The Shock of the Ordinary in Romans 1:8

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. –Romans 1:8

That verse is shocking. It is shocking because considering our contemporary strategy for reaching the world for Christ, you’d expect it to read something much different. Something like this, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all you, that even though you are small and feeble you are hanging on. Nobody has heard of you yet, but we are gathering resources and soon enough the church in Rome will be thriving”.

Rome was the hub of civilization in the first century. If the early Christians wanted Christianity to have cultural legitimacy then they knew Rome would have to bow a knee to Jesus.

It’s logical isn’t it? You want to put all of your energy and resources into reaching these cultural hubs. Rome is where all the people are at. Rome is the influencer of the culture. And so if you want to reach Rome you do it with the best and the brightest that we have. This is the SBC’s present strategy with NAMB and our emphasis on SEND cities.

So you would think that the early Christians would have put all of their eggs in the basket of Rome. You’d expect the church at Rome to be planted by Paul or Peter or another studly apostle. But it wasn’t. It is most likely that the church in Rome was planted by regular ordinary people. No superstars. No apostles. No great speakers. No great church leaders. Just regular people that came to know Christ and the contagious gospel spread.

This is why I’m a little shocked by Romans 1:8. The church at Rome—the very important and significant church at Rome—was planted by ordinary folk.

I preached on this passage (Romans 1:8-17) last Sunday. In that sermon my aim was to encourage our congregation to have confidence in the gospel. My first point was on the shock of the ordinary in Romans 1:8. This ought to give us confidence because the gospel is contagious. It spreads through regular people that are excited about Jesus more than it does through the professionals.

To close the service I wanted to drive this point home so I used an illustration. (Actually it wasn’t a planned illustration it happened on the fly). I don’t know the stories of how everyone in our congregation has come to know Christ. And so I was taking a gamble—but one that I believed would work.

First, I asked every one who became a Christian in a church service to stand up. Whether it was a regular Sunday or a revival service or something else. About 10 of our 150 people stood up.

Then, I had those ten or so people sit down and then asked those who came to Christ through a friend or a co-worker to stand up. Almost the rest of the congregation stood up. When I asked those who came to Christ through a parent to stand up almost our entire congregation was standing.

It was a powerful moment because we saw with our eyes that God uses ordinary people to spread His gospel. Most people still assume that it is the work of us “professionals” (pastors, teachers, etc.) that really causes the church to grow. It isn’t. It’s you..ordinary…everyday…bumbling through a gospel presentation…you.

Let the shock of the ordinary in Romans 1:8 give you great confidence!