Commencement – Words of Grace – June 4, 2021

Commencement – Words of Grace – June 4, 2021

It’s graduation season. Young people around the world are wide-eyed and ready to go do something with their education.

When I was in school, I spent as much time thinking about getting out and what I would leave behind as about entering into the future. The closer I got to graduation, the more my mindset shifted. I came to realize that the commencement ceremony wasn’t the end, but rather the beginning of life as an adult.

Let’s be wide-eyed and ready to go do something with Romans. We’ve spent over a year at Grace Community Church reading, preaching, and praying from this book of the Bible. Paragraph by paragraph, line after line, and sometimes in specific words, we have received a gospel education. We can’t say that we have graduated from the gospel, but we can say we have grown in it, and that we can now commence with it.

I often get asked at the end of a preaching series what book we will take up next. I’d like for us to think this way about finishing this series in Romans… next comes the living of these things. 

Yes, there will be more preaching series, more books of the Bible, and more gospel education. We will be in the school of discipleship forever. But let’s remember that we have finished a preaching series in Romans not for the sole purpose of moving on to the next one, but to live faithfully from the one we just heard.

This weekend, spend some time re-reading Romans. Maybe pick the section that made the biggest impact on you. Think about the chapter and paragraph that opened your mind to truth you never knew before, or that led you to repentance and faith, or that poured the grace of God into your soul.

Then, think about what lies ahead. How will you take the message of Romans with you as you live, love, work, and serve? How will grace and truth lead you to freedom and holiness? How will your prayers and conversations, desires and pursuits be transformed by the Spirit?

Pray for our congregation. Romans is a church book as much as it is a book for individuals. Much of Romans is directly addressing congregational needs. We, together, need to be transformed and strengthened by its message.

What’s next after Romans? More of God’s word and obedience to it.

Brothers and sisters, let’s come to church Sunday ready to commence with Romans.

-Scott