Romans 16

What really matters

We’ve been able to track Paul through this entire NT letter. He has showed us what we easily trust in but that those things don’t work out. He has shown us what it means to trust in Christ. And then has has shown us what life in Christ looks like.

There are a couple of end notes he makes I wanted to cover in the next few moments.

We will look at our end, our strategy, and our ultimate win.

What is our end? Paul tells us at the end of the letter:

What is our Our end?

Romans 16:25–27 ESV

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

God is the one who is able.

God is the One who will strengthen.

God is the one who is revealed in Christ.

God will bring out the obedience to faith.

We will in a world that pushes and pulls against us, past us, in every direction other than us.

When we look to what it means to follow Christ we want to see that Christ is the One who is able and makes us capable.

When need to look to the grace and the peace of God in Christ to to sustain us.

What is our means?

Paul tells us:

Romans 16:19 ESV

For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.

We are to be wise to good and innocent to evil.

wise

We are called to be wise. To apply all that belongs to Christ to our lives.

to be wise to what is good is to apply what is good. to focus on what is good. To allow for and make room for what is good.

innocent

We are called to be innocent as to what is evil.

that means we don’t participate with evil.

That means we call what is evil, actually evil.

To live with Christ as victorious understands that He is final judge and king. And we are not, but we understand life from His reality.

The Christian, in being wise and innocent blends those two things together to discern.

We discern our culture.

We work to speak truth and love into our culture

We call out the good. We find and hold onto the good.

We don’t participate with evil.

This is how we live in the triumph of Christ.

Romans 16:20 ESV

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Paul gives us this as the letter closes. That the God of peace who we will follow. He alone will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Listen to that language. Nothing in the Bible is wasted. So look at what Paul is saying.

We follow the God of peace. The God of wholeness. The God who is bringing all things together.

And it is this God who will crush Satan.

It is interesting that Paul uses these two ideas together. That God is both a God of peace. and that the God of peace will crush Satan under His feet. Interesting that this violent picture is ascribed to the God of peace.

So what is happening here. It’s how God crushes Satan under His feet. It’s the way that He does so.

The God of peace crushes satan under His feet through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The enemy and evil still has footing around the death and resurrection of Jesus. But Jesus will come again as reigning King.

And the way that He shows up as reigning King is not with the weapons and tools of the world but rather the tools of the Kingdom.

Look at Revelation 19:11-16

Revelation 19:11–16 ESV

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Christ will crush satan under His feet with the Word of God. It says out of His mouth comes a sharp sword. His weapon is the authority of the Word of God. His voice is the voice of perfect creation and judgement. And from that we can see that it is His word that crushes satan under His feet.

This is our win. This is what we look to when the world is swirling around us. This is our great hope. This is the reality of the promise of God in our lives.

For the Christian, even our end is part of our means. The way we work through life is understanding all of who Jesus is and what He has done.

For the Christian, we work backward from here. We live lives as if this were completely true now. We both live the reality of the triumph of Christ and equally look forward to it as a completed reality.

That’s hard in a world that looks, smells and acts different than Christ. But that is why we remain loyal to the triumphant King and discern our way through the world.

Christ has offered us a strategy, an end, and a victory. That is more than you have ever been offered from anyone else.

The book of Romans calls us to live differently because Christ has done more than anyone else has. He has gone further, He has actually met us in our need before we knew where to go to meet it. He has met us on our worst day and invited us into His best life.

Paul’s final words remind us that Christ was revealed to us, and in faith we live lives loyal to Him that affect every part of our lives.