God's contract with the church

 Romans 16: 1-20

Well, we’re finally at the last few verses of the book of Romans, and I don’t really want it to end.  We’ve been studying Romans at both our Sunday morning and Wednesday evening services for almost a year now, and I know it has made a huge difference in my life, and I hope in yours as well.

As Paul finishes this letter, he has a number of personal messages that are sort of tacked on to the end.  I debated whether or not to have someone read aloud the first half of the 16th chapter, but I decided that would be mean.  In fact, I don’t want to read it aloud either.  So we’ll assign that as your homework.

But there are some important truths wedged in between some of these personal messages, and we want to look at the first part of them this morning and then wrap up the chapter this Wednesday evening.

First of all, we have received a lot of essential, immensely important doctrinal information in this letter, but now in this closing segment, we get a glimpse into what life was like in the early church.  I think if you look closely at this passage, you will notice that it’s broken up into segments.  First mentioned is Phoebe, a godly woman that more than likely personally carried this letter from Corinth where Paul was writing from to the church in Rome.  She is noted by Paul for her service and for what must have been a major trip at great expense and some danger.

And then starting in verse 3 Paul begins to list the people in Rome that he wanted to say hello to.  He had either heard about them, or in many cases he knew these people personally from other places he had been.  And these people were now living in Rome and were part of the church or churches there.  And my own personal opinion is that there were likely several house churches that existed in Rome.   Conservative estimates put the population of Rome at that time around 5 million people, though there could have been a lot more.  And so it would stand to reason that there was more than one church in a city of 5 million people.  However, there were no church buildings, and openly practicing  Christianity was a good way to end up in prison.  So the converts to Christianity were meeting in homes, and it is likely that each home had a pastor that headed up the fellowship there.  But at the same time, they seemed to know one another and probably passed letters and epistles around from one fellowship to the other, but simply due to the size of their houses and the need for some discretion the churches were not very large.

And so looking at these verses through that perspective, I believe that Paul is mentioning key members of several churches that were operating in that city, and in most cases he mentions them by association with their pastor, who more than likely hosted his church in his house.  Look at verse 5, Priscilla and Aquila have a church in their house.  Now this is the same couple that been mentioned several times in the book of Acts, and served with Paul and Apollos, and were now living in Rome.  And Aquila was undoubtedly the pastor of a church that met in his home.

This theory is further substantiated by the rest of the list, especially as you get down to verse 10 and beyond, where it says the household of Aristobolus, and then next verse, those of the household of Narcissus.  The word household is implied, but it isn’t in the actual Greek.   And so it could easily read those that were of Narcissus who are in the Lord.   In other words, Narcissus was the pastor/leader of the church in his house and the same was true in regards to Aristobolus.

And I don’t want to belabor this point, but you can see that pattern of naming people and then adding the phrase and all the brethren with them, or all the saints with them.  So I think the pattern shown here is that in the early church in Rome and I’m sure in much of Asia, the churches met in homes or in the open air.  And so I think that the Beach Fellowship is in good company.  But the practical implications of this is that you don’t have to be a mega church to be used by God.  In fact, I think once you get too big  the whole idea of a local fellowship becomes self defeating.

And there is another point that I think is worth mentioning about this first segment of personal addresses before we move on.  And that is how Paul describes these people.  These are great saints, marked out by Paul for special commendation.  Yet he gives these people a rather inglorious designation.  He calls them workers.  Laborers. For example, Rom 16:12 “Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, workers in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord.”    V.9  “Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ.” Rom 16:6  “Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.” V.3 “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.”

I think this passage makes a point that is worth emphasizing.  Church is not a spectator sport.  The Christian life isn’t just about showing up once in a while on Sunday morning if you haven’t really got anything better to do and sit there for an hour and listen to some songs and announcements and a short, hopefully painless message and you’re good to go.  No, the Christian life is about Christian service.  And Christian service requires labor.  We have been given a job to do, a service to accomplish.  We have been given a mission to reach people for Christ and disciple them, to equip them as stewards of the kingdom of heaven.

I would remind you that Rom 14:12 tells us, “So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”  My ambition, and I hope it is yours as well, is when one day I stand before God and give an account for myself Christ will say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”  We are to be about the business of the kingdom.

1Pet. 4:1 “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.  For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.” We no longer serve men but God.

So how do we labor for the church?  How do we work in the kingdom in a way that will not result in our works being worthless on the day of judgment?  Paul’s not talking necessarily about being on some committee at church or singing in the choir or helping out with a building project.  Those things might be part of it, but only in the context of the truth of the gospel.  Rather, our labor is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to our families, to our neighbors and to our coworkers.  To provide a true testimony by our life of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  Our labor is to serve the body of Christ in agape love, providing what is necessary for the sake of others in the fellowship, even when it means personal sacrifice to us.  To study the word of God so that we might give an answer to those that question us.  To reach out to the lost with the truth of the gospel.  It’s about bringing souls out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.  It’s bringing people into the church body so that they might hear the truth and the truth will set them free.  It’s about being obedient to the word preached and pressing into that truth, persevering in season and out of season.  These men and women Paul praises were obedient to that responsibility, note v. 19, “the report of your obedience has reached all.”  Proclaim, provide, participate and persevere.

You know, this is where the rubber meets the road in the Christian walk.  This is why so many Christians who seem to have come to a saving knowledge of Christ at some point in their life, many years ago perhaps, and yet many years later they still are basically in the same place they were when they were saved, or in many cases worse off.  Some crisis perhaps brought them to the point of repentance, they came to recognize that they needed God and called upon Him to save them and God was faithful and saved them.  He granted them salvation by grace.  And then these converts failed, either due to a lack of Biblical preaching or due to spiritual laziness, failed to mature in faith.  They failed to persevere in obedience to what God convicted them of.  And so they just kind of wander around in a spiritual morass – being hot for a while and then cold for a while.  They never really renounce the things that are holding them back spiritually. Hebrews 5:12 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.”  I know a number of people like this in this community, some of which have been involved in this ministry from time to time.  And they have never grown.  Ten years later and they are still immature.  They should have been deacons or elders or leaders in the church by now, and yet they haven’t even been able to present a consistent testimony to their own families.  They are practically useless for the kingdom and in fact they are in danger of being held accountable to God for their poor testimony, having been a stumbling block to their loved ones and friends due to their selfish pursuit of the world’s lusts and their lack of spiritual maturity.

There’s one more point I would make that is kind of tied to that thought and in relation to that passage.  And that is that God has ordained men to be the spiritual head of their household.  You see that principle revealed through that list. And it’s laid out explicitly in Ephesians  5:22 “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.  But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.”  And Paul knows this is a difficult teaching, and so he adds in verse 32, “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”    Unfortunately today I see men relinquishing their God given mandate to be the spiritual head of the family.  Most of them have no problem with the king of the castle concept, but many today fall far short of being the Christ like example to their wives and children and extended families.  We’re far too selfish for that role.  And so in this spiritual vacuum that exists in most homes the wife steps up to the plate and does the best she can to encourage the husband to come to church, and get the kids dressed and try to establish a spiritual threshold in the house that it was the man’s job to do.  And when that order is turned upside down either because of the father’s laziness or selfishness or lack of obedience, then you can expect problems in your home, you can expect problems with your kids, and you can expect problems in your marriage.  Men, God wants you to step up to the plate and take responsibility for the spiritual headship of your home like you take responsibility for your career, or like you take responsibility for your golf game or fishing or whatever it is that you have put before God.  Men are to be the spiritual leaders in their homes.

Now let’s move on, skipping down to Rom 16:17 “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.  For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.  For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.  The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

Not only are we to be concerned about our own obedience which can hinder our service to the gospel, but we are also to be concerned with the false teachers that are a hindrance to the furthering of the gospel.  There are so many warnings in scripture concerning false teachers and false doctrine I don’t even know where to start.  Jesus and the Apostles save their heaviest criticism for false teachers.  And the Bible teaches us that the heaviest judgment will fall upon false teachers as well.

So how can we discern false teachers and false doctrine?  Well, without going to a lot of scriptures let’s see what clues Paul gives us right here.  First, note the urgency of Paul in these last few paragraphs of this book.  He is signing off and he grabs the pen back from Tertius the scribe and says, wait a minute.  Listen, I urge you, I urge you, keep an eye out for these false teachers.  It’s like a parent saying good bye to a child going off to college or a trip and pulling them back and saying, “listen, be careful now about such and such.  Don’t go there.  Don’t put yourself at risk in this area.”  This great love he has for the church demands that he warns them yet again before closing of the dangers of false teachers and that Satan would surely be sending them to ravage the church.

Paul gives two tactics that Satan uses in deceiving people through false prophets.  And they are dissensions and hindrances.  Now dissensions are disagreements, ways in which they divide the people and separate certain ones from the flock.  You ever seen a wolf pack attack a herd of antelope?  They always divide and then separate the group until they have isolated a weak member of the herd.  Satan wants to separate you from the truth of God’s word.  If he can isolate you, then he can deceive you and ultimately destroy you.  That’s why it’s so important to be in a Bible teaching fellowship.  You may think you’re fine doing the church roulette, but let me warn you that Satan loves nothing more than separating the sheep and getting them out on their own without any accountability.

And the other tactic Satan uses is hindrances or offences.  And these can take a variety of forms.  But the key is found in the phrase which follows;  “contrary to the teaching you have learned.”   Well, first of all, that is predicated on the  assumption that you have learned anything about the truth of the gospel.  I am amazed at the number of people that come to this fellowship that are introduced to me as someone who has been at a certain church or in a certain denomination for years, in some cases they are even prominent in that church, and yet after hearing the gospel they confess that this is the first time that they have heard the truth of the gospel.  But what is even more amazing to me is that having heard the truth of the gospel they fail to be obedient to that truth and eventually return to the same old, cold dead church that they are comfortable in.  They are like the parable Jesus gave concerning the good soil, they hear the word which was the seed, and for joy they spring up, but the ground was stony ground.  And so the word doesn’t take root, and when the sun and the heat of the day comes they wither away.

You know, the gospel can be compared to a contract.  Most of us are familiar with a contract, aren’t we?  Maybe a contract to by a property or a contract to do some work on your house, or whatever.  But I’m sure most of us at one time or another have signed a contract or two. And how much of that contract has to be in error in order for it to be a bad contract? That’s why we hire lawyers isn’t it, to make sure that all the information on that contract is factual and accurate?  Imagine saying in regards to a contract to build a house, “O well, I know that there is probably some things about this contract that aren’t really accurate, but who cares?  You got both our names on the contract, and the address on the contract looks good, and the object is to build a house and that’s more or less clear.  So what if we’re not sure exactly who is going to do the work, or how much it’s actually going to cost us, or what it’s supposed to look like.  After all, we are all interested in the same thing, that is building a house.  Let’s just have unity here.  Let’s all try to get along.  We’re all going the same direction aren’t we?

You would have to be a fool to go with that contract, wouldn’t you?  And you would have to be crazy to hire a builder that tried to present you with that contract.  And yet, people all over America today have blindly accepted a fraudulent contract  offered by false teachers for their spiritual house.  They have no idea who is doing the work.  They have no idea how much it costs.  And sadly, they are going to be surprised to find one day that they house they built was made of wood, hay and stubble and it will be burned up.  Christ will say on the day of judgment, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”   Satan deceived them with a bad contract.

Listen folks, the gospel is God’s contract between God and man.  Without this contract signed and sealed by both parties you have nothing and will end up with nothing on the day of judgment.  God offered destitute, sinful people a contract, a means to become righteous, holy children of God, and He paid for it with the blood of Jesus Christ. All He required of us was faith in His atonement. Our righteousness was paid for, our spiritual house is given to us by grace as a gift of God.  And as a deposit on this eternal dwelling that has been promised by God, He has given us a down payment – the Holy Spirit to live inside us – to be our teacher, to be our helper, to be our comforter – until that day when Jesus comes to establish His permanent kingdom in a new heaven and new earth.  And there is a second part of this contract;  in exchange for this grace, until that day when He comes again, we live by faith in this house, no longer for ourselves, we live for Him.  We offer to God our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is our reasonable service of worship.  We now are no longer to be slaves of sin, but slaves of righteousness.  We are to be obedient even as Christ was obedient, even if it means that we suffer the loss of everything dear to us in this world.

Now that is, ladies and gentlemen, is God’s contract.  And He has given His ministers the responsibility of preaching and teaching that contract.  There are no shortcuts.  There isn’t to be anything left out.  Because just like in an earthly contract, leaving something out could nullify the contract.  Or it could result in not getting what you expected to get from the contract.  So I have an obligation to preach the whole truth of the gospel - God’s contract with man - in it’s entirety.

And notice what else Paul says at the end of  verse 17 regarding false teachers, he says, “turn away from them.”  Jesus said elsewhere, a little leaven leavens the whole lump.  And Satan knows that the best way to couch a lie is to wrap it in enough truth so that you don’t think it matters.  Listen, I’ve been to many, many churches in my life and heard a lot of preachers and teachers.  And the problem I’ve found with most false teachers is they are far more subtle than to tell out and out lies or fabrications.  The problem more often than not one of omission.  Failing to teach the whole gospel.  Just teaching the parts of the Bible that they think won’t offend anyone.  It sometimes takes years of sitting in a church Sunday after Sunday to discover that they never preach about certain issues or certain scriptures.  Because the ultimate goal of these false teachers Paul says in vs. 18 is to deceive these people for their own benefit, to fill their appetite for fleshly things. “For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.”  Paul says turn away from such teaching.  Get out of there before it corrupts you, before you dry up and wither away.

2Cor. 6:17 "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.

And finally, Paul commends again those good workers of the kingdom that he has listed here.  Rom 16:19  “For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.”

Notice the phrase, “Your obedience.”  Paul makes frequent use of that word as well as all the Apostles.  1 Sam. 15 says, “To obey is better than sacrifice.”  Worship in the OT required that you bring a sacrifice.  And worship in the NT is that you are the sacrifice.  You sacrifice your will, to obey God’s will.

And for the church that is diligently working for the kingdom, where godly men are taking seriously their obligation to be the spiritual head of their households, where Christians are repudiating half truth gospel and turning away from it to serve the living God, where they are being obedient to the will of God, in that church that is being wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil, Paul says that God will soon crush Satan under that churches  feet.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.  I want to cleave to what is good and abhor what is evil.  I want to see God’s church established and Satan’s work destroyed.  I want to see this community come to know the truth of the gospel and to be obedient unto salvation.  I want to spend whatever time I have left on this earth in pursuit of the things of God.  I trust that you do as well.  Examine yourselves here this morning in the light of God’s word and don’t be like the hearer of the word James speaks of that looked at himself  in the mirror and walked away without doing anything. Let’s be doers of the word.  Persevere in obedience to Christ, no matter what the cost and God will crush Satan under your feet.  But if you hold on to the world, hold on to false teaching, hold on to fleshly lusts, then Satan will destroy you.  The choice is yours.  Let’s pray.