Ranch Community Church is in the second week of a series of messages, small group discussions, and personal reflection on what each of us need to do तो be in alignment with God’s vision for our church – thus fulfilling the heart of God. Below are my reflections, not my finished thoughts, on this week’s passage and questions.
As I read through Romans 16, this week’s passage in our “Fulfilling the Heart of God” journal, three things caught my attention.
Personal Relationships
First, I noted the large number of people to whom Paul was personally connected or knew about. In this one chapter I counted twenty-nine individuals or groups to whom Paul sent greetings or in some way praised. (That does not include the eight people mentioned as having been with Paul when he dictated this letter.) This is astonishing since, as far as I know, Paul had not previously visited Rome. In fact, it was only one of two churches in Paul’s letters that were not “planted” by him. I’ve never thought of Paul as a “people-person,” but it seems clear he was.
Hard Work
Second, more than once I saw phrases that involved the words “worked hard.” I also saw the words “tested and approved,” in his references to individuals. I am not exactly sure how these people worked hard or how they were tested, but it is interesting to note that hard work was a part of church life even in that first generation of Christ-followers. We sometimes choose not to do things as a church, because we feel it is asking too much of people. It’s almost as if we are trying to orient ourselves around all the other stuff that goes on in our lives rather than orienting our lives around what’s truly important, a life with God. We would never want to become insensitive to what’s going on in people’s lives, but there does seem to be some truth in the idea that we squeeze our life with God’s people in around everything else, effectively giving it a much lower priority than we should. I’m not sure we should ever apologize for expecting people to work hard for the benefit of the rest of the church.
Unity of Thought
Third, I noticed an emphasis on unity. Beginning in verse 17 Paul warns them to be on the lookout for people who “cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.” Obviously the warnings about division are about protecting the unity of the Christ-followers. However, the encouragement to not stray from what they had learned about the Gospel could also be seen as protecting the unity of the group. Obviously, knowing what we believe and bringing our lives into compliance with those beliefs is important for what it brings to us in terms of eternal and full life. However, striving to maintain the integrity of the truth they have learned was also important in maintaining their relationships – their unity. If they began to differ in what they believed, it would certainly have an impacted in their relationships with each other.
Their Connectedness
The theme I see, if I am not working too hard to “force” several paragraphs into one theme, is about the connectedness of these early Christ-followers to each other. They had strong personal ties, they worked hard for the benefit of the church which is the same as saying the worked hard for each other’s benefit, and they had integrity as a group as they sought to remain true to what they had learned – letting no one disrupt their unity.
Answering the Questions
None of this is possible without a relationship with Christ. Only in Christ can we put to death our selfish, prideful desires that would cause us to be only about our selves than to be about each other. Only in Christ can I become the kind of person who seeks to benefit others rather than to simply be benefitted by them. I suppose that would be my answer to the question posed for the week and the one I added last Sunday. How do we benefit from our relationship with God, and how do others benefit from their relationship with us. At the very least, it’s a start to answering the questions.
