Good morning! It’s great to be back with you after a couple weeks of vacation. You know that at Bethany we put a very high priority on being in scripture together.

So, the first four months of this year we spent on the Psalms, and we called that sermon series “Honest Faith.” Now we have spent these last 16 weeks reading Paul’s Letter to the Romans, and we’ve called this “Thinking Faith” because it gives us the most detailed and systematic thinking about the gospel that scripture provides.

Today we come to our last sermon on Romans, the very last chapter. And in a minute we’ll read the last three verses, the last words Paul has for the Romans.

We usually put extra weight on people’s last words, don’t we? I do. It somehow seems like the last thing someone says might be critically important, especially at the end of life. The truth is, sometimes last words are profound…and sometimes they are not. I looked up a few this week.

- Winston Churchill, who lived such an interesting life- last words? “I’m bored with it all.” That’s it.

- Or Kit Carson, the Wild West explorer: “I just wish I had time for one more bowl of chili.” Deep.

- But then there’s the last words of Moses that Brian read out of Deuteronomy, blessing the Israelites: “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord?”

- Or, Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotels, when asked at the very end if he had any last words of wisdom, said: “Leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub.”

- And yet, the final words of Mother Theresa, who said “Jesus I love you. Jesus I love you.”

Now, Paul isn’t on his deathbed. And as far as we know, he’ll live about another 7-8 years. And yet I think it’s significant that these are his final words in this lengthy letter. Will he sum it up, offer something new, or simply sign off ? Please stand for the reading of scripture, if you are able.

Reading: Romans 16:25-27

Well, Paul got us one last time. 53 words in a final run-on sentence, proving once again that if nothing else, Paul needed an editor! And yet, in not a lot of space, he will leave the Roman Christians (and us) with a number of things fresh in their mind about faith in Jesus. I’m going to just mention FIVE:

First, they’ll need to think: What’s important? Paul isn’t spending his last breath, as it were, on trivial matters. He boils it right down to things that matter. It’s as if he’s modeling for us: don’t get sidetracked. Now Paul already covered this in the letter, didn’t he? In chapter 14 when he talked about eating meat, drinking wine and special days of celebration. “Non-essentials.”

Sometimes I just wonder how much energy we’re giving things that don’t matter. Or that at best, rob us of resources to use on things that matter.

Maybe some of you have followed the story out of Des Moines, Iowa in this last week or so. Apparently an organized and well-funded group of atheists took out a series of anti-God advertising on the sides of buses in Des Moines. So, a city bus drives by, and the whole side is covered with “Don’t believe in God? You’re not alone.” Or “God doesn’t exist.”

Some people called the Transit Authority to complain…so they removed the ads. But then the ACLU attorney called the Transit Authority, and the ads went back up. Then a driver said “I’m not going to drive a bus with that written all over the side.” So the Transit Authority suspends the driver, and may actually fire her soon.

There was a similar fiasco in London last January that was even more entertaining. It started with provocative bus ads from Alpha (like the class we run) which said “Is this it?” and “If God did exist, what would you ask him?”

That stirred up the British Humanist Association, with financial backing from the prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins, who ran ads on 200 buses in London, and 600 other vehicles in the British Isles that said “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Amazing, as though believing in God meant you couldn’t enjoy life! But they spent $200,000 to get that message across.

Then the Trinitarian Bible Society began running its own bus campaign, with $50,000 worth of ads quoting Proverbs, “The fool says in his heart there is no God.” Then the Russian Orthodox church jumped in and said “There is a God, BELIEVE. Don’t worry and enjoy life.”

It gets pretty ridiculous. And it sounds a lot like “There is no God. IS TOO! Is Not! Is too!” But I can’t help thinking that if an association of atheists wants to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising…let them. I don’t think people are going to believe or not believe based on a bus ad. I can’t help but think that if Christian people, if we were busy using our resources, investing our time in kingdom activities, loving people and telling them about Jesus…it would be far more important. But are we? Are we spending time on things that matter? Paul does.

Secondly, Paul’s last words are a reminder that everything starts with God, and ends with God. There’s just nothing here of human ambition or work. It all starts with God, and the theological word for that is “sovereignty.” Paul has brought it up a myriad of times. God’s grace- freely given, not earned. God’s forgiveness, poured out onto people in Christ. The days of our lives, in God’s hands. God has elected, God chooses, God reaches out, we respond. God loves, we love back.

And it’s not just God’s heart…it’s what God can do. Our text says “the God who is able to strengthen,” which is sort of a weak translation. “…is able to” is the word “dunamis,” the dynamite word, the word our Dynamis class with Tim Dearborn comes from. It is God’s power, God has the POWER to strengthen us, God’s ability sent to his people to live out a totally different existence and identity in the world. We don’t ask God to bless what we want to do, we lean into God and rely on his power.

Thirdly- it’s all about Jesus. “the proclamation of Jesus Christ,” and later, “to the only wise God THROUGH Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever.”

Paul is thoroughly and unabashedly Christo-centric, Jesus-centered. Sometimes people who don’t like all that Paul has to say try to put Paul and Jesus in opposition to one another. “I like Jesus, but I don’t want to go near the Apostle Paul.” Can’t be done. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Paul’s gospel is the gospel of Jesus. Paul’s theology is centered on Jesus, it is the power of Jesus’ cross and resurrection that make all the difference. “…nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And Paul’s ethics, how we should live, may as well have been pulled directly out of one of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ teachings.

For example:

Jesus said in Luke 6 “Bless those who curse you.”

Paul said in chapter 12, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Jesus said in Mark 12 “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar? Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Paul says in chapter 13 “Give everyone what you owe them…if you owe taxes, pay taxes.”

Jesus said in Matthew 6 “Do not worry about what you will eat or drink…but seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness.”

Paul says in Romans 14 “The kingdom of God is not…eating and drinking but…righteousness.”

We could go on and on. It is all about Jesus for Paul. From the very beginning. “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle.” Paul consistently points to Jesus, teaches Jesus and echoes Jesus’ teachings. You’ve heard people who aren’t ready to follow Jesus say “Well, I respect Jesus…but I think he was just a good man and a wise teacher.” They didn’t get that from the Apostle Paul, and they didn’t get it in Romans! The whole culmination of God’s plan, his dealing with human beings is inextricably bound with this One, this Savior, Jesus, who gave his life away for all people.

If you could only say one thing about Paul, it would have to be “Jesus.” Would that this might be said about us. “Whatever else you want to say about Joe, Suzy, Brian…it is undeniable that they follow Jesus.”

Fourth- God is doing something new, and in Jesus, it is out in the open, you can’t miss it- God is for ALL people! Even those who didn’t grow up with God? Yes. Even those who have done terrible things? Yes. Even those who have not believed? Yes. Even the Jews, the stubborn, stiff-necked people who couldn’t or wouldn’t see what God was doing so many times and who thought their heritage with God could replace knowing God? Yes. Even the Gentiles, who believed and practiced all sorts of crazy things? Yes, especially yes. God’s eyes are on these people, he has made provision for all.

In Christ, what was once a mystery of sorts is now opened wide and discernible in the scriptures. All the nations of the world, all the people, every person, figure in God’s plan.

Fifth- It matters how we live.“to bring about the obedience of faith.” Following Christ is intellectually rigorous, but it’s not just philosophical musing. It matters how we live. It HAS to matter how we live.

While we were on vacation, it will probably come as no surprise to you that I did a lot of reading…more than usual, even, because Anne was busy writing for her Master’s program. I read seven books, spread across novels, theology, poetry, history…but the last small book I read proved to be the one that really grabbed me. It’s written by Emmanuel Katongole, a Ugandan Catholic priest who is teaching at Duke Divinity School now. The book is called “Mirror to the Church,” and subtitled “Resurrecting Faith after Genocide in Rwanda.”

Now, I’ve read a great deal about Rwanda, and the horrific 100 days they experienced in 1994, beginning with Easter week. Maybe you saw the movie “Hotel Rwanda.” 100 days, 800,000 people killed, from the Tutsi tribe and some moderate Hutus. Most with machetes. Not by invading armies, but neighbors. Co-workers. Family members. People from the same church, butchering others they worshipped with a week prior. Priests leading worship services and serving communion to people as they took a break from murdering 800,000 people.

But the book is more than a re-telling of the story. Katongole wants to hold the story up to the church as a mirror to ask: how, within the body of Christ, can this happen? What went wrong in the history of the country, in the acceptance of cultural prejudices and biases, in people’s self-perceptions that allowed such things to happen? And most importantly- where was the church?! Why is it that Christianity did not make a difference?

Katongole says much of Rwanda’s problems stemmed from a deep-seated identity crisis. “The blood of tribalism is deeper than the waters of baptism” was how one leader explained it. But Katongole’s concern extends far deeper than two tribes in one country in Africa. Anywhere that something runs deeper than the waters of baptism, for a Christian, anywhere primary identity is in something besides Jesus means that anything could happen.So, he asks:

• Does Christianity make a difference in other places? In the West? In America? In Seattle?
• What are the things that may run deeper than our identification as Christians? Nationalism? Are we American Christians? Race? Are we first white Christians or Black Christians or Asian Christians?
• And what about long-held practices or rituals of culture that are never questioned- consumerism, enormous gap between the poor and the wealthy? Where might we be so locked in that we don’t even question, or if push came to shove our identity as Christians would simply become secondary…or worse?
• Is our identity as part of the family of God our primary one?
• Does Christianity make a difference?

It matters how we live, Paul says. Here, and now.

One of the things I thought about as I read this was US, coming to worship. If you and I were engaged throughout the week, busy living in ways that were centered in Christ and sometimes challenged the accepted standards of our culture, I don’t think we would come together on Sundays for a shot of inspiration, or to attend an event or to evaluate a worship experience. We would come because we just had to be with other people who are working hard, digging deep, reaching out, questioning, objecting, living differently than people around them. Making a difference. I think we would stagger in here and say:

Oh, I just gotta sing, I’m dyin’ out there.

I just gotta pray, gotta cry out, gotta shout, gotta praise.

We gotta be together.

I need to get filled up, I’m drained.

So. Paul gives the church in Rome, and us, these five last words, directly or by allusion:

• Invest in what is important.
• Everything starts with God.
• It’s all about Jesus.
• God is for ALL people.
• It matters how we live.

It started with Paul boldly saying “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” He spent 16 chapters explaining that gospel of Jesus. And it ends, appropriately, with a benediction, literally a blessing conferred on the readers. It ends with the Amen. Martin Luther once said “ “Amen” means “Yes, it is going to come about just like this.” Amen.