Please open your Bibles to Paul's letter to the Romans, Romans chapter 16. By my calculation, we've got two weeks left here in the epistle of Paul to the Romans. And here in Romans chapter 16, this morning, we have a relational text, much like what we had at the end of chapter 15. Now, the book of Romans, as you think of it, it's almost like a systematic theology. And he starts off with the doctrine of sin, Hamartiology. He then talks about the doctrine of justification. He talks about how justification is applied through faith and how personal salvation occurs. He talks about the consequences, the results of justifying grace through faith in a changed life, a new heart, receiving the Holy Spirit, looking forward to the future blessings that flow out of that in our glorification. And so it really is a doctrinal heavy book. of 15 chapters. But at the very beginning of the book and at the very end of the book, you've got relationships. And I think that is really important here in the Word of God, that God not only speaks to us about what we are supposed to believe, but the Bible also speaks very strongly, very clearly to us about how we are to relate to one another and this is the perfect chapter for that. You know a lot of people they'll look at Romans chapter 16 and they'll say it's just a bunch of names of people that I don't know anything about and that's not what Romans 16 is. It reminds me of a study that we did years ago when we were going through the book of Isaiah and we were in the part of Isaiah that probably gets the least attention and is the least loved But I found it to be one of the most powerful parts of the book as I studied it and shared it with you. And that was the section from Isaiah 13 through 23 about God's judgment on the ancient world, the nations of Egypt and Tyre and all of these different nations that mean very little to us. In fact, the peoples that were a part of that nation have been dispersed or destroyed and they're not the same countries as they used to be with different names and different people living there. Well, what does this have to do with us? Why do we study a part of God's Word that has to do with people who lived a long time ago and nations that lived a long time ago? It's because you learn something very important about God. That it's not about Tyre and Sidon, it's about God's judgment of the nations. And that if God judged the nations that existed on the earth then, you can be sure that God is going to judge the nations that exist on the earth today as well. And so this chapter is not about Phoebe, and it's not about Prisca, and it's not about Aquila, or Andronicus, or Urbanus, or any of these people. It's really about how does the body of Christ love one another? How do we work together in this great undertaking that God has given to us? My soul has been richly fed on this passage in Romans this week, and I hope that your soul will also be richly fed this morning. Now the key verse is there in Romans chapter 16, verse 16. If you've got your Bibles open, go ahead and take a look at that verse. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. And that's the key word here in our chapter, and it's the key word in our sermon today. Greet one another. This greeting, it starts every verse. I look at it in my Greek text and just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. That we have 18 times the word greet is here in this chapter, more than twice any other book in the New Testament. So this chapter has more greetings in it than any other book, more than twice any other book. It's got 18 greetings for us, for about 24 different people, and from a group of people who were with Paul. And so this is the chapter on greetings. And it got me thinking, how many times does God command us what he commands us there in Romans chapter 16, verse 16? Now this is not optional. This is a command from the word of God by the Holy Spirit through his apostles. He says, greet one another with a holy kiss. I thought I'd give you some examples of how repeated, how emphasized this command is throughout the scriptures. Starting in 1 Corinthians, which comes right after Romans, the first letter full of commands for the church of Jesus Christ, and so we find it continuing in Paul's letters. All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Then, 2 Corinthians, same as Romans and 1 Corinthians, following right through Paul's letters, He ends the letter saying, greet one another with a holy kiss. Philippians chapter 4 verse 21, the letter on joy and a big part of joy is greeting every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. Greet every saint. There's no person that you come and see on Sunday morning that you're not happy to see, that you don't let them know that you're happy to see them and that you greet them warmly, sincerely, in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God's commandment for his people. And the brothers who are with me greet you. So this is something that comes naturally, but it is something that we have to be reminded of as well and to put effort into. Then coming to 1 Thessalonians, at the end of his letter, he says again, greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. Then we come to the pastoral epistles as he writes to Titus. He says to the churches in Crete, all who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. I love how we've got the brothers, we've got the saints, we've got those who love us in the faith. All of these ways are describing the community that God has built, this web of relationships that is such a joy to the heart of God's children. All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. and grace be with you all. But not just Paul. You might think, well, you know, we've got a lot of examples from Paul here, but let me show you from the letter to the Hebrews. Author unknown. Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. So here, a special mark for greeting leaders, and we will see that in Romans chapter 16 as well, but we greet all the saints. Very important. First Peter chapter five, verse 14. Not just Paul, not just the writer of the book of Hebrews, but also the Apostle Peter, the Apostle to the Jews, ended his letter with this command. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. But let us not forget the Apostle John as well. In 3 John, which is only one chapter long, verse 15, he says, Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Here we got brothers, saints, friends. That's a great way to look around and see brothers and sisters, saints, God's holy people, friends. That's how we are to feel about one another and that's how we are to help other people feel in the way that we greet them. Now you might say to yourself, well, you know, I'm just not a very outgoing person. I'm kind of shy, kind of reserved, like to keep to myself, and so, you know, I'm not going to come into church and just greet everyone. Well, the command of Scripture. God made you. He knows your personality. He knows what you're capable of. He knows what He's able to make you to do. And you might say, well, there's some saints that I just have a really hard time greeting. And if I did, they would know that I was being insincere. Well, God can change you. And that's something that you want to confess to God. That's something that you want to repent of. You want to forgive your brother from your heart. You want to welcome him or her as Christ has welcomed you. And everyone in the church should always feel welcomed and greeted by every other person in the church. This is a part of our light. Now we can be preaching the Word of God, we can be doctrinally accurate, but if we're not greeting one another with a sincere, genuine love, then we have nothing. I can speak with tongues of men and angels, and know all mysteries, and understand all prophecy. But if I don't have love, I'm a noisy gong. And so Romans chapter 16 is a great insight into the heart of the Apostle Paul. Paul was not merely a superb theologian, but he was also an example of how to be a gracious friend. And I like the concept of Christians being called friends. There's a group that calls themselves the friends, and they're not. very doctrinally accurate, but I do like that idea of identifying ourselves as the friends. That's a great way to describe God's church. Now, let's go ahead and look at our outline for this morning here in Romans chapter 16. After we read the text, we're going to look at some other parts of scripture that give us some insight into what does it mean to greet? What is the big idea here? Who do we greet? When do we greet? Why do we greet? How do we greet? All of that, we're going to be taking a look at all of the texts on greeting and coming up with a systematic theology of greeting. If we're going to do a systematic theology of substitutionary atonement, we should also be careful to make sure that we fully understand how to greet one another. a very practical matter. And then we're going to look closely at verses 1 through 16 and see the greetings that Paul is sending to the church at Rome. These are people who live in Rome, who are Christians, who are part of the church there, whom Paul knows. And Paul realizes it might be some time before he gets to actually visit Rome as he is hoping to do. And so he's sending greetings to those people by name that he knows in the church at Rome. And then we'll also, if time permits, look into verses 21 through 23 and see the greetings that are being sent, not only from Paul, but from his companions who are with him as he's writing this letter from Corinth around 57 AD. So let's go ahead and read the text. Then we'll have a word of God and dive into our outline. Follow along with me as I read it out loud for us. I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Kencreae, 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. Greet 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. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Eponatus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. Greet my kinsman Herodian. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. Greet those workers in the Lord, Triphene and Traphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord, Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. Greet Asyncretus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. We're going to save verses 17 through 20 for next week, and so jump down with me to verses 21 through 23, where the greetings continue, but this time from others who are with Paul at Corinth. Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you. So do Lucius and Jason, and Socipater, my kinsman. I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Aristas, the city treasurer, and our brother, Quartus, greet you. Now, one of the things you'll take note of as I read that list, that the names are somewhat difficult to pronounce. And I took pains this week to learn how to pronounce their names according to how they are written in the original text, because it honors people when you say their name right. And that's something that I think is an important lesson for all of us to learn, is to not only learn how to say people's names right, but learn people's names. We have a church directory, a pictorial church directory, and I encourage you to use that church directory not only to pray for one another, but also to learn one another's names so that you can greet each other by name. Now, you've got a relatively easy assignment along those parts because you can look around and see that, you know, we're not a megachurch. If you were in a church of a thousand people and you met one new person each week, how long would it take you to know everybody in the church if nobody left the church and nobody joined the church. 20 years! It would take you 20 years to get to know everybody if you met one new person every week in a church of a thousand. Well, you don't have that big of an assignment here if you've got a hundred people that you need to learn the names of and learn how to greet them by their name and that's a way to honor people, to work hard at learning names and Paul greets people by name and in fact we are commanded to greet the brethren by name in the Holy Scriptures. Now, let's look at this theology of greeting, as I say. What does it look like for the church to obey the command of Jesus Christ to love one another the way that Jesus Christ has loved us? You know, everybody can talk about love, but what are the details? What is the practice of love that we're looking for? And this, greeting one another, is one of the key components of loving one another. It's not optional. There's no excuse for not obeying the command of God. God doesn't command something that he doesn't give us the power to do, and so let's make up our minds to be this type of Christian. You know, my dad talked about a pastor who was great at this. Whenever he met somebody, he would remember their name, and whenever he saw them, he would greet them. Now, I'm not as good at that as this pastor, but that doesn't give me an excuse not to try. But my dad described him as a there-you-are kind of person. That when he came into the room, he wasn't a here I am kind of person, but he's a there you are kind of person. And that's the way Paul is here in Romans chapter 16. He's setting an example for us that we need to be a there you are kind of person and not a here I am kind of person. take an interest in other people and honor other people. That is what is at the heart of loving one another, and that's what's at the heart of these greetings that are so emphasized throughout scripture, but also in this chapter, the chapter of personal greetings. In fact, that's the title in the ESV translation for Romans 16, personal greetings. Now, God commands us to greet everyone. Here in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructed his disciples, In fact, as Peter wrote on the subject, he said, And so this honor that we bestow on people by greeting them and by showing an interest in them is commanded by scripture and exemplified by Jesus and his apostles and many godly examples throughout scripture. A role model that we want to live up to. Now, there is one exception that I found in scripture as far as who not to greet. And I thought that was very interesting. So I thought I'd share that with you this morning. We're commanded to greet everyone except Here in 2 John verses 10 and 11, again a one chapter book, it says, If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. So the one who claims to be a Christian, who claims to be a missionary or an evangelist, but who preaches a different Christ, who preaches a different gospel, the Bible says, do not greet that person. Now, here we're talking about traveling missionaries, we're talking about people who would travel from one city to another, and so Christians were warned. about the danger of those who would impose upon their generosity, upon their love of strangers and their hospitality in order to further a destructive message. That the enemy of God does want to abuse us in our kindness and our generosity by bringing in false workers who will take advantage of that in order to promote lies against God. And so here we have that warning in 2 John And that's exactly, I think, what is on Paul's mind in Romans chapter 16 verses 17 through 20 that we'll take a look at next week. Because in the midst of all these greetings, Paul is going to give a very strong warning about false teachers there in that chapter. So, as we are so welcoming and so good at personally honoring others, There's one thing that we do have to be cautious of that Paul points out, that John points out, is that we don't welcome false teachers. We don't welcome the workers of iniquity into the house of God, the family of God, and help them to destroy the work of God. That's the one thing to keep in mind. But other than that, we are to be the most welcoming, generous, hospitable, cordial people on the face of the earth. This is what God has given to us as a lighthouse shining in a dark place. Now, one of the things you may have noticed as we were going along through this text is all the times that it talks about being in the Lord or in Christ. In the Lord is seven times in what we read. In Christ is four times and they basically are synonymous. So 11 times he talks about being in the Lord Christ. And this is the emphasis on the Christian body. that the greetings, the honoring, the love that we're showing in this way, it's because of the unity, the family that God has given to us in Jesus Christ. We talked about how Jesus Christ came to divide. We talked about that last week, Christ the divider, came to set a father against a son, a mother against daughter, a mother against her daughter-in-law, and vice versa. Because your relationship to God, Your relationship to the truth, your relationship to your creator, the one who upholds and sustains the universe, who is himself meaning and purpose and ultimate reality, is more important than your relationship to anyone else. And so, as people either heed the call of God to repent and believe and follow God, or they reject that call, there's a dividing line that is being set up, and Christ is that dividing line. When someone comes to Christ, he comes over on God's side. But if someone rejects the gospel of Christ, they're over here as enemies of God. And so there is a division that Christ is creating in the world by calling people out of the world back into a relationship with God. But what God is creating within those who have come to him is a profound and deep unity. More important than whether or not my personality matches up with your personality, more important than whether or not my ethnic background lines up with your ethnic background, more important than whether or not I run in the same social circles economically that you run in, more important than all of that is, do you know God? Are you known by God? Does He love you? Has He welcomed you into His family? Do you know the truth? Do you walk in the truth? Do you worship God from the heart? That's what connects people on the deepest, most powerful level. And that's why Paul has these sincere, heartfelt greetings for people that he has worked with and people that he has loved. This is an important idea. In the Lord, in Christ. Now, what does it mean to greet one another? Why is it so important? Why does God repeat this command over and over again through all of his different apostles throughout the New Testament? What exactly is being accomplished when we greet one another by name? It's a way, as I've said, of showing honor to one another. Luke chapter 20 verse 46 gives us insight into why people like to be greeted. The scribes and the Pharisees, they loved the honored greetings. And so Jesus said, beware. of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogue and the places of honor at feasts. Now the love of honor is the deadly bane of piety according to the words of St. Augustine. The love of honor is the deadly bane of piety. Here, these pious people, and there's nothing wrong with piety, piety's good. Piousness is just respecting God and worshiping God. That's a good thing. But the deadly bane of piety is when we pretend to honor God in order to get honor for ourselves. And that's what is not true piety, but what is actually a false piety. Now the scribes, Jesus looked at their heart. And he said, this group of supposedly pious men who devote their lives to teaching the Bible and instructing the people in the way of God, they are in fact those who love honor. Now there's nothing wrong with honoring people, just like there's nothing wrong with having money. Money, honor, all good things. But when you love money, that is the root of all kinds of evil. And when you love honor and you seek it, that's when you have a problem. Now there's nothing wrong with giving money. And there's nothing wrong with giving honor. There's nothing wrong with giving money. There's nothing wrong with giving honor. It is more blessed to give than to receive. And what Paul is doing throughout this chapter is he is honoring each one of these people for who they are, for what they've done, for what they've meant to him, for how they've served the church. for how they've loved the Lord Jesus Christ. And so sometimes we as Christians, we forget this. We start to think that, you know, we're all supposed to be humble and we don't want people to become proud. We don't want them to become like the scribes who just love the honor. And so we just say, well, I'm going to help people out by not honoring them. I'm not going to say anything nice about anyone because I don't want them to get a big head. Right. Well, that's not the way that Paul conducted himself. He remembered how Prisca and Aquila risked their necks for him. And he didn't just thank them, but he thanked them publicly in front of the whole church. And so he honored the leaders in the church, he honored the servants in the church, he said things that would make people feel respected and valued and honored. When you come to church, have this heart in yourself, a mindset, I'm gonna look for ways to honor people in church, to thank them for their service. We had Father's Day last week, a day to honor your father as the scripture commands. And part of my exhortation there on Father's Day was, when was the last time you wives thanked your husband for his hard work at his job in providing for the family? When was the last time you kids thanked your dad for bringing home the bacon? This work that someone does to love their family, you recognize that, you honor that. Same thing on Mother's Day. We should always be a thankful people. We should always be ones who are having words of encouragement, appreciation, valuing what God has done and brought blessing into our lives through those who are part of his family, especially, but even to all men. Honor everyone. Honor everyone. Yes, we teach that all people are sinners. Yes, we rebuke sin. Honor everyone. Don't forget that flip side of the coin. So that's what it means. It means to show honor. That's the greeting. You see that in the love of honor, but the love of honor is the problem. The giving of the honor is not the problem. Now, let's also talk about how the scripture commands us to greet. We have an example throughout Paul's writings of the Pauline greeting that starts off every letter with some slight variations, but basically it goes like this. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Pauline greeting that he starts all of his letters with. And Paul got this as he combined together, as we suppose, looking at history and doing our best to get into the mind of the author. We suppose that he got this from the Greek greeting, which is kyrein, which is very similar to the Greek word for grace, which is charis. Kyrein, charis, you can hear how they're very similar sounding. And so the Greeks, when they would greet one another, they'd say kyrein. which means joy. I want you to be happy. Kind of like a how you doing type of greeting where you're just saying I hope things are going well for you. Kyrain, rejoice. The Hebrews, they had a little different greeting. They would say shalom. The Hebrews today still say shalom. It means peace. And peace doesn't just mean that you don't have war. It means that you're enjoying all the benefits that God has to give in life. That's the shalom that God gives. rejoice and have peace and Paul he takes these words and he says a great Christian greeting would be grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and so that's a good example for us that when you're greeting someone you give them a blessing and this is an example. Now in 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verse 19 he talks about how some of the saints there are sending hearty greetings in the Lord and I like that. hearty greetings. And the word that's translated there, hearty, has the idea of much or many. And so it's like they just keep saying, you know, Paul, make sure you tell them, greetings from us. We really want to make sure they know that we're greeting them. And so there's this much greeting, this hearty greeting that is going on. And that's a great example for us in scripture as well. Now, when you think about, you know, the greetings that we send long distance in our time, we talk about, you know, say hello to them for me. We say give them my best or something along those lines. Those are the distance greetings. But then when you're actually face-to-face with someone, how do we greet people? We say, good morning. We say, good to see you. We say, it's been too long. We say, hey there. We have all kinds of different ways of greeting someone. And if you want to pat someone on the shoulder, or give them a handshake, or girls give each other a hug, that's ways that we greet one another. And in their day, the way that they greeted one another was with a holy kiss. It could be a kiss on the forehead, it could be a kiss on the cheek. I worked with some girls who were from South America, and when they greeted one another, they would give a kiss on the cheek, because that's the way their culture did it. And so different cultures have different ways of greeting one another, and here the scripture tells us to greet one another heartily, and it says that we are supposed to get physical in our greeting. Now I'm not saying you've got to do the kiss on the cheek or the kiss on the forehead, but I'm saying the scripture commands A physical greeting, some kind of physical show of affection, a handshake, a pat on the back, whatever it is that is good for you and good for the people that you're greeting. Don't just wave, but actually touch the person. There's something about actually touching people that makes a difference, that lets them know that you love them and that you want to be close to them. So that's why the scripture includes with a holy kiss. And you saw at the beginning how many times it mentioned the holy kiss in Paul's letters and even Peter as well, that there's this physical component to showing our greeting towards one another that I think is important to point out. With that theology of greeting in mind, let's go ahead and take a closer look at verses 1 through 16 and look at the particular greetings that the Apostle Paul personally sends by name to his fellow believers in Rome. Remember that Paul is writing a letter to a church that he's never visited. He's never been to Rome before and yet throughout these first 16 verses we find that he knows a lot of people in the church. This is not surprising to us. There was a lot of travel in the ancient world during the Roman Empire and all roads led to Rome. And so, as Paul had already planted a lot of churches in Macedonia and Asia Minor and other places, it's not surprising that a number of these Christians would end up at Rome or would travel as they have the means. That's why he knows so many. And I think what we have here is a pretty complete list of all of the people that Paul knows by name, either by personal acquaintance or because he's heard about them, and that he wants to establish that personal relationship and that he wants to honor in the Lord. This is unusual among Paul's letters. Normally Paul does not have a whole chapter full of greetings and that's because Paul knew almost everybody in the churches that he wrote to regularly. When Paul was writing to the church at Corinth, He didn't greet everyone by name because he knew everybody in the church and it would have taken an hour to list everybody's names. And so he just greets the church in general. But when he's writing to the church at Rome, he wants the church at Rome to know that there are people there that he knows. There are people there that he loves. There are people there that he prays for, there are people there that he has worked with, and this is the establishing, the strengthening of those ties that bind us together, as Paul sets a great example for us. The only other letter where we have an extended list of personal greetings by name like this is Paul's letter to the church at Colossae, which was another church that Paul had never personally visited, but took it upon himself to write to. And so that's why we have more greetings in these churches because he's singling out the people that he knows that are there, and he's looking forward to meeting all the people that he doesn't know in that church. Now, as we look through Paul's greetings here in Romans 16, verses 1 through 16, there's several things that I would like to highlight for us. Number one, I'd like you to see how working and laboring in the Lord is a key theme in these greetings. Look at verse one. Phoebe is a servant of the church at Cancria. That word servant is the word for deacon, and that's work. You who are deacons in this church, you know it's not just an honorary position, but you actually do some work for the Lord as a servant of the Lord. And so she was working hard and being a patron of many, as Paul recognizes at the end of verse two. And then you come down to verse three, and Prisca and Aquila are identified as my fellow workers. in Christ Jesus. So we're not just a family, but we are those who are engaged in an important enterprise together. There's really two things that tie people together very closely. One is the family connection. You live together, you love one another, you've got the same DNA flowing in you. That blood connection, that family tie is a pretty strong tie in many different ways. But also the people you work with. you form close connections with, especially men. Men, we form strong connections with people that we work with, that we do things together with. And so Paul has formed strong connections in the work of the Lord, preaching the word of God, establishing churches, building up those churches in their faith, meeting the needs of the saints in those churches. The church is a place where work is done. This is not a worship center. It's a work center. Maybe that would be good for us to kind of get a proper balance and to de-emphasize the worship center and to re-emphasize the work center. And when you're sitting here, you're actually getting trained to work. You're getting trained to do something. We're like an outfitter. You go to the outfitter because you don't have what you need to go whitewater rafting. So the outfitter, he gives you the gear and he tells you this is how you use this gear and then you go out and you do the whitewater rafting. Well, we're not engaged in something that's just entertainment here. I'm not teaching you how to entertain yourselves with whitewater rafting, as great as that is. But here, we're being equipped, we're being outfitted to do the work of the Lord. And what's going to connect us, what's going to tie us together is that we've been in the trenches together. We've done the work together. Just sitting next to each other and singing songs is not going to connect us in the same way as actually doing real work, real ministry, side by side, brother and sister. So notice that emphasis. We saw it in the first three verses, but it continues on in verse six, verse nine, verse 12. And if you go home and read this as part of your personal devotions this week or with your family devotions, take note of how many times Paul emphasizes work and labor in the Lord in these greetings. Now the second thing I think is important for us to talk about in these greetings to the church at Rome is the place that women occupy in this chapter. And this is very important. It's very encouraging for the women in the church. Because sometimes you read through the Bible and you hear, well, women are not supposed to exercise authority or teach a man. And that women are supposed to keep silent in the church. And so sometimes women feel like, well, I'm a second class citizen here. I can't lead. I can't have authority. I can't talk in church. And what can I do? Well, everything else. And sometimes if you have a church where the only thing that goes on in the church is leading and talking, then women, yeah, you don't have much place in the church. But hopefully, church is not that way. That church is a place where we are actually serving one another, we're actually involved in the work of evangelism, and that we are discipling people, and that we're not just listening to sermons and hearing the worship leader. Yeah, you're not a worship leader. Yeah, you're not the preacher. But that's not the point. The point of the worship leader and the point of the preacher and the point of the people who are up on the stage and who are leading is to equip you for the work of service. Men and women. Women, we need you. Women, you are vital. Women, you are so important in the work of the Lord. And I think you're probably more important than I can explain or even understand because God has designed the church just as God has designed the family. And he tells us how it's supposed to work and then we get in and we figure it out. And so here are some women who were involved in the work of the Lord and who were figuring it out. They weren't taking authority away from a man, they weren't emasculating the men around them, but they were fulfilling the role of women in the family of God, carrying on hard work for the Lord. We'll start with Phoebe. That's where the chapter starts. Notice Phoebe is identified as a servant of the church at Kencreae. This word is the same word as deacon, and the word deacon in the Greek is gender neutral. It's not a masculine ending, it's not a feminine ending, and so we don't know whether this is an actual title, that she has a position in the church as what we would call a deaconess, a female deacon, or whether Paul is just describing her as someone who does a lot of deacon-like work. Whether she has the official position or not the official position, Here Phoebe is identified as a premier servant of the church at Cancrier. Now Cancrier, let me just let you know where that is, it's not far from Corinth. As Paul is writing this letter from Corinth, he is probably leaving town as he's sending out the letter, and there's a smaller town close to Corinth, it's just nine miles away, that is a port. for Corinth. Corinth was a big city. It had two ports, one on one side, one on the other side. And Cancria was one of the port cities of Corinth. And so there was a church there, just like there was a church in Corinth. And here Phoebe is one of the main helpers, the main servants in that church. And actually, if you ask my opinion, personally, I would translate this as deacon. I think she is a female deacon in the church at Cancria. Come with me to 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. Men like the Apostle Paul, they recognize and honor the contribution, the hard work, the important work that women do in the church. Sometimes Paul is accused of being a hater of women because of his words about male headship and female submission. But you see here in this chapter that that couldn't be further from the truth, that the Apostle Paul values and loves and honors women, as all Christian men should. Now, 1 Timothy chapter 3, here you've got the qualifications for deacons, starting in verse 8. Deacons likewise must be dignified, and the likewise here refers to the elders who had just been talked about in the previous chapter, also known as overseers of the church. So there's these two offices in the church, the overseer and the deacon. He talked about the qualifications for the overseer at the beginning, now in verse 8 he switches over to the deacons. Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain, they must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience, and let them be tested first also, and then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Now verse 11, here in the ESV, is translated their wives, but literally it's just the women. And the women could be a reference to the wives of the deacons, Or it could be a reference to female deacons. And personally, I think that it is a reference to female deacons because there's no reference to the elders' wives in Titus chapter 3 or in the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy chapter 3, the other place where we have the qualifications of office holders in the church. And so why would he mention the deacons' wives and not mention the elders' wives? And notice also that it says likewise the wives. their wives likewise and when he talked likewise in verse 8 he was introducing another office and so here I think we have female deacons likewise must have godly character that's what he's saying the women the female deacons likewise must be dignified not slanderers but sober-minded faithful in all things and then he goes back to the male deacons saying let deacons each be the husband of one wife managing their children and their own households well for those who serve well as deacons, gain a good standing for themselves, and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Now not only do I think that the grammar of 1 Timothy chapter 3 identifies the possibility for female deacons, But I also think that Romans chapter 16 is most naturally read that way. I think when he points out that Phoebe is a deacon of the church at Cancri, I think the most natural way of understanding that is that she has the office of deaconess. And also, aside from those grammatical points, if you trust me on the grammar, we have historical references. Now we've been doing a study in early church history in our adult Sunday school before we took our summer break and one of the letters that we looked at that was so fascinating for a number of reasons was a letter from the Roman governor Pliny to the emperor Trajan and Pliny was writing to the Roman emperor to ask whether or not he had handled certain cases with Christians right because it was illegal to be a Christian at that time there in the early and middle parts of the second century and it would continue to be illegal for a long time. And so Pliny mentions that as a matter of course as he was undertaking his investigations that he had arrested two female deacons in the church where he was in the Roman Empire and had interrogated, tortured, them to find out more information about the Christians. And so we know that at least by that period in the second century of the church, less than a hundred years after this letter was written, that there were official deaconesses within the church. And so you might say, well that developed later and that's not what Paul's talking about here, and I'll grant you that, that's a possibility. But I think that when you look at what is the office of a deacon, what does a deacon do? Deacons are there in the church for the care of the sick and the poor. This is what we see them doing in the New Testament. And for those who were imprisoned because of their faith in Christ. The deacons in the church would show hospitality. And none of these things are things that a woman shouldn't be involved with. Women should be involved with the care of the sick and the poor and the prisoners and showing hospitality. And so, why not have females in the church who are appointed for that work? Also, early in the church, female deacons would instruct, disciple new believers, women, in the ways of the Lord. And so, in a lot of churches, the idea of a female deacon is very controversial, because deacons are actually the ones who run the church. But that's not biblical. Deacons shouldn't be running the church. The elders are supposed to be running the church. They're the authority in the church. And so some people don't like the idea of female deacons, because that would contradict what the Bible says about authority. But it's only because they just haven't understood what the role of a deacon is. And so I have no problem with a female deacon because deacons are servants, and that's exactly the spiritual gift and the spiritual ministry that God has suited so many godly women in the church to undertake. So I think that Phoebe was a deaconess, and not only that, but she was also a patron of many. This word patron is interesting. I want to share with you a rather extended description of what a patron was in the ancient world, and there I'm taking from a commentary on the text by Douglas Moo, and Moo wrote this, a patron was one who came to the aid of others, especially foreigners, by providing housing and financial aid, and by representing their interests before the local authorities. Ken Cree's status as a busy seaport would make it imperative that a Christian in its church take up this ministry on behalf of visiting Christians. Phoebe then was probably a woman of high social standing and some wealth, who put her status, resources, and time at the services of traveling Christians, like Paul, who needed help and support. Paul now urges the Romans to reciprocate. He says to the Romans, when she comes, help her in whatever way she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many, and of myself as well. This reminds me of the proverb that says, he who waters will himself be watered. So she who watered, has been a patron of many, Paul is now encouraging the Romans to water her in return. It's amazing how much kindness you do, and it comes back to you. I was talking with one of you in the church a week or two ago, and he said, now it's amazing, the harder I work, the luckier I get. Right? The harder I work, the luckier I get. And here, this woman has worked hard. And now she's getting lucky. The Apostle Paul is commending her to the church at Rome, and she's got a whole church full of people there that are going to help her in whatever she has need. Right? That's how it works. That's family. Now, while we're talking about female deacons, I also want us to take a look at verse 7. This is also interesting on the issue of men and women and their roles in the church. Here in verse 7, Paul mentions two people, Andronicus and Junia. my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are well known to the apostles and who were in Christ before me." Now, we think that there are seven or eight women that are listed here in these greetings. There's a few of the names that we're not exactly sure. Is it a man's name or is it a woman's name? And Junia is one of those names that could be either, depending upon how it was accented. Our earliest texts don't have accents. Those accents were added later to help in pronunciation as people were starting to forget how Greek was supposed to be pronounced. And so we're not exactly sure whether the original accents would have identified Junia as a male or a female. And so you can actually tell whether your translation is translating it as a male name or a female name by whether or not there's an S on the end. If your translation says Junius, then it's a man. If your translation says Junia, then your translators think that Paul is referring to a woman. Now, why is this important? Well, it's important because in verse 7, it mentions that these two people, Andronicus and Junia, are well known to the apostles. Now, there's also an interesting translation issue there. Well known to the apostles could also be translated as outstanding among the apostles, like premier examples of apostles. And so if you've got a man and a woman who are premier apostles, well then that means that women were apostles. And this is something that would then cause a lot of discussion in the church about the role of men and women, and what Paul has to say about a woman not teaching and exercising authority over a man, and all of that type of thing, right? Well, here's the deal. I think that the ESV is correct in its translation that these are two people who are well known to the Apostles. The phrase could be understood either way. The grammarians and the Greek experts, they argue and they research and they present the cases and it's not really known for certain what Paul meant by this. It could go either way. But I think that the ESV gets it right. That's my understanding from the little bit that I know. And also, I think that the ESV is probably correct in saying that Junia is a female name. Now, Junia, the male name, you'll find that in the Amplified Bible. You'll find that in the New American Standard Bible, the 95 revision. You'll find it in the Revised Standard Version and also Young's Literal Translation. But Junia, the woman's name, you'll find that in the ESV that we're using, the HCSB, the New King James Version and the Old King James Version, the New American Standard Bible originally, before the 95 revision, and the NIV. So there's a lot of split here among the translators as to whether this is a male name or a female name. Bottom line is, whatever the case is, you don't want to use a text that could be going either way to overthrow a text that is very clear. Jesus Christ chose 12 apostles. They were all men. Paul was an apostle. We have no clear examples in the New Testament of female apostles. And that's by God's design. That's not just a happenstance of history. Jesus Christ himself selected the apostles. So if Jesus Christ wanted there to be female apostles, he would have made that clear. You don't want to use an obscure text to try to overthrow what is clear in scripture. But the point is, these two, probably a husband and wife is the way that I read the text, that these two are honored among the apostles and that Paul is honoring them for their work in the Lord that they've carried on from before Paul himself knew the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this is a passage that gets focused on and talked about a lot for that other issue, but it's not our main point today. Our main point today is that men and women are serving the Lord together as beloved brothers and sisters, and that we honor the work that each one does in the Lord. Now, a third issue that I think is interesting in these verses is how Paul refers to a number of the people in his greetings, as tin or countrymen. There's more interesting things in this passage that I haven't talked about. I'm going to invite the musicians to come back up on stage and we're going to continue this passage next week. I hope that this message is a great blessing to you. And although I'm not going to be up here after the song is over, let me go ahead and say it now. Greet one another after the service heartily in the Lord as befitting of saints.