What the Gospel Does

Knowledge without practice is pointless.

God:

1. The Gospel Elevates Ordinary People (Romans 16:1-2)

   1. Phoebe: A servant (diakonon)
   2. A Woman who served (is she a deacon?) who knows.
   3. You do not have to have the office to use the gift.
   4. Application: Are you serving Christ by serving the Church? And you doing all you can to minister to the members of the body of Christ, especially at Calvary?

2. The Gospel Extends Itself in Shared Ministry (Romans 16:3-7,9-16)

1. Prisa and Aquila: Teachers of the Gospel.They taught Apollos who became a mighty proclaimer of the Gospel. (Acts 18:26-28)
2. Epaenetus: The first convert in Asia
3. Mary: Worked hard for the Church in Rome
4. Andronicus and Junia: Two men who were also imprisoned and were saved longer than Paul. They were well known to the Apostles (implies maturity, humility, teachers, and servants)
5. Ampliatus: Paul’s beloved in the Lord
6. Urbanus: fellow worker in Christ
7. Stachys: unknown but close to Paul
8. Apelles: Approved in Christ
9. Aristobulus: not greeted by Paul, maybe not a Christian. One scholar thinks he may have been he brother of Herod Agrippa I and the grandson of Herod the Great. J. Herodian: Paul’s kinsman, related to the Herod family
10. Narcissus: May have been the secretary to Emperor Claudius. If so, two families had Christians within the palace at Rome. (Philippians 4:22)
11. Tryphaena and Tryphosa: Possible twin sisters whose names mean “delicate” and “dainty”.
12. Persis: a woman named after her native Persia, may have been older since she is spoken of in the past tense.
13. Rufus and his mother: scholars generally agree this is the son of Simon the Cyrene, who carried Jesus cross. Likely saved through that contact. Mark records this event and wrote his letter in Rome after Paul wrote this one. Chosen in the Lord equals elected to salvation. Cyrene’s wife, Rufus’ mother, at some time had cared for Paul.
14. Brothers (and Sisters): These names represent outstanding leaders in the assemblies at Rome.

3. The Gospel Expresses itself through Love (Romans 16:16)

1. Kissing a friend on the forehead, cheek or beard was common in the OT. The Jews in the NT church continued the tradition. It became especially precious to new believers, outcasts from their own families because of their faith, are accepted into the kinship of the family of God.

4. The Gospel Exposes those who oppose it (Romans 16:17-20)

1. We covered this in an earlier sermon.

2. Love means we warn those we love of the dangers they face.

3. There are those who undermine Christianity through false teaching and practices that undermine the truth.

4. Genuine love stands ever ready and watchful, ready to forgive evil, but never to ignore or condone it.

5. The Gospel Envelops Fellow Workers (Romans 16:21-23)

6. Timothy: a fellow worker, who also wants to greet those at Rome. Along with kinsmen of Paul,

6. The Gospel Explodes in Praise to Jesus (Romans 16:25-27)

1. Summarizes the Entire book of Romans.