FBC Morning Light – March 7, 2022

Well, good Monday morning to you. Hope you had a good weekend and we're able to gather together with God's people yesterday to worship the

Lord and to serve him, you know, he has redeemed us to be a people that praise his name and He's ordained that that praise not only happens in our individual everyday life but that it happens on the

Lord's Day when we gather together as God's people and We offer up those spiritual sacrifices of praise to his name

So I hope you were able to do that yesterday. And today you begin a new week of service under the

Lord whatever your occupation is and that brings us to our

Our Bible reading passage for today if you're following along in the Bible reading schedule, we're in Romans chapter 16

Three ideas I want to bring out from that chapter but one of them has to do with the the number of names the repetition of Greetings that Paul offers in this closing of his letter now on the one hand

It might be expected that someone's sending a letter to a group of people he would single out individuals to for special greeting or whatever but you know, this is more than just a letter it is a letter to the

Church of Rome the Church in Rome But it's more than that.

This is the inspired Word of God So, you know what Paul wrote in this letter is

Exactly what the Holy Spirit wanted for us in this day So you have to ask yourself the question.

What did the Holy Spirit intend for us to learn? by Paul's Greeting all of these different individuals, you know

It begins in verse 8 and it goes through verse 16 or actually it goes to begins in verse 5

Which says greet my beloved Eponidas greet Mary greet Andronicus and Junia my fellow countrymen and so on all the way down to verse 16 it just you know greetings of a bunch of different people.

What does the Holy Spirit? Intend for us to learn in this Well, I wouldn't suggest this is an exhaustive list, but you notice some of the people he emphasizes are

Blood status their their relatives of his other people are connected to him in some way in the ministry and Some are mentioned for their labor for Christ Others they have a special relationship to Paul and then there are some whom he just mentions their names and and and so there's a variety of individuals, but I think one of the points is that Paul appreciates each of them respective of their

Shall we say status quote -unquote in the church? He greets some of them just because he knows them he knows them by name and he knows that they're they're believers in Christ and he appreciates them as brothers in Christ there are some people who have participated with him in the work of the ministry and he singles them out for a greeting and We need to appreciate people that do works of ministry that are not

Necessarily public platform kind of ministries, you know behind a podium ministries

So, you know, we have to appreciate the people in in the local church who serve in you know

Non -descript ways sometimes behind -the -scenes ways, you know, we have one of the unsung heroes of the church is

Those who labor and work in the in the church nursery For example, it always seems difficult to find a fully staffed

Roster of nursery workers But why is that because it's a hard work and it's often an unsung hero work but how how helpful it is for you know small children who

Are would be otherwise disruptive and distracting in the morning worship service to be able to have a place where they can go and they can

Cry and they can you know do what they do it, you know one and two -year -old babies do

But how appreciative we ought to be of such people and And then there are people who are his relatives and he just expresses appreciation for them

So I guess the thing to learn from this is to ask ourselves a question, you know, how?

How grateful am I? For those that God has brought into my life whom he uses in a variety of ways

Not just the public platform type of ministry But the small ways and the behind -the -scenes ways how appreciative of them am

I? That's a good question for us to ask and I think it's a challenge for us if we were writing such a letter would we

Would we have the presence of mind and the gratitude of heart and the thought to itemize and pick out people

Specifically to be to greet and to express gratitude for so that's one thing

I wanted to point out another thing as Paul wraps up this letter one of the things he emphasizes is the importance for Unity in the church, but he he stresses it in a different way, you know in a sort of a backdoor way

Because he says in verses 17 and 18. He says I urge you brethren

He said not this I I think this would be a good idea But I urge you brethren to note those who cause divisions and offenses

Contrary to the doctrine that you've learned and avoid them and avoid them

So there is a legitimate place in the church among God's people for the pointing out of Those who would introduce false doctrine

Into the congregation and would end up causing division and strife in the congregation

So anybody that would come into a congregation and start wanting to wanting to introduce Spurious doctrines they are to be noted and they are to be avoided and There have been times in my 40 some years of ministry now

Rarely, thankfully, but there have been some times when you know People have come in and they've into different churches.

I've served and they've wanted to do that very thing I can remember for example years ago. I was serving in Vermont.

There was a young family that came to the church. They they They were and you know a small church, you know a family of five comes into the church and you get excited, right?

but And they attended for a few weeks and then then the guy started asking me some questions, you know

It was getting in late into the fall and Christmas season is coming. He says do you guys celebrate

Christmas? well Yeah, we do. We sing the Christmas carols.

We have a candlelight service. We do we recognize Christmas. We celebrate the birth of Christ This is why

I think I think that's pagan I don't think you should be doing that and he went on to explain how

You know all the different traditions of Christmas and so on and so forth. They're all idolatry. They're all paganism and You know, and I said well that you know, we don't we don't necessarily agree with that with all of that and This is the last we saw him which was good

Which was good because the last thing you really want is someone to come into the church and you know People are singing, you know way in a manger

Oh come all you faithful and to have some guy sitting there with his arms folded and a frown on his face saying well

I don't think we should be singing these kind of songs, you know now that that kind of strife and division is

Unnecessary and it's harmful for the church and needs to be avoided and the last thing I wanted to point out is is what he says in verse 19 in verse 19, he says

I want you to be wise in what is good and Simple concerning evil and as you well know, we're living in an age of information overload,

I mean There is far more information available to us at our fingertips

Than we could ever begin to process and not all of that information is worth knowing is worth noting it's worth even being aware of there's a bunch of information out there that Would be harmful or Distracting for us in our faith

It's it's evil. It's evil. We don't need to know all of that We don't need to do all kinds of investigations to find out just how bad something is.

It's enough to know that it is It's enough to know that it's there and then to avoid it and to stay away from it

How much how much better it is for us as God's people to be simple to be simple

As Paul puts it concerning the evil. I don't need to be I don't need to be an expert on all things wicked and vile and And ungodly they will

They will simply Rob me of joy They will pervert my mind and it's just better to stay away from it.

Leave it alone so think about that when you think about what you know your options of things you watch on television and You know where you go what you look at and so forth on the

Internet and even the stuff that you read You know material you get on Facebook.

There's a lot of stuff that is posted on Facebook that You know, it might titillate you

But it's better just keep on scrolling or ignore it altogether And it's also probably a good idea to minimize restrict put boundaries around the use of social media and things of that nature why because We want to be we want to be simple concerning evil we want to be wise

Concerning what is good. Let's fill our minds and our hearts with what is good

All right Let's have a word of prayer and then may God may God bless you as you get going on this

First day of your workweek father our Father in our God. I pray that you give us hearts of appreciation for people that are

Godly and helpful in instrumental in our lives in even small ways and father give us a heart of discernment where we are wise and Insightful and and What and ready and willing to avoid those who would lead us astray and then give us a heart that wants to be wise concerning what is good and simple concerning evil

Bless these thoughts to our hearts today we pray and we ask this in Jesus name. Amen All right.