Fasting Encouragement Day Twelve

Day 12 - Romans 16 - Final Day!

Congratulations! You have made it! I trust that God has and will continue to pour out His grace on you as a result of your obedience.

Be gentle on your body in coming out of the fast (you only make the mistake of breaking a fast with KFC once!). Your body has adapted to the format of the fast that you have chosen. Ease out of the fast over the next few days and let your body can catch up to the return to normalcy.

In the same way, be gentle on your return to media or social media. The fast creates some prayer and Bible reading patterns that hold extended value; furthermore, you have weaned yourself off the “need” of social media. Such disciplines hold value, so consider how you can lean forward in some of your fasting disciplines for the sake of ongoing intimacy with Jesus.

Also, a reminder to join us on Saturday evening for Advance with Trevor Meier as we are believing God for a wonderful time of infilling and impartation in His presence.

Let’s look at Romans 16:1-16, take a minute, and read it.

In this closing chapter of what many scholars would call Paul’s greatest letter, Paul takes some time to greet some people. Like many, I sort of skim over the lists. Genealogies don’t interest me; the names are hard to pronounce, and truthfully what’s the big deal with names anyway?

By digging a little deeper into the context of Romans and the nature of what culture was like in the Mediterranean basin, we understand, who you were from, who you were associated with, and who you were honored by was of far greater importance than in our present culture. Paul’s cultural environment was not individualistic like ours; it was ‘dyadic,’ meaning “we” is more important than “me.” Honor was the only currency that mattered. If you didn’t have a people, a family, a group that knew and honored you, you were nobody, no matter how wealthy. Wealth didn’t buy honor; association did. A self-made person was a pariah in society, and prodigals who left to launch out on their own were doomed to fail.

In chapters 14-15, Paul is speaking into the Christian family and adding some household codes to the house of faith that would disciple dysfunctional elements of the dyadic culture to shape it more into what God’s family should look like, while not losing the “we before me” posture. Then closes with a list.

Years ago, Dr. Gordon Franklin shared a message that I’ve never forgotten. He read through Romans 16:1-16 slowly. Reading each name and the little thought Paul added as a postscript. He took some creative liberty and created a little storyline to accompany a few. Playing the role of Paul, Dr. Franklin would pause as if Paul remembered something had happened; he said, “Greet Mary,” then looking over to his left as if to chat with Tertius, Paul’s secretary, “remember when she wouldn’t let me leave the house? ‘I don’t care if you’re on a mission to save the world. Get back here and finish your falafel!’.” Dr. Franklin took the time and allowed us to feel Paul’s emotion as he greeted these people he loved. “Greet the twins, Tryphaena and Tryphosa, and Rufus, oh and his mom as well.”

Throughout the message, Dr. Franklin would exclaim, “It’s not a list, it’s NOT a list. These are people he prayed for, people he prayed with; people he loved.” Paul was a zealous man. Zeal wasn’t defined as it is today. It wasn’t about emotion; it was about action, and Paul loved with zeal. He loved deeply, and he acted on his love.

It’s not a list. It is those people that he walked with, mentored, led to the Lord, prayed with, laughed with, dined with, wept with, and dreamed with. They were Paul’s “we,” they were his spiritual family.

Who is your “we?” Who are those people who, when you look back on your journey like Paul does in Romans 16, you would want to know you love them? Who are the ones who you would say, “I thank God every time I think of you.”? Who are the ones that you would defend by saying, “It’s not a list!”?

Who would have you on their “list”? That’s a loaded question. In many ways, we look at the “we” of our lives to see how it has benefited “me.” But there is another question to ask. Is this “me” having any effect on the “we”?

As we close our fast today, I want you to spend a moment and think about your “list.” Take a moment, whether through email, text, message, or coffee, and reach out to those people for whom you thank God. Take a moment and let the Rolodex of your mind flip through the pictures of those precious people who have helped shape who you are. Reach out to your brothers and sisters at Gateway and say, “I thank my God every time I think of you because…” and fill in the blank. Let’s let love have its say.

It’s not a list. It’s the people in your story. So let them know and calibrate your life to be in someone else’s story.

All my love and you’re on my “list,” and I thank God every time I think of you.

PL