for the people of God themselves to pray for them for protection and also for fruitfulness. Indeed, we saw how although Paul had this confidence, although he pleaded with the saints to pray for him, well, in the end, things did not quite turn out as he anticipated here. He did not arrive in Rome as a free man Preaching the gospel wherever he went, he arrived as a prisoner and was indeed in house arrest. And it was in that house arrest context that he was now preaching the Word of God. So today, after six sermons on gospel preachers, we are transitioning from gospel preachers to something of the dynamic that was taking place in the church in Rome. And you notice that at least chapter 16 and verse 1 begins with Paul still referring to himself as he says, I commend to you our sister Phoebe. However, It's fairly clear as you then go on to read that whereas in chapter 15 he kept referring to himself over and over and over again, this time when he refers to himself he's simply transitioning from himself. going on to others. I'm interested this afternoon in what the Apostle Paul says in verse 1 and verse 2 of chapter 16, and it is the interchurch commendation that the Apostle Paul makes for this sister in the Lord. And let me just read those two verses and then we will plunge into them. The Apostle Paul says, I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at St. Clear, 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. The way I intend to proceed with this chapter is that first of all, today, we will look at the way in which the Apostle Paul introduces this lady and commends her to the brethren. And the Lord willing, this coming week, we're going to look at how the Apostle Paul sends greetings to a couple that were very dear to him, and that is Priscilla and Aquila. And then after that, instead of us dealing with each individual that is introduced or greeted in this section, we will now bring all of the others together so that we might just learn something about the dynamics that were there within the context of the church in Rome. And having reached verse 16, as we go into verse 17, we'll again just slow down a little as we now deal with his final greeting. So that's the way in which we will proceed. So in case you are fearing for your life that you'll be dealing with one person at a time, it's only really Phoebe and then also Priscilla and Aquila that might need a little more attention. So let's begin then with our sister, Phoebe. What are we learning there? It's basically the fact that the churches in the New Testament did not begin and end with themselves. In other words, the church in Rome did not isolate itself from all other churches. The church, for instance, in Sancreia did not isolate itself from all the other churches. There was some dynamic interdependence that was taking place that made them, in many ways, one universal church that was consequently expanding. And one of the ways in which that interconnectedness of the churches was experienced was through the itinerant preachers. as they were taking God's word, preaching in different churches. And as these itinerant preachers were preaching in the different churches, they got to know people in the various churches, and every so often, therefore, were able to commend them. to other churches as well. And that's one obvious example that we see here. And again, it's something that I'd like us to be fairly deliberate about as Kawata Baptist Church, that as we are receiving in our midst preachers, coming to do seminars, coming to do conferences, coming to lecture in Bible colleges around here and consequently manning our pulpits on a Sunday, that we are not just interested in them preaching to us, but we are also interested in the churches from which they are coming. so that there is a real interconnectedness. And in that sense as well, when our own people are traveling, perhaps going to America or going to England or going to South Africa, going to these particular cities, we are able to commend them to those churches and these visiting preachers are able because they've been here to provide that very real connectedness. It's not merely on paper, it is indeed very, very real. So all we are saying is that what we are seeing in this text, we need to take seriously and begin to apply. The very first thing we see there is that itinerant preachers must commend serving believers when the latter, that is the serving believers, visit other churches. And so the apostle Paul here says, I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at St. Croix. Now, in those days, just as it is today, it was common practice that you had people like the Apostle Paul there for moving from place to place, even within the context of churches that are already established. But what was true then was that often they would prepare commendation letters that would be used to provide the link with the church where they were going. So for instance, if we can just quickly go to Acts chapter 18, Acts chapter 18 and verse 27. Acts 18 and verse 27. We read here about Apollos, but let me begin from verse 26. He, referring to Apollos, began to speak boldly in the synagogue, and that is within Ephesus. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the word of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross to Achaia, okay, which is basically crossing quite a bit of a body of water and going into the province of Europe called Achaia. The brothers encouraged him, and notice this, and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. So it's fairly clear there that the Apollos, as he moved from one place to the other, the brethren wrote a letter to the church saying, this is what you can expect of him. He is a credible brother. He is an accomplished and gifted preacher. Make use of him while he is there. We also see in Colossians and chapter 4 something similar. Colossians chapter 4. Colossians 4 and verse 10. The Bible says there, Aristarchus, Colossians 4, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you. And Mark, now this is the man that Paul is writing about, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, and then he says, concerning whom you have received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him. So again, it's fairly clear that a letter had already been written to the church within the context of Colossus, and they were told about John Mark, and saying basically, when he comes there, welcome him, and as we shall be seeing here, help him in whichever way you can. Now, why were these letters, commendation letters, important? They were important because it safeguarded the churches from fraudsters, individuals who take advantage of ignorance, people not knowing that this person may actually be fake. It prevented that from happening. So a person doesn't just stand in front of you and claim to be something and yourselves begin to take it for granted. No, no. You are able to see from an actuator that this person comes to you with very high commendation. One of the things that often happens is you find that individuals who are not even in membership in any church still somehow garvanting from place to place, preaching God's Word, singing Christian music, and so on and so forth. And sometimes they are even under church discipline, in some church where they've come from. But because they don't want to subject themselves to discipline, they simply jump, jump, jump, and you hear they are being abused and playing instruments and singing and preaching wherever it is that they are going. Now, this was meant to arrest that. It stopped that. Because a person was not taken on his own terms. There was need for commendation. Unless, of course, as the Apostle Paul goes on to say in 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 1, if we can turn there, Unless, of course, such individuals are themselves the spiritual parents of such churches. And that's what the Apostle Paul says here in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 1. says that, are we beginning to commend ourselves again? And then he says this. He says, or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? And his argument that we don't need it is in the next verse. He says, you yourselves are our letter of commendation, written on our hearts to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. The point is making this, obviously using picture language, but the point is making there is the fact that, you know, I don't need somebody to give me a letter when I come to you, because you yourselves are a product of my ministry. Through me, the church in Corinth was planted. In other words, you got saved through my ministry. You yourselves are a letter from Christ that should commend me to others. because of the fact that the Spirit of God has used me among you to bring about real spiritual fruit. So you can see that it was essentially to stop this, to stop individuals who themselves want to commend themselves to others. And that ought not to happen. There must be a commendation coming from other brethren. Now, Paul had not preached in Rome before as far as we know up to this point. But it's fairly clear that from his ongoing preaching ministry in Asia and also in Europe, quite a number of individuals who were now part of the church in Rome knew him personally. And he also knew them, as we shall go on to see when we begin with Priscilla and Aquila, and then we begin to go through all these various names. He was an itinerant preacher, and Rome was the capital of the known world. I mean, it's like If we can think in terms of Lusaka and the rest of Zambia, I mean, if I've been preaching in southern province and in western province and in eastern province and northern province and so on, and as I'm preaching on the cover belt, individuals soon begin to move from all those places into Lusaka. They are transferred there. They come in as business people and so on and they settle. And so in the capital city, you've got a cosmopolitan. a place where people have come in from all sides. And you find that therefore, although I may not myself have been part of Kawata Baptist Church or Lusaka Baptist Church, because I'm aware of all these brethren that have moved into such a place, I can actually send personal greetings. to individuals there. And that's exactly what you have here. When Paul greets Priscilla and Aquila, we know very well that in fact he had been with them. a while back when he was doing tent making with them before. Now they have moved into Rome. So although Paul had not been there himself, he knew individual church members who were very active in the church in Rome. So he knows them. And he also knows this sister, Phoebe. And so he makes the connection. OK? I commend to you our sister, Phoebe. He says two things about her. First of all, it's simply that she's a Christian. OK? Our sister, Phoebe. And the word sister was meant to refer to female believers. But that was not all about this lady. He also commends her as a servant of the church at Senkria. Now Senkria was a port city that was very close to Corinth. So if a person was to try and get a ship from Corinth, he would actually travel to Sencreia and then get on a ship and sail in the direction of Asia. So that's what made Sencreia such a popular place. These days we don't normally travel by ship that much. We tend to travel by air. So if you can sort of imagine Lusaka International Airport. So this becomes the place where when people are flying out of Zambia, they first fly to Lusaka in order to fly out. They drive to Lusaka in order to fly out. And so it was the kind of place where brethren were coming and going, coming and going as they're entering Europe or going out of Europe into the direction of Asia. That was what Sinclair was. And in that place, there was a church. And this lady was a servant in that church. I don't have time to open that up, but if you get any commentary you want to look at, please do so. And you'll see that the church continues to debate as to whether she was a deacon, as to whether she was a deaconess, as to whether she was just servant as a general term, and so on. Honest commentaries always end on the note, it is inconclusive. Part of the reason is the phrase that is used there is actually the phrase deacon in Greek. And what makes it even a little more difficult is the fact that the word that is used is not the feminine form of the word. It is the masculine form of the word. It's exactly the same word that is used in Philippians chapter 1, Philippians chapter 1, and verse 1, when the Bible says there, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. Now the word servants there is the word doulos, so that's slaves of Christ Jesus. But then it goes on to say, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi and with the overseers and deacons. Now that word deacons there is the plural of word and the word that is used in Romans chapter 16 verse 1 is the singular word. So, it really opens it up to a lot of debate. Some Commentaries say a deaconess of the church at St. Croix, but that's wrong because, as I said, it's a masculine phrase that Paul uses. It's not a feminine phrase. However, the point is, at least most commentaries will say, that she was obviously playing a very distinct role. So whether you agree that she was a deacon or not a deacon, she was In this sense, a deacon, in terms of the word diakonos, a deacon of the church, that much from the Greek, unfortunately, you can't argue. The only argument you can use is, okay, was it really in the office or was it in a general term? But the word deacon is as much there as anything can ever be. Now, those are the two things that he says about her. She's a sister in the Lord, and at the same time, she's an actual servant of the church. In other words, she's recognized in terms of the role that she plays within the context of this church. And all Paul is doing as an itinerant preacher is to connect this lady who has traveled from Sancreia and gone to Rome. He's connecting her to the church in Rome because as an itinerant preacher, quite a number of the people in the church in Rome know him personally. So there's no way that a fraudster can make his or her way into the situation. It's a simple triangle. I know you, and I know the church here, and therefore I commend you to the church, I commend the church to you. And therefore, both of you can refer to Paul. That's the art of biblical interchurch commendation. What is it that Paul is asking for here? The commendation should be for the purpose of, number one, securing a warm welcome, and number two, securing any kind of help that might be needed. Look again at our text. I commend to you, our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at St. Creole, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints. That's the number one. And then number two, and help her in whatever she may need from you. Now the welcoming day in the Lord simply means welcome her as a believer. recognize the fact that this is a fellow Christian, a bona fide member of the Christian family who has consequently arrived. The best way that I can illustrate this is imagine that your father, or at least an uncle whom you know, out in the village where you came from as a family, gives such a letter to someone whom you don't know. And that person arrives, you have dogs at home, You have a big wall fence with a very threatening gate and you just start hearing someone knocking, knocking, knocking, knocking at the gate. And finally, you walk there, you open just enough to look the person in the face and you go, aha, and the person hands you a letter. And as you open, You can see it's your father's handwriting or your uncle's handwriting. And there is the explanation there that says, you remember your uncle Mr. Banda or Mr. Walia? Well, this is the firstborn son. Now, immediately you realize this is my relative. OK, he may not look what I would like him to look like, but he's my relative. And it immediately changes the situation altogether. You bring that person into your home as your cousin, as your uncles, whatever. You bring that person in, and you begin to relate in terms of family. Well, that's what we're being told here, welcome her in the Lord as a fellow Christian, as one who is a believer. But then the second is in a way that is worthy of the saints, in a way that is worthy of the saints. And this is now talking in terms of appropriateness of welcome. In other words, yes, accept that this person is a family member and is then saying, and treat them as such. That's all that this is saying. Treat them as such. So what would you do if Uncle Banda or Uncle Walia is the one who had arrived? at your home or you probably empty one of the bedrooms, move somebody into a smaller room somewhere, rearrange a few things into that room, put new beddings there, prepare a hot bath for them and so on. You begin to do everything that is worthy of a relative. Oh, that's exactly what Paul is saying here. This is not some nondescript visitor who sort of just come in and is part of the congregation. You don't know where he's come from and where he's going. No, this is now someone who you didn't know before, but now, based on this connectivity, you realize, this is my brother, this is my sister, this is somebody who actually occupies some form of position within the context of the church she's coming from. We need to treat her in a way that is appropriate to what we have heard. That's what they were to do. And the second is that of helping her on her way. Helping her on her way. We don't know where she was going. But as I said, it's like arriving in Lusaka and you're on your way to what? Rwanda? Kigali? Accra? Lagos? or whatever, you're on your way somewhere but you have arrived in the capital city and you need to do a number of things. You need to have a COVID-19 test and it takes a week for the results to come out. So you obviously need a place to stay. You need activities that you can be occupied with while you're waiting for your health certificate to come out and then you have to take your visa application and everything else and so forth before you finally go wherever it is that you are going. The church was to come alongside her, to be on standby, so that if she needs any help, she would receive this help from the brethren. Remember what I said. that this background information, these concluding remarks of the Apostle Paul tell us about the dynamism that was happening in the first century church. And we ought to be asking ourselves the question, are we doing that? Are we, as a church in the capital city of Lusaka, open to in a very practical way. Once there is a real commendation from somebody whom we really know, perhaps because they are individuals that were preaching somewhere where we once were, or because they themselves had preached here, and they commend somebody to us. Are we as a church a kind of congregation that is ready to play this role? And notice, this is not a letter that was written to the church officers. It was written to the whole church. And the Apostle Paul is saying, I commend to you, not your elders and your deacons, to you, our sister Phoebe. Do we have that kind of hospitality among us that genuinely loves Christian visitors, that genuinely recognizes that we are in the capital city by the providence of God that we may be relevant to the Christian church? are we as a church doing that? Is there this real life? Is it there? Let's hurry on because in such commendations We who commend should include what we know of the person's faithful service. We should include what we know of the person's faithful service. This is the argument that the Apostle Paul uses in commending Fabi to the church in Rome. Listen to the end of verse 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. And here is the argument, for, because she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. What this simply means is that Phoebe, who was living in Sancreia, which remember I mentioned is a port city next to Corinth, most likely used her home to accommodate travelling preachers and others. So the Apostle Paul is able to say here that she was a patron of many In other words, when she would meet other itinerant preachers, and they would be referring to Sancreia, they would be saying, we were hosted by our sister Phoebe. Even me, I was actually hosted there. Wow! That lady really goes an extra mile as far as hospitality is concerned. And so the Apostle Paul was able to pick this. that she was very deliberate in her acts of hospitality to traveling preachers and others. In Acts 18 and verse 18, it's highly possible that Paul actually stayed at her home. Acts 18 and verse 18. I will just begin in Corinth, the last part, which is verse 17. He's in Corinth, and then verse 18, he's making his way out of Corinth and going through Ephesus back to Judea. Okay? So if you've got the geography right, you will know what port he will use to go out of Corinth. So let's begin in Corinth with verse 16. And he drove them from the tribunal. So the Apostle Paul and others were going through this hearing. And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio, who was governor or proconsul, paid no attention to any of this, okay? It was a proconsul over Akaia. So he's just saying, you sort yourselves out, foolish people. But listen to verse 18. After this, Paul stayed many days longer, okay? That's in Corinth. and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria. Now, Syria is now over on the Asia side of the Mediterranean Sea. And with him, Priscilla and Aquila, there you are. So you'll see why he should be greeting them in Rome in a few minutes. But listen to this. At Senkia, He had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. And then they came to Ephesus, and he left them there. And on and on the trip goes until he makes his way. In verse 22, he reaches Caesarea. So notice the stopover. where he also ended up having a haircut. It was not an ordinary haircut. It was obviously some religious haircut that he was fulfilling in fulfilling whatever vows that he was going through. But it's highly likely that in Senkiria, he was at this woman's home. Notice the way he puts it in Romans 16 and verse 2, the passage we read, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. I've dwelt there. I've enjoyed her hospitality. Our team has enjoyed something of her ministry. Now, President, why should we add this to our commendations? The reason is quite simple. That Christians, genuine Christians, never advertise themselves. Never. They never do. They can be sitting in your congregation like this, Like, you know, this morning there was a brother who was among us, all the way from England. And I want to assure you, he's been here now for three weeks, he's leaving in about a week's time. No way would he say to you, you know what, I'm actually a good preacher, I can preach like your pastor. There's no way you can lose out on a blessing. If you don't have a commendation from somebody who is saying, actually this brother has these gifts, this sister has this ministry and it's a wonderful ministry. It has blessed the church where he or she is coming from. You can miss out. Because a person like this, this in KDC, you know what you want to do? You want the ladies ministry to quickly organize a seminar and have her to speak there about hospitality. Hospitality. How can we have real, genuine, live hospitality in our own church? Talk to us about how you do it in Sankriya. How you don't get taken advantage of. How you find fulfillment in doing this. And so on and so forth. So it is these commendations that really help. because they let us know what is behind that stranger's face. The gifts, the experience, and what we ourselves can in fact benefit from. So what it means, therefore, is that this commendation is not for those who just want to abuse the church. There are some individuals who never participate in church life. Never. As I always say, they don't even know who cleans the chairs on which they sit on a Sunday. No clue. They just come in, sit, sing, and go until they are in need. And when they are in need, they want the whole church to be falling over one another to meet their needs. They themselves do not actively participate in the church's ongoing life. And those are the kind of people who, when they're now going to another town, they really want to make sure that because there's a sister church there, they again simply benefit from what is happening there and want to be commended. No, that's not what is happening here. This is not a lice that is jumping from one body onto another to suck more blood. This is somebody who's been in active ministry in the church and therefore being commended to another church with the fact that here is a person who's active in the life of this church. Active. So receive them as such. Well brethren, we've entered the last chapter. And as you can already begin to see, we are moving away from Paul speaking about himself. We're beginning to speak about the church in Rome, and this transition is with a biblical inter-church commendation. We need to recognize those who labor gracefully in one church as they come to be among us. We shouldn't start from zero. They are not at zero. They already have what I keep calling spiritual capital in their being. And we need to ensure that that is recognized. What it means, two things, first of all, is that we ourselves must stop being mere pure womans. We need to be servants, as Fabie was, whether we have a title of deacon or no title. But at least there is a very distinct role that we are playing in the life of the church that will still cause the brethren to say, this person that is coming there is a real servant, if not of Kawata Baptist Church, it's at Kawata Baptist Church. We need to be such distinct members of the church. And then we also need to recognize that the church does not begin and end with KBC. We are in this interconnectedness with other churches. Therefore, we should ensure that we maximize through these commendations. If those who have preached to us, or those whom we know, commend such servants to us, we should rise to the occasion. We should make sure that we give them a hospitality that is commensurate with who they are as God's people, as part of the family, and also as those who have been faithfully serving the Lord with distinction. Oh brethren, May this life of the New Testament Church be true of us as well. May we as individuals learn to play our role when Christian strangers come among us, commended from elsewhere. May we play that role of being hosts in our great city of Lusaka. May those who dwell among us finally go wherever they are going, saying, when you go to Lusaka, you will not get lost. You will not get lost. As long as you are commended to Kabwatha Baptist Church, you can be sure you will be loved, not just by the church officers, you'll be loved by the brethren there. They will take care of you as though you are really part of their family right there and then. What is it that will make us do this? It is the love of Christ. As we gaze at Christ's love for us, the cost that He has paid, We ourselves will be inspired to do something for Him. And warming a pew is not in that category. We want to do something that's very specific, something that's very distinct, something that truly blesses the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we need to do, beginning with appreciating the great love of Christ for us. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for the peep that you give to us into the functioning of the church in the first century. That church that turned the entire Roman Empire upside down, indeed the right way up. May we, as we learn about that church, challenge ourselves that we might be like them. And Lord, in this area of biblical commendation of others, may we deliberately play the role on both sides, commending others and receiving those who are commended to us, worthy of the saints. We plead for this in Jesus' name. Amen.