Chapter 16:1-16

“1 I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, 2 that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also. 3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. 5 Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia to Christ. 6 Greet Mary, who labored much for us. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

“8 Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved. 10 Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus. 11 Greet Herodion, my countryman. Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. 12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis, who labored much in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you.“

It is easy in this life to think that you don’t matter – that you are of no value, and what you contribute to this life is nothing. It is even more so in the scope of the Lord’s churches. I know men and their wives who have been missionaries in the toughest places for decades; they know what it is to live in peril, fear of disease, and fear of even weather conditions. I know of people who have completely left their culture and made their new home, their home. They speak the language, eat the food, adopt the culture, dress and talk like the people that they went to. I know men whom I admire when they teach the scriptures; they awe me, they inspire me to work harder, to study more, read more – and maybe, just maybe I can teach like them.

The largest crowd I have ever preached to was about 200 or so on Sunday morning at a hotel in Toronto. A group of union people from the US were having a meeting in Toronto, and one of the people, a Christian, had a cousin in the church I pastor and asked if I could come and host the Sunday service for them as many of them were away from their home church. So, I went, and it was great. But I have been to Billy Graham crusades here in Toronto with close to 50,000 in attendance. I have never preached to a crowd that big. I might freeze up and not know what to say.

On any given Sunday, I pastor a church that will have 10-15 people; when we combine our church with the sister church in Guelph, we can have 20-30. I know countless pastors that meet in their homes and serve churches with just a handful, 30-40 people. We have become so accustomed to the Mega-churches on TV, we assume all are like that. But the truth is most churches in North America have a regular attendance of about 75 or so. No one but the people they serve knows their names, no one but maybe the local hospital knows their names, and they are not famous at all, not a household name, so to speak.

I can speak for me; I have a loving family in our church that I have had the privilege of hosting a baby dedication service for every kid born into that family for 20+ years. They have a wall with pictures of me holding the kids, and now the grandkids; they know who I am. They love me, and I love them. I know many pastors who are the same way, famous with the ones God has given them. They never get in the way of Jesus; they are faithful.

This is what we can get from this passage: all too often, we see and hear the Apostle Paul – and make no mistake – he is famous as a servant of God, but he did not do it on his own. Let us talk in human terms. Paul had Barnabas to help him at first; then he teamed up with Silas; then as he was getting older and his eyesight was failing, he needed someone to write his epistles for him; then he talked of being with Luke and others that surrounded him. He speaks of his need to see Mark, the need to speak to Timothy and to Titus, and the need to make sure the next generation was ready to take up the charge. Paul understood that he could only do so much and that the ministry he had in public was supported by the people behind the scenes.

If you read Luke 8:1-3, you will see that Jesus had people that supported the ministry financially so that He and the disciples could do the work.

After this, Jesus traveled from one city and village to another. He spread the Good News about God’s kingdom. The twelve apostles were with him. Also, some women were with him; they had been cured of evil spirits and various illnesses. These women were Mary, also called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; Joanna, whose husband Chusa was Herod’s administrator; Susanna; and many other women. They provided financial support for Jesus and his disciples.

God knew their names as well, and He knows yours. He knows the effort and the time that you put into the church that you serve as a pastor, or Sunday School teacher, or an usher, or a deacon, or the piano player, or the choir director, or the guy who makes sure that the washrooms are clean or the driveway is shoveled. No pastor can do everything, no one. We need each other, and together we are an unstoppable force. Paul, God leading, wrote down the names of the people. They were not famous to the world, but they were famous to God.

I have a dear mentor, a senior pastor; I will not name him, but he is in his eighties, on dialysis, has pains in places he probably did not think could hurt, has had all kinds of surgeries, and even had a transplant. However, even though he is not able to preach anymore, he is still in church the vast majority of the time, still leading by example. He has his Bible open when the preaching is going on and somehow manages a genuine smile in all this. God knows his name, and one day he will be greeted as a ‘good and faithful servant.’

Some of us can think of the sweet word of a brother or sister that turned a bad day around, got us through an internal fight, and carried us like an angel’s wings when we were too broken to go on; God knows these people; He sent them, and they spoke life and energy into your soul. See Colossian 3:16-17,

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

We all need each other; Paul needed all these folks that are mentioned. They had either helped him carry the message, received the message, or had provided lodging, food, money even, and maybe just a safe place to lay his head as he ran from his enemies. Nonetheless, they were just as important to the ministry of the Gospel as Paul. Maybe you just have a small income, but you tithe to your local church faithfully. God knows; God is aware of the sacrifices that you make. Nothing you do for Him and nothing that you invest for Him is missed. He knows it all, and He knows your name. You are important to the Lord; your contribution, even small in your eyes, is large to God.

Earlier I mentioned missionaries, and we love them at our church. I have friends that are missionaries in Kenya, Russia, South America, Ukraine, and many other places. They are awesome people, but you know, we are taught a principle from an incident in the life of King David. In 1 Samuel 30:23-24, we see these words,

“But David said, ‘My brothers, you must not do this with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiders who came against us. Who will listen to your proposal? The share of the one who went to battle will match the share of the one who stayed with the supplies. They will share alike.'”

If you go back and read the account in 1 Samuel 30, the Amalekites attacked David’s people, took their goods, and kidnapped their families. There were about 600 men that followed David at that time, and they were given permission by the priest to pursue the enemies and retrieve their families. But of the 600 men, about 200 were so weary from the previous battle that they stayed with the remaining goods, and the 400 went to fight. They prevailed and plundered the Amalekites, returning with the families, and no one had died. The 400 who went to the battle did not want to share the goods of the plunder with the 200 who stayed. But David, a godly man and leader, made the statement above; the share of those who went to battle will be the same as those who stayed with the stuff.

Maybe you are not the missionary in Africa or the Philippines, or in South America or Russia, or wherever, BUT you faithfully give that extra $5 or $10 or $20 to help in his work; then you are just as famous to God as he. He could not have gone to that place without your help. The same God who called him to the field calls you to give sacrificially and provides you with the job that pays so that you have money to give. We are all a part of the Kingdom’s work. God knows your name. He knows who you are, and He knows the sacrifices that you make for Him.

What made these people in the passage above famous is that they gave of themselves, they gave to the kingdom of God, they gave to the messengers of God, and they helped the message get to the next person. These are things that we can all do. God knows them by name, and one day He will reward them by name as well. See Mark 10:29-30,

“Truly I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for My sake and for the gospel will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.…”

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding

Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

Chapter 15:22-33

“22 For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you. 23 But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, 24 whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while. 25 But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. 26 For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. 27 It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.

“28 Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain. 29 But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. 30 Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”

God called Abram from Ur of the Chaldeans and told him to leave his homeland and go to a new place, the journey of what would become Israel began. In Genesis 12:1-3, we have this covenant that God made to Abram:

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

We should understand the political importance of this covenant that God made with Abram. It is important when you vote that you ask certain questions, things like ‘how does a candidate speak about abortion?’ In most cases, if they are wrong on abortion, they are wrong on other things as well. But one of the most important questions one should ask is ‘how do they talk and speak about Israel?’ Do they love the Jewish people and the Jewish state? The enemies of Israel are the enemies of God. Make sure that you are on the right side of this. But often we forget that spiritually we too are indebted to the chosen people of Israel.

Here in our passage in Romans, Paul is preparing the people to whom he is writing for his arrival to them. He is planning to visit Rome, and he does it in a roundabout way. He ends up being ‘arrested’ in Jerusalem, and he is almost killed by a mob of angry Jews. He is arrested by a Roman guard and appeals to Caesar, as was his right as a Roman citizen, and is taken to various governors and then to Rome to plead his case.

One commentator makes the case that the books of Luke and Acts are actually his summary documents prepared by Luke for Paul to present his case to Caesar. But if you look at them, Luke deliberately tells that he is putting things in order and that he carefully deals with things like who was in charge and where they were in charge. He fills in a lot of details, and in Paul’s case, once we get out of Acts 10 with Cornelius, the rest of the book is about Paul and his missionary exploits.

Paul tells us in verse 24 that he hopes to visit Spain and then from there to Rome. He is exporting the Gospel everywhere he goes, and for the most part, in just about every city he spends time in; even for a few weeks, he leaves believers behind. However, in verses 25-26, he is on his way back to Jerusalem to take a gift, a financial one, as far as we can tell, to the church at Jerusalem. He is being sent by the churches in Macedonia and Achaia to take this gift to them.

The saints at Jerusalem are poor, having a hard time. There was much persecution of the church there in Judea; read Acts 6-8 and see that there was so much persecution that they killed James, Jesus’ brother, the pastor there in Jerusalem, and then the saints there ran for their lives, all except the apostles. And so, there was great hardship at the local churches there in Jerusalem. These Gentile Christians took an offering up and sent it to them to help relieve some of the pain.

Paul, in verse 27, reminds them that they are indebted to the Jews for the Gospel and that it was right for them to help in physical things. The Gentiles, you and I, are indebted to the Jews for the Gospel. The Gospel is brought to us by God through the Jews. Jesus is a Jew, He died on a Jewish hill in the chief city of the Jews, Jerusalem, and He will one day reign from Jerusalem. One cannot go far in the Gospel and not run into a Jew. Our Messiah is a Jewish Messiah, our coming King a Jewish King, and our Saviour is a Jewish Savior. We should not forget that.

One cannot claim to love Jesus and hate the Jews at the same time. Jesus IS A JEW. The whole earth is blessed in the Jews because Jesus came to take away the sins of the world. The sad part is that many of the Jews rejected Him, and they missed the very salvation that God brought into the world through them.

I will attach an article about 11 innovations from Israel that changed the world. https://interestingengineering.com/11-israeli-inventions-that-have-changed-the-world-for-thebetter

Even today, that world is benefiting from the nation of Israel in many ways. But there is no greater benefit than that of salvation. Even though the Gospel is primarily carried by Gentiles now, and yes, even back to the Jews by Gentiles, make no mistake, God is not done with Israel. One day soon, Jesus will come to see them face to face, and they will accept Him as their Messiah as well. Read in Zechariah 1:17 and Joel 4:20. Also, read Zechariah 12:10:

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

In the meantime, do not forget where your Gospel came from; it came from God through the Jews, it was borne on the shoulders of the Jewish Messiah, and it is Jewish blood that washes away our sins. We are indebted to the Jews. Maybe today we don’t need to send them money as they are a wealthy nation, but there are ways that we can still bless Israel. We should pray for them to have their eyes opened to the Gospel.

There are organizations like Jews for Jesus and others that are Jewish missionaries taking the Gospel to their own people; maybe a financial help or at least pray for them that their fellow Jews would have their eyes opened by the Holy Spirit to see the Messiah. As well, we are told in the Psalms to pray for the peace of Israel (Psalm 122); do we? I admit that I have, but not as consistently as I should. In Psalm 147:2, we are told that the builder of Jerusalem is God; it is precious to Him.

Then Paul asks for prayer for himself and for safety from his enemies, verses 30-32. Paul lived a treacherous life for the Gospel and because of the Gospel. He was often in danger for his life; most often it was from people that he faced the most danger. For some reason, people who don’t believe in Jesus and the Gospel want us to shut up. You know, you can say just about anything to anyone, and they will accept it, but talk about Jesus and Biblical principles, and all of a sudden, we are intolerant, we are bigoted and we are ignorant. We are called unscientific when we worship the God who invented science.

It seems that the very people that you try to help by sharing the Gospel hate you the most. They hated Jesus, they hated the apostles, they hated Paul, and they still hate the Gospel today. Why? It offers freedom beyond this life, but when the Holy Spirit lives in a person, they are more able to see the lies of the world. This means that they are not easily led by the schemes of the system. Sadly, many Christians are not listening to the Holy Spirit in them; but nonetheless, this is what the Gospel offers, true freedom, and freedom is hated by the world system.

It is hated by those that want to control us. God made us free from the very beginning, gave us the ability to choose and the freedom to live with the consequences of our choices. Jesus came to free us from the burden and debt of sin; He came to give us eternal life and to equip us for Holy living. This kind of living is hated by the world system; it is hated even by religious zealots who talk about Jesus to make money or to have power. True Christianity is not popular; it is despised.

Paul asks for the people to pray for him to be protected from these enemies, and I fear that, in our time right now, we will need the same thing. There are enemies of the Gospel, enemies of Jesus that they deny, but somehow fight at any opportunity. We have enemies in the Lord’s churches, planted there by the Devil and causing division and turmoil, thwarting or attempting to thwart the Gospel and the expansion of our outreaches. Paul fought these people both outside, and sadly, inside the local churches, and the fight is only going to get worse as the return of Jesus comes closer and closer. We need to be in prayer more and more, be in Bible study more and more so that we are spiritually strong for the fight.

I end with Paul’s salutation, verse 33, “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding

Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca