Salute Every Saint in Christ Jesus

Introduction to Paul's Final Greetings

0:02 This sermon was produced on Sunday morning, March 7th, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, for what will be the second to the last time, we begin our Lord's Day morning expositions by saying, Turn with me, please, to the book of Philippians. We're about to lose our friend. The book of Philippians, and we have arrived in our consecutive expositions of this most warm and intimate, perhaps, of all of Paul's epistles.

0:40 We've arrived at chapter 4 and verses 21 and 22. Philippians 4 and verse 21. Salute or greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren that are with me salute or greet you.

1:02 All the saints salute you, especially they that are of Caesar's household. Now, Paul, the grateful recipient of the gift which the Philippians sent to his prison dwelling at Rome, has poured out his deep pastoral and personal concerns in the main body, of the Philippian letter. And furthermore, as we have seen in recent weeks, he has added his P.S., verses 10 through 19, in the form of a thank-you note for the gift which was sent to him by the hand of Epaphroditus. And that thank-you note had stamped at the end of it that very succinct but beautiful doxology, ascribing glory to our God and Father, who alone, could bring to pass such ties of intimate Christian love and concern. Now, as was apparently the general social custom, after the body of a letter was completed, it was proper to append greetings that might be in order.

2:18 And so the apostle, in verses 21 and 22, writes these general words of final greeting, to the saints of God at Philippi. And yet contained in what may well be an ordinary social custom, are dimensions of thought and perspective which make this nothing less than a profound and thoroughly Christian word of greeting from the apostle, his brethren, the saints of God in general, and the saints in particular, in Caesar's household, all of whom are conscious of deep and intimate bonds with the people of God at Philippi. Now, as we attempt to think our way through the text this morning, we shall begin, first of all, by attempting to grasp the meaning and significance of the key word in the text. You will notice that three times the word translated in our 1901 version, and I believe, also in the authorized version, salute occurs. Verse 21,

The Meaning of 'Salute' (Greet with Affection)

3:33 Now, when we hear the word salute, we generally think of it in terms of a very specific and limited connotation. You children, when you hear the word salute, what do you think about? Well, you might think of, a soldier who throws a military salute. Or you might think of the Boy Scout or the Girl Scout salute.

4:04 Or perhaps you may think of assuming a posture in which you put your hand over your heart and you salute the flag. But this Greek word, aspazimai, does not mean give a military salute or a Boy or Girl Scout salute, but it was the general word used to express greetings. Greetings. And if you were writing to someone saying, give my greetings to so-and-so, this is the word that you would use.

4:34 And so it is a word that comes out of the general social customs of the day. But as is so often the case with these words, it draws to itself in its use in the Christian faith and in the Christian church dimensions of reality that go far beyond, beyond bare social custom. And whenever you find it in the New Testament, and you will find it again and again and again, you must think of this word as nothing less than expressions, or connotating expressions of greeting, throbbing with genuine fondness and affection.

5:19 And so we might paraphrase, even in our text, greet with fondness and affection every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren that are with me greet you with fondness and affection. All the saints greet you with fondness and affection, especially they that are of Caesar's household. Now it's because of this, usage in the New Testament, that it's not surprising that in no fewer than five passages, the saluting, the greeting with fondness and affections was to find expression in the brotherly embrace and the holy kiss, as it is called in four of those instances, and as it is described as the kiss of love by Peter in 1 Peter 5.

6:19 So in Romans 16.16, 1 Corinthians 16.20, 2 Corinthians 13.12, and 1 Thessalonians 5.26, the apostle writes to the churches and says, Greet one another, the same word in the original, in or with the holy kiss. And Peter adds a differing dimension in 1 Peter 5.14 when he says, Greet one another, the same word in the original, in or with the holy kiss. Greet one another with the kiss of love.

6:53 Now you see again, it was a common practice in the East, as it is in many parts of the East to this day, to greet someone with an embrace and with a kiss upon the cheek. I don't know how many kisses I gave in my three weeks time in Pakistan several years ago. I remember one occasion at the end of a pastor's conference where there were close to a hundred Pakistani pastors, and I had to give them the typical Pakistani Christian greeting, which was an embrace over one shoulder, an embrace over another shoulder, and then back to the former shoulder, and then in some cases a kiss upon the cheek. Well, you do that a hundred times, and you've had your arms full, I assure you. I was very grateful that most of the Pakistanis were small in stature, and they thought it was great stuff when I embraced them and actually picked them up off the ground. They thoroughly enjoyed that.

7:53 Well, I trust by this brief overview of the use of the word as it's found in the New Testament, you begin to feel something of what the apostle was concerned to convey when he closed his letter by the threefold use of this word, salute or greet with genuine affection and love. Now, when you find this word in other contexts, and you'll find it 21 times in Romans 16 alone, and then many times at the conclusion of Paul's epistles and also John's and Peter's epistles, I hope you will always see it as it reaches your eye and cause it, and it will be caused to register in your mind as a call to an expression of fondness and affection in our greeting.

The Command to Greet Every Saint in Christ Jesus

8:48 I hope you will always see it as it reaches your eye and cause it, and it will be caused to register in your mind as a call to an expression of fondness and affection in our greeting. When he used the word salute, every saint in Christ Jesus, he used a form of the verb which was a commandment. And so it came to the Philippians in the form of a gospel command that they were to greet with fondness and affection every saint in Christ Jesus. Now, Paul uses a second person plural, and our southern friends have a...

9:48 a much better way of expressing a second person plural. Sometimes they use it for the first person, or, yes, the first person, the second person, I'm sorry, singular, but it's the second person plural. They might say, you all do this, or you all do this. And this is what Paul said when he wrote to the Philippians, he said, you all salute every individual saint in Christ Jesus.

10:16 Now, who was the you all? Was it all of the saints who, in their saluting one another, were to do so in a sense with Paul's heart with them and expressing itself in their warm and affectionate greetings? Or was this a word directed particularly to the elders who are addressed in the opening words of the text? Well, it's difficult to ascertain, but one thing is clear.

10:46 That when the apostle... wrote, he was careful to underscore that this greeting with fondness and affection was to extend to every saint in Christ Jesus.

11:01 He did not use the plural form, salute or greet all of the saints in general, but he wrote, salute every saint in particular, so that the emphasis falls upon the individual. The individuality and the specificity of this expression of fondness and Christian affection. And then he adds these words, greet with fondness and affection every saint in Christ Jesus. Now, grammatically, the prepositional phrase, in Christ Jesus, can be attached to the saluting, so that what he's saying is, greet in Christ Jesus. That is, with self-conscious awareness of what you are as new creatures in Christ, and out of the context of your peculiar bonds established by Christ, greet every saint in Christ Jesus. So that the phrase, in Christ Jesus, is attached to the manner in which we greet one another. Or, grammatically, it could mean, greet every individual.

12:18 That is, those who are saints by virtue of being united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the construction that he used earlier in the epistle, when in chapter 1, in verse 1, we read, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus. And it cannot be decided on grammatical grounds, and in a very real sense, it doesn't make much difference. One thing, again, is clear.

12:52 That this greeting with fondness and affection derives its peculiar flavoring from nothing less than the glorious realities of redemption in Christ, which have become the possession of the people of God at Philippi. So, if they are to be able to greet in Christ Jesus every saint, they cannot have a greeting conditioned by union with Christ, unless they are united to Christ and understand something of the glory of their privilege and the awesomeness of their responsibilities as united to Christ. Or, if he's saying, greet every saint, that is, those who are in Christ Jesus, in the very act of greeting, they are to regard the ones whom they greet as nothing, less than members of the very body of Christ, so that in greeting the saints, they are greeting their Lord himself. For we read the Lord saying in Matthew 25, Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, my little ones, you have done it unto me. So, no matter which direction you go, the phrase, in Christ Jesus, conditions fundamentally and perfectly, basically, the imperative.

The Indicatives: Greetings from Rome

14:20 Here is the gospel duty laid upon the saints at Philippi and laid upon saints in every true church from that day until this very hour. We are to greet with fondness and affection every saint in Christ Jesus. But then there is not only the imperative, there are the two indicatives. Look at them.

14:44 The brethren that are with me, salute you. All the saints salute you or greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. Now, you have two groups in the indicatives. Number one, he says, The brethren that are with me salute you.

15:04 And this is most likely not a general reference to the brethren, that is, all of the people of God, but Paul's ministering brethren. And though in comparing them with Timothy, earlier in the letter, he said, I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. And he indicated that Timothy stood head and shoulders above the other Christian workers. You see, the apostle, by a master stroke, makes it evident that he is not disfellowshipping them.

15:35 Because there are defects in their motives and in their performance as Christian workers, he does not exclude them from the realm of his friendship. He says, The brethren that are with me, in spite of some of their deficiencies, they are brethren nonetheless. And when they heard that I was sending a letter to you, they approached me and said, Paul, please greet the saints at Philippi on our behalf. And so he tells us, The brethren that are with me here at Rome, those brethren who are my fellow workers in the gospel, they fondly greet you.

16:15 And then he says, All the saints greet you. That is, the whole household of faith at Rome, the entire fellowship of the people of God who constitute the Roman church, when they heard that this letter was to be sent to Philippi, by one means or another, they conveyed to Paul their desire that he express to the people of God there at Philippi something of their war, their fond Christian affections and greeting. And then by a master stroke, he zeroes in upon one segment of the company of the saints of Rome and says, Especially they that are of Caesar's household. And this phrase, they of Caesar's household, does not in any way point in the direction of people who may have been the very blood relatives of Caesar, but it most likely points to people who were part of what we would call the administrative household of Caesar. Slades, some of whom held very important and influential positions, others who may have held lesser positions of importance, some of whom may even be named in that long list of people

17:43 in the 16th chapter, of the Roman letter. But for one reason or another, probably because they were closer to Paul in attending upon some of his needs, being privy to the whole progress of his trial under the Roman government, he adds this little stroke, All of the saints greet you, but especially those of Caesar's household. Well, brethren, that's the basic meaning of the words in the text, as it is in the Bible. And I hope that you have a good time.

Abiding Message 1: Description of a True Christian

18:14 And I hope that you have a good time. And I hope that you have a good time. And I hope that you have a good time. Now, what is that intended to say to you?

18:20 What is it intended to say to me? What was it intended to convey to the Philippian church? Having examined the meaning of the key word of the text, the word salute, which means to greet with fondness and affection, having sought to open up the basic meaning of the text, now, thirdly, what is the abiding message of this text? of this text of Scripture?

18:46 We have sung together that the word of God is like a garden. It's like a deep mine. It's like an armory. Well, what flowers are here for us to pluck?

18:58 What rare jewels are here for us to unearth? What weapons are here for us to take to ourselves as we seek to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ? Well, as time permits, let me trace out four, four basic lines of application this morning which constitute the abiding message of this text. First of all, this text sets before us a succinct description of what constitutes a true Christian.

19:34 The longer I live, the older I become, and the more I'm involved in the work of the ministry, the less I assume that people understand the most elementary things. Now, no issue is more elementary or of greater importance than this issue. What constitutes a man, a woman, a boy or a girl a true Christian? That is, what must be true of me if I am to be prepared to die in peace and go to judgment with confidence that in the last day I will not hear the words departing from me, departing from me, departing from me, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. But those wonderful words, come, ye blessed, enter the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Well, this text very succinctly describes the very essence of what it is to be a true Christian. For when Paul is giving what we would call is simply a social greeting, he so thoroughly immerses immerses it in Christian thought that out of it comes this beautiful and succinct description of what a true Christian is.

20:55 How does he refer to Christians in this text? Well, you'll notice there is a two-fold description. Christians are called the saints. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus.

21:09 Verse 22, all the saints salute you. And that word saint is the root, the root word from which we get the other words translated in our English Bibles, holy, holiness, sanctification. And as you have often been told in this place, the basic concept of that word is one of separation. Holiness is separation.

21:38 Separation unto something, separation from something. And the people of God are called saints, not because they have been elevated to sainthood by a decision of the church, not because they have reached glorification and are therefore saints in the sense of perfection, of ethical and moral conformity to the image of Christ, but the moment any sinner in repentance and faith divorces himself from the world, from himself, his heart's attachment to sin and to the world and to the devil, and in the embrace of faith, takes as his Savior and sovereign, as his Lord and as his Redeemer, Jesus Christ as revealed in the gospel, that person immediately is constituted a holy one, a separated one, a saint. He is now one, set apart from the world unto God in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. So that every single Christian is a saint, and every true saint is a Christian. And though there are what we might call positional elements of this,

23:07 that is, matters that pertain to what God does outside of us, a saint is never a saint in terms only of his objective provisions in Jesus Christ. He is a saint because God has actually taken him out of the kingdom of darkness and translated him into the kingdom of his own dear Son. And then if we take the phrase, salute every saint in Christ Jesus, and I'm inclined to take it that way because of its parallel usage in chapter 1, then we have a further difference, a description of what a real Christian is. A real Christian is someone who is in Christ Jesus. He has been united to Christ Jesus. Notice the terminology. Not united to Jesus, some mystical, undefinable Jesus spirit or idea, but when Paul uses the words Christ Jesus, he is packing into those, those two official titles of our Lord, all of the richness of what Christ is as God's own anointed prophet, priest, and king, and God's final prophet, priest, and king.

24:32 And he is identified with Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Word, who lived an actual life in Palestine, who died a real death outside the city, walls of Jerusalem, who was raised from the dead on the third day and went back to the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And Paul describes a Christian as someone who has come into living, vital union with God's anointed Messiah, who is Jesus of Nazareth, a union effected from God's standpoint by the indwelling of the Spirit and from the human perspective by the embrace of faith, now that's what it means to be a Christian. Not to have some vague notions about Jesus floating by, and when they float by, you nod to them and say, well, I believe them. Not to have some close proximity to the church of Jesus Christ so that you attend a Christian church occasionally or quite frequently. You are not a Christian if you simply have had some contact with the sacraments in order, the evidences of Christ.

25:47 My dear friend, listen to the word of God. You are a Christian only if you are in Christ Jesus. Now you say, but Pastor Martin, this stage of things in the late 20th century, you surely do not mean to stand there and say that there is but one way. You seem to talk as a reasonably intelligent man, but your bigotry is oozing out of every pore.

26:18 My dear friends, I wish I were at liberty to make the way broader than it is. But I'm not here to give you my opinions. I'm here to expound and apply the Scriptures. And Jesus Christ Himself said, I am the way, the truth, the life.

26:38 No man comes to the Father but by Me. And if I'm a bigot, He's a bigot. Because I am but exalted, echoing His word. My dear friend, your issue is not with this church or its ministry.

26:54 The issue is with Almighty God against whom you've sinned. And if God has opened a way of life and salvation, it's all of grace. And having opened it, if He's revealed it, it's all of grace. And having revealed it, that He brings it to your ears here this morning, it's all of grace.

27:13 Don't despise the overtures of His grace telling you, there is no way to be a Christian but to be in Christ. You must be in Christ. You must embrace Him. You must come to union with Christ as you embrace Him by faith.

Abiding Message 2: Fundamental Duty to Greet Every Christian

27:32 And so this text sets before each of us a succinct description of what constitutes a true Christian. But then in the second place, it sets before us a fundamental duty in coming to Christ. Incumbent upon every Christian. It sets before us a fundamental duty incumbent upon every Christian.

27:58 Both by the imperative,

28:02 greet every saint, and then by the example of the two indicatives, the brethren that are with me greet you, all the saints greet you, especially they of Caesar's household, God is setting before us our Christian duty. Now I'm quite confident that in the church at Philippi, as in any church, in any place, in any age, there was represented the full range of differing personality types. I'm sure at Philippi you had some of the gregarious, outgoing, back-slapping, how-do-you-do kind of characters who found it easy in a place, where they were total strangers, to walk up to anyone, talk to them, enter into conversation. People sort of like my mother. You could set her down in the middle of Main Street in Mars, and in three minutes she'd have twelve people all around her telling her their deepest problems. It's a grace that's been cultivated, some of its personality, and I'm sure in the church at Philippi you had such people.

29:13 But I'm also sure you had those that found it very difficult. In any kind of a group situation, they feel threatened by people. The full range of human personality was there. And Paul was not ignorant of personality differences.

29:30 He was an astute observer of human nature. And yet he dared to write to the church at Philippi and lay upon the consciences of all the Christians, greet every saint in Christ Jesus. Whether you're bashful or outgoing, whether it's natural, or not natural, greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

30:00 Now that's a duty. And it's a fundamental duty. It's repeated again and again in the epistles, and is even joined with the injunction, greet one another with the holy kiss. And if someone said, I don't care what Paul said, I ain't the kissing type.

30:20 I'm not the greeting type. That's not a matter. It's not a matter what type you are. You submerge your type to the word of God.

30:28 You submerge your native inclinations to the word of God. It's not a matter of what you feel like. It's a matter of what God commands you to do. Now you say you believe in plenary, that is full verbal, that is to the very words, inspiration.

30:48 Is this injunction just as much inspired of God as the commandment of God? And work out your salvation with fear and trembling?

30:58 It comes. You all salute in Christ Jesus. It is a Christian duty to make conscience about making it evident to my brothers and sisters that they hold a place of fondness and affection in my heart and they can't know it if I'm all the time running by them or running. Now I'm going to get very, very specific in pastoral application.

31:31 There are some of you who run out of this place every Lord's Day altogether too quickly.

31:37 I'm not talking about those of you who are not members of this assembly. I'm talking about those of you who have been joined in solemn bonds of intimate, mutual, covenantal commitment in the fellowship of Trinity Church and you have no conscience about the fact that you are not members of this assembly. I'm talking about running out of here Lord's Day by Lord's Day without making any effort to greet every saint in Christ Jesus. Now does that mean that every Lord's Day you've got to greet every single one?

32:12 Of course not. God is reasonable. But it means that in your heart you will make a conscious effort so that over a given period of time there is no fellow saint in this place to whom you have not expressed your fondness and affection by a genuine Christian greeting whatever that may mean for you. And that's your duty until you can scrub this passage from the word of God that oh but you say that's not my cultural background.

32:49 I don't care. And God doesn't care. But you see I've got children and I have a husband. I don't care and God doesn't care.

33:01 You say Pastor Martin you're ruthless on us at times. Is it ruthless to try to put you in the way of obedience to God which is the way of blessing?

33:12 Is that ruthless or is that kind?

33:18 Furthermore there are some of you who sit back and wait for others always to come to you. You say that's right. The saints are supposed to greet me. I'm going to wait over here till they do.

33:33 Oh yes I see some of you Sunday by Sunday all the time. Off in a corner somewhere slouched down waiting for everybody to come to you.

33:43 That's sinful. God says you are to greet every saint. You are to take the initiative. You're not to sit back and be quoting this verse saying when are people going to do what God tells them to do.

33:57 It's about time some of you began to do what God tells you to do. Then there are others of you when people would greet you warmly and affectionately you draw back. Because you have something against your brother or your sister.

34:13 You see the assumption is that there's a climate in which those greetings are reciprocally received. I wonder I wonder if in terms of one of the few problems that seem to exist at Philippi that problem of a little bit of internal friction those two noble women who had some sparks between them Yodi and Syntyche the fact that he had to write in the second chapter nothing done through strife or vain glory I wonder if this didn't have peculiar relevance. It's awfully hard to walk up to a brother or sister stick your hand out and look them straight in the eye and say it's good to see you if you have anything between them. Isn't it?

34:54 And if you find yourself drawing back could it be it's an indication you have ought against your brother or your sister? You see this would be a wonderful check upon us wouldn't it? If we'd made conscience about this then we though we may not get to every saint every Lord's day. In our hearts we know that there's not one saint we wouldn't get to if we could and find it a delight.

35:20 Now you ask yourself sitting here this morning is there any saint in the fellowship of Trinity Church that you just as soon in the sovereignty and providence of God they didn't happen to meet you at those two narrow doors going out at the same time you got there this morning? Is there anyone you'd feel a little bit uncomfortable about if they happened to meet you? Then you better seek out that saint this morning and get whatever is causing that problem dealt with so that you can have the attitude of preparedness to greet every saint in Christ Jesus. That is to greet with fondness and with affection and where it is discreet even with a holy embrace or with the kiss of love.

36:08 Now some of you may wonder why your elders are rather intransigent about planting them selves at the doors and staying there and when some of you try to get a little mini counseling session when everyone's backed up and on the way out why we almost get rude with you. You see it's a matter of principle. If anyone needs to greet every saint in Christ Jesus it is the shepherds of the flock of God who need to be able to look every sheep straight in the eye every Lord's day as much as possible and express by that warmth of the handshake and that clasp of the elbow and that word of encouragement that their hearts are towards you in genuine Christ given love and concern. Now let me say again God is reasonable. I'm fully conscious that some of you have to run out rather quickly in terms of gathering your children together caring for this need or that need and I don't want you to think that I or anyone else stands in judgment on you when necessarily calls you to these legitimate duties. But my friend let me ask you is it really necessity that calls you to those duties or are you using apparent necessities as a cloak for an alienation of affection from your brothers and sisters?

Abiding Message 3: Duty of Churches to Other Churches

37:35 The abiding message of this text is not only one in which there is a succinct description of what a true Christian is but also one that sets before us a very clear biblical duty but in the third place this text sets before us a duty incumbent upon every true church in relationship to other true churches. It sets before us a duty incumbent upon every true church in relationship to other true churches. When the apostle wrote saying the brethren that are with me greet you and the apostles that are with me and the saints greet you especially those of Caesar's household what was the apostle doing? He was becoming an instrument through which there was being cultivated or developed between the church at Rome and the church at Philippi a sense of their shared life as part of the universal church. And there are two dimensions of the church in the doctrine of the word of God. There is the church local that is the individual assembly of the people of God who meet at a given place and time for specific expressions of biblical obedience.

38:58 But there is the church universal that is all of the churches of God scattered throughout the earth. And in the New Testament it is evident that the apostles made conscious of cultivating that awareness of the church universal and seeking to stimulate the churches to a felt consciousness of their shared life in the universal church.

39:29 They were constantly sowing seeds and watering plants of awareness and concern. And if some of you wonder why do we pray for these churches? We've never been there. We've never seen or heard some of their preachers preach.

39:46 Why do we have a pastor young come from New Zealand and take time in our adult class to tell us of the work of the gospel in New Zealand and have him preach so that we get to know him and become intimate with him? Brethren, this is not just something we do because it seemed to be a convenient expedient. This is done out of a deep burning biblical conviction that there is an obligation upon Trinity Church to be aware of the church universal.

40:17 That's an obligation. And as your overseers we feel keenly that obligation. For instance, at the conference on Thursday or on Friday I had a pastor come to me greatly distraught. I was to have had a little break after preaching and answering questions for some two and a half, three hours.

40:39 I was to have taken a little break and he said, I know you're tired, you're supposed to take a break, but can I speak to you? Well, what could you say? So I let him talk to me and his problem was this. He said, I'm pastor of a Reformed Baptist church in such and such a place, but I feel so isolated.

40:55 He said, I get a little bit of information here and there, but I feel so out of touch and I'm discouraged. And he poured out his complaint. He said, what can I do? I said, well, this may sound very unglamorous, but here's a starting point.

41:08 You go home and sit down and on one side of an ordinary sheet of paper, single spaced, you type a letter in which you say who you are, something about your church, something about its history, something about its present needs. And I said, I promise I will read that letter at our midweek service and sow a seed of awareness so that the people at Trinity Church will know who you are, where you're ministering, and you will not be alone.

41:40 Now, am I looking for more correspondents? No.

41:45 No. Was I looking for someone else to talk to after pouring myself out? No. And I'm not setting myself up as the paragon of virtue.

41:56 I can only illustrate out of the crucible of my own recent experience. But it was this very principle. I am under a solemn obligation to cultivate that awareness and to seek in turn to see it cultivated in this assembly.

42:16 This text is a beautiful example of that duty that is incumbent upon us. And that's why we urge, we urge upon you to write letters to people who pass through from other places. Take the time to write a letter to begin an exchange of thought and concern so that you have something of that awareness of the church universal. And then in the fourth place, the abiding message of this text is this.

Abiding Message 4: Renewed Faith in the Gospel's Power

42:44 It sets before us a basis of renewed faith and confidence in the power of the gospel. It sets before us a basis of renewed faith and confidence in the power of the gospel. Now what would you children think if someone on the street came running down towards your house tomorrow and says, you've got to come with me. I've just been to the local garbage dump and there's the most wonderful smell coming out of the dump.

43:18 You'd look at him and say, come off it, you're pulling my leg. I didn't buy that dump. It stinks. And your friend says, no, there's the most wonderful smell coming out of the local garbage dump.

43:29 Come and smell it with me. He'd say, that's a strange thing. Sweet odors from a garbage dump. Now that's exactly what Paul says in the text.

43:38 Look at it. See, I didn't hear anything about a garbage dump. Well, it's there. All the saints salute you, especially they of Caesar's household.

43:53 Caesar's household. You know who was the Caesar at that time? Mad Nero.

44:00 Sensuous, godless, wicked, pagan Nero.

44:07 And yet in Caesar's household there's a band of saints. That's a sweet smell coming out of a garbage heap. What happened? The gospel had penetrated Caesar's household and all the intensified expressions of raw paganism all of the expressions of the blindness and perversity of unregenerate human nature augmented with Roman power and influence could not restrain the mighty power of God reaching in and taking not a few from the very household of Caesar and making them trophies of grace.

44:51 Now there's a subtle form of heaviness that settles upon the people of God when they must live and labor in a day such as ours. And we hear so much about the rampant secularism and it's true, the blatant lawlessness and it's true, the crippling cynicism and it's true, the dulling worldliness upon the church and it's true. But something else is true. The gospel is still the power of God unto salvation.

45:24 And there is no amount of rampant secularism or blatant lawlessness or crippling cynicism that can keep that gospel from being God's dynamite unto salvation. And so dear people of God when you read a text like this especially they of Caesar's household think of those households on your street where the people seem to be totally immersed in 20th century American paganism. They just live for things and for booze and for partying and white swapping and you say is there any hope? Remember this text.

46:08 Caesar's household. God could reach in and extricate some from that household right in your street. Do you pray for those neighbors? Or do you say they're beyond hope?

46:19 Remember Caesar's household. While they yet live there is hope that God could reach in and rescue them. Those people you work with in the office, in the shop those that you go to school with in high school, in junior high in grade school and in that other place where you must associate with people day after day whose commitment to a life of secularism and lawlessness and cynicism is so evident child of God don't believe the devil's lie that they're beyond hope. They're not beyond hope.

46:57 It's the kind of people God delights to save and magnify His grace in them. And so a text like this sets before us a basis of renewed faith and confidence in the power of the gospel. And as we seek to be true to our stewardship as a church let us earnestly plead with God privately in our family worship in our midweek prayer services that God will so attend the word with power that the proclamation of that simple basic message of deliverance in Jesus Christ will be owned of God to the bringing of multitudes from the modern households of Caesar into vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. They are just simple words of closing greeting. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren that are with me greet you.

Conclusion and Call to Obedience

47:58 All the saints greet you especially they of Caesar's household. But may their abiding message fasten itself upon each of our hearts. May we ask that question. Do I have what this text says a man, a woman, a boy, a girl must have and be if he's to be a Christian?

48:20 Do I know that union with Christ that has made me a saint that has separated me from a basic attachment to Christ? Into sin, into the world and the devil and separated me unto God to be the willing bond slave of Jesus Christ? If so, then there is this fundamental duty incumbent upon me to greet every saint in Christ Jesus. To take upon myself in spite of what my native personality traits may be I must make conscience about greeting my brethren.

48:57 That's my duty. And oh, if we get nothing else this morning, brethren may something of the force of this grip us. This is your gospel duty. And it doesn't say when you're in a good mood or when you feel like it.

49:12 You're to do it. And perhaps it's never more virtuous than in those days when you come to the house of God with your spirit battered and bowed down because of your own personal sin and problems and you'd love to just crawl under the chair and hide until the building is emptied and then slither out into your car and go home. It's in those very days when you need most to say I am under solemn obligation to greet every saint in Christ and take yourself by the back of the neck the seat of the britches and get on with it. Get away from the tyranny of your feelings.

49:54 Who cares what you feel like? Cry to God. Lord, I'm determined. I'm determined to obey you though nothing in me wants to.

50:03 But I'm determined to do it anyway. You know what'll happen? Nine times out of ten before you leave the building the very thing that would have driven you under the chair will have vaporized. You'll be gone.

50:19 You say, how do you know that? Because God promises it. Isaiah 58. He says, you draw out your soul to the hungry and thy light shall rise in obscurity and thy darkness break forth as the noonday.

50:30 You sit around under the chair hoping everyone to come and look at you and have a pity party over you.

50:37 It's a form of wicked self-centeredness.

50:41 And you begin to go out of yourself to others and lo and behold that weight will often drop from your own back. And I know that from experience, dear people, when many a time the last thing I ever wanted to do was come through those doors and preach to others. My own spirit has been so battered and bowed down with my own internal problems and struggles that the last thing I've wanted to do is come through those doors. But coming through those doors to pour out my soul to you has meant my own salvation.

51:17 That principle is true. He that would save his life will lose it, but he that will lose his life for my sake shall save it. Then we have that fundamental duty as a church. May we never grow weary of cultivating awareness of the church universal, paying the price of giving ourselves to prayer for people and causes and needs that we've never had any first-hand contact with them.

51:43 But isn't it wonderful when we do that and then the Lord brings one of those people to us. I've watched your faces. We've prayed for a Pastor Poitner and then the day comes when he visits with us. I've watched your faces when he's come and stood before you and that look of recognition.

51:58 The man we've prayed for is here and I could almost reach out and cut the bonds of love that I felt being established and strengthened and it's worth it, isn't it? Sure, it means you have to say no to yourself, but it's the path of blessedness and then the text sets before us that basis of renewed confidence in the gospel. May we ever be a people who never question the power of the gospel because once we do, then we're going to start trying something else or trying to add something to the gospel. The day that comes, may God cause the foundation to this building to crumble and close down shop.

52:41 The plain, simple, unadulterated heralding of the message of life in Christ is God's power to salvation. May our confidence in it be expressed by our jealous guarding of its purity and simplicity and praying for the Holy Ghost to bless its proclamation to the salvation of many. Let us pray.

Prayer

53:12 Our Father, we thank you for your Holy Word. How we bless you that you have given to us in the scriptures a sufficient rule for our faith and for our practice that you have condescended even to instruct us with respect to how we should greet one another. Lord, we desire to please you. We desire to honor you.

53:39 We desire to reflect in our life together those dimensions of true Christ, Christian love, which will cause an onlooking world to say, behold, how they love one another. Holy Father, have mercy upon those who sit here who have never fled to Jesus Christ, who have never divorced themselves from sin and the world in a course of rebellion against you. They are not saints. They are not your holy ones.

54:13 They are not your separated ones. Only. Lord, will you not even in this hour put forth the arm of your strength and draw them to yourself? Seal the word to our hearts, and bless, we pray, our reflections upon it, and give us grace to walk in obedience to its precepts. Hear us and receive our thanks for your presence with us in our worship and in the ministry of your word. We ask these mercies with true thankfulness through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.