that today’s text says is eternal, ultimate, and a strength of the strengths. That truly strengthens you, never fails. It is the strength to say the simple word of truth when you are surrounded with highly able, influential, educated, and elitist complexity. It is the strength to make your position clear standing your ground, and say no to a sinful behavior when everyone else is calling you weak. It is the power to make you still last pressing on obstacles when you feel that you lose your motivation in a cause of truth and justice. It is the power to love, help, and lead the people who are in predicament including your family. And the strength that God gives you in being glorified of Him is the power that makes you be still there in your God saying in your mind “I’m still in my God who strengthens me” even when you are in the worst situation such as being paralyzed with cancer and you can answer only with your eyelids. And you know from where the power comes. This strength is an inner strength that you have through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.

God strengthens you like this. How? Pay attention to the text again, ‘according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.’ In other words, it means ‘with the gospel’ or ‘through the gospel.’ Here, the expression ‘the preaching of Jesus Chris’ means ‘preaching about Jesus Christ.’ God strengthens you with the gospel, through the gospel, and according to the very gospel. That is, as the text clears up the point, ‘according to the preaching about Jesus Christ.’ Jesus Christ is the central reality of the gospel. The gospel is the resources in God’s strengthening you. In verses 25-26, “…..the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages buthas now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith.” These words mean that the gospel had been consistently and steadfastly prophesied in the Old Testament. The expression ‘the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages’ does not mean that one could have no knowledge of the content of the mystery in the Old Testament. Rather what it means is that one could not fully understand it nor experience it in the Old Testament ages. Nevertheless, it was sufficiently and clearly ‘testified to’ by the Old Testament. Today’s text says that the gospel, the revelation of the mystery, has been made known to all nations so that all the nations have the obedience of faith. Specifically, we can say that it became clearer since Jesus’ resurrection. And the text says this ‘according to the command of the eternal God.’ It stresses that it was God’s own determination to make known the mystery at the time that he did. In verse 27, “to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.” The Apostle Paul is now identifying “one who is able to strengthen you” as “the only wise God.” This wisdom of God has to do with his ‘wise’ plan for salvation history, now understood, lived out, and given thanks for by the believers. Of course, this plan culminated in a person and his work: God’s Son, Jesus Christ. This is the gospel. The gospel is the source of God’s strengthening you. God strengthens you with this gospel through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, we should firmly stay in the gospel of Christianity by believing in Jesus Christ. Without this, we would never be strengthened by God. Without it, we would never taste the amazing strength from God that I told above.

Everyone, God knows your sorrows, unhappiness, and failures, he already knows everything about you. That is why He himself has come down to earth. No longer remain in the detached so-called objective attitude of investigation and inquiry, and be merely interested in religion. No longer trust in your depraved, crude, disordered, and sinful nature of reasoning. Destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. Humble yourself as a little child and listen to the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who came from heaven to earth. Stay in the gospel, firmly cling to the gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ. Then God strengthens you with the gospel. The God who is able to strengthen you is glorified in strengthening you. He is our very God, the God of love, mercy, and blessing. Unlike kings and dictators in history who tried to be glorified by keeping their citizens weak and poor and uneducated, our God is glorified through strengthening His people, His citizens. Our God really wants you to be strengthened, and only He is able to truly strengthen you. I hope all of you fully enjoy this strength in your lives.