The House of Blessing. How strong are the foundations in your life? In Romans chapter 16 verses 20 to 27, we encounter the living God who has the power to establish our lives through his blessing. Here is the power of a blessed life.
Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email.
hope4tampa.com/smartalk
smartalk@hope4tampa.com
Music: Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100340
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
The House of Blessing. How strong are the foundations in your life? In Romans chapter 16 verses 20 to 27, we encounter the living God who has the power to establish our lives through his blessing. Here is the power of a blessed life.
Contact Pastor Smart from our Church website or send an email.
hope4tampa.com/smartalk
smartalk@hope4tampa.com
Music: Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100340
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Romans chapter 16 The House of Blessing
Reading: Matthew 7: 21-28 and Romans 16: 25-27
Introduction: Are you established- like a building? A solid house to live in, a shelter, warmth, or in Florida with good AC. Somewhere that blesses your life? Here it isn’t a physical house, but a state of being and a way of viewing life that expresses the blessing of God. What you believe in must withstand all the storms of life if it’s going to be a blessing. Will it withstand the greatest of storms- death? This benediction is of none other than God Himself. What could be greater?
1. The Builder of the House:
Power: If you were building a new home from scratch here in Tampa, you would want to get a good builder, someone you can trust. So much depends upon them that you want to be sure they can build your home. But every day you walk with Christ, something much more important than your dream home is being constructed. So when Paul speaks this benediction over the whole church in Rome, he begins by saying- God is able…dynamo- is powerful to- able to do what? To Bless. God is omnipotent, All-Powerful.
Establish: The thought here is whatever it will take to establish you and make you strong as a follower of Christ. Stērizō (to establish) is almost a technical term for nurturing new converts and strengthening young churches.[1] Paul himself uses the verb in his letters in relation to making Christians firm, strong and stable, whether in their faith (against error), in their holiness (against temptation) or in their courage (against persecution)[2]What threatens you? Life, your heart, your sin, weakness, distractions- all like cracks in the wall after an earthquake- damage after a hurricane. But the house that Christ builds can withstand all of that.
The result: is a strong foundation, a true home to live in. For if the home is strong- you can really face anything out there. While if the home is broken or divided, then any success out there pales into insignificance, undermined by walking on eggshells at home. But Christ is building constantly in your life, so even if your actual family home is challenging you will still grow in the ways of Christ because he is your true home, the true refuge that established you. You will not be dependent on the ups and downs of life or other people. That would be to build on sand. Instead, build on Christ as your rock.
2. Who can live in this House? For the Jews they thought they were living in a gated community, until Jesus came and handed out the gate code to anyone! Now the secret was out of the box- God intended everybody to be welcome in his home! V.26 the clues were there in the OT especially the prophets see ch.15 again. This blessing is being given away to anybody!
It's not ethnicity or religious background that gives us entrance into God’s home. It’s something else- it’s written in the very structure of the house- big open French windows- on all four sides of the house - N.E.W. &S for all directions may come in.
Now that really is good news. For many people think that with God he will have no place for them. That it’s too late- the life they’ve lived has been too soiled. You may think like that. Even as a Christian you may have messed up – again- and think – that’s game over for me- I don’t love myself, how can God still love me! But the doors are still wide open. The invitation to live somewhere secure is still offered to each one of us. Don’t put yourself out of that house!
Indeed, the doors are opened wide v.26 by the express command of the eternal God. Remember he sent his son out of the palace on a long journey to rescue humanity- Rom 1-3: Story of the 5 sons...(told by Max Lucado in his book on Romans) stay away from the river….but 4 swept away. One takes up with the natives. One sits on a hill criticizing the first brother. The last two brothers still met up every night and talked of home. Then one day- the third brother didn’t show- found the next day by the river- trying to build a stone path back home up the river. The river was too strong. Futile and a wasted effort. Trying to earn his Father’s love by trying hard.
So how do you know if you are one of his children? When you can say like Paul- my Gospel! Not just the Saviour- but my saviour. Becoming a Christian means nothing less than meeting Christ who is ready to take you home to the Father. Will you come with him today?
3. Living in this Home - what’s it look like- lives of obedience v.26. (believe and obey). You knew I’d have to work in a mention of the Queen today! The new King - oaths sworn by every member of parliament! It’s a palace of a king! And when you live in a palace when before you were a beggar in the gutter, gratitude leads to obedience. Jesus says to you - If you love me- obey my commands. Rules aren’t so bad! Try driving without them!
So that v.26b, All Nations- there is a task to accomplish together he is saying to the church in Rome. The task hasn’t been finished yet either. So many nations that we can touch right here in Tampa, and from here send out others. To the ends of the earth- are now just around the corner in places like Temple Terrace at 25% Muslim.
Show: Glory - v.27 picks up on v.25 – Now to him- the only wise God be Glory. We glorify what we place value upon- kids- talk about their achievements. Your career, your football team, your wardrobe, your connections etc.
- To glorify- means seeing God shine – his characteristics, talk of the things he has done and what they reveal about him. Point people to worship Christ. Because he is Unique – none made him. None like him. No other way to him- he built that road back to his home, so it’s the only road that will lead home.
- All wise – Father’s job is always to pass on wisdom to the kids. That’s modeled upon the perfect Fatherhood of God, he stands ready to share with his children. Teaches and trains you in all the ups and downs of life. Each stage of your life is God making you wiser in new ways.
Conclusion: This power that can establish your life with every blessing needed is here today. Do you see even a glimpse of what Christ can bring you today? Then receive that blessing now…
[1] John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 403.
[2] John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 403.