In his sermon on Romans 16:1-16, Scott Brown explores the theme of 'Genuine Love at Work in the Church,' emphasizing the diverse expressions of love and service within the early Christian community. The passage highlights the significant roles played by various individuals, including women like Phoebe, Priscilla, and Aquila, who were instrumental in the church's ministry. Paul’s greetings to members of the Roman church illustrate the application of the Gospel through affectionate relationships and collaborative efforts, demonstrating the church as a vibrant tapestry of gifts and contributions from both men and women. This section of Romans underscores the importance of family involvement in church life, showing how husbands, wives, and siblings contribute to the church's mission. The sermon also touches on the personal nature of church community, where members are known and loved individually, rather than existing as anonymous participants. Paul’s emphasis on deeds over platitudes, and the genuine affection expressed through greetings, such as the 'holy kiss,' reinforces the message of love being the foundation of ministry. Furthermore, the sermon highlights the shared ministry approach, rejecting the idea of a 'one-man band' in favor of a collaborative church life that honors the contributions of all members, regardless of their prominence. The sermon concludes with a call to embrace genuine love in the church, as exemplified by Paul’s relationships with the Roman believers, and to extend this love to other churches, fostering a broader sense of unity and affection within the body of Christ.

Please join me in reading Romans chapter 16 verses 1 through 16. I commend to you, Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in Syngria, 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 myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risk their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house.

Greet my beloved Epinettus, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ. Greet Mary, who labored much for us. Greet Adronikas and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles who also were in Christ before me. Greet Amnilius, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, in statues, my beloved.

Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of aristopolis greet herodian by countrymen greet those who are of the household of narcissists who are in the Lord. Greet Trifina and Trifosa who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Purses who labored much in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

Greet Asynchronous, Fledgian, Hermes, Petrovus, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them. Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister and Olympus and all the saints who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you. Lord, we thank you for this day and we pray that our minds and hearts are alert to your word, and we pray that you reveal yourself to us through your word and through the message delivered through God.

In Christ's name, amen. This wonderful text of Scripture delivers to us dozens and dozens of expressions of love that exist in the church. We've been singing this song this week by Isaac Watts, this month by Isaac Watts. How sweet and awful is this place. The original word he uses is awful.

We have said now awesome, which is probably close. But the song sings like this. How sweet and awesome is this place, with Christ within the doors. Just hang on that for a second. Where everlasting love displays, the choicest of her stores.

Now that's what this text is about. It's about the choicest of the stores of the grace of God at work in the hearts of the people in the church. The storehouse of grace is a treasury of love And that's what we see in Romans chapter 16. So here it is that we find that in inspired scripture, there happens to be a record of human emotion, of feelings, of recounting of particular acts of people in the church. And what Paul is doing here, he's illustrating what it means to live out the gospel in the church.

And he is himself living out the gospel in the church. And he is also identifying the different ways that he's seeing people in the Roman Church live out the Gospel. Of course, you who have been tracking with us in the book of Romans know that we're in the section of Romans where we're being taught how to apply the Gospel. Chapters 12 through 16 itemize a number of ways that we apply the gospel. In Romans 1 through 11 we learn about what is the gospel and how one is justified by faith alone.

So after this outpouring of information about the gospel, now we're in the section of how to put it into practice in the church. And Paul is demonstrating this putting it into practice. We've read that he has said earlier, receive one another in chapter 14 verse 1. That's exactly what he's doing with these Roman believers who had, I'm sure, their own problems. This text contains what is probably the most extensive and explicit list of expressions of the love of Christ found in the Bible.

And so let me give you some general observations. What I'd like to do this morning is I'd like to just give you a few things that are here in this so that when we when we bounce across them when we go through them you'll remember what what what some of the principles and things that are here. So I want to just sort of scatter gun a few of the observations of this whole text. And you'll see them as we roll through it. The first thing that you notice right away in this text is the love and the affection.

And we learn here that one aspect of living out the gospel means that we live under the influence of affection toward one another. The church is not only a depository of theology but it is also a love feast and so we encounter the word greet 19 times and after the word greet is some loving expression. So one thing we learn about life in the church is that it does have to do with visible documentable acts of affection that take place. The second thing you notice here is the various people and the contributions and the gifts that are in play in church life. There are a total of 33 people mentioned here, 24 of them are from the church in Rome.

Seventeen are men, seven are women, And many of the people are only mentioned here in this one place. But what we see here is that life in the Church is composed of the expressions of diversity, of gifts. There are men and women. There are fathers and mothers and sons and daughters all at work in the life of the church. And this is the purpose of the church, is that for the glory of God, all members of the church would be exercising their gifts.

And it's the result of presenting your body as a living and holy sacrifice. It's the natural application of the spiritual service of worship that we read about in the very first phrases of this section of applying the gospel. And so the Apostle is speaking of this rich church life that's composed of various kinds of people, gifts, ages, status in life, and gender. It's all mixed up in here. And it really is a fulfillment of what Paul said in Romans 12-3, where he said, for I say to the grace given to me, to everyone among you, not to think so more highly of himself than he ought to think.

But we are many members of one body, but all the members do not have the same function. So we being many are one body in Christ, individually members of one another. Having been gifts differing according to the grace given to us in our ministering, he who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who exhorts in his exhortation." In other words, there are many different kinds of people, many different kinds of gifts in play here in the Church. Well the third thing that you notice here is that this is also a picture of the ministry of women in the church. This is a picture of women working and contributing wonderfully to church life and the advancement of the gospel.

Don't let anyone think that the church is a men's club. Let's be real about this. Paul mentioned 17 men and seven women. Let's don't conclude that there's some political message on gender, that there's some sexual politics going on here. Absolutely not.

This is a rich expression of the giftedness of the church and the rich and beautiful role that women play in the ministry of the church. Women are not put on the shelf in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then fourthly, we notice that there's an emphasis on deeds, not platitudes. I can say, you certainly are a nice person. But that's not what Paul says.

Paul says, you have done this, and you have done that. It's an absence of platitudes and a presence of deeds and specific actions. And it's just interesting that That's what he's doing here. And then, fifthly, I think we can look at this and catch something that is here. It's a recounting of what's important and leaving out what is not important.

The apostle speaks of things that are important. I don't believe he speaks of every single thing that's important. But here's what we find. He's not judging people by their bank accounts. No one here is judged by or revealed as important by how much money they have, nor their political position.

These are spoken of in terms of what they have done and not some of the idolatrous assessments that we make toward people, the way that we misjudge people in their station in life. Well, Paul doesn't do that here. He doesn't assess people by the importance of their position or the size of their bank account. The fifth thing, or the sixth thing, is that there are specific names of people. And I think this helps us to understand the Church is not meant to be an impersonal meeting or an anonymous cyber chat or an entertainment situation where people come anonymously and then they leave and no one knows each other, no one ministers together.

They're just there are instead of a mass of no you know no buddies, we're talking about people who are known well and there's personal affection for them. So Paul is he's naming people in a very personal way. Notice also that it shows how families serve the church. I didn't really see this until I read a sermon by Charles Spurgeon who noted this. He makes a big point about how you see the activity of family members and their relationships with the church.

You know, When we walk into the church, we don't just walk in as individuals, we are individuals, but we also walk in as husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, we walk in as children. And there are ways that the family unit comes and ministers in the church. There are two households here. There's a husband and a wife. There is a mother and a son.

I would suggest that there are twin sisters here in this list. We'll get to them in a minute. There is the sister of near us and there are single women. Here's what Spurgeon says. He says, thus we have observed the different ways in which families come in contact with Christ.

And I pray, God, that every family here may make up a part of the whole family in heaven and earth which is named by the name of Jesus. May all your sons and daughters, your brothers and your sisters, your servants and kinsfolk, but chiefly yourselves take up the cross of Jesus and be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Here is a beautiful picture of the ways that family members of various kinds at various ages, they come into the church and they bring benefit to the body of Christ, to the whole family of God. Yes, we do exist as families, but that's not the only thing that we exist as. We also exist as members of the body of Christ as families.

And so here in this text we see a picture of how this works in the church. And then eight, it highlights, I think, the importance of unknown people here. There's an expression and appreciation of people who you'll never read about anywhere else in history or scripture. This is it. This is your last shot to know who these people are in this church.

So who were these people? Well, they weren't famous for sure, but they were plain, they were just plain saints just like you and I, who are members of the body of Christ, who have it in their hearts to declare the glory of God in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is enough. This is enough. And if we did not have the testimony of Romans 16, we wouldn't know who these people were.

But here they are. The heartbeat of the church happens to be the interaction of the normal saints of the church. That is the heart of the church. It's not the high-profile, historically relevant people that are important in the church. Who's important in the church?

The son and the daughter who relate to the other sons and daughters in the church are who are important in the church. How we treat one another, how we minister to one another, this is the heartbeat of church life. Yes, it is a blessing to have great leaders and things like that. That's at the heart of the church. The heart of the church happens to consist of the love of God that exists between the saints and that they are aggressively pouring their lives out for one another.

That's the beauty of the life in the church. The apostle said to the Corinthians, he said, for you see your calling, brethren. Not many wise, according to the flesh. Not many mighty. Not many noble.

But these are the people of the Church and we see that here in this text. That's one of the reasons I honestly, I was beside myself to come and to be able to speak of this text of scripture. I am just so compelled by it. I think it's such a beautiful expression. It says so much about so many areas of church life.

And so as we go through the text, just Gloria in this amazing array of common people that we find listed in the text. Ninth, it shows Paul's heart. Notice as we go through the text, the heart of the Apostle Paul. His heart, his ministry, his real personality shines out here. Love is the ground of his ministry.

And that's what we see here. Tenth, it illustrates a shared ministry. Paul's not the one man band. That's never right in any church situation. But the church life is a shared life where the gifts are being expressed and there's growth in the expression of those gifts over time.

And that's what we find. The Apostle Paul here is being helped by many, many people. And he's not a one-man van by any stretch of the imagination. And we see the character of our relationships here revealed that this is a fellowship of love. Think of the tender expressions that are in here.

The term beloved appears. You'll see it. The term beloved, I think, really expresses the pulsating heartbeat of this passage of scripture. This is the way that brothers ought to be with one another. And in Paul, we have an example of someone who was that way.

If you're not that way, look at Paul. He's your mentor this morning. Learn from him. He'll teach you how to love the brethren. Does anyone think for a moment that these were just such unusual brethren?

They're not like the people here in our church. No, no. The people in our church are harder to love than the people in the Roman church. I don't think so at all. No way.

Those people in Rome, they might have been worse than this church, you know. But here's the reality. God has thrown us together with people so that we would love them. The Apostle Paul leads the way. He leads the way in loving the imperfect people in the Church of Rome.

Does anyone have any premonitions that the Church of Rome was just this nice, tidy, perfect little body of people where everybody had it together? Do you see these names? These people were named after pagan gods. These people were named after the pantheon. These people didn't grow up right at all.

They grew up like a bunch of pagans. So do you think that it's possible that the life of paganism would make you hard to love? Well, yeah, absolutely it does. Paganism does not make people more lovable. So these people are in the church.

But here we have the example in Paul. He loves the sheep, even though their wool might be dirty and marred. He does love the sheep, regardless of their background or what influences have filled their souls all their lives. So we have an example in the Apostle Paul for the character of our love for one another, which is why I think again that we're seeing an application, an illustration of things that we read about in chapter 12 where the apostle said, let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good, be kindly affectionate to one another in brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope." That's what Paul's doing here. And he is blessing those who have been serving the Lord and he's rejoicing here in the in whatever goodness the sovereign hand of God has allowed to come through these people in Rome.

So here we see an example of Paul in the way that he relates to the very imperfect people in the church. And I think that we're seeing the Apostle Paul demonstrating what he has already spoken about. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. This is what the apostle is doing here. OK, so that's what you get.

We probably get a lot more from that in this text. But at least, I think some of these points frame what's here in the text. OK, let's begin. As you can see, I've broken this up into three sections. The first would itemize personal expressions of love for people who have loved the church.

And then We see an illustration of genuine expressions of love in the term holy kiss. And then lastly, we see expressions of love between churches. So it's a fascinating section. It's really very broad. You can read this and think, well, the apostle Paul is just thanking people.

I think it's far more than that, really. There is something very richer that includes a number of different categories. So Let's move through this now. What we first encounter is a person, a woman by the name of Phoebe. And I commend you to Phoebe, our sister.

So he's commending the Romans to Phoebe, who is the servant of the church in Sanctria, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints. So the apostle is saying, Phoebe is coming to you. I want you to commend her to you. Receive her. Most people believe that Phoebe was bringing the letter to the Romans from the apostle Paul's hand.

She was dispatched, and Paul is saying, receive her. And he gives them many instructions about what that is. He tells them how they should receive her, in a manner worthy of the Lord. There's a way that believers should receive one another, a manner worthy of the Lord. It is totally inappropriate for us to shun a believer, unless they're under church discipline.

It is totally inappropriate for us to treat another believer wrongly. We receive them in a manner worthy of the Lord. We receive them with all the love of Christ. You may not agree with your brother about some theological detail, but you have no right to receive them in a manner worthy of the Gentiles. You receive them in a manner worthy of the Lord.

We all know many people from whom we may have theological disagreements. Let's be careful, brethren. Receive one another in a manner worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of the sins that the Lord Jesus Christ has cleansed you from. Think of the ways that He has washed you even though you know you're as filthy as can be.

Well, this is the way that we should receive our brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a way, you know, there's a way that we conduct ourselves in the Church of God, but There is a way that we conduct ourselves with other believers as well in our relationships with them. We have no right to treat another believer worse than the Lord Jesus Christ would treat them. And so here we find Phoebe is commended. By the way, Phoebe was named after the moon.

That was the name that her parents gave her and when Christ saved her, though she had the name of the moon, The Lord Jesus Christ has given her a new name in heaven that will be revealed to her. And there was no need to renounce her heathen name because she became, in this text, notice what she's called. This is so wonderful. She is a sister and a servant and a saint and a helper. Now that's women's ministry in the church, okay?

That's one little snapshot of what that looks like. This is just a beautiful array here of terms used for her that help every woman understand what who she is. She is a sister, a servant, a saint, and a helper. And this this is this was Phoebe's life in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Her name means moon but it also means bright and radiant and so she is expressing her gift of helping to the Apostle Paul to bring this letter to the Romans, perhaps.

Now, of course, my personal opinion is I'm not perfectly confident that she took this letter to Rome. But so many scholars do who are far wiser than I am. So it's perhaps true that she did. I don't know if the evidence is all that compelling myself, but it's quite possible that she did take that letter there. They are to receive her and to assist her in whatever business she has.

And this word that she used, pragma, whatever practical thing she's involved in, throw your energy out at them. So how do you think about that? There are women that are serving in our church, and they need help. By the way, my wife told me just this morning, in preparing for this conference, she said a number of women called her several days before and said, when do you want me there? That's sort of what the Apostle is saying here to the people in Rome to help Phoebe, go help her.

And so there was adequate help in pulling this thing up. But the spirit of this is that there are people who are doing things and then there are people who need to help them. You might ask are there any women in this church who need help with the pragma, with the business that they're involved in, you know, in the church. And that's what's happening here in That's what's happening here in this text. It's interesting that here we find right at the beginning is the mention of one of the dear women in the history of the Church.

And we have many examples of women who can teach all women how they should function in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have Hannah, who is this woman of faith who dedicated her life in service to the Lord. You have Esther, this orphan girl who is a gracious woman who is willing to be used of God in a highly, highly contrary compromise situation. You have Mary, this young virgin mother of the Lord Jesus Christ who is a chaste and a discreet woman reminds us of the best qualities of womanhood. There are many modern-day examples of women who serve the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and Phoebe here is right at the top of the list in helping to explain the beauty of church life as Paul is doing so here in Romans 16.

And then we come to the next people that are mentioned, Priscilla and Aquila, verses three through five. And this is a delightful husband and wife team. By the way, they're always mentioned together. It's like Jason and Janet. You never hear Jason's name alone.

It's Jason and Janet. Or I would hope, I was thinking about this. I would like it. It's just always Scott and Deborah. Well, that's what Priscilla and Equal, it was always, it was always, whenever they're mentioned, they're mentioned together.

And Paul extends his greetings to this delightful husband and wife team. They're dedicated to the welfare of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. How wonderful it is, how blessed it is in the Church, when a husband and wife link together in unity in the bonds of love and take that multiplied, concentrated energy and shoot it to the church that their prayers for service of the church are a blessing. This is what husbands and wives should do. They should be just like Priscilla and Aquila.

The Apostle is so thankful for this couple. This, by the way, this was a this was kind of a theological couple in a way. Remember they they were banished from Rome and they went and they were in another city in Corinth and they met Paul and they met Apollo's who actually needed some instruction so this dear couple sat down with with Apollo's and they instructed him in the right way and so they were this was a couple who if you can imagine them just sitting down in their living room or in the square, and there they are talking to other people who need instruction in the Word of God. This was their ministry. Now, all couples don't have that particular theological ministry, although every couple should be dispersing the Word of God to their children and to everyone who comes into their household.

Husbands and wives should make their households places of theological discussion and and benefit for all those who come in. Really interesting story. I think I may have told this story. At one point in the ministry of Samuel Rutherford, Archbishop Usher came in disguise and was in their church, in their house on a Saturday night and they were they were catechizing and during that time Archbishop Usher was corrected in his theology by this dear family. Well anyway, households should be places of theological discussion.

And Priscilla and Aquila help us see how this works. Two loving hearts beating together as one are a resource to the Church. Would you consider being that couple? Would you just very prayerfully consider the effect of your union together as husband and wife? He's brought you together in love so that you would be a fountain of love in the world.

And that begins in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not good for man to be alone. This is one reason, because there is a concentrated help and energy. Of course, there are some advantages and freedoms to singleness. And we do run into some single people apparently here in this text.

But here we find this beautiful couple laboring together. And their energy is not lost. It is directed into this well of eternal love of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, there are other couples in the Bible, aren't there? We could think of a number of couples in the Bible.

We could think of Sarah and Abraham and the fruit of their home. We could think of David and Bathsheba, which would be a mixed fruit. We would think of Ananias and Sapphira and the hypocrisy that existed in that home. Think about your own spouse. Think about your own life together.

What will be the legacy of your love together, your union as husband and wife. Let it be. Let it be mentored here by Priscilla and Aquila who are walking together, who are theologically minded, who worked together, and the output of their marriage was for the blessing of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hate to pass on from this point, but let me just close this conversation about Priscilla and Aquila with the words of Charles Spurgeon. We must usually look for our spiritual fathers and nursing mothers in those households where husband and wife were walking in the fear of God.

They are mutually helpful and therefore grow in grace beyond others. It is a great privilege when a Christian family can accommodate the Church of God. May it be true that we would find a great example in Priscilla and Aquila. Then we move in verse 5 to Eponaetus. Greet my beloved, oh there's that word again, greet my beloved Eponaetus who is the first fruits of Achaia.

He addresses this brother with the term that is characteristic of the love of Jesus Christ, beloved, and indicates the bond of love that is necessary for the verification that we are in the faith and that they would know we are Christians by our love. Paul expresses that here and he was the first fruits in Achaia. What a, you know, What heartwarming thoughts Paul must have had toward Eponaeus. Because he was apparently his first convert in Achaia. The first convert.

What an amazing blessing that is. And the apostle highlights that there. And then we turn to Mary. Of course this is one of my favorite names in the whole section. This is the name of my own dear mother.

By the way, I love the name Mary. When someone introduces themselves as Mary, it always stimulates my soul to think of my own dear mother. And I'll often say, oh, my mother is named Mary. And they look at me and kind of think, OK, Anne. And so it's a little bit embarrassing but I just want to say that every time I hear the name Mary was an incredibly common name a huge percentage of the women in the first century were named Mary.

Remember the tomb of Jesus? Remember the controversy going on? Everybody was saying, well it has the name Mary on the tomb. Well I think I read that 40% of the women in Israel were named Mary at that time. That's the wrong percentage, OK?

But it was a huge percentage who were named Mary. So here we have, again, a testimony of the rich ministry of women in the church. And Mary is laboring much. This means that she worked herself to exhaustion. That's what the word means that he uses here.

Are there any women who have become exhausted in their work for the Church of the Lord Jesus? Well, I hope so. I hope there is a mighty legacy of Marys who are willing to be exhausted. Oh, how sweet it is to fall into bed after an exhausting time. But it's not a curse to exhaust yourself for the Church, for the Lord Jesus Christ.

It would be a great curse though, never to have exhausted yourself for she for whom Christ spilled his blood. And so Mary falls into line with those who labor much for the church. She, you know, this woman reminds me of my own mother. My father often had to instruct my mother not to labor so much because she would absolutely wear herself out. So often husbands have to step in and help their wives not kill themselves in all the amazing things there are to do in this life.

This labor of Mary in the church was recounted here by the Apostle Paul, and he identifies what it means for a woman to be in the church. Then we come to Andronicus. Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen, my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me." Wow, there's a lot here, really. We can't cover it all. But first of all, Andronicus and Junia, some people have said, well, Junia is a woman's name, so we have women apostles.

Well, it wasn't always a woman's name, so forget that idea. Just strike that. There's no way you can use the term Junia to prove that there are female apostles. It's an insane proposition because there were also men who were named Junia and so I just I just think we have to be very careful with how we use this text of Scripture but what we find here is that this these two here Paul spent time in prison with imagine the imagine being in prison with Paul What a great experience that must have been. I'd rather be in prison with Paul than on a mountaintop by myself, absolutely.

Paul was in prison with these guys. You know, we just had probably one of the great prisoners of the 20th century die last week, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was converted by two Baptists in one of the gulags. And he wrote some of the most amazing profound works on the Soviet state and also the principles of Christianity that refuted and he exposed the bankruptcy and the silliness and the insanity of the Soviet system there in prison. Well, Andronicus was with Paul in prison. Think of John Bunyan in prison and the productive times.

I think that the apostle is thinking about how productive that time in prison was with those guys. Wow, what did they do in prison? I would love to know. The stories that came out of their imprisonment, I'm sure, were absolutely fascinating. But they were in prison together.

And they also came to Christ before Paul. That's a whole other story. There's a lot we could say about that. Maybe somebody can talk about it when we get to the discussion time. But really, there's just some very fascinating things about Andronicus.

Then we come to Amplius in verse 8. Greet Amplius, my beloved in the Lord. You know how Blessed it is when we see in the church brothers who feel in their hearts toward one another enough to say, this is my beloved in the Lord. Is that how you feel about your brothers and sisters here? Are they your beloved?

If not, if not, oh, repent of that sin. This is not treating one another in a manner worthy of the saints that we have been instructed to do. If we view one another as a pain in the neck, a thorn in the flesh, that's one thing. But how much better is it to view one another like this? You know, you live a short life.

You never know how long you're going to live. Do you want to go through your life thinking that this person's a pain in the neck and this person bugs you. Is that how you want to go? No, absolutely not. It's not the right way.

Well, the apostle speaks of Amplius as my beloved in the Lord. And then urbanus, Greek urbanus in verse 9, our fellow worker in Christ. So this term of partnership, fellow worker, there it indicates a collaboration and a partnership and a unity and a mutual accomplishment and how blessed it is to work side by side with other believers for a great cause, each one doing their own part of it. And Urbanus was a fellow worker in Christ. We don't know what he did.

But whatever it was, it was unified fellowship. And it was also working. It was working on stuff together. You know what? We should be working on stuff together in the church all the time.

My mind often goes back to that little church in Geneva where Aaron Sultan visited about a week and a half ago. He went to the Little English Church of just a few families who banded together. Samuel Rutherford, Miles Coverdale were there. John Fox, the guy who wrote Fox's Book of Martyrs. Some exiled Bible scholars from England who'd fled the reign of terror that was happening there and they came to Geneva and they formed a little church of just maybe a couple of dozen families maybe not even that many and they banded together and in two years they worked together And they published the Geneva Bible that shook the world.

And we're here worshiping today in freedom because that Geneva Bible was read by millions of people. And biblical worship was reestablished in the churches and freedom would reign and America would be established on the principles that are found in that Geneva Bible. The pilgrims brought that Geneva Bible to America. Here's a little church laboring together. What can a little church do?

A lot. If they band together, if they work together on the same things, a little church can do a lot. Think of it. Think of what we could do if we wholeheartedly banded together in the same way that Urbanus was a fellow worker in Christ. Imagine what could happen.

Oh, we must work together as a church. I know some of you are visiting here from other churches in different parts. Oh brothers and sisters, go home. Work, work. Be fellow laborers together.

Join with the body of Christ. Don't just be hanging out. Don't just work on your own family. That's a glorious thing to do. But that's not the only thing that you've been charged to do.

There's a work of fellow labor in the church that's so necessary. Your family is not the only category in the world. There's the church. So be a fellow worker together in the church. Who knows what can happen from a little church of a dozen or two dozen families or maybe even a church of three or four families.

Who knows what can come. What a blessing it is to see this example of a praise toward a fellow worker in Christ. Then, statutes, verse 9, my beloved, there you go again, my beloved. And then in verse 10, Appellies, Greek Appellies approved in Christ. Now this is a this is a fascinating statement that Paul makes.

He says that this man is approved in Christ. Imagine that on your gravestone. Approved in Christ. What does that mean? Well, the language that he uses here has to do with someone who has endured certain testings.

They went through a season of trial, tribulation, difficulty, and they came out approved. Now often, we go into times of testing and trial and tribulation, and we come out completely destroyed. There are two ways that you can come out of your trial, approved or destroyed. And Appellies came out approved. What a blessing.

What a blessing it is to be tested of the Lord, and then to see it all under the great sovereign hand of God, and then to come out approved, so that your brother would say, approved. You did it! You came through it! Oh, you know, our hearts broke this morning. Some of our friends, their baby died just seconds after childbirth, just this morning.

Oh, that they would come out approved through this trial, this firestorm of heartbreaking experience. And yet, this is what we ought to always have in our mind. How can I come out of this approved? It's so easy to just get lost in the morass of the moment. But no, there's something greater.

There's an approving that must be accomplished in us. And Appellis is approved of Christ. Remember, I was thinking about this. And I was thinking about that dramatic scene in Babylon, which where Belshazzar in Daniel 5 is spoken of. And the fingers were writing on the wall and said, mene, mene, tekel you parsen, which means you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.

Now that's not what Paul was saying about Appellies. You have been weighed in the balances and you have been found approved. That's the principle here. What a blessing it is to have trials in the church and then to see the glorious trophies of approval as we go through those trials. I know many, many of you are going through particular trials.

Let these trials be the greatest trophies of your life. Come out approved. See the sovereign hand of God at work. Bless him for your trials. Oh my brethren, consider it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

It's an approval process that's in play now. Every person who walks into a church comes in with a backpack of trials on his back. Every person comes into the church, I know every man here has some threat, some fear against his life. What are you going to do with that? Are you going to be approved?

Are you going to be found wanting? Or are you going to lift your voice to Almighty God and know that He is God Almighty and that He will accomplish all that He has intended? Have faith, brother. Have faith. Lift your eyes up into heaven.

See, see your rescue coming. It is there. It absolutely is there. God knows how to rescue His own saints and He will know that for sure. And by knowing that, you'll be able to hold your head up and you'll be able to advance through the trial and you will be approved and you will not be found wanting at the end of the trial.

Well that's appellies. Then we go to Aristobulus. Aristobulus in verse 10 greet those who are the of the household or of Aristobulus. It's interesting here we run into sort of an unusual category that the Apostle is dealing with here, and this is a household. Aristobulus is the head of the household, but he's not greeting Aristobulus.

He's greeting the members of his household. Here's what the commentators say about that. There are situations where not everyone in the family, not everyone in the household is godly. The head of the household may not be, but those under his care may be. And this is both an interesting point, but it's a warning.

You know, you who are heads of households, would the Lord Jesus come and just address your children who've been saved? Would they just address your wife who've been saved? Are their names written in heaven, but you're just the head of the household, And the true saints are in your household. It's a tragedy when the head of the household is not saved. It is a blessing that children and wives may be.

But let it be inspected today. Are you ahead of a household? Is it possible that your little children are sons of the King, that your wife is a daughter of Zion, but you are a son of the devil and are in need of repentance, and that you have not vowed your need of Jesus Christ and repented of your sins and thrown yourself on his mercy." Well here's the household of Aristobulus. Perhaps he was an unconverted member of the family. And then Herodian, verse 11, greet Herodian my countrymen.

This term can also be kinsman. This indicates he could be Paul's blood relative, that's possible. Or maybe just another Jew in the church there. We don't know. But he indicates this principle that we are a spiritual family together.

We are kinsmen together in the church. Then we come to narcissists. Here again we have an individual named after paganism. Greet those who are in the household of narcissists who are in the Lord. Again, there are people in the household in the Lord.

Was narcissists in the Lord? We don't know. Maybe not. He may be in the same manner that we've spoken of, Aristobulus, we can't know for sure. But we do know that that situation happens, where there's a family divided, where Christ destroys the spiritual unity of a family.

And in that sense there is a hatred of father and mother and brother and sister for the gospel, not for lack of, not for lack of the love of Christ, but because of the division of heaven and hell in the home. And then we come to, oh, I've been very excited to get to these two, Trifina and Trifosa. These two women in the church are ministering. And most people say they are twin sisters. Their names mean dainty and delicate.

Yet what juice, what power, what strength can come out of two dainty little twin girls, twin sisters in the church? You know, we have many sisters in the church here, and there are ways for sisters to be a blessing to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they can have a vigorous ministry in advancing the Gospel in the church. Where is their father? We don't know.

In my experience there have been sisters come to the church and their fathers are far from God. And they go back, those sisters go back and they faithfully preach the gospel to their dear father. He's heart is a rock. And sometimes they're converted and sometimes they're not. But what a blessing it is when two sisters would come to a church and receive the gospel and then go back into their household and work for the conversion of their dear father, whom they love so much.

This is a picture of what happens in families. How many fathers are saved for the faith of their children? Many have been for sure. And so here's another illustration of family connection with Christ's people. Salute Trifina and Trifosa, who labor in the Lord.

Oh, these two dear sisters, may God give us a mighty army of dear sisters like this, who would be advancing the gospel. Then we come to a son and a mother. We've just come from sisters, now we come to a son and a mother in Rufus and his mother. Verse 13, greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. Now that's amazing.

Here's another instance of family connection in the church, Rufus and his mother. Think of the ministry of a mother in a son's life. I think of this often myself. I think of my own wife's ministry to my son. And the extra benefit, the additional help, sometimes superior in many ways, The help that my wife gives to my son is remarkable.

Remember Patrick Henry? There's a great story of this in American history. Patrick Henry was taken to church by his dear mother and she would take him to church to hear the great preacher of the Great Awakening, Samuel Davies. Samuel Davies was the epitome of eloquence in the church. And wherever he preached, throngs would come, because it was such a blessing to listen to him.

And here, along the pathway each Sunday morning, was Samuel Davies' mother, with her arm around him taking him to hear the great Samuel Davies preach. And then on the way home, what would this mother do? This mother would instruct the boy, and she would actually require, she would require little Patrick Henry to recite the sermon and give the inflections and the movements and the gestures as he heard them. And there he was, Patrick Henry, who would become the trumpet of the American Revolution, who would be perhaps the most eloquent spokesman for liberty. He cut his preaching teeth on the listening of this great preacher of the Great Awakening.

And it was though traced to his dear mother who had taken there and would help him to understand what it means to communicate in power, in the power of God. And that's exactly what he did. So here's Rufus and his mother, another beautiful instance of family connection in the church. Salute, Rufus. Think of your own mother.

You mothers who have sons, I won't ask you to raise your hands. How many of you have sons here? Because almost every mother would raise their hand. We have many sons of mothers here. Oh, You mothers, let it rip with your sons.

Minister to them. You have a very special ministry to your son. You know, there's an idea that, well, the fathers are just going to disciple the boys and the mothers are just going to disciple the girls. I think that's total bunk. I really do.

Fathers must be discipling their daughters, and mothers must be discipling their sons. There's no evidence in scripture that there's this strict division of labor in the discipleship of our children. We are one, together ministering to all of our children. And so here we have this this Rufus and his mother and then there was something about this mother that was very special to Paul. It seems like that she was like a mother to him.

Paul is now aging and he has this woman who is like a mother to him. Even the great Apostle Paul has a woman who is like his mother. What a blessing that is as you grow up that there are many spiritual mothers in the church for you. You'll never lack, if you're a part of the Church of Jesus Christ, you'll never lack for a mother, you'll never lack for a father, because there are many in the Church of the Lord Jesus. And then we come in in verse 14 to these five plus brethren, Asincratus, Flagon, Hermes, Patrimas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them.

So we have these two sets of five and then others. You know how this works. There are these, how we relate together in the church. There are friends who are together in life. And here are these five, and then the brethren who are with them.

I don't even know what that means. But you know what, here's what I know it means. Hey, there's fellowship, there's connection, there's meeting together among the brethren. That's what it means. And then we find it again in verse 15.

And then we find a brother and a sister near us. And so we see the stronger and the weaker sex together, a brother and a sister, growing in Christ side by side in the church. Again, how blessed it is for brothers and sisters in the family to dwell together in unity in the church. So let me just address you brothers and sisters now. How many of you are brothers and sisters?

Oh, everyone. So, brothers and sisters, you know, even if you might be four years old or six or something like that. You might have a sister who's 13 and you are 10. That's possible. Now if you are in that situation, here's my recommendation.

Do not despise your sister or your brother in the ministry of the church. Bind your energy together with your brother. Bind your energy together with your sister. And bring the gospel, bring the love of God into that church. He has made you a family together, not just to minister in your family, but also to be a powerhouse in the church.

What a blessing it is when brothers and sisters love and honor one another in the home and they take that into the church and they co-labor together as brother and sister in the church. And so we find this brother and sister who are in the church and they are with them in this great ministry. Well, so why did Paul choose these names and not others? I mean, did Paul leave anyone out? Was, could this, Is it possible that this letter became an offense to some of the people in that church who were not mentioned?

He didn't say anything about me. Where am I? What am I in the church? Am I nothing? Am I chopped liver?

You know? And so, was anyone offended by being left out, not getting the recognition that they felt that they deserve? Have you ever felt that way, that you've just not been getting the recognition? When so-and-so wrote the letter, he mentioned these people, but he did not mention me. Am I nothing to him?

This is what our flesh does. I believe that Paul wrote these names knowing full well that he would leave some people out. And I do also think that Paul was probably wise enough to know that even this letter would be a source of sanctification for the saint offended. That there would be someone here would say Doesn't he know the things I have done and not and then leave the church or not serve anymore I'm not doing that anymore. It's not appreciated And so even a letter like this, as blessed as it is, could be misconstrued and used as a source of contention by a proud, envious brother.

Now let's just be plain. When we are offended like that, Let's just use the words that describe the real situation. We might say, it wounded my spirit. We might say, it was stressful to me. But in reality, It was the pointing out of an idol and a self-exaltation that was improper and a rejection of all the gifts of Christ and desiring something that Almighty God did not give by the mention of your name in that letter.

And so even in the writing of this letter was an opportunity for more sanctification in that church. I've seen over the years people in the church get offended and then they withdraw their service and their love from that church. That's a wicked thing to do. It's a result of an idol. It's a result of self exaltation and the nursing of her feelings and the rejection of many of the commands of God regarding the emotions and love and relationship in the church.

And it's common, It happens all the time. It might even be happening in some of you, even right now today. I don't know. I'm not looking at any. I'm not aware of that happening.

I don't know anyone's heart. But I do know that things like this happen in the church. Let it not be so. Let it not be so among us. So we've just come through this amazing array of personal expressions of love for those who have loved the church.

So that's the first section. The second section are genuine expressions of love in this principle of the holy kiss. The holy kiss forms a principle of genuine love. Greet one another with a holy kiss. What kind of kiss was that?

Well, here's the kind of kiss it was. It was a Philadelphia kind of kiss. It was about brotherly love. Now we could coin this kiss, we could copyright this kiss, and use it. We could form its technical procedure and then multiply it in the church so that we would know if there was true love in the church.

Because we would know that we would greet one another with this Holy kiss technique. I don't believe he was talking about some specific technical method of Kissing he is talking about the genuine relation. It is holy In other words, it's not sexual and it's also not phony. It's holy. It's real and it's beautiful, whatever it is.

It's a genuine affection. There are two ways that you can shake hands. There are two ways that you can shake hands. There are two ways that you can speak with one another. You can be phony in the shaking of your hands, or you can genuinely greet one another with a holy handshake, or a holy hug, or a holy salute, or a holy thumbs up, or whatever it is.

How about a holy high five? I don't know. But whatever it is, it has to be genuine. Christ would bring genuine love in the Church. And so here we have this holy kiss.

It is brotherly affection that is consistent with what we've all, what we've just read. And it's not hidden affection. It's out there and it can be seen by the watching world. And then the last section, Verse 16, the churches of Christ greet you. I think that's a fascinating way that the apostle ends this section here before he moves on to his next point.

And Here we find an expression of love from churches to a church. Do you get the picture? There's the church in Rome, and the apostle is saying, the churches greet you. And I can't help but think that he's been saying this. He's been pouring out these words of love and this greeting from the churches is consistent with that.

It's an outpouring of affection of the churches to a church. That's the principle here. So not only have we been brought into relationship with one another in a church, not only are there appropriate ways to greet one another in the midst of that church, but there are also appropriate ways to feel and act toward another church. That's what he's bringing out here. How do you feel about the other churches?

Are all the churches in the world apostate except your church? I certainly hope you don't think so. That would be, if anyone thinks that, please come and speak with me. But here is an acknowledgement that the church is bigger than my church. And it is appropriate in this life for the churches to bring affection to another church.

And in this case it's the church in Rome. It's only right that churches should be affectionate toward one another. And it's only possible when people have developed that in their own church toward one another. So we've just been exposed to many examples of love and affection. We've seen a picture of the ministry of women in the church.

We've seen various contributions in the church. We've seen the different ways that families work together for the prosperity of the church. We've seen the importance of unknown people. We have also tasted we've also tasted the dark oil of envy as we realize that there have been many times that we've not been mentioned and have perhaps been offended and we've seen the shared ministry that Christ ordains. So this is all consistent with the choicest of the stores of the Lord Jesus Christ resident in the church.

How sweet and awesome is this place with Christ within the doors where everlasting love displays the choicest of her stores. And so Jesus says, the new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you also love one another." And I think that statement from John Chapter 13 expresses what we've been dealing with so much here. Would you pray with me? Father, you have laid before us wondrous principles and beautiful situations for us to consider that we might be equipped for the work of the ministry. Let it be so.

In Jesus' name, Amen.