On Sunday morning we considered Romans 1:1-7. This letter of Paul’s is about the gospel – the good news about Jesus Christ. Paul will go onto to explain the good news in much more detail in the rest of the book, but he gives a summary of some of the key points in v2-4. It is what the whole Old Testament pointed to, it is good news about a person – Jesus Christ, and that it is good news about resurrection.
At the heart of the gospel is the message that Jesus died on the cross for our sin, but he did not remain in the grave. He is risen! This is the best news for a dying world. All religious or political leaders, celebrities, and heroes are dead. But Jesus is alive – what better news is there for a dying world. Jesus has beaten our great enemy, death.
At the end of v4 we see the implication of the resurrection for each of us.
Jesus Christ our Lord
As the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, he has shown him to be Lord of all.
This is true whether we choose to accept it or not. Jesus is alive and has authority over each of our lives. He is Lord over every person, he is Lord over every single area of our life. This truth should affect all areas of daily living. He is Lord over our work, our home, our leisure, our church, our family, our speech, our thoughts. Are there areas of life that we are less conscious of Jesus’ Lordship? As we witness to others we are, like Paul, calling people to accept Jesus is Lord. As one author puts it, we are called to trusting submission to Christ at the start of the Christian life and every day.