It's time to be the people of God

I couldn't sleep so I got up and read the last 10 chapters of Romans. Wow, a lot of wonderful truths are contained in this powerful letter!

Believe it or not, chapter 16 brought me to tears. Yes, I know that's the chapter with all the greetings. "Hello from all us here and please say hello to all those I know in Rome," Paul says (paraphrased of course).

What's so beautiful about all these hellos is the marvelous nature of what it means to be the people of God. Often when we are exorted to "be the people of God" the emphasis is on the God portion. Today I want to exhort you with an emphasis on the "people" part, because to call God "Abba" (Romans 8:15) is to call many brother and sister.

Being God's people means working together. "Greet Pricilla and Aquilla my fellow workers in Christ" (16:3). "Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you" (16:6). "Greet Urbanos, our co-worker in Christ" (16:9). There's more, but I think you get the picture. Our Father, as Jesus put it, is always at work (John 5:17) and as his people we need to be working in the family business. This means working together.

Being God's people means affirming one another. Notice Paul's words of encouragement and recognition: "they are outstanding among the apostles (16:7), "my dear friend in the Lord" (16:8), "whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test" (16:10). One of the purposes of the church to love and build it up the church, not tear it down. "A house divided against itself cannot stand" (Mark 3:25) and a church divided against itself cannot stand. We must be a people who build each other up, yes in our local communities, but also broadly. We are not a perfect people and it is fine and good to recognize our faults so that the Holy Spirit can do his work in us. Yet, we must be careful of caustic criticism that is devoid of all love and grace. The days are coming, and I believe are already here, when we will have many enemies from without, let us not have enemies within.

Being God's people means practicing hospitality. "Gauis, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy..." (16:23). Now this may not sound as spiritual as the first two, but bear with me. It may be the most spiritual of all. To practice hospitality is to share and sharing is a manifestation of the love of God. It is truly supernatural beause the natural is selfish. We can work together and build each other up and still remain a group of individuals . Yet, when we share, we put to death the old man, and give expression to very essence of the gospel, sacrificial giving. If we want the power of the New Testament church, we must live in community as they did. Practicing hospitality is especially important today as so many of our brothers and sisters are struggling financially. If we do not love and care for our own, we discredit the gospel we preach. So I encourage you to practice radical hospitality.

I encourage you to build each other up, radically. I encourage you to put aside your differences and work together to preach the gospel to all nations. Basically, I encourage you to be the people of God.