Pick a city. Any city in the world, so long as you have never been there. Got one? OK, hands up if you can name a Christian in that city? Two? Five? Ten? As Paul reaches the conclusion of his epic letter to the Roman churches, churches in a city that he has never been to, he greets no fewer than 24 people by name! Some are people he has worked with, or been in imprisoned with. Some are family or close friends, others he may know only by reputation. Men and women alike are greeted with respect and affection. Paul is obviously intimately aware of the goings on in the churches in Rome.

This passage is all about people. Which is not surprising, really, since Paul has been talking about people and how Christians relate to other people – both Christians and non-Christians – since chapter 12. In that chapter he wrote about the renewing of the mind, and how that leads us to have transformed attitudes, actions and reactions to one another. In chapter 13, he spoke about the need to submit to authorities, which might not seem to be about relationships at first glance until the first person decides that traffic lights are simply providing suggestions of guidelines at which time relationships are both formed and broken very quickly. In 13:8 Paul wrote about our ‘continuing debt to love one another’. In chapter 14, and through into the first half of chapter 15, Paul is arguing very strongly that those who are ‘strong’ should nevertheless care for those who are ‘weak’ by not trampling their consciences.

From there to the end of the epistle, including the passage we are looking at tonight, Paul is recounting his own pastoral efforts on behalf of the church at large, and continuing to model his love for his fellow Christians, not least those in Rome. Where the previous chapters were about relating to people in general, this final chapter is very personal and specific, as reflected by the number of people addressed by name. Paul was a real person, writing to real people about real problems, and this is a fact we do well to keep in view as we read his epistle to the Romans.

Tonight, we’re going to consider Paul’s love for the Christians in Rome under three headings: (1) the foundation of love; (2) the promptings of love; and (3) the actions of love.

Love fellow believers because Christ has loved us and rescued us

On the 5th of August, 2010, a mine in San Jose, Chile, collapsed. 33 men were trapped 700 metres underground and 5 kilometres from the entrance to the mine they were working in. It was 17 days before those on the surface could even confirm the presence of any survivors. These men spent a record 69 days underground before their rescue could be effected. When they reached the surface, they all shook hands, waved goodbye, went home and never talked to one another again… What?

Of course, that’s not how the story ended at all! There was, in fact, great joy. An entire nation had collectively held its breath during the whole time they were underground; friends and relatives doubly so. For them, the response was great relief and joy at being reunited. But what about amongst the 33 men who had been trapped? These men, who were all but dead, had been rescued… together. I don’t know this, but I can easily imagine that the bonds formed underground were strong indeed. They had shared a terrible, harrowing experience and emerged from the other side of it alive. One thinks also of those who have survived wars, earthquakes, tsunamis and so on. Shared experiences, and particularly those charged with great danger or suffering, draw us together in a way that few other things can.

Paul recalls many shared experiences with those whom he greets, but the most repeated one may be seen in the phrases ‘in the Lord’, ‘in Christ’. These phrases are not empty, nor are they mere religious jargon. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that Paul’s entire epistle has been developing the theme of how and why anyone can or should be ‘in Christ’.

Christians have been rescued from a much greater peril than being stuck underground. They faced the death of their bodies; we faced the eternal death of our souls. It may have taken an entire nation to rescue those miners, but it took the God of the universe to rescue us! The foundation of love between Christians is the action of God in Christ to rescue us. We are to love our fellow believers because Christ has loved us and rescued us.

Do you think those Chilean miners ever talked about their experience again? I reckon they did. Why are we Christians so shy, then, about reminding one another about what we have been saved from, how and by whom?

Remind each other of God’s grace in your shared experiences

Paul does not stop short at recalling our shared experience of salvation, however. God has saved us in Christ, and this is the foundation of our love for one another but, sinful as we are, we often require further promptings to love one another. Paul has a good solution for this: with those he has had personal interactions with, he regularly makes brief reference to some way in which God has blessed one or both of them through their interaction. So, with his good friends Priscilla and Aquila he recalls their shared work together and the fact that they risked their lives for him. This is an expression of love, because he is reminding them of God’s grace to him through them. Similarly, Paul greets Andronicus and Junia who were imprisoned with him, thus reminding them of God’s grace in setting them free. And there are many other examples packed into these short verses.

By recalling these things, Paul is encouraging those he is addressing, but the encouragement is also for the rest of the church who are hearing this letter read, who can experience God’s grace second hand, and be encouraged to look for it in their own lives also. We should be encouraged as well. God provided ‘fellow workers’ for Paul, to help him in the mission that he was called to, and God will provide such people for us as well. Rufus was indeed ‘chosen in the Lord'; we have been also. You may be imprisoned for the sake of Christ, as Paul was, but God will provide encouragement for you in the form of fellow believers such as Andronicus and Junia. Be encouraged by the faithfulness of people who have been Christians for longer than you have, such as Epenetus. Rejoice in the service of Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis, and those who faithfully host house churches like Aristobulus and Narcissus.

Let’s be enthusiastic about reminding one another about God’s gracious working in our lives.

Turn your love into action

But, as the old saying goes, love is a verb. Paul does not just remember old times in order to ‘feel’ love toward these people. No, he uses these experiences as a motivation to ‘do’ love toward them. What kind of actions result from Paul’s love? Well, writing this epistle for a start!

Most obviously, Paul instructs his readers to ‘greet’ one another 13 times in this passage. Paul is physically separated from these believers, so he relies upon others to convey and express his love.

Yesterday morning, I was upstairs getting ready to face the day, whilst the rest of my family were downstairs having their breakfast. At least, Katrie and Elyana were downstairs. Aedan was having great fun coming up the stairs to see me before promptly asking ‘where’s Mummy and Baby Elly’ and heading back downstairs to look for them. After the first couple of times he did this, I suggested he go and tell Mummy and Baby Elly how much Daddy loves them. Then I sent him to give them each a kiss from Daddy. And so on. By doing this, Katrie and Elly were receiving expressions of my love for them. But, just as important, Aedan was learning about my love for them, and learning appropriate ways of expressing his own love for them.

So it was with Paul. He was unable to come to Rome and greet people in person. He did not have the opportunity to give Ampliatus a hug to reinforce his words of love. He could not sit down and have a beer with Urbanus and Stachys. And so he relied on others already in Rome to do these things on his behalf. And in standing in for Paul, these people were learning about Paul’s love for them and how to express it, much like Aedan learning about my love for Katrie and Elyana.
But they were also forming relationships with one another. It is hard to ‘greet’ someone – especially to greet them with a kiss, as commanded in verse 16 – without forming some measure of relationship with them! I used to be a part of a church where the two pastors made a particular effort to introduce people to one another, as the first step towards building relationships within the church. Paul does a bit of this too, introducing Phoebe (who was probably the person carrying this letter to Rome) and asking them to provide for her needs. I believe this is a good reminder to us to not be shy about introducing people to each other, particularly where we can see they can help each other in some way.

But… wait… kissing? Really? What’s with that? Kissing was the standard way of greeting a close family member. Paul is reminding us that we are family to one another, and our greetings and relationships should reflect that. So, if kissing is not appropriate for your family today, then what is? Find some healthy way of expressing the love that is appropriate amongst family members. We lose so much when cut physical interaction out of our relationships.

Let me ask, what do we do to promote relationships between Christians in this church? Let’s try an experiment. Introduce yourself to someone in the church you don’t know, and say, ‘The apostle Paul told me to greet you in the Lord.’ Do you know everyone? Go find someone in one of the other congregations… or another church… or a student fellowship group… or at Livewire… or somewhere else. Or else find someone you know well, and remind them of some way in which God has shown grace to both of you.

I also wonder what we can do to promote relationships with Christians in other parts of the world. It amazes me that, in a day where any news had to be carried by messenger that Paul could be so informed about the church to which he was writing, but we who can send a message to the other side of the world are so uninformed. What can we do to become partners for the gospel with those in other places? If you’re not already, why not make the effort to find out about how life looks for one (or more!) of our link missionaries? Who is in their church? What are their needs? What is God doing in their midst? How can you pray for them?
In these ways, you will be sharing Paul’s love but, more importantly, you will be sharing Christ’s love. Because, like Paul relied on the Roman churches to embody his love, Christ relies upon us to be his ‘hands and feet'; it is through his ‘body’ that Jesus expresses his love for his people and for the world.

So let’s love our fellow believers we have all been rescued together by Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of love. Let’s remind one another of God’s grace to us; these things are the promptings of love. And let’s turn our love into action, becoming the embodiment – the incarnation! – of Christ to one another.

Amen.