Friends, Fiends, and Finishing Well

The Summit of Our Salvation

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

July 27, 2025

Friends, Fiends, and Finishing Well

If you have your Bible turn with me to the last chapter in the book of Romans, chapter 16. This morning I’m reading from the NIV.

16 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. ² I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.

³ Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. ⁴ They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

⁵ Greet also the church that meets at their house.

Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

⁶ Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.

⁷ Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

⁸ Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.

⁹ Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys…[Jump down to verse 21]

²¹ Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.

²² I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.

²³ Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings.

Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings. Rom. 16:1-9,21-23

Let’s pray.

A number of years ago I heard that a new church plant was coming to the area. A young man fresh out of seminary and his wife was moving here to plant a church and a friend of mine told me how excited he was to be a part of it. Unexpectedly though the church plant only lasted a few months and then closed its doors. The challenge this new church faced was that while the young pastor was theologically sound and was able to teach the bible clearly, he didn’t care for people. To be precise, he didn’t like interacting with people. At a graduation event, he offered to be the photographer so that he could hide behind the camera and not have to talk to people. He and his wife left the area and he took a position as a teacher at a bible seminary which was a better fit for his skills.

Some people are good with people but not so good at teaching the Bible. Others are good at teaching the bible but not that good at dealing with people. Paul did both well.

He was a great theological thinker. The book of Romans alone is a theological masterpiece, taking us to the heights of justification by faith, the sovereignty of God, and the believer’s assurance that all things are working together for our ultimate good and that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Other than Jesus, Paul was the greatest theologian this world has ever produced.

But when it came to people, Paul wasn’t one to hide behind a camera. He was out there building relationships everywhere he went. People and friendships meant a lot to him. We see that here in the last chapter as Paul greets people he knows in the church and sends greetings from those who are with him.

As we bring this wonderful book to a close, we can learn three lessons from his final words to the believers at Rome.

Lesson #1: value friendship

We see from the unique and detailed greetings that Paul sends that he valued friendship. He has history with these people. Phoebe, who probably carried his letter to Rome, was a servant (or deaconess) in the church at Cencrae which was a seaport in Corinth. More than likely Paul led her to the Lord when he spent time in Corinth preaching the gospel.

Priscilla and Aquila risked their lives for him. Four of the people he greets he greets as dear friends or beloved. One of them, Epenetus, was the first person to come to Christ through his ministry in Asia. Some are co-workers, some spent time in prison with him, all of them are dear to Paul.

The gospel can’t be lived out in an ivory tower of doctrine, we need people in our lives. We need family and we need friends. Friends are people you share history with – we were in prison together, we worked together, they risked their lives for me. Friends are people who stick with you through the good times and the bad.

We had the joy of reconnecting with old friends from our Lamb’s Chapel days on Long Island. We hadn’t seen Frank and Krista in over 25 years, but we had a great time catching up and also sharing memories. We have history together. We remembered Krista’s dad Andy who was an elder at Lamb’s Chapel for many years. We laughed at some memories, reminisced over other memories and expressed regret about a few memories. Friends share history and that helps anchor our lives.

There is a recent documentary about a famous woman who made a lot of money, knew a lot of rich and powerful people, and acquired a great amount of success in her career. But she died without any close friends. That is a lonely way to live. We need to be careful when we tell people to leave us alone…because we might end up being left alone which is a lonely place to be. Nothing else – not money or career or fame or power – can be what a friend is to us.

Friendships don’t always look the same or have the same level of closeness. Some Paul greets as co-workers, some he greets as dear friends. Paul valued friends, God values friends. Abraham was called a friend of God. Jesus called his disciples his friends. Friends are a gift from God and should be valued.

Lesson #2: avoid fiends

¹⁷ I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your

way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. ¹⁸ For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. ¹⁹ Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.

²⁰ The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Rom.16:17-20

I admit I chose the word fiends because it made a good sounding title, and it might not be the very best word to describe the person Paul is warning about here, but it’s not far from it either.

Paul warns us to watch out for and avoid people who cause divisions and scandals. The Greek work translated “obstacles” is skandala – from which we derive the word scandal. It means a stumbling block or something that trips others up. This is about division. Not differences. Not disagreement about non-essential matters. We just spent a couple weeks talking about seeking unity with diversity.

These are divisive people. Their goal is the opposite of Jesus’ prayer that we be one – they love to disrupt and divide! They get satisfaction from sowing seeds of suspicion, division, and disruption.

They sound good. They flatter and smooth talk their way into people’s confidence. They prey on naïve and undiscerning people who fall for their well-crafted lies. They come off as wanting the best for the church and for you, but they’re driven by their own selfish desires.

Paul’s not warning them because such divisive people are in the church already, he just knows that they inevitably will come and he wants them to be on the lookout and be discerning. Ultimately these people are unwitting tools of Satan, pursuing what the devil wants – division and stumbling blocks in the church.

The day is coming when the God of peace will crush Satan under our feet. Irony intended – God believes in peace through strength. Way back in Genesis 3 He promised that the seed of Eve would crush the serpent’s head, and Jesus did that on the cross. One day God will literally and visibly crush Satan and all his evil plans finally and fully. Until that day, we are warned to be wise and discerning.

Lesson #3: finish well

²⁰The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you…

²⁵ Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, ²⁶ but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— ²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. Rom. 16:20b, 25-27

Paul’s final words to the church echo his first words. In chapter one he says grace be to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, here he says the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Paul opened the letter and now he closes the letter talking about the obedience that comes from faith. We are not saved by obedience we are saved by faith. But genuine faith will produce obedience in us.

Paul wants them to finish well. Break the tape, finish the course, run the race. So he prays over them. Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel…that word establish literally means to strengthen. It speaks of enduring, of having deep roots, of making it to the end. It is God who keeps us to the end. He will hold me fast. Sometimes we may feel like we’re not going to make it. We may feel like giving up, like we don’t have the strength to go on.It isn’t our strength that enables us to finish well, it is His strength.

As we hope in Him He renews our strength so that we mount up with wings like eagles, we can run and not grow weary, we can walk and not faint, we can break the tape, finish the course, run the race to the very end. He is able to establish us and hold us to our very last day.

It is God who does it. And so Paul prays that God receive all the glory forever through Jesus Christ. He’s talking about the forever glory God receives by saving lost sinners forever through the atoning death of His Son Jesus. Salvation is forever. Being saved means being alive in the presence of God forever. It is God who establishes us through our strong times and our weak times, through the ups and downs, mountains and valleys of life and brings us safely to His kingdom. That is the work of God in us, that is the gospel Jesus came to give us.

We will never tire of praising God for saving us. We will never get used to living eternally in heaven. And so forever we will glorify God and praise Him for eternal life. For His love and mercy. For His Son Jesus. To Him be the glory and honor and praise forever and ever amen.