Well, it's good to be back together as we open God's Word together and learn from it. Last week, we concluded chapter 15 of Romans. We looked at the doctrine of the Trinity, which we saw in verse 30. And then we looked at Paul's appeal to the Christians in Rome to pray for him, specifically for two things, that he would be delivered from the unbelievers and that he would be acceptable, his service would be acceptable to the believers. And finally, we saw the second benediction in Romans 1533, where we looked at having peace with God, having peace with others, and also having the peace of God. Well, that brings us to our passage today. We're going to begin Romans 16 today and consider the first 16 verses. This is the last chapter of Romans. So after two years, we're kind of rounding the corner, we're getting toward the finish line. In this last chapter, Paul sends personal greetings, which we're going to look at today. He also sends final instructions, and then he ends with a doxology. So if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to Romans 16, beginning with verse one. Bear with me on some of the names in this passage as well. I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Ken Cree, that 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 rest 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 Eponidas, who is the first convert to Christ in Asia. Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, they are all 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 fellow kinsmen Herodian. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. Greet these workers in the Lord, Trophania and Trophosa. 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 Asencritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Petrobus, Hermes, and the brothers who are with them. Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympus. And all the saints who are with them, greet one another with A holy kiss, all the churches of Christ greet you. Well, there are some people in your life and in mine that are unforgettable. Perhaps it was a Sunday school teacher who first taught you about Jesus, or a Christian parent who raised you to love the Lord, or a faithful childhood pastor who stood firm on the word of God, or a godly grandparent who never ceased praying for you. Or maybe a teacher who helped you understand algebra or chemistry. Or maybe someone who helped you ride your bike for the first time. As we journey through this life, we think of these people with fond remembrance, appreciating how the Lord used these people in our lives. Well, this is exactly what Paul is doing and recalling in our passage today. Certainly, this is not an exhaustive list. But in this list, there's many ordinary Christians, some of whom are not even mentioned anywhere else in the whole canon of Scripture, but they meant a lot to Paul and to his ministry. Perhaps you've read through Romans before and you've come to chapter 16 and you've just kind of skimmed through these 16 verses. That would be the temptation for sure. But remember, as we know full well, every word of God's Word is important. So everybody listed here is important. It shows how important people were to Paul. When we think of Paul, we may think of his boldness, his courage, faithfulness, doctrinal fidelity, and that would all be true. But let us not forget the person Paul, who couldn't possibly do all of his ministry, certainly without the help of the Holy Spirit, but also without the help of these people that the Lord sent to him. These were his friends. They were fellow workers for the sake of the gospel. And he mentions 26 different people, two households, and one church. So in this time today, we're going to consider each of these ordinary people that were used in rather extraordinary ways in Paul's ministry. First, we're going to consider Phoebe, who is mentioned as a servant of the church at Ken Cree in verse 1. Now, first of all, the church here was likely a church plant coming out of the church in Corinth. At the end of his first ministry stint in Corinth, Paul, along with Priscilla and Aquila, left out from Cancri and set sail for Syria, Acts 18.18. The term servant here is translated diaconus, from which we get the word deacon. Now, surely there has, and you probably have read, much spilled ink on this subject through the years. Does this mean that Phoebe was, in fact, a deacon or a deaconess in the church? Well, let's just hit this head on, okay? John MacArthur writes helpfully, the Greek word here is neuter and was used in the church as a general term for servant even before the offices were created. It's used of the household servants who drew the water that Jesus turned into wine, John 2, 5 and 9. Paul used the term earlier in his letter, Romans 13, 4, to refer to the secular government as a minister of God to you for good and even of Christ as a servant to the circumcision." So the term used here to describe Phoebe as a servant does not mean that she had an ordained office in the church. Rather, it means that she was an important and vital helper and servant in the Lord's work. John Murray writes, if Phoebe ministered to the saints as is evident from verse 2, then she would be a servant of the church and there is neither need nor warrant to suppose that she occupied or exercised what amounted to an ecclesiastical office comparable to that of the diaconate. I would agree with that. Also noting that the Bible makes it clear that there are two offices, that of elder which is broken into teaching elder and ruling elder and that of deacon. It's also clear From Scripture, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, that these offices are to be held by men in the church. Now, there are certainly times when unordained men and women can assist the elders and the deacons of the church. Our own Book of Church Order, Chapter 9, Section 7, says it's often expedient that the session of a church should select and appoint godly men and women of the congregation to assist the deacons in caring for the sick, the widows, the orphans, the prisoners, and others who may be in any distress or need. These assistants of the deacons are not officers of the church and as such are not subject for ordination. So these are essentially assistants to the deacons, but they're not given a formal title. In our own church, we greatly value the contributions of women in contributing and using their gifts for the glory of the Lord and the building up of the church. WIC plays an important role in the life and ministry of the church. Many women lead Bible studies, teaching other women in the Bible. Others teach Sunday school classes to children. Some teach vacation Bible school. Others teach catechism classes on Wednesday night. Others serve in the nursery so parents can worship. Others serve in the koinonia ministry. Others serve on committees. In fact, if you look at our sessional committees, our committees on the session, most if not all of our sessional committees have women on them. The one that I chair, the administration committee has two women on that committee that are a great help to us. Women should and can serve freely in the church without having the need to occupy an ordained office. Now what else does Paul say about Phoebe? Notice in verse 1, he's telling the Christians in Rome to welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and help her in whatever she may need from you. They were to welcome her because she was actually the bearer of this letter. Paul trusted Phoebe so much that he handed literally the only copy likely that he had of the letter of Romans to Phoebe to hand deliver it to the Christians in Rome, and so they were to welcome her as a faithful and trusted believer of the gospel. Paul also speaks of Phoebe being a patron or a helper, which was commonly used to signify a wealthy person who helped support an organization or a cause. So Phoebe was not only a true servant of the church, but also one to be trusted and respected. She was likely well off financially and used those resources and means to help furthered their overall ministry of the church. Well, after mentioning Phoebe, the bearer of the letter, Paul mentions a married couple, Prisca and Aquila, which he says in verse 3, were my fellow workers in Christ Jesus who risked their necks for my life. This couple, along with Paul, were tent makers. They were not apostles or prophets, but nonetheless, they held a special place in Paul's heart for their service to the church. Prisca, also called Priscilla and Aquila, had previously fled from Rome when all the Jews were expelled by the Emperor Claudius. They were with Paul in Corinth and they accompanied him to Ephesus. They taught Apollos, which we see in Acts 18.26. This remarkable couple is actually mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament six other times. And many Christians in those days met in private homes. It was likely that this couple opened up their home for worship and had some form of house church, Acts 16, 19. The churches of Asia send you greetings, Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. Well, next we come to Aponetus, who Paul says was the first Christian in Asia. This area was commonly referred to as Asia Minor, it's the general modern day Turkey, Paul was the first one to actually bring the good news to this region. And so it's very likely that Paul, through the Spirit's leading, led this man to faith in the Lord Jesus. It brings to mind that we never forget those that we witness to, right? Especially those that actually respond through the Holy Spirit's urging to respond in saving faith. And so it is with Paul who never forgot this man who is actually the first converted person in that whole region. Then we read in verse 6, greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. Now, there's many women named Mary in the Bible, but this is likely one that we have not heard of before. She was from Rome. Paul writes she had worked hard for you, so she was likely from Rome. This carries with it, she also says she worked hard for the church. The wording there, worked hard, carries with it the idea of toiling. to the point of exhaustion or fatigue. So this is a hard-working lady that was a founding member of the church and worked hard to promote its well-being. Then we read about Andronicus and Junia, who Paul describes in verse 7, were his kinsmen and fellow prisoners and were also known to the apostles and came to faith in Christ before Paul. Now, because Junia is a woman's name, it's likely that these two were married. Because Paul calls them kinsmen, this means they were actually fellow Jews. They may have actually been relatives of Paul. Furthermore, they were fellow prisoners. Now, to be sure, Paul was prisoned much of his ministry, and so we're not certain as to where this couple was in prison with Paul. But you can imagine in prison, these Christians having wonderful conversations about the Lord, right, even in the midst of trying times. The fact that they were known by the apostles means that they were respectable and honorable people. Because they came to faith, actually, before Paul, means that they could very well have actually been persecuted by Paul before Paul came to saving faith and before then helping him with his ministry going forward. Next, we come to Impliatus, who Paul describes as his beloved in the Lord. This was a common slave name. So he was likely a slave who had a great impact in some way on Paul. He was likely a slave in Caesar's household mentioned by Paul in his letter to the church at Philippi. Now, it's interesting that the tomb of likely this slave can still be seen today. In the cemetery of Damatilla, which is the earliest of Christian catacombs, there's an elaborate tomb with the name Ampliatus marked on it. Since there's only one name, it was obviously the name of a person who was a slave, but was also held in high regard since he was associated with Domitilla, who was a woman of high status in Rome. So it is likely his actual tomb. Then we come to Urbanus, which was a common Roman name, suggesting he was likely a Roman citizen. Paul says he was a fellow worker, so at some point he met up with Paul on his journeys to assist him in the work of the ministry. Stachas is also mentioned in verse 8 as being beloved. Since he's beloved, he would have been very close to Paul, though we do not know in what capacity. Apellas is mentioned in verse 10. It says that he is one approved by Christ. Now, approved carries with it the idea of being tried and tested, almost like a precious metal that's been exposed to fire and passed the test for purity. Because Paul said he was approved, it likely meant that Apellas had gone through some form of trial, some form of testing that proved his faith was in fact genuine. The latter part of verse 10, we read, to greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus, and also we read about another household, that of Narcissus at the end of verse 11. So why does he mention the family, the households, but not the men themselves? Well, likely because the head of the households were probably not Christians, but there were some in the households that were, in fact, believers. Then we read in verse 11 to greet Herodian, who is described as a kinsman. Therefore, Herodian was also likely a Jew who had been converted to the Christian faith. His name indicates that he was related in some way to Herod's family. and therefore may have been associated even with the previously mentioned household of Aristobulus. Verse 12, Paul tells the Christians in Rome to greet fellow workers in the Lord, Trophaena and Trophosa. These were two female names which indicate that they were probably sisters. One commentary I read said they were probably twins, and we don't know that for sure, but we know they were probably sisters. Regardless of their connection one with another, we know that they were sisters of Paul and Christ. Next, Paul exhorts him to greet Perseus, who was also beloved and worked hard in the Lord. Now, the tense here is past tense, indicating that this was a lady who was likely older and had done great work in the past to help in the ministry of the church. While many of her productive days, we could say, may be over or may be diminishing, Paul remembers her fondly for the work that she had done in the past for the church. Then we notice in verse 14, Paul says to greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord and his mother, who had been a mother to Paul as well. Now, the word chosen here has a literal meaning of being chosen, being elected. Described in Romans 8, 29, of all Christians, those whom he foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. It's believed, follow me on this here, it's really interesting, it's believed that Rufus was the son of Simon from Cyrene who actually carried the cross of Jesus. James Boyce writes, what a story lies hidden here. Simon, who is a Jew, like all Jews, would have hated the Romans. To be pressed into service by a Roman soldier and be forced to carry the cross of a condemned man must have been a hateful, bitter experience for him. But something important may have happened to Simon that day. Instead of merely flinging down the cross at Golgotha, Simon must have been struck by the person of Jesus, stayed to watch the crucifixion, and eventually been converted, perhaps by the same elements that God used to reach the heart of that believing thief. After the Passover, Simon would have returned home to Cyrene, would have told his family about Jesus, and they too would have become Christians through his testimony. So in God's providence, this father who carried the cross for Jesus went home afterwards, witnessed to his family. They became Christians, eventually being mentioned here by Paul in chapter 16. After discussing Rufus and his mother, Paul mentioned several people In verse 14, Asencritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Petrobus, and Hemos, along with the brothers who were with them. Now, we really know nothing about this group of men. Ray Steadman calls them a businessmen's group. Well, that could have been. We don't know. It could have been a group of slaves who met and encouraged each other. It could have been a group of freedmen. But it is possible and even probable and likely they did in some way bear testimony to their faith in the church and help contribute to the church. The next group of individuals mentioned in the following in verse 15, Philologos, Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints who are with them. Now, James Boyce writes the following, which is a summary of William Barclay's thoughts on these people. He writes, in AD 95, two of the most distinguished people in Rome were condemned for being Christians. They were husband and wife, and their names were Flavius Clemens and Domitilla, the woman who gave her name to the earliest Christian graveyard in Rome. Flavius was executed. Domitilla was banished. She was the granddaughter of Vespasian, a former emperor, and the niece of Domitian, who was the reigning emperor. So the name of this couple's chamberlain was a personal steward who, in some cases, handled the master's finances, was Nereus, one of the names mentioned here in our verse today. We do not know, of course, if this is the same Nereus. But it may be that this was the very person through whom the gospel of God's grace entered this prominent Roman household and eventually led even the martyrdoms to Christianity that doubtless shocked and troubled Rome. Well, after going through this list of people, that meant a lot to Paul. He concludes by writing in verse 16, to greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. Now, while we do not come into church and normally greet one another today with a holy kiss, we have to understand the culture and the times that this particular letter was written. The practice of embracing and kissing friends and relatives on the forehead or cheek was common in Old Testament times. Men would sometimes be kissed on the beard. These kisses were not meant to be romantic in nature, but simply a loving gesture to a Christian brother or sister. John MacArthur writes, the New Testament church, at first comprised primarily of Jews, carried on the traditional practice of kissing among relatives and close friends. Because many new believers were mad outcasts by their biological families, the spiritual kinship of Christians became all the dearer and was frequently manifested by what came to be called a holy kiss. The next expression and the last one found in verse 16 is, all the churches of Christ. That particular phrase is not found anywhere else in the New Testament. And Paul does not really explain which churches are involved, but it's likely that Paul would have let the leaders of the churches know of his plans to eventually go to Rome, and these leaders wanted to send their personal greetings to the church there. So in closing, let's just back up just a little bit and think about what we've just covered in those 16 verses. Let us take time to take stock of our own lives and to think about and consider how you and I are going to be remembered. Paul is not only fond of these individuals, but he's grateful for their co-laboring that proved to be a great help to him in ministry. In light of this passage, ask yourself, these questions. Are you partnering with others for the sake of the gospel? Are you living your life in a way that the love of the Lord Jesus shines through you? Are you serving the Lord by using the specific gifts that he's given to you to glorify his name and build up the church? Dear friends, this is really what it's about. It's partly what Paul means when he says in Romans 12, 1, I appeal to you brothers by the mercy of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. So like these dear saints, mentioned, remembered, revered, honored by Paul, may the Lord too find you and me faithful in serving him in glorifying him and in making his name known. Let's pray. God in heaven, we're grateful. We're so grateful for your word. And we are thankful that we can be on this side of having the whole counsel of God before us from beginning to end. And we thank you for the way in which your Holy Spirit instructs and teaches and enlightens and illumines the word before us. And so we know that these names are listed in your holy word, and we can't just skip over it. We're thankful for each one of these men and the impact they had on Paul and his ministry. Father, help us. We would do well to really think on this this week, to think about how we will be remembered. Father, may we be remembered as ones that loved you, that served you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, that loved our fellow brothers and sisters, that sought your will and took opportunity to evangelize and tell others of the great news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Father, may we, when we approach your throne one day in heaven, may we hear those words O thou good and faithful servant. Father, may you find us faithful even this day, even this week, as we seek to consecrate our lives to you. In Jesus' name, amen.