I invite you to turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16. You notice the title of the message today is, Saluting the Saints. By the saints, I mean true believers. Believers in Jesus Christ for salvation, not these special people that some churches have designated as saints. I'm using the word saluting because I'm borrowing it with poetic license from the King James Version, which throughout our text this morning, the first 12 verses of Romans 16, uses the word salute over and over. In the New International, it's translated here, greetings. But that's the idea of it. A salute or salutation is an acknowledgment or a greeting. So the New King James Version has gone with greeting, as does the ESV. Also the New International Version has the word greeting. But I want you to keep the idea of saluting in mind as well. It means sending kind wishes, recognizing certain individuals. So at the close of this wonderful book of Romans, Paul salutes some of the saints in Rome. Before I take a look at this passage, I want to share with you an incident that happened back in the 1976 Olympics. Those on television, the Olympics were in Montreal that year, and those on television one time, the viewers were shown a large scoreboard. And on this scoreboard, covered with names of athletes from around the world. And it prompted the announcer, Jim McKay, to say these words. What do most of these names mean to us? Names coming out of nowhere, flashed upon the board, then flashed around the world. Except for a few, we dismiss them as fast as we see them. They're only names, often unpronounceable, not worth a second thought. Apply those words to our text as we look at it. You know, when people begin to read the Bible, they start in Genesis, and it looks pretty good until they get to the fifth chapter. There's the genealogy of Adam, all those names. Or if you begin the New Testament, right away, the very first chapter, what do you hear? What do you read? The genealogy of Jesus. More names. And so it's quite easy to say, well, we don't have to pay much attention to this particular passage. If that's what you're thinking, listen to these words of John Chrysostom, one of the early church fathers. I think that many, even of those who have the appearance of being extremely good men, hasten over this part of the epistle as superfluous, unnecessary. Yet some people are careful even about the little fragments. It is possible even from bare names to find a great treasure. I want to hopefully share with you that treasure this morning from this very unusual passage of Romans 16, verses 1 through 12. Let me read that to you. Paul writes, I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church of Sencri. You may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Greet also the church in their house, Greet my beloved Epinathus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles and they were in Christ before me. Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ and my beloved Stachys. Greet Apellas, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. Greet my kismet Herodian. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. Greet Asyncratis, Plegion, Hermes, Petrobus, Hermes, and the brothers who are with them. Greet Philagelus, Julius, Nereus, and his sister Olympia. All the saints were with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. Take note that Paul was a real man when he wrote these words. He was writing to real people who had been involved with real situations in their church life in Rome. This text gives us a very small window into the early church, especially the personal relationships that were involved here. There are truths to ponder in these verses and lessons that we can learn. 26 individuals are mentioned, nine of them are women. So much for those who say Paul was a male chauvinist and hated women. Most of the names are Greek. Probably they had been converted in Corinth and had relocated to Rome probably for business reasons. The list is quite diverse when you examine it. It's diverse in race, you have Jews and Gentiles. Diverse in class, you have freemen and slaves. You have royalty, you have commoners. It's diverse in gender, you have male and female. Join me then as we scan through these verses very quickly, very briefly. Don't be afraid. I think you'll enjoy the journey as we move through. We begin with Phoebe, verses 1 and 2. Much is said about her. Paul calls her our sister. Probably not a blood relationship, but a sister in the Lord, in the church. She was a servant of the church of Sencri. Sencri was at the seaport on the east side of Corinth, probably a daughter church of the work in Corinth that Paul had helped establish earlier. She's called a servant of the church. The Greek word is diakonos, from which we get the word deacon. Some years ago, there was quite a discussion going on in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church on whether that indicates that she had an office of deaconess. sort of equal with the office of deacon. And it went back and forth quite a bit. I'm not sure if they ever came to a final decision on this, but I do believe they favored that it was not to be equal with an office of deacon, as we think of it. But if you want to use the term deaconess, a helper in the church, that's fine. Welcome her. Hospitality was very important in the first century, especially for Christians who were facing many times ostracism, a little bit of persecution of some kind. And he says, help her in whatever she may need from you. We don't know exactly what it was she needed, but apparently whoever, whatever it was, Phoebe had a real need. And Paul says, be sure you help this lady. She needs your help. In fact, she had been a patron or a helper of many, and of myself as well. Possibly she was a wealthy businesswoman, a person of importance and usefulness in the church. We go on to verses three and four. Prisca and Aquila greet them. Something very unusual here, you may not pick it up at first, but the woman is met she before the man. We would expect Aquila and Priscilla. That's the way it was done in heathen cultures. But here we find her mentioned first. Why? Different things have been suggested. Maybe she was a more impressive personality than her husband. Maybe she had a better social standing in Rome that was recognized by those in the church there. Perhaps she had been converted before Aquila. That's why she's mentioned first. There's some verses in Acts chapter 18, two of them there, and one in 2 Timothy 5.19 where it's the same order, Prisca and Aquila in that order. He calls them, my fellow workers. Now, they were fellow workers with tent making. That was his business. That's how he earned his money on the side, the apostle Paul. We know from Acts chapter 18, verse 3, that Prisca and Aquila joined him in that kind of work. But I think he has something else in mind. He just doesn't say, my fellow workers. He says, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, in the joint effort and ministry of the gospel, getting the message of Jesus out to various people in Rome and other places, perhaps in Corinth, for example, that they had labored. Paul also speaks here of the fact that they risked their necks for my life. We're not sure exactly what that situation was, but whatever it was, it took some amount of devotion and courage to put their lives on the line in some way when Paul's very life was being threatened. To whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Prisca and Aquila were well known in the churches that had been established in the Roman Empire at that particular time. Verse 5, greet also the church in their house. You need to keep in mind that the Church of Rome was not some imposing building at the corner of Caesar Boulevard and Nero Avenue, so people could see that out there. No, they met in individual homes. Here is, greet the persons, greet them and those in the house of Prisca and Aquila. You'll also down in verses 10 and 11, same idea, 14 and 15, although there you'll notice the reference to family should be the idea of a household church or groups of people in households. So the Church of Rome is probably made up of little homes where people met to worship the Lord and to study the scriptures. But with these two people, it's an illustration, isn't it, of unity of purpose and practice in the Lord's service by a wife-husband team. Herbert Seeking says, their names are as truly wedded as their lives. Now, before moving on, a question. We can understand Paul knew believers like Phoebe and Aquila. They probably had a good name throughout many churches. They were well known. But how could Paul have known so many of these other people in a place that he had never been? He had never been to Rome yet. He had never met these people, at least in Rome. How do we answer that question? Well, I think it's rather simple. Previous contacts. In those days, there was a lot of travel back and forth. People would mention people, and Paul felt like he knew them as he prayed for them and thought about them. He certainly was aware of their contributions to the Roman church. Now, as we go on, beginning at the end of verse 5, down through verse 15, for most of these names, we can't push the details too much. We're really limited. But let's look at what Paul does say. Keep in mind how it might apply to our lives, to your life even, as well. At the end of verse 5, we have Eponites, called the first convert to Christ in Asia. That would be the West Coast province of Asia Minor. He was the first convert Paul had in that area. He calls him, my beloved. He had great affection for this man. We know nothing of his age, his occupation or future activities, but he had a special place in Paul's heart. Verse six, Mary. one of six New Testament women with that name. Look what he says about her. Greet Mary who has worked hard for you. That verb means strong exertion, labor almost to the point of fatigue. And that's all it said about her. But what a lasting testimony to this woman, a hard worker. We go down to verse 7. We have Adronicus and Junius. My kinsmen, again, not blood relatives, I don't think, but fellow Jews. My fellow prisoners. That's interesting. Somewhere along the line, they participated literally in the hardships and persecution of Paul in prison for their faith. my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, not just to the 12, but the general missionaries turned apostles that were sent out by the churches. And they were in Christ before me. They became believers before Saul of Tarsus met Jesus on the road to Damascus. I like what F.F. Bruce writes about Adronicus and Junia. He says, we know nothing of these two apart from Paul's reference to them here, but this reference make us wish we knew more. Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. Not too much here, is there? The two noteworthy things. Again, my beloved, that great affection as with Eponidas before. In the Lord, that's an important phrase, not only here, but throughout the New Testament, and even in the Old Testament. In the Lord, or as elsewhere it says through this passage, in Christ. That's what makes the church the church. We are in Jesus, and he is in us by his Spirit. So it was true of this gentleman. In the Roman catacombs, a highly decorated tomb has been found by archaeologists. And one of the names all by itself in this tomb is Ampliatus. The same one is here? We don't know for sure, but maybe so. Verse 9, Urbanus and Stachys. Urbanus, a fellow worker in Christ. Stachys, my beloved. Notice how each of these names that we're looking at are singled out and personalized, even if only briefly. Just as we might close a letter and be written to a certain person, we say, by the way, say hi to your husband, Fred, and to your children, John and Susan. Paul mentioned his name very briefly, but he knows who they are. Now when we come to verse 10, this is interesting. Apellas, read Apellas, who is approved in Christ. That word approved possibly indicates that Apollos had gone through a special trial, had endured it with perseverance, and had been faithful in his test of his faith. Paul uses that same word in 2 Timothy 2.15. He says, Timothy, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, who has met the test, who has persevered, A worker who has no need to be ashamed. The end of verse 10, greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. Again, that word family might indicate, probably does, that he hosted a church in that home, or that family hosted the church. Now, this is something that I found interesting. Don't ask me how they arrive at it, but they have a way to do it. Bible scholars believe there's a good possibility that Aristobulus was a grandson of Herod the Great and also a friend of the emperor Claudius. Not only here, but elsewhere in the New Testament, it does seem to indicate that Christianity had made inroads in the homes of the monarchy or monarchies. You come down to verse 11, and this is the briefest of all. Greet my kinsmen Herodian. That's all he has to say about him. But again, that contact, that relationship of being one in Christ, one in the Lord with this gentleman. Then to verse 11, makes reference of greeting the family of Narcissus. Again, it's those in the Lord. This family, it's believed, might have been involved in serving the Emperor Claudius. Verse 12. If you want to, if you ever have people that want to know names for twins, here you got it. Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Probably they were twins. We're not sure of that, possibly. Notice what he says about them. Workers in the Lord. Workers in the Lord. And in verse 12, greet the beloved Persis. The word Persis, the name means a Persian woman. Probably she's from Persia. Notice what it says about her, who has worked hard in the Lord. Have you noticed that theme popping up here and there, either directly or by implication? These people were hard workers in the church in Rome. They gave up their time. gave them their energy to serve the Lord in that difficult place. Verse 13, Rufus, chosen in the Lord, one of God's precious elect, God had reached down to this gentleman and brought him from sin and gave him new life in Christ. Also, his mother, who has been a mother to me as well." You know, Paul says in Philippians 3, 8, I have suffered the loss of all things. And somewhere along the line, it could very well be that Paul was rather destitute of food or money or whatever it was, and this mother took him in as her son and helped him. Interesting comment there. By the way, Mark, who wrote especially for the Roman mind, speaks in chapter 15, verse 21, of Rufus, of Simon of Cyrene, who carried the cross for Jesus up to Calvary, as the father of Rufus, possibly the same man. I'm not going to dwell on verses 14 and 15 very much, quite a few names there. Again, probably these people met in house churches, little groups of about five or so in each of those. Paul concludes this section of our text down in verse 16. greet one another with a holy kiss." Now this practice, of course, is according to one's culture. We don't do that, at least in the United States. I'm sure in some places they still do that. We do it a little differently. Philip's translation says this, "'Give one another a hearty handshake, all round for my sake.' I remember Dr. John Skilton, one of my professors at seminary, he's the one that first brought that to my attention, and he mentioned that, and with a smile and laughter, he said, I don't think that's quite an accurate translation of the Greek, but it does get across the idea that our greetings should be more than simply, hi, how are you? You ought to try to make some kind of tangible connection with them. Some people like to hug, some people don't. Shaking hands, of course, is an obvious way to do that. All the churches of Christ greet you. With all the churches that Paul had started and visited, especially Gentile ones, Paul could not help but think about them as reflected upon the church at Rome, and he knew that those other churches, they wanted the best for this new outpost way in the far western part of Christianity in the church at Rome. Paul knew that the Church of Rome occupied a very important strategic place, not only because it was such a central city in the empire, but because it would be a launching pad in Paul's mind for going even further into the expansion of the Christian ministry. So there's a quick brief summary of all these names. I'd like to suggest four lessons of application for us today. First of all is diversity in unity. They were unified. They were the church of Jesus Christ. But how different all these individuals were, must have been. Paul writes in Galatians 3.28, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. We have that unity of faith in Him, even though we're all so different. We could just have the time, everybody come up here and say, this is my background, this is my education, this is what I like, this is what I don't like. What a range of differences there would be. But when it comes to the church, you've got to pull together for the glory of Christ. In the Roman church were free men and slaves, men and women, rich and poor, educated, uneducated. But these people loved Christ and they loved his church. They were dedicated, despite the difficulties and challenges of living under the Roman Empire government. We're called upon sometimes to deal with things in our lives, in our culture, in our society today. We don't like what's happening, but we need to remember that we need to be united in our church, in our things of the Lord. There's one lesson. A second lesson is these people were known by names. In this group we have found that Paul has no... What was his name again? What was her name? Paul remembers these people. They're individual, precious believers in the things of the Lord. He calls them by name. Likewise with our Lord in John chapter 10. He calls his own sheep by name. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And from his heavenly home, the ascended Savior knew each of these individuals in Romans 16 by name. even as He knows each of you who are here this morning, who are in Christ, who trusts in Jesus as your Savior, your Lord. He knows you by your name. He knows who you are. He knows what you're going through. We can take great comfort and hope in that wonderful truth. Lesson number three, theology should lead to application. Charles Erdman has written, this list of obscure names, Romans 16, is of great value and true significance. It gives an aspect of reality and deep human interest in the whole epistle, and its accompanying phrases indicate that Christian doctrines were bearing fruit in the lives of those to whom they had been proclaimed. Well, of course, that's what doctrine is all about. Not just to fill our minds with intellectual facts and ideas, but to help us take those facts and ideas and apply them into our daily Christian lives. Paul had a lot of deep doctrines in the first 15 chapters. He talked about sin. He talked about judgment. He talked about justification by faith. He talked about sanctification. He talked about the Holy Spirit. He talked about sovereign election, deep, deep truths. And at the end of that all, He comes in with recognizing that fruit was being brought forth by these wonderful saints in Rome because of the work of the Spirit of Christ in their lives. In the church, we're not only to hear, but to do. Of course, we must first hear the truth before we know how to apply it. And this is very important, one of the things I want to get across in my message this morning, that it's people in the church, like you folks, that are vitally important to this work. If I may use the word, you are indispensable. Charles Williams is going to begin his full-time ministry here next Sunday in the pulpit. And I think he would be very discouraged if he comes next week, stands behind her, and no one's here. He is looking to you to be fellow workers with him. And that leads to my fourth lesson. We learn that the church is a working fellowship. In our text, we don't find many leaders, but we do find many helpers and laborers. For several summers in my hometown of Manhattan Beach, California, I worked for the street department. I really enjoyed the job, very nice. I was a labor maintenance man, that was my title. But the labor maintenance man was way down in the rung of importance, supposedly. Up at the top was the city council. They came up with ideas, this is what we want to do in the city. They would then give that to the city manager, Dexdown, who was to execute those requests and directions. Then under him were various departments. One of them was the public works department. Then under the public works department were several departments, including the street department. And finally, way down here was me. I'm a labor maintenance man. But there were many times when I was doing my work, either chopping weeds or using the shovel with dirt or throwing weeds up on the truck, I'd think of myself, you know, people up at the top, they have the names, they're the big leaders and so on, city manager, public works director, street department director. But the work gets done by the peons. The low guys, that's where the work actually gets done. Charles and I have the privilege, have had the privilege, of being the upfront men in the church. It won't take long before people will be referring, well, that's Charles Williams' church. Even as I have heard reference made to, well, that's Calvin Melchior's church. We're the clergy. But don't forget the clergy need the layman. those who are not ordained to office. The Roman church was a working fellowship in love, faith, hope, sympathy, devotion, suffering, and helpfulness. The work of the gospel otherwise could never have been effective in that church in Rome and have effect in the city of Rome and outlying areas were it not for the people involved in the church, such as Eponidas. and Andronicus, and Ampliatus, and Apellas, and so forth. I'd like to close with this quotation from Bishop Henley Mullay, an evangelical Anglican minister. Reflecting upon what was our text this morning, he has this to say. The role of names is over. With this moving charm for the heart, due almost equally to our glimpses of information about one here, one there, and to our total ignorance about others. Ignorance of almost everything about them, but that they were at Rome and they were in Christ. We do not know them. We do not know their distant world. But we do know Him in whom they were and are. and they have been with Him, which is far better, for now so long a time of rest and glory. This page is no mere relic of the past. It is a list of friendships to be made hereafter and to be possessed forever in the endless life where personalities shall indeed be eternal, where also the union of our personalities in Christ shall be beyond our utmost present thought. like those dear saints in Rome. You are the ones who are the lifeblood, not only those who are here, but those who are live-streaming. You can't be here, but through your prayers, your financial support, your concern, your interest, you're the lifeblood of Westminster Church. As I said before, you are indispensable to this work. Charles Williams will be depending on you to help him in his ministry. And so today, even as the Apostle Paul saluted his friends at Rome, I salute you, you faithful people at Westminster Church. Let's pray. Father, it's in your providence that you brought us together even in this place today. It's in your providence that those who are watching on livestream have participated with us. And so together, unified in Christ, we thank you for this. We thank you, O Lord, for Westminster and pray your richest blessing upon its ministry in the days ahead. We are grateful that we are indeed God's people. We pray that should any be in this room, who do not feel a part of God's people because they are not yet united by faith to Jesus Christ, that by your Spirit you would awaken in them a desire to do so. We shall praise and thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.