introductions

I introduce myself in a variety of ways. Sometimes it’s professional – I’m Greg Steggerda, Operations Manager at Vogel Paint. Sometimes I’m Dawn’s husband or Amber or Brandon’s dad. Sometimes I’m LTC Gregory A. Steggerda (Ret.).

I don’t think I’ve ever introduced myself the way Paul does to start the book of Romans. In Romans 1:1 he starts this way: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God . . . .”

For Paul, being a servant of Jesus was the important thing. Not Roman citizen or tentmaker or former Pharisee. Not the guy who planted all those churches. He was a servant and apostle.

This is a short sentence with a ton of good theology packed into it. Called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel. That’s what following God is like – he calls us first to a relationship with him and then to work alongside him. And by that calling we are set apart.

That’s temple language. In the Old Testament bronze bowls and tent curtains and linen shifts and first-born animals and Levites were all set apart for God’s service. The words used then were “consecrated” and “holy”, but both of those can be translated as set apart. Like them, once chosen by God Paul belonged to God, he existed for God’s purposes.

Me too, and you, if you believe. We were called to this faith we try to live, so we too are set apart. We need to think of ourselves that way, like Paul does – like it’s the single most important thing about us, the first thing that other people should know.