01/20/W – Godly Impartation

NT: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God — which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures — concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh and was appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. Through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the Gentiles, including you who are also called by Jesus Christ.” (‭‭Romans‬ ‭1:1-6‬ ‭CSB)

This epistle to the Roman church was written before Paul ever made it to Rome – and the church that he was writing to wasn’t established by him. However, Paul was not his own man. He described himself as a ‘doulos’ (bondservant) of Christ. He was devoted to Christ to the disregard of his own interests. Not only that, he was called and appointed to the office of apostle, and set apart to proclaim and explain the gospel (good news) of God. What was the reason for Paul’s assignment and the grace he was given that was commensurate to his calling? It was that all believers (Jew and Gentile alike) would be discipled unto obedience by grace through faith to Christ Jesus – the Son of God and rightful heir to God’s Kingdom. Even though Paul didn’t know the Roman believers personally, Christ his Lord and Master had called him and graced him to impart to the Roman church, his knowledge and understanding of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the working of the Holy Spirit in and through them all. For the Roman church to thrive and bear fruit, they needed to understand the gospel and the grace that was available to them to obey Christ – and Paul was the man to impart that understanding – so the epistle to the Romans was written. Not only did it impart Godly wisdom and understanding to the Romans, it imparts Godly wisdom and understanding to believers around the world to this  day.

Proverbs: “Listen, sons, to a father’s discipline, and pay attention so that you may gain understanding, for I am giving you good instruction. Don’t abandon my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender and precious to my mother, he taught me and said, “Your heart must hold on to my words. Keep my commands and live. Get wisdom, get understanding; don’t forget or turn away from the words from my mouth. Don’t abandon wisdom, and she will watch over you; love her, and she will guard you.” (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭4:1-6‬ ‭CSB)

There is no godly succession without godly impartation. King David knew that, so he was careful and deliberate in imparting to his son Solomon the wisdom that he had found through his life-giving relationship with God. So through the Biblical proverbs, the wisdom that was imparted to David by God… that was imparted to Solomon by David, is imparted to us as we read these words in faith and reverence unto obedience. Do you have people in your life that you trust to impart godliness into you? Are there people in your life that you are imparting the godliness you have received? For there to be kingdom continuity from generation to generation, we need to be intentionally involved in godly impartation.