We're looking at Romans 16 and verses 1 to 18. I commend to you, Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church, which is at St. Croix, that you receive her in the Lord as become saints and that you assist her in whatever business she has need of you. for she has been a helper of many and of myself also. Greet Pashilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. Greet my well-beloved Eponitis, who is the firstfruits of Asia unto Christ. Great Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Great Andronicus and Junius, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Great Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord, Greet Urbanus, our helper in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved. Greet Apellas, approved in Christ. Greet them who are of the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them that are of the household of Narcissus. who are in the Lord. Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis, who laboured much in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. Greet Asyncretus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, 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. Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own body, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the innocent. And may God bless his word to our hearts today. Let's pray. We thank you again for the opportunity to worship you, dear Lord. We confess our dependence to be able to do this on the fact that you have loved us and saved us and made us aware that you are God, the only God, and that you have loved us and forgiven us for our sins and that you have made us your own and we are your children. We acknowledge that we can come to worship you because we come in the name that is accepted. because Christ has accomplished everything and you are satisfied with what he has done. And we thank you that because Christ is accepted and we are in Christ by your grace, we are accepted and you bid us to come into your presence and to worship you. We acknowledge too that in order to do so, we also need the help of the Holy Spirit and may he lead each of us. But now as the word is brought, May the Holy Spirit be the one who brings it home to our hearts so that we may be moved, so that we may be moved by a word and that speaks to our hearts, an application, something that enables us to rejoice in our God and to serve you with deeper desire and dedication. And of course, Lord, we pray for the lost because they are dependent upon you for your mercy and your grace to work in their hearts and in their lives so that they might also be saved. And may you do that today, dear Lord. Thank you that you're not limited because wherever we are, you are there. And we thank you, dear Lord, that you deal with the heart, with the soul. You deal with the problem. The problem is sin. And we thank you that you deal with it because of Christ and the precious blood that he shed that cleanses us from all our sins. We thank you for these saints that we have just read. And they may have names that are strange to us, but we rejoice that these were servants of God. in difficult times, but faithful. They face the same challenges that we do, both socially, politically, and certainly because they were Christians, but also as brethren, struggling to be able to live in peace with one another and have that focus of ministering the gospel to a lost world. Thank you that you're with us as you were with them. And as we learn of them, may we apply it to our own service and to our own relationships with you, dear Lord, and with each other. May it always be to your glory. We ask it with thanks in Jesus Christ's precious and holy name. Amen. I want to start by emphasizing how important it is that we do not think that this is just a normal way that the Apostle Paul finished his letters by sending his greetings to those that he knew. I want you to understand that there is nothing casual about the mention of all these people and their service and how Paul depended upon them. I want you to see that Paul addresses four groups. He addresses those who helped him in the past, and we have just read their names and some of what they did. We note that Paul hasn't been to Rome yet. And indeed, we know that Paul would have been in the city of Corinth when he wrote this letter, because the lady that he chose to bring the letter to Rome was a lady called Phoebe, and she was part of the church in Sencria. And Sencria was the port city of Corinth. It was just a few miles to the east of Corinth, and it was on the water. So we know that Paul hasn't been to Rome, yet he does know people there. And there's a very important connection between him and the people. And we'll look at some of that connection. But just let me say something here, that it is not wrong to thank people and to acknowledge them for the work that they do in the service of the Lord. And certainly Paul, and as I'll emphasise and re-emphasise, I hope, a couple of times in this message, Paul acknowledges that he could not have done what he was able to do without the help of the saints. So he acknowledges those who have helped him in the past. He also addresses those who are not servants, but those who basically are all talk, but no action. And he addresses them in verses 17 and 18. And I'm not going to focus on this, but just let me just address it. Because there are obviously those, just like there are in any church, that are all talk, but they don't back it up, and they deceive people. And it's interesting that Paul says, these are troublemakers, and he gives good advice. He says, avoid them. Now, when he says avoid them, he's not saying be rude to them, but avoid being sucked in by them, becoming negative perhaps, or being distracted from the service, and focusing on what we need to do. He says in verse 17, now, I beseech you, brethren, mark them who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoided them. Now, what is that doctrine? Well, certainly they had the doctrine from the body of truth that the church had, but certainly what Paul would have taught them in this letter itself, especially chapters 14 or beginning in chapter 12. But chapter 14, about the strong brother, the weak brother, and so on. He says, now this is something that we've learned and some people refuse to learn, best to avoid them. He explains why that is in verse 18, when he says, for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own body. And by good words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the innocent. So they're not serving for the good of the body as Romans 12 brings out, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 brings out, but only in a sense what they can get out of the church. And so he says avoid them. So he addresses those people as well. but he also addresses the brethren that are helping him now. Okay, so we've looked at the brethren who've helped him in the past, these men and women that we read in the first 15 or so verses, and now he's addressing the brethren that are helping him now. And in verses, in chapter 16 and verses 21 to 23, he mentions some people that are his helpers where he is now. But of note among them, I want you to notice in verse 23, a man called Gaius. Now there's several men in the Bible called Gaius, but Paul refers to him as my host. And he was a man who had a church in his house, because we're going to see that there's a few house churches. But he says, Gaze my host and of the whole church. So he serves not just the Apostle Paul, but the whole church. Now, he would have been a man of means, a rich man. And he was a man that provided for the Apostle Paul and for the church. And he sends his greetings to him. And so we see that Paul is helped not just by people in the past. but he's helped by people now. And let me remind you that he is also hoping that he'll be helped in the future by the church in Rome itself. And you remember, we went to in verse 24 of chapter 15, Paul says, I want to come to you on my way to Spain so that I can spend some time with you. And then hopefully, he says, be brought on my way by you. There is no doubt. that the Apostle Paul depended upon the churches for financial support, for somewhere to stay and to be helped. He depended on men and women in order for him to be able to do the work. And as we see here, the gospel is really a spiritual battle where every believer is involved, not just the great men and great women, And we'll look at some of the great people in church history, but for everyone, because we are all involved in this spiritual battle to proclaim the gospel. And Paul certainly knew and valued the help that his fellow labourers gave him. Now, there is a principle here that I want us to just establish. And I want to do it by looking at John chapter 15, because as I said, this is not just a list of people. They may have funny names that you may not be able to pronounce them. And I don't say that I pronounced them in the correct way. People who did something and Paul acknowledges it, that's good. But see, what is behind their service? It also helps us, before we turn to John 15, it also helps us to, and it reminds us that our focus generally is on the men who wrote these letters on their accounts of what they did, such as we read in the book of Acts. So we focus on these men and because they are the ones that I guess come to mind readily, but we're reminded that there were people who everyday people, Christians, who served in distant towns, different countries, and who served the Lord equally. And their contribution has contributed to the spread of the gospel and the good of the church. So be encouraged, Christian, that though we may be a small church, in a suburb of Sydney, and on the scale of things worldwide, especially just in the church scene, that we may not amount to much in the eyes of the world, but we are obeying the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is what is important for us. And so we're reminded that there were a lot of people, and of course there's many, many, many more that aren't even mentioned in the Bible, but there's a principle of service And I want us to see what basis that service is, that Paul could serve, that these men and women could serve, that they could serve together, not for their glory, but of course, for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and for the good of the church. So I invite you to turn to John chapter 15. And we'll notice just very, just skim the surface, just very quickly, just notice a few things that help us to understand about the fact that we are all involved in this service. We won't read the whole passage, but I'll just highlight a few things. In this passage, the Lord is preparing his disciples for service. You remember that this is one of the discourses that our Lord gives to his disciples on the night that he is arrested. the gospel of John on the night that he was arrested. You remember in chapter 13, he washed the disciples' feet. In chapter 14, he comforts them. He says, do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. He reassured them that he's going to leave them to prepare a place for them and that he will come back to get them. And of course, in chapter 15, we have that wonderful a wonderful metaphor of the fact that Jesus is the vine and that we, his disciples, are the branches. He states that the goal for us as branches being in the vine is to produce fruit. And that goal is stated in verse 8 of John 15, when he says this, In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples, or so shall it be evident, that as my disciples abiding in the vine, drawing for all your sustenance from me, you will be fruitful. And of course, what is that fruit? Obedience to the Lord, faithfulness to the Lord and ministry in the gospel, living out Christ and being an example, proclaiming the gospel to people and seeing people come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and be brought into his family. That is the fruit that honours God, which is God's intention all along, that people be saved. So in describing our relationship with him through the metaphor of the vine and its branches, Jesus reminds us that we as the branches must abide in him. The key word here for us is abide. And if you noted, this is John who wrote the gospel according to John. And we read his second epistle. And if you noticed, he used the word abide a couple of times. And he also reminded us about the commandment, which is not a new one, but an old one, about loving each other. So in this relationship, we are called to abide. And he uses that word several times in John 15. The place where we are to abide in is crucial because it is to abide in Christ, the vine. And if you notice, the Lord Jesus says, uses the phrase in me, abide in me. He says that in verse two, in verse four, twice, in verse five, and in verse six, and again, in verse seven, where he says, if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Of course, he uses the word abide in verse 10. He says, if you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love. So two things that we're called to do. We're called to abide. We could also use the word remain. And we are to abide or remain in Christ. That is how we will receive all that we need in order to serve him. And as I said, sorry, and the key verse is verse for me anyway, this morning is verse five, where it says, if a man abide not in me. Sorry, I read verse six, verse five, I am the vine. You are the branches. He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit. Then he says this, solemn warning, for without me you can do nothing. So our service for the Lord must be where we abide in Christ, we draw our sustenance from him, our spiritual sustenance, our physical sustenance, in order to do the work. And let me just say, just as a quick aside, that means we trust in the Lord to provide for whatever it is we need to get our own building. Because we want to do it for the work of the gospel, to serve him. So Christian, are you abiding in the vine? Are you abiding in Christ? Are you drawing your sustenance from him daily? Because he warns us, without me, you can do nothing. He then goes on, and this is crucial to what I'm trying to bring out from Romans chapter 16 and about all every believer contributing to the work and each of us depending on each other, as well as depending on the Lord. He then brings out the fact that each disciple needs and helps his brethren. You might have considered it this way before, but look with me in chapter 15 of John and verses 12 to 14. There he says, this is my commandment. This is Jesus speaking. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you." So you see that the relationship that we have with each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord is one to be one of love. Not like those in Romans 16 and verse 18, that they were such that served not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own body, and covered by good words and fair speeches, by which they only deceived the hearts of the innocent. And so we are to sacrifice for each other. And that's what the Lord brings out. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. It could have the direct application of physically dying for someone. You could do that. That would certainly be a great example of your love. But just keep that thought in mind. I'll just read it to you before we go back to Romans 16. The Lord says, greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Now go back with me to chapter 16 of Romans. And in verse three, we meet two people, husband and wife team. We first meet Priscilla and Aquila, Priscilla is the wife, Aquila is the husband, back in Acts 18 when Paul first comes to Corinth. But notice what Paul says, Great Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. So Paul says, this couple put their life at risk for me. How that was, we are not told. But can you see the connection? Because I don't believe that I'm drawing a long bow here. Jesus says, greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul was able to say of Priscilla and Aquila, that in serving the Lord, they lay down their own lives for me in service. And we don't have the time to follow the service of Priscilla and Aquila and where they served and how they served. What we have here now is the fact that they are now in Rome and they have a church in their house. And not only that they have a church in their own house, a house church, but Paul says this, he gives thanks for them. He acknowledges that they were able to do this for the Lord, that he benefited from it. And then he says, not only do I give thanks, but he says also all the churches of the Gentiles. And that's significant. You know why? Because Aquila and Priscilla were Jews, and yet they served the Lord. And I think Paul would have been happy to be able to say that. He didn't have to lie about it, not at all. But I think he would have been happy to say that, considering he's been helping the Romans to be able to know how to work together, because the Jews in the church in Rome and the Gentiles in the church in Rome may have been at odds over certain things. And we've looked at that. And now they've given an example of Jewish Christians who help Gentile churches, and the Gentiles are so happy for their help. No wonder the Apostle Paul wants to acknowledge and thank them. So what I see in all of this is the providence of God and our dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ and on each other. And this, of course, reinforces the fact that we are all members of the body of Christ. As Paul brings out in Romans 12, but more extensively in 1 Corinthians 12, that we're members of the body. And he uses the analogy of parts of the human body and he can't say to the eye or vice versa, we all contribute as we are enabled to do. And Paul recognized this, and he humbly acknowledges that he could not do the work of the gospel without the help of the saints. In preparing this, it's only natural that I think about Christians in church history. And we all know great men and women, because there were many, many women that went as missionaries. Amy Carmichael in southern India had a great ministry to the Indian people, especially to Indian women. She saved many Indian girls from terrible lives. Remember, this is in the late 1800s. There were other women, and I always think of Gladys Aylward, who left England, traveled all the way to China by train through Russia, through Siberia, and then ministered there. And there's one lady, and her name always evades me, but she went, she was from Scotland, she went to modern day Nigeria, in those days it was called Calabar, and she labored there by herself and was loved by the natives there. But we know that there are great men and women in church history. And if, like me, you enjoy reading Christian biographies or events that happen and the people that were part of that, you see that there were some men and women who really rose above everybody else by their abilities that they had. and by their courage and skills and faithfulness to the Lord, and they were mightily used of God. And we give thanks to God for them. However, invariably, you read about other people who were instrumental in their lives. Can anyone tell me the name of John Bunyan's pastor who helped John Bunyan? Can anyone tell me how John Bunyan was actually saved? But as I said, and I just leave that there for you to think about, often it is a mother or father, a grandparent, It could be a pastor, it could be a mentor, or it could be a benefactor in some way who has been used of God to prepare this man or this woman that God is going to use even in a greater way. What were their names? We don't know so often. And I thought of Charles Spurgeon, and most of you know about Charles Spurgeon and his powerful ministry. He ministered in London in the 19th century, in the 1800s. His sermons were written down and published And it is estimated that, and they were translated into other languages as well. And it is estimated that his sermons were read by literally millions of people all around the world. And this is in the 1800s. He was a man who was not only faithful, had a great understanding of scripture, a deep knowledge of God, and was able to express that in a powerful way because he was a very eloquent preacher and he could use illustrations and examples and use the right word and people literally hung off every word. Let me ask you, do you know who it was that led Charles Burgeon to Christ? Because the fact of the matter is that even though Charles Spurgeon's father and grandfather were both congregational ministers, and he grew up being influenced by his grandfather quite a lot. Charles Spurgeon one day found himself on his way to church, but because of a snowstorm, he had to go to the nearest church that he could because he couldn't go any further. There was only about 15 people there. The minister of that church also was not able to go to church because he obviously was snowed in as well. And at one point a man got up to preach And Charles Spurgeon describes him as being either something of a worker, a tailor, maybe a shoemaker. He certainly wasn't the minister. And he said that he could barely preach for 10 minutes and he really had to just repeat himself quite a lot just to extend to that 10 minute limit. And he preached from Isaiah 45 verse 22, look unto me and be saved all ye ends of the earth. And he basically repeated that. Don't look to this person. Don't look to that person. Look to Jesus. And then he looked at Charles Spurgeon directly and said, young man, you might be trying to find something or do something. Look to Jesus. And it was there that Charles Spurgeon said he finally saw, in a simple word, look. and look to Jesus. So the great orator, eloquent, biblically powerful in a wonderful way as a biblical expositor and a preacher of the word, was saved by a man that could barely put a theme together and preach for at least 10 minutes. Let me ask you this question. What was the man's name? We don't know. We are not told. It doesn't matter. But see how God uses each of his servants And while I am not disparaging great men and great women, I listen to certain men. I enjoy listening to their preaching. I read their books. I read books by other men that I don't know, because I appreciate what God is doing through them. And we need men like them. And we need women like, for example, Selina, the Countess of Huntingdon. who was a very rich, noble woman. And yet she became a patron to John Wesley and to George Whitefield, who in the late 1700s were mightily used by God in order to preach the gospel. And many, many thousands of people were saved. And it was a wonderful time of revival. But Selina was a Christian. very rich woman, a noble woman, and she would also bring George Whitfield and John Wesley in to preach to dukes and counts and all the nobility, and many of them were saved. It was through her patronage that many, many churches were built and churches established. And she helped financially the work of the gospel. And so you probably never heard of her, but I was reminded of her because coming back to verse one of Romans 16, we introduced to this lady called Phoebe. And in verse two, Paul says, receive her in the Lord as become saints and that you assist her in whatever business she has need of you. for she has been a helper of many, and then he says very carefully, and of myself also. The word helper there, your version may say, and rightly so, I know the ESV version says this, calls Phoebe a patron. Paul effectively says about Phoebe that she has been a patron of many and of myself. So she was obviously a woman of means. She used her money in order to further the gospel, to help ministers like the Apostle Paul, and of course others, in order that the gospel may be advanced. And so we know about her, but there's others. And I want to just to give you a broad outline now. Who are these saints that Paul greets? And don't worry, we're not going to look at every single name and what they did, although that would be a good exercise for you to read and read slowly and consider that Paul mentioned some 27 people by name. He refers to them as helpers, as kinsmen, as beloved, as fellow workers, and some of them as fellow prisoners. In this whole chapter, he also mentions churches. In verses 1, 4, 5, 16 and 23, he mentions churches, which reinforce the fact that we have a partnership in the gospel. Some churches helped other churches. I've always felt what a sad situation if when the Lord takes the church, his church, home, that the church leaves behind billions of dollars in property. And I'm not talking about the Roman Catholic Church and all that it owns, but that the church in the West especially has vast property and that we would leave it all behind. And then we discovered that there were little churches that could barely find somewhere to meet because they couldn't afford anything. How sad. And so Paul says that there are churches and also refers to what would probably be house churches, even though he doesn't actually use the word church. And we've already looked at Phoebe and we've already looked at Priscilla and Aquila. But I want to finish by just looking at three other women or four other women. Mary in verse six. Triphina and Triphosa, and they're mentioned together, and it's thought they were at least sisters and maybe even twins. And another woman called Persis, and they're mentioned in verse 12. There are other women. Paul talks about one of his brethren and salutes his mother and says, and who was my mother as well. Obviously, it's not his biological mother, but someone who ministered to Paul as a mother. And that must have affected Paul greatly. But these women, they share something very important. And Paul says these ladies bestowed much labour. They worked hard. And they worked hard for both Paul and for the church. And Paul reinforces how much he needed them. In conclusion, I want to just make it clear again that I am not saying that we should respect great men. In our day and age, probably the name that comes to mind is John MacArthur, and John MacArthur has done a great work and mightily used of God. and without in any way making less of what he is and what he's been able to do because he's dependent on the Lord and he does it for the glory of God, you know that there are many, many, many men and women who back up the work that he started and who enabled him to be able to have such a ministry. So it's not that I'm saying we shouldn't respect those that we know really have an ability and stand above us. They are certainly servants of God and they are gifted and the church has benefited greatly by them all. What I want to acknowledge is the humbleness of the Apostle Paul in acknowledging these men and these women and saying, without them, I would not have been able to do the work that I was able to do. I know that you know this, I know that you understand it, but I pray that the example of these brothers and sisters in Christ will encourage you today and into the future to know, as Paul says to the Corinthians at the end of 1 Corinthians 15. Beloved, persevere. Know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. And we thank you for it. May God bless us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you provide for us to be able to serve you. We thank you that our service is important to you. We thank you for each other and we thank you, dear Lord, that we draw all our strength from you and that then we're able to combine our gifts, our abilities, our strengths in order that we can serve as one and be used of you. Lord, I want to personally thank you for the saints that are part of the work at Preston's and for the contribution that each of them make in your service and for your glory. We pray you'll be honoured in Jesus Christ's precious name. Amen.