Romans 16:20-27 (NIV)
20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
21 Timothy, my fellow worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.
22 I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city's director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.
24
25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,
26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him--
27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
You hardly ever think of a peaceful being that is able to crush its opponent, and yet that is the God we serve. Satan is the enemy and it is God that does the crushing and not us. Paul then sends out his closing by asking that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. A man by the name of Tertius is the one who was copying the letter down for Paul. Paul sends out more greetings from fellow workers. Notice one is the city's public works director. Now for the benediction. The benediction goes back to the purpose of the book of Romans and that is to explain what the Gospel of God is in Jesus Christ. Pray this prayer over you and over our church. It is about being established by the God who wants to reach all the nations. A few hundred years later Rome became the center for Christianity. God can establish His Word and you in it.
I hope you were able to reread chapters 1, 5, 6 and 8 of Romans. I did and it was quite the treat. I hope none of us will get over the power of the Gospel of our God in Christ Jesus.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Romans 16:17-19 (NIV)
Romans 16:17-19 (NIV)
17 I urge you, brothers, 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. 18 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. 19 Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
Matters of faith matter. People have been killed over matters of faith. People are being killed over matters of faith. People risk their lives over matters of faith. We have a saying that you are not to turn a mole hill into a mountain. I have another one. We are not to turn a mountain into a mole hill. We must know what the important matters of faith are for the believer in Christ. We must know what the mountains are for our faith. Paul is telling this church in Rome to stay clear of those who are teaching what is contrary to what they have been taught. You may ask what are the crucial matters of faith? First and foremost it has to do with who Jesus Christ is and what His work is on the cross. It has to do with our view of Scripture as the authoritative Word of God. It has to do with salvation and how one gains a place in heaven or goes to hell. It has to do with a believer's walk in Christ as one that is suppose to be transformed by His Spirit. These are mountains worth dying on. I am not saying there are not more crucial doctrines. However, I do believe that once you figure out Jesus is the second person of the Trinity and has come to us as God-man to purchase for us salvation everything else will come together. Paul does not have kind words for those who teach what is false. Paul sees them as self-serving and not serving Christ. Paul ends on a positive note as to where he thinks they are in their walk with Christ. He sees the church in Rome as an obedient people and Paul is full of joy over them. What does Paul want for this Church that ministers in Rome? He wants it to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. May we take that on as a goal in our own lives. We need to be really good at being good and really bad at being bad.
You may ask what are we going to do for the next five weeks since we are finishing up with the book of Romans? We are going to review. For this week please read chapters one, five and six and of course, the chapter on the Spirit, chapter eight.
17 I urge you, brothers, 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. 18 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. 19 Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
Matters of faith matter. People have been killed over matters of faith. People are being killed over matters of faith. People risk their lives over matters of faith. We have a saying that you are not to turn a mole hill into a mountain. I have another one. We are not to turn a mountain into a mole hill. We must know what the important matters of faith are for the believer in Christ. We must know what the mountains are for our faith. Paul is telling this church in Rome to stay clear of those who are teaching what is contrary to what they have been taught. You may ask what are the crucial matters of faith? First and foremost it has to do with who Jesus Christ is and what His work is on the cross. It has to do with our view of Scripture as the authoritative Word of God. It has to do with salvation and how one gains a place in heaven or goes to hell. It has to do with a believer's walk in Christ as one that is suppose to be transformed by His Spirit. These are mountains worth dying on. I am not saying there are not more crucial doctrines. However, I do believe that once you figure out Jesus is the second person of the Trinity and has come to us as God-man to purchase for us salvation everything else will come together. Paul does not have kind words for those who teach what is false. Paul sees them as self-serving and not serving Christ. Paul ends on a positive note as to where he thinks they are in their walk with Christ. He sees the church in Rome as an obedient people and Paul is full of joy over them. What does Paul want for this Church that ministers in Rome? He wants it to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. May we take that on as a goal in our own lives. We need to be really good at being good and really bad at being bad.
You may ask what are we going to do for the next five weeks since we are finishing up with the book of Romans? We are going to review. For this week please read chapters one, five and six and of course, the chapter on the Spirit, chapter eight.
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