Romans 16:1-16

Romans 16:1-16

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Sister Phoebe Commended

1 I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, 2 that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.

Greeting Roman Saints

3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. 5 Likewise greet the church that is in their house.

Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia to Christ. 6 Greet Mary, who labored much for us. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

8 Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved. 10 Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus. 11 Greet Herodion, my countryman. Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis, who labored much in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.

16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ro 16:1-16

• Transcript

  Hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotion to jump on the computer here make sure everybody's able to join us live sending out the text message right now my phone's probably gonna go off and go crazy because of that. Let's go ahead and make sure we're live over here on Facebook and YouTube. We're at Romans chapter 16. The first 16 verses Good morning Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions, this where every day you and I we get together a little bit coffee we get into God's word and we grow and I love the Lord together and this year 2022 will make it from the book of Acts to the book of Philemon. We're just about to wrap up the book of Romans. We're at Romans chapter 16, verses one through 16. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father What a blessing it is. To sit at your feet this morning, to open your word and to hear from God we pray that we would know that you number all of your beloved that you know each one of us by name or they pray that You would bless this time that we rejoice that your Holy Spirit would be working in our hearts, teach us teachers in Jesus's name. You know, I just want to take a moment of privilege here and say how wonderful this is. I had a really hard week. Last week. You know we took a week off of coffee and devotions. And it was just such a blessing yesterday to get to come back on here. This week God's word and talk about it is really as a ministry even to my own part. So thank you for everyone who logs on watches this on a daily basis. It's a great class. I hope it is to you. Awesome. Let's go ahead and open up our Bibles. So the Romans chapter 16, the first 16 verses Romans chapter 16. I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Centurion. And you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she mean has neither of you. For indeed she has been a helper of many of myself also, just as a warning, we're about to get into a lot of names here. And some of them I've written in Greek, so I can pronounce them a little bit better, but they're still not going to be good. And so when you are ready, it's okay just keep going. Greek Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Greet my beloved and paint the done. Who is the first fruits of a Kea to price read Mary, who labored much for us. Three Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners who are of note to the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Three employee us, my beloved in the Lord, read or bonus, or fellow worker in Christ. Greet Stephen. My beloved greet a billion a billion approved in Christ, greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus greet Herodion my countrymen, greet those who are of the household of narcissists, who are in the Lord. Greet 5053 finance and free phone number three for some who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved versus who labored much in the Lord. Rufus chosen in the Lord and his mother in mind. Greet a see Nick cretin. Milligan, her months hit probis Hermes and the brethren who are with them. Greet Phil Agus and Julia Mira and her sister and his sister and Olympus and also in all the scenes who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss the churches of Christ you we come to this wonderful, personal ending of the book of Romans. We're gonna get more instruction in the moment but right now, there's a whole bunch of Greek this person Greek for this person, greet this person greet this person. This person Paul knows a lot of people in the church of Rome. It was really kind of surprising. He hasn't been to that church yet. So how does he know this many people? Well, it actually starts off with the with where some of these people are located. I commend to you Phoebe, our sister who is a servant in the church of tentorium. Now that is a port city port important than Rome are very much sister cities. You know, there's there's a lot of interconnectedness between these two. And so if all as one commentator said if all roads lead to Rome, it's because Rome built all the roads. And so you many people who would go from the churches and acai in Greece, in that region, and would end up in Rome. And so Paul knows a lot of these people throughout his journeys, and a lot of them have ended up in Rome. It's not surprising. So he knows a lot of people who are there. And so many of these people when he's writing to them in the book of Romans, they know him and he knows them. They're not totally unacquainted. Now he doesn't know all of them. But he knows some of them. And the first one he lists lists here is Phoebe. Now, some interesting things to note about Phoebe is one it says that she is a servant of the church. Now this word that's used, here's the word where we get the office Deacon, it's in First Timothy Chapter Three when we have the qualifications for a deacon. Now, if this was the word Deacon, it could be a title. Or it can be an adjective. It could just be someone who was a helper. If there was a helper, I would anticipate that this would be going a little bit nervy on you know, this is not what we normally do, but it would be in the accusative singular, so I would expect the awkwardness but interestingly, it's the afternoon. It's a masculine singular, which inclined me to believe that she's actually a deacon in that church. Now this idea of Deacon some people have this idea of Deacon somehow, you know, a ruling authority in our denomination, we believe that it is an administrative office. It is a office of servants, not an office of rule, not an Office of Teaching. Now, even many pastors in my own denomination take exception to that. I think there's a lot of room for debate. But just so people understand that there is a biblical reason for why some people would want an office of Deacon for women or women deacons that are separate from Indian or even deaconesses. It's because of passages like this. So no matter what she's an important woman in that congregation, so important that he even says here that what is he says her For indeed, she had been a helper of many and myself also, the word there's actually a patron as she's, she's been funding the work, devious dealer and purple cloth she's she's a well to do woman she deals in a trade that's highly lucrative and so she's able to support the trip. Now, this is interesting, this tourism world on its head, because normally a patron controls what's going on. But instead of being one who's controlling she's actually one who is serving is actually one who is supporting the church meats in her house. And that's not surprising, because she thought well to do woman's that she has the space actually, she's required by Roman law that that she's going to have that space to entertain people or those people. So for the first three centuries of the church, by the way, we're seeing this in a month. For the first three centuries of the church. That's largely where the church met, was in houses. Why? Because Romans were very suspicious of any meeting of large gatherings of people. We shouldn't be surprised by that. You go to China, and they're very, very suspicious of any large breeding large gatherings either, right? There's governments who control people always want are suspicious of large group together and if people this is why the right to assemble in America was enshrined in our Bill of Rights, because it wanted to be the freedom. That was not the case in Rome. It was not the case for the first three centuries of the church. Instead of spending their money on church buildings and stuff like that. They lavished it on the poor, and they lavished it on actually freeing Christians who were slaves. And so they bought people's freedom it was it was changing the world, turning the world on its head. So well, let's go ahead and keep on going. We've met Priscilla and Aquila, before if you want to go back to the talks we did for the book of Acts. We don't know exactly what Paul was mentioning here in verse four, this incident when he says that they risked their own necks for his life. So he gives thanks, hopefully good things to someone who stuck out there for you. But also the churches of the Gentiles greet the church that's in their house for sale in Aquila were tentmakers so it's very likely that they had a shop in Rome, they were able to return to Rome. We know that they were exiled from Rome after Claudius, or because of Claudius and so after his death, if likely they were able to return and so when they returned to Rome, most likely set up a shop. Above the shop, they have an apartment or a home where they're able to entertain the church were able to bring in members and this is a way that it would happen in these houses. Assemblies of people would meet. That's what the church is literally the church is Ecclesia which is which is a gathering. So the Christians gather together and that's all church churches in the building, such as you and me, getting together, right? That's what church is and so the church needs in their house. And then he lists a whole bunch of people here. He mentioned as the first person to be saved in the region of a Kea is being filmed. And he also mentioned Mary, we will labor and he mentioned Andronicus and Julius, who are this fellow countrymen and fellow prisoners, maybe they're from where he's from up in Tarsus who are among the who are of note to the apostle in New King James and actually going to change the translation there because I don't think it's I think it's confusing how the New King James does it. Who are of note among the apostles that might make you think, oh, maybe a junior Andronicus or apostles? No, it's I think that preposition, there's better translated who are of note to the apostles and think that their apostles, right there were 12 apostles to offset that with they were note to the apostles, the Christmas they were arrested, Christ. This isn't something everybody did, but there are special people. Interesting to note you says, who are also in Christ before me. There's two things here one Paul notes is He's humble razors. They were Christians before I was, but notice to how he talks about how he was how someone was a Christian. They were in Christ before. The question of being a Christian is whether someone is in Christ or out of Christ and here, he says, do it in Christ. Questions are you in Christ? Are you out? He continues to go on emelius He's a beloved in the Lord or Danis as a fellow worker in Christ speaking, who is beloved A fellas who was approved and priced it says great those who are of the household have a reasonable loose, right answers again, probably house church or many people who are saved in this person's household. Herodian my countrymen might be someone who is actually formally asleep. Hear it or maybe if the household of Harry Reid those who are of the household of narcissists, or in the Lord, interesting, Lee as well. narcissists himself was our narcissist sorry, himself was a very powerful man of Rome and so it's possible that even someone from his own household is being saved from powerful families. Christians are coming into the assembly. See, it's from the highest members of society. The lowest Negus members of society, Christianity tears down these dividing walls and then he to people who have rhyming names and as well see fine on and see photos on images on every single board. He tells him the Greek persists, who labored much in the Lord, Rufus chosen and Lord and his mother in mind. He has great respect for his mother isn't one of the things that I find very interesting when people will talk about Paul being homeless, like a misogynist, or something like that. And here again and again and again, he's listing women, as laborers in the war. He mentions Rufus, his mother's, his mother and mind that he loves this woman. So I there's a little bit of cognitive disconnect there for me, I don't understand. Right now there's a lot of hardening. A secret freecom legging, permanent, a harmless but probis Hermes, and the brethren who are with them. So he just kind of groups a whole bunch of people there. That he says, and there's a whole bunch of others to meet with him. Maybe that's another house church. And he says, greed, fear, loneliness, and Julia need us and his sister and all the things who are with them. And maybe that's another house tuitions, possibly see in the images of these people to notice them by name. And finally, he says in verse 16, greet one another with a holy kiss with churches of Christ. You feel a fellowship and intimate knowledge isn't that friendship? Or you might even say failing. So what's the best verse to summarize all this? My Bible I have verse 16, underline and greet one another with a holy kiss the churches of Christ. You that's what this is getting that. Let me ask you. It's just a question between you and I. Do you know that people in the church you are attending? Do you know them by name? To greet them in your house? Do you do they have you over to their houses? Do you encourage the other people let me ask you, are you a laborer in the church? Are you somebody who's doing good works under Christ? Is the church for you to something that you consume? Or is the church a family that you participate? I think this is an honest question to ask each other. The church being the assembly isn't this the church coming to a textile? But it's the church gathered together to serve and live and love one another full of differences full of personalities full of different parts, and we'll get into that and First Corinthians actually. Do we actually share our life with each other? We thank you so much. For the fellowship that we have in Jesus Christ. God, we pray that we would love one another. By this, the outside world will know that we know you. If we'd have love for one another we pray that you would teach us to love in Jesus's name with or bless you today. That you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ, may he lead you to the still waters in the green pastures. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye You Transcribed by https://otter.ai