An Inconvenient Truth
A Sermon on Romans 16:3-16
Zig Ziglar once visited the Washington Monument on a trip to DC. As he arrived with some friends, he heard a guide announce, “Ladies and gentlemen, there is currently a two-hour wait to ride the elevator to the top of the monument.”
The guide then paused a moment, smiled, and added, “However, there is no wait should you desire to take the stairs.”
The truth is - most of life doesn’t have an elevator to the top. If we want to reach our goals, steps are required. How high we get will depend on how many steps we are willing to take, and how long we are willing to climb.
As we look at the beginning of Chapter 16 of Romans today, concluding our series, many of us would see no more than a list of names. It’s easy to skip over this section, thinking there is not much there. And I’ll admit, at first, I was tempted to pass over this section.
But as I was spurred on by some very good commentaries, I decided to take the stairs. After all, as I discovered, the early church in Rome was full of people who were willing to take the stairs. The life of the Christian was – and is – a life that does not follow the convenient path. (Thus the name of the sermon: An Inconvenient Truth.)
If you have your Bibles with you, why don’t you take them out and turn to the 16th chapter of the Book of Romans. We’ll be looking at verses 3 through 16.
Background
Paul is now completing a long letter to the church in Rome. He has taken 11 chapters to remind us of God’s mercies in Christ, and another 4 chapters encouraging us to submit to His will for the church – as individuals and in society.
And now he turns to greetings. Many look at the lengthy list, somewhat atypical of Paul, and think he is just name-dropping. He greets 26 individuals, and possibly five house churches.[1] It is the longest list of greetings in any of Paul’s letters. Some of these people Paul had met on his travels elsewhere. Some it is possible he only knew by reputation.
Certainly Paul intends to come to Rome seeking support for his mission to Spain (15:24), and reminding them of his supporters there couldn’t hurt in that regard. But as we look at the list, we will see that for the most part, the names are not entirely those of people with power and influence.
It was common in the ancient world to give certain names to certain kinds of people. Quite a number of the names are Greek, which reinforces Paul’s desire to get to Rome as an apostle to the Gentiles. At least 8 are likely to be slaves or freedmen, and 8 are women. So certainly not all of his list is an attempt to butter up the rich and powerful.
But what can we learn about the early church from this list of greetings? And does that have anything to do with us today? I mentioned earlier that sometimes you have to take the stairs to reach your goal. The early Christians certainly knew nothing of elevators – literally or figuratively. Paul reminds us with this list how inconvenient Christianity really is.
Christianity is Inconvenient: It Demands Hard Work
Paul begins by introducing Phoebe to the church in Rome. She is likely the one who carried the letter, and based on her Greek name, probably a pagan convert to Christianity. When her commendation is complete, Paul launches into his extensive greetings to the church in Rome.
As we dig in at verse 3, the first thing we see in this list of names are many people who Paul calls ‘fellow workers’ or ‘those who work hard.’[2] The list includes Priscilla and Aquila, whom according to the book of Acts Paul met in Corinth (Acts 18:1), as well as 5 others whose names we see only here.
These were all people who worked hard for the sake of the Gospel. Priscilla and Aquila had to leave Rome earlier because Claudius had decreed that all Jews must leave. But they just took that as an opportunity to spread the gospel in other parts of the world. No matter where they were, they were found sharing the gospel with those they met, even when it wasn’t convenient.
Mary is said to have worked hard for “you” – so she probably gave most of her service to those in Rome.
Urbanus, in verse 9, as well as Tryphana, Tryphosa, and Persis, found in verse 12, simply worked hard in Christ or in the Lord. We don’t know any details of their work as we do for Priscilla and Aquila. But we know they worked hard enough to be recognized for their persistence.
So many in the early church knew their calling in Christ and gave all their effort to seeing it through. Not everyone is willing to work hard to realize their calling.
Mark Twain
Mark Twain tells the story of a man who died and met Saint Peter in heaven. He knew the saint had great knowledge and wisdom, and he wanted to ask him a question.
“Saint Peter,” he said, “I have been interested in military history for many years. Tell me, who was the greatest general of all times?”
Peter quickly responded, “Oh, that is a simple question. It’s that man right over there.”
The man looked where Peter was pointing and answered, “You must be mistaken. I knew that man on earth, and he was just a common laborer.”
“That’s right,” Peter remarked, “but he would have been the greatest general of all time – if he had been a general.”
Hard Work isn’t the Convenient Road
Sometimes we want to take the convenient road. Often times, God has a better plan for us, but we aren’t willing to work hard to achieve it. He may want some of us to become generals, but we aren’t willing to inconvenience ourselves.
There are times when I think it would be much easier not to be a pastor. Much easier to work 9-5 and take the weekends off. But I know that’s not my calling.
As Christians each of us is called to serve the Lord in different ways with the gifts He has so graciously given us. If we want our church to reflect the dedication of the early church, then we need to be found working hard for the Lord.
Christianity is Inconvenient: It Requires Tenacity
Another characteristic of those hearty Christians in Rome was tenacity. They didn’t quit when the going got tough. Earlier I mentioned Priscilla and Aquila as those who worked hard. They, along with several others listed here, were also they type that stood fast in the face of troubles.[3] They didn’t just work hard when it was convenient to do it.
Priscilla and Aquila
Remember that Priscilla and Aquila were kicked out of their home. How frustrating and disorienting that must have been. They were lucky enough that they could bring their work with them, for they were tent-makers, but they still had to find a new city to live in.
But what great opportunities it presented for those who were willing to work hard for the Lord. On that journey they met Paul and risked their lives for him – and probably for the gospel as well. Getting uprooted didn’t cause them to think that it was God’s will for them to quit working – just that it was God’s will for them to work elsewhere for the time being.
It is no wonder that Paul puts them first in his list of greetings. They have shown him love in its purest form. As it says in 1 John, 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16, NIV)
Priscilla and Aquila did this for Paul. Had they not been kicked out of Rome, who knows if they would have met Paul. They risked their lives for him. Would someone else have done it if they hadn’t been there? Who knows? Priscilla and Aquila worked hard and persisted with great tenacity in the face of trouble.
Andronicus and Junias
Paul also mentions Andronicus and Junias. Many scholars believe they may be another husband and wife team. All we know of them is that they have been imprisoned for the sake of the gospel. They shared a prison with Paul, so it is likely that they were working alongside him and sharing in his mission. But having served their time, here they are again in Rome, serving the church. Even prison couldn’t stop them. Life wasn’t always convenient, but it always had opportunity.
Apelles
And Apelles, we are told, was tested and approved in Christ. Exactly what this means we are not sure. He may have faced danger, it could have been prison. Whatever it was, he evidently stood fast and his courage in the face of testing was well known. Paul did not need to detail the events in his letter.
All of these people stand as examples to us today of tenacious Christians who let nothing stop them in the work that God has called them to. Many of them are probably just everyday people, called by Christ to mighty tasks. The Christians in Rome showed courage in the face of trouble, prison, and death. Whatever else they did with their lives, their main focus was service to Christ – and nothing could change that, no matter how dangerous it became. They trusted the Lord to work His will in whatever circumstances came their way.
Opportunity
As Albert Einstein once said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Or to put it another way, quoting Henry Kaiser, “Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.”
Strong Willed Child
So often we let trouble stop us. We let difficulty have the upper hand. When it comes to raising kids, sometimes even the best of parents can feel like giving up. In Dr. Dobson’s book, The New Strong-Willed Child, one mother tells the story of her six-year-old daughter.[4] (p.16-17)
She had decided to run away. Her older brother had done that when he was young too, and after numerous threats, Mom finally let him. He wasn’t outside for more than a minute before he decided he didn’t want to do it and rang the doorbell. But after their encounter he never threatened to run away again.
So when it was her daughter’s turn, Mom finally said, “Well, I’ll see you later.” Knowing her stubborn will, she gave her 10 minutes before checking on her. The doorbell hadn’t rung as expected. When they went outside, they finally found her under the streetlamp at the end of the cul-de-sac, with her thumb out, trying to hitch a ride.
When her mother dragged her back in the house, she protested, “You told me I could run away.”
Sometimes we wonder if giving up wouldn’t be a whole lot easier. It certainly would be more convenient. But because God gave us our children, we know it is His will that we raise them. When it comes to other issues, or other people, it isn’t always so obvious to us that pressing-on is really worth it.
Lawrence of Arabia
In the Movie Lawrence of Arabia, there is a scene in which a camel boy is discovered missing. The group decides “It was written by Allah that the boy must die.” And they sadly go about their business shaking their heads.
Lawrence is not one to give up so quickly, and he mounts his camel and rides out into the blazing desert heat. He returns three days later with a nearly dead, but still living boy. As they together stumble toward water, Lawrence tells the astounded crowd that has gathered, “Nothing is written unless you and I write it.”
Don’t Give Up When the Going Gets Tough
The early Christians faced danger on account of their faith. The enemy was hard at work. But they knew their calling and stuck to their work despite the tiresome attacks from the enemy. I believe those first-century Christians understood that all that trouble they were experiencing was only creating new opportunities for God to bring good. And they were willing to take those opportunities as they arose, because as I once read, “an abandoned opportunity is never lost – it is simply pursued by the competition.” They were not about to let Satan write the destiny of the church. And neither should we. In Ecclesiastes it says:
Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. (Ecclesiastes 11:6, NIV)
Whether our lives are going as we would like or the dark of evening has come along with its troubles - do not be idle, and don’t give up. You don’t know which will succeed. Leave that to God and persevere with the work He has given you.
Christianity is Inconvenient: It Insists on Affection
As we commit our lives and our work to the service of our King, we go back to our list of greetings. Not only were these hard-working and tenacious Christians, but they had a deep love and affection for one another. And that too was sometimes inconvenient.
Aside from the fact that he sends greetings to at least 26 people, Paul specifically mentions his affection for some of them.[5]
Prisiclla and Aquila, as we have already mentioned, showed their great affection for Paul by risking their lives for him. So showing love isn’t always convenient. And Paul certainly has great affection for them and many others in Rome.
He calls Epenetus his dear friend. In the Greek, the word is avgaphto,j agapetos, sometimes translated beloved. This same term is used to describe Ampliatus, Stachys, and Persis. And even when Paul does not use the term beloved, he speaks in warm and caring terms of many others on his list.
One of the things that bound the church together was a great love and affection for brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as a great love for their Lord Jesus Christ. It was that love that drove them to work so hard, love that caused them to keep going in the face of persecution and trouble, love that compelled them to reach out to the lost, so that more brothers and sisters could be adopted into the family of Christ.
ILOVEYOU virus
Love is something that drives us and something that we long for. Our desire to be loved is probably what made the ILOVEYOU virus so successful.
Back in May of 2000, the ILoveYou virus spread across Europe, Asia, and the United States via email. The attachment to the email purported to be a love letter, but the result was anything but loving. It corrupted files, shut down web servers and email systems across the globe.
It has since been shut down, but apparently its offspring are now on the loose. Maybe you have heard of some of them.
- The "Love The One You’re With" virus hangs around your computer, but the whole thing is just temporary until it can find the computer that it really wants to invade.
- The "Forever Single" virus causes your computer to focus solely on other computers that are totally incompatible with it.
- The "Deadbeat Dad" virus invades your computer, spawns an entirely new database, then refuses to help update it as it grows.
Sadly, these are concepts we do often associate with love these days. We don’t trust love, we don’t expect it to deliver in the end, and we don’t expect it to hang around.
Love - even when it is difficult
But for the first century church, love was the core of who they were. Love – real love – was the driving force behind all their actions. Love compelled them to risk their lives and love made them grow. Love drove them on when life – and love – wasn’t convenient.
When we meet a brother or sister who is on fire for the Lord, there is often an instant connection, because we have something very important in common. Other people aren’t always as easy to love.
When Paul asked the church in Rome to greet these people for him, he was saying much more then “say hello and give them a handshake for me.” He was saying, “I have a deep affection for these people and they are worth something to me. Let them be important to you too.” That may not have always been easy to do, but it was part of who they were called to be in Christ.
And our call to love is a call to overcome the things which divide us – which brings me to my final point.
Christianity is Inconvenient: It Compels Unity
The final thing I’d like to mention that stands out from this list of greetings – is that Christianity isn’t always convenient because it compels unity - and the church isn’t made up of people who are all alike. We have our differences, and so did the church in Rome.
Because of his name, Urbanus is suspected to be city born and bred, possibly even in the urban center of Rome. Stachys, means ‘ear of corn,’ and thus was probably a country boy. In verse 9, Paul sets them next to one another in his greetings, highlighting the extremes.
Typical slave names include: Ampliatus, Urbanus, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Persis, and Hermas. (vss 8, 9, 12, 14)
The two households listed, Aristobulus and Narcissus, very likely included slaves as well as those who were not (vss 10, 11).
Aristobulus is not addressed directly, so he himself may not have been a believer, but it is theorized that he was the brother of King Herod Agrippa I. So certainly some in this household held positions of power.
There is disagreement as to whether Herodian was a member of the powerful Herod family or a slave that was renamed in their service. But it is possible that he was a man of great influence.
Julia is thought to have some connection to an imperial household, thus having influence of her own. (v 15)
Some had houses in which to meet, the wealthiest of which could hold up to 70 or 80 people, and others could simply come.
So in this busy city of Rome, the church was home to the city boy and the country boy, the rich and the poor, the weak and the powerful, the slave and the free – all of whom were free in Christ.
But even when you have a common goal, it isn’t always convenient to work with people who come from different backgrounds.
United Nations
I heard that a worldwide survey was conducted by the United Nations. The question asked was: "Would you please give your opinion about the food shortage in the rest of the world." The survey was a huge failure.
In Africa, nobody knew what "food" meant.
In Western Europe, nobody knew what "shortage" meant.
In Eastern Europe, nobody knew what "opinion" meant.
In South America, nobody knew what "please" meant.
In the United States of America, nobody knew what "the rest of the world" meant.
Let Christ Unite Us
Even though it may not be a convenient thing to do, as Christians we are called to let our love for Christ and one another break through our differences and unite us for Him. We may not always look at things the same way, but if we let it, that can be our strength.
The church in Rome had a great diversity of people. They brought a great variety of skills and connections to the community. They each had a part to play. And they were strong because instead of letting their diversity be a point of divergence, they played it as a strength.
Each of us in this church has strengths and weaknesses. One person’s weakness can be another person’s strength. When we refuse to let our differences divide us, we can be the kind of church we were called to be.
Conclusion
The early church wasn’t really so different from the church today. Though often we have a tendency to segregate ourselves at times, when we are exhibiting the true love of Christ, we accept one another as brothers and sisters no matter what else may divide us.
When I think about Paul’s attitude, it spurs me on. He could have concluded his letter by criticizing 26 people. But instead, he encouraged many more by sharing his love and by acknowledging their hard work. There will always be people who do need correcting, but rarely are they changed through blatant criticism. Paul’s goal was to see this church grow and mature, and so his concluding remarks are those of praise.
Ten times in this section, Paul uses the expression “in Christ” or “in the Lord.” Sometimes that simply meant that the person knew Christ, and other times it meant that they had done something for His sake. What drove the lives of these believers was living all of their life for Christ – and Paul acknowledges that.
Jesus wasn’t someone that mattered once a week. He didn’t come in and out of their consciousness depending on how busy they were – because whatever they were busy doing, He was already a part of it. Their lives were lived consciously in His sight and for His sake. That’s what makes the church strong.
There are so many things that could tempt us to quit, so many people it could be inconvenient to love, and so many things that could divide us if we let them. But Christ makes the church one. One voice for Him; One purpose in His service; One hope for our future.
If we desire to reflect the commitment and power that was seen in the early church, then we need to strive to be like them – in our diligent and hard work, in our tenacity, in our love, and in our unity.
© 9/2/07, Sue Blader, from the Sermon Series, ‘The Epistle to the Romans’
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Sources:
1) Bible Works 5, Revision 2, (Bigfork, Montana: Hermeneutika Computer Bible Research Software, 2001).
2) Dr. James Dobson, The New Strong-Willed Child, (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers), 2004
3) Laurie Beth Jones, Personal Notes to the Graduate: 24 Values to Shape Your Destiny, (Nashville, TN: J Countryman), 2006. - Lawrence of Arabia details
4) John C. Maxwell, Leadership Principles for Graduates:Create Success in Life One Day at a Time, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc), 2007.
5) Douglas J. Moo, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans), 1996.
6) Melvin Newland, “Be Generous with Your Greetings,” February 2000, http:www/sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=36206
7) Stuart Olyott, Welwyn Commentary Series: The Gospel as it Really Is, Romans simply explained (Webster, New York: Evangelical Press USA), 2006.
8) http://followyourdreams.com/persistence.html - opportunity quotes
9) http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/04/18/another_diversity_joke.html (accessed 8-30-07) - UN joke
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[1] Individuals: Priscilla and Aquila, Epenetus, Mary, Andronicus and Junias, Ampliatus, Urbanus, Stachys, Apelles, Herodion, Tryphena and Tryphosa, Persis, Rufus, and his mother, Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas
House churches: church that meets at Priscilla and Aquila’s house – v5; the brothers with Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, and Hermes – v14; all the saints with Philologus, Julia, Nereus, his sister, and Olympas – v15
household of Aristobulus – v10 – and household of Narcissus – v11, may be house church or just a family
[2] Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. (Romans 16:3, N IV)
Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. (Romans 16:6, NIV)
Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, (Romans 16:9, NIV)
Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. (Romans 16:12, NIV)
[3] They [Priscilla and Aquila] risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. (Romans 16:4, NIV)
Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. (Romans 16:7a, NIV)
Greet Apelles, tested and approved in Christ. (Romans 16:10, NIV)
[4] Dobson, p.16-17
[5] They [Priscilla and Aquila] risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. (Romans 16:4, NIV)
Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. (Romans 16:5, NIV)
Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. (Romans 16:8, NIV)
Greet…Stachys my beloved. (Romans 16:9, NIV)
Greet Persis the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord. (Romans 16:12, NIV)
