Ministry (Romans 1:1-17)
Introduction.
How many times have you heard a master of ceremonies say, “And now it is my pleasure to introduce to you a man who needs no introduction …”? Why are the longest introductions often for those who “need no introduction”? A good introduction will accomplish several important tasks. It will arouse the interest and attention of the audience. Also it can build a relationship between the speaker and his audience. This is especially important if the speaker is not well-known by his audience. The introduction can also acquaint us with the speaker’s message and his method so that we can follow him as he speaks.
In the days when I listened to sermons rather than preached them, I had a “five minute rule.” It was a simple rule applied to preachers during the first five minutes of their message: the speaker had five minutes to get from his introduction to the text in the Bible. If, in that five minutes, the speaker had not begun to expound the Scripture text, I knew he would never get there. And so I would mentally turn the speaker off and read from my Bible for the rest of the sermon.
As my five minutes are passing quickly, let us turn our attention to our text inRomans 1:1-17. This is Paul’s introduction to the entire Epistle to the Romans. While all of Paul’s epistles have introductions, this particular introduction is especially important. The church in Rome was not founded by Paul. The Roman saints had not been brought to faith through the preaching of Paul. He did not seem to be well-known in Rome.51 Paul had not yet been to Rome, and most of the saints there would not recognize him if they saw him.
