Many People, One Story

Introduction

Today we are wrapping up our series on the book of Romans. We are in chapter 16, and if you got a chance to skim over it before this morning, you may be asking, “why?” The last chapter of Romans at first glance looks like a list of names, a quick warning, and a little song at the end. Is it worth it to spend a whole teaching on all this?

The answer, after studying this, is a resounding yes, for two reasons. First, we believe that every word of the Bible is God’s word spoken to us, and therefore has value to the church to teach, to correct, and to train—even this little postscript in Romans is spoken to us by the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and so we should pause and reflect any time we hear him speak. Second, while chapter 16 is rather unassuming at first blush, what you find upon closer inspection is a beautiful portrait of the early church, working and striving to orient themselves to the person and work of Jesus. We find a template for true unity, which is the fight Paul undertook throughout the book of Romans. What does it look like to be, everyday, the church of Jesus Christ?

As we wrap up this letter, Paul is going to speak timely and specifically to this Roman house church network, to remind them of a few important truths about what defines the church of Jesus.

They are (1) a Community of Redeemed People, (2) United by the Gospel, and Driven by a Mission to proclaim Jesus to the world.

PRAY

1. A Community of Redeemed People (Rom. 16:1-16)

Paul starts the end to his letter with a big long list of say hello to _____ for me… This is exactly what you would do if you were writing a letter (for the under 30 crowd, it’s a piece of paper with words that you have to write with a pen or a pencil, and then you fold it up and put it in an envelope, and then there’s this place called a “post office” that you have to take it to.. you know what? It’s basically a really long text message). You write to you sister, you tell her how you are doing and what’s going on in your life, and then you might say something like “say hello to my niece for me,” and “your nephews say hi.” As modern people reading an ancient text like this, it’s easy to forget that Romans is not a theology textbook or a sermon, its a letter, written to a specific people, at a specific time and place, and for a specific purpose. And the truths that Paul writes about are timeless, so they have real-world implications for you today, but when you read a letter like Romans, you are peering through a portal of time and space to a cultural moment where the gospel message is received and applied and brings about conviction and transformation and a powerful work of reconciliation by the Holy Spirit. You find men and women, wealthy benefactors and house slaves, apostles and elders and servant leaders, who either know Paul or know of him, and his words ring true because are for them, and the gospel of Jesus takes hold of them and their community right then and there. And then we lift our heads up out of this portal, and we find that this same gospel message can and should be spoken into our cultural moment right now, here with the community at Creekside Church, to shake us out of our self-seeking bent and reorient our desires to and through Jesus Christ.

With that, let’s get to know a few of these first-century siblings in Christ.

First, Phoebe.

Romans 16:1–2 CSB

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchreae. So you should welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever matter she may require your help. For indeed she has been a benefactor of many—and of me also.

We cannot go any further until we address the presence of Phoebe. Who is she, what is she doing here, and why does Paul give her such a prominent place among these other visitors to the Roman church network?

First, Phoebe means “Titan” in Greek, so since she’s named after a god, she’s probably not Jewish. Paul calls her his sister, and from his other letters we know this to mean that she’s a fellow follower of Jesus. And its subtle, but Paul here is reminding the church, as he has from the beginning of this letter, that in Christ there is a social reality at work that goes against the social identity given to you by the world. In Ancient Rome, your identity is your status, and that status comes from your family success, your wealth, your connections, or your ambition. And that probably sounds familiar to you because it has never changed. The human quest for honor began long before Rome, and it will continue long after you leave this earth. There is no way off this path, except in Jesus. In his kingdom, we do not find social strata according to wealth or success or family or ambition. We find brothers and sisters, saved from the curse of death and marked by love, harmony, forgiveness, and peace.

Now, Phoebe comes to Rome with many functional roles. She is a “servant of the church in Cencheae.” In other words, she’s a deacon. Full of the spirit and wisdom, gifted to serve her local church community and build it up. She’s also a benefactor, meaning she has generously enabled the work of early church missionaries, including Paul. She’s mentioned here because nearly every scholar agrees she was tasked with taking this letter to the house churches in Rome, reading it, explaining it, and passing on personal information from Paul to the community. And so Paul commends her; he gives his stamp of approval, so to speak, on this self-giving and generous leader would use her gifts and everything she had to help others. And so the church was to welcome her as a sister in Christ and help her out however she needed.

I’m going to move on to the rest of Paul list here, but I want to pause right here, because there are many reasons why the church in Rome might either welcome Phoebe or dismiss her. They might welcome her because she comes from money. She’s brought success to the church. She obviously has high ambition. There’s honor to be had, right?

But she’s a woman, and women in Rome are rarely given places of honor in society. She also has a questionable spiritual heritage, so that’s probably not good. Maybe we should be cautious because of her gender and her history.

You see how easy it is to take another person’s worth and redefine it for yourself? Regardless of who they are, what they do, where they come from. We have these social categories and boxes that we love to put people in that permit personal judgment, exposes our biases and our value system, and have nothing to do with the way of Jesus.

But as the church, we are called to a different path. The path of sibling-hood. To be known not by our status or wealth or physical distinctives or ambitions, but to be known by Jesus and through Jesus and in Jesus; to be known and loved as brothers and sisters.

Oh, and how is Phoebe to be welcomed? “In the Lord.” Those three words to me make all the difference, as we’ll see in a moment.

And the Rest.

Romans 16:3–16 CSB

Give my greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my coworkers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life. Not only do I thank them, but so do all the Gentile churches. Greet also the church that meets in their home. Greet my dear friend Epaenetus, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia. Greet Mary, who has worked very hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews and fellow prisoners. They are noteworthy in the eyes of the apostles, and they were also in Christ before me. Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our coworker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. Greet those who belong to the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who have worked hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, who has worked very hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother—and mine. Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who are with them. Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send you greetings.

Take a look at this list with me. This is basically a team of people who come with Phoebe to share Paul’s words and love on the church community in Rome. Prisca and Aquila are a husband and wife team of Gentile church planters; Epaenetus is the first Christian from Asia. Mary works hard, we appreciate that. Andronicus and Junia are Jewish missionary church leaders who have been at this longer than Paul. There’s “the household of Narcissus,” which many scholars have taken to mean to slaves working at the estate of a very influential Roman family. There’s Rufus and his mom, and Paul says here that Rufus’s mom has been like a mom to him as well.

There are dear friends, coworkers, house church leaders, apostles. This is a list of wealthy benefactors and household slaves, elders and deacons, Jews and Gentiles. 25 individuals mentioned in all. 16 men, 9 women (Prisca, Mary, Junia, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Persis, Rufus’s mom, Julia, Nereus’s sister). Men and women from different social strata and station who said NO to their former identities and said YES to their identity as brothers and sisters and Christ. And with each one, Paul encourages them to greet one another with a holy kiss. Gross. But powerful, because Paul is asking them to welcome them as a formed by grace.

What is Creekside Church to you? Or if you are new here, what is church? Why did you come here today? Is church a non-profit organization that meets some sort of therapeutic need in the world? Is it a building? Is it a concept? Is a preferential view of Christianity? Is it a series of events and activities? Is it a vanity project for pastors or charismatic speakers and artists?

Or is it people? Real, actual, diverse, unique, people, who are loved by Jesus and who love Jesus in return?

The only way the church of Jesus will survive and flourish is if it truly recovers its identity as a collective of people who were once broken, but now made whole. Who are now redeemed, adopted, loved, valued, and cherished by the king of kings and lord of lords.

Name some people, encourage them as Paul does.

Paul mentions over and over again how the people on his list work hard (or in Mary and Persis’s case, VERY hard) “in the Lord.” What does that mean, to work hard in the Lord? I believe it is different from working for the Lord. That little preposition makes all the difference in the world. Working for the Lord means you are either his employee, or you are making his lordship possible. Either way, it takes away from the character and nature of a God who is all about presence with his people. And it leads to frustration and burnout, because you are trying, by your effort, to manifest something that Jesus has already taken care of.

To work in the Lord means that you are in Jesus, your life is now one with him, and so you work with him and alongside him, in his image. That work does not look like organizational busyness. It looks like Romans 12; outdoing others in honor; hospitality; generosity; building up people through spirit empowered opportunities. It looks like rejoicing in hope, being patient in affliction, being persistent in prayer. It looks like Jesus’ work of redeeming people and bringing them closer to the Father.

2. United by the Gospel (Rom. 16:17-20)

Romans 16:17–20 CSB

Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned. Avoid them, because such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites. They deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting with smooth talk and flattering words. The report of your obedience has reached everyone. Therefore I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise about what is good, and yet innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Okay, now why would Paul interject this little warning into his greeting and wrap up? Why warn about division?

Paul just listed this group of people who are all about Jesus and who are brought together by grace and mercy and love and forgiveness. But as I said before, it’s really easy to lose sight of this, to make life together about lots of other things that are not all about Jesus and grace and mercy and love and forgiveness.

Paul warns the church to watch out for those who would divide the church into factions of right and wrong, rich and poor, Jewish and Gentile, men and women, circumcision and not circumcision, paedo and credo baptism, substitutionary atonement and Christus Victor, hats in church and suits in church, and so on. These people put obstacles in the way of knowing Jesus, they make you jump through hoops and follow weird rules and rituals based on tradition or fear or sentiment that probably had a good reason at one time or another but has nothing to do with following Jesus. They serve their own appetites for honor, for importance, for being right. They sound good when they speak, and if you aren’t truly united by the gospel of Jesus, you will believe them and cause a lot of pain and hurt and chaos in your wake.

All life in the church is a strung-together collection of grace filled moments. To be known and loved by God, to be known and loved by others, despite our failures and flaws, is a moment by moment act of grace.

Division is graceless, because it reduces your value to how right or wrong you are about stuff that has nothing to do with Jesus. It is graceless because if you do not believe the same way as others, you are simply “that person, that church,” a deceiver of “truth.” Division dehumanizes. It changes the rules of grace. It defines who is worthy and who is unworthy. It considers records of wrongs and executes judgment upon those it pronounces as guilty. Division is where grace ceases to be grace, and it’s where the church goes to die. It moves people away from the center of life to the margins of shallow, trendy teaching that turns the truth of the gospel into either a mockery or a meaningless myth.

How does Paul recommend that we combat the creep of division into the church? By being wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. Be intimately experienced with truth and life that brings about love and peace and grace and compassion. Seek to know and understand the things that Jesus is all about. Read Romans 12-15 all the time. Know the good news of a crucified and risen Jesus, and let that be the only good news you know.

And if it is not that? If the message is not Jesus? If it leaves you angry and hateful and jealous? If it leads to vitriol and accusation and separation and hurt? If it compromises the mission of Jesus? Have nothing to do with that. Be innocent.

Wrap this up.

3. Driven by Mission (Rom. 16:21-27)

Romans 16:21–27 CSB

Timothy, my coworker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow countrymen, greet you. I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you. Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles—to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to him be the glory forever! Amen.

Paul closes out Romans with a few shout outs to the people who are with him. It’s a simple reminder when I read through this last list that being on mission for Jesus is not a “you” thing. Christianity is not, and has never been, an individual journey of spirituality. Paul is never alone, even though we have taken to elevating the man and his thoughts to a pedestal just below Jesus, and even then, its a close race. I think Paul might actually be horrified with the way we have almost deified him. It actually happened to Paul once, and he shut it down pretty hard. Instead, Paul joins with a host of brothers and sisters on mission to proclaim Jesus Christ, and the mystery that is uncovered when he appeared.

For him, and for us, the mission to make known the mystery of Jesus drives the unified church forward. It is our work. It is our only work, because the gospel is the mechanism by which the church is formed, strengthened, and fostered. Nothing else defines us, nothing else shapes us, nothing else is worthy of our time and energy.

The mystery is this: In the beginning, there was God, and there was humanity. They knew each other intimately. Man and Woman were one, co-laborers with the job of stewarding God’s goodness and beauty, so that it might multiply and flourish throughout the earth. They knew only good, and were innocent about evil. But then this silver-tongued chaos creature shows up and convinces the man and the woman to serve their own appetites, to know both good and evil and define for themselves what is right. And this divides God from man, man from woman, parents from children, workers from the ground. Rather than serve, they take for themselves. And so humanity has been on this non-stop quest to capture honor and worth for itself, and failing throughout. Entire nations are deceived. People hurt and twist and put barriers in front of others to exclude and frustrate. But God, faintly at times, shows up. He is still found in the created world. He is found in a ragtag bunch of people called Israel. He is heard, and his power shows up in the world, but his presence is still shrouded in clouds and fire and whispers. It’s like after Eden, there was a veil covering our faces so that God could not be found.

But then this man shows up in human history named Jesus. He was a man like no other, who embodied the very nature and characteristics that defined the God of Eden and of Isreal in the Scriptures. He exhibited real compassion and grace, forgiveness and faithfulness, love and truth, justice and mercy. He claimed, in no uncertain terms, that he was the very embodiment of YHWH, the I AM. And in following him, the stuff of Eden would be recovered. Peace would reign. Chaos would end. God and man would finally be reconciled. Mankind could finally stop following the appetite to rise up to meet God, because God had descended to dwell with them.

And we killed him for that. Because we didn’t believe what he claimed, but also because we still wanted to rule. But then, this Jesus overcomes death and rises from the grave, and he is seen by witnesses everywhere. Jesus now reigns and rules in a kingdom not of this world, and yet this kingdom is, even now, overtaking ours. Eden is coming again.

To proclaim the mystery of Jesus is to live like Eden. To embrace the identity as redeemed brothers and sisters. To find our unity in the story of God. And to share this unbelievably good news with hurting and broken and lost people who are desperately searching for the hope and peace that you now have.

PRAY