Romans 16, 17
Willie Barclay was fond of translating passages of the New Testament in a way that he felt made it easier for people to understand.
Listen then to his translation of the verses 17 -20, "Brothers, I urge you to keep your eye on those who, contrary to the teaching which they have received cause dissensions and put in your way things which would trip you up. Steer clear of them. Such men are not real servants of Christ, our Lord; they are the servants of their own greed. By their plausibility and their flattery they deceive the hearts of the innocent folk. I know you will deal with such people, for the story of your obedience has reached all men. So, then, I rejoice over you. I want you to be wise in what is good and untainted with what is evil. The God of peace will soon overthrow Satan so that you may trample him under your feet. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you."
Paul here in the closing lines of his letter to the Roman Church urges them once again to protect themselves from all that is evil in their midst. There are those who are causing dissensions by their actions. And as is made clear in the New Testament teaching anyone who disturbs the peace of a church will have much to answer for before the throne of God. There are people who seem to take a perverse pride in making trouble, in gossiping, in sowing poisonous seeds, - such people says Paul are to be shunned we are to keep away from them, we are to avoid them, we are to steer clear of them - and these are people in the church! For such people are not of God says Paul and they will one day answer to God.
They are people who put hindrances in the way of others. Anyone who makes it harder for someone else to be a christian will have a lot to answer for. People whose influence within the church sets a bad example, whose teaching or life style dilutes the gospel. The punishment that will befall such people will not be light do you remember for example the words of Jesus in Matthew 18, "whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in he depth of the sea."
And in a week that has seen our holiday club functioning and sharing the gospel with young people we need to be especially mindful of these matters. Paul tells us to be wise about what is good and innocent in what is evil or as Willie Barclay put it, "untainted by what is evil".
Now one thing must be learned today from this passage. Paul expects them to deal with the trouble makers. He expects them to stamp on the spark before it becomes a fire. Such a thing is easy when it is a spark but so hard to deal with when everything is ablaze. Paul finishes with these words, "And God our source of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.". These are words of action words of conquest words of victory. This is the way peace will come. It is to be likened to the last War - men tried for peace by appeasement but peace only came through war a war to crush evil. We know that there are those who wrongly interpret scripture and seek the kind of peace that comes from evading issues, refusing to male decisions and shutting eyes to things that need dealt with. This is not the kind of peace we are called to make in the church. The peace of God does not submit to the world but rather overcomes the world. And in all of this there is a valuable lesson to be learned about how we should behave in the church today._
And so with these final fervent warning Paul begins to draw the letter to a close. Those working and travelling with Paul now chip in and send their greetings and even the letter writer, the scribe who has faithfully taken down Paul's thoughts slips in his own personal greeting at verse 22 where we read, "I Tertius, the writer of this letter, send you Christian greetings." One of the really interesting little snippets is the way in which Paul slips in little comments about people in passing. Little summaries. Here is Gaius, his host and the man with an open door, here we find Quartus whom Paul calls his brother. That's all we know about them two thousand years on. Gaius the man with the open door and a man of hospitality and Quartus the brother. As Willie Barclay put it - "some day people will sum us up in one sentence. What will that sentence be?"
And now at last the letter is over and we come to the concluding prayer of praise to almighty God. It reads:
"Let us give glory to God. He is able to make you stand firm in your faith, according to the Good News I preach about Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the secret truth which was hidden for long ages in the past. Now however, that truth has been brought out into the open through the writings of the prophets; and by the command of the eternal God it is made known to all nations, so that all may believe and obey.
To the only God, who alone is all wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever! Amen!"
It is many months since we began together to study the greatest of all the letters we have from Paul. It is my fervent hope and prayer that what we have shared together has been faithful to the word of God and that as we have shared these thoughts so we have grown together in our faith, in our understanding and in our love of the Lord.