From Rome, With Love
Notes
Transcript
Background to Passage: This is the final remarks and greetings from one faithful servant to suffering churches after he has encouraged them over and over to suffer well. He knows the end of their suffering is not in sight yet, but that the glory of Christ is always in view. We do see a couple of interesting cues about the book of Peter in these verses.
12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
Opening Illustration: Not many write true letters these days, but I received one this week from the Brevard County Detention Center, from a young man named Roger Walker.
Main Idea: We will see this morning God’s provisions of truth to Peter, the church, and to us.
1) True Brother (v. 12)
1) True Brother (v. 12)
12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
1) True Brother (v. 12)
1) True Brother (v. 12)
Explanation: Silvanus is the name mentioned here, the Roman form of Silas, the Greek form of his Aramaic Shi’lah (lit, sent). We know that he was an important servant of Christ and His church on many occasions. This is the same Silas of Paul’s missionary journeys, mentioned at least a dozen times in Acts alone. One of which as the carrier of the letter from Jerusalem to Antioch after the Jerusalem Council. He was mentioned in five of Paul’s letters, even as a potential co-author of the Thessalonian letters. Peter says he is faithful, trustworthy, steadfast in allegiance to Christ. In fact, usually carriers like this were so trusted, they were expected to elaborate on the intentions of the writer in his absence.
Argumentation:
Illustration: Daughters are precious commodities to their fathers, as they ought to be. One of my mentors early in my walk with Jesus, described a wedding ceremony like a father giving away is fine china to a gorilla. Erika’s parents, though, when I would come to visit from long distance, would leave us alone because we hadn’t seen each other in a long time! Can you imagine leaving a 22-year old man home alone with your 18-year old daughter? Sometimes people entrust me with funds that can be used to help others at my discretion in order to be discrete and anonymous, could you be trusted in such matters?
Application: Can it be said of you that you are trustworthy; that your integrity level is beyond reproach; that you can be trusted to carry extremely important treasures, even ensuring they are received properly? This gets down to the core of who we are in relation to our actions. Pay your taxes fairly? Lie to the officer about why you were speeding? What do you do with the message of the gospel?
2) True Grace (v. 12)
2) True Grace (v. 12)
12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
2) True Grace (v. 12)
2) True Grace (v. 12)
Explanation: Peter is referring here to the letter as a whole, that he describes as brief. He says it is exhortation and encouragement, and well as teaching to suffer well. He is giving his apostolic authority to the letter and affirming it is a manifestation of the grace of God.
19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Illustration: the author, content, and the authority a communication has makes all the difference in the world
Application: The gospel is the power of God for salvation, sanctification, and endurance. God’s word is our spiritual food. As Sarah Barrett wrote this week in the book I am reading, “Don’t starve yourself.” Intake of the word is growth, sustenance, power, and proper focus. We must be disciplined to stay in the Word. I know that it is easy to get out of the habit, but we must cultivate desire for Christ, so that we are not just pushing through it with raw religious duty.
3) True Fellowship (v. 13-14a)
3) True Fellowship (v. 13-14a)
13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
3) True Fellowship (v. 13-14a)
3) True Fellowship (v. 13-14a)
Explanation: Babylon was almost always a code name for Rome during this time period. To the Jews in the period of the captivity, Babylon would have been the center of the world, and an evil one at that. Rome fit that bill in the first century. “She that is chosen or elect with the other churches” is the church in Rome. We see the sense of family and community identification here. There may be a few person connections, but most of the closeness is because of common faith and common mission. However, like Silvanus, Mark was known to the churches. Three other times in the NT is found the imperative to greet with the customary display of welcome and brotherly affection.
Argumentation:
Illustration: I love that feeling you get go to other countries, states, or cities, and you visit a church that you know nothing about, but they sing about the same Lord as you, receive you with welcome arms because of the common faith you share? Sean Magdelano coming up to me and bear hugging me in about June in Wal-Mart because it had been a long time. The elderly lady at Country’s this week with the mask that said, “Free Hugs Here” but in little tiny subtitled letters, it said, “just kidding, don’t even think about touching me.”
Application: This is really a closeness that is pictured more with a holy hug than a firm handshake. Greeting one another around you is polite and friendly, but this is the welcome of another believer into a tight community of faith. It seems like there is a social distance between us when we have to refuse contact.. It seems like there is something strange about coming up and telling someone how you are going to hug from the side with masked heads turned the other way. However, maybe that is a sign that we are desperate for human touch, and a way to display our familial love for our family in Jesus. It also must be sad not to have a family in Jesus.
4) True Peace (v. 14)
4) True Peace (v. 14)
14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
4) True Peace (v. 14)
4) True Peace (v. 14)
Explanation: Completing his letter with a blessing to the faithful believers in Christ. Knowing that their trials will be continuing and severe, he wishes upon them peace. Commentator Thomas Schreiner says, “Closing the letter with a peace wish is significant. Believers in the Petrine churches were buffeted by trials and persecutions. The stress of life was significant. What believers need in such a situation is God’s peace and strength, a peace that will enable them to stand (5:12) amidst the pressures of the present evil age. Such peace will fortify believers so they can endure opposition and persevere to the end, so that they will receive an eschatological reward. He knows inner peace will outlast, even outlive our live, all the trials they would face.
3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Illustration:
Application: As we go through various trials, our world offers us substitutes of peace. It offers goals of a pain-free existence. It offers little hope when hardships come. However, when we get the worst news, worst circumstances, worst pain, worst diagnosis, or the worst-case scenario happens in your life, the only place of true peace is Christ. What testimonies come from people who receive great heartache and suffering, and yet they wipe the tears back, clinging to their great treasure with joy that is unquenchable and full of glory. Remember, you who suffer are the ones that Peter, God, is writing to. Who is your treasure? What is your source of peace? If it is not Christ, it will falter. a
Closing Illustration: There was a movie back in 2012 called “To Rome With Love.” It was made up of four separate stories that don’t have any relation to one another. I have never seen it, but the reviews were not really good. Peter completes a letter that intertwines the gospel with everything and sustains a persecuted people and countless believers down through the ages.