Friends in Christ Part 2

service, we come to a passage
of the Course this morning that really spells that out. The Church
is not a one-man show. It was never designed to be a
one-man show. And when you get those situations
where you have a one-man show, where one paid individual does
all the work, usually it ends in disaster. The church was designed
to be a dynamic element where all the moving parts functioning and capacity. All
are contributing, not all equally, not all performing the same functions,
but all rendering what service they can to the body of Christ
that it may properly function and grow. If God’s people would,
if we return to a passage, Romans chapter 16, we come back to the
passage that we started last week. And I read it in full last
week, and we only tackled those first few verses, but I want
to return and pick up at verse 1 and revisit Paul’s readings
to the church here in Rome. I commend to you our sister Phoebe,
who is a servant of the Church who possesses centuria, that
you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints,
and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you,
for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself
as well. Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow
workers in Christ Jesus, who, for my life, risked their own
necks to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches
of the Gentiles. Also greet the church that is
in their house. Greet Eponavis, my beloved, who
is the first convert to Christ from Asia. Greet Mary, who has
worked hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junius,
my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding among the
apostles, who were in Christ before me. Greet Ampliatus, my
beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker
in Christ, and Saphis, my beloved. Greet Apelles, the approved in
Christ. Greet those who are of the household
of Aristodulus. 3. Neroian, my kinsmen, greet
those of the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. 4. Tryphania
and Tryposa, workers in the Lord. 5. Persis, the beloved who has
worked hard in the Lord. 6. Rupus, Grief, Asynchronous, Leon, Hermes,
Metrobus, Hermas, and the brethren with them. Grief, Philo, Logos,
and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints
who are with them. Grief one another with a holiness.
All the churches of Christ, grieve. Now, as I started last Thursday,
I put a panic into you when I circled back and dealt with just one
individual. We are not going to treat every
individual on this list in the same manner. In fact, we’re going
to complete this list, God willing, even this morning. We’re going
to do it in a pretty rapid-fire fashion, mind you. Essentially,
if you wanted to break the entire rest of the list up, you could
do it under two headings. When Paul identifies these individuals,
there are those that are associated with him personally. Some he
calls fellow workers, some he calls fellow prisoners, some
he refers related to him as being in Christ prior to him. And then
there are others who seem to be known to all, and by that,
obviously, not exactly literally, but to a grander majority. Beyond just Paul, they were well-known,
such as first converts, and those who were approved, and the household
of several different individuals. fellow workers four different
times. And again, that’s the way the church is designed to
function. But in Paul’s particular case, in being part of a great
mission work, he was often quick to recognize those who were his
fellow workers. He wanted to highlight them,
point them out. He wanted people to know who
they were. He wanted to advance their ministries. He mentions
four different times, those who were beloved to him. It doesn’t
mean that they were more loved than others. It just means, as
he thought of them, the first thing that popped into his mind
is, ah, well, I love that guy. Twice he mentions his kinsmen. And then there are others that
just are referred to singularly with some kind of recognition.
And Paul does seem to change it up as he goes. Have you ever paused to wonder
why all these readings are included in the Bible? I mean, I could
see the meaty part. I understand the doctrine. The
church needed that. But in writing the epistle to
the Romans, Cole also included these readings. And he does so
in almost every one of his epistles, these sometimes brief but very
personable readings. Did the church really need that? Well, I believe they did. This
is part of scripture. God included it as such. And
I think there are lessons that we can learn from these saints. But what is the point of a greeting?
We do it all the time. you know, you have a friend going
to some place, you say, oh, when you get there, tell my brother
so-and-so, tell him hey, Paul. We do it all the time. Paul, essentially, that’s what
he’s doing when he greets people. Sometimes he says, you, please,
on my behalf, greet others. Romans 16, 3. Greet, persevere. as the passage unfolds, greet
the church, greet Eponidas, greet Mary, and on and on it goes.
But it also goes the other way. Tell him I said hey is basically
what he’s saying. But it goes both ways. If you look down at 1621, Timothy,
my fellow worker, greets you. He’s greeting others on their
behalf. Greet. Erastus wants me to greet
you. Gaius wants me to greet you.
Cornus wants me to greet you. Our friend here told me to tell
you hello. We do that all the time. But
what’s the purpose of it? I think if you back away from it
and you look at them, they tell the recipient of those greetings
a number of things, don’t you? Whenever you hear those things,
I mean, they are kind of part of you, aren’t they? Or when you talk to him, did
he say hello? Essentially they communicate
that, you know what, I’m still here as a Christian, I’ve placed
my faith in Christ, I’m loving him, I’m serving our Lord Jesus,
tell him I’m okay. It also says, you know what?
I care about you. How are you doing, Lord? Are
you pressing on? You’re valuable to me. I care
about you. I think about you. As soon as
I heard that somebody was going to Rome, I couldn’t wait to greet
you. Paul recognized also, in the course of these greetings,
he would frequently recognize We have a tendency to get myopic
in that regard and think only of our own giftedness, only of
our own usefulness. But Paul, as he’s writing these
epistles, is constantly pointing out others, recognizing not only
their giftedness, but their incredible usefulness in the Lord. He does
it with Timothy. He does it with Luke and Apollos
and Barnabas and Silas and Epaphroditus and Tychicus and Onesimus. and
John Mark and Justice. Paul was constantly recognizing
the giftedness in others. And I would encourage the saints
to do likewise. Sometimes we don’t even pause
long enough to notice how God is using a fellow brother and
sister in Christ. But we should. We should pause
and we should thank God for the way that God has equipped them
and the way that God is using them. And we should rejoice in
that. That is the diversity, the beauty
of the Church. Paul was famous for providing
these commendations. We looked at last Lord’s Day
at Phoebe. But about all we know of Phoebe
is what is said in these passages. That this godly woman just rolled
up her sleeves and served the body of Christ. We don’t even
know exactly what she did. Paul, he constantly was greeting
others, he constantly was commending others, constantly recognizing
others’ giftedness, and praying. constantly putting prayer requests
before others, asking people to pray for him, and reminding
other people that he was praying for them. We should do that as
well. I want to take just a very quick
stab at the majority of these names, and then we’ll return
to just two. The names on these lists all
the way up to verse 9, including verse 9, seem, at least on the
face of it, to have been personal friends and had some specific
relation with Paul. That he had interacted with them
in times past, possibly worked with them. Some, it’s possible
that he even led them to the Lord. But beyond them, they seem to have been people
that Paul had information about what very likely he had never
even met. Remember, Paul had not been to
Rome. Paul had not visited Rome. So there’s got to be a mechanism
for communicating this information about all these people. We’ll
talk more about that in a minute. But aside from these two saints
mentioned at the outset, Aquila and Priscilla, we don’t know
almost anything about any of the saints that are listed here.
There are 24 names, and then there are two people that aren’t
names. I’ll touch base on them just very briefly. And out of
the 26, and this is very uncharacteristic of that day and age, of the 26
names that are listed, 9 of them are women. I said last Lord’s
Day, and I say it again. Paul was not a sexist. Paul loved
the saints of God, the females among them, that God had graced
and saved and placed into service. God loved them. And Paul recognized
God’s favor upon them and rejoiced in their usefulness to the church.
He opens again in verse 3 with another one. when he says, greet
Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who
for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I
give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Also,
greet the church that is in their house. You know, we’ll come back
to those two individuals. That’s where we’ll finish this
morning. I think there are lessons that
we can learn from the life of Priscilla and Aquila. The first
quite stands for a spot, the second part, Greek, Athenaeus,
my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.
Wouldn’t that be a cool name to have? Yes, I’m Athenaeus. I actually was the first one
to come to church. First one to come to Christ.
First one that opened, you know, when the things were opened,
the detours of Christ were opened to me. I placed my faith in very likely that Paul, or at
least a near-associate of Paul, was instrumental in bringing
him to Christ. Isn’t that special? You know,
the sad truth we’ll be talking about in our fourth week of each
month, we’ll be talking about evangelism, and the sad truth
is most Christians have never had the privilege of really being
involved in leading somebody to Christ. In talking about the
gospel, that we are all sinful, And that we desperately need
a Savior. And that God has provided that
Savior, who’s already done the work. We don’t have to do anything. Paul rejoiced at this first convert,
probably from the area around Ephesus, if not in Ephesus itself. Ephesus was the big capital.
Paul had spent plenty of time there, his associates. There
was a church planted in Ephesus. This is my beloved friend, and
all the more reason that was quite likely one of Paul’s own
converts. Look at verse 6. Greet Mary,
another woman. Greet Mary, and all he says is,
who has worked hard for you. Now, Paul seems, by greeting
her at least this early in his list, and greeting her just ever
so briefly, He knows this woman. He knows her character. He knows
how hard she works. He knows that when she gets to
Rome, he may be happy to hear her report about her. But Paul
knows her character. Paul knows her heart. And he
says, greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. That word, work,
there, it is intensive, which means she works her fingers to
the bone. She goes all out in her pains
and efforts for the sake of Christ and His people. We should recognize people like
that. We should thank them when we see them serving Christ in
that way. Verse 7, greets Andronicus and
Junius, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. Mike Tinsman, he’s pointing at
least to the fact that they were Jews, possibly to the fact that
they were of the tribe of Benjamin. And we have no idea exactly what
Paul’s mentioning. There’s no way to specifically
know exactly what their relationship was to Paul. But he just points
that out. And it doesn’t make them more
or less important to him. It is just a way of identifying
them. And then he relates this little
factoid. Andronicus and Junius, my kinsmen,
and my fellow prisoners. Well, obviously now Paul at this
moment isn’t in prison and neither are they. But at one point they
had been in prison. of the faith, a number of them.
There are several of those that would not seem to allow for these
two companions to have been jailed with Paul at the time. But 2
Corinthians talks about numerous imprisonments. When Paul is writing to the Corinthians,
he says that part of his suffering, part of his difficulty in life
was far more imprisonments. So wherever and whenever this
was, it was a bonding experience, as you can imagine. When you
go through difficulty with others, when you have some really astounding
experience, it is a bonding thing, and that’s what he recalls. So he goes on to say that Andronicus
and Genius are literally marked men. That’s what the word means
when it says they are outstanding. They’re marked. And the word
was used often in a bad sense, you know, somebody who was notorious
or somebody who had done something that made them stand out in a
bad way. But here, he uses it in the sense
that they are noteworthy men. Now the identification as apostles
presents a little bit of a difficulty, doesn’t it? Because you have to ask, were
they true apostles? That would swell the number well
past the 12, wouldn’t it? And the word Apostle literally
means one who is sent. And so the New Testament seems
to present the 12 Apostles with capital A, but it also presents
many lesser sent ones. Apostles, if you will, with a
small a. So Paul here, there’s two ways
you could take this phrase. When he says that they are outstanding
among the apostles, it could mean that they were those who
had received the commission to preach, much like Barnabas and
Silas, who were also called such, and they are descent ones with
a small a. Or it could mean those who were
outstanding in the apostles’ eyes. Those who were particularly
honored by the Apostle. And there’s no way it could be
taken either way. I just happened to take it that
way. The Apostles saw these guys.
They were indeed sent ones. But they were not part of the
formal group of Apostles. But they’re out there doing the
work. And the Apostles noticed. These guys are faithful. On to verse 8. Grief Ampliatus. my beloved in the Lord.” That’s
all he does. It was a common slave name. We
don’t know a lot more about him. But it’s very, very fascinating. And church history has always
maintained, from almost the earliest days, that this Ampliatus was
buried in the catacombs of Rome. One describes it this way, the
tomb which bears this single name inscribed in bold, well-formed
letterings belongs to the first or early second century A.D. Its character suggests that it
is the tomb of someone who was specially real possibility. This is the
amazing thing about God’s Word. It’s giving us a snapshot. It’s
giving us a picture. It’s letting us peek into history.
And it’s giving us the possibility that very likely this slave buried
in the catacombs means that this imperial slave was a believer
even in the emperor’s home. The gospel had penetrated all
the way into the very heart of the palace. It’s exciting to
even think of the gospel. Verse 9. Grief for Venus, our
fellow worker in Christ, and safety’s my beloved. Again, he
just points out the privilege of serving along together with
others. working in the same cause as
Paul. That’s what we are. We’re fellow
workers. Regardless of our role, regardless of whether we fold
bulletins, or make goodies, or whether we teach a Sunday school
class, or pastor the church, it doesn’t matter. We’re fellow
workers, we’re fellow laborers, for the Lord is whom we serve. Now from this point forward,
There are likely several names of people who Paul only knew
by report. You’ll see it as he gets his
sentence. And the report probably or possibly
came from Aquila and Priscilla themselves. But we don’t know. Verse 10, Greek appellings, the
approved in Christ. That’s an interesting way, approved
of what? Essentially that word, approved,
it was a metal worker’s phrase. This is how someone would burn
off the gold. They would put it in the furnace
and burn off the dross and only the pure gold would remain. It
was approved. That’s essentially how the word
was used. It’s one who’s been really put
through the crucible, put through the tests and trials of life.
and has been found true. Somebody who has gone through
some suffering or sorrow, some difficulty, some trial or temptation
or challenge or some grave persecution. He was tested, he was put through
the furnace, and he was found to be true. Now that could be
said of any true Christian. We’re all going to go through
this to a degree. The dross is going to be burned off in time
by God’s grace. We all are in the process of
sanctification. Paul uses this word many times. 1 Corinthians 11-19. There must
also be factions among you so that those who are approved might
become evident among you. 2 Corinthians 10.18, he uses
it again. It’s not he who commends himself
that is approved, but whom the Lord commends. But they get more
fascinating as we go. In 2 Timothy 2.15, Paul says
to this young pastor Be diligent to present yourself approved
to God. That’s your standard. That’s
the one who’s examining you. He’s burning off the dross of
the rest of your ministry. God is the one that puts his
seal of approval on the shepherd. But there’s one for all of us. There’s one for all of us. James
1.12, right? You remember it. Blessed. Oh, how very happy. That’s basically how you translate
that. Oh, how very happy is a man who
perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, once he’s
passed the test, once God has worked out of him whatever the
trial was intended to do, once he’s been approved, he will
receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those
who love him. Who’s approved? Whatever test,
whatever difficulty he had experienced, he passed. He got a passing grade,
and he pleased the Lord in it. The letter has 10. Greet those
who are of the household of Aristopoulos. Now, this is amazing. You read the early pages of the
Gospels and the Herod’s and how brutal and bloodthirsty they
were. This Aristopoulos was a brother
of Herod Agrippo I, who lived for a long time in Rome and was
a friend of Emperor Claudius. Once you were in the royal family,
if the emperor didn’t feel himself threatened by your presence and
have you killed, you lived very much like a king. Now, when he
sent us to greet the household of Aristopoulos, That means,
essentially, Aristopoulos is excluded. And the likelihood
was that either he was already dead, or that there were believers
in his household of which Aristopoulos was not one. Perhaps slaves in
his house, they would be part of the household. Perhaps it
was even family members, wife, children. We don’t know. with
some of the family members of Aristopheles, the very brother
of Herod and Agrippa I, had come to Christ. The gospel was flourishing. Likewise with Herodian. Obviously
connected with Herod, perhaps one of his slaves. Paul goes
on in 11b, greet those who are of the household of Narcissus,
who are in Delorme. They were believers. This Narcissus
is an interesting individual as well. This was a slave who had been
freed. He was very powerful under Claudius,
but he was, once Nero came to power, his wife had him commit
suicide, made him commit suicide. And so this well-known slave
who had been freed, whose wealth everybody knew, this was a well-known
man in the community. Some, some of his family members
had come to know Christ. Some of his family members had
begun to fellowship in Christ with the church and were well-known.
So well-known that Paul, And you can’t hold back from greeting
them. Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus, who
are in the Lord. They are in Christ, God having
placed them there. Here’s a couple of
interesting ones. Verse 12. Greet Trephana and
Trephosa, workers in the Lord. We don’t know for sure, sisters,
possibly twins, who knows. The suggestion is, and it was
as common then as it is now, that either parents would use
a common letter, or they would use the same sounds, and they’d
build a whole family line like that. Joshua, jam that Joshua. We don’t know anything more about
them except they labored. They worked for the Lord. We
don’t know what. Meals, perhaps. Prayer, perhaps. He goes on to read Persis, probably
a Persian woman who has worked hard in the Lord. And the fact
that he says it in the past tense, and it’s absolutely very different
from what he says of the two sisters. What he indicates is
that her time of service is now over. Maybe her advanced age,
or dryness, or what have you, have caught up with her. But note what Paul does. His
gratitude has not ceased. Maybe her ministry is long finished,
but Paul hasn’t done expressing his gratitude for that. And we,
too, need to cultivate a long memory for the saint. For those
who roll up their sleeves and serve others, for that service
rendered to the Lord.” And here’s the last fascinating name, Greek
Rufus, a choice man in the Lord. Now, it could be pointing to
the fact that when he says of a choice man
in the Lord, it could be pointing to his divine election, that
God had set his electing love upon little Rufus and drawn him
to faith. He said that that would be true
of everybody on the list, so why would he point out that Rufus
was choice or elect and the others weren’t? Instead, what he’s probably
pointing to is his unique usefulness to the church. He was a choice
man. Fort Collins is known as a choice
city, right? Likely, Paul knows the rest of
these only by testimony. As I said, probably from Priscilla
and Aquila themselves. All slave mates, in verse 14
and beyond. Many of them found right in the
imperial household. Many of these slaves were well
known within the imperial palace. Asynchronous, Layman, Hernes,
Petrovus, Hermas, Philolaus, Julia, Nereus, Olympus. That’s all we know. But there
are not, they’re there. You know what these are? They’re the little people. Maybe
they didn’t have a big role in the church. Maybe they didn’t
have great opportunities. But they loved the Lord. They loved the Lord. They were
serving Him. They wanted to do good for Christ. And Paul, for all time, recognizes that. Greet these men and the
brothers with them. Now we would come back to verse
three. I want to look at Paul’s partners in ministry. And we’ll
do this probably just as rapidly as we just did the other 22. Paul says, greet Prisca and Aquila. We first
hear of this pair at Corinth, where they were found by Paul
on his first visit. Essentially, when they forge
this relationship, it becomes a relationship that would endure
to the very end of Paul’s life. Turn to Acts chapter 18. And as you’re turning, I’ll just
say that Paul is in the midst of his second recorded missionary
journey. Those of you who have had the
New Testament overview class, we believe that there was a fourth
journey that Paul was released from prison. He went out and
made this very brief journey. This is the second recorded missionary
journey. He is parted ways temporarily
with Barnabas. You know that whole story. They
had an argument. They went their separate ways.
And instead, he’s gone out with a man named Silas. Along the
way, he adds the young Conrad Dean Timothy to his team. And
before we begin reading, let me do just a little bit of geography.
For those of you who are familiar or know about the Midwest, picture
yourself in Lake Michigan, right? Chicago, Lake Michigan. Now,
off the eastern shore, you have Traverse City, the biggest city
on that side. Not much over there, but a lot
of fried food. And what you have on the other
shore is Green Bay, Wisconsin, the opposite side. And you could
theoretically swim across, or if they had been embedded, you
could take a ferry, about six hours. Otherwise, it’s about
a seven hour drive up and around the top of Lake Michigan. You
get the picture? Well, the trek that Paul and
his companions were on was much like that. except it was about
four times as large. You have the Aegean Sea. It’s
vast. It’s not the Pacific, but it’s
not a lake, either. You have Ephesus on the eastern
side, and modern-day Kusadasi Turkey. And to get to Corinth,
you’ve got to go up over the top, barring the fact that maybe
you’ve got a hovercraft at your disposal. Otherwise, you have
to go all the way up, over the top, through Philippi, down through
Thessalonica, down through Berea, drop down all the way down to
the coast of Athens, and then cut across to Corinth. For us, it would be about an
hour’s car drive from Athens to Corinth. Now, Paul and his
companions, they first established the Philippians church. You know,
from our study, that’s Acts chapter 16. Then they proceed to Thessalonica
and Berea, where Paul is silenced. Paul leaves them behind and ministers.
That’s Acts chapter 17. And we pick up things in Acts
chapter 18. Look if you would at verse 1. After these
things, he left Athens and went to Corinth. He found a Jew named
Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with
his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to
leave Rome. He came to them, and Because
he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were
working, so they were tent makers. That’s where that phrase comes,
that missionaries are often employed if they have an outside career,
or if you’re planting a church and you need to work another
job, you’re a tent maker. So, we found that Paul has moved
on to Corinth alone, but he soon makes these two friends. Aquila,
a Jew, and we don’t know whether that’s meant to suggest that
Priscilla was not. Oftentimes we would just point
out the religious background of the man only. But it’s a reasonable
conjecture here as well that Aquila was married to Priscilla
almost every time they’re mentioned, they’re mentioned together. And
it’s a reasonable conjecture that the two were one-time citizens
of Rome. It wasn’t just that they had
passed through there. They were part of the city of
Rome, and I believe part of the church. And they left Rome by
orders of Claudius, who expelled all the Jews. They’ve always
been in trouble. So these were essentially refugees,
as one reported. edict of Claudius which expelled
all Jews in Rome in 52 A.D. The decree was issued on account
of riots raised by the Jews. So the Jews had stirred up trouble
and they were upset and Claudius just finally decided how to not
get out of the city. And so these two people are currently
residing in Corinth and they’re sandpainters by trade and they
house Pitfall. And I believe what that points
to is the fact that they took him into their home. Now, it
never says that they were believers already. Ultimately, you can’t
miss the fact that they’ve been converted somewhere along the
way. But is it possible? And this is so exciting. It’s so exciting to know that
it’s entirely possible, that merely through their association,
their training, that they interfaced with the gospel. They interfaced
with Paul, who loved the Lord, and through working with him,
they came to know Christ. Entirely possible. As one said, the account of him
does not justify the conclusion that he and his wife were already
Christians with Paul’s It is more in harmony with the account
to conclude that Paul met them as fellow trade people, and that
he took the opportunity of preaching Christ to them as they joined
him. But we don’t know for sure. All I want to point out to you
is that it’s possible. And what an exciting thing. Regardless
of what our calling is, when we interface, you’ll hear me
talk about when we get to our evangelism class, that the privilege
that we have to be out there that interacting with unbelieving
people in our role as consumers, in our role as employers, in
our role as workers, that’s our place of testimony. But I think the fact that they’re
hospitality. Were they Christians? I think
their hospitality would point in that direction. But also, the reputation of these
saints named in chapter 16 points strongly to the idea that Aquila
and Priscilla were already Christians. They were essentially leading
a home church there in Rome, and they brought the reports
of all these people to Paul. I think it points in that direction. All we know is that in time,
ultimately, Aquila and Priscilla did come to know the Savior.
That not only were they Christians, but they were valuable co-laborers
in the cause of God. We’re not citing that. Look at
verse 4. And he, that is Paul, was reasoning in the synagogue
every Sabbath, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. But when Silas
and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely
to the Word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the
Christ. Now there seems to be an indication here, there’s nothing
wrong with campaigning, nothing wrong with essentially supporting
your own ministry by working, but it’s not the ideal design.
Silas and Timothy rejoined Paul, And there’s an important observation
here. What was it about Silas and Timothy’s
arrival that freed Paul up to go essentially full time in the
Christian ministry? Did they bring with them a monetary
gift? Entirely possible. They’re coming
from one of the most generous areas of the church. Thessalonica,
Macedonia, Philippi, repeatedly cited in scripture as being among
the most generous saints that God knew at that time. Either Silas and Timothy brought
him on as their gift, or when they got there, they began to
roll up their sleeves and make tents. Here Paul, we’ll do this,
you go preach. So Paul is fully given to preach
the good news. Essentially, during this time,
Paul writes the epistles, his first two epistles, both of them
to the Thessalonian church. Timothy and Priscilla and Aquila
are all with Paul during the writing because he mentions them
in these epistles. Jump down to verse 18. Verse
18 of chapter 18, it says that Paul, having remained many days
longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea These are saints that traveled
with him. They knew Paul, loved him, but not for long. They’re
going to get an assignment. Look at verse 19. They came to
Ephesus, and he left them there. Were they too much trouble? Too much hassle to travel with
for a year? You know, gaggling people with you? I don’t think
that’s it at all. They were so valuable, and Ephesus was so
needy, that Paul said, you know what? Here’s your place to finish
here for a while. Now a Jew named Apollos, this
is no slouch, this is the same Apollos that ends up in Corinth
and has an incredible ministry. Perhaps, remember the whole debate
there, bigger even than Paul’s? This is no slouch. This is a
big, big deal. Now in Judea named Apollos, in
Alexandria by birth, an eloquent man came to Ephesus, and he was
mighty in his scriptures. This man had been instructed
in the way of the Lord, and he furthered in spirit. He was speaking
and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted
only with the baptism of John. Well, that’s a problem. Aquila
and Priscilla, by God’s grace, were there to correct him. And he began to speak out boldly
in the synagogue. And when Priscilla and Aquila
heard him, they took him aside. And note, it says they took him
aside. There is value in our sisters
in Christ. They do know the Lord. They do
stand before Him. They do share in the grace of
the Gospel. And it says, when they heard
him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God
more accurately. And note, even that taking him aside, how gracious
that is. How patient. How kind. They took him aside, instructed
him in the scriptures, and they explained to him the better way.
Meanwhile, Paul returns to Ephesus again in Acts 19. He rejoins
Timothy. He rejoins Priscilla and Aquila,
but he soon sends Timothy to Corinth, and we pick that up,
we pick up that thought from his letter to his first epistle
to the Corinthians. When Paul writes his first letter
to the Corinthians, Priscilla and Aquila are with him, but
he says in that letter that he has sent Timothy to them. After the close of that, or writing
after the close of that letter, Paul makes it clear that Priscilla
and Aquila are still ministering with him. 1 Corinthians 16, 19.
The churches of Asia, that is, Ephesus. The churches of Asia
grieve you. Aquila and Priscilla grieve you
heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house.
Here at the end of the hour again, they’ve got a whole church. Paul
left them there to do work, and guess what they’re doing? Working
for the Lord. It was a complete necessity in
their day. There were no church buildings that people could rent.
And that made it easier, didn’t it? You see, the church is the
people, not the building. They affectionately loved the
Corinthians. So now we return to Romans. Remember
Romans? When Paul writes to the Romans,
he’s still in Corinth. Timothy is returned to him. But
by this time, Priscilla and Aquila have returned to Rome, and they’re
hosting a home church. Paul says, greet Priscilla and
Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life
risked their own deaths. To whom not only do I give thanks,
but also all the churches of the Gentiles. I’ll just give you four, four
quick observations from the lives of partners in
ministry. Partners in ministry, first of
all, labor in the gospel for the Lord’s sake. But it’s glorious work because
ultimately it is for and unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul calls
them my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. God has taken us and placed
us in His good mercy into the very Messiah Himself. We are placed into Him. And we
go forth And the word there is soon ergos. Ergos is the word
we would use for work. But it’s workers together. We’re
together in this. I love that phrase, together
for the gospel. I love the thought that we might
come from a lot of different backgrounds, races, but There’s
one task before us as Christians, and that is to proclaim and promote
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Titus was a fellow worker,
Paproditus, Timothy, and on and on Paul goes, frequently citing
that great privilege. But the emphasis here on working. It meant that you were set about
to work, not just in your secular employment, but you were set
about to work for the cause of Christ, to promote Christ in
the gospel, secondly. Because you’re going to come
quick, and fast, and final. You consider partners in the
ministry not only those who labor in the gospel for the Lord Jesus
Christ, but they show an uncommon courage in the face of danger.
That’s sort of Christian. Look at verse 4. Who for my life
risked their own necks. We don’t have any other information
about what happened. It’s possible that there was
this pretty big disturbance at Ephesus. They wanted a kill call. Paul speaks of it in 1 Corinthians.
If for human motives I fought wild beasts at Ephesus, what
does it profit me? Did the dead are not raised?
Let us eat, drink, for tomorrow we die. Paul talked about it
then. Acts 19 just says there occurred
no small disturbance concerning the way, Christianity. It goes
on in that same chapter, when Paul wanted to go to the assembly,
the disciple couldn’t let him. Some of the easy arts were friends
that Paul sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into
the theater. There was a riot that takes place
over the gospel. We are called. We are called
to be courageous in the face of danger. That’s all Christians.
And you see where this is going. That in essence, if you have
placed your faith in Christ, You are a partner in ministry,
and if you place your faith in Christ, you labor, or you should,
for the Lord Jesus Christ, in regards to the gospel. If you’re
a partner in ministry as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you
should show an uncommon courage in the face of danger. Thirdly,
thirdly, partners in ministry earn the
highest respect with saints. Looking for the latter half of
verse four, to whom, not only do I do things, it’s the Apostle
Paul. Can you imagine? Being on this
list of commendation, hey, great job, thank you for doing that. But also all the churches of
the Gentiles. Now we don’t know exactly which
ones he’s talking about, but it would include, it would include
Corinth, it would include Ephesus, it would include very likely
Philippi, and Berea, and Thessalonica, Those were the churches of the
Gentiles, especially in the near region of Rome. Paul said, look,
these churches, they know what Aquila and Priscilla had done
many times hosting. Who knows? When you host somebody,
what don’t you do for your guests? He says, you’re going to go out
if you didn’t. It wasn’t lost on these churches. They know
the value of Aquila and Priscilla. Partners in ministry labor in
the gospel for the Lord Jesus Christ. They show an uncommon
courage in the face of danger. They earn the highest respect
of the saints. And fourthly, they spare nothing
in the service of Christ. When Paul closes, His greeting
to Aquila and Phacilius says, also greet the church that is
in their house. One more time, right? This is
who they were. It’s just who they were. Until
the 3rd century AD, there is no clear example of a separate
building being set apart for Christian worship. Isn’t that
amazing? 3rd century AD. In Rome, before Paul ever met
them, they likely hosted a church in their home. That’s how they
got to know all those people, was the report they brought from
Paul. They did precisely this in Corinth, hosting even the
apostle Paul himself. Remember? They’re doing it again
here in Ephesus. And so it’s no surprise to find
that when Paul writes to the Roman church, He says again,
these were hospitable people. They spared nothing in the service
of Christ. They lived to love. How are we? How are we in our service to
Christ? Are we about the gospel, or are
we working hard, laboring hard for the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ? When trouble comes, do we show
an uncommon courage in the face of danger? If so, we do. And all the more, we should recognize
those who have already done those things. We should grant them
the highest respect. I think even of our brother,
Brett, last week, whose company we had the privilege to share. And finally, they spare nothing
in the service of Christ, do we? Who is absolutely dependent
on someone opening their home for this church to survive? How
would we fare? Let’s go before the Lord. Our merciful
God, we humble ourselves in your presence. And we rejoice in this example
that you have secured for all time, in two humble saints, Priscilla
and Aquila, who spared nothing in service of Christ. God made it instead of us as
well. Grant us grace that we examine our hearts to see if
we’re about the gospel, to see if we’re about the service of
the saints, examiner of arts, but to open
and