How do you keep a church strong? The Apostle Paul gives (3) clear ways in his close to the book of Romans (16:17-27). First, guard the unity of the church against “those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learn.” Watch out for smooth talkers who flatter and “avoid them.” Second, show grace, love, and care for your fellow saints. We see this pictured as believers, from some 800 miles away, sent kind greetings to the church at Rome. Third, establish the church by preaching Jesus Christ. Paul’s clear implication is, without sound preaching, the church will be weak and malnourished, but with it they will be grounded and strong.
Sermon: https://churchandfamilylife.com/sermons/698979860df6c37ba98e6e44
The last words in Romans really show us how to keep a church strong. And in these verses, there's a warning, and we'll call it a warm embrace, and then a doxology, a prayer, and a specific direction on how to keep a church strong. First of all, he says, guard the unity of the church. He says, now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses and avoid them. This comes after a beautiful section in Romans 16, one through 16, where you have over 30 people mentioned in the way that they're ministering in the church in Rome.
So after all this beauty, after this family portrait of real people and real love and real labor, Paul says, this can be destroyed. So he issues a really urgent warning. He says, I urge you. And the apostle wants the Romans to understand that they don't need to wait for trouble to arrive to prepare for it. So he's setting expectations ahead of time so that people are alert to this problem.
He's defining what is a shared duty of the church, not just the elders, but the whole body. And he is talking about those who cause divisions. And he says, mark them. In other words, make sure you understand what they're doing and then avoid them. This is not lack of love, this is care for the body, because from time to time, people will arise to cause divisions in local churches, and they might be doctrinal contentions, and they might be offenses where you have unloving, unbiblical, unkind behavior, lack of forgiveness and slander and things like that.
And these people, the Apostle describes them as smooth talkers. They flatter. The problem is they serve themselves, he says their God is their belly. And he says that you should be aware that they target the simple, the naive, maybe the unformed in their thinking. And the Apostle Paul says, here's what you do with this disease, you quarantine it.
Paul here makes a promise. He says the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. In other words, if you take action, if you mark and avoid, the result is protection and peace. The second set of verses here in Romans 16 is a picture of affection. There are believers in Corinth where Paul is, and they are greeting the church in Rome.
It's about 800 miles away, And you have these ordinary believers who play different roles in the church, and they're aware of the Roman church, so they're sending their greetings. You know, one person has a church in his house, and another hosted Paul, Paul's scribe who dictated his letter, even a government official, Erastus. These are people you've not heard of, but God knows them by name. The third thing that the Apostle Paul says here in these verses, and this is the doxology, his final prayer in the book of Romans and he tells the Roman Church what makes them strong and it is the preaching of the word of God. He says, now to him who is able to establish you through the preaching of Jesus Christ.
And what he's saying is that the strength of the believer is dependent upon the preaching. Good preaching makes for strong believers. And the language that the apostle uses has to do with being made steady, being made rooted and grounded and settled. Not like the unmoored mind, the man who's unstable in all his ways. No, this man who is edified by preaching is strong.
Preaching must be central in local churches. And really shallow preaching or a lack of devotion to preaching, it just creates spiritual anemia and a malnourished church that can't fight disease. But Paul is saying that the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the ministry of the apostles and the prophets, this is what the church needs to hear. And it makes people dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. And then Paul ends the letter in praise to God for what God does and he says, to God alone wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever.
Amen. And the Apostle Paul is just simply giving thanks for what God has done. And I think he's reflecting back on his entire letter all the way back to Romans chapter 1. As from that moment on the Apostle Paul describes what God has done through Jesus Christ. And so he says, to God alone wise be glory.
And then he ends it with, amen, so be it. Yes, Lord, that everything be done for the glory of God in the Church of Jesus Christ, including these protective measures. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Scripture applied as a production of Church and Family Life. Visit churchandfamilylife.com for more resources.
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