This morning I sat down for my devotions and started a new book. Oftentimes I read scripture and find myself skipping through verses too quickly because they seem like filler or insignificant. I don’t do this intentionally or to be arrogant – I think it’s simply out of habit – to get through a task quickly and get to what I think is the important stuff.
I almost made that mistake this morning with the first several verses written by Paul’s hand in the book of Romans. Paul opened up his letter to the Romans with a greeting which is pretty standard stuff when writing a formal letter, right? Greetings are just a formality, the important stuff is in the heart of the letter, which is what I wanted to get to. Take a second to read the first seven verses of Romans:
Romans 1:1-7 [show] [1:1]Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (ESV)
(New King James Version)
Greeting
Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is something very easy to skip over on your way to the deep stuff, right? But this is the deep stuff. Paul did some absolutely amazing things in his life, including founding churches throughout the Mediterranean world and he wrote a considerable part of the New Testament. How was he able to do all of this? Let’s take a look at those seven verses again. It’s because he knew his identity in Jesus Christ. Usually when we write a greeting like this we mention all of our accolades. We try to give some credit to our name and why you should listen to what I have to say. Think of the last introduction you heard of a guest speaker. Someone comes up and gives a huge list of all of the accomplishments of that person and if the person giving the intro does a good enough job, everyone erupts in applause for the guest speaker. That’s not what Paul does here. Instead of pointing out what is so important about himself, he shares only one thing – that he is a bondservant who is called to be an apostle. He is a bondservant to Jesus Christ. Then he points to Jesus Christ in the remainder of his greeting. He is a bondservant to the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. That’s not something you find on anyone’s resume. That’s not something you hear presented before someone steps up to a podium. But that is something you read hear when one of the most influential apostles declares where his identity is founded.
When you have a greeting like that – the rest of your letter is likely going to have some pretty good content. What is your identity founded in? Is it the college sticker in your back windshield? Is it the amount of money in your bank account? Or is your identity in knowing you are a bondservant of Jesus Christ?
Change your greeting this morning and see how the rest of your letter changes when your identity is in Jesus Christ.
Photo courtesy of Connor Tarter
