WEBVTT 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:20.879 Our reading today is from Romans chapter 16. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:24.640 And the question for the city kids today is what is God able to do? 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:26.879 Which we're able to see at the end of the passage. 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:42.159 I commend to you, our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Sencria, 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. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:46.159 For she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:57.679 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risk their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:00.560 Greet also the church in their house. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:05.840 Greet my love my beloved Eppinitas, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:09.840 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:14.000 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:17.599 They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:21.359 Greet Amphiliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:25.280 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachis. 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:27.680 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:30.640 Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:36.480 Greet my kinsmen, Herodian, greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:39.840 Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphina and Tryphosa. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:43.840 Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:49.599 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:56.239 Greet Asyncriot, Critus, Phlegon, Hermes, Pratubas, Hermes, and the brothers who are with them. 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:02.239 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympus and all the saints who are with them. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:04.719 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:06.879 All the churches of Christ greet you. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:15.680 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you've been taught. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:16.639 Avoid them. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:25.599 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. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:31.199 For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you. 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:36.159 But I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:39.360 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:42.000 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:44.639 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you. 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:47.919 So do Lucius and Jason and Suscipater, my kinsmen. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:51.280 I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:55.199 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:58.639 Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quarus, greet you. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:20.080 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, 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 fate. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:24.400 To the only wise God be glory forevermore, through Jesus Christ. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:25.120 Amen. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:26.479 And so reads God's word. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:29.599 Welcome to you if you joined us while we were while we were singing. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:33.520 Uh, and big shout out to Lisa for absolutely bossing those names. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:46.879 Uh I uh uh I was reading the passage in our staff meeting, and I think it's fair to say that I was the linguistic equivalent of Bambi on ice, uh just tripping over Trifosa and Trifena and Uni and Aristotle. 00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:53.599 Um I got Mary, absolutely, I absolutely, yeah. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:55.280 I cracked that one. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:56.719 That was no problem at all. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:03.759 Um, can you believe, folks, that this is the last sermon in uh the book of Romans? 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:06.560 Hopefully you're not sitting there going, thankfully, finally. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:08.080 Uh how many have we done? 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:09.280 Do you want to hazard a guess? 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:10.560 How many have we done? 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:13.280 How many sermons in the book of Romans? 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:14.960 How many? 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:16.160 15? 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:17.199 More than that? 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:18.319 32? 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:21.199 Who said 32? 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:23.519 It's exactly 32. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:24.319 16. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:29.519 Are you was that you outside my window when I was writing this? 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:35.360 Yeah, it was exactly it was 32 weeks of Romans. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:40.480 Uh now, in comparison to other famous preachers, that's very, very short. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:48.800 Uh, there are other preachers, Martin Lloyd Jones and John Piper and others who have done years in the book of Romans. 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:55.600 So uh look, I don't know whether uh you're thankful for the 32 weeks, but we have come to an end. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:58.800 And we're looking at a list of names, as Isla said to me. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:00.800 She's like, Daddy, it's just a list of names. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:01.839 What are you gonna say? 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:07.040 Yeah, I was asking that question on Tuesday as I was tripping over each of them. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:20.800 But I think actually it's amazing that as we come to it come to an end of a book that is so it's famous, isn't it, for being so doctrinally heavy and dense and weighty. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:26.959 And you know, we have we have we have swam the deep waters of of Romans 9, 10, 11. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:30.639 We have moved through all of those complexities. 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:35.600 And now Paul ends with a list of names. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:44.240 But Paul ends by celebrating the community that all of that doctrine creates. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:54.800 You see, there's a connection between what the gospel is and the kind of community that the gospel creates. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:11.519 That doctrine, what people believe about God, and about the Bible and about Jesus, affects and shapes and impacts how we gather and what it looks like when we gather, the kind of community that we become. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:16.560 Gospel doctrine leads to gospel culture. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:25.920 And in the midst of this list of names, one of the things that Paul is doing is he is celebrating the community of God's people. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:36.560 He's celebrating the kind of culture that the gospel, what he's just been talking about in these last 15 chapters, creates. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:48.959 And maybe you're here this morning and you know the goodness of what it is to be part of a church family and uh you prioritize finding one here in Dublin because you want to experience more of that. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:55.839 And maybe actually you're here and you wouldn't actually call yourself a Christian, but there's something, there's something warm and there's something welcoming. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:05.120 I often have this conversation with with people who wouldn't describe themselves as Christians who would literally come up to me and say things like, I'm not a Christian, but could I come back? 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:07.920 Because I quite like it here. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:15.040 There's something about the community that the gospel creates that is that is inviting. 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:19.360 And if that's where you're at, we're really glad that you're here. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:36.639 I think one of the reasons why the community that the gospel creates is so inviting and so intriguing, and why Paul finishes by celebrating it here is because, well, sin divides. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:39.680 Sin has always divided. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:58.160 Ever since the Garden of Eden, what happens when the man and the woman uh disobey God when they grasp at that thing that they were not supposed to take, when they grasp at autonomy and self-determination, what happens to them? 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:06.879 Well, they hide from one another, they cover their nakedness because they now see it as something to be ashamed of. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:10.959 So that's a division, and they hide themselves from God. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:15.759 So there's division there on the horizontal between the man and the woman, and on the vertical. 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:17.680 I did it the wrong way around, didn't I? 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:21.680 On the horizontal and on the vertical. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:22.160 There we go. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:23.199 I'm a very bad Anglican. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:25.120 Yeah, there we go. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:26.319 That's that's it. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:31.839 Um maybe I'll learn how to do it this evening. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:35.360 Because there's always hiding. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:41.919 And then you read on in Genesis 3, and not only do they hide from one another, but there's there's accusation. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:56.559 There's a kind of running to victimhood and seeing others as the perpetrator, seeing the others as as bad or against us, and and us as innocent victims. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:01.840 And so God comes in Genesis 3 to the man and says, Well, you know, how did you know that you were naked? 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:08.799 And you know, the man's response is the woman you gave me is a double, it's a it's a double victim blaming. 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:13.759 Uh it's a the woman, it's her fault that you gave me. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:20.000 The the woman then says, Well, yeah, actually, I I listened to the to the talking snake. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:21.120 It wasn't my fault. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:24.720 The talking snake came into the garden, and so I listened to to him. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:26.799 Nobody ever accepts any responsibility. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.240 And so this this division continues and continues and continues. 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:32.559 And what happens in Genesis chapter 4? 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:37.200 Well, Cain kills his brother, the ultimate division. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:54.720 He ends his life, and just as sin spreads, this divisiveness, this tribalism, this this enmity and hostility between groupings just grows and blossoms into this toxic flower. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:59.120 And Paul started there in the book of Romans. 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:03.519 Romans chapter one talking about our hostility against God. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:11.360 Romans chapter two talking about how the religious people look down upon the non-religious people. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:19.360 And the non-religious people kind of sneer at the religious people who just think that they're kind of holier than thou. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:37.759 And what happens through the gospel is that God unites together in Himself a new community, a new community that breaks down these barriers that sin sets up. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:44.080 And Paul, in this list of names, celebrates that community. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:11:09.919 And so that's our first point, first of three this morning, is to encourage us as we look around us, as we experience God's gift of new people coming into our midst, as we welcome new folks into our community groups and into our homes, as we as we get to know people over uh over tea and coffee, is to celebrate the community that the gospel creates. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:18.000 We so often, and I say this as the chief of sinners, as the first one uh to admit this. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:24.000 I take this far too much for granted sometimes. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:32.159 And it's been one of the real blessings this week actually to sit back and go, no, no, this is amazing. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:41.519 To think about not only the people who are sitting in front of me, but the people who have who have come before you in the 11 years of City Church. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:48.000 And I think it's right to celebrate what the gospel has done among us. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:59.039 Paul, all the way through this chapter, is is giving shout-out after shout-out to these people who have labored alongside him, who have blessed him, encouraged him, saved his life. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:04.639 That's where you this is where we get the English phrase uh to save my neck comes from. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:06.879 It comes from Romans chapter 16. 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:10.799 They've equipped him, they've served him, they've encouraged him. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:16.320 By and large, we don't know exactly who all of these people are. 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.519 Some are mentioned in uh in the book of Acts. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:22.639 There's something, so one of the names that's mentioned, this is Sybar. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:25.200 One of the names that's mentioned is uh is a guy called Rufus. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:26.960 Um, you'll have seen that there. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:29.519 I can't remember what verse it is because I didn't write any of this down. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:36.960 Uh but one of the things that I was reading this week is that it's possible that Rufus is the one of the two sons of Simon of Cyrene. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:56.720 Because if you read Mark chapter 15, Mark, who was writing in Rome his biography, his gospel, his account of Jesus' life, when it gets to the portion about Simon of Cyrene, you know, the guy who carried the cross for Jesus, it says in Mark's Gospel around about verse 37 that Simon of Cyrene was the father of Alexander and Rufus. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:59.279 So you kind of think, oh, well, why does he put that in? 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:07.840 Well, he's put that in so that the first readers could have confidence in the historic accuracy of the crucifixion. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:12.080 Mark is essentially saying, look, Rufus is known to the children. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:26.799 Like if you don't, if you don't believe that Jesus really was crucified, actually, one of the things that you could do is you could go talk to Rufus and go, hey, was your dad at the feast that Pontius Pilate crucified the guy that everybody else is calling the Christ? 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:28.399 Yeah, like my dad was there. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:30.399 Came home, he's a completely changed man. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:34.639 He carried his cross, and it just really had this deep, profound effect on him. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:40.480 Paul gives a shout out to a guy called Rufus, and maybe, just maybe, he's the son of Simon of Cyrene. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:55.360 So, but by and large, we don't know exactly who this band of gospel change people are, but they're all part of the community of God's people that Paul seeks to celebrate. 00:13:55.679 --> 00:14:05.279 And one of the most beautiful things, as I've been looking at these different names, is that it is a community of genuine diversity. 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:15.200 It's a community where different boundaries and barriers have been broken down, where they've been crossed. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:23.039 You know, when sin when sin divides men and women, we call it sexism. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:31.840 When sin divides white people, black people, Asian people, Latinos, we call it racism. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.639 We're aware of those divisions. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:39.840 Sin also divides between class, doesn't it? 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:43.039 Uh I'm not quite sure what the right sort of ism is there. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:49.519 It might be a kind of a kind of Marxism where where there is a division between the haves and the have-nots. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:54.720 We're very much encouraged to think in those sorts of terms today politically. 00:14:54.879 --> 00:15:03.360 To think of you to think of yourself as somebody who does not have, and to to look with disdain upon those who do have. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:08.320 And that's a class division, an economic division. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:17.840 But Paul here is showing us in the community that the gospel creates, how the gospel actually overcomes each of those divisions. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:26.320 You have the 26 names, 10 of them are women, including Phoebe, who is named first. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:29.519 She's named for and given kind of that first place of honor. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:34.799 She's most likely delivering the letter that Paul has written. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:36.720 And so she is on her way to Rome. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:38.320 Say, receive her. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:44.639 She has been sent with this precious letter that has been preserved in the history of the church. 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:47.759 She probably would have read it out to the people. 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:51.360 And she is not only that, she is a patron. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:56.960 That is somebody who has financially enabled and served Paul's ministry. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:04.799 Paul celebrates her contribution and the contribution of Priscilla, Yulia, Trifina, and Trifosa and others. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:18.799 Because the community that the gospel creates, it doesn't see women as lesser, of lesser value, like in Roman society, where so much was determined by the power that a person had. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:25.919 And that if you were a male Roman citizen, you had far superior power than a female Roman. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:36.559 Paul elevates women because they are not of lesser power or dignity or value, but like men created in the image of God. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:43.679 Similarly, with race, throughout this letter, Paul is mentioning both Jews and Gentiles. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:49.360 He'll talk about my kinsmen, those who share his same ethnic heritage. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:17:01.679 And this is a racial overcoming that that crops up all the way through the New Testament because the conflict between Jew and Gentile was the racial division in the ancient world. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:09.119 We think of it in terms of ethnicity now, but for Paul it was Jews and Gentiles. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:25.519 And yet, one of the things that is encouraged really since uh 14, chapter 14 of this letter, is to maintain the unity of Jews and Gentiles together, to show that the gospel overcomes those racial boundaries. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:30.400 There's no longer any place for racial superiority or pride. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:34.960 The gospel overcomes these class divisions. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:36.400 We mentioned Phoebe. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:47.599 Also Aristobolus and uh Narcissa, that they are uh they are uh uh estate owners, they are household uh owners. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:50.079 So greet the people in the house of Aristobolus. 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:54.000 Narcissa, they were probably people of significant means who own their own property. 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:56.880 Maybe the church met in their homes. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:22.960 So the gospel creates a culture that's free from that resentment of those who have, and similarly for those who do have, that it frees them to be a blessing, to open up their homes and to invite in and to to uh to further the ministries of people like Paul rather than lording it over others. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:36.079 Perhaps you like me take the nature of this new community a little bit for granted among us, but it is worth celebrating. 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:41.920 It is worth celebrating what God has done, is doing amongst us. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:54.079 I was thinking about and thanking God uh this week for uh for those for those people who, for example, are our are deacons in the church or our community group leaders. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:19:05.519 Deacons often labor behind the scenes and uh they they run the teams and they they plug the gaps in the schedule when somebody says, Oh, I'm actually fallen sick today, I can't be there on Sunday. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:08.400 They're the ones who step in very often. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:21.759 The community group leaders are not just the people who open up their homes and who um prepare the Bible studies beforehand, but they're also going to to training and to uh and to being equipped for their service. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:26.799 They're they're just two examples of people who are worthy of honor. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:29.200 There's more amongst us. 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:31.920 And I'm grateful to God for them. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:37.440 I'm grateful to God for for David and his team, who ensures that you can hear me this morning. 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:49.039 Uh for uh Grace and her team as they navigate the premieres and making sure that people are actually they get upstairs uh to get their tea and coffee on days like today and and find their way into screen two. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:20:04.799 For Gus and uh and his team, and they uh as they connect people into the life of the church, and as he helps to uh to promote our social media and uh and use the gifts and talents of people in the church to those ends. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:16.880 Jared sitting up that uh said, well, he's just he's there today, but he's leading a brand new team that has been transformative to the way that we have done visual media in the church. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:19.440 Jackie is now leading hospitality. 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:24.000 She stepped in after Kerri Annie, who we're grateful to God for, but she's gone off to uh to Norway. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:29.200 She went back home, and so Jackie stepped into that breach and she hates to be mentioned. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:39.839 Stefan and his team who is sure that uh that the carpets that I insist be bought when we move to the cinema are placed in the right place every Sunday. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:41.599 None of you care, but I care. 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:44.799 And I'm grateful to God for Stefan and his team. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:56.319 I'm grateful to God for Sarah Mitchell, who transformed our youth ministry and who has now gone to be with her husband in America. 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:02.640 And I'm grateful for Peter and Alana and Nicole, who are stewarding that deposit. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:09.759 As we prayerfully perhaps look forward to appointing another family's worker in the future. 00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:12.000 These people are worthy of honor. 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:21.279 Community group leaders, Owen and Marianna, Anna, and Jenny and Ross and Ross and Ben and Doreen. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:30.480 Not to mention all of the ways that you as members serve, have served in the past and continue to serve. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:34.400 I'm sorry for those times when you feel like it has been taken for granted. 00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:36.319 It does not go unnoticed. 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:42.160 And I celebrate the community that the gospel has created amongst us today. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:47.279 This vast, diverse community. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:59.440 Not only does Paul want us to celebrate the community that the gospel creates amongst us, but he encourages us actually to guard it. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.359 That's my second point too. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:05.759 Guard the community that the gospel creates. 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:12.000 There is a need for vigilance. 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:13.599 Apologies. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:15.359 Pause that. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:17.759 I didn't mention the musicians. 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:19.759 Because I didn't write them down. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:27.680 But it's just got them just, I was like, I was doing a little feedback loop there of, oh, actually, should I do I'm not gonna let them go because Peter will just complain at me and staff. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:31.119 It's just not worth the heartache. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:40.480 Our musicians are you know setting up extra practices of the minute to celebrate for uh uh to practice for carol services. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:42.480 That's a huge undertaking. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:47.759 And uh and Peter this year is taking on the lion's share of the burden of coordinating that. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:56.240 They are able to do things that uh that I could never hope to do, but I am very grateful for. 00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:01.359 So I apologize that I didn't mention you, but I celebrate you this morning. 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:02.319 Thank you. 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:13.119 Paul encourages us to guard the community that the gospel creates, that there is a need for vigilance, because there are things that are going to threaten our unity. 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:20.400 There are things, and you know, Paul says elsewhere that our our labor is not against flesh and blood, right? 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:26.079 That there are there are enemies that would seek to undermine our unity. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:32.880 That sin and rancor, bitterness and discontentment creeps in. 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:45.839 And it causes us to see ourselves as those who have been hard done by, and to see others as those who are uh are acting wrongly towards us. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:52.160 And Paul encourages in verse 17 and following to watch out for those divisions. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:52.720 Why? 00:23:53.039 --> 00:24:00.880 Because they they create obstacles, stumbling blocks that would cause us to falter in our faith. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:12.400 In that context, I think what Paul is talking about is those stumbling blocks of of additional law-keeping, of additional rule keeping. 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:26.079 Yes, you say that you're following Jesus, but actually, if you're really a follower of Jesus, you can't do this, and you can't do this, you can't eat that, or you can't drink that, or you can't go there on the Sabbath. 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:38.000 And Paul's saying, you know, you've got to be careful actually, because those things are those things are stumbling blocks, those things are obstacles that undermine the unity that there is amongst us, because it sets up this two-tier system. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:43.839 You've got the people who observe the rules, and you've got people who don't observe the rules. 00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:46.480 This is what we've been talking about since Romans chapter 14. 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:50.880 And so we've got to be careful about division creeping in. 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:58.400 Paul says that those people come in with uh with flattery, with plausible arguments. 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:04.960 And I think that that is an important warning for us to hear. 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:12.720 The false teachers never come into the church with a uh with a pointy tail and cloven hooves and a pitchfork. 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:23.519 And they come in with smiles, with flattery, with encouraging words, and then things are kind of smuggled in underneath. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:29.680 Oftentimes, what false teachers will do is they'll use the same words but have a different definition to them. 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:32.480 And so it's very hard to spot sometimes. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:36.880 And we can be taken in by that. 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:47.440 Paul encourages us not to be taken in by that what he calls smooth talk and flattery that deceives, deceives the heart of the who? 00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:49.200 The naive. 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:53.279 We have a problem. 00:25:55.519 --> 00:26:07.599 One of the problems, and it comes from a good place, but one of the problems that we have as Christian people is that we prize being nice. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:15.759 We prize niceness as a virtue almost that trumps every other virtue. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:19.440 It is not a Christian virtue. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:21.680 Love is, don't mishear me now. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:23.039 Stay with me. 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:29.920 Love is a virtue, kindness is a virtue, gentleness is a virtue. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:44.640 But all of these things can entail a firmness, uh, a maintaining of grasp upon the truth, a boundary setting. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:52.400 It's one of the things uh that we're that we're helping our kids to understand right now is they navigate friendships. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:27:08.799 That sometimes when when somebody is just speaking words of uh of flattery to manipulate into your life, that actually it is good and right for you to push back on that and go, no, hold on. 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:11.440 You can't actually talk to me like that. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:17.039 This is not, but but we fritz out because we think, well, if I push back, I'm not being nice. 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:19.440 But that's not true. 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:23.440 Actually, you are being loving in apprehending that person. 00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:35.680 So one of the things that we're we're saying to our kids, it's a very live situation with us at the minute, is we say, well, this person who's kind of speaking like this to you, just imagine, you know, they're kind of they're they're young, kind of sub-ten. 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:45.359 Just imagine that every year of their of their life, they just they got just a little bit more selfish and a little bit more controlling and a little bit more manipulative. 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:49.920 And now I imagine that they're really old, like daddy. 00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:53.359 How awful would they be? 00:27:53.839 --> 00:28:06.640 And so it's actually a loving thing, it is a kindness to push back and say, no, no, actually, this is not how our friendship is going to go right now. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:17.440 But we can be so taken in by this commitment to niceness that we swallow things that we oughtn't to swallow, that we get taken in. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:26.720 We stop having hard conversations, challenging people because we don't want to be thought of as mean. 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:28.640 I don't want to be thought of as mean. 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:32.799 I don't want to be thought of as kind of grumpy and cantankerous. 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:35.279 I want you to like me. 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:45.119 But there's such a temptation there, isn't there, to say, actually, my chief governing virtue is to be nice to everybody. 00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:53.759 We need to be careful that we don't end up being flattered in our naivety. 00:28:55.359 --> 00:29:02.720 It is not loving to allow flattering false teaching to continue its destructive path through a church. 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:09.920 The loving thing is to stop those people in their tracks for their own good and for the good of their hearers. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:22.880 Paul in verse 19 says that actually what needs to happen is you need to be more innocent rather than naive and to grow in wisdom. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:24.319 Look at verse 19. 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:33.839 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. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:36.640 What is the opposite of naivety? 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:39.200 It's wisdom. 00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:47.839 In the Lord's providence, one of the things that uh that we're going to be going into, and Peter could not be more excited. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:51.920 Uh honestly, he is doing a jig in preparation. 00:29:52.240 --> 00:30:03.119 Uh, from January through to at least Easter, possibly beyond, we're going to spend a whole bunch of time in the book of Proverbs, looking at wisdom. 00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:07.920 We hadn't, we had planned that before coming uh to Romans chapter 16. 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:19.839 But isn't it interesting that actually as Paul concludes this book on doctrine and theology that's heavy and weighty, when he's saying, okay, what's your next steps, church? 00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:24.400 Where do you need to go after you get a grounding in gospel doctrine? 00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:25.599 What do you need? 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:27.359 You need wisdom. 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:29.119 You need wisdom. 00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:33.920 You need to know how best to apply these things that you've learned. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:36.400 You need to grow in wisdom. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:41.839 Uh, Proverbs doesn't use the word naive, it uses the word simple. 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:44.799 It says that we're all a bit simple. 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:55.839 Uh, and that every now and again we come to this fork in the road, and we have a choice of whether or not to choose wisdom or to choose folly, foolishness. 00:30:56.319 --> 00:31:08.240 So this is just this by way of trailer to say that actually one of the things that we're concerned for you, for us, after this weighty book, is actually to grow in wisdom together. 00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:12.240 I think that chimes with what Paul desires for us. 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:28.079 The final thing to say this morning, so we've been saying celebrate the community that uh the gospel creates, to guard the community that the gospel creates, and then finally to participate in the community that the gospel creates. 00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:39.839 There are two things here that in participating in the community that the gospel creates, Paul says that we defeat Satan. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:42.240 It's a very odd little verse. 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:53.440 But he says, uh, he says it here in verse 20 that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. 00:31:54.160 --> 00:32:03.519 Not the God of peace, well, I mean there's lots of it, not the God of war is going to come and crush Satan under his nail-pierced feet. 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:05.920 No, the God of peace. 00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:10.880 God is going to crush violent Satan. 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:16.640 Not under his feet, under your feet. 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:24.400 How does God crush Satan by peace under your feet? 00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:25.519 What's going on? 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:26.960 I think it's this. 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:31.519 Remember what we were talking about at the start? 00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:42.960 That what Satan loves and what sin does is it creates division and hostility between the people. 00:32:46.400 --> 00:33:02.799 Then the gospel comes in and forgives our sin by his grace and unites us into a new family and reconciles us, brings peace between us and God, and between us and one another. 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:10.960 It is that peace expressed in the church that defeats the enemy. 00:33:11.359 --> 00:33:20.720 The community that the gospel creates pushes back the darkness and division that there is in our world just a little bit every Sunday. 00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:28.160 The God of peace, not the God of vengeance. 00:33:29.119 --> 00:33:40.799 It is as God brings peace between us and himself and between races and classes and sexes, that Satan is crushed by our unity. 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:45.039 Satan is crushed by our harmony. 00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:55.599 Satan is crushed every time he doesn't get a foothold to continue to sow division and rancor and hostility and hatred. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:09.039 Folks, if there's anybody here this morning who has just kind of got on your nerves, and you're just you're just holding it. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:18.400 And you're just gonna kind of keep on coming to city and go about your life, but you're just really don't not really ever gonna speak to them again. 00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:19.920 You're just gonna let it go. 00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:23.679 That's not crushing Satan. 00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:27.920 That's letting let it that's that's letting Satan get a foothold. 00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:37.199 That's the germ of something that could destroy what is being built here by God's grace. 00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:40.159 If I if that's you, if you're just like, do you know what? 00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:53.920 I've been holding this, and I need to tell you so that we can reconcile, so that we together can crush Satan by the peace that we create between one another. 00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:55.679 Do it today. 00:34:56.800 --> 00:34:59.599 Do it while we're singing, we're singing three songs at the end, right? 00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:03.519 Don't come and take the Lord's Supper until you've had that conversation. 00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:06.480 Because the Lord's Supper is a sign of your peace together. 00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:14.719 And that you're crushing Satan by our unity in the gospel. 00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:18.400 Have that conversation in the first song. 00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:22.239 Say, look, I've been holding this, forgive me, or I've been holding this. 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:25.039 Did you recognize that this is happening? 00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:27.440 Could we could we pray? 00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:30.480 And then what a wonderful thing it would be. 00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:32.880 And maybe actually, maybe you can't do it today. 00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:35.679 Maybe it's all, maybe it needs a longer conversation. 00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:42.960 But maybe you don't take the Lord's Supper today, and then you have the conversation with the person, you both come down next week. 00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:54.800 What a joy that would be to go, actually, I was holding this stuff, and now we're crushing Satan under our feet by showing the peace and the unity that we have. 00:35:56.079 --> 00:35:58.480 That would be such a powerful thing. 00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:13.519 Let's push back the darkness by our love, our unity, our concern for one another, our willingness to forgive one another and to be forgiven in our service of one another and the gospel. 00:36:14.400 --> 00:36:21.280 Participate in the community of God's people, and by doing so, defeat Satan. 00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:27.039 And then finally, participate in the community of God's people and bring glory to God. 00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:30.239 Paul ends with this beautiful doxology. 00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:31.920 Let me read it in its entirety. 00:36:32.239 --> 00:36:58.960 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, but has now been disclosed 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 Christ. 00:36:59.280 --> 00:36:59.920 Amen. 00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:04.480 Paul ends by giving glory to God. 00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:05.360 Why? 00:37:07.440 --> 00:37:10.320 Because the book of Romans is all about the grace of God. 00:37:11.440 --> 00:37:15.119 The gospel, the good news of Jesus is all about the grace of God. 00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:22.000 That we have our sins forgiven by the grace of God, that we become members of the household of God by his grace. 00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:26.880 We're established and strengthened in him by the grace of God. 00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:31.039 We are community together by the grace of God. 00:37:31.280 --> 00:37:44.159 And if the gospel is all about the grace of God, and not about anything that we contribute, if it's all only ever about his grace, then it's all only ever for his glory. 00:37:45.440 --> 00:37:48.400 That is why Paul concludes the way he does. 00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:56.880 Every one of us who is Christian here today has been saved by the grace of God, and therefore for the glory of God. 00:37:57.440 --> 00:38:04.159 We have been brought together as a church by the grace of God and therefore for the glory of God. 00:38:05.039 --> 00:38:11.440 When we worship together, it is by the grace of God and for the glory of God. 00:38:12.559 --> 00:38:24.079 May God bless the last 32 weeks that we have spent in this magnificent transformational letter that has just changed the lives of people all the way through the history of the church. 00:38:25.119 --> 00:38:34.159 And may any and all of the fruit that is born of it be as a result of his grace and be for his glory. 00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:54.559 If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, visit our website found in the links below.