This sermon focuses on the lives of saints in different locations, emphasizing the importance of serving God faithfully, being Christ-centered in all aspects of life, and being willing to take risks for the Gospel. It highlights the dedication of individuals like Phoebe, Prisca, and Aquila, who were movers, workers, and riskers for Christ, setting an example for all believers to follow in their commitment to the Lord.

Father, I pray for all the saints at the North Campus, and all the saints at the South Campus, that you would bless them, that you would fill them with your Holy Spirit, that you would use this message to strengthen and encourage and guide. I pray that you would make servants out of us. We want to serve you, we want to serve children, we want to serve old people, we want to serve adults. So God grant, I pray, that you would come and help me now to minister this word, apply it for the glory of Christ in the hearts of your people, and draw people out of darkness. I pray that some dead hearts would beat again. In Jesus' name, Amen. Romans 16 is far more than a list of names. It is dense with theology and ecclesiology and ethics. Now it's implicit instead of explicit. It comes in words instead of in propositions like it has for 15 chapters. Words like Lord, Christ, Jesus, Church, Sister, Brother, Saint, Apostle, Gentile, Elect, Holy, Loved, First Fruit, Servant, Approved in Christ. Loaded words filled with God. No longer explained. The time for explaining is over. Now it's time for greeting, time for loving, time for reaching out and embracing this church in this chapter. So here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to step back and look at the first 16 verses whole and make six observations about what we see in these names here. And then take Phoebe and Prisca and Aquila as our first examples. So big observation number one. Notice the number of names. There are 27 names. More people, a lot more people than that are mentioned, just not named. 26 of them are already in Rome living there and Phoebe's not. But she's coming. Paul knows a lot of names for never having been there. I wish I could look at all of you and give you your name. I wish I could call you all by name. I want to tell you this for sure. Jesus can and does. And I know that because He said so in John chapter 10 verse 3. The sheep hear His voice and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. At least one person knows your name. If you could choose between the most important person in the universe knowing your name and a thousand nobodies, which would you choose? You are known. Nevertheless, Bethlehem, let's strive to know names. Let's strive. It seems to me Paul must have worked at this. He must have worked at this in order to be able to name 26 people and he's never been to this church. Number two, the relationships and the partnerships are amazing when you list them off. The words that describe Paul's relationship to these people are so diverse. Listen to them. Sister, brother, servant, saint, patron, fellow workers, church, first fruits, kinsmen, fellow prisoners, beloved, approved in Christ, elect, mother to me. The more you connect with Christians, the more different kinds of blessings flow into your life and the more different kinds of blessings flow out of your life into other people. The diversity of kinds of connectedness in this chapter are remarkable. Number three, look how Christ-saturated this chapter is. Verse two, welcome her in the Lord. Verse three, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. Verse five, the first convert to Christ. Verse seven, they were in Christ before me. Verse eight, my beloved in the Lord. Verse nine, my fellow worker in Christ. Verse ten, appellees who is approved in Christ. Verse eleven, greet those in the Lord. Verse twelve, greet the workers in the Lord. Verse thirteen, persons who has worked hard in the Lord. Verse fourteen, Ruth was chosen in the Lord. Get the point? This man is drenched with Jesus. He's drenched with Jesus. So I want to ask this, when you write a letter, send an email, speak to a friend, is Jesus there? Is he there? Paul can't get two verses without naming him again. How are you doing? And if you say, as I have heard some people say, even on dying hospital beds, if you say, Pastor, I don't wear my faith on my sleeve, be careful. This is not a sleeve issue. This is a mouth issue. And Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Jesus said that. I didn't say that. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And if Jesus doesn't come out of the mouth, think you should ask, is he in the heart? I really do. I really do. Is he in the heart if he's not coming out of the mouth? I don't wear my faith on my sleeve. This is not an ethnicity issue, I'm thinking Scandinavian. This is not a family of origin issue, I'm thinking of the wrong kind of parents or abuse. This is not a personality issue. This is a heart issue, Jesus said. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. He can't talk without Jesus. And so I ask you, don't try to paste this. Deal with the heart. Deal with the heart. Do you love him? Is he your treasure? Does he relate to everything in your life? Number five. No, four. There are several churches in Rome evidently, not just one. Verse five, speaking to Prisca and Aquila, greet also the church in their house. The church in their house. And then he's got all these other people that he's greeting besides the church in their house. So for example, verse 14, greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobus, Hermes, and the brothers who are with them. What does that mean? I think it means they get a church too. Or verse 15, greet Philologus, Julia, Nerus, and his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints who are with them. What does that mean? Those with them. Those with them, and those with them, and those with them. Tom Shriner argues that there are five churches in this chapter. I see three at least. So how are we doing in the Twin Cities? There is a church in the Twin Cities, all God's people who name Jesus Christ from their authentic heart. And there should be many churches. Way more than there are. Don't ever think, oh, this place is saturated with churches. We don't need any more churches. The percentage of churches in America in relationship to population is steadily declining, and it has for 40 years. We need more churches all the time. And so, let's be about it. Number five, look at the command here to greet. In 16 verses, he gives that command 13 times. Greet so-and-so, greet so-and-so, greet so-and-so. I want to ask you, who is he talking to? Chapter 1, verse 7 says, to all those who are in Rome, who are loved by God and called to be saints. He's writing this letter to everybody who's a Christian in Rome. But if I'm talking to Kenny Stokes, I don't say greet Kenny Stokes. Who is he talking to? I think the conclusion we should draw is, in every church, there were representatives, there were leaders. And these letters went and came into the responsibility of leaders who were to read them, teach them, implement commands of them, teach that others should implement them. An implication of how representative leaders can be. Number six, finally on this point. Notice how love-saturated this chapter is. Four times he uses the word loved or the old-fashioned beloved. My beloved Eponidas, verse 5. Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord, verse 8. Verse 9, my loved Statius. Verse 12, greet my or greet the loved Persus. Has another feel to it when you leave off the buh. Beloved Samsona, not real. But if you say loved, you're my loved. Then you feel what's going on here. And he says things like greet Mary, verse 6, who has worked hard for you. She loves you. Or, verse 4, Prisca and Aquila risked their necks for my life. This is love talk. This is the language of love. So, I just want to send you back to last week's message. When I summoned you all on the basis of the end of chapter 15, wrestling together and resting together, have you pondered this week? Will I be in a small togetherness with other Christians where I can love, minister, be ministered to? If so, make a beeline to find that group. Now here's what we're going to do. We're going to work our way through this chapter. I don't know how many of these names will take all of the shot. We're going to do three of them in this service. Phoebe, and then the couple, Prisca and Aquila. And my, oh my, what there is to learn in this chapter. You'd think this chapter is a list of names. You watch. Verses 1 and 2. I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Centuria, that you may welcome her in the Lord and in a way worthy of the saints and help her in whatever she may need from you for she has been a patron or a helper of many. And of myself as well. Phoebe is the one person in this chapter who isn't living in Rome, at least in the first 16 verses. You've got Timothy at the end, but I'm not counting him. In these list of 27 names, she's not living there. She's coming there, right? And he's commending them to take care of her as she comes. Receive her, welcome her. She's coming. She's the only one. There's two. Welcome her in the Lord, in a way worthy of the saints and help her in whatever she may need from you. He's commending her. And my question is, why? Who in the world? What's going on? Where is everybody? Why her? Why this one woman commended in this huge letter? And here's my guess. That's all it is. I think it's an intelligent and justified guess. I think she's bringing the letter. And Paul has found her unbelievably trustworthy. Nothing is more important in Paul's possession than this long letter that he has dictated to his Tertius. And here he holds it in his hand. Who can take the letter to Rome? Let me give you three reasons why I think she's the one. One is that she's the only one commended. She's not already there. She's coming there. So if she's the only one coming and she's the only one commended, then it would be natural to think she's coming with the letter. Because if there were any other people in this group responsible, wouldn't he mention them too? You can see why. You can't prove this. You just see pointers. Number two, she's from Centria. You don't have any idea where that is, right? It's the eastern port of Corinth. Almost all scholars agree Paul is writing this letter from Corinth. There's hardly any argument about that. Wintering there in the early 50s. He's wintering there. And this woman lives and works in a suburb of Corinth. And it's a port city. And so she's from the place where he wrote the letter. That's the second argument. Third, she's evidently a woman of means. She's called a patron who has helped many. So she's been involved in meeting needs everywhere it looks like. And Paul has come into her care and has received amazing help from her. And that suggests that she's a lot like Lydia. Remember Lydia, seller of purple? Who moved around in the world? So here's my picture. And it's just a guess. My picture is that she lived there near the church in Corinth, was a part of the church in Corinth. She was wealthy and a businesswoman and perhaps a widow. No husband mentioned here. Who knows? Single, widowed. Maybe he's there and invisible. And Paul has benefited from her immensely and others have. And he has come to see this woman who, with her means, can travel all through the Roman world, it seems, and she's trustworthy. And he says, I'm going to have Phoebe take the letter. Well, whether that's true or not, we know what he says about her. And there are three things and they're worth listening. All you women should listen very carefully to this. Amen. First, he calls her a sister. Verse 1, I commend to you our sister Phoebe. Not just my sister Phoebe, our sister. Your sister, my sister. Yours and mine. She's part of the family. They've never met her, probably. He's commending her. He's having to tell things about her. They don't know Phoebe. And he's telling them, she's your sister. Now, you don't press metaphors farther than the one who used them wants you to. Right? So, it would be illegitimate in this church, for example, for somebody to say, no Christian men should marry Christian women because Christian women are their sisters and the Bible says not to marry your sister. That clear? That would be stupid. But people do things like that sort of now and then with metaphors, don't they? Metaphors, images, don't work like that. So, what does it mean? Well, theologically, from the wider context, the most obvious meaning is we have the same father in heaven. And I'm a sister and you're a brother and we have the same father. And, we are destined for the same inheritance, eternal life together in this family, brother and sister. Contextually, right here, it's obvious what he wants it to do. Take care of her. She's family. And don't you dare let her go without food. Don't you let her go without a place to stay. Don't you let her get in any trouble. She's a woman and she probably is traveling and there's no other party mentioned here. You get your arms around this woman and you take care of her. She's family. That's, I think, the most immediate implication of calling her a sister. But before I leave and go to a second point about Phoebe, let me do back up here about this word sister and the metaphorical implications of it a little bit. Because I tracked down, just to see what Paul did with this elsewhere, he does not use the phrase sister in the singular very often at all. Or plural, for that matter. But there is one place that I want to draw out the implication about how men and women relate on the sexual plane. Okay? You got your attention with that? Listen to Paul's letter to Timothy. Treat younger women like brothers. Did I say women? Treat younger men like brothers. Older women like mothers. Younger women like sisters, in all purity. So Paul does care about this. So here's what I want to say to all the men, older, younger. Sexual misconduct with a Christian woman by a Christian man is not just fornication or adultery. It is incest. Not marriage. That's clearly not in the metaphor. But in the metaphor, as Paul says here, Timothy, every young woman in that church, when it comes to your proprietary care for her and relation to her and watch care over her and how you deal with her, she's sister. She's sister. In all purity. So own that, men. In fact, Christian women are the only women you should marry. And there is multiple levels of sinning not just one, if you betray one of your sisters. A second observation about Phoebe. Verse 1, I commend to you, our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Centuria. The word servant is identical to the word deacon in Greek. Therefore, she may, and in all likelihood, in my opinion, was a deacon, although I don't know. I think there could be good reasons why she wasn't, good reasons why she was. Whether Paul meant it to be taken strictly that way or just generally servant, he used it both ways, I don't know. But I do want to say in passing, there is nothing in 1 Timothy 3 when the elders and the deacons are described that, in my opinion, and the opinion of the elders here, would prevent a woman from being a deacon. You'd prefer the word deaconess. There's no distinction in the New Testament on those two words. 1 Timothy 2.12, 1 Timothy 3.2, and 5.17, however, do teach that the men of the church called of God with godly qualifications are to be the elders, the ones who are given the responsibility of the governance and the teaching of the church. Women, like Thebe, are called into the deaconate and many other things. And let me try to tell you what deaconate would imply, I think, in the New Testament. I'm getting this from Matthew 25.44, where feeding the hungry, taking in the refugees, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting the imprisoned, are all called deaconal. That is, they're summed up in the word ministry using this verb from deaconess or deacon. And of course, there are more things than those implied. And this fits with what he says next about Thebe. Verse 2, She has been a patron, a helper, a helper of many and of me. She helped me. She ministered to me. She met my need, Paul says. Which is the third thing now. First thing, she's a sister. Second thing, she's a servant or a deacon. And the third thing is that she's a patron or a helper of many. In other words, she cared for me and she met my needs. Just like the band of women in Luke 8 met Jesus' needs and cared for Him and traveled around and supported Him. Let me step back for a minute and say a few words about women in the church since that's raised by the presence of Thebe. From the beginning, from the beginning of the early church, women have played an absolutely crucial partnership in ministry. Partners in marriage and partners as single women, either never married or widows. There's no mention here of Thebe's husband treating her on her own merits. Seven of the names in the 26 are women and none of them is on the sidelines in ministry. In the history of missions, you'll ought to know that the role of women and the courage of women is breathtaking. Amy Carmichael, Mary Schleser, Anne Judson, Gladys Aylward, Ruby Eliason, and tens of thousands of unnamed other heroines. Our conviction at Bethlehem is that God calls men to lead the church in the teaching and governing role at the church. That's about 34 out of 2,000 people at Bethlehem who are members. We believe that in the long run, this is strengthening, liberating, joyful, joy-producing for Christ-exalting women. We think most biblically-oriented women flourish and love it when strong, humble, Christ-like, godly men take the lead in the eldership. Now, I don't know whether most of you go to bed at night, I'm thinking of women now, whether most of you go to bed at night thinking about what you're prevented from doing at Bethlehem. I have the feeling that's not the case, that the women of this church don't labor under an oppressive sense of I can't do here. I hope instead you feel continually challenged to abominate wasting your lives watching soap operas. I hope that you feel continually challenged radically to find your calling and to live your life in a ministry that blesses people. But, there may be a few. I'm just using my imagination. There may be a few who do ask the question, well, if I can't be an elder and teach men, what can I do? And to you who are asking that question, here's what I'd like to do. I called Matt Lund and I said, get a bunch of these for the bookstore because I think some women are going to come and ask about them. I'm not real excited about the cover on this book. But, I wrote it and so there it is. What's the Difference? Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible On pages 80 and 81, this is where I'm sending you women who have the sense that what can I do around here in the world if I can't be an elder? I've listed about 80 possible kinds of ministries here where God stands ready to pour out His blessing on women who want to give their lives away to other people in service. And this is the end of chapter 5 which is a presentation I made to the women of Bethlehem in person, face to face, with a vision for what manhood and womanhood should mean at this church. I did it quite a few years ago. I still believe in chapter 5. I still believe in all this little book. So, there it is. What's the Difference? Pages 80 and 81. And if you have more questions after that then I certainly am willing to talk about it. Perhaps we should leave Phoebe for the time being and go to Prisca and Aquila. Let me do say as I leave Phoebe that I can continue to want Bethlehem to swim against the tide of boring and banal and bland, unbiblical egalitarianism. And I want us to exalt in our equality as male and female before God and our complementary differences in calling and roles and in the nature of manhood and womanhood. I think it is a beautiful thing that God has created for us and I am thrilled when so many wise, deep, articulate, creative, strong, God-centered, Bible-saturated women flourish at Bethlehem. Okay, Prisca and Aquila. We have another woman. Now she's with her husband. And this is short. I'm going to close with this. And I'm thinking now that I'm addressing couples. I hope that all the single men and single women took heart from Phoebe. Men, Paul is single. Where do I fit in this text? Paul is single. Phoebe, I don't know, widow or single, but there she is pouring out her life, taking care of so many people. Paul says, I am thrilled to entrust her perhaps with this letter. At any rate, she has served me deeply. Now, here's a couple. So I want every married couple, North Campus, South Campus, in this room to take five more minutes and listen carefully. Couples. Let's read it. Verses three to five. Greet Prisca and Aquila. Don't stumble over the pronunciation of Prisca. She's called Priscilla in three places in the book of Acts. When Paul writes about her, she's Prisca. Priscilla is the diminutive form. I don't know why Luke uses that. Use your imagination. Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 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, but greet also the church in their house. I want to make three remarks about this couple. And I want all of you couples to ask yourself, how do those three things relate to us? You may be sitting there. You may be sitting alone. I don't know. But when you leave and go home, you can say, what about these three things? And they're very serious. I really believe, I felt this very strongly from the Lord. It's a subjective, strong conviction that on this weekend, dozens of couples are going to make very significant life decisions because of what I'm about to say. Because what I say is going to fit something God's been doing in your life. Not all, just some. Some of you are going to hear that and say, God, this is what we've been talking about. Okay? So, heads up. See if this is you. The three words are they're movers, they're workers, and they're riskers. Prisca and Aquila are. So, take them one at a time. They're movers. We know from the book of Acts and Romans and 2 Timothy that Aquila was from Pontus. Pontus is northern Turkey. And we know that Prisca and Aquila lived in Rome in 47-48 A.D. because they had to leave Rome under Claudius when he kicked all the Jews out in 49 and they went to Corinth. In Corinth they met Paul and they had a church. When Paul left, they went with him and they landed in Ephesus. And now, as he writes this, they're in Rome again. And when Paul writes 2 Timothy, they're back in Ephesus. That's amazing. That's very amazing. Let me just trace it for you. Pontus, northern Turkey to Rome. From Rome to Corinth. These are not vacations. These are moves. These are living situations. They had church in their house. They were long enough there to get some Christians together in their house. Pontus to Rome. Rome to Corinth. Corinth to Ephesus. Ephesus back to Rome, where they are when this letter is written. And back to Ephesus, where they are when Paul wrote 2 Timothy. Not an easy life. No planes. Not an easy life. Just a good one. Just sojourners and exiles following Jesus, obeying Jesus. Everywhere they went, it seems, they had a church in their house. This is a couple that didn't lick their wounds. They land in a strange new place. Where can we find some Christians to bring home? Let's get a church in our house. Quick. Let's have a church in our house. We're strangers here. We're going to have a church in our house. We're going to wait around and get invited. We're going to have a church in our house. Amazing kind of couple. They had a Christ-drenched life, it seems, because it says here they are fellow workers in Christ Jesus. I jumped into workers. I didn't mean to leave movers so fast. Let me just say a word about movers and then go to workers. Some of you right now are dealing with the issue of being that kind of couple. And one of you really is sedentary, don't like to move, I'm a hometown guy or girl, and I don't like this idea of moving. And God may want you not to move. But He may, He may want you to be that kind of couple. Five years, two years, three years in one place and off to another. Not an easy life, right? Not easy to raise kids that way. But sometimes that's what we're called to do. So weigh that one. Some of you couples have been dealing with that. Number two. Verse three. Chris, greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. Everywhere they went, they had a view to serving Christ. Fellow workers in Christ Jesus. Now remember, they are not vocational missionaries. What did they do for a living? Somebody tell me what they did for a living. They made tents. And they were not metaphorical tent makers. They were the original tent makers. They really made tents. And Paul was a tent maker and they were tent makers. That's how they got together in Corinth. So everywhere they went. So this may be just business travel. For all I know, the reason they go from one place to another is because tent making is no good anymore in Corinth. You've got to go back to Rome or whatever. But everywhere they went, they're flying in tandem with the Holy Spirit and they're doing Jesus wherever the business takes them. So it may be a business thing we're talking about. No, no. It's not some ministry thing that's taking you somewhere else. But the business is taking you. And the question is, will you be like this couple, Christ-drenched, so that they're in Christ working all the time? I struggle with that phrase. I love that phrase. I'm not sure what it means. Fellow workers in Christ Jesus. So I thought, some people work in the military. Some people work in politics. Some people work in medicine. Some people work in 3M. And some people work in Jesus. But they were tent makers. They worked at 3M. In Jesus. They worked in Jesus. So, the way I picture it is that wherever they went and wherever they were working, they were just in Jesus, working for Him all the time. Every stitch for Jesus. Every sale fair for Jesus. Every quality of material for Jesus. And a church in our house, by the way. Oh, I just love that kind of secular people. Right? That's the way we ought to be in the world. And not out of the world. So, some of you are good workers and you do that. Okay, and here's the last one. Riskers. Verse 4. Who risked their necks for my life? Now, Phoebe, she put her goods on the line, right? A fairly well-to-do, probably, widow or single woman and just spread her goods out all over everybody who had a need. Everybody knew, Phoebe, if you have a need, Phoebe will help you meet it. But nothing said about her risking her life. And many people don't have to risk their lives. But some do. Some do. And frankly, after a week like this, I look at the rage in the world against Christians from some, not all, of course, Muslims. And I think, hmm, this is a conversation couples should have. This is a conversation couples should have who care about holding to the truth and speaking Jesus coming out of your mouth from your heart. This is a conversation you should have, couples. Who risk their necks for my life? We don't have a clue. Could have been in Ephesus when he was almost mobbed. They had to grab him and pull him out of the crowd. Maybe there they put themselves in harm's way for him. I don't know. But they put their necks, it's a very good image, they put their necks on the block for him. This is death. And notice husbands and wives. It doesn't say Aquila risked his neck for me. That's not what it says. I don't like the idea of Noel dying at my side. I would rather die to save my family. I don't like the idea of all three of us at home dying with a bomb or anthrax or poisoned water or whatever. I don't cherish that thought. That's the thought here. The couple together risked their lives. So last night before we went to bed, I said we need to have this conversation Noel because I'm going to say this out loud. I said what I wrote in the Star this week could get me killed and I'm going to write it until I die. Are you with me? And you know what she said? There's no turning back. There isn't. What are you going to do? Just go silent when things get tough? When real first century Christianity is suddenly on us? We're all going to show our true colors and not the only way. Not divine, not crucified. Not he who does not have the Son does not have life. Not he who does not obey the Son, the wrath of God rests upon him. Don't talk like that among Jews and Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists. You're going to get yourself killed. How else are we going to spread the aroma? Change the Gospel? Yeah, that's what a lot of people do. We're not going there. And if you don't want to go to a church that might get bombed, go to another church because the message we have is that Jesus is God and there are no others. There's so much to say. Have that conversation tonight, couples. Have that conversation. North couples, south couples. Have that conversation. Can we talk truth that might get us? Can we risk our lives for a Paul, Christ? Oh, what a chapter. What a web of precious partnerships. What a woman Phoebe was. What a woman and a man Prisca and Aquila were. What a great Lord and Savior they served. Let us join them. So Father, my heart's desire is to be faithful. I don't want to provoke anything unnecessary by way of violence. But oh God, forbid that I or Your people would be silent concerning who Jesus Christ is. I pray that couples who have been thinking about moving issues, couples who have been thinking about working issues, working with tents or working with Jesus or both, couples who've been talking about safety and security issues would get help as they pray through these things now. Lord, we want to commemorate and celebrate and imitate the saints like this. In Jesus' name, amen.