Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: There are certain things you cannot do yourself

What are things that you do or care about that make no sense to do or care about alone?

Teeter Totter - See Saw

Christianity makes no sense to do alone

As we get to celebrate Thanksgiving today, I do want to celebrate and thank God that he sees fit to provide and display his goodness largely through human beings - God often provides for, encourages, teaches, challenges, and refines us not through supernatural messages in the sky, but through meaningful interactions with other human beings, particularly God’s people

Which is why today I will just say I am deeply thankful for you, church, that in you God is redeeming a people for himself, creating a family, and guiding us in a purpose and mission that is so much bigger than us that we should be grateful to be part of.

Christianity makes no sense solo, which is what makes , the close of this letter, meaningful.

A couple of introductory notes on

In this final segment of Romans, Paul sends his own greeting AND is encouraging the church to warmly greet and welcome one another.

Paul mentions 27 people by name and more by general terms

Right here in the Holy Scriptures is a deeply personal section that teaches us something about the nature of faith and the church

In a sense, my hope today is to not simply communicate my concern, care and love for your as my church, but also to encourage you toward each other in genuine Christian community

Meaning of “greet” - more than “hello”

To engage in hospitable recognition of another

To welcome kindly

To express joy about the arrival of someone

Greet one another with a kiss of love

This was a regular cultural way of welcoming and greeting a person intentionally and robustly

This is not meant to create a universal command for churches, but rather to push us toward a rich welcoming of one another that goes beyond casually acknowledging a person and instead reflects an intentional welcoming of them into friendship and hospitality

In Paul’s culture, “greet” meant much more than “say hello” - it had the connotation of real, thriving connection of friendship and acceptance

This is a cultural statement, not a statement of universal application: i.e.

I do not expect the members of our church to kiss one another as a form of welcome and acceptance.

For Paul to use this phrase was

In a sense, my hope today is to not simply communicate my concern, care and love for your as my church, but also to encourage you toward each other in genuine Christian community

What do we learn from Paul’s salutations at the end of his letter?

I. Greet one another as the redeemed, missional family of God

The kinds of things that Paul uses to describe those he is sending greetings to helps us understand the kind of things we ought to have on the front of our mind when we think about the church and each other.

1. Greet one another as the redeemed people of God

Paul identifies people with descriptions that call to mind the transforming work of Jesus in their lives

Epaenetus is described as a beloved person who was the first convert to Christ in Asia - vs. 5

Apelles is described as one who is “approved by Christ.” - vs. 10

Rufus is described as “chosen by God.” - vs. 13

All believers are called “saints” - vs. 15

“Saint” means “holy one,”

If you are a Christian, you are a saint - you have been made righteous through the blood of Christ by his perfect, sinless substitution for you

Paul greets this community as the redeemed people of God

Through the gospel, God saves individuals, but he saves them into a people

If you are a Christian, you are not just saved into a relationship with God, but a relationship with God as a part of a larger whole

Implications

Fellow Christians are redeemed by God through the gospel

Their sin is not what ultimately defines them any more than your sin ultimately defines you

When you look around the church

We can have honest transparency and authenticity with each other because of our common faith and dependance upon grace

You have true and real belonging here

You will not thrive in your faith in Christ how God has designed you to without a community

There are truths about who God is and what he is done that can only or uniquely be displayed in a group of Christians rather than a single one

We ought not take our community of faith for granted

2. Greet one another as the family of God

Paul goes beyond identifying people by technical theological descriptors; he describes fellow Christians in family terms

Brothers

Kinsmans

Rufus’ mother “has been a mother to me as well”

We are adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters of God through Jesus

Implications

Life in God’s family is not all about you

We are designed to walk through life with a vibrant, thriving connection to one another

Christians do not have sharp lines between “blood family” and “church family”

Jesus said “anyone who doesn’t hate his father, mother, brothers, sisters cannot be my disciple”

This is not meant that you adopt a stance of hatred toward your family members but of recognition that your truest family is found not through blood heritage but through the family of God adopted and redeemed in Christ.

We are designed to live life with a vibrant, thriving connection with other brothers and sisters in Christ

Who regularly sits around your table?

Who do do you welcome into your home?

I absolutely LOVE that I’ve already heard that some of you are opening your homes on Thanksgiving to people who are not your blood family - that is a profound act of “greeting” someone in love and welcoming them into your lives

Live in God’s family, like any other family, is not all about you

3. Greet one another as partners in gospel ministry

Paul describes some of those he greets in purposeful, almost vocational terms

Workers in the Lord

Fellow worker in Christ

Servant of the church

We are given work to do, we are saved into a family and given a purpose within that family

Implications

You are not adopted into the family of God so that you can sit comfortably and spectate

It is not ok for you to simply be a consumer in the church, coming and having your spiritual experience that is uplifting and makes you feel good without contributing in a meaningful way to the life of the body

Every member of God’s family is expected to contribute of themselves and their resources for the mission of the gospel

The church’s ministry suffers without all of its members engaged in the work of the gospel

This church is about the mission of Jesus and the gospel, not about any of our preferences or agendas

One way of summing up all of these ideas about the community of the church is this:

In Christ, you are redeemed and adopted into a family where you have belonging and purpose, but where you are not the only one with belonging and purpose.

Some of you need to be reminded that you personally and individually have belonging, value and purpose within the body of Christ as one of God’s redeemed people.

Some of you need to be reminded that you are not the only person in the church.

Transition: In fact, we have to be on guard against people who want to make this thing about their preference or agenda

II.

Strive to maintain the unity of our purpose and identity as God’s people

Paul places right in his warm greeting of those in Rome a stern warning to guard their unity in the gospel.

This makes sense in a way: He is greeting the church as the redeemed people of God, the family of faith with a purpose and mission from Jesus, and appropriately interjects a warning against that which would threaten the family of God in their missional endeavors.

Romans 16:

1.

There are those who create obstacles and divisions

III.

They sow seeds of division

They create unnecessary obstacles

They do this because they are concerned not with the unity and mission of the gospel in the community of faith, but rather with their own “appetites” - their own preferences, agendas, desires

Transition: Even though the Roman church is a healthy church, Paul’s concern is that they may be exactly because of their health a target of those who wish to derail the purpose of Jesus in the world.

Romans 16:

2. Healthy churches will often be the target of demonic attack

Paul’s concern for the Romans is in spite of, even perhaps even BECAUSE OF, their well known obedience, faith, and health as a church

Even while Paul is rejoicing over the health of the Roman church, he is desiring that they continue to be wise to what is good, and innocent as to what is evil

Paul attaches these concepts to a declaration of God’s imminent victory over Satan - but this is not in the end times apocalyptic sense, but in the sense that through the unity and love of the Roman church, their purposeful gospel ministry, and their wisdom in guarding against division, God will bring about victory over demonic forces that would seek to divide and tear them down

Implication:

Divisive agendas and intentions are actually demonic in nature - I don’t mean this in a magical supernatural sense, but in the sense that to divide God’s people is to advance the cause of Satan, not of God.

3. The church today must be careful not to allow division to creep into our community