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Obligated to Freedom

Words of Faith Final

Obligated to Freedom
Words of Faith 7-7-2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2021
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Romans 1
    [14] I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. [15] That is why I am so eager to preach the Gospel also to you who are at Rome.
    [16] I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. [17] For in the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

       We don't generally like to feel "obligated."  Obligation can feel like a debt that is never paid or a burden that is never lifted.  Religious obligation can be the worst. Yet, Paul opened his greatest work of Christian theology talking about obligation.  
       But Paul was not talking about "religious obligation."  He had lived in that world and knew firsthand the miserable failure that religious systems lead to.  When Paul talked about being obligated, he was expressing the realization that the Gospel is such good news and offers such freedom that he could not dream of holding back.  He had a relational "obligation" to preach the Gospel everywhere. This was his passion.  This was his joy.
      The obligation that Paul wrote of was not the burden of religious imperatives; it was the joy of eternal freedom in Christ.  It was an obligation borne out of the joy of being set free from religion.
      Paul did not have a "demographic target" or a "market niche" for the Gospel of Christ.  He was a Roman citizen and a Jew. Yet he also felt compelled to reach Greek populations.  He was highly educated and gifted with a brilliant theological mind. Yet, Paul recognized the need for the Gospel to reach those who considered both wise and foolish.  
      Paul, speaking from the heart of God, knew that the Gospel is for all people, Jew or Greek, slave or free, educated or uneducated.  
      Based upon this commitment and obligation, Paul declared a personal core value:  I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
       What would it mean to be ashamed of the Gospel?  For Paul, it would mean soft-pedaling Jesus among Jewish people who struggled with the idea that God became flesh.  It would mean downplaying the resurrection among Greeks because they were very intellectual about such things and the resurrection of Jesus was a stumbling block.         But what does it mean for us?  To be ashamed of the Gospel might mean that we conveniently leave Jesus out of social conversation.  But it might also mean that we claim Jesus for ourselves but not for others.  It might be where we are comforted with our Jesus religion, but in practice, we do not share it because we really don't believe that "it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."  
       It is all too easy to slip into polite religious correctness in which "I am okay, and you are okay" with whatever religion we choose.  It all sounds nice, but it is not the truth of the Bible.  The Bible clearly teaches that the only righteousness to be found is not in a flavor of the month religious practice but in trusting wholly, by faith, the work of Jesus.  If we claim the truth of Jesus, we claim that He is the truth for all people, not just a particular group or class or part of the world.  
           So how about it? As you walk with Him in the world today, are you ashamed of the Gospel? Or are you obligated?  Not obligated because of religious burden but obligated because of eternal truth?

     Lord, I declare by the freedom You won for me, my obligation to all people.  Make me eager to share the Gospel.  I declare that I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the Gospel, righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."   Lord, I choose to live by faith.  In Your name.  Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2021 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.