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Romans 16
16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant1 of the church at Cenchreae, 2 that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.
3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert2 to Christ in Asia. 6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia,3 my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles,4 and they were in Christ before me. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 10 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. 11 Greet my kinsman Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. 12 Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers5 who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites,6 and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. 19 For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.
22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.7
25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
[1] 16:1
[2] 16:5
[3] 16:7
[4] 16:7
[5] 16:14
[6] 16:18
[7] 16:23
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Romans chapter 16. Romans 16. I was in the parking lot earlier, and I noticed that, a few of the cars here have the bumper sticker with 26.2 on the back of it, which means you ran a marathon, and that is quite a feat. If I could do that, I'd probably put a sticker there as well. But after today I'm gonna put the sticker 433 on my truck, because there are 433 verses to Romans and we have made our way to the end.
Jeffrey Heine:43 very dense chapters, I might add. Over 46 sermons, it gets, my notes got a little fuzzy. We're somewhere between 46 and 50 something sermons, as we went through Romans, but we finally are here at the end. When I started this series a little over a year and a half ago, I mentioned I'd been waiting over 20 years to preach through Romans. Actually early in my preaching career, I was gung ho and I wanted to go ahead and tackle it.
Jeffrey Heine:And, John Piper was at Beeson at the time and, he actually he told me, he said, you know, you need to wait. I said, why? He goes, he's not old enough. I said, you need to experience more suffering. You need to have more Bible knowledge.
Jeffrey Heine:You need to just experience more life. You need to see theological fads come and go and only then can you think about preaching through Romans. And, I have to say he was right. He was right that if I'd even tried to preach this through 10 years ago, I think I would've gotten more things wrong than I did this past time. But it has been an incredible journey for me.
Jeffrey Heine:I know pastors say this all the time. They say, hey. We we didn't even scratch the surface, but we didn't even scratch the surface. Immediately upon, studying and writing this sermon, I had the desire to preach through it again. For us to the desire to go all through Romans again and to pick up all of those little pieces we didn't get to go through.
Jeffrey Heine:But there is a depth to this that I found life changing. Words that I had used my whole life like, you know, grace and mercy and salvation and sanctification or Jesus the Christ. These words at times during study just became profoundly deep to me and led me to worship. And and I want to just encourage you to be a lifelong student of Romans. Just because we're done here on Sunday mornings, go back slowly, prayerfully walk through that book.
Jeffrey Heine:It has survived 2000 years, and it still in these 2000 years remains the most influential letter ever written. So you're never going to outgrow it. Alright. So Romans 16, I'm gonna read most of the first chapter at the start and we'll read the rest later. There's a lot of names.
Jeffrey Heine:And I'm gonna go ahead and warn you. I'm gonna get half of them wrong, okay? I I I there is no way that I'm gonna get through all of these names and, and get them correctly. Thankfully, they are no longer here with us and they can't tell me. I mispronounced it.
Jeffrey Heine:I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church of Cenchrea. That you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints. And help her in whatever she may need for it from you. For she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life.
Jeffrey Heine:To whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved, Eponetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. Greet Mary who has worked hard for you. Greet Adronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners.
Jeffrey Heine:They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. Greet Empliatus, my beloved in the lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, And my beloved, Stockis. Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus.
Jeffrey Heine:Greet my kinsman Herodian. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. Greet those workers in the Lord, and Tryphena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Also his mother who has been a mother to me as well. Greet Asinokritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Petrobis, Hermes, and the brothers who were with them. Greet Phlogidas, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympias, and all the saints who were with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
Jeffrey Heine:I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught. Avoid them, for such persons do not serve our lord Jesus, but they are 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. But I want you to be wise as to what is good, and innocent as to what is evil.
Jeffrey Heine:The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you. So does Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsman. I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church greets you. Erastus, the church city treasurer and our brother Quartus greet you. We'll stop there. This is the word of the lord. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:If you would pray with me. Our father, we thank you for preserving this letter for 2000 years so that we might have the privilege of reading it here in this place. Learning more about your son, Jesus Christ. Learning of his gospel by which we are saved. And so we thank you that we have, in reading these things, we have heard from you.
Jeffrey Heine:Now as we bring this letter to an end, I pray that you would write these words on our hearts. Pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:Okay. So now that we have made it to the end, it feels a little anticlimactic, doesn't it? I mean we basically just get this long list of names most of which I pronounce but remember I am dyslexic again and so I mean I'm amazed I just kinda got through it. You're not gonna find, Paul ending a letter like this. I mean there's Yes, he he greets you know 2 maybe 3 people at times, but here he names 26 people.
Jeffrey Heine:It's it, you know, kinda has the feel of like an an Oscar's acceptance speech. And maybe that's what he feels like. I just did Romans and like he is just, you know, he's you gotta think the producer down to like the junior makeup, you know, assistant intern. You know, you're just you're thanking everyone, greeting everyone. Why does he exactly do this?
Jeffrey Heine:Why does he end the letter this way? I think it's because these are not just people. They're not just names. This is family. These people were proof, living proof of the power of the gospel that he has just preached.
Jeffrey Heine:These were his dearest friends, some whom he've he's never even met face to face. And one of the things that struck me as I was reading through this was, you know when you get older, it gets harder to make friends. It gets harder to make friends and it's harder to maintain friendships. If you're in junior high I'm not talking to you. Okay.
Jeffrey Heine:That's like the, that's the peak of, it's the hardest place there is to make friends. I don't want you to walk out me like it gets harder. No, you're you're in the pit of despair. Outside of junior high, and really once you finish school, making friends and maintaining friends gets harder. I mean, usually you go on and and your demands of another things of life begin to pick up.
Jeffrey Heine:You have career demands. Some of you, go on and you get married and so you have to spend time with your marriage. Sometimes you you have kids. You become the chauffeur, just endless time, just endless time and energy just driving everyone around, keeping everyone alive. You don't have much time and energy for anything else.
Jeffrey Heine:Embarrassing confession here. Last night was Saturday night. I don't know what y'all were doing. I went to bed at 7 o'clock. Like, it was embarrassing.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, Lauren's like, what are you doing? I was like, I'm getting ready for bed. It's not that I fell asleep on the couch. I got ready for bed, went to bed 7 o'clock. Which is why I didn't respond to like your text like, Joel you wanna go clubbing, you wanna do all that like You only have so much time and energy and I just I was like crawling and I I just I needed to go to bed.
Jeffrey Heine:You only have limited time and energy. Yeah look at Paul. The love and the affection that he has for his brothers and sisters here in Christ, they did not diminish over time, they actually grew. His circle of friends grew. Friendships were invaluable to him.
Jeffrey Heine:We took a 1 week break from Romans last year in order for me to preach through, Paul's last words in 2nd Timothy that he wrote while in prison. And one of the things he wrote there, and this is at the end of his life, he pleaded with Timothy and John Mark to come and visit him. Leave their important work of ministry, make the 5 month one way journey to Him, meaning spend over a year of your life away from your work in ministry, to be with me. But we saw how much Paul valued friendship. You could actually say that friendship was the work of ministry.
Jeffrey Heine:Why do you think Paul has spent so much time in this letter talking about how to love one another? Or how to outdo one another in respect and showing honor? Why do you think he spends so much time talking about eating together and how we can have table fellowship? It's because he's he's describing what it means to be family, how we can be friends. And these were more than just friends here.
Jeffrey Heine:These were his co laborers. All throughout this the this little greeting section here he describes these people as fellow workers or the person who worked hard for you or fellow worker or workers in the Lord or those who worked hard in the Lord. Over and over, you get this insight. These were his co laborers who just worked really hard for the sake of the gospel. Hear me.
Jeffrey Heine:Redeemer Community Church at its best is not going to be just a group of friends. Nor is it just gonna be a group of people who work hard in service. Redeemer Community Church at its best is gonna be a group of friends who work hard for the sake of the gospel. If all you want from a church is friendship, you're gonna miss it. If all your involvement in church is service and labor, you're going to miss it.
Jeffrey Heine:You're gonna miss the joy of what Jesus offers us, which is to come together as a family that serves him. And can I just take a moment to apologize to some of you? And I really I I felt the need to do this as I was studying this. The last few years as Redeemer has kinda grown exponentially, I have not hesitated to work harder. I haven't hesitated to add another service.
Jeffrey Heine:I haven't hesitated to go to another meeting. I haven't hesitated in all these other areas. But what I did hesitate on is maintaining friendships. And so I leaned into 1 at the expense of the other. You don't see that here in Paul.
Jeffrey Heine:In so many ways, friendship is the work of the ministry. These people were in it together. Jesus died to make us family. We shouldn't forget that. There's such deep affection in all of these names.
Jeffrey Heine:And and they're not just a list of names here, you know, it's it's it's Paul's family. And these are also like the nobodies of the world, but they were somebody to Paul. But when you actually take a step back, they were nobodies in the eyes of the rest of the world. One of the things you see as you go through this list of names is how Christianity spread. And it didn't start by the top of the social ladder and trickle down, it began with the bottom and it worked its way up.
Jeffrey Heine:All the commentators are gonna point out to you that, when you go through this list of names, it is mostly the names of immigrants or slaves. Not everyone listed here, but most of these people here were dirt poor. And they would have lived in, the latrine of Rome. I remember when studying this in, at Beeson, the New Testament professor there, he talked about, no seriously, it was the latrine of Rome. It was the tight, crammed, slum communities there, and literally the city's sewage ran through it.
Jeffrey Heine:These people were were were dirt poor. There were no ones. And yet God used this group of people to change the world. Do you know who planted the 3 most influential churches of the 1st century? Who planted Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome, the churches in those key cities.
Jeffrey Heine:No one knows who planted them. I mean, maybe it was some of these people planted Rome. We don't know. I mean, you get some vague descriptions in the book of Acts by a group of them would go and preach the gospel of Jesus, and there'd be a church, but they were unnamed and there were nobodies. And I mentioned this because, typically in modern Christianity, what we think of when we think of evangelism or we think of missions, we think of mission agencies.
Jeffrey Heine:We think of professional pastors. We don't think of just ordinary members of a church. So when I'm at some extended family dinner, you know, Christmas or Thanksgiving or something like that, or even if we have just a bunch of friends over for dinner and it comes time for the blessing, who do you think gets asked? And and so I love it. I I I just immediately when I know the time for the blessing's coming, I just close my eyes and I look down.
Jeffrey Heine:And I love the awkward silence. I love just like waiting until finally someone goes, Joel would you would you mind praying for us? You are the professional. I was like, oh, yeah. So let me get out my red phone to God.
Jeffrey Heine:Y'all don't have this? You know, and just that's what that's what we view. The professionals do this. The church of Rome was not started by professionals. Neither was the church of Alexandria.
Jeffrey Heine:Neither was the church of Antioch. These are the people whom Paul thanks and greets. These were the nobodies who changed the world. Alright. Let's start walking through some of these names.
Jeffrey Heine:There's no way we're getting through all of them. I'll get through as many as I can. I actually thought about stretching out this series all through summer just to go through these names more slowly. Because each one of these names tells a story. And as I was studying it this week, can I just tell you, like, my heart was flooded with affection for you guys?
Jeffrey Heine:Because the people who we're about to look at, they are representative of of you. I see so many of you in the names that we are about to look at and my heart was just filled with joy at the people that God has brought here to Redeemer. Alright so the first person that Paul mentions is Phoebe. More than likely Phoebe is the one who brought Paul's letter to Rome. So he needs to introduce her of course.
Jeffrey Heine:He needs to commend her. You you often did that with with the the letter carriers. Phoebe is gonna be one of 9 women that Paul mentions. 9 of the 26 names are women. In a male dominated culture, this would have certainly stood out.
Jeffrey Heine:This was counter cultural here. Is that one of the things I want you to notice is that Christian women never need, never lack, when it comes to serving some meaningful service within the church. There is always a position for women serving in the church and doing meaningful work. You find the spread of Christianity spread a lot on the backs of the women. Christianity spread through the poor and mostly through women first.
Jeffrey Heine:And so you see that right here at the start, Phoebe, she was instrumental in the life of the early church. And Paul uses 2 words to describe her. He calls her a servant and a patron. Look at both of those words. Servant, it's the word deaconess.
Jeffrey Heine:This is a word that's used throughout the New Testament, to describe, often people in a official capacity. You are officially a deacon. It's an office in the church. It also can be used in a more general sense to just talk about somebody who serves the church. We actually don't know which one it is here.
Jeffrey Heine:I lean more towards it's an official office. Just because the way that Paul describes her, and the honor he gives her, it seems like she is an official deacon or deaconess. And what girls which do you which do you prefer? They both seem a deaconess seems a little weird to me but we'll go with it. If you prefer a deacon or deaconess.
Jeffrey Heine:She's also called a patron. To be called a patron, it's a technical term. It's actually a a really big honor for somebody to call you a patron. A patron was a wealthy individual who's a benefactor of the city. Patrons, they're people who use their resources for public disposal.
Jeffrey Heine:They use the the many resources they had to build schools, to fund the arts, to feed the poor. This class of wealthy people was invaluable, for the health of ancient societies. And for Phoebe to be called a patron, well this meant that she was a person of great wealth and substance. A person of leadership. Most commentators point out that she was likely going to Rome on business, which is why Paul says, hey if you can help her out in what she needs to do, do it.
Jeffrey Heine:And as she was going to Rome in business, Paul entrust her with this letter. Can I tell you the church needs Phoebe's? Absolutely we need Phoebe's. We need patrons who begin directing their money not just towards the city at large, but begin directing it towards the work and ministry of the church. And we have some here at Redeemer.
Jeffrey Heine:I get here early on Sunday mornings. Often one of the things I do is I clean out the trash, clean up the trash that's all been left on our front patio, from the weekend. A number of years ago, I was doing that and there was a FedEx letter, that I almost threw away thinking it was the trash, but it was not. It was actually a letter that delivered on Friday. It was still there on Sunday morning.
Jeffrey Heine:So I just got it and I went and I threw it on my desk, came and preached. After the service, I went and opened it up and it was a check somewhere in between $23,100,000 sitting out there all weekend. And what it enabled us to do, we had just been renting this place at the time, it enabled us to actually go through and buy the sanctuary. That was the work of a patron, somebody who saw the need, that the church had, and they gave generously of their resources to enable this. We need patrons like that in our midst and I'm thankful for the ones we have.
Jeffrey Heine:Next, Paul greets Aquila and Prisca. And I didn't name that person just cause I didn't wanna embarrass my wife. Alright. So who That didn't Alright. Forget that.
Jeffrey Heine:Next Paul greets Thank you. Aquila and Prisca. She's known as Priscilla and, in the rest of the Bible. That's her her nickname is kind of Priscilla. Paul calls her by her more proper name Prisca here.
Jeffrey Heine:And they are my favorite married couple in all of the bible. And granted I don't have any other goat options to pick from. I mean seriously, can you show me one other, just one other like married couple in the bible that's held up as an example? I can't find one. I mean you could go like Adam and Eve.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean Adam just kind of watches his wife like, let's see what happens when she eats that. I mean, you go to Abraham and Sarah. I mean, say you're my sister and go join pharaoh's harem. I mean, you could go to David and Bathsheba. Solomon, interview one of his 700 wives and see how that marriage is going.
Jeffrey Heine:Like, there are no good marriages or really even parents to be found in the bible. Certainly none that are held up as an example. This is the only one I could kinda circle and granted we don't know that much about them. But what we do know about them is extraordinary. It's impressive.
Jeffrey Heine:They're mentioned 6 times in the new testament. We read about them first in acts 18 where Paul meets them in the city of Corinth. They're one of the displaced Jewish Christians from Rome. And there they connected because they were both Jewish Christians and they also had to both, trade. They were tit makers.
Jeffrey Heine:Really, they made awnings, you know, the all the businesses and, homes there. They needed awnings to keep out the hot Mediterranean sun. It was a great business. You could do it anywhere, and they connected at that level because they they did the same work. They connected so much that Aquila and Priscilla even invited Paul to stay with them, for a year and a half.
Jeffrey Heine:And then they established a church and the church met there. They risked their necks for him at some point. We don't know how, what they did, but they took great risk for him. So after a year and a half though, Paul gets up and he goes to Ephesus. And you know what?
Jeffrey Heine:Aquila and Priscilla packed their bags and they go with him. They leave Corinth. So they arrive at Ephesus. You know what they do in Ephesus? Establish a church.
Jeffrey Heine:A church meets in their home. And they're not just hosting. You actually see them teaching. They come alongside a young man named Apollos, who was a very gifted preacher. But he was a little off in his theology.
Jeffrey Heine:And you read that Aquila and Priscilla took him aside and they explained to him more accurately the way of God. I just love that. I mean, I know a lot of people who who just come alongside and they just affirm you in your gifts. I also know a lot of people who just love correcting you. But to have a older wiser couple come alongside you and affirm you while gently correcting you, that is a rare thing.
Jeffrey Heine:We need people like this in our life, and we actually have some of those here at Redeemer. Thank you. We don't know how long they were at Ephesus, but we do know this. Now they're at Rome. And surprise surprise, what's happening in their house at Rome?
Jeffrey Heine:Another church. They like keep opening up their home for for kingdom work. And so a church is meeting there. These these people are invaluable. And it reminds me of so many here at Redeemer who every single week open up their homes and they allow people to come in for their home groups, for a time of worship, and for a time of prayer.
Jeffrey Heine:Thank you. Likely, you had this scenario with them. They lived, you know, in the poor area of Rome. And what you often found in these kind of slum, compact apartment communities was, if you had a trade like they had, you would rent a ground floor which would be your workshop, and then you had a little bedroom on top. And it it doesn't take any stretch of the imagination to kinda see what would happen.
Jeffrey Heine:They probably opened up their work shop which could accommodate 20, maybe 30 people and use it for morning prayer or evening prayer. And then you would have them, you know, like, of course all the other businesses around would be like, what are you doing? Well, come on and find out. The crammed apartment complexes, them inviting people over. Christianity began to spread apartment block after apartment block.
Jeffrey Heine:I see that here. People opening up their homes. Some of you have opened up your businesses that I know of. You've allowed other churches to even come in and start and to be planted in your very business. You're doing what the church has done for the last 2000 years.
Jeffrey Heine:What we see modeled here with Aquila and Priscilla. But I think what I love most about this couple is that they were simply trying to live out their commitment to Christ in the this morally and socially complex world of 1st century Rome. And they have to, as you can see, they have to balance out their need to make money and actually survive, Also, with the desire to make tremendous sacrifices for the kingdom of God. And they do it so beautifully. So next home group you have, just kinda raise a glass, give a little toast to Aquila and Priscilla.
Jeffrey Heine:And next, gosh. There's no way we're getting through these names. It's alright. We don't know that much. I mean, some of these names are just names.
Jeffrey Heine:Names. Alright. So I'll try to hit the highlights here. After Priscilla and Aquila, Paul sends his greetings to Epinetheus. He is described as the first convert in Asia.
Jeffrey Heine:Literally, it's the first fruits. He's the first fruit of Asia and I love that word first fruit. Lauren and I just got our first fruit this past week. It was a cucumber in the garden we have. And one of the great things about the first fruit is it is a sign of what is coming.
Jeffrey Heine:An entire summer of fruit. It's the first fruit of Asia. It reminds me of what William Carey said, who was the first missionary in India. It took him 7 years to get his 1st convert. 7 years.
Jeffrey Heine:And when he finally gets his 1st convert, he is overwhelmed with joy. And people are like, wow. It's just 1. You know, 1 out of 7 years. And he goes, oh no.
Jeffrey Heine:He might be the first, but there's an entire continent behind him. And you kinda get the sense that's what Paul says here. It's the first fruit of Asia. There was an entire continent behind this guy. He goes on to greet a few more house churches.
Jeffrey Heine:There's 5 house churches in all. Then he goes on to greet some households. He doesn't actually greet those people who are the heads of the households. He greets their servants. We actually know one of the the households that he does greet, Narcissus.
Jeffrey Heine:Narcissus was part of the Roman emperor's cabinet. He was a powerful, wealthy advisor to the emperor himself. Once again, you see the gospel working through the poor, the servants, gaining a foot in the door of this high ranking Roman government official. And within 200 years, the emperor himself would bow the knee to Jesus. It's astounding to see how the gospel goes forth.
Jeffrey Heine:Paul never got to see it in his day, but you had to suspect. You had to, like I'm sure he's, like like, laughing as he's thinking, oh, they're already in the house. It's just a matter of time. Alright. 2 more.
Jeffrey Heine:Verse 12. Paul greets, Tryphena and Tryphosa. These names seem to indicate that they were sisters. A lot of people think that they were actually twins because it does sound like names you would give twins. You know, it's kinda like a Libby and a Lizzie or, an Isadora and Isabella.
Jeffrey Heine:They just kinda go together. And, the only reason I really wanna mention this is because I love what their names mean. Their names mean dainty and delicate. And, and yet Paul calls them these were the workers. They're some of the hard workers.
Jeffrey Heine:Don't you know people like that? Look. I mean, you're just so dainty and delicate, and and and yet they could run an entire country. We have women like that at this church. And Paul had these women coming alongside him.
Jeffrey Heine:Final one I'm gonna mention is Rufus because how can he not mention Rufus? Verse 13, Paul says, Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother who has been a mother to me too. Now we cannot say this definitively, But it is most likely that this Rufus is the Rufus that is mentioned at the end of Mark's gospel in Mark 15. Mark, which most people think was written towards the Romans. At the end of Mark's Gospel, and Mark is one who rarely gives any details.
Jeffrey Heine:He's a man of action. It's just like he is to the point. He rarely lists names, rarely gives details. And yet, in the middle of describing the crucifixion of Jesus, so the height of all the drama, all of a sudden, Mark gives these details. He says that Roman soldiers compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry the cross of Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:Mark alone includes that detail. And the fact that He would include that detail and not just include Simon, but then go on to name His 2 children in the midst of telling the story about the crucifixion. Why would he do that? Most people, they think, well, the only reason you would do that is if those children were known to the people who were reading Mark. Rufus was known to them.
Jeffrey Heine:He was serving in the church of Rome. And so you can see, like, I I love this picture of Jesus even as he is going to his crucifixion. In those darkest moments calling people to Himself. I think that's one of the reasons that Mark lists this and that Paul lists this is because it is a vivid image. The cross of Jesus Christ is what makes us family.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, Rufus' mom, it's like, she's a mom to me. The cross of Jesus Christ makes us family. That's really the theme of what we have seen here throughout Romans is that Jesus is making a family of Jew and Gentile, a family, all different ethnicities, all different social classes. He's making us a family. We are part of the forgiven, reconciled, spirit filled, abounding in joy, loving one another, enduring for all eternity, family of God.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the power of the gospel. That's why Paul is like, at the end, he's slowing down. It's like, look at what Jesus has given me. He's taking this delight and just naming each one of these people. And then the people who are with Him are like, can we can we get in on this?
Jeffrey Heine:Can we can we greet them as well? It's the family of God. And then Paul, he goes on, he moves to his great doxology. He he gives a few words of warning too, which is a sober warning to us. He's like, hey there's false teachers in your midst, who I don't even think knew were false teachers.
Jeffrey Heine:They're really good preachers, public speakers. He's like, hey. But if they weren't they're not preaching everything I just told you, they're false preachers. And he gives a little word of warning after naming all those names, and then he ends with this great doxology, and this is how I want to end Romans. Verse 25.
Jeffrey Heine:Now to him who is able to strengthen you. And pause. Sorry. I know it didn't look far. That word strengthen is the word power.
Jeffrey Heine:It's how we started Romans. Romans 116, for I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. That's how he started the letter and he's like, and now let me unpack for you the power of the gospel. And now he ends by telling you this is what the power of the gospel has resulted in.
Jeffrey Heine:So once again now to Him who is able to empower you. According to my gospel, in the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith. To the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus the Christ. Amen. Pray with me.
Jeffrey Heine:Father, we thank you again for this letter and for your gospel. For it is your power into salvation for all who believe. It is the power to bring forgiveness. It is the power to build family. It is the power to make us the adopted children of God.
Jeffrey Heine:It is the power that enables us to love and to serve one another so well. It is the power to give us abundant joy in our lives, and it is a power that endures forever and ever and ever. We thank you for the power of the gospel. Lord, I pray that this great letter would bear even more fruit in our lives in the days and the months and the years ahead. May it draw us in a closer relationship to you, Jesus, and we will worship for all of eternity.
Jeffrey Heine:We pray this in your strong name. Amen.