Brown's Daily Word 6-18-09

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. It rained torrentially last night. The Lord heats the earth; He also waters it abundantly. We had a great mid-week service of sweet fellowship and provoking Bible study and prayer last evening. I came home blessed and inspired.
This morning I am looking at Chapter 16 of Romans. In Romans 16, the Apostle Paul is concluding a letter to the Christians in Rome. The first 15 chapters of Romans provide a theological discussion of what it means to live for God as a devoted disciple of Jesus. Chapter 16, however, is completely different. Using words, Paul created snapshots of more than thirty of his brothers and sisters in Christ. He did so by sending greetings to the Christians he knew in that city or by telling them hello from the Christians who were with him. Through those greetings we see snapshots of people who help us understand what it means to be a contagious Christians.
We read in Revelation chapter 3 that the Risen Lord is not pleased with lukewarm Christians, though He still loves them. He calls Christians to be full of fire and zeal, and to be contagious and fermenting with the power of the Holy Spirit. In the first portrait offered by Paul in Romans 16, Paul showed us “Our sister Phoebe, a deacon in the church.” Paul told the Roman Christians that Phoebe would be visiting them soon and that they should, “ receive her in the Lord, as one who is worthy of high honor. Help her in every way you can, for she has helped many in their needs, including me.” Form a picture in your mind of mother Teresa of Calcutta and you'll see Phoebe. She did not clothe herself in fine clothes or expensive jewelry. Further, she was as tough looking as Paul and as tenderhearted as Jesus. In Paul’s economy, Phoebe was worthy of high honor because she had suffered for Jesus, and even in the midst of her suffering had continued to serve her brothers and sisters in Christ. She was a portrait, according to Paul, of contagious enthusiasm for Jesus and his church. Then Paul gave a portrait of ‘Priscilla and Aquila’. They were obviously deeply in love, yet are not with each other; they were gazing out upon a hurting and fallen world. “They risked their lives for me,” Paul tells us. Then he continued, “I am not the only one who is thankful to them; so are all the Gentile churches.” What does it tell you about the heart and soul of someone who would risk his or her life for you? What does that tell you about what it means to have a contagious enthusiasm for Jesus? Third, Paul revealed to us a picture of his dear friend Epenetus. He did not say much about Epenetus, but simply that he “was the very first person to become a Christian in the province of Asia.” Isn’t it incredible to know the name of the very first person that accepted Christ in the area now known as Turkey? That takes us back to the very beginning of the Christian faith. Paul went on to show us a portrait of Andronicus and Junia, who were like a family to him when they were in prison together for being Christians. “They are respected among the apostles and became Christians before I did,” said Paul. In prison with Paul for being Christians means that they stood strong in the face of religious persecution and went to jail rather than denying their faith.
Paul listed name after name, description after description, and sent greeting after greeting. He closed the book as of to say, “that’s what it means to be a contagious congregation where disciples exude a contagious enthusiasm for Jesus. That’s what it means to be Christian.” In Romans 16 we see verbal portraits of the contagious enthusiasm for Jesus. A bigger picture begins to form of people who love Jesus and each other so deeply that they would risk their lives for one another and who would rather go to jail than deny their faith in Jesus. We get a picture of women working alongside men as equals in the gospel, in a culture that saw women as property. We get a picture of a people like Tryphena and Tryphosa, who saw themselves as the Lord’s workers. In fact, we see very clearly that these early contagious Christians were anything but passive recipients of Paul’s ministry. We get the picture that the church was an enthusiastic group of people who did everything for the glory of God because they had themselves experienced the saving love of Jesus Christ. Here were contagious Christians who enthusiastically loved Jesus and one another so much that they would work side by side for the glory of God and risk their lives for the good news of Jesus Christ.
In Christ,
Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngw3jUt5v60