nine crucial women

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

Romans 16:13

For those who erroneously teach that Paul was disrespectful and down putting to women, I offer Romans 16 as evidence of their own prejudicial agenda. Of the more than twenty-five people mentioned in the closing chapter of the book of Romans, more than one third of them are women! The most prominent and the very first person mentioned was Phoebe — the apostolic envoy and patron of Paul’s missionary work who probably carried the epistle with her to deliver to the church personally from Paul’s hand, to hers, to them (Romans 16:1-2). Who then are the other notable, commended, and prominent women Paul encourages in their service to the Kingdom?

• Prisca/Priscilla (Romans 16:3). The tent-making fellow laborer with Paul alongside her husband Aquila (see Acts 18, 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19). She is evidently in Rome, perhaps forerunning Paul’s impending visit as an advance team member.
• Mary (Romans 16:6). She is commended for hard work in the Roman church community.
• Junia (Romans 16:7). She appears to have endured imprisonment as a church leader.
• Tryphaena (Romans 16:12). She is called a worker in the Lord.
• Persis (Romans 16:12). She is called beloved and also a hard worker.
• The mother of Rufus (Romans 16:13). Though unnamed, Paul considers and respects her like his own mother.
• Julia (Romans 16:15). Although no other detail is shared about her, she is singled out for respect simply by being recognized by name by Paul.
• The sister of Nereus (Romans 16:15). Again, though not named, Paul still considers her worth calling attention to for her role in the Roman church. Her church would have known why she was being honored in this way.

The church needs women to serve the Body of Christ, support the work of ministry, and advance the gospel with their abilities. They serve in vital, commendable roles. They bring unique talents, perspectives, and gifts in service to their Lord and King! And churches that refuse to enlist sisters in their rightful service alongside men are being disrespectful to God’s wonderful design and are hurting the advance of the gospel. Lest you think this post is egalitarian and supportive of female ordination, I would say that clearly in scripture there are unique roles (elders/pastors/overseers) for only male leadership in the church, but not at all at the expense or ridicule of women… EVER! Thank God we all are equipped and placed into Christ’s service!

authentic intercession

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf…

Romans 15:30

There is a lot more about intercessory prayer than we may realize at first reflection. Yes, it is about praying for and with someone else. However, in this short description in this one verse, before Paul explains his specific prayer need to the Roman church, he describes the need for intercessory prayer to be FOR a beneficiary. He also describes the true benefactors behind such prayer.

Let’s begin with the beneficiary. Paul was not ashamed to ask specific prayer requests for himself. He needed it. His ministry was empowered by such prayer. His plans were yielded to prayer. He expected these Roman Christians, whom he had yet to visit in their home church, to pray specifically “to God on my behalf.” For the person who truly prays for others, intercessory prayer is not self-concerned. It focuses those who offer it on the real needs of other people. It builds mutual ministry. It keeps us all humble… recognizing our need for God to be at work so we can do His good work. We are all dependent on the power and the provision of God for everything we have and we do!

Yet the power behind such intercession is not mere human effort. We all have to yield to the true benefactors of our intercession for others. God the Father is the Person to Whom we ask our requests. God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, provides the means and authority by which we can then pray so boldly. The love of the Holy Spirit connects our hearts to the hearts of those for whom we intercede. It is nothing less than every Person of the Godhead in the Holy Trinity that grants us the power to pray and enacts the answers for our intercessions.

And so Lord, as I pray for others today I ask You, Father, to work on their behalf. Jesus, it is by Your saving work and in Your authority that I even dare to ask for them. Spirit, I ask in the love that You have given all Christians that has bound my heart to others so that I truly care for the needs of my brothers and sisters. And so I pray.

Amen

pleasing relationships

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

Romans 15:2

What drives my relationships? Why do I interact with people? What do I hope to cultivate in relationships with people around me? How do I treat those whom I see each day? Am I open with some folks, treating them favorably, while remaining indifferent or uncaring to other people?

These questions come to mind as I reflect on this simple exhortation Paul gives Christians here in the fifteenth chapter of Romans. The command comes on the heels of a broader discussion about Christian liberty and differences of opinion among believers. Paul defuses a hot button issue in the early church (eating meat that had been slaughtered in ritual offering to a pagan deity) and calls the church to a deeper love. He teaches about differences of conscience. We should honor our consciences (even as they may differ) within the church when such beliefs are not entrenched in either hate or legalistic self-righteousness. We do so in order to build unity in the church: the Body and the Bride of Christ. The church is beautiful when people respect and defer to conscience with one another. It is ugly when people fight over such matters.

To “please my neighbor for his good” means that my relational commitments MUST be built around getting to know and respect people individually. I must reject my assumptions. How can I see their good if I don’t know their needs, desires, and commitments? The church should be lively, interactive, vulnerable, and open. People must know and learn each other well. We should give insights to one another at a deeper level than just “news, weather, and sports” conversation. We should know each other’s hearts.

What should drive me is this: I will let you into my world and I want to be part of your world also. And as we truly know one another, we can care for each other well. Superficiality should never be our experience! I want to build you up! I want God to use you to make me a better man, to lead me deeper in understanding Jesus. I want to adore Jesus AND the beauty of His Bride, the Church. May these relational commitments drive Christians to Christ and to each other!

a love to define me

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 13:10

Love is the attribute that should define all relationships with all people. That is what Romans 13:8-14 is telling us. Christians are called to love one another within the Church, the Body of Christ. But much more than in church, we must embody the love of Christ outside in all of our lives! Paul has been arguing this point in the broader context starting in Romans 12:9. Here’s the bulleted list (Hang on… it’s long!):

• Love has to be genuine. It can’t be faked. (Romans 12:9).
• Love abhors evil, clings to righteous living. (Romans 12:9)
• Brotherly affection guides Christians to love one another. (Romans 12:10)
• Love drives the ultimate “competition”: Outdo one another in honoring each other! (Romans 12:10)
• Love creates a fervent spirit of service and rejects lazy forms of spirituality. (Romans 12:11)
• Love focuses on serving Christ when serving others. (Romans 12:11)
• Love brings hope, patience, and constant prayer. (Romans 12:12)
• Love is generous financially. (Romans 12:13)
• Love is hospitable. (Romans 12:13)
• Love blesses even those who hate and persecute believers. (Romans 12:14)
• Love enters willingly into both joys and pains of others. (Romans 12:15)
• Love is harmonious, not proud, not standoffish, and not hypocritical. (Romans 12:16)
• Love seeks peace. (Romans 12:17-21)
• Love submits to civil authority. (Romans 13:1-7)
• Love fulfills all the law by loving neighbor as self. (Romans 13:8-10)
• Love “puts off” sins of the flesh with all seriousness and “puts on” the attitudes and actions of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 13:11-14)

O Lord,

Lead me to keep loving like this… loving like You do with Your love. You love the world. You love Your Church. You love those lost in darkness. You love the broken and the hurting. You love me. May my love reflect Yours until I am with You forever!

Amen

Zion’s Strength

Walk about Zion, go around her,

number her towers,

consider well her ramparts,

go through her citadels,

that you may tell the next generation

that this is God,

our God forever and ever.

He will guide us forever.

Psalm 48:12-14

Walk God’s city, hike His holy hill

take in Zion’s beauty and wonder if you will

at the greatness of our Lord

He has drawn His mighty sword

sworn in covenant to defend

His rescued people as their friend

Go around the walls, take in the view

consider a faithful God as you do

in covenant He will never fail

for His people He will prevail

Towers numbered filled with power

Ramparts raised each day and hour

Held in Zion’s mighty citadel

raised to withstand the fires of hell

secure by His glory and His might

no foe can approach us or affright

Our God is always at our defense

His strength and wisdom are immense

Tell it to a coming generation

that God defends His holy station

Zion stands while this world will fall

because His eternal power controls it all

by His strength we will stand

follow His almighty decree and command

Forever God is strength and song

always confident He will lead us along

Zion stands tall above rubble and stone

holiness rules over what Christ will atone

never alone in God’s towers we abide

Christ is for us… at our side

I’m nothing special.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?”

Romans 11:34-35

God needs none of us. God owes none of us. The quicker we realize that grace is not an entitlement, the better we are positioned to truly worship God and serve others. 

I’m nothing special. By that I mean this: I’ve done nothing to impress God… to make Him draft me for His kingdom based on my performance. Anything that is good in me is there solely because Christ has redeemed me. Anything productive, attractive, or noticeable in my character or achievement has come about by God’s transformative work in Christ alone. I brought nothing to that process. I needed saving, renewing, rebuilding, and equipping. All of that was done in Christ, with His Word and His Spirit doing everything! I brought only a broken mess to Him. That’s all I have ever done. It’s what I still do!

I don’t tell God what He should do. In fact, my worst prayers may demand of Him. My best prayers, however, while offering complaint or lament, are tempered with a yielded firm trust that God does indeed control me and knows what He is doing. He never needs any counsel, let alone my warped, selfish perspective! But I need His! And as I have heeded it, only then can I say something good has been done by Him through me. His mind is amazing! His thoughts are far beyond me! His purposes are so much deeper! His ways are not mine, but are always acting for my best and for His glory.

I don’t give or serve to try to manipulate God. I can’t. My gifts are meager… a child’s popsicle stick creation compared to His glorious gifts to me. I don’t serve Him to get what I want. I follow Jesus instead so that His desires will control my desires. I yield to His will, even when I must accept trial and suffering. My circumstances under His guidance will end with a result that is infinitely good and infinitely greater than my plan.

I don’t know His mind except to yield to His thoughts in the revelation of His Word. I don’t give to get back, yet He showers me with gracious care ALL THE TIME! Thank You, Lord!

remembrance of future hope

He will swallow up death forever;

and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 25:18

The promise of the prophecy of a perfect future of comfort and peace is very personally felt. All of us have lost at least one person we love in death. It could be a grandparent, a parent, a spouse, a child, or a close friend. Whenever death takes away a love, it leaves behind a unique and powerful pain like nothing else we feel. Grief always sees the chasm left behind by missing love. Fear makes us shudder with the realization that one day we too will be torn from those who love us by death’s relentless assault. But… God will eventually swallow up death forever. It will be eclipsed by eternal life. Jesus has made the way for death to be no more. We will experience a new heavens and a new earth. That is a kind of existence only God can make. By faith, with hope, we look to that day.

Tears of grief will one day be no more. I find that to be the sweetest promise… God tenderly wiping away my deeply shed tears. There is not a day I don’t cry at least a little… broken by the way death has stolen love and joy from me. Yet there is ALWAYS a comfort among the tears… always… without fail! I know whom I have lost is truly not lost. Heaven holds whom I miss. Jesus confidently is the hope of being together again! I can go on in this life knowing my tears will one day be wiped clear and death will forever be an ancient history… eternity is what lasts! Eternal life energizes me at the remembrance of future hope.

Lord,

I will trust that the reproach of loss is taken away by Jesus. I may miss the life that death has stolen, but I also know You have defeated death. You have already begun new life by Your resurrection from the dead. You have seen and You comfort all sorrows. I will hold then to the peace that You have spoken!

Amen