As Paul wraps up his master doctrinal treatise, he names more than twenty people for their contributions. Though they were ordinary people, and though all we know of them is from this one-off recognition, he still sees fit to recognise their contributions to the work of the gospel in the community. So even though it seems like his closing remarks are a mere formality they are anything but.

As New Community Church, what do we hope to achieve for the Lord in 2014? In today's passage Paul gives us a great plan for godly ambition that we can have and pursue for God’s glory. 

In the previous passages, Paul develops the idea that as believers who have exercised faith in Christ, we have the responsibility of developing peaceful and harmonious relationship with others. Today, in this passage, he focuses on what we must be to one another. We must be REJOICING CHRISTIANS whose joy is not just internal but visibly evident externally.

 When it comes to our Christian liberty i.e. the freedom we have in Christ, it is possible for us to exercise it in a manner that ends up hurting other believers. The potential for this is especially true amongst those of us who are mature believers, by failing to regard those whose faith is weaker than ours. In this passage, Paul reminds us that our liberties must be always have self-imposed limits whose constraints are set by our love for others.

Regardless of their culture or ethnicity, people generally value being accepted by others. Furthermore, whether it’s a common tattoo or a common song, people go to great lengths to be accepted into a group of likeminded individuals. On the flipside, failure to accept others often has disastrous consequences – from breaking up marriages to all sorts of wars. In all this, if there is any group of people who should be the very epitome of having an attitude of accepting others, it should be believers. After all, since God has accepted us, He is very concerned that we accept others.

In the same way that we prepare our homes to be spic and span for an impending beloved guest, Paul here commands us to get our lives ready for the impending coming of Christ. How are we responding to this divine appointment? Are we prepared?

People generally love the idea of being debt free. But going by bank and credit card statistics, we see that debt is a way of life for many people. Of course, this is because of the highly consumerism-driven culture that we live in, where we see people buying what they do not need, in order to make a show of themselves. And that can be sinful. Borrowing is not bad in and of itself. Neither is this text condemning the act of borrowing. So why does Paul use the financial analogy of debt here?

The burning issue is in the text today, and even in general, is something we don’t spend enough time thinking about – Do we respond in a Christian manner to our governing authorities?

In today’s passage, Paul widens the range of his subject from those who merely annoy us to those who are actively hostile towards us. Sadly these people can often be those who are very near and dear to us - family members, spouses, colleagues, and neighbours to name a few. So, given our Christ-surrendered status, how ought we to respond to such people?

Very often the Lord brings upon our paths people who are hard to get along with. If we truly love Him, we will demonstrate godly love. And it will extend beyond our church family to those outside. Because having been saved by grace, we will seek to make this grace known to others. So how are we to do this?

After 11 chapters of theoretical, foundational theology, Paul now turns to practical application. He highlights the transformational aspects that ought to be manifest in our lives as believers; in our love for one another which we ought to be constantly working on.

While it’s great to get up high for a bird’s eye view of the gospel, it is important and necessary to get up close with the details to understand how things are fleshed out. Likewise, in this passage, verses 1-8 gave us a bird’s eye view of the gospel. But now we come to the details that help to bring those ideas into action. And the first of those details is our love for one another.

In today's passage, Geoff focuses on Paul’s Big 3 – Dedication, Worshipful Service, and Transformation. When these three are put into practice, we are able to achieve our singular purpose of glorifying God. So where do we start? Paul gives us 3 lessons.

 WH Griffith-Thomas explains the importance of Romans 12-16 this way: After doctrine comes duty; after revelation, responsibility; after principles, practice.

Last week we saw how Israel was rejected by God for their rejection of His Messiah. Today we will see how this rejection by God is only temporary. We also saw how God shows grace by preserving a remnant in the past. Today we will see how God does that, and that His discipline on Israel is not forever.