Summer of Romans 2018 (Part 29): Goodbye To Romans (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

Romans as a Story of Righteousness and Justification

Well, I feel sad this morning to say goodbye to an old friend, the book of Romans, 16 weeks in the book of Romans, chapter by chapter. Let's turn there this morning, Romans chapter 16. And when Paul talks about the key word in Romans, the way I remember it is this way, Romans starts with an R and the key word for Romans is what?

Righteousness starts with an R. The righteousness of God. Chapters 1, 2, and half of 3, we have no righteousness. And whether you're a pagan or a Gentile or a Jew or a religious person, no righteousness.

Adam was on probation in the garden and he fell and we got credit for his sin and consequently we are sinful people. But then the calvary comes in Romans chapter 3b, 4, and 5, justification by faith alone.

God credits to us freely and out of his mercy and out of his generous reservoir of love, righteousness, the righteousness of his son. And we learn and we grow in chapter 6 and 7 and chapter 8 trumpets this great opposite of justification.

If we are justified, we're no longer what? Condemned. How much condemnation should be in our lives? You only have to think about your past a little bit and a few skeletons here or there or your present.

But because of Christ, we are not condemned. We are justified by his work alone through the non-meritorious instrument called faith. We just look back at the cross and we say, I take your word for it God that you did this and what you said is true.

Then Paul says there's a way to deal with other Christians. There's a way to deal with the government. There's a way to deal with weak brothers and strong brothers. And then we come to chapter 16, full mainly of salutations.

But there'll be three main sections in Romans chapter 16 for this morning. Some salutations, some greetings to people. Secondly, he'll talk about church division. And then thirdly, he'll talk about the gospel and how it not only saves, but it strengthens.

So three main sections, Christ's servants are commended, Christ's church is guarded, and Christ's gospel is a strengthener. So let's start in chapter one with Romans. I will read what William Newell said, this 16th chapter is neglected by many to their own loss.

It is by far the most extensive, intimate, and particular of all the words of loving greeting in Paul's marvelous letters. I like this part. No one can afford to miss this wonderful outpouring of the heart of our apostle Paul.

Phoebe, Priscilla, Aquila, and the Women Commended in Romans 16

So let's look at the salutations to start and some people call this the galaxy of saints. And before I read anything, I want you to know that these names are listed so that you would take notice. Is it listed for just no reason?

Are genealogies important? The answer is yes. Well, how about these names? And certainly, they're very important. It depends on how you number them, over 30 names. And I have to tell you, there's some wonderful things to see in these names.

One of them is this, there are lots of women here commended. In a day and age of the Old Testament and New Testament where it would be, at least in the culture, not the Jewish culture or the Christian culture, but in culture in general, the role of women, Paul just explodes and obliterates the wrong view of the role of women to the right view and how they served and honored the Lord Jesus Christ.

One woman after another, after another, serving the Lord Jesus Christ, equal in God's eyes, equal in salvation. I could ask you the question, where were the men when Jesus was getting crucified? Where were the ladies?

And Paul's going to commend a lot of ladies in this section. Other thing I'd like to say that's both convicting and encouraging is Paul was a real people person. He knew all these people intimately. He knew them by name.

Some maybe he didn't meet, but he knew of them. He cared for them. He was called by one man, listen to this, he had a heart full of people. Paul was a man who had his heart full of God's people. Well, let's see the commendation first of Phoebe, Romans chapter 16.

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Sincreia, that's a few miles away from Corinth, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.

Most likely Phoebe's the one that took the book of Romans and delivered it to Rome. This is a letter of commendation. Have you ever got a letter of referral? Sometimes you ask me for letters of referral and I always fill them out to the best of my ability and try to make them as honest as I can make them and still uplifting and encouraging and then I always say when I hand them back to you, if you get the job we know God is sovereign, if you get the job after my letter of recommendation and we just joke about it.

How would you like to be given the book of Romans as your letter of commendation? To travel all those miles from Corinth area to Rome, here's my letter of recommendation, the book of Romans, boy that will open some doors.

That she would be so trusted, so faithful, so devoted, that he would risk Romans and put it in the hands of Phoebe as a commendation letter. One man wrote, one wonders if sister Phoebe had any idea that she was being used by God as a vessel to transport the greatest theological treatise ever penned.

And she had to take that thing across land, across sea and she was the one that Paul chose to deliver this and throughout church history we know of Phoebe, what's your text say? The servant, you could translate that deaconess but it's just meant to be servant.

She was an outstanding servant of the gospel ministry, she's honored in scripture and Paul says assist her, open your arms to her, open your heart to her and if you notice the text there in verse 2, in a way worthy of the saints, the way worthy of the saints, that's right from Ephesians chapter 4 language and it's a language of a scale, a weight scale.

And here is what Phoebe did on this side of the scale, served, worked hard, trustworthy, delivered the letter and so as you serve her you balance out the scales and she was heavy in her influence and you be heavy to love her back.

Share your Christian life with Phoebe. Verse 3, he extends more greetings, greet Prisca, that's Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. You're going to see that refrain a lot, in Christ Jesus, in the Lord, in Christ, all working for the Lord and for his church and building up the body.

Who risks their necks for my life to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. You'll see Priscilla and Aquila pop up a lot and they'll pop up at service in Corinth, Acts 18, pop up service at Ephesus in Rome.

People always ask the question, why is she listed first here? Some other passages list Aquila, her husband, first. Maybe she had social prominence, maybe she was first saved, maybe it's courtesy, we don't really know, but Priscilla and Aquila were a neat couple.

They were tent makers, Paul ministered alongside of them. And what does the text say? They risked their necks for the gospel and he said, I just want to thank them for co-labors. If you've ever served in gospel ministry and you know how difficult it is and how hard it is and how relentless it is to have those people come alongside of you and serve the Lord with you, Paul says, thank you.

Well, verse 5, greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Eponiatus who was the first convert in Christ in Asia. Bishop Lightfoot said, rightly so, it wasn't until about the third century where churches bought buildings, they would meet in rich people's homes.

And so, Paul commends them, thank you for opening up your home. The early church didn't want to spend a lot on buildings, they'd spend it on freeing slaves and feeding the poor. Thank you for opening up your home in Turkey.

Verse 6, here's another lady, a faithful lady, greet Mary who has worked hard for you. S. Lewis Johnson calls her Mary the toiler because she worked hard. That word hard is a really neat Greek word. I tried to memorize this word early on in my studies, kapiao.

Just kind of sounds fun. Have you ever been to kapiao? Kapiao means this, when an athlete trains, I know some of you are like Spartan racers and stuff and half marathoners and marathoners. The sweat that you expend training for those events, that's that word here, to the point of exhaustion, to the point of sweat and toil.

She worked hard and look at it, for you. Of course, it's for the Lord, but we are receiving the benefits. Was she hardly working or working hard? Remember that old slogan. Mary, the hard, very hard, the Greek is, worker.

And Paul just, it's interesting, Paul notices these things. Certainly, the Lord himself notices those who strain their powers to the utmost for him. Verse 7, gredandronicus and junia. The second word, that word junia, it might be feminine, it might be masculine.

If it's feminine, maybe this is a married couple. My kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, they are well-known to the apostles and were seen in Christ. There it is again, in Christ, in the Lord, it's all for him.

Before me, they were outstanding among the apostles. We notice them. This is the word that means to mark. If you ever said, you know what, that person's a marked man. Actually, that was used to Barabbas in a negative way.

Barabbas was a marked man negatively. He had a mark on him and here it's, they were marked for serving well. And they got saved before Paul did, in Christ, before me. And then here's some more people he greets, verse 8.

Greet Ampeliatus, my beloved in the Lord. There it is again, in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. Greet Apellas, verse 10, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus.

Some people think that was the grandson of Herod the Great. We're not quite sure. Maybe these are some people in one of those house churches there. Greet my kinsmen Herodian. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus.

Greet those workers in the Lord, and then I'll tell you the Greek meaning here. Greet those workers in the Lord. Here's a couple of ladies. They might be sisters, they might be twins, they might be relatives, they might just be friends, but we do know what their names mean.

Greet those workers in the Lord, verse 12, dainty and delicate. That's kind of fun. Tryphena and Tryphosa. They were workers in the Lord. They might have been dainty and delicate, but they were willing to roll up their proverbial sleeves and serve the king of kings.

Not to earn their salvation, of course, but because they were saved. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. Look at those servants. Look at those ladies. Look at those men who served Christ Jesus.

And the whole time, remember, Jesus is in a body in heaven. And so his real body that's being served and built up and worked for is the body of Christ on earth. Verse 13, greet Rufus. I almost just said Rusev.

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord. Also his mother, who has been, how dear is this, a mother to me as well. Greet Rusev, there, I just said it again. Rufus, you ever get tired and you just conflate words?

Chosen in the Lord really means the chosen one. And we know there are elect people, and we could be called the elect. We know in eternity past, God didn't have to choose anyone. He could have chosen no one.

He could have chosen all, but he chose some. The elect, he selects some. That could be the meaning here, but it's more like we would use the word. That guy's a choice guy. That's a choice person in the Lord.

The general sense in which we use it is probably used here. He's really a wonderful servant. Greet Asyncritus, verse 14. Probably some more house church folks. Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobus. Aren't you glad there are online Bible pronunciation programs?

Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. I mean, you mean Paul is a people person? Absolutely. Greet Philog, wait a second. Greet Philogos, Philogos. By the way, that word means a word lover. He loved words, and maybe he loved the word.

Maybe he just loved words. Our one commentator said, he really liked word studies, like Bible studies, word studies. Julia, Nerius, and his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints who are with them. And for these kind of folks, you know, for the weak, you open your arms and welcome them, and let them in close.

And the weak to the strong, they're to do the same thing. And for saints like these and other Christian saints, you know what you do? It's not, you don't only just open your arms, but you did what the Orientals versus the Occidentals did back in those days.

And what does the text say? Greet one another with what? A holy kiss of love, of acceptance. This isn't any kind of lewd thing, it's a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. You open up your arms to these folks, and it's just the bond of love.

Since you've been loved by God, you love other people. Just a couple of things about practical applications of this person section. I am very glad that God knows sinners personally. Aren't you glad that God knows sinners by person?

There's a group of people that say, well, God just chooses big bunches of people, and it's elected by a big group. I'm telling you here, he knows people by name. God knows me by my personal name. I praise the Lord that he does care for the individual sinner, redeeming them by gospel of Christ Jesus.

Now, I know I can't add to scripture, but if I could, I'd like to add my name right here, how about you? If you could add your name someplace in scripture, where would you add your name? Well, you'd probably quote to me revelation about don't add to the words of this book, and I wouldn't want to add my name.

But if I could, I'd probably want to add it probably somewhere right here. But I've got something better for you, because we can't add our name to the book. But you are in a book if you're a Christian, did you know that?

You're in one of God's books if you're in a Christian. To think I'm not in this book, I wish I would be, but there's a book that we're in. Philippians 4, yes, I also ask you, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the what? Book of Life.

I'm in the book. If you're a Christian, your name is written in the book. How great is that? Revelation 3, the one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot out his name from the book of life.

I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. How about that? How about Jesus professing your name to the father and the angels? Revelation 21, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

And then, we've gone from greeting people to the A-bomb. Paul now drops a nuclear bomb in the middle of his greetings. Oh, he picks up the greetings again by name in verse 21, and Timothy and Lucius and Jason and Socipiter, but out of nowhere, Paul drops a bomb.

Let me preface it this way. Married men, are you to protect your brides? To what degree, and I see some men shaking their head, and I'm thinking, yes. To what degree should a man protect his wife? And by the way, if you're not married, but you're a son, to what degree, young man, would you protect your mother?

Honor, duty, loyalty, let alone love, to protect your bride, men should go a long ways. To stand in front of them when danger comes, I've been in some dangerous places in the world, and it's my job, no, it's my privilege to protect my family.

Remember, once I went to a super dangerous place, and the night before I flew there with Haley, Haley was 12 at the time, somebody called me here from this church and said, by the way, the place you're going, Haley's not here, so I can say this now, she was in first service, I had to delete a little of it.

They said, they like to steal kids like Haley, and take them into child prostitution, you better guard your daughter. And I thought, you know, I'm her dad, I would die for my daughter, I wanna lay down my life for my daughter, there's something about loyalty, there's something about a man who's going to see his bride raped, and he will do anything and everything to protect his bride, we get all that.

I know you married men here, and you would guard your wives, and lay down your life for your wives, it's the right thing to do, your beloved bride. But before we get into this section here, I'd ask you men and ladies this morning, would you do anything less for the bride of Christ, the church?

The church is the apple of God's eyes, and when the church is in a dark, dangerous alley, how do you respond? Jesus Christ was sent to lay down his life for the church, the bride. Ephesians 5, husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church.

By this we know, love, that he laid down his life for us. God demonstrates his love towards us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Jesus loves his bride. Now the church is called the body, church is called all kinds of different metaphors, but the church is also a bride.

And if you don't understand that concept, you come to the next set of verses, and you just can't really get your mind wrapped around them. Some people think this is so not like Paul, that he couldn't have written these, even though there's no manuscript evidence for Paul not writing them.

These words are Pauline, he uses these words regularly, but it just seems like it's so out of character, somebody else just did it. But unless you grasp this idea that Jesus loves his bride, and there's a time to kiss with a holy kiss, there's a time to welcome weak people, and there's a time to say, the bride is being attacked, what do we do?

Guarding Christ's Bride Against Divisive Teachers

So we come to these shocking verses, reverberatingly shocking verses. Verse 17, again, we've just looked at the welcoming your warm brother, give others a warm, generous kiss of love. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions, create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught, avoid them.

For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. And by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you.

You got to excel a little bit more though, but I want you to be wise as to what is good, and innocent as to what is evil. Related to this passage, and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Let me give you four or five questions. To think through as we work through this section so you could understand it, by the grace of God, apply these things to think properly about Christ's bride and Christian unity in a local church.

Question one, do you scope out divisive people? Do you scope out divisive people? Verse 16, I appeal to you, family, brothers, those that came from the same womb, that's what brother means, to watch out, or literally scope.

How do you scope somebody out? Give me other words that have scope in it today. Laprascope, telescope, microscope, a bishop scopes. He sees. Scope out those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.

Mark them, watch out, there's danger. When you're in that dangerous place with your daughter and somebody's already given you the warning, what you don't do is what we call in Nebraska lollygagging. You ever lollygag?

I think it was Henry David Thoreau who said over there at Walden Pond, I saunter. And you know what, if you're at Walden Pond, it's 25 below zero. February, saunter all you will. But there comes a point where the gospel of Christ Jesus has affected the church to save the church, deliver the church, and then whatever Jesus wants, you know that spiritual warfare is true and that Satan undermining people and behind the scenes tries to bulldoze down what Jesus tries to build, and you better watch out.

Paul says you've got to be on the lookout. This is a present imperative. Always keep on the lookout.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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