A
few years back HBO ran a series called Rome. It was a spectacular
visual glimpse into ancient Rome from the days of Julius Caesar. It
was definitely not fit for Sunday School but oddly, there were many
things relevant to the New Testament which it pictured very well such
as Jesus returning in clouds of glory. Jesus returning in clouds of
glory, have you ever wondered what that was about? Well, in ancient
Rome emperors returning victorious from battle would receive an
eventful and extravagant parade known as a Triumph. The series Rome
portrayed two Triumphs, Julius Caesar returning from Gaul and the
series ending Triumph of Caesar Octavian after his defeat of Mark
Antony and Cleopatra in Egypt. At a Triumph the crowds would hail
the emperor as Caesar Lord and Saviour of the Republic. Yes, Lord
and Saviour were two titles given a Roman emperor. Amidst the
shouting, the emperor rode into Rome perched high upon an elephant
while the crowd threw white, fluffy confetti-like stuff; hence,
clouds of glory.
Moreover,
if you want to know why the announcement of forgiveness was/is so
important in the Christian Gospel just note that while the new
emperor was parading towards his throne during his Triumph the
captured leaders of his defeated enemies followed as beaten public
spectacles. The first thing the emperor did once enthroned was to
put all his enemies to death. Forgiveness meant a stay of execution
and permission to live on in the new kingdom as a prisoner/slave of
the Emperor. When Paul calls himself a prisoner or slave of Jesus
Christ he has in mind that he should have been put to death when he met Jesus on the Road
to Damascus for his
having been a persecutor of the church , but Jesus stayed his execution and Paul lived on in
Jesus kingdom as his slave.
Another
key historical glimpse from the series that I think shines light on
Paul and his work as a church planter was the series character of the
Senate Crier. He was a podgy man who went out daily into the forum
to inform the public of matters of importance such as the
pronouncements of the Senate, current events of the Republic of Rome,
public service announcements, and even business advertisements. This
character of the Senate Crier and the work he did, for me, shed much
light into what Paul must of thought of his role and work in the
early church of being a servant or steward or administrator of God’s
grace charged with proclaiming or rather pronouncing the gospel and,
and probably most important, what the gospel itself is. Let me touch
on that for a moment.
In
ancient Roman and Greek society the crier or herald performed the
crucial function of keeping the people informed of important public
matters for the simple fact that most people could not read. When
the crier brought news about the emperor or a message straight from
the emperor it was called a euangelion
which is the Greek word which looks like our word "evangel"
and which we translate as gospel. So, the town crier proclaimed the
gospel, the news of the emperor, to the people. Therefore, in the
Roman world a gospel was not something a person was supposed to
believe about the emperor so that they can go to heaven when they
died. It was a pronouncement of real, historical facts pertaining to
the events of the life of the emperor like his birth, coming of age,
and ascension to the throne, or a great war victory.
To
push this a bit further, to the Romans a gospel wasn't just news
about that life of the emperor. It was news from the gods. You see,
Romans believed that the emperor was directly related to the gods as
a son. Some emperors even claimed to be gods. So, to the Romans a
gospel was an announcement of divine good news about the emperor, a
proclamation from heaven of the will of the gods and was to be met
with great joy and public celebration.
Therefore,
the first thing we should note about the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is that its correlate in the Roman world was an imperial
gospel and anything we say about what the gospel is should firstly be
interpreted in that light. Our Christian Gospel is a divine/imperial
decree from God concerning Jesus Christ who is Lord and Saviour of
the cosmos and he reigns over everything. Thus, the gospel of Jesus Christ
is an intensely public and political matter pertaining to every
detail of our lives, not a private matter of personal belief.
So,
about this Gospel of Jesus Christ, the New Testament contains at
least three moments of gospelizing. The first gospeling was the
gospel of great joy that the angels proclaimed to the shepherds that
the Saviour of Israel and indeed the whole world was born. They
proclaimed the gospel that the world now has a new Lord in this baby
born in Bethlehem who will deliver it from oppression and reign it
justly and equitably with the graciousness of God's own authority.
The next gospeling moment was when Jesus himself proclaimed the
Gospel that the Kingdom of God is at hand therefore repent and
believe the good news. God reigning the world and putting it to
rights has with Jesus entered human history and therefore we are to come
and live under his reign. Thirdly, following Jesus' enthronement at
the right hand of the Father after his death and resurrection, the
apostles and prophets and, particularly, the apostle Paul, proclaimed
the gospel of the victory and enthronement of Jesous
Christos to Kyrios kai Soter hemon,
Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Mind you, those were titles used
only for Caesar.
The
Apostle Paul as an evangelist understood himself to be a servant or
slave of Jesus Christ, an enemy of God whose execution had been
stayed, and as he says here a prisoner of Jesus Christ, sent to the
Gentiles to proclaim the gospel of the victory, enthronement, and
lordship of Jesus Christ the Lord and Saviour. He would go into
towns and cities first to Jewish synagogues and then to the
marketplace and like a Senate Crier he would proclaim the gospel
which would have sounded something like this: “Jesus Christ is Lord
over all creation and he has saved it from sin and death. Jesus
Christ is the only true Son of God. He was born a descendent of the
greatest Judean king, David, to whom the one true God promised long
ago that one of his descendents would reign Israel forever. On earth
Jesus Christ was rejected by his own people and though pronounced
innocent by Pontius Pilate they mockingly enthroned him on a Roman
cross to be the atoning sacrifice for our sin and yet, by
resurrection from the dead he was publicly and powerfully shown to be
the one true Son of God. Jesus Christ has won the greatest victory
of all. By his death and resurrection he has defeated sin and death.
Jesus Christ has ascended into heaven where he is exalted and
enthroned at the right hand of God our Father and from there through
the power of the Holy Spirit he reigns on earth eternally. All
peoples, Jew and Gentile alike, are called to serve him under his
glorious reign of love and forgiveness. The eternal inheritance
promised to the Jews now belongs to everyone. The mystery of God's
plan for the world has been made known. Jesus will return soon for
his Triumph and assume his throne here on earth bringing in forever
the Reign of God. At that time all of creation will be made new and
all peoples will be raised from the dead and judged according to how
they have served Jesous
Christos to Kyrios tou pantou tou kosmou (Jesus
Christ the Lord of all the universe). All is forgiven. Everyone in
Christ Jesus receives the free gift of the Holy Spirit and is made
New Creation now. Come! Join with us and share in your inheritance
now. Live now with us enlivened by his Spirit in the true freedom of
salvation. Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
This
gospel of Jesus Christ announces something new that God has
irrevocably done. In, through, and as Jesus Christ our Lord the
Trinity has delivered, has saved his creation from sin and death.
Jesus is Lord over all things and all peoples and in him by means of
union with him in the Holy Spirit this salvation is being enacted
right now upon us. Moreover, this gospel is a divine gospel, a word of God
inspirited with the Holy Spirit which does not return to him having
not accomplished the Trinity's purpose in speaking it, it has the
power to save, to deliver persons from the realm of darkness into the
Reign of God. At the very proclaiming of this Gospel of Jesus Christ
the Son of God people such as yourselves have inexplicably come to
have faith in and display faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ.
People such as yourselves have suddenly found themselves transformed
in heart and having personal knowledge of the love of God in Christ
Jesus. Wherever we proclaim this gospel people such as yourselves
have experienced themselves as being personally summonsed by God to
live under Jesus' Reign and in his grace. Through the indwelling and
in-working of the Holy Spirit people such as yourselves are being
drawn together to form new communities called the church where we
live according to the Reign of Christ embodying his love. The Holy
Spirit acts in and by means of the proclamation of the gospel to save
people now, in the very present, so that by means of this newly
created community embodying Christ Jesus all rulers and powers are
getting a glimpse of what the wisdom of God looks like.
The
gospel is the proclamation of the good news that the Triune God of
grace has saved his creation and everything and everyone in it from
the futility of sin and death. The declaration was signed in Jesus’
obedient life, his death on the cross, his resurrection, and his
ascension to the right hand of God the Father where he now reigns.
He is Lord of all creation. Therefore, we in Christ now are
presently being saved from sin and death, set free to live under the
Lordship of Jesus Christ. For freedom Christ has set us free. The
question to us now is not whether or not we rationally believe this
Gospel so that we can be entitled to its outcome. Rather, since
salvation is the New Creation reality enacted in and by Jesus Christ,
the question to us is are we going to live our freedom in Christ.
Are we going to live our freedom in Christ as stewards of his
grace or are we going to sit back in fear and continue to live like
slaves to sin and death? Are we just going to continue to live like
everyone else around us or are we going to live in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ proclaiming and administrating his grace?
If
living under the reign of Jesus Christ is our aim, then we need the
church and to be involved in the church. The church is the place on earth where
God’s grace is present and administrated. To participate in the
life and mission of a Christ-centered church is participation in the
Reign, the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God the Father through Jesus
Christ the Son our Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit by means of
the proclamation of the Gospel has made us to be like Paul,
administrators or stewards of the Trinity's grace which is his
presence with us, his favour bestowed upon us, and his acting on our
behalf. God’s presence, his favour, and his acting on behalf of
people is here in the midst of Christian fellowship and we are
entrusted to see to its proper administration. We, the church of
Jesus Christ, are the living result of the living word of God which
is and undergirds the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, our task is
that of living our lives together in a way that is worthy of the good
news that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord who truly does save, and the Lord who does not behead his
enemies at his Triumph. Rather, he forgives them and makes
reconciliation with them. That, my friends, is the way we are to be
towards each other and everybody as the community that embodies the
gospel of Jesus Christ. And there's more. Since Jesus Christ is Lord
and Saviour, he offers healing from addictions of all sorts, from
materialism and greed, from hatred and unforgiveness, and from shame
and guilt. The old life really is gone, a new has begun. Friends,
come to him. Amen.
