Romans 16
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 8 viewsNotes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Oh we have been in a Journey that is coming to an end today as we look at the last chapter of the book of Romans.
I wouldn’t blame you if you were to read chapter 16 and think, what is there to preach on here?
I think the first time I looked at it with the perspective of preaching I was thinking…What am I going to say about chapter 16…I have to be honest for probably the whole series I kept looking at it saying Lord where do I go with all of this…and you will see why in a second:
I am only going to read for you the first seven verses of this because other than these names really the rest of the names have been lost to history.
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. (KIN-KREE-AH) I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
Greet also the church that meets at their house.
Greet my dear friend Epenetus, (A-PIN-A_TOS) who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.
Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.
Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
So at least for the first 16 verses you might just think…All the bible says here is Say hi to my friends But there is something totally radical that Paul is doing here.
Paul is going against the grain of thousands of years of Jewish tradition
The first person he says is Phoebe which is a pagan name and a woman. And he doesn't say greet Phoebe he says I commend to you our sister Phoebe.
What does that mean?
The word “Commend” has been used by Paul and other new testament authors to say, I “stand with” or I “recommend”
He calls here a Deacon of the church in Cenchreae. (KIN-KREE-AH) The word deacon here is highly disputed by the reformed theological crowd. Because this word DE-AK-A-NOS half the time is used as a regular servant and the other party of the time is used as an office for the church
When Jesus says, The greatest among you will be a servant he is using the word DE-AK-A-NOS
When Paul is talking about the leadership structure of a church and says 1 Tim 3:8
In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain.
It is the same word DE-AK-A-NOS…
It is a very subtle gramircal difference.
When the word is the subject of a sentence it is a regular servant but when the word DE-AK-A-NOS is the object of the sentence it means an office holder of the church…Like a real position.
SO quick grammer lesson: So when Paul says, I commend to you: That is the subject…The object is Our sister Phoebe…The indirect object is a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. (KIN-KREE-AH)….
Paul actually talks about this woman being an office holder a leader in her church. This is massive in the bible…
The reason why this matters is that when the church became an empire in 300ad, all of the sudden there was a false paradigm that was brought to the church. And that is that women can not be ordained or serve. That only men get called to ministry…
The first 300 years of the church this was not the case and it is pretty well documented.
But the reason why this matters is that what do you do with this verse then. Romans 16:1? Where Paul writes his theological masterpiece and then he says please receive Phoebe she is a DE-AK-A-NOS in the church. She holds office formally!
And the radical thing about the book of Romans is that because of Romans 16:1 there are a litany of scholars who have been able to point out that in the ancient world when you wrote a letter to another body you would give an introduction of the one who was authorized to cary that letter and to present that letter. This is how you could test the authenticity of a letter
So there are a pile of theologians who say that with an introduction like this, it is likely that phoebe read this letter to the church.
Now while we can not know that forsure, we do know is that it was the common practice
And there is more in this chapter
Pricilla and Aquila are names that show up in the book of Acts and 1 corinthians
When Paul wrote the book of 1 Corinthians he wrote this at the end:
The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.
Pricilla and Aquila were Jews that had become christians in Rome, they fled to Ephesus because of persecution and Paul spent a lot of time with them.
In fact one of the churches met in their home! They together were church leaders…..
I talk all the time about how in Genesis because of Sin the relationship between man and women gets messed up…
So here it is in a really fast way: Genesis 1: Got makes people, man and woman in his image to co-rule over all of creation
Genesis 3: They get deceived by the serpent….In other words, creation rules over them
Chapter 3 when everything gets cursed and god says this to the woman:
Genesis 3:16b
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
The error that so many people make when they read the bible is that they see this as a prescription for marriage rather than a description of a curse
and then they apply this to ministry…Well women can’t be in ministry because men are supposed to rule over women!
NO! That is a curse…Men and women are together supposed to rule over all of creation.
I bring thus up because often Pricilla and Aquila are pointed out as a new creation couple. A husband and wife that are in Jesus and serving a church together
I bring this up because there is a narrative out there that says that women can not be pastors….And I would be happy to dissect the 1 Tim 2 passage with any one who wants…But for the first 300 years of the church I don’t think that was ever a question…
At least at the end of romans You see Phoebe reading a letter to the church, Pricilla and Aquila as a highly esteemed couple and then
In verse Romans 16:7
Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
They are commonly understood to be another husband and wife team
The arch bishop of Constantinople in the 400’s AD said this of Junia:
“How great the wisdom of this woman that she was even deemed worthy of the apostles’ title
I bring all of this up because it is absolutely apparent to me that in Romans 16, Paul is just laying out that women were an intregal part of spreading the gospel. and the structure and leadership of the church.
That the Apostle Paul considers women as full partners in ministry.
Now I want to jump down 10 verses because the rest of these names on the list are lost to history…The only place they appear is right here…I’d love to know the story of each one, but we do not have it!
So in Paul’s final few moments in this letter. he elevates the role of women in ministry then
He encourages:
I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and 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.
Paul wants to be clear that divisions only serve our own agenda rather than Jesus’
But one thing that Paul says is watch out for things that are contrary to what you have learned? Well what have they learned?
So what have we learned in the book of Romans:
What are the core teaching of this book?
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
We are all sinners every single one of us
We have all fallen short of God’s glory, his favor
But because of Jesus’ work on the cross…because he died for you he gives you his righteousness and all you need is faith!
That is it. God erases your sin and makes your righteous simply because you put your trust in him….
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
We can have peace with God! Hallelujah…It is not by our own effort but it is though Jesus that this happens!
He makes our lives acceptable to stand before the father
And now we can experience peace with God because there is no sin separating us
He makes us worthy by the blood of Jesus
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
God places his personal presence in our life though the holy spirit
Through relationship with Jesus We can have this continual outpouring of God’s presence in our lives
We can love because he first loved us!
We can even have a new perspective on our life…If we go to the verses just before this we will see that a relationship with jesus changes everything
It even changes the way that we suffer
You might believe that suffering is a terriable thing but look at what Paul says
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Paul is saying look, under the lordship of Jesus, nothing is wasted, not even our suffering!
Even suffering!
See in Jesus, suffering turns into something positive in our lives!
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
We were once God’s enemies and now we are his friends!
We are reconciled with God, We are justified…Justrified is a legal term that means declared not guilty
Made right because of the work of Jesus
Then Paul goes on to say what doe we do next?
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Well Jesus said it best…We have to be born again…
Our old selves…Our lives that are subject to sin have to die! They have to go away so that we can experience being made new in Jesus!
So when we come to Jesus…We say, Take my life and let it be!
In Jesus our bodies are no longer ruled by sin! Praise the Lord!
We offer our whole lives to Jesus because those lives are burdened by sin
Paul lays out this idea that we die with Jesus and if we die with Jesus then we also raise with him
We are born again, we are new creations!
And what does that mean
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
What Paul was teaching this church is that you have to have your mind set on the spirit…
Have your mind set on the Lord and not on your flesh!
the greatest way that this works out practically is that we learn to pray> lord not my will but your will
We lean to put God’s way first in our lives rather than what we want, our own way
And then Paul tells us
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
Who are you led by?
What are you led by?
Your own carnal desires?
Your own material desires?
Your own wants?
Or every day are you lead by the spirit?
What does it look like to look like the children of God?
What does it mean?
It means that you look and sound like Jesus
It means that when someone comes into contact with you they see a person for whom the gospel has changed everything! They see a person whose sins are forgiven, they see a person who is justified and they see a person who is living victoriously with the spirit of God
It means that you sacrificially give and serve for others the way that Jesus did for you
It means that you no longer belong to you but that you belong to Jesus
and you know what…My life verse as a pastor is found in romans 8
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
More than any other verse in the Bible this one gives me mission! This one reminds me that this is why I teach the Bible, this is why I do what I do…Becuase Creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed!
Paul will talk about the creation that is subject to frustration…Why because of sin and death has an effect on creation
But All of creation…All of it…
Not just the people, but the whole world is affected by the enormity of human sin!
But the birds the animals the air the oceans are waiting for people who look and sound like Jesus to infiltrate this world
Then Paul encourages the church to live in a sacrificial way!
And then he says Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
What Paul is saying in Romans 16 is don’t forget what I have taught you
Don’t forget that your whole life is worship!
Don’t forget that you are Jesus’ agent in this world
DOn’t forget that you are new creatures and that you are righteous because of faith
Don’t forget that you are loved by God and that God’s personal presence is with you as you go into this dark world!
I love how paul ends that little section:
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Paul ends with the promise that is found in Genesis 3:15
That the serpent of old
The deceiver who is roaming this world
That satan will one day be totally crushed
It looks forward to the day when Jesus finally banishes all of evil to hell
Revelation 11:15
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
Paul is saying look, stand strong church…God is making you into new creations, Just as Jesus banished evil in your life by forgiving you from sin…This evil that still plagues the world will one day be completely gone…
Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
Paul ends with reminding the church that God has set this plan in motion…
The plan of sending his one and only son….From thousands of year ago..
and that the plan always included reaching the gentiles
God changes our lives and wants a return on that…
Response:
Response:
-communion
-Maybe you need to put your trust and faith in Jesus
-Maybe you need to pray God my mind is rules by the flesh help me to surrender my mind to you
-
