Tara-Leigh Cobble

He says this harmony should be with each other and also with Christ.

It's not good if we're unified with each other, but we're singing a different song than Jesus.

He wants us to sing one song that points to the glory of God.

And in order to do that, we have to welcome our fellow choir members, not try to lock them in the robe closet or pray they get laryngitis.

He even wants them to get to the place where they can peaceably learn to instruct each other.

It's that mutual upbuilding again.

That's what happens when we all aim to grow in wisdom and we surround ourselves with wise people.

We can learn not only from what God is teaching us, but from what he's teaching other people as well.

If you're doing the Bible recap with someone else, you're probably learning from what they're learning.

I've heard lots of you say that even your children, 6, 7, 10, 12 years old, have pointed things out from that day's reading that astonished you.

And not just because, wow, they figured that out so young, but because, hey, I didn't even notice that myself.

Surround yourself with people who are seeking God, who are singing the same song.

This is what mutual upbuilding looks like.

Paul begins to close out his letter to the church at Rome by letting them know he loves them and that he's heading to Jerusalem to deliver the financial support he's been collecting from the churches.

But later, he hopes to come back and visit them on his way to Spain.

In chapter 16, we get some clues that Paul's letter is probably being delivered to the Roman church by a woman named Phoebe.

He tells them to welcome her because she's a servant of the church.

The word used for servant here is diakonos, the word used for deacon, so Phoebe was quite possibly a deacon in one of the churches near Athens.

We've linked to an article with more info in case you want to read more about what this might have meant in the first century church.

By the way, first century travel was especially dangerous.