Today Daily Devotional

Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. . . . [And] Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.
— Romans 16:12

For the past few days we’ve looked through Paul’s greetings to helpers, coworkers, and other saints here in Romans 16, highlighting just a few of them. These people are all “in Christ,” and they are therefore new creations, as Paul puts it in our theme verse, 2 Corinthians 5:17.In our text for today Paul highlights three women who are hard workers in the cause of Jesus Christ. Paul doesn’t tell us anything about their work, just that they embraced it as part of their service for Jesus.Maybe you know people like that. I do. In my work as a consultant for church leaders, I have often seen council chairpersons step into challenging conversations, meet with angry church members, and provide calm leadership in tense council meetings. Many of them have told me they never would have thought they could manage situations like those when they were first called into office. But there they are, doing hard things, to the best of their ability, equipped with wisdom, humility, and persistence from God.Let’s thank God for these people, and for all of the other new creations we know whose lives and hard work are signs that they are “in Christ,” pointing ahead to the new creation.

Lord, thank you for wise church leaders who are “in Christ” and whose work for the church reveals that you are living within them. By the power of your Spirit, strengthen them for calm times and challenging times. Amen.

Andronicus and Julius, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me . . . are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
— Romans 16:7

The text that has shaped our month’s devotions (2 Corinthians 5:17) has an important, little phrase that shows up again here, in Romans 16:7: “in Christ.”This phrase is one of the apostle Paul’s favorite descriptions of people who have come to believe in the Lord Jesus, are redeemed in him, and are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. They are “in Christ.” Christ is their home, their resting place, their source of life.Today it is more common to say that these people are Christians. Paul said that they are “in Christ.”Andronicus and Julius are new creations “in Christ,” along with all of the other people Paul mentions in Romans 16. And, according to Paul, they were believers “in Christ” before Paul himself was. In addition, their “in Christ” character led them to follow Christ into imprisonment alongside Paul. Their service for the Lord was so remarkable that Paul described them as “outstanding among the apostles.”How did these two people become “in Christ”? God drew them into faith in Jesus, the one and only Savior. God’s love for them turned them into people who loved God. The Lord made them into new creations. And their transformation hints at something big: God’s new creation!Thank God with me if he has done that for you too!

Thank you, God, for your work in all who are “in Christ,” from the early days of the church to the present. We are all your new creations! Amen.

They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
— Romans 16:4

What level of risk are you comfortable with? Are you willing to invest your money in something that could make a great profit but could also make a significant loss? Or would you rather keep your money safe in a bank?Priscilla and Aquila were two ministry colleagues of Paul, and we can find parts of their story in Acts 18. These two new creations, people who were united to Christ in faith and becoming more like Jesus, did risky things in the name of protecting Paul and providing for him in order to share the good news of Jesus more widely. They were risk-tolerant when it came to spreading the gospel. They understood that risks taken in the name of Jesus are not necessarily risky in the long term. That’s because the future of all believers is secure in Christ.Paul was grateful for these two new creations. The Gentile churches to whom Paul was able to minister, in part because of Priscilla and Aquila’s faith-filled risk tolerance, were also grateful.I am grateful too. God made new creations out of these former unbelievers, and as new creations they have shown us what it means to hold everything but God loosely.

Thank you, dear Father, for re-creating Priscilla and Aquila through the Spirit of Jesus and calling them to work alongside Paul, taking risks for the sake of spreading the gospel. Turn our hearts in that direction as you re-create us too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae.
— Romans 16:1

“Don’t call it ‘just a list.’” That was the advice of preaching professor Fred Craddock as he spoke about Romans 16. This collection of Paul’s friends, with names that are unfamiliar to many of us today, is not merely a list. Every person here has a story revealing a miracle of God’s grace.Take Phoebe, for example. Paul calls her a sister, and he commends her to his Roman readers as a diaconal servant from the church in Cenchreae, a harbor town near Corinth in Greece. Apparently she was a great help to many people in a town that saw lots of travelers come and go.To use the language of this month’s theme, Phoebe was a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Having come to faith in Jesus as Savior, she was a woman who was “in Christ,” and the old Phoebe was disappearing while a new Phoebe was coming to expression. By the work of the Holy Spirit in her, she was becoming more and more like Jesus, the greatest giver and helper of all. She was an ongoing reminder of resurrection life, pointing us all to God’s renewal of his whole world.That is what new creations, like the ones named in Romans 16, do. They become a great help to many people because they are in Christ, the one Savior and the greatest helper of all.

Lord, thank you for adding us to the gathering that includes Phoebe and all other believers. Make us more like Jesus so that we may be a great help to the world, a sign of your new creation to come. Amen.

Timothy has . . . brought good news about your faith and love.
— 1 Thessalonians 3:6

Paul was overjoyed! He had sent his disciple, Timothy, back to the city of Thessalonica to check on the church they had recently planted there. And Timothy had returned with amazing news!First, the background: Paul had spent only a short time in Thessalonica, establishing a community of Christ-followers, before an angry mob opposed to the gospel chased him off. Paul knew the deep challenges that the new Christians faced there in his absence, living in a culture that was deeply opposed to Christianity. He wouldn’t have been surprised if everyone had gone back to their former ways of life in Judaism or Greek tradition.But Timothy came back with a report that the new Christians in Thessalonica were standing firm despite the challenges. They remained full of faith in Jesus. They even longed to see Paul again!That doesn’t happen by accident. The God who raised Jesus from the dead also brought these people to life in him, and he kept them there. You might say that every standing-firm, new Christian was an ongoing resurrection story, a new creation, proof that God was up to something big: the renewal of all creation.If anyone is in Christ, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, there is a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come!

Lord, all of us who are new creations in Christ are glad to have your resurrection power at work in us. Thank you! The old is going away and the new is coming. Help us to see and rejoice. Amen.