“You Also Are the Called of Jesus Christ”

(Romans 1:5-6)

Paul introduced himself to the Romans as a slave of Christ, and he wasn’t ashamed
of it. It was a high calling that he gloried in, because it meant that he had received God’s
grace. It meant that he had been delivered from his sins. It meant that he was in a
relationship with Christ that would never change. He had been redeemed, and he knew
now that wherever his Lord was, there he would be, forever. Paul was also keenly aware
of where this grace came from: it came from the Gospel, the plan of God to save men, the
message God had preached through His prophets in the Scriptures for many centuries, and
which had finally come to pass. And Paul knew whom this Gospel had to do with: it had
to do with the Son of God, the Christ of God; not just any Christ, but the One who is both
God and man, the only Savior of mankind, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wants us to know
where this grace came from, so that when he tells us about his call to be a slave or his call
to be an apostle, Jesus Christ would receive the glory. He also wanted the saints in Rome,
as well as the saints throughout the ages – including us – to know where this grace came
from so that when we consider the fact that we too have been saved – that we too are safe
from God’s judgment – we also would know to whom we are to give the glory: to God,
through Jesus Christ alone.
This morning, as he continues his greeting to the Romans, Paul reflects on his
calling and on the calling which the Romans had received to remind them of whom they
were to thank for this calling and where to look for continued blessings. He wants them to
remember that all good things come from the Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and
that they should therefore receive the glory for them.
The first thing Paul reflects on here is where his own calling came from. He says,
“Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring
about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name’s sake” (v. 5). What he
gives us here are his divine credentials – the source of his call, which means the source of
his authority. He had received grace to become Christ’s slave, as we’ve seen. But he was
also set apart to be one of His apostles. Now when he says “we” here, he doesn’t mean
that the Romans had also received this particular call. Rather, he was speaking about the
call that he and the other apostles had received from the Lord. And what was that call? It
was the call to take the Gospel out to the world. The Gospel was no longer to be a
message of good news only to the Jews, for the most part, as it had been when Jesus
ministered it. Now the Lord was sending it out to the nations, to the Gentiles, in order to
gather His people together, in order to bring them to the obedience of the faith. And since
the Lord works through men and not angels when it comes to proclaiming this message,
He set several men aside to this work, including Paul. To do this work, Paul had to leave
his home town. He had to leave his family and friends. He had to go out to where the
Gentiles were so that he could bring them this message. He couldn’t, in other words,
remain in Palestine and expect the Gentiles to come to him. He had to go out to them, and
that is what he did. He traveled over the whole Roman Empire, preaching the message of
repentance and faith in Christ. This should serve as a reminder to us that if we really want
to see the lost come to Christ, we need to reach out to them, and not expect them to reach
out to us. Sometimes the Lord does work in this way. But most of the time, He works by
sending people out. He sends His people out to where the lost are. We need to go out if
we are to reach them. This doesn’t necessarily mean that each of us needs to become a
foreign missionary and go out to the farthest reaches of the world. But it does mean that
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we need to put ourselves out to reach those around us, and not expect that someday they
are going to come to us. And as an added incentive, let’s remind ourselves why the Lord
wants His Gospel to go out? Paul says that it is “for His name’s sake” (v. 5), for the sake
of His honor, His glory – so that He might gather together those whom He has chosen, that
He might save them, so that He might glorify His grace and mercy. Everything the Lord
does, He does for the sake of His name, for His glory. He doesn’t do what He does merely
for our comfort or our security – although we certainly gain these benefits through his plan
– but He does it to bring glory to Himself. God has a plan, a plan to reveal Himself, the
best plan that could ever be devised. In that plan, sometimes we have to go through very
difficult times, and sometimes very good times; but either way, the Lord uses these things
for our good, for the good of His church, and for the good of His kingdom overall. But
most of all, He uses them to glorify His name. God had called Paul to go out to the nations
with the Gospel to gather His people, so that they might be saved, but most of all, so that
He would be exalted. He sent Him out to gather together His people to give them to His
Son as a reward for His work. When we go out to gather God’s people, we are working
both to bring glory to God and to gather Christ’s reward. When you add to this the fact
that the Lord will graciously reward us for our work, it gives us many good incentives to
do what He has called us to do. Paul went out for the sake of Christ, for His glory. He
served Him out of love, the same love which should move us also to seek His glory.
But Paul wasn’t the only one who had received grace, nor the apostles, nor those to
whom he had preached the Gospel, who had received Christ. These Romans had also
received God’s grace through the Gospel. Remember that this church was probably started
by some of the Jews from Rome who were converted on the Day of Pentecost. On that
day, Peter had preached the Gospel, and when he did, God called some of these Roman
Jews to Himself. And after they had been discipled, they went back to Rome where they
also bore witness to the Gospel, which resulted in more Jews, and even Gentiles, being
converted. Paul here almost seems to be saying that these Roman saints were all Gentiles.
He says, “Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the
obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name’s sake, among whom you also are
the called of Jesus Christ” (v. 6). Now who were the “whom” that they were among? Was
it those who had received grace? Was it those who had been obedient to the faith – those
who had heard the Gospel, repented of their sins, and trusted in Jesus for salvation? Or
was it the Gentiles who had believed? All of these things could have been true, and
certainly they all were true of some of them. But it appears as though there were also Jews
among the members of this church, as we see throughout the book when Paul talks directly
to them. Perhaps Paul was speaking directly to the Gentiles in the church here. Or he may
have been speaking to both Jews and Gentiles who had all been called by the grace of
Jesus Christ.
But now what did Paul mean by the fact that the Romans were “the called of Jesus
Christ”? There are actually two senses in which the word is used. It can be used to refer to
the outward call of the Gospel, the call to faith and repentance, the call that comes at the
end of our witnessing to someone or at the end of a Gospel message. It’s what Jesus meant
when He said, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14). God has ordained that
the Gospel be preached to every living creature under heaven (Mark 16:15). In this call
there is to be no discrimination. We are not to say to anyone, “You are too wicked” or
“You are too poor” or “You don’t appear to me to be sorry enough for your sins” or
“You’re the wrong color” or “You’re the wrong race” or “You follow the wrong religion,
so I’m not going to tell you about Christ.” No, the message is to be witnessed and
preached to all men, women and children, promiscuously and indiscriminately. Those who
believe will be saved (Acts 16:31). But those who don’t believe, who don’t trust in the
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Lord Jesus Christ will be condemned; not just because they rejected the Gospel – although
their rejection of it will certainly increase their condemnation – but because of their sins;
their sins against God’s Law, either written in their Bibles or impressed on their hearts.
This is the outward call of the Gospel: repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved.
But there is also what is called “the inward call.” This is the work of the Spirit of
God that makes the outward call effective. Remember that when we came into this world,
we were dead to the things of the Lord (Eph. 2:1). We didn’t want anything to do with
Him. As a matter of fact, the Bible says we hated Him. So then, why would we who hate
God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, ever want to take Jesus to be our Lord and Savior?
The only way that this can happen is through the new birth. Jesus said, “You must be born
again” (John 3:7). This is the call of the Spirit. Jesus said, “Unless one is born of water
and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (v. 5). This is the call that the
Spirit sovereignly gives to whomever He wills, according to the gracious election and
choice of God, to enable them to embrace Christ. Paul writes to the Corinthian church,
“For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ
crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor.
1:22-24; emphasis added). The call of the Spirit is what gives power to the Gospel, so that
those who are called outwardly by the Word are changed inwardly in their hearts. When
this happens, they immediately see their wretchedness and at the same time the glory of
Christ, and they reach out to Him, trust in Him, and are saved. I believe that it’s in this
second sense that Paul speak of the Romans. They were the called of Jesus Christ, His
people. How did Paul know that they were? Well, he didn’t know this about each and
every individual among them. But he did know that as a whole the church appeared to
have a living and active faith, which was seen by the fact that their faith was being
proclaimed throughout the whole world, as we’ll see in verse eight. In light of this, Paul
exercised what we call a judgment of charity: these people professed to believe in Christ
and their faith could be seen by the lives they were living. This didn’t mean that all of
them were actually saved, but Paul was willing to treat them in this way until they showed
themselves to be something different. Paul realized something that we often forget: the
Gospel changes lives. It changes the way we believe, it changes the way we think, and it
changes the way we live. The reason, as I’ve said before, is that the Spirit makes a change
in our hearts. He causes us to love the Lord. And once this change has taken place, it
changes everything about our lives. Once we were living for the world and for ourselves,
because that is what we loved. But when the grace of God came into our lives, it turned
our hearts towards Him, and we will never be the same.
And so we see that Paul received the grace of God so as to become the slave of
Christ and the servant of Christ in bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles. And we see that the
Romans also received the grace of God in being called, not only outwardly through the
preaching of the Gospel, but also inwardly in their hearts through the work of the Spirit. In
closing, I would ask you if you have received this new birth. Have you heard the Gospel?
Do you understand it? Have you trusted the One it tells you about to save you from God’s
wrath? Do you now love Him? Are you serving Him out thankfulness for His mercy?
Are you doing your best to turn from all sin? If so, then you too have been called by the
Spirit. You are born again. But if these things aren’t true of you, then you need the new
birth. Turn to Christ and ask Him to change your heart. Ask for His mercy. Ask Him for
the strength to believe in Him. Christ and Christ alone can save you. Come to Him now.
Believe in Him. He will receive everyone who comes to Him in faith. Amen.