Inspired P.S. #3: Salutations Conveyed

Introduction: The Challenge of Expository Preaching and the Postscript of 1 Peter

0:04 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, July 16th, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 Let's turn together now to 1 Peter chapter 5, 1 Peter chapter 5, and follow, if you will, please, as I read the postscript to the letter, 1 Peter 5, verses 12 through 14. 1 Peter 5, verses 12 through 14. Peace be unto you all that are in Christ.

1:10 I believe most of you sitting here with me would agree with me when I say that few things are more spiritually rewarding to those who truly love God and love His Word than the verse-by-verse exposition and application of the Holy Scriptures. However, few things present a greater challenge to the preacher and teacher. Engaged in such verse-by-verse exposition, the preacher and teacher have a responsibility to continually keep in the mind's eye of the listeners, as well as his exposition, the whole of the letter or the whole of the book while opening up its individual parts. For the whole does not exist apart from its parts, but in opening up the parts, the parts are part of the whole. And so there is the frustration. Of moving through the parts, but continually recognizing that they are parts of a whole.

2:13 And to be able to know all of the individual parts to some degree and miss the whole is to misrepresent the mind of God in Scripture. And to think that we have a grasp upon the whole while we are ignorant of all of its constituent parts is to kid ourselves. Am I making sense? Yes.

2:35 And that's the frustration. That any preacher or teacher of the Word of God feels when engaged in verse-by-verse exposition of the Scriptures. And I feel it particularly this morning because we now come, and some of you for the first time, this is the first exposition of 1 Peter you've heard, and you come in at the PS. You come in at the point where Peter is composing by the guidance of the Holy Spirit a postscript to his letter.

3:04 That letter that I've reminded you. You who have been here for the expositions, is the pouring out of Peter's pastoral passion for the suffering saints who live in the areas of the Roman provinces in Asia Minor, the part of the world we now identify as Turkey. And Peter writes to them with this concern that their sufferings would not unhinge them in their attachment to the Lord Jesus. And so he sets before them.

3:36 All of the great privileges that are theirs in Christ now. All of the greater privileges that await them in the age to come. And he constantly reminds them that their suffering and their opposition and their persecutors cannot take from them what they have in Christ now and what they shall experience of the grace of Christ in the age to come. And then having set before them their privileges.

4:05 Their privileges. In Christ. What I have chosen to call the grand indicatives of grace. He is constantly reminding them how they are to conduct themselves in the here and now so as to reflect the reality of their position in Christ and to confirm and validate the power of the gospel which they profess to embrace.

4:30 And in a very real sense the letter concludes with that which summarizes his aspiration. Aspirations and yearnings and confidence in verse 10 of chapter 5 and the God of all grace who has called you unto his eternal glory in Christ having suffered a little while shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you to him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Now he's done for the time being.

5:02 Pouring out his heart under the guidance of the spirit. And the two. Who are not inconsistent with each other. They coalesce.

5:11 The biblical writers were not detached talking heads or talking hands. They were men with passion, with perception, with genuine concern for those to whom they write. And having poured out his heart under the unique inspiration of the spirit which is present in those portions that are our Bible now. These apostolic letters.

5:36 Peter. Begins to conclude the letter using a form that would be acceptable to any respectable first century Greco Roman citizen who was writing a more formal letter. And so the Holy Spirit as we noted several Lord's days ago does not negate or cancel or show indifference to that innocent cultural expression and expectation of how to conclude properly a proper letter of this. Nature.

6:07 And in our study of the first part of that PS we noted the commendation of Sylvanus in verse 12 by Sylvanus our faithful brother as I account him. And then Paul's summarization Peter's summarization of the letter. He says three things I've written briefly. That's the relative length of the letter exhorting and testifying.

6:34 That's the form of the letter. It's exhortation. Exhortation and testimony and then the central theme of the letter. This is the true grace of God.

6:43 So following the commendation of Sylvanus Peter gives us his summarization of the letter and then the exhortation to stand fast in that grace. Stand fast there in. Now we come this morning in our further studies of this PS to this letter with its major theme of God's. Comfort and God's direction to suffering saints.

7:09 We come to verse 13 and 14 a which I am calling the salutations conveyed and commanded. Peter moves from the commendation of Sylvanus the summarization of the letter the exhortation to stand fast in the grace of God to the salutations conveyed and commanded the salutations. Conveyed and commanded. Conveyed and commanded.

Addressing Difficulties: The Location of Babylon

7:36 Conveyed she that is in Babylon elect together with you greets you salute you send you greetings and so does Mark my son greet one another with a kiss of love. There you have the salutations conveyed from she that is co-elect and is in Babylon and from Mark and then the salutation commanded greet one another with a holy kiss. Now in seeking to open up the passage. We're going to start with what I'm calling the difficulties of the passage addressed and having covered that ground then we'll look secondly at the heart of the passage explained and applied first of all the difficulties of the passage addressed a literal rendering of this first part of the text would be she that is co-elect in Babylon greets you and Mark my son you say well what are the difficulties. Well there are three.

8:37 In a descending order of difficulty difficulty number one what or where was the Babylon from which Peter wrote this letter he makes it plain as one of the elders or one of the appointed men would stand in the various churches there in these Roman provinces and on the Lord's day read the letter when you were sitting there and you would hear the words she that is in Babylon together with you elect together with you greet you salute you send you salutations. And so does Mark my son you would have every reason to believe that Peter was writing his letter from a place called Babylon now what was that Babylon or where was that Babylon well if you were to take the time to read the history of commentary on this matter you would find that basically there are three possible answers some would say it is ancient Babylon which basically is an unsupported position.

9:37 From any parallel avenues of seeking to discern what happened to ancient Babylon and where and what it was at the time that Peter wrote furthermore there's no record of any church having been established there any missionary endeavors having been undertaken there that's relatively easy to dispose of that position others suggest that it is the Babylon by the Euphrates which was at Peter's time of writing. A Roman outpost and had a number of soldiers present there and some say that there were a number of Jews in that area and since Peter was the apostle to the circumcision he may well have been there laboring in the work of the gospel but the most ancient view of this Babylon and in terms of my commentaries that sit on my shelf the overwhelming majority view is that Peter is using the term Babylon.

10:38 Not of a literal Babylon but he's using it cryptically he's using it as a metaphor he is using it to describe the city of Rome for at that time Rome was everything that Babylon came to signify in the scriptures you will remember if you're familiar at all with the book of the revelation in chapters 17 and 18 this world system with its dog defying soul. Destroying flesh satisfying pomp and power and its principles of operation is called Babylon the great and if that were indeed the perspective that was present in the minds of those who were close to our Lord and were the instruments of bringing his word to men that Peter could be using Babylon to speak of the city of Rome and I'm going to assume.

11:38 That that is the place from which Peter wrote this letter I have assumed that in many references throughout the exposition but it's not a point of fellowship if someone insists no to say Peter was at Rome is to open the door for the Roman Catholics to say well if you get Peter at Rome even for a short time then you can enlarge his time and very early when this was the traditional interpretation of some of the church fathers those who immediately. Succeeded the apostles then as Rome began to assert it's totally unfounded claim that Peter was the first pope at Rome they have Peter there for 25 years and during the reformation in its reaction against that heresy of Rome and the doctrine of the papacy some of the reformers rejected any thought that Babylon refers here to Rome but we need not allow ourselves to come under.

12:38 The heresy of the Roman doctrine of the papacy to say that Peter was most likely very very shortly before his execution there at Rome writing to the people of God all I'll say in summary is to read the comments of Hebert who wrote in Babylon has also been understood either literally or figuratively those who think of a literal city city generally point to the noted city of Babylon on the Euphrates. Babylon in Egypt a Roman military fortress located near the present city of Cairo has also been mentioned in support of a literal meaning scholars argue that other geographical references in first Peter are admittedly literal when he says that he's writing to elect sojourners in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia those were literal geographical areas and so these commentators reason there's no reason to support.

13:38 I suppose that when this epistle was written the city of Rome was currently known among Christians as Babylon and if you take that position will not break fellowship over it however Hebert goes on to write and I believe rightly so proponents of a figurative meaning for Babylon accepted as a cryptic designation for the city of Rome that was the earliest known view in church history it is favored by the majority of scholars today and the meaning. is intimately connected with the question of first Peter's place of origin we accept this view as in harmony with church tradition concerning the later years of Peter's life so difficulty number one if not thoroughly resolved disposed of and we pass on difficulty number two look at the text she that is in Babylon co-elect solution who is the she who is in Babylon. you have a third person singular of the lovely bird. I just love to say some of those words us.

Addressing Difficulties: The Identity of 'She that is Co-elect'

14:51 and that could be he she or it is. grieving you. but there is a feminine pronoun. she.

14:59 that is in Babylon. greet you. well who is the she. well here again there's a difference of opinion some say the she was Peter's wife.

15:09 and she was the mother of Peter. Peter said. to Mark. that was their son.

15:15 now with the Bible says look at. it. she that is in Babylon co-elect with you. greet you.

15:19 and so does mark. my son if. I'm married and I have a son in this name is Mark he's got a mother. so Peter simply sending greeting saying my wife sends her greetings to.

15:34 you. well there are many reasons why I reject that view I won't go into them because we've just read from Ephesians five redeeming the time and I can't read into. time. they're rather obvious. The second view is that she may have been a very eminent woman and that the word co-elect really was transliterated and this was her name. This was the name of an eminent woman. And we have examples in the New Testament where certain eminent women are named. But why in the world Peter would mention an eminent woman doesn't make much sense. And the vast majority of commentators, ancient and contemporary, believe that when Peter says she that is in Babylon co-elect greets you, he's referring to the church at Rome. The word church, ecclesia, is feminine in gender. It would be very natural for those sitting there, put yourself back in the first century, you're sitting there in one of the churches in Pontus, in Galatia, in Cappadocia, Bithynia, and the word is read to you, she that is in Babylon, co-elect, greets you. And the word church, ecclesia, is feminine in gender.

Addressing Difficulties: Mark as Peter's Son

16:38 That is, in Babylon, co-elect sends her greetings. And they would understand that Peter is conveying the greetings of the church when he writes she that is in Babylon. Third difficulty, in what sense is Mark Peter's son? He says, and so, that is, so does this man Mark send greetings, Mark whom I identify.

17:09 As my son. Well, there's no question that Peter was a married man. Mark 1 in verse 30 tells us that the Lord Jesus went with Peter and several of the other recently called disciples into the house of Peter's wife's mother. Well, if you've got a mother-in-law, you've got a wife. The only way you get a mother-in-law is get a wife. And he heals her. And in 1 Corinthians 9, where Paul is showing that he's not using all his lawful liberties in Christ, he's not using all his lawful liberties in Christ. He says, don't we have a right to lead about a wife, as do the other apostles, the brethren of our Lord?

17:47 And then he specifically notices Cephas, another of the titles and names of Peter. Peter led about a wife. All of the protestations that the celibate state is more holy and more fitting for the sacred priesthood, bishopric, papal office, notwithstanding, it is sheer nonsense. Peter was a married man. But did Peter have any kids? I don't know. The Bible doesn't tell me.

18:16 We can infer that most of the apostles were married men with children because Jesus spoke to them and said, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. So most of them would have had kids or he wouldn't have used the illustration. But that Peter was married, incontrovertible if we believe our Bibles. That he had children? Don't know. If he did have them, were they all girls or all boys?

18:40 We don't know. So to say that he's referring to a little son is to press things beyond the analogy of Scripture, though he's using a different word for son than Paul uses when he speaks of Timothy, my child in the faith. He speaks of Titus as his child. It's the same concept. There was a peculiar spiritual relationship to Mark. Tradition tells us, and when I preach through the Gospel of Mark, I try to substantiate that. Tradition tells us that. Tradition tells us that. Tradition tells us that. Tradition tells us that.

19:10 was a good tradition, that the very gospel that we call the gospel according to Mark was written by Mark under the tutelage and guidance of Peter. There are personal, intimate strokes in the gospel of Mark, unique among the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that have the constant sense of an eyewitness, someone feeding into Mark details that only a contemporary eyewitness of all of the events of the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus could have conveyed. So I take it in this passage that Peter is referring to Mark as one with whom he had peculiarly intimate spiritual and ministerial relationships. Well, you've been patient as we've worked through the difficulties of the passage, but that's the...

The Heart of the Passage: The Meaning of 'Greet' (Aspazomai)

20:03 The burden that is on my back, if I'm going to expound the word, is to do it responsibly. Now then, secondly, the heart of the passage explained and applied. What in the world is in this part of the postscript, this conveyance of salutations and this commanding of salutation that can in any way be the word of Christ to those of us sitting here? Well, I trust to demonstrate there is much of the mind, and word of Christ to us sitting here.

20:36 And first of all, I want you to note with me the crucial word rendered, salute, in the old English versions, and it's in the 1901 American Standard Version. It's not a good way to translate that Greek verb, because when we say salute, we think of someone giving a military salute. The word is a very, very dominant New Testament word, and this is one of the blessings. When you're committed to consecutive exposition, you find out week by week how ignorant you are when you sit at your desk, and you take out your dictionaries, and you take out your lexicons, and you begin to see how has the Spirit of God used the word.

21:18 And I was shocked, and I don't shock easily when it comes to what I find in my Bible, but I was shocked to find that this verb used only 12 times in all the Gospels and the Book of Acts. That's half of your New Testament. Gospels and Acts, half of your New Testament. When you come into the epistles, it is used 20 times in the epistle to the Romans alone, and that in one chapter.

21:49 Romans chapter 16. 20 uses of aspazomai. And then you go through the rest of the New Testament, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, all the way to Revelation, another 30 times. 50 times!

22:05 50 times in the epistles of the New Testament. This verb is bringing to the mind of the apostolic church, or the church under the immediate influence of the apostles, whatever aspazomai means, if you were a New Testament apostolic Christian, you knew something about aspazomizing if you were listening to what the apostles were telling you to do. Like many words in our use of words and in the Greek language, there are different usages of the word, but the vast majority of its usages, and you don't need to know any Greek to come to this conviction. I challenge you to go home this afternoon and just take Romans 16, and read through verses 1 to 16. Skip the next paragraph and read verses 21 to 23. You'll find the 20 uses of aspazomai. Greet, greet, greet, greet, greet, greet.

23:05 And you will see that this is no means, no meaningless word. Read the end of most of Paul's epistles, and they conclude, in the imperative form, greet, and often the aorist imperative, which is an intensified, concentrated, urgent imperative, more urgent than the present imperative, which points to continuous action. The aorist imperative points to concentrated action. So, I'm prepared to say, if I'm not aspazomizing day by day, week by week, I'm in disobedience to the word of God.

23:49 And if you are not aspazomizing, if you are not saluting, if you are not greeting, you are in disobedience to the word of God. Now, have I awakened your interest, and challenged your remaining sin enough to prove me wrong, to get you on board, to think with me? What does this mean, greet one another? Well, the fundamental idea, in the majority of its uses in the New Testament, is consciously to recognize another person with verbal or nonverbal signals of that recognition in a context of goodwill toward the one you recognize. That's what it means to greet. When Peter writes, she that is in Babylon co-elect with you, greets you, and so does Mark, my son, he is saying, by means of the words that I write, there is a recognition of you by the church in Rome. And in that recognition, there is bound up goodwill and desire for God's blessing among you and upon you.

25:08 That's Mark's disposition as well. And now he says, greet one another with a kiss of love. Recognize consciously one another with verbal and nonverbal signals of that recognition in a climate of goodwill. Its antonym, its opposite, is what we would call snubbing, ignoring, looking past, over, around, or through another person.

25:39 Do you know what it's like to have people come walking towards you and have them look around you, over you, or through you, and not at you with a look that says, I receive what's coming toward me. The eyes are the window of the soul. When we are greeted in this biblical sense, it is not just a dutiful tipping of the hat. Good morning, sir.

26:05 There is the going out of the soul in goodwill, attended by, verbal and nonverbal expressions of that recognition in goodwill. That's what it means to aspazomai, to greet, to salute, one another. And to demonstrate that it's more than a dutiful, heartless use of a verbal or nonverbal sybil, I want you to turn to Matthew 5. You'll get the impression that that's its meaning if you just read the end of the epistles, the chapter in Romans that I mentioned.

26:43 But note, how our Lord helps us in the Sermon on the Mount, in the use of this word, Matthew 5.43. Remember now, all we're trying to do now is get a real sense of what the Bible means when it says, She that is elect greets you. You greet one another with a kiss of love.

27:03 You have heard that it was said, our Lord speaking, Matthew 5.43, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. They had perverted God's word, you're to show love to your friends, to your neighbor, that is your fellow Jew, anyone else, he's an enemy, you're to hate him, you're to make it known you want nothing to do with him. But I say unto you, love your enemies and pray for them that persecute you.

27:28 Why? That you may be the sons of your father who is in heaven. That is, that you may reflect the family likeness for the God whom you say is your father, he makes his son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. And these are manifestations of God loving his enemies.

27:49 Don't let anyone tell you God has no love for the non-elect. It's not true. It runs into the face of Jesus' words. He said, love your enemies.

27:59 And though someone says, why? He says, because you claim to be sons of God, and you don't reflect the family likeness, God loves his enemies, his son rises on their heads, day after day, and his rain falls upon their garden as well as theirs. He says, he will rise upon the garden of those whom he loves with distinguishing, peculiar, eternal, electing love. Now, verse 46, for, for, if you love them that love you, what reward have you?

28:29 Don't even the publicans the same? If you're only going to experience the disposition of love, and manifest the credentials of love to those who are your buddies, you're not doing anything more than sinners do. That's what publicans do. They feel at home with their own kind, they have a comradery with their own kind, they express that to their own kind.

28:55 Now look at the next verse. And, if you hear our word, if you salute, if you greet your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the Gentiles the same? See what our Lord is saying?

29:16 The fundamental command is love your enemies. Never lose sight of that. That's the essence of this paragraph. But now he says, as an expression of that love, you are to give to your enemies the visible, physical, verbal tokens of that love.

29:33 You are to greet them. You see that from the passage. So what do we learn from that? Well, we learn that to greet is not merely a tipping of the cap in polite recognition that they exist.

29:49 Rather, it is an expression of an affection for those who are in Christ and an appreciation for what they are and have in Christ. Those are the greetings, the salutings of Romans 16. But then it is the verbal and nonverbal signals of an appropriate affection even to those who are out of Christ. So it's not merely saying good morning to your unconverted neighbor as a dutiful social politeness.

30:22 It is saying good morning and doing what is necessary to show that you have a God-like love for that unconverted neighbor. If you don't do it, you're no better than the publicans. Do you see that from the words of Jesus? Yes or no?

30:40 If you don't see that and I haven't carried your judgment, then I've got to pack up and go home. So when the Spirit of God says through Peter, she that is in Babylon co-elect with you, the church that has been marked out by God's free sovereign electing love in eternity past, you and they standing under the canopy of God's peculiar distinguishing love, that congregation expresses to you in every appropriate way its love and goodwill, its recognition, and so does Mark. Then he says, and furthermore, as you receive greetings from afar, so you are under solemn obligation to express those greetings with the accompanying disposition of heart to those who are close at hand. There's a beautiful use of this in another context in Hebrews 11, 13. It speaks of the patriarchs who having not received the promises, they welcome them from afar. And one of the commentators said, it's like the ship coming into the New York Harbor.

31:58 A man has left Europe, gone ahead of his family, established a place here in the United States. And his family is coming in on one of the ocean liners and he knows when it's going to arrive at the dock and he's down there straining his eyes. And when it's several hundred yards away from being docked and the tugboats are maneuvering it into position, he sees his wife and his children and he waves his handkerchief and he hollers and jumps up and down like a monkey. What is he doing?

32:27 He's greeting them from afar. Aspazimai is used. How did they greet the promises? Oh, that's my wife and kids' big deal.

32:35 Hi, wife. Hi, kids. Oh, no. They greeted them.

32:41 They welcomed them. They embraced them from the heart. God says, She that is elect with you in Babylon greets you. Mark greets you.

Expression of Christian Love and Goodwill from Afar

32:53 You greet one another. Well, having, I hope, opened up the sense of the meaning of the word that is crucial, now then, more briefly, look at the text as we consider the two things it sets before us. The heart of the passage is bound up in the significance of that word. Now we have first an expression of Christian love and goodwill from afar.

33:16 That's salutations, and then we have a mandate to express love and goodwill to those near at hand. That's the command. An expression of Christian love and goodwill from afar. She that is in Babylon greets you.

33:35 She that is in Babylon greets you. Now put yourself in the place of these Christians. Here the apostle has been writing about all you have in Christ, all you are in Christ, all you are to be and to do, to validate the power of Christ's salvation. He's told you in verse 9 of this very chapter, whom withstands steadfast in your faith, knowing as you resist the devil, as you do not give in to his seductions and his suggestions to throw it all over because you've had nothing but trouble since you became Christians, you withstand him.

34:14 And as you do, remember this, this will help you to stand against the devil. Knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world. Peter said you're not in this alone. You're part of a fellowship of suffering.

34:32 Where there is union with Christ, there is suffering. You are united to Christ, you are suffering, but you're not alone. If you resist, remember, you have brethren scattered throughout the world who are resisting with you, who are standing with you, who are fellow sufferers, now he reverses it and says, your fellow sufferers, she that is in Babylon, elect with you, sends her greetings to you. In verse 9 he says, you look out to the wider church of Christ, the wider family of God.

35:09 Now he says the wider family of God is looking at you. She that is co-elect in Babylon greets you. An expression of Christian love and goodwill from afar, from the church in general, but he says also from Mark, my son in particular. I have not been silent about the things that I have heard that have moved me to write this letter.

35:35 Somehow Peter received information that these saints way out in the north-east segment of the Roman Empire while he is over in the, or really north-central, and he is over in the northwest in Rome, the information he receives that they are suffering, that they are being buffeted, he hasn't kept it to himself. He shared it with the people of God. And having shared it with them, their hearts are stirred, their concerns are awakened, and Peter says, you are not unfaught of and uncared for by the people of God here in Rome. And neither have I kept these things back from that one who is particularly close to me, who no doubt shared special times of prayer with Peter, his spiritual son. And one wishes he could understand the language in which they prayed and have heard Peter and Mark when they get on their knees together and prayed for the saints in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia. Did it mean something? Is this just a kind of social politeness?

36:45 No, my friends. This is an expression of the biblical doctrine of the one holy Catholic Church. Not Roman Catholic, but holy Catholic Church. The reality that the people of God in every place at any given time in the history of the world are one now in Christ as we shall be one as we sit about the table at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Practical and Comforting Influences of the Universal Church

37:15 And I want to make a couple of applications before I move on to the final part of the text. I want us to note the practical and comforting influence from the practical acknowledgement that we are part of the wider family of God. Peter didn't write this thinking they'd all take it and go, well, yeah, so somebody said, can you get inside their skin and feel with them what it meant? We're not alone in this.

37:42 Yes, we've got brethren who are suffering, but we've got brethren who are caring for us. And the comfort that this must have brought to their own hearts. And that's what explains why Paul closes almost all of his letters with greet this one, greet that one. You tell this one to greet that one, greet the other one.

37:59 What's he doing? He's cultivating and nurturing the reality of the one holy Catholic Church. And that's why, albeit poorly, some of us in our years of ministry here have fought to keep us from drawing a circle around ourselves saying we and us are no more.

38:21 And why we sought to cultivate an awareness of the church of Christ universal. Why God helping us. There's going to be more emphasis upon our suffering brethren in Christ throughout the world. And more public recognition that they are suffering and that we pray for them.

38:40 God have mercy on us. The day we draw a circle around us and all that matters is us, death is already in this place. Note the practical and comforting example. Of how trust forfeited can be regained.

Trust Forfeited and Regained: The Example of Mark

38:59 This was a blessing to my own soul. I said, Mark, my son. Peter says, you got a problem with Mark? You got a problem with me.

39:08 Well, wait a minute, Peter. Isn't that the guy that think doubt in the first missionary journey? Stuck his tail between his legs and ran home to mama? Yeah.

39:16 But he proved himself. He betrayed trust in the crunch. But even Paul who said, nope, more time needs to pass before I'll take him with me again. And Paul chooses Silas and the church approves of Paul's choice because it says Paul and Silas were commended by the church in the second missionary journey.

39:36 No such word is mentioned about Barnabas who goes off with his relative, John Mark. But later on, Paul can write in Colossians chapter 4 about Mark. And listen to what he says about Mark in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 10 to show that Paul was not determined, well, I'm going to prove for the rest of my days that my judgment of Mark was right. He said, no, it was right at the time.

40:01 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, touching whom you receive commandment if he come to you receiving. Isn't that wonderful? Paul says he's regained trust. He think doubt.

40:16 He betrayed trust. He's lost it. And Paul treated him as one who had betrayed trust. But when he regained it, a nickel and a dime, Paul could write to the church at Colossae.

40:30 Say, this man's worthy of trust. He sends greeting. If he comes to you, receive it. That's a commandment, an apostolic commandment.

40:40 And then in 2 Timothy 4 and verse 11, here's the capstone of Paul's recognition that trust forfeited was trust regained. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark. Bring him with you.

40:55 For he is useful to me for ministry. Isn't that beautiful? You see, Paul wasn't standing on his dignity. He was just acting responsibly.

41:06 Some of you spoke to me and said, Pastor, when you expounded that part of verse 12 and said that Silvanus was in Peter's sober, calculated reckoning, a trustworthy man, and you said that once trust is betrayed, the bank is emptied and you go into the red. You go into debit column. You didn't tell us how to gain it back. No, because that wasn't in the text.

41:35 But here in the text is the example of someone who did lose it and gained it back. He didn't sit around crying in his beer, saying, woe is me. I blew it and the whole world's against me. I've seen that attitude enough to make me sick.

41:50 If you're truly penitent, you're going to say it's only the mercy of God. I haven't been cast off forever by the grace of God in the place where I blew it. I'll gain the trust of God's people. That's the attitude of true repentance.

42:08 So if you blow trust, you deceive mom and dad, and they trusted you, and your trust is fractured, and now you don't like it. You've got to count where you're going, what you're doing, all that. Don't they trust me? No, they don't trust you because you betrayed trust.

42:23 Now you earn it back. You submit to mom and dad's regulations. You submit to the church's judgment on what form of discipline is appropriate when trust has been betrayed. And then you put yourself to do what Paul says they did at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 7, 11.

42:40 You show zeal and vengeance against your sin and a determination to walk with integrity before God. And all thoughtful, biblically-minded people will see like Paul did. You are profitable, and trust can be restored. And then note the comforting and practical influence of the reality.

The Comfort and Influence of God's Electing Love

43:00 Of God's electing love. And this again amazes me. What's in a PS? Look at what he says.

43:06 She that is in Babylon, that is the church at Rome, is going to greet you. Now you stop for a minute and think. If you're going to use one word to describe the nature and the identity of the church at Rome, what would you use? Beloved of God, renewed in Christ, she that is in Babylon, co-heir of heaven, beloved in Christ.

43:33 Say all the different things you could have said. But the one thing he does is he takes the little word elect or chosen and puts a prefix in front of it. It's the only place it's found in the New Testament. The little prefix soon.

43:47 And he says, co-elect. As you think of your brothers and sisters in the church at Rome, think of them in terms of what I said you were. Go back to 1 Peter 1.1.

44:01 What's the first word Peter used? Following the pattern of first century letter writing, you tell who you're sending it to in the beginning of the letter and who has sent it. Peter, an apostle of Christ, to be what? To the elect sojourner.

44:17 It's the basic root word used. To the elect. You're sojourners, yes. But you are God's chosen ones, marked out and given to the Lamb before the world began.

44:30 The purposes of God's saving grace for you. are set in the reinforced concrete of God's inviolable electing love and purpose. I get the goosebumps when I say that. You still get goosebumps?

44:48 Or is the election schmection to you? Think of it. In all that is written, house servants kicked around like little cur dogs. Unconverted wives having to put up with unreasonable godless husbands.

45:05 Citizens loyal to the state and yet being abused and spoken against. He said, don't forget who you are. With all of God's people, your God's precious ones, marked out and given to Christ before the foundation of the world, co-elect with you. All in a little PS.

45:27 So when people say, well, these doctrines of election and predestination, now that's for theologians. No, that's for suffering saints. At times they wonder, amidst the sufferings, amidst the ugly reality of their own fleshly lusts that war against the soul. Peter mentions them in chapter 2 and verse 11.

45:52 And we wonder, will we persevere? He that endures to the end shall be saved. But Lord, will I endure? Yes.

46:01 The God who has chosen me in Christ and given me to His Son, on whose behalf the Son came and was incarnate in Mary's womb. And on whose behalf He lived that sinless life and died that accursed death and underwent that triumphant resurrection and that glorious ascension and session at the right hand of the Father. He has secured that salvation. Who shall separate us from the love of God?

46:30 Co-elect the comfort and practical influence of the reality of God's electing love. Well, there's a second thing at the heart of the text. Look at it. And I'm convinced that I'm going to have to let it go till next week because it needs exposition.

The Mandate to Greet One Another with a Kiss of Love

46:53 It needs the pressure of qualification. And I don't believe it would be responsible to pass over it lightly, so I'll just tease you with what's coming, God willing, God sparing us. She that is in Babylon, the church at Rome, co-elect with you, greet you, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another.

47:16 Extend the verbal and non-verbal symbols and signals of genuine recognition in a climate of goodwill and do it with, with a kiss of love. In other words, feeling it and saying it don't. Feeling it doesn't. You've got to feel it.

47:51 You've got to say it. And you've got to express it in an appropriate, physical, tangible way. I want to tease you into thinking of this passage and look up the other four. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

48:10 The end of Romans, the end of 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and the end of 1 Thessalonians. And ask yourself this question. The same Peter who wrote a number of aorist imperatives. Be holy, because he is holy, an aorist imperative.

48:27 Be in submission, aorist imperative. He uses them all through his epistle. Sitting there in one of the congregations when you heard the words, aspazomai, in the aorist imperative, with a holy kiss. Could you have left the assembly obedient to Christ, speaking through the apostle, and not have kissed one another?

48:47 You go home and think about it. You pray over it. You come asking God not to confirm your prejudices, or help Pastor Martin to say what you hope he'll say, or what you hope he doesn't say. But Lord, what are you telling us?

49:05 In this assembly, in this culture, at this time, in our setting, how do we obey the injunction to greet one another, not only with a kiss that is holy, the other four usage, but Peter's distinctive contribution with a kiss of love. Is that too much to ask, that you would pray to the Christian Lord, show me what that means for me? And remember this, as you do your study. People say, oh, well, Hebrews, well, wait a minute.

49:40 Rome was a mishmash of every culture. It was a melting pot of ethnicity, cultural, linguistic, melting pot. It had nothing to do with national temperament. You say, oh, but if people start touching, won't that open up the way to immorality?

49:59 Two of the commands are to Corinth, the most immoral city in that part of the Greco-Roman world. And yet Paul tells the Christians to greet one another with a holy kiss. All right, you're beginning to see that we've got some work to do in coming to the conviction that God's word takes precedent over natural temperament, over upbringing, and over any cultural moray that keeps us from doing what God says. I am not going to say that God commands you and me to greet one another with a kiss every time we see one another.

50:34 But I am going to insist that whatever that command means, we better obey it. Fair enough? May God help us. Let's pray.

Prayer and Conclusion

50:50 Our Father, we never cease to marvel at the richness of your holy word. Forgive us when in our dullness and in our unbelief we have come to many portions, barely expecting to receive anything from you. Forgive, we pray, and help us, even in the matters we've considered this morning, to have the spirit of the Bereans. We thank you.

51:18 We thank you for this spirit-inspired postscript of Peter's letter and all the instruction we have already received from your word. And we pray you will continue to teach us and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Lord, we pray for the other segments and members of the body of Christ throughout the earth. Our hearts do reach out to them.

51:45 And we pray that you will help us to cultivate more and more ways of being able to convey our greetings, our expressions of love and goodwill to our co-elect brothers and sisters throughout the world. Deliver us from becoming insular and defensive. Help us, O God, to know that you are a fresh baptism of aggressive love that reaches out to all of your people in every place. We pray that you would write your word upon our hearts.

52:18 And for those who know nothing of the peculiar comforts and joys of the family of God, may the things they have heard this morning whet their appetite and make them jealous and inquiring to know what they must do that they, too, would know the blessings of this bond of love and goodwill that is found amongst your people. Seal, then, your word to our hearts and dismiss us with your blessing. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.