Greetings and Commendations
Righteousness Revealed: An Exposition of Romans

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Good morning, church! Before we begin our series on the book of Romans, I wanted to make you aware of what happened this past Wednesday night. We were able to join other churches in Wilson in paying off the mortgage for Choices Women’s Center. Pop that photo up; here we are presenting that check to pay off the mortgage. We’re so happy and thankful for your generosity as a church so that our church could participate in doing that. Now, all of the proceeds of the generosity that people give to that ministry no longer has to go towards the mortgage. It can all go towards helping women. We’re thankful for your generosity that we could be part of that, collaborating with other churches.

We’re continuing our series in the book of Romans today. We’re coming up on the end of this series. We’re in chapter 16, the final chapter. Over the last four years, we have been taking four chapters a year, verse by verse. Now, we’re getting close to the end. We have this message and one more message next week and we will have preached through the whole book of Romans.

We’re in a section of the letter, as all letters conclude, that tend to have more personal references and more personal greetings. We’ve entitled this message, “Greetings and Commendations.” Many who have preached through the book of Romans, decide to skip over this section because it seems to them as a mere list of names, mostly unknown names that the apostle Paul commends and sends greetings to. There’s really not a lot of proposition, all truth or prescriptive advice given here, so some tend to skip over it and find it unprofitable. We’re going to preach it anyway, because as we look at this passage , we see an example of affection from Paul in the way he talks to the members of the church in Rome. We see something that we can learn from. We’re going to be looking at it through that lens, this idea of how we can offer greetings and commendations to our fellow believers in this church.

You may think that you know how to greet people, but I’ve observed that it takes some training and practice to really know how to do that. Maybe you’re an introvert; you just feel uncomfortable. Maybe you’re an extrovert, but you end up talking about yourself instead of really listening to the other person. It takes some training; it takes some learning.

I remember teaching our three children how to greet adults. Maybe, if you’re a parent, you know how that works. When your child is little they don’t exactly know what to say, so you teach them manners. With our firstborn, as in most firstborns, he really wanted to please his parents. He was an “extra–” you know, working hard at whatever we told him to do. So if we told him to say, “Yes sir, hello sir, yes ma’am, no ma’am,” he would say at all. In fact, by the time he was four years old, he was so advanced at greeting people that we taught him to greet in French. Our little four year old Stephen could do that because he was an overachiever firstborn. Then, we got to our second child, our son, Jonathan. He had this little scratchy old man’s voice. He was just naturally gifted as a comedian from the time he was born. He would do what we told him to do; he would greet people like he was supposed to do, but he would call them a nickname or he’d do something with his face that would cause people to laugh. He was good at making people laugh. He was just natural at being with people. Then, when we got to our youngest, our daughter Erin, it was a different story. We taught her how to greet people, but she would just refuse to talk to people. She would just stare at them. When we first planted the church, she was five years old and we would have people coming to say “good morning” to me as they were leaving the church. I would be standing at the back door of the facility we were renting at that time and my five year old daughter Erin would be standing right beside me. First time guests would see her and they would say to her, ‘Oh what a pretty little girl. Hello honey, what’s your name?’ She would give them this look; she would just stare at them. She wouldn’t say a word; she would just hug my leg and stare at people. We probably had visitors that never came back because of that intimidating little brown eyed five year old girl. It took her longer to learn to greet people, but she finally learned. She was attending the first service this morning and I had her wave at everybody. She was really thankful that I did that. Make sure that you say something to her. But, she’s really good at greeting now; she had to learn.

Do you know how to greet people? Do you understand that it’s as much about listening to them and really hearing them than it is anything. Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re struggling with what a lot of people in America are struggling with today – a sense of loneliness. I’m seeing that more and more, that people just are so disconnected. There’s such disunity in our country today. I really hope and pray today that you have a sense of welcome, a sense of greeting, from our fellow believers today. I hope that somebody here today says, “good morning” to you and really listens to you. I want you to hear this – the Lord Jesus welcomes you today. The Holy Spirit and the Father welcome you today. You are greeted in the name of the Lord.

In the book of Romans, chapter 16, the apostle Paul closes his letter. He begins to close his letter with greetings and commendations to the believers in the Lord Jesus there at the church of Rome. I believe today that we can learn how to really greet people as members of Christ’s body in the church.

As we look at the text, I think we’ll see three ways we can do this. Let’s look at the text and as I read this, there are twenty-seven names, so pray for me as I pronounce these. I understand why preachers skip over this section. It might just be they don’t want to read it. But, every name matters to God; every name matters to God. Let’s just see what the Holy Spirit would teach us as we read through this and study this together.

Romans 16:1-16 (ESV) 1 “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, 2 that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. 3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. 6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 10 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. 11 Greet my kinsman Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. 12 Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.” This is God’s word. Amen.

I told you there was some names in this and, perhaps, you understand why some skip over this but we’re not gonna skip over it today because people matter to God and there’s something to be learned here as we consider the way Paul greets them on how to greet one another in the Lord.

HOW TO GREET ONE ANOTHER IN THE LORD: 1. As family members loving one another in Christ.

In Christ, we are to greet one another as family members, loving one another in Christ. Look at verse one, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae,” First of all, he says, ‘I’ve sent to you our sister; she’s my sister and your sister in the Lord. Her name is Phoebe. I commend her to you, our sister.’ If you look down at verse seven, “Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen,” notice these familial names. Notice the name, Rufus, down in verse 13, and how the mother of Rufus was as a mother to Paul. He probably went over and had some chicken soup at that house sometime in the past and she just mothered him. He recognized that now they live in Rome. Notice all the family references in the passage we just read.

Also, notice that the word, “beloved,” is in this passage four times – in verses 5,8,9 and 12, describing certain people. Paul is saying, This person is well loved by me. This is affectionate language. This is family language. This is the way we are to greet one another in the Lord. “The church is not the steeple. The church is the people.” It’s the family of God. We can see here the affection that Paul has for this church. He’s never visited this church in Rome, but he knows all of these people, probably, because for one thing, the Roman Empire was easily traveled. People were very mobile during this age because of the Roman roads which were so well built. To this day, you can go there and see the evidence of the Roman roads. Also, because the Roman law legal system made it safer to travel.

Paul had been a pastor and a missionary for practically 30 years at this point. He probably encountered these people in his travels in previous times. He knew all these people, but had never been there. He knew all of these people.

The first person he talks about is Phoebe; her name means, “radiant, shining, bright.” She’s only mentioned here in this one place. That’s all we know about her is what he says, but he has a couple of verses to spend on her. He says that he “commends her;” the word, “commend,” means “to stand behind” her. Paul says that he is putting his name on the line for her. The way that this is placed so prominently in the letter, it appears, and most theologians agree, that Phoebe must have been the one who carried the letter to Rome. She must have been the one who sent the letter Paul wrote to Corinth. He’s already said, as we read last week, he hasn’t had time to go visit yet. In fact, he’s getting ready to head to Jerusalem from Corinth and it’s gonna be a while before he gets to Rome. But he wanted them to get this letter and it appears that he entrusted this letter this, this “magna magnificent,” the “magnus opus” of his theological writings on the gospel to this woman, Phoebe. He entrusts the letter to her and he commends her to them. She’s brought this letter for me; receive her as you would receive me. I stand behind her. She’s a servant of the church at Cenchreae.

Now, if we encounter a place name in the bible, what must we do, church? We must look at the map. That’s right. If you look at this map, you’ll see this. You’ll see where I put a red circle around this area in the region of Arcadia. (shows areas on the map) Cenchreae is a small sea port town just east of Corinth. Paul mentions leaving for Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila from there. It’s a smaller town than Corinth; it’s a seaport area. Apparently, Paul knew Phoebe because she had lived here prior. She’s probably a wealthy businesswoman. Why do you say that, Gary? Well, let’s look at some of the hints that he gives us. He says that she was a patron. You see that in verse two, “…for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.” When I hear the word, “patron,” in modern English today –He was a “patron” of the arts, which means a supporter, a financial supporter and one who talked about it. It has the idea of to support financially and to support by word. She was a supporter of Paul’s ministry. He says this about her; 2 “that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you.” He thinks highly of this woman; she might have been already going on a business trip. She might have been a prominent, wealthy woman who was already headed to Rome. Paul asks her, ‘Can you carry this letter for me?’ and she agrees to do it. It seems that she might have had something that she needed help with; because he says “to help her in whatever she may need from you” because she’s been one who’s helped us. She’s been a patron to us. Maybe, she had some legal issue in Rome or some business issue that she might have needed help with. Paul is basically saying, ‘Help her just like you would have helped me. Treat her like a member of your family. She’s our sister in the Lord. I want you to treat her that way.’

Now, as we look through those twenty-seven names, I would have you take note of this – it begins with a woman named Phoebe. As we go through that list of twenty-seven names, at least eight of those names are women of the twenty-seven. “Junia,” in verse 9, may have been a woman as well. It’s in the Greek neutral, so it’s hard to tell if that was a male or a female, but there’s at least eight, maybe nine women named here.

Why is that important? Well, first I would say to you that Paul often gets a “bum rap” by the modern cultural view of scripture, that people view Paul because he’s the one who who taught that a woman shouldn’t be an authority over a man or shouldn’t teach a man, as he wrote in the book of First Timothy. They view him as being maybe a little harsh sometimes and kind of misogynist against women. But here we are, in this chapter and Paul goes against the grain of that culture and names prominent women and entrusts a woman to carry his letter, this wonderful letter. So, we see here that the rap he’s gotten today is indeed a “bum rap.” He’s been libeled. He is a man who both greets and commends and is affectionate towards women, rightly recognizing their partnership for the gospel. Don’t miss it. And don’t allow yourself to view what took place in the first century through a 21st century lens . The culture was different. The truth is this – that Christianity has in all religion and at all times in human history been the great liberator of women. Paul commends and celebrates women in this chapter that he writes to Rome.

Notice a couple more things–this idea of “patron,” this idea of “supporter” of Paul’s ministry. This was not uncommon in the first century for prominent wealthy women, women of means to do this. Remember, the book of Luke reports that there were women who supported Jesus and His disciples and they are actually named in Luke chapter eight – Mary Magdalene, Joanna (whose husband was Herod’s household manager, she was a prominent woman) and Susanna. They provided for Jesus and His disciples out of their means.

Women were well known for supporting ministry in Jesus’ day. Paul later met a woman in Philippi when he was on his second missionary journey. He went down to the river and he saw women, they’re washing their clothes and and some of them were praying. He met this woman, a jewish woman named Lydia. The scripture says that she was a trader, a seller of purple cloth, which was a highly expensive cloth. She was a wealthy woman. Paul shared the gospel with her and she came to Christ. She invited Paul to start the first church in Philippi in her house and so he did. We see that Lydia was a patron of the gospel; a supporter of the Gospel.

As we see this, I bring all this to bear to make you aware of how women had such an important part and played an important role in the early church. Paul says to welcome Phoebe; help her because she has helped me. He uses the word, “ beloved,” over and over again; four times here in this passage. “Beloved” is the Greek word, “agapētos.” It means “one who is loved unconditionally.” Paul says it four different times. He says it about Epaenetus, Ampliatus, Stachys and and Persis. By the way, the name Persis is a female name. It’s a feminine name; it means “Persian woman.” Paul says “my beloved Persis.”

Just think about this– here’s Paul, a Jewish man writing in Greek, from the city of Corinth, to a woman from Persia. That’s what the church looks like, friends. It’s multicultural, all made one, through Jesus Christ. One family. In fact, this is what we read through the book of Ephesians about the family. Ephesians 1:5 (NLT) “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” We’re a family. We’re God’s family. That’s what the church is. 1 Peter 2:17 (NLT) Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. We are called to be affectionate towards one another. We are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers in Jesus Christ. That’s the way we’re called to be.

Some time back, our church helped a woman whose husband passed away. We did the funeral service; she didn’t have a lot of means. We actually had to help her somewhat with the funeral expenses. We set up a meal chain and helped feed her family. We found out that she had some things around the house that needed help and some errands that needed to be done. There were some unfinished chores that her husband, who had been sick, was unable to accomplish. Some of the men in the church went and worked on things around her house and in her yard. Her family had moved from another state, so they didn’t really have any family in the Wilson area. She says to me, “Even if my family did live in the city, they would not have been as good to me and as good to my kids as you all have been. What a wonderful, wonderful church this is. You are now dearer to me than my own family.”

You see, that’s what the church looks like when it’s at its best. It treats one another as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers that we are God’s family. If only the world could see such a church. This is the way we are to greet one another as family, loving each other as God loves us. Well, that’s the first way that we’re taught here, by just looking at the example of this chapter.

HOW TO GREET ONE ANOTHER IN THE LORD:

2. As faithful servants supporting one another in Christ.

Notice the word, “servant,” in verse one, describing Phoebe. We see the word, “servant,” there. It’s the Greek word “diakonos.” It’s where we get the word, “deacon.” It’s not meant here, in the formal sense, as in an office in the church. Here it just is rightly translated as a servant because that’s what it means– one who serves. She is one who served not in the formal office but in the particular; perhaps, just in the fact that she served the church at Cenchreae. She, also, served in carrying this letter from Paul to the Roman believers. She was a patron, as we’ve mentioned, which brings us to this next couple.

In verse three, here’s God’s power couple, Prisca (also known as Priscilla) and Aquila. Prisca was probably the formal use of the name. Priscilla is more the diminutive version; her close friends and family would call her Priscilla, but Prisca is probably the formal use of the name. Notice here that she’s named first. They are this power couple; they are listed in the Bible six times. They are prominent in Paul’s life as one of his teams. Here, Prisca is listed first; possibly, because she had more in the ministry than Aquila. Aquila may have been more running the tent making side of the business and Prisca might have been more prominent in the ministry side . but she is listed here first. She was a faithful servant and so was Aquila.

We first hear about them in Acts 18:1-3 (ESV) 1 “After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.” This is where Paul first meets them, in Corinth. They’ve been exiled out of Rome by the Roman Emperor Caesar Claudius. They had moved to Corinth and Paul heard about them when he first got to Corinth. He was there all alone. He had left Luke, Timothy, Silas and Maria behind to do follow up with the believers that had come to Christ there. Paul had come all the way down through Athens to Corinth. He’s by himself and he stays with Aquila and Priscilla. Lo and behold, we find out that Paul’s father must have been one of those dads that said, ‘I know you want to be a rabbi, my son, and you probably are smart enough to qualify for that, but you know that the rabbi business doesn’t pay that well. I want you to have a fallback, my son. You must apprentice to the tent making trade.’ Paul has this great intellect. He goes and lives in Jerusalem. He studies at what would be the equivalent of “Jewish Harvard.” He studied under the great rabbi, Gamaliel. The bible says that this rabbi would not take many students. He was considered the greatest rabbi of his generation. So, Paul studies under him; he’s zealous and he’s a great intellect, but he had a fall back. Who knew he needed it? All of a sudden, here he is by himself and he goes to work in the tent making trade with Aquila and Priscilla. He leads them to Christ and they become this great missionary team. They become fellow servants, faithful servants supporting one another.

Paul is able to really focus. He says a few other things about Prisca and Aquila (Priscilla and Aquila.) He says, 4 “who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.” That’s where we get that phrase, “risked their necks,” by the way. There’s so many idioms in modern English that come from the bible. If you read the bible, you’ll discover a lot of the things we say, little idioms that we have. They risked their necks; we’re not sure what Paul was referring to. Perhaps he was referring to the riot that broke out in Ephesus some years before. They were in the city of Corinth and we find out that Paul says to them, ‘Hey, do you want to go with me to the city of Ephesus and help me follow up with some believers ?” Sure enough, they left their business and they became missionaries with Paul.

In Acts, chapter 19 we see that they were there. They went with Paul to the city of Ephesus. They actually caught a boat down there at Cenchreae and went over there and began to help him. Then, a riot broke out in Ephesus because of Paul’s preaching. The church became so persuasive, that people stopped buying the little idols, the little figurines of the goddess Diana. Because Ephesus had this Acropolis upon the mountain, they had this huge temple that was considered one of the seven wonders of the world – The Temple to Diana. It was a seaport city, so sailors would come in from all over the known world and they would buy these little gold and silver figurines of Diana. The artisans there had a very profitable tourism business selling these figurines, but because of Paul’s preaching, saying that there is no true god named Diana. There’s only one god and He’s the Father of all and Jesus, His son is the way you can know Him. People were getting saved and the business was going down. It was starting to hit their pocketbooks. There was a trade union there for this–the silversmiths and the goldsmiths– and they started a riot in Ephesus. It’s in the bible by the way; this is Acts, chapter 19. They started a riot and started running through the streets saying, ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” People started thinking, Okay, that looks like fun, and a riot broke out. They went into the stadium there that seated 25,000 people. I’ve been there, the ruins of that stadium are still present. In fact, they still do dramas and concerts in that stadium. It’s built into the side of a mountain; it has 25,000 seats. So, they went into the stadium and they’re rioting and yelling, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” Paul says, ‘I need to go in there and talk to them.’ I believe what happened right there, because the scripture says that his friends held him back. I believe right there was Aquila and Priscilla and they knew how Paul rolled. We can’t let Paul go in there. He’ll get killed in there. They held him back. It might have been that day that they risked their lives. We’re not sure. But some believe that might have been the specific incident when that took place. Paul gave thanks for them, for their tent making business, for their support, for the fact that they went on the mission field with him and that they helped.

In fact, when they were in Ephesus, Paul moved on and left them behind for a little while and this other evangelist showed up. He was a Greek believer named Apollos. Apollo showed up and the bible says he was great as a speaker, but he had some doctrine that wasn’t quite right. He was still preaching the baptism of John the baptist; he didn’t know about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He didn’t know about the baptism in Christ Jesus . Aquila and Priscilla heard him teaching in the synagogue and they invited him over for lunch. They put their arms around him, corrected him and taught him the doctrine that Paul had taught them. Apollos was corrected and Apollos received the correction. He actually continued preaching as they had contributed to his ministry. That’s who this couple is.

They’ve moved from Ephesus back to Rome, which was really where they were from. It says in verse 5, “Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia.” They had a house church in Corinth, they had a house church in Ephesus and now they have a house church in Rome. You know what these people are? They’re committed to small groups; they’re committed to having a church in their house. I hope you are too. I hope you’re committed to being in the community group system that we have at our church, where church really happens, where family really takes place. They were committed, no matter what city they lived in.

Why were they able to go back to Rome? Didn’t Caesar Claudius kick them out? Well Claudius has passed away now. He passed away in October 54 AD. The story that was told was that his wife, Agrippina, poisoned his mushrooms; that’s a tough situation when Claudius’s favorite meal was mushrooms. He passed away and his nephew, Nero, became the Caesar of Rome. Now, Claudius is not there. Priscilla and Aquila are able to return to Rome.

Here’s some thoughts to consider as we think about being faithful servants together: Remember the parable that Jesus taught and the commendation He gave to the faithful. Matthew 25:23 (ESV) “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” I hope that I hear that commendation someday from Jesus, don’t you? You don’t have to work to earn His salvation, but it’s appropriate to be a fellow servant of the one who gave us all that He had in order to save us. And so I want to hear that some day, don’t you?

Peter says this in his first Epistle, 1 Peter 4:10 (NLT) “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” You know, one of the ways that we should look at each other as family, but also as fellow servants, is that we are servants of Christ Jesus and we use our gifts to serve one another . This is one of the ways that we grow closer to God and closer to each other.

Some years ago,I was signed up for a much needed pastor’s conference. I had gone through a season in the church where there had been difficulty and I had not been able to get away for a retreat for several years. I told a couple of men in the church about this and to pray for me. I would get paranoid when I got ready to leave town because I was afraid something would go wrong and I wouldn’t be able to go, but knew I really needed this. Sometimes you have to “retreat to advance.” You have to pull away and get alone with God; I’m no exception. So, I got in my car, a little Ford Tempo, and I’m driving up the interstate towards this conference. I get an hour and a half away and my car starts making this horrible clanking sound and it dies. I pull over on the interstate, less than a mile from an exit. I got out and started walking. I found a gas station off of that exit; I walked in there and I found a pay phone. Do you remember when there was this thing called pay phones? I found a pay phone, dropped in a quarter and called one of the men that I had been praying with, one of my prayer partners in the church, who was a part of my small group. I called him and I said, “Man, it doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to make it to this conference. Could you or somebody help me out? I don’t want to bother Robin because she’s got the kids (the kids are small at this time.) I just need somebody to come get me. I’m not going to make the conference. My car broke down.” He says to me, “You stay right there. I’ll be right there .” So, he drives for an hour and a half; here comes two cars pulling into the parking lot. It was him and another friend from our small group. They pull in there and one of them hands me the keys to his car and says, “Here, you get in my car. I’ll ride back with him. You get in my car and you goto that conference. We’ll make sure your car gets towed back to Wilson. We’ll figure that out.” I said to them, “I can’t do that. That’s too much, guys. That’s too much.” They said, back to me, “You had better do it because we have driven all the way up here.” And so, I did. These were fellow servants, they recognized and loved their pastor. They loved me as their brother in the Lord and they inconvenienced themselves to serve me. I was able to go to the conference. I took notes, I leaned in on everything because I realized it wasn’t just me that it cost something. It cost me and those two men something for me to be there. When I got back, they had had my car towed all the way back to a dealer here in the Wilson area where I could go and get that worked out. They made it so easy for me to do that.

There’s nothing like being the church. Have you ever been the recipient of, been part of, the church or been a fellow servant in the church? Sometimes it’s your turn to serve. Sometimes, this is harder for people like me. Sometimes, it’s your turn to receive service. We’re the family of God and fellow servants. Are you a servant? If you want to be on this list, that Paul commends, it means you’re part of the family, but it also means that you are a fellow servant, that you’re serving the Lord.

HOW TO GREET ONE ANOTHER IN THE LORD:

3. As fellow workers enduring hardship together in Christ.

We’ve talked about being a family. We’ve talked about being fellow servants, fellow workers, enduring hardship together, in Christ, as fellow workers.

What’s the difference between fellow servants and fellow workers? It is not much, but the major difference that I wanted to bring out was that we were talking more about the support. The second difference here is the hardship. Enduring hardship together. That is what I want to emphasize as fellow workers–enduring hardship together.

That’s one of the things, I would say, that concerns me about the modern western church is that it’s so easy to be a christian here. You don’t have to risk your neck to be a follower. There’s a certain kind of malaise, a certain kind of laziness, that gets us to where we don’t even want to get out of our comfort zone. We’re not even sure we want to keep the regular rhythm of meeting together, what I would call a weekly “family reunion” on Sundays. We’ve forgotten the importance of just making room in our schedule for each other.

And so, Paul commends his fellow workers who endure hardship. Notice, in verses three and nine, he talks about fellow workers. In verses six and twelve, he refers to a couple of people who worked hard; he emphasizes that they were hard workers. Of course, as we’ve said, Aquila and Priscilla even risked their necks for him.

In verse seven, he mentions Andronicus and Junia who went to prison with him. This is what he’s noting in this passage– I commend these people because they’re on the team. There’s so many on the team that have risked their lives for me. They went to jail with me. That’s how Paul is talking right here. I want their names in this letter, they’re important to God and they’re important to me, because they don’t give up. They get out of their comfort zones for God. He’s just pointing this out here; they endure hardship together.

Now, as we look at a couple of these items like Andronicus and Junia here, it says, in verse 7 “my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners.” Kinsman might mean they’re Jewish. That’s probably true. They were his fellow Jewish believers and his fellow prisoners. Now, we’re not sure what prison sentence he’s referring to here because we can find maybe three imprisonments in the New Testament where Paul was imprisoned. He was jailed three times. He was jailed at Philippi; he was publicly beaten, he and Silas, at a whipping post in the marketplace and then put in jail. He and Silas were there. That’s when the earthquake broke out and their chains fell off. The Philippine jailer comes running in and finds them. Then, Paul leads the jailer and his whole family to Christ and baptizes them. That was one of the jails. Another time is when he’s he’s jailed in Jerusalem and they carry him up to Caesarea by the sea. He appears before Festus, the Roman governor and he’s in jail that season. Then, we know he’s in jail, under house arrest, maybe in Rome and maybe even a fourth time.

According to Clement I, who was a first century church father who wrote about this, he knew of seven imprisonments that Paul had endured. Perhaps Andronicus and Junia had been part of one of those. We’re not sure. Paul says that they had endured imprisonment with him and he says that they were well known by the apostles. They’re not well known to us; it’s the only time I see them in the bible, but the other apostles knew these guys. Paul had one more thing to say about them – “they were in Christ before me.” They were believers before Paul was. These are things that he’s saying about them looking through all these fellow workers who endured hardship together .

Paul mentions Epaenetus, who he says was the first believer in Asia to believe in Christ. It literally says, in Greek, “first fruits of those who believed in Christ in Asia.” Now, this is Asia minor, modern day Turkey. It’s probable that Paul led him to Christ. We never forget the first one, right? This is probably one of Paul’s first people who came to Christ and now he lives in Rome so Paul is talking to him.

He speaks of Mary, who worked hard. He talks of many others that were beloved to him. Aristobulus is believed to be the brother of Barnabas; he’s living in Rome now. He says ‘hello’ to him; he might have passed away because he doesn’t say hello to him personally. He says, “greet his family.” So, maybe, he’s passed away or maybe he’s not living there right now. Paul goes through several names: Herodion andNarcissus are a couple. Then he speaks of Tryphaena and Tryphosa (fino and try Phosa . I’m guessing these are twin sisters. If you’re looking for names and expecting girl twins, here’s a good couple of names. They were probably sisters. They were hardworking.

I’ve already mentioned that the name, Persis, means Persian woman. He commends her; she was beloved. Then, he mentions Rufus. Of all the names that I had to pronounce, that was the one most familiar to me. His name sounds like somebody that lived down the street when I was living up in the mountains. Hey there,Rufus, what’s up? It’s not the only time he’s mentioned in the bible. It’s a great probability that his father was a well known person named Simon of Cyrene.

Do you remember Simon of Cyrene in the bible, in the gospels? He was from the city of Alexandria, which is a city in Africa, in Egypt. So, this man was probably a man of color, probably an African American man. It goes on in the book of Mark to say he was the father of Alexander and Rufus. Now listen, that can’t be an accident. The name Rufus is twice in the bible. It has to be this guy now Simon of Cyrene. He’s the guy, when Jesus was carrying the cross on the via Dolorosa and Jesus fell down under its weight, the Roman soldiers grabbed a man out of the crowd. His name was Simon of Cyrene from Alexandria; he picked the cross up and he walked beside Jesus up the hill Golgotha. Do you want to know something that I think is just got to be the most incredibly wonderful thing? He went home and told his boys. He named one of them after the city they were from, Alexander and the other he named Rufus. I don’t know why he named him Rufus but he did and these boys grew up hearing the story about how their daddy carried that cross part way up that hill. Now, Rufus is not only one of the guys that the apostle Paul commends, but Paul commends the guy’s mother because apparently Paul had been over to their house when they were living somewhere besides Rome and maybe had some chicken soup made by Rufus’ mama. He just still remembers her as being like a mother to him.

We read as Paul is going through this list. We don’t have time to go through every single name. Some of the names we can’t find anywhere else. I will say that a few of them are of interest, like Philologus, which means “lover of the word. “Philo” means lover and “logus” means word. So that name means, “lover of the word.” I don’t know if that was always their name or it was a name given to them when they were baptized. You know, there’s still a tradition in many parts of the world, that when someone is baptized, they’re given a christian name, a new name. Maybe, that was the case here with Philologus. We see that possibility.

Olympas is one who’s still the one person who is regarded in the Eastern Orthodox church, to this day, as being one who was martyred for his faith. We look at these many names that Paul has listed. Why are they commended? Why has Paul commended them? It’s for their hard work.

Remember what Jesus had written to the churches in the book of Revelation? This is to the church at Ephesus, Revelation 2:2-3 (NIV) 2 “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.” We know that Jesus commends those who endure hardship and work hard for the Lord. It doesn’t save you. Only Christ can save you, but serving Him and working hard for Him are commended.

2 Timothy 4:5 (NIV) “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” One of the things that we’re called to, as believers, is to endure hardship together and to look at one another and say, ‘You know what? We’re in this together.’ Sometimes you’re going through a hard season and we help you. We go through it together. We don’t “push away from the table” when things get hard. We’re called to endure hardship together as believers.

I remember, when I was growing up, that I spent summers with my grandfather on the farm. He didn’t have a great education. He would say, “I only finished the second primer.” He was born in 1903 and I think he was referring to the McGuffey reader that had a second level reader. His dad took him out of school so often to work on the farm that he said he was 12 years old and he was still in the second reader, the second primer. He finally quit school; all he knew was hard work. He worked 30 years in the coal mines, 20 years as a school bus driver and worked on the farm the whole time. When I would spend summers with him, it was to work hard, get up at 4 AM to milk cows, eat breakfast, then go to the fields. I thought it was the best thing in the world. Looking back on it now, it was hard work. But, at the time, there was such joy working with my grandfather and just learning, firsthand, what it feels like to work hard, endure hardship together and do it with joy. It made us so close.

Have you ever been through something together, where you had to endure some hardship to get through it? Friends, you are family for life and we are called to this – to greet one another as fellow workers who endure hardship together. We can learn to greet one another as family, as fellow servants and as fellow workers in the Lord.

Let’s pray. Lord, we thank You for Your word. We, first of all, give You praise and glory that You’ve adopted us into Your family because of Jesus. Lord, help us to live that life out towards one another. Help us to be devoted to one another and loving one another. Help us to faithfully serve one another. Lord, help us to endure hardship together, recognizing that we are called to a good work. Lord, I do pray for that person that’s here this morning that’s never received You. If that’s you, my friend, if you’ve never said “yes” to Jesus, you’ve never been adopted into God’s family, the invitation is before you. All you must do is, by faith, receive Him. Ask Him to save you. You can do it right now. Pray like this, “Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner and I need a Savior. I believe You died on the cross for my sins and that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me, forgive me of my sins and make me a child of God. I want You as my Lord and Savior. I’m ready to follow You and commit my life to You today.” If you’re praying that prayer of faith, believing, He will save you and make you a child of God. Others are here today and you’re not that committed yet. You’ve been kind of standing on the sidelines. Right now, would you say, “Lord, I’m a believer, but I’m lonely. I’m not connected. But, today, I’ve made a decision. I want to be in a community group, a small group. I want to serve on a service team . I want to be involved, with generosity and giving, so that I can be a patron of your family. I want to be one who supports. Lord, forgive me for where I’ve been. Today, I make a new, fresh commitment as a follower of Jesus.” We pray all of these things in Christ’s name, Amen.