Sprinkled throughout my upcoming interview episodes of
REvangelical, I will be doing a reading and homily through the Book of Romans, one of my favorite books in the Bible. In fact, my two favorite passages in the Bible are found in Romans (
10:9 and
15:13). You may ask, "What is a homily?" Here is the definition that I like: a homily is simply a commentary after the reading of Scripture. That is what my plan is: to simply read the Word of God and make a few comments on the biblical texts. This will not be an exegetical in-depth study but a personal commentary on selected passages from the chapter that I will read. I pray that this will be a blessing to your soul. If all I was to do was read the biblical text, that alone would be very nourishing to your spiritual life, because it is the Word of God. The Bible is the inspired Word of God; my comments however are just that, my interpretive comments on the biblical text.
One of the top podcasts in the world today is
The Bible in a Year, with Father Mike Schmitz. Each episode is about 20 minutes, and over 90% is simply him reading the Bible. He closes by making a few comments on what he has read. I learned about the podcast while attending Dunham + Company's leadership summit in Orlando in February. I listened to one of the episodes, and it is really good, and it provided the inspiration for me doing the readings and homilies through the book of Romans. Why Romans? It is perhaps my favorite book in the Bible, and I want to explore it further with you. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached twelve and a half years on the Book of Romans! Stephen Westerholm writes,
"Lloyd-Jones was minister at Westminster Chapel in London from 1939 until 1968. Over the last twelve-and-a-half years of his ministry (October 7, 1955 to March 1, 1968), he preached a series of 372 sermons on Romans on Friday evenings, October to May, to 'five or six hundred' eager listeners. The series—and his ministry at the Chapel—ended abruptly after a sermon on
Romans 14:17 because of ill health, though Lloyd-Jones was able to devote time in his retirement to editing these sermons for publication."
(
Source.)
Romans 1 is an amazing chapter in the Word of God. Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones would take perhaps as much as a year to preach on this one chapter, but I just want to highlight two verses for you to consider today.
Romans 1:16-17 are so powerful. The great Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, was born again while reading this text. (For an account of Luther's
Turmerlebnis or tower experience, see William R. Estep's
Renaissance and Reformation, p. 116.)
The just shall live by faith. We are saved by faith and we serve God as followers of Jesus by faith. As the hymn so aptly puts it, "Faith is the victory that overcomes the world." To trust in God and not doubt, I am convinced, is the key to living a blessed and effective life for Christ. My problem is not trusting God when I cannot figure out what God is up to. He does not need me to try and figure everything out, but to trust Him. I feel so much like the man in
Mark 9:24 who said,
"Lord I believe, help my unbelief."
My first episode on the Book of Romans will premiere on April 24. I hope it blesses and encourages you.
Spotify
Stitcher
YouTube
