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Greet One Another
Romans 16:1-16
At New Hope we
believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God. We stake our
belief system on what we call hermeneutics, which is a .50 cent word for
explaining what the Bible says. It is our understanding that God has
directed us in one of three different ways.
1) First we believe that we need to participate in or abstain from the
things that God directly speaks about.
Jesus says in Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
From this passage we see God’s directive that we evangelize, the
necessity of Baptism, and the responsibility we have to teach.
2) Next we believe in following the examples of Christ or the Apostles.
In Acts 20:7 we see that the Apostle Paul participated in the breaking
of bread or Communion, with the church in Troas on the first day of the
week. It is this example that we use as our rule of practice when, on
the first day of every week, we partake in Communion.
3) And finally we believe in Natural Inference – or common sense.
For example we cannot turn to 1 opinions chapter 5 and verse 14 to read
the church is to have song books, and those books shall be a color that
matches the pew and filled with songs that are songs of praise, songs of
affirmation, and songs of victory.
Since we see that Christ and His apostles lifted their voices in Praise
and we desire to do the same it just makes sense to have a book or Power
Point that will contain all of the words and notes so that we can all
sing together.
Now with that being said this morning, I want to show you one of the
most over-looked, under-practiced, and least considered commandments in
the inspired word of God. And it occurs not once, not twice, but five
times in the New Testament.
1 Peter 5: 14, "Greet one another with a kiss of love."
1 Thessalonians 5 :26, "Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss."
1 Corinthians 16 :20, "Greet one another with a holy kiss."
2 Corinthians 13: 12, "Greet one another with a holy kiss." (The
Corinthian brethren had to be told twice)
Romans 16: 16, "Greet one another with a holy kiss."
Five passages, two apostles, one command. Right now some of you are
thinking, "All right! I was hoping to find a friendly church and it
looks like my prayers have been answered. Welcome to Kissing Church of
Christ."
And some of you are thinking last week he said that the Bible teaches we
should respond if everything was going good, and I thought he was a
little off his rocker, but now I know he’ s just plain crazy. Looks like
it's time to find a new church."
Before you commit too quickly to either place membership or renounce it,
let me set the context for these commands. Look with me in Romans 16.
We'll read verses 1 - 16.
(Read text)
This is what I call one of those phone-book passages; on first glance
it's about as compelling and meaningful as reading a list of names from
the phone book. It's just a bunch of hard to pronounce names.
Theologian Emil Brunner, however, said, "Romans 16 is one of the most
instructive chapters in the New Testament because it encourages personal
relationships of love in the church."
Despite it's rather dull first impression, the passage is not without
some mystery. When Paul wrote the letter, he had never visited the Roman
church. So how could he have known so many people there?
The answer seems to be that he developed these friendships through
meeting people in churches all over the world. I've never been to
Toronto, Canada but I know people that live there. I've never been to
San Diego, California, but Chuck and Monica Webster dear friends of
Trista and I live in that city.
We live in an isolated Society
Mobility was just as much a feature of life in first century Roman
culture as it is in ours. The travel was obviously more primitive, but
they got around. Somehow, despite his mobility and the long distances
that separated him from people he loved, Paul was able to forge deep,
meaningful relationships with his friends.
Now you don't need a theology degree or a Ph.D. in psychology to figure
out how relevant that ability is for us. How many of you use email on a
regular basis?
How many of you have cell phones?
How many of you have voice mail or answering machines at home?
We have more ways to stay in touch than a shark has teeth. And even with
all of that accessibility we are more isolated and alone than ever. Our
relationships have been reduced to a series of zeroes and ones streaming
along high speed cables roughly at the same pace of our lives. We are
more electronically connected than ever, yet more relationally
disconnected. We are more accessible, but less intimate. We send and
receive more messages, but communicate less.
So when we encounter a command that orders us to speak to one another,
to touch one another, to slow down and greet one another, we've
encountered something that can change our lives.
Greeting One Another Is A Big Deal
You see when I read in Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
My eyes naturally gravitate to the word kiss. But that’s not the
important part of the passage. In the first century a kiss was a symbol
of acceptance, much like we shake hands today. And the kiss had
different meanings depending on who you were addressing.
If you were on equal terms with the one you were greeting then you would
offer a kiss on the cheek. If you were close friends then you would
offer a kiss on both cheeks.
If a child was addressing a parent or a student addressing his rabbi it
was customary for the greeting to be a kiss on the hand. When Jesus was
approached by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas kissed the Lord
on the hand. That’s why the scene is so treacherous. To kiss someone on
the hand was a sign of loyalty, and Judas twisted it into an act of
mockery.
To neglect this ritual was the equivalent of ignoring someone. Imagine
if Trista or I invite you over to dinner Friday evening at 7:00. Friday
comes and you arrive promptly at 7:00. When you walk up on the carport
you notice the back door is open. You ring the bell but we don’t come to
the door. You hear us talking in the house so you open the door and come
in. When you enter the Living room there we are sitting on the couch
watching TV. We don’t acknowledge that you have arrived, we don’t get
up, turn the TV down, nothing.
Would you feel greeted?
Would you feel welcome?
Or would you just walk out?
So with apologies to our young men here today this is not the kissing
verse but the greeting verse, because greeting one another is a big
deal.
Greeting is important because People are important
I think that there are many things we can take with us today from just
the names in Romans 16.
For one thing, they represent a rich racial mix.
It is very important for us to realize that the list includes both Jews
and Gentiles. And racially you don’t get farther apart then these two
groups.
Even though most of us here today are from gentile lines we don’t have
that problem today but we still have ways of separating ourselves from
others don’t we?
I can’t tell you how excited I am for Jimmy as he’s about to begin this
new journey of ministry. But I have asked Trista on more than one
occasion how well he’ll do. It has nothing to do with his ability, or
his knowledge. I believe that he will do fine in those areas. The area
that I pray for the most is his accent.
Now most of you are saying what accent, he talks normal to us. But the
problem is that God’s plan doesn’t have him working with us. Jimmy has
already told me how surprised they were that he didn’t sound like Larry
the Cable guy.
In every part of the country there is always that desire to put someone
else down because they din’t look, sound, or act like us. I believe that
Paul's command to the Romans to greet one another was a way of breaking
down the racial barriers that divided those Christians. A way of
physically showing them that at the foot of the cross we are all equal.
Next this list shows that Christ is greater that social rank
Many of the names in Paul's list were common slave names. Ampliatus (vs.
8), Urbanus (9), Hermes (14), Philologus and Julia (15).
Some, however, were from a different social class. Narcissus was a rich
and powerful man who exercised considerable influence over Emperor
Claudius. Rufus is thought to be the son of Simon of Cyrene who carried
Jesus' cross to Golgotha. Aristobulus is thought by many to be the
grandson of Herod the Great and friend to Emperor Claudius.
Paul's command to greet one another was a way of breaking down the
social barriers that divided those Christians. A way of physically
showing them that at the foot of the cross we are all equal.
And Thirdly this list shows that a greeting is more important that
gender differences
Did you notice that nine of the twenty-six names are women, and four of
them are commended for their hard work. The letter, in fact, was
probably delivered by Phoebe.
In a society where women we considered worthless, Christ and His
teachings showed how very valuable these women were and are to the work
of the body. Paul's command to the Romans to greet one another was a way
of breaking down the gender barriers that divided those Christians. A
way of physically showing them that at the foot of the cross we are all
equal.
I want to give some entrepreneur here an idea for a bumper sticker and
if you use it to make a million dollars, all I ask in return is that you
remember the building fund. Here it is:
World peace begins with hello
Now I'm not telling you that all we have to do is say, "Hi," to each
other and nuclear disarmament begins to break out everywhere. But what I
am saying is that without that first step, nothing more will or can
happen. Greeting people is the first and most important step in breaking
down barriers.
We see people, but do we really make eye-contact?
We engage them, but do we really ever say anything?
I believe that The Bible is telling us today that New Hope has got to be
a church that values people. And for that to happen every one of us has
got to be involved.
You've been to unfriendly churches. Remember how do you felt when
someone wouldn’t even speak to you? Rarely do we go back. Apparently, so
had Paul. So he says, "I don't want yours to be that way. I want you to
develop a warm, loving, engaging, touching church."
I am so glad that my parents have the opportunity to be with us today. I
want to tell you and them that I consider it a blessing to be able to
grow up in a house with a woman who truly knew how to greet people.
Every time we entered a room, or more importantly tried to leave a room
my mom was surrounded by a group of people.
From watching her I have learned the three secrets to effectively
greeting one another. And I want t close with them today.
Touch
Mark tells us that Jesus touched the man with leprosy. Luke tells us
Jesus laid his hands on the children. It is truly a gift but like every
other gift God has given us, we've turned touch into something it wasn't
intended to be.
Peter and Paul both put a very important qualifier in front of the word
kiss. They called it the holy kiss. And I believe that we can begin to
redeem human touch by making it holy as well.
I am a touchy person so if you want to come and pick me up off the
ground squeeze me and shake all of the change out of my pockets that’s
fine with me. But I also realize that not everyone is like that, so I
try to read everyone. Sometimes I am right and sometimes I am not but
there are some touches that are always safe.
There is the preachers handshake - you know the two handed body shaking
type, a pat of the back, a hand on the shoulder. Just quick, safe, holy
touches that don’t violate anyone’s space. But make a warmer more
touching church.
Remember names
For some of us this is harder than others, but I believe that it shows
people how valuable they are to us personally. If you forget it is OK to
ask their names again, or do like my mom does and call every lady
Ladybug, and every man sir.
Speak
Which once again for some of us is harder than others.
That’s it. I believe that if we are going to fulfill this commandment
then we must be people who are willing to touch, remember names, and
speak.
Right now you might be wondering why we spent an entire sermon on
something so simple and so apparently unimportant? I mean is it really
worth this much time to talk about something that isn't going to make
that big a difference?
The Fall of 1991 someone greeted me with a handshake and an
introduction. I was a freshman in College, away from home for the first
time, a little afraid, alone and intimidated. This guy waling past my
dorm room stopped and said and in a shaky voice said, "Hi, I'm Wayne
Dalrymple I’m from Boaz, and I'm scared to death."
Last week, I talked with Wayne twice, just to check in. Wayne knows my
secrets. He's heard my confessions. I've heard his. That relationship
began with a greeting was simple but it has made all the difference in
the world.
I'm asking you to go out there this week and do a very simple, but very
powerful, very Biblical thing. Greet one another. Every time you enter a
room your attitude says one of two things. Here I am! Or, There you are!
I'm asking you to go out there this week with a "There you are,"
attitude.
That's how God wants to greet you. There you are. I've been hoping we'd
meet and there you are. That's the most important greeting you will ever
receive and it is waiting for you.
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