What separates believers who flourish from those who merely survive? In the closing words of his letter to Rome, the Apostle Paul identified five essential qualities that mark a healthy, vibrant Christian life. These aren't optional traits. They're foundational characteristics every follower of Christ needs to cultivate. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl unpacks encouraging affirmation from Paul, explaining what it means to be filled with goodness, equipped with knowledge, and empowered by the Spirit.
If you felt spiritually stagnant or disconnected, this message offers a diagnostic tool and a roadmap forward. What we're dealing with today is what is commonly called by students of the scriptures the epilogue. This last section, the final forty-seven verses of the letter. Paul wrote to the Romans. We want to see how that unfolds as we get to the message, but for now.
Please locate Romans chapter So, we can see that the multiple times. Just three verses of the text today we'll be looking at. as we deal with encouraging words of affirmation. Romans fifteen, verses fourteen through sixteen. Romans fifteen fourteen, and concerning you, my brethren.
I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness. Filled with all knowledge. and able also to admonish one another. But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again. Because of the grace that was given me from God to be a minister of Christ Jesus.
to the Gentiles. Ministering as a priest. The gospel of God.
So that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable. sanctified By the Holy Spirit. You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the book of Romans on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook by going to insight.org slash offer. Chuck titled today's message, Encouraging Words of Affirmation.
Isolation can do a real number on us. If we are alone too long, cooped up in a tightly contained space, Well, we tend to lose our purpose for living. And before long, we start to question our reason for existence. The baby camel said to his mother, Why do we have such big feet, Mama? His mother replied, So we can walk over the desert sands and never sink down.
But why do we have such long eyelashes? She replied again, because we have to be able to keep going and see our way even through a sandstorm. Young Camel asked a third time, but why do we have such large humps on our backs? Patiently the mother responded, So that we can walk for days over the vast deserts and not need to drink water. Then the young camel said, Since all of that is true, Why are we in a zoo?
Isolation can do a real number on you. It's part of the punishment of inmates in prison. deliberately designed to be kept alone. Over an extended period of time, sometimes. For years.
It happens in hospitals as long-term patients. struggle with the s constancy of tubes and nurses and And the demands and the monotony of day after day spent in the room. It can occur in a small office where the work stacks up and You serve in a place that doesn't have any windows, and it looks like the work will never end, and you're virtually out of touch with the world around you. Mothers and fathers of small children. often get what we call cabin fever.
As the demands and the incessant deadlines and needs of children. Press upon them. Moms and dads can forget about the bigger world. Isolation can plague retirement homes. and even retirement villages where many grow older.
Feeling forgotten and out of touch. And alone. Tragically, that can happen to a Christian. You're going to be surprised to hear this pastor say it, but If all of your life is spent in and around a church, You'll suffer from isolation. and insulation.
You'll forget the real needs of real people who live. Tragic lives. And you'll begin to think it's all about us and And me. As one wag put it, I just run with us four and no more, and I'm not sure about you three. Before long you you suffer from myopia.
Ingrown eyeballs, one man called it. Where life is here and now and only here and now. It inhibits enthusiasm. It limits our vision. It cuts the feet out from under our motivation.
If our world is too tightly consumed By the place we call our church. Or if it's only spent with those Who love Christ. Paul wrote his letter to the people of Rome who lived their lives under the awful, brutal reign of a man named Nero. Lived a dreadful life, shameless. Ultimately, he took out all of that rage on Christians and.
Before long, it would be easy for Christians in Rome to To turn within and in their secret places of worship find only there their existence. Paul dedicates the last five chapters of his letter. Saying to his readers, stay in touch, stay engaged, stay aware. Be involved. Don't get isolated.
We see a comment made in chapter 12 and verse 9. Right out of the chute, as he gets into this last section, he says, Let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, be devoted to one another in brotherly love, not lagging behind in diligence. Verse 13, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. In the Greek word translated hospitality is the term stranger. This isn't just fixing meals for one another.
This is staying in touch and engaged with those who don't know the name of Christ and couldn't get the first base biblically. Stay in touch with them. Be aware of them. Chapter 13, verse 10. Love does no wrong to a neighbor.
There's another one of those words. Does no wrong to a neighbor. Believe me, a neighbor that you have who doesn't know Christ will not. need to have it explained to him or her that you're showing love. Just keep the sermon out of it.
Just demonstrate love. This is what he's saying. It does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Chapter 14, he goes after it again in verse 7. No one lives for himself, no one dies for himself.
God help you if you reach the end of your life and there's no one there. I once had a funeral for a man, and the only one present aside from the funeral director and the lawyer was his little dog. Not another living soul at his funeral. And all the money he'd left. was for his dog.
No one lives to himself, no one dies to himself. Look at fifteen seven. Therefore, accept one another just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. There again, our arms are out wide open. We're engaged.
We're touching others' lives. We're accepting them. And he closes with great rich words in this section. Verse 13, may the God of hope, there's a great word. Fill you with all joy, another great word, and peace.
Another one, in believing another one, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. What a way to live! What a way to die. Filled with hope and peace and abounding in belief and power. And the work of the Holy Spirit engaged in life.
What a way to go. Not surprisingly, all of this leads to a wonderful climax. which we've called the epilogue of the letter. The last 47 verses of Romans. is dedicated to a number of personal words to people in whose lives Paul has been engaged.
If not literally, certainly literarily. He's not been to Rome, not yet. He writes them from Corinth. But in writing them, as we will see, he names a number of the people that he'd met in his journeys along the way. He names them here.
But before we get to that, look on the reverse side of your outline, and let's just do a, without trying to be pedantic about this, let's sort of survey our way through the last six sections. Each of the six sections in the epilogue is introduced with a scripted. line and I put them on the angle for you. And concerning you, my brethren, So this first section has to do with the Roman believers, and that's what will be the focus of our time together today. Roman believers, or maybe all believers.
But specifically Rome. The second turns to the Apostle Paul. See how he introduces it? Therefore, in Christ Jesus, I.
So he gives his testimony, he tells his story, he admits his struggles, and he's very vulnerable. As the Apostle Paul unveils this part of his life down through verse 29. beginning at verse 17. The last few verses of this chapter, four verses 30 through 33. or prayer requests.
Paul names specific things for which he needs prayer. And we'll look at that in the days to come. Chapter 15, 30 to 33 would be prayer requests.
Now it gets very intriguing when we get into chapter 16. You began to see names that you will read sometimes nowhere else in the Bible. Look at verse 3, Greet Prisca and Aquila. Look at verse 5. Greet Hard name.
Look at verse 6. Greet Mary. Verse 7, greet Andronicus and Junius. Verse A, greet. Hard name.
Verse 9: Greet, hard name, and hard name. There are others in here. You'll see them all wound through these verses, 1 to 16. These are personal greetings. Where the Apostle Paul is naming people he knows, and he says, Send greetings to them.
Because he hadn't been there to do it personally, or he hoped to be, but he wasn't there yet. In verses 17 to 24, we come to strong warnings. I love that about Paul. He begins it with: Now I urge you, brothers.
Now I urge you, those are the words of a shepherd who cares. Let me give you this for no extra charge. A person who delivers the message of God and doesn't include warnings, doesn't care that much about you. Hirelings tell you what you want to hear. Shepherds tell sheep.
what they need to hear. Paul is a grand shepherd. He offers warning. We never stop doing that as parents, do we? Isn't it interesting how we want our kids to grow up, but There's something about their growing up that we forget about.
Have you done this? You're driving along and you put the brakes on. Do you do this? Oh. Oh!
I had my 40-year-old daughter with me the other day and I go, ooh. Jesus. Dead. Everything okay? Yep.
I'm so used to doing this. I remember we used to stand up in the seat. I just put my hand over here. Don't stand up in the seat, I want to say. Warnings.
Don't eat with your mouth full. I mean with your with your mouth open. You say it so much, you start mixing up your warnings, don't you? And say, ma'am, and sir, and treat your elders with respect. And clean up your room.
And Yeah. On and on and on. Warnings, warnings, we get those at home. But we need to get them spiritually, and they come from shepherds who care, strong warnings. And finally, there's a closing benediction.
In verses 25 through 27. Look at the last.
Well, you know, he's into a benediction when he begins.
Now to him who is able, this is a wonderful benediction. And we'll spend some time on it, to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel. Look at the very last word of the letter. It's the same in all languages. Amen.
Do you know what it means? I believe it. Paul doesn't end the letter with, boy, I hope this works. Or take it for whatever it's worth. He says, I believe it.
I believe it. There's conviction here. The warnings have a barb in them. And the words of encouragement have genuine authenticity in them. Which brings us to these first Three verses of the epilogue, verses fourteen, fifteen.
And 16. There are five. words of commendation Paul has for them. And not only for the Romans, but for us. Before we get into them.
Please observe. Concerning you, my brothers, implied here, my sisters. Up till now, he's been writing to them.
Now he is writing About them. Peri is the Greek word, around or about.
Now, concerning you. Concerning the things that you are about. Concerning the things I hear when my friends come and Describe for me the church at Rome. concerning you. He's beginning a series of compliments.
Not idle flattery. Paul doesn't do that. This is not As the Texans say, blowing smoke. As if to build you up for a letdown or to later criticize, this is genuine, this is authentic. complementing.
Okay. Uh I love that. Many of you can't remember the last time an adult affirmed you. My heart goes out to you. You may live in a home where affirmation isn't done.
How tragic. that spouses stop affirming each other. or affirming their children, or children, their parents. Paul is drawing from within them those character traits that he admires, and he tells them what he observes. I've read that when Michelangelo began to carve a huge, shapeless block of.
Cold marble. He stated that his aim was to release the angel. imprisoned in the stone. Others saw only the cold, shapeless marble. The Apostle Paul looked for the angel.
These are angel-like qualities. I read about a sculptor who was working on the head of a lion. in a huge piece of granite. And it began to emerge, and someone watching for a while said to him, How in the world do you do that? He shrugged and said, actually, it's not that difficult.
I just cut away everything that doesn't look like a lion. Yeah. Hidden within every life are angel-like qualities. Paul picks one to begin with. I love that about him.
Concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves. are full of goodness. Let's use these words. Inwardly. overflowing.
with goodness. The word full is a word fulfilled to overflowing. And the word for goodness is a word that suggests moral and ethical. goodness. It would include kindness and Thoughtfulness and even charity toward those in need.
We have a slang expression that we sometimes use. Oh, he's full of it. And it makes us smile because we know there's no genuineness in it. This is not that kind of fullness. This is an overflowing of True.
Goodness. Everett F. Harrison writes: It is not a native disposition, but the moral excellence. wrought into the texture of life. By the spirit's indwelling.
Remember, these are the same Romans who were told in chapter 3 that they're depraved. We remain depraved individuals in our old nature, but there is a new nature that comes. With the filling of the Spirit and the presence of the Spirit. In our lives, and that new nature evidences acts of goodness. A.W.
Tozer, in his work, The Knowledge of the Holy, writes this of God's goodness. To the self-condemned, he is generous and kind. to the frightened. He is friendly. To the poor in spirit he is forgiving.
to the ignorant. He is considerate to the weak. Gentle. to the stranger. Hospitable.
Goodness encourages us. Not to be afraid. Cynthia and I, over the last number of weeks, have begun the habit, and I have her to thank for it. of naming at least five things for which we are grateful. At the end of each day.
Each day ending with five things. that we agree we're grateful for.
Now, last night she did this. We were about to turn in, and she said, Okay, what are our five things? And I'm going, okay, ah. Man, I've done weeks of these suckers. I gotta come up with five more of them, but The more we talked, it is amazing how it came and how often it was related to people.
who had done good things. Let me thank you for the goodness. You model. in your lives. How well you have treated me.
There's your pastor. Thank you for that. Thank you for loving us and for loving our family. Thank you for being our flock. It surrounds us with support.
It's been my joy over the years to have flocks of God like that and oh my It's magnificent.
So when I read this, I thought of you. This is true. I thought. I could write that. I'm convinced that you yourselves are.
Full of goodness. And then he says, and you're filled with all knowledge.
So let's use these words, fully informed and aware. He compliments them for that. These are encouraging words of affirmation, and having told them that he's grateful for their goodness. He says I'm Grateful for your knowledge. It is an absolute knowledge.
Only God is omniscient. Only He knows past, present, and future. Only He knows motives. He knows all things hidden and seen. Deep, profound, as well as the simple.
But these people get this. Had a sound and significant understanding of the truth of God. His will. His way. His working.
This is true of those believers in Rome. They had to do that.
Some of them would die. lighting the stadium with their bodies. Nero was no friend to the believers. But their knowledge of the future, their knowledge of ultimate rewards, their knowledge of the sovereign hand of God in every part of their lives. held their feet to the fire, literally.
This is true of the people in Rome, but I sadly must say that. I am seeing a waning of knowledge. even in my lifetime. Back in 1993, Dr. David Wells released a book that shook up the evangelical world.
It made all of us go back and think again. It stung a little. He called it no place for truth. With the subtitle or whatever happened to evangelical theology. In the book, he describes the erosion that has been occurring.
The theological drift. Churches losing their influence, turning more toward entertainment. This is in 93. The embarrassing ignorance of biblical and theological knowledge. Uh We're just getting started with five essential qualities for cultivating a healthy and vibrant walk with God.
So hold your place right here, because there's much more Chuck Swindahl wants to show us. In a moment, I'll explain how you can receive a brand new resource from Insight for Living as we prepare for Christmas and celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus. It's a brand new Advent devotional for you and your family called Everlasting Light: A Journey from Promise to Presence. But first, here's a bit of encouragement from Chuck. My friend, you know when we hear the word peace, We usually think of serenity, maybe silence.
And sure, that's part of it. But here's what I've learned. I need peace when my life is in chaos. And God gives us peace. Even when our world is in turmoil.
Think about Mary giving birth to Jesus. She was the absolute picture. of peace. But Bethlehem? That was anything but peaceful.
The town was overcrowded, noisy, chaotic. Just like our world today, future. Filled with political tension, economic pressure, and rampant secularism. Yet Mary had peace, and How? because she trusted God's promises.
This Christmas, we celebrate Jesus. The baby born in Bethlehem, who is our everlasting light, our prince of peace. He came to bring peace that the world cannot give and cannot take away. Remember what Paul wrote to the Philippians? He said, God's peace protects our minds and hearts when get this.
When in faith we release our resources.
So let me ask you something. Would you be willing to step out in faith with your giving? in order to share the light of Christ. Every gift you give at year end shows your confidence in His provision. It demonstrates trust that He'll take care of you.
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Swindahl, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
