When Abraham was visited by the Lord and the two guests with him, he served them the meal and then he stood by the tree ready for if they called him into service. I would like more water.
I would like whatever it might have been. That's a picture of the ready servant. More than willing, he's ready. What can he do with your ability if you don't have availability? I can't, sorry. Oh no, I can't do that either.
Then what good is what you can do if you can never show up to do it? You hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, here's Pastor Rick in the book of Romans chapter 16 as he begins his message, Church People. Romans chapter 16, Church People is the title of the message.
We should all be able to identify with that. Verses 1 through 4, I commend you to Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in St. Crea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has need of you. For indeed, she has been a helper of many and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. An easy section to love. It is one of my favorite sections of the Bible. Unlike the other longer list in Matthew and Luke, which give us the genealogy of the humanity of Christ, and the list in Hebrews 11, unlike those three lists in our New Testament, these names are all alive. They were living at the time that their names were inked by Paul, and it recalls how John ended his third letter. He said to the Christians, I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face, peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.
It's just very touching, you know, with all the junk that life throws at us and oftentimes through us on others is still the hope of love and friendship and overcoming these things and being useful to God, loved by God the whole time. Paul names 26 personal friends, a third of them are female, just in this first section. He names another eight in the doxology, then you factor in Phoebe, you have nine people there in Corinth where he's writing this letter from, and then you have the 26 in Rome.
Total of 35 names, but there's more people involved than the people that are listed by name. He greets others in this group. For example, he says those who are of the house of Aristobulus, those who are of Narcissus. See, those who are of are other people that are in the household of those two men, and those two men, Aristobulus and Narcissus, are likely not even Christians. Then he goes on to say greet Rufus and his mother, Hermes and the brethren. Well, how many brethren is that? The church.
Greet Nerus and his sister, Olympus and the saints. There's a lot of people involved. Then he's singled out many of them, but he's not forgotten any of them. Two thirds of the names of Gentiles, which tells us that the church moved beyond Jerusalem, which we know, but it's kind of heartwarming to see it actually be fulfilled when Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel.
Well, that's what they were doing. And as we go through this list, we get the impression that these folks were pretty busy with Christianity. John chapter 10 records the words of Jesus. He said in John 10 verse 3, he calls, and Jesus talking about the good shepherd is referring to himself, and he says he calls his own sheep by name. That's identity.
It means something. Love particularizes the story of the Song of Solomon. The beloved and the shepherd. They were in love.
They knew everything about each other, and they made it. Solomon manages to make that very clear. Also in John chapter 10 verse 4, 14, 16, 26, and 27, Jesus talks about the shepherd caring for the flock. Solomon writes in the Proverbs that we are to know the state of our flock, hands-on pastoring.
I think it's lost on a lot of people, but not on all. Names that here in this 16th chapter immortalized by the pen of Paul. Names that represent people who lived and loved and died long, long ago, and we have filled the ranks. Now, as I'm speaking to you, they are eternally reunited in heaven, and such will be the case for us one day also. It would be naive to think that these people, though dedicated to Christ as they were, they were not unlike us.
They had struggles. They knew life, just like we learned life. Each name a living story of time and of salvation and of struggle and heartache and salvation and service, and I said salvation twice.
So nice you had to say it twice. That Paul personally knew so many people in Rome, without ever having been there, testifies to how remarkable his influence and travels and work in Christ were. So now we look at the first verse. I commend you to Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in Sancria. Yeah, I want to do justice to Phoebe. She's, you know, it's one of those characters. We know enough about her to love her, to not mind naming our daughters after her. Likely, she's a Gentile who is a servant of the church. Now, the Greek word, therefore, servant, is one we're familiar with, diakonos. The two main ones, doulos, a slave, that is often used in the New Testament, but diakonos is a little different. We get our English word deacon from that, and of course deacon means more than someone who greets you at the door. That's only one form of servant. Anybody who serves in the church is, falls under this description of a servant, diakonos. It was used for slaves, but also for hired servants, such what we would call employees, whereas doulos is slaves. The apostles applied it to willing servants as they did with doulos, that other Greek word, those who were at the ready to be called into service.
And I say that because of the root. The root word for this diakonos means errand runner, someone who you sent on errands. And that's us. When Abraham was visited by the Lord and the two guests with him, he served them the meal, and then he stood by the tree, ready for if they called him into service, I would like more water, I would like whatever it might have been. That's a picture of the ready servant. More than willing, he's ready. What can he do with your ability if you don't have availability?
If you never, oh, I can't, sorry, oh, no, I can't do that either, then what good is what you can do if you can never show up to do it? Well, the church in Cenchrea, it's an east, eastern seaport in Corinth, about nine miles outside the city. The word church ecclesia is what is used here.
Those who are called out, called out of this world, called into the world to come in heaven. There are two instructive references to the church, the ecclesia in Matthew, that we should not bypass at this point. Because in Corinth, there was the church in Corinth, there was the church in Cenchrea, and there were probably other ones, and we'll get to that as we move through this.
But the first one in Matthew, chapter 16, verse 18, Jesus said, upon this rock I will build my church, ecclesia. That is a clear reference to the universal church, that aspect of the church that is universal. So if you go, say you're in an airport, and you meet another Christian you've never met before, and you two have fellowship, well, that's a testimony to the universal church, versus the local church, which belongs to the universal church. And that shows up in Matthew 18, verse 17, and there the local church is presented to us when Jesus said, you got a problem with your brother, go tell him about it. And if he doesn't receive you, and you can back up your charges, that's not verbalized, but it certainly is implied. Well, then you take other witnesses with you, and if he doesn't receive them, then you take them to the church, the ecclesia.
That's the local aspect now. So Paul's list here in Romans 16 makes up the local church, which is part of the universal church, because those in Corinth also belong to this church in that sense of the word. This allowed Phoebe to be accepted as one of them, as family. As if you're visiting this church from another city or something, and you're a Christian, you're part of the body of Christ. Galatians 6, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. That is repeated several times in the New Testament. Yeah, we are to up our service for fellow believers. We're to make that distinction. We're not to get carried away with these things, but we are to be mindful of the brotherhood. That's what the New Testament teaches. I didn't write it, but I agree with it, and I like it too. Don't try to justify forsaking the assembly with the local church simply because you say, well, the church is everywhere, I'm part of the... That's a lame excuse for being absent from formation.
You are absent without leave. If that is your position. And quite frankly, if... I hope everything I'm saying is frank, but I think that if that's your attitude of the church, that she's not good enough to line up with because of all the problems we present to each other, then maybe you're the problem, and maybe that fellowship is better off without you until you get that understanding going in your head. We're not perfect people, but we serve a perfect Lord, and we're not ashamed of that. And the only way we're going to really serve Him is by marching together. Well, enough about that. We'll get to it from time to time as it irritates me in the pulpit. I understand. I understand. It's easy to say I don't want to go to church.
There's too many this, too many that. That's right, but that's where the fight is. It's not in your living room. It's here where other people are, and we'll come back to that. Verse 2, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has need of you.
For indeed, she has been a helper of many and also of myself. They wouldn't hesitate to obey Paul out of respect and love for him. This church in Rome, I don't know we could say that so quickly about Corinth, but we can say it about this one. I have a list of churches in the New Testament that I would attend, but I also on that list have those that I don't think I would avoid. I wouldn't go to the church at Laodicea. They were so dirty by association. They, Thyatira, Pergamos, I couldn't handle that. Corinth is up in the air. I'd go to the church in Damascus.
There were just different things about them. Some of them you don't know enough about, but this church in Rome, I would have attended. What Paul says about taking care of her, kept her in safe hands.
She knew I'm going to a good place. Notice carefully the phrases, not now, but later, indicating how Christ-centered these people were. In verses 2, 3, 5, 7 through 13, we listen to these things that Paul says about them.
He names them, then he'll say, in the Lord, in Christ Jesus, unto Christ, in Christ, in the Lord, in the Lord, in the Lord, in the Lord. You've got to love this kind of stuff if you're a Christian. He says, in a manner worthy of the saints. That's Christ-like behavior. You say, is that too much to ask?
It doesn't matter. It's a commandment. We're to be like Christ. And if it's too much to ask, then you're going to have to work harder.
You're going to fail, no question, but it won't be a disaster. Well, it shouldn't be. Hebrews 6, verse 10, For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And so there's a repeat of what he wrote to the Galatians.
He's saying, you're serving in the body of Christ, and you're going to continue to do it because you're faithful, even though he had a lot of problems with some of the Christians in the Hebrew letter, because they didn't understand their own theology, and he said them right. He says here, in verse 2, And assist her in whatever business she has need of you. Now, we're going to stay in verses 1 through 5 a little bit.
Then we should pick up speed as we get past 5. But I'm not promising, because there's just so much here. So, assist her in whatever business she has. Well, she came to Rome on business. We get that from the Greek words. In her possession is one of the greatest documents of God known to humanity.
The Roman epistle, the Roman letter. Paul is entrusting her with this letter. Now, the two Greek words that strongly indicate to us that she was wealthy and a businesswoman are the word business and, further down in the next clause, a helper.
Those two Greek words have the force of money and business. So, she's a successful business person is the idea. Now, she could have been on Roman legal matters not related to her business, but she was able to help support Paul. And she's there on business.
You put it together and it's not a difficult fit. And all he had to say was, Assist her in whatever business she has need of you. And they were on it. They long ago identified Paul's value as a leader.
And when he said something, they did it. And everybody lived happily ever after. Well, not again Corinth. We're coming up to the Corinthian church. I'm not looking forward to it. But I know in the same way you might not be looking forward to having to go on a marathon that you signed up for.
Maybe you're just not in the mood. But when you get rolling, it's different. And there's going to be a lot of fruit that comes out of that. And maybe a lot of toes stepped on. We'll see.
That would just be a bonus. Because that means work's getting done. You're getting exposed to things that maybe the church hasn't told you and you haven't read or you read and you didn't get it. But then you come and you hear about things that were a problem and you say, You know what? I do that.
I need to stop doing that. I'll give you a little one. I'm of Paul. I'm of Peter. I go to this church. We're going to come to these things. We're right now finishing up in Romans, where indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.
Me and many. That's what was happening with Phoebe. What a testimony.
A good one. Now here's how I put the whole thing together. Phoebe, a businesswoman, tells Paul, I'm planning a trip to Rome. I've got some business there. Paul says to her, I have friends there.
There's a solid church there. Before you go, you come see me. And he gets to writing the Roman letter.
Then she says, I'm ready. And I don't know how long it took him to write this letter. He might have done it in a day. You can read it in a day.
Why can't he write it in a day? Anyway, she says, well, I'm off. And he says, well, take this to the church in Rome. Did she know the precious cargo that she had in her hand? Did he seal it? Did she peek at it? Doesn't matter.
Would not have been wrong. This is just magnificent that she is the one that brings this Roman letter to the Romans. And a lot of scholars say, well, we think Phoebe did. There's no thinking. She did it.
Nobody else did. She named it. She's the one. And we love her for it.
And you better not badmouth her. Verse 3, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. Now, these are the first two named. They were very special to Paul. They had been with him through a lot of tough times.
This is the first of 22 hellos in verses 1 through 16, where he just says, greet this one, greet that one. You don't have a right to be in so foul a mood that you can't say hello to somebody. You know, my mom wouldn't let me off the hook. I was a grown man. I'd come and see her, and she'd be at one of the neighbors sitting on the porch, and I'd come, hey, mom, you know, and she'd say, did you speak to me? Yes, mom, I spoke to her.
It was drilled into me. And I'm grateful for that. And so, but I say I'm pausing here because there have been so many Christians that have fellowshiped in various churches, even this one, that are rude.
They won't say hi to people unless they need something. I can't think, I don't think any of them are here now. I'm pretty sure of it, not that I know of. Get me off the hook.
But there have been, and so may it not be us. You young Christians learn to honor one another. If friends are standing in a circle and you show up to the circle all of a sudden, say hi. It won't make you less of a person.
It might make you a better one. Priscilla and Aquila, Jewish Christians with Latin names, they were life savers and lifelines, these two. This couple has now returned to Rome, having been with Paul in Corinth, having been with Paul in Ephesus, and other travels not named. In fact, they were kicked out of Rome by the Caesars, Edict, because of the trouble between the Christians and the Jews, and that's how they eventually met Paul in Acts 18. The indicators are that they were Paul's lifeline to Rome.
That's why he knew so much about what was going on there. There may have been others, but for sure these two were in close contact with Paul. The last time we hear from them is when Paul is on death row. He's not going to survive his imprisonment when he writes 2 Timothy, about 10 years after he writes this Roman letter, and there he writes to Timothy, even though he's got this death sentence on him, he says, Greet Prisca and Aquila in the household of Anesophorus. He's still greeting people. He's on his way to death, but he doesn't forget them.
We'll come back to his referral to Priscilla as Prisca. They were most likely the most influential people used by God to excite Paul about the church that he had never been to. He loved this church without being there. He knew some of the other folks too, face to face from other experiences, but these two were outstanding.
He says he calls them my fellow workers. Well, they were tent makers also with him, but they were soul savers with him. In fact, they were solid and honorable in a sense when Apollos wasn't getting the message he was preaching right, they waited to pull him aside so he wouldn't be humiliated.
And he said, you know, you're a little bit off in this message about the Christ. And Apollos received it and continued to be the great preacher that he was. Here's how Paul addressed these two special friends. In 1 Corinthians, he said Priscilla and Aquila, as we have here in Romans 16, Priscilla and Aquila. But as I mentioned from 2 Timothy, he says Prisca and Aquila. They were just on his heart.
He had probably a pet, sort of just a name that came out of his relationship with them. In Christ Jesus, friends forever. We would say to this church that they, you got your head in the game. This church had their head in the game just by what he says about the people there. Verse 4, who risked their own necks for my life to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of Galatia.
Well, you can't live without a neck. And they stuck their neck out to save Paul. And had God not used these two to save his neck in those early years, we would only likely have his letter to the Galatians and nothing else.
But they were there and God used them. So they're lifesavers for Paul and they're lifelines to the church in Rome. Lifesavers from persecutors, lifelines to Rome. And while, again, we have no specific event, Paul had already written the Corinthian church in labors more abundant, in stripes, that means whippings, more above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. He still hasn't gotten to Jerusalem where he's going to catch another beating and be arrested and have to deal with that. Already he had stacked up behind him, if you read 2 Corinthians 11, a ministry that was remarkable. Again, Christ helped himself to the life of Paul. And Paul would have it no other way.
Paul's not the only one, but he's the one we're talking about right now. Verse 5, Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Greet my beloved Epinidus, who is the firstfruits of Acacia, to Christ. Well, the early church had no church buildings as we have today. That didn't come along until 250 years after the ascension of Christ, somewhere around there. So that would be mid-third century, before Christians actually had their own buildings. John, when he writes to the church in his second letter, he says, If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, nor greet him.
Please talk about the church. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.
We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again, or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast, too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. On our website, you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross-Reference Radio, so make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans here on Cross-Reference Radio.
