Let's turn again to Romans chapter
16. The title of the message this morning, how can I serve
the Lord? I thought it good to go through
this subject because I hope, I hope that someone here is wondering,
how can I serve the Lord? You ought not just leave it to
the older folks who've done it for years, but how Can I serve
the Lord? Every child of God ought to want
to serve somehow. And you might think, well, I'm
not a preacher, I'm not a teacher, but I'd like to serve somehow
in the Lord's kingdom. Well, that question is going
to be answered for us this morning and how Paul greets and commends
several of the different people there at the church at Rome.
I want to, this morning from our text, give you four broad
ways in which we can serve the Lord. And I pray this will apply
to everyone. How can I be of service? Number
one is this. Any believer can serve the Lord. Any believer. See, this message
is for everybody here because anybody can serve the Lord. I'm
not talking to somebody else. I'm talking to you this morning.
Anybody, any believer can serve the Lord. Really, it'd be more
accurate to say this. Every believer must serve the
Lord. Somehow, with whatever talents
or abilities the Lord's given you, we must serve the Lord somehow. The Lord, whatever you have,
God's given you. Isn't that right? Well, He didn't give you the
talents and the things that He's given you just for your own use. He gave you those things to be
used in His service for the good of others by helping others.
Now, almost everybody that Paul mentions here in this greeting,
almost everybody, It's just a common, ordinary person. There are no
apostles. There's no miracle workers or
anything like that. They're just common, ordinary
people. Most of them we know nothing about. Their names are
only mentioned right here. It's the only time their names
are mentioned, most of them, in the whole Bible. But we know
this about them. They served the Lord. They didn't
have to be famous, did they? They served the Lord. Now, they
might not have served in a... Maybe they did. I don't know.
Maybe they didn't. serving in a way that we would
call extraordinary, like the apostles or the martyrs served
the Lord. But I know this, their service
mattered. It mattered enough that Paul
thanked them for it. They did something to help the gospel
be preached where they were. They supported the ministry in
many different ways with the different gifts the Lord's given
them. And they were helpful. So Paul took time in the word
of God. I mean, this isn't just the thoughts of Paul, this is
the word of God, to thank them for their service. God noticed
it. Now the other thing to note here is that many of the people
that Paul mentions are women. Now we know women aren't to preach
or to teach in the church, but by no means does that mean women
are second class citizens in God's kingdom. Not at all. Just
like in the home, the husband is the head of the wife. By no
means does that mean the wife is the second class citizen in
the home. By no means does it mean that. If you think that,
man, you're wrong. You're wrong. You better seek
the Lord's counsel in that. By no means does it mean that. Women are not second-class citizens
in God's kingdom. What did the apostle tell us
in Galatians chapter 3? In Christ, there's neither male
nor female. But we're all one in Christ.
Look over at Mark chapter 15. Actually, the only disciples
who were left, the followers who were left at the cross when
our Lord died, were women. The men have fled, haven't they?
Look here at Mark 15, verse 37. And Jesus cried with a loud voice
and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was
rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion
which stood over against him saw that, he so cried out and
gave up the ghost, he said, truly this man was a son of God. There
were also women looking on, far off, among whom was Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of James the less, and of Joses, and Salome,
who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered unto
him, and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem. Now these women were with the
Lord when he was in Galilee. They were with the Lord from
the very beginning of his public ministry. They weren't teachers
or preachers, but what did they do? They traveled around with
the Lord, serving Him, taking care of His bodily needs or whatever,
the physical needs of Him and those around Him. And these women
stayed faithful right up to the end. They were with the Lord.
They were there when He gave up the ghost. And then, just
three days later, it was women who first saw the Lord risen
because they were the first ones to the tomb to anoint His body.
And I thought as I was studying this. I'm not going to name names
because I've missed too many. But I want to tell you this,
I know women like that today, don't you? I do. I'm looking
at a lot of them. And I thank God for you. Just
like Paul thanked them, I thank you. Your service is important. Believe me, it is not unnoticed. Now Paul mentions several women
here, but I want us to look at the example of Phoebe. This afternoon,
if you care to look at the back of your bulletin, there's a outstanding
article by Phoebe, by Moose Parks. But the example I want us to
look at is that of Phoebe. Verse one, Paul says, I commend
unto you, Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church,
which is at centuria, that you receive her in the Lord, as becometh
saints, and that you assist her in whatsoever business she hath
need of you. For she hath been a sucker, a
comforter, a helper of many, and of myself also. Now, Paul
calls Phoebe a servant, and people have gotten hung up on this.
That word servant is actually a deaconess. Now, we know that
doesn't mean that Phoebe preached like, you know, the office of
deacon or bishop or something that's given to us in Scripture.
The word means to wait tables and to attend to needs. And that's
what she did. She probably attended to the
needs of the widows and the sick. She waited tables by opening
her home to visitors. And certainly preachers, the
Apostle Paul traveling through, but not didn't have to be a preacher,
just any of the brethren who are visiting traveling through.
She waited tables. She opened her home to them.
She showed hospitality. And just remember that we've
got a conference coming up and other times and when people are
coming through town, you know, visiting, this is an important
service. I can tell you this from, from
traveling to conferences to preach and, and just being there to
worship a comfortable place to stay. between services. It makes it a whole lot easier
to get ready to preach and prepare your heart to worship. This was
an important service she did. I'm sure she waited tables by
preparing and serving food at church dinners and things. This
is an important service that our women do. And our women just,
I mean, knock it out of the park. I mean, just, wow. And isn't
that helpful to have a time of fellowship? You know, if after
the service, if we didn't have nothing to eat, we couldn't stay
very long, could we? We'd be hungry. Want to go eat? but we got something
good to eat and the women all prepare that, take care of that
so we can have time to fellowship. That's important service. And
she wasn't just casual about this. She put a lot of work into
this. He mentions Mary in verse six who's bestowed much labor
on us. They weren't just casual about this. They put much labor
into this. Paul said, Phoebe's helped many, me, but also others. She took care of details when
Paul was there visiting so he'd have his time he could devote
to studying, to preaching. And a lot of people think Phoebe
was the one who hand-delivered this letter to the church at
Rome. She was there with Paul in the place where he was, but
she would be traveling to Rome on some business, and Paul said,
I want you to take this letter to the church. And he tells the
church, now you receive her as becometh saints, and in a way
that's becoming to believers. Well, how do I do that? Do something
in a way that's becoming to believers? Well, first of all, by receiving
her as a sister. Paul says she's our sister in
Christ. So we're to receive her in love.
Not keep her at arm's length like a stranger, but she's family.
She's a sister. Receive her that way. You know,
we need to remember this. This gathering, this body right
here, we're not just people that hold to the same doctrine. We're family. Family in Christ
in a very important relationship, a dear relationship, and we ought
to treat one another that way. We ought to. That's a command
of God. Second is becoming of saints.
To receive each other in the same way that God receives us. Well, I'll take care about wondering,
well, do I have to do this or do I have to do that? Just receive
one another in the way God received you. How did God receive us? Freely. He forgave us freely. He forgave everything. He received
us in love. He received us fully. He didn't
keep us on a probationary period, did He? He received us doing
everything necessary to save our sorry souls. Now receive
one another that way. Freely. Fully. Just doing whatever
is necessary to help your brethren. Paul tells him, now Phoebe's
come here from out of town. She doesn't know the lay of the
land. She doesn't know the business people. She doesn't know how
the government works or anything. So you all help her in whatever
business she has need of. Show her where things are. You
know, if she needs to go to the town hall to file paperwork or
she needs to go to this business or that business to conduct her
business, don't just give her directions. Just take her there. Help her. That's what he's saying.
Do whatever you can to help her with this motivation. Remember
how Christ received you, how He did everything required to
save your soul. That's becoming saints, isn't
it? Thirdly, it is becoming to saints, to receive her as you
would receive Christ Himself. Oh, how would you receive the
Lord Jesus if He came visiting this moment? Would you dare leave
this place and ask Him, you got a place to stay? Can I get you
something to eat? Would you like to come to my
house? Would you dare? Huh? Receive one another the exact
same way as you're receiving Christ Himself. Because you are.
We're the body of Christ. That's becoming the saints. Alright,
second, if I want to serve the Lord, it must be in the Lord. In the Lord. Paul uses this phrase,
in the Lord or in Christ, Eight times in 16 verses. And that
phrase means to give yourself wholly to something. It's to
be in Christ. Serving in the Lord is serving
not so that you get recognition, not so that everybody knows what
you're doing, but just to serve the Lord and really to try to
not get any recognition or attention from it whatsoever, because you
want the attention to be on Christ. Serving in the Lord is to serve
with this honest desire for God's glory and for the good of His
people. That's serving in the Lord. And I tell you, the best
thing we can do for people, the very best, is to help the gospel
be preached to them. Make it so this is a place where
the gospel is preached, where people can come and hear the
gospel, because that is their greatest need. It's our greatest
need, isn't it? But it's also the greatest need
of everybody out there. Well, do whatever you can do to make
this a place where the gospel is preached. And the example
that Paul uses here is Priscilla and Aquila, verse 3. He says,
Greet 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. Now
look over at Acts chapter 18. Acts 18 is the first time we
meet Priscilla and Aquila. Acts 18 verse 1. After these
things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth and found
a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy
with his wife Priscilla. because that Claudius had commanded
all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them. And because
he was of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought and
worked, for by their occupation they were tent makers. Now the
Jews had to flee from Rome because of persecution. Priscilla and
Aquila left there and came to Corinth, and they just so happened
to meet the apostle Paul there in Corinth. Now apparently sometime
later they went back to Rome, because now they're in Rome when
Paul writes this letter. For this time, Paul and Priscilla
and Aquila were together in Corinth, and they worked together making
tents. And I thought, well, you just imagine the fellowship that
they had, working together, making tents, and talking about the
Savior. I mean, wouldn't it be wonderful
to be in business with people like this? Wouldn't it be wonderful
to have your business partner be Paul and Priscilla and Aquila? And that's what they did. They
worked together making tents to supply their physical needs,
But there were times, Priscilla and Aquila, I'm confident of
this, carried the biggest part of the tent making. I'm confident
that they did. They didn't want Paul to do his
equal third. They carried the heaviest part
of that at times. They had to. Because while he was there, Paul
had the time to prepare and be ready to preach, verse four.
And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the
Jews and the Greeks. Paul had time to give himself
to preaching the gospel. And there was a lot of opposition
to it, verse 5. And when Silas and Timotheus
were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit and
testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed
themselves, and don't just skip over that, they opposed themselves.
They didn't oppose the Apostle Paul. They didn't oppose Silas
and Timothy. When they refused to bow to the
gospel, when they refused to believe in Jesus Christ, they
opposed themselves. When they opposed themselves
and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, your
blood be upon your own heads. I'm clean from henceforth. I
will go unto the Gentiles. And there must've been a lot
of opposition there. Maybe this was the time. Maybe
it was a different time. I don't know. But at some point,
Priscilla and Aquila put their lives on the line to help the
apostle Paul. Just simply being identified
with Paul during this time of opposition, put them in danger,
put their lives in danger. Maybe they did something to risk
their lives so Paul can go out of the city and go other places
to preach. I don't know. But again, just
like this Priscilla and Aquila, just like the women. I know couples
just like that today. Just like that. Now, you're not
called on to do something like they did. Put your lives on the
line to help the gospel. But I really think many of you
would if the situation came up. But I tell you, you have put
your lives in this ministry. You pledged yourself to be able
to pay for everything that's necessary for this building and
this ministry for the gospel's sake. You're identified with
it. And you do whatever you can to
make sure the gospel is preached here. And I thank God for you
every day. I mean, just how you all take
care of things. I thank God for you. And Priscilla and Aquila
weren't just helpful to just preachers. Paul said, all the
churches of the Gentiles give thanks. And like I said, I know
many couples like that today. Now Priscilla and Aquila, maybe
they weren't preachers, but they knew the gospel. They knew Christ
and they could help people understand it. Look over verse 24, Acts
18. In a certain Jew, named Apollos,
born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures,
came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the
way of the Lord, and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught
diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism
of John." Now, what does that mean, Apollos only knew of the
baptism of John? Well, the baptism of John is
not believers' baptism, confessing Christ, His death, burial, and
resurrection. The baptism of John was a repentance of sin. was admitting I am a sinner who
needs a Savior. That's what the baptism of John
represented. It also represented this, I'm looking for the Savior. I'm looking for the one who will
come who will put my sin away, the sin of his people. Now that's
all Apollos knew. I don't know why that's all he
knew, but that's all he knew. But he was mighty in the scriptures.
He was mighty in understanding of the scriptures. He was mighty
in preaching the Old Testament scriptures. And Priscilla and
Aquila heard him preach, verse 26, And he began to speak boldly
in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they
took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more
perfectly." Now, Priscilla and Aquila didn't just hear this
guy preach and just hear him. This is after the death, burial,
resurrection, ascension of the Lord. They didn't say, well,
this guy, he doesn't know the gospel. He doesn't know the Lord.
I'm never going to listen to him preach again. No, they didn't
do that. They heard him preach. Now, they could tell this man's
not trusting his own law He's not trusting in the ceremonies.
He's not trusting anything about himself. They could tell that.
So they invited him over for dinner. They said, why don't
you come with us? Maybe he spent the day or extended
period of time with them. But during that time, they taught
him the gospel more perfectly. How did they do that? They told
him, Apollos, you're preaching about our sin and our need of
a Savior. We like that. That's us. And
you're preaching about salvation in one Who is to come? He said,
you're right. That's what I'm preaching. And
they said, Apollos, we can tell you he has come. He has come. He has saved his people from
their sin. The Savior is the Lord Jesus
Christ. They told him the same thing
that the Apostle Paul was preaching. Jesus is the Christ. And by God's grace, Apollos didn't
oppose himself. He must have been thrilled. He
heard what they were saying, because now look, verse 27. And
when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren rode,
exhorting the disciples to receive him, who, when he was come, helped
them much, which had believed through grace, for he mightily
convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures
that Jesus was Christ." See, he heard what they said, and
this man was mighty in the Old Testament. Now he's like the
other apostles. Now I see. The Old Testament
Scriptures were open to me. I see they're all concerning
Christ. I know who he is. And he mightily preached Christ. That's pretty good service for
the church, wasn't it? But that Priscilla and Aquila
could help him. And you know, many of you can do the exact
same thing you do. You help supply physical needs,
certainly, and you're not a preacher, but you know the Lord. And you
can talk to folks about the Lord. You can tell them who Christ
is. He is the Christ. He is the Savior. You can tell people what great
things God has done for you. That's serving the Lord. And
each of us should strive to be like Priscilla and Aquila. You
go through scripture, you almost, I don't think, I should look
this to be sure, but I don't think you ever see their names
separated. You don't just see one of their,
their names are always together, always together. This is when
I travel places to all the other churches, one of the first things
I get asked, how's Carter and Joyce? Carter and Joyce. Never
Carter, it's always the two of you together. That's Priscilla
McWilliam. All of us should strive to be that way. To strive to
help God's people, to serve God's people, to help the gospel be
preached. Because listen, God's people are only going to be blessed
when the gospel is preached. That's right. Now back in our
text, verse 5, that's what happened there. Romans 16, verse 5, he
says, likewise, Greet the church that is in their house. Salute
my well-beloved Epinatus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia
unto Christ. See, there was a harvest of souls
because the church preached the gospel and people were saved.
Epinatus was the firstfruits, the first one converted there.
But if there are firstfruits, that tells me there are secondfruits. There's more fruits to come.
There's some to follow. And that doesn't surprise me
the least. Because when God saves His people, He always does it
through the preaching of the gospel. God's people are saved
and they're blessed. They serve the Lord when the
gospel is preached. I thought this was interesting.
I was looking this up, serving the Lord the other day. We serve
the Lord in worship by the preaching of Christ crucified. That's how
we serve the Lord. Now, make good on that. Remember
when the children of Israel, Moses came back And he went to
Pharaoh and he told Pharaoh, he said, we want to go out, leave
Egypt and go out in the wilderness for a certain number of days.
We're going to go out there a certain distance and a certain number of days.
And we want to serve the Lord. And you know how he said we're
going to serve the Lord? By offering sacrifices. We want to go out
and serve the Lord. That's how we serve the Lord.
It's through the preaching of Christ crucified. So do everything
you can to make that possible. and do it quietly. Just do it
quietly. Just get it done so the gospel
can be preached here. Every one of us can do something.
That's right. Back this summer, we had a problem
with yellow jackets in this building, especially that little Sunday
school room over there. Seen a yellow jacket lately?
Does anybody know how they got gone? Somebody came and took
care of that. We had a leaky roof and a leaky
pipe. Leaky pipe in the men's room in there. That tile all
discolored and hanging down. Do you notice it's fixed? Anybody
know how that happened? Somebody came and just quiet,
I didn't even know who did it. Somebody had to tell me. Just
got done. That's serving the Lord. So we're not thinking about
yellow jackets. We're not thinking about puddles
on the floor or ceiling tiles falling down. but so that we
can focus on the Lord. That's serving the Lord. People
give and do it quietly just to pay for everything that's necessary
in this ministry. I mean, do it quietly. We don't
even pass a plate. Y'all just come in there and
quietly drop it in that box back there. Nobody knows yet. Everything's taken care of. Our
Lord provides through your giving. That's giving generously and
quietly in the Lord, in the Lord. I have a thankful heart and a
desire for other people to know who the Lord is. All right. Thirdly, we serve the Lord in
love. Matter of fact, we can only serve
the Lord in love. Now this love is important. Showing this love is important.
Loving one another is the commandment of our Savior. It's not just
a good idea, something you can do, you know. No, this is his
commandment. I command you, he said, that
you love one another as I've loved you. By this shall all
men know you're my disciples, if you have love one to another. So that's not a feeling of love
hitting your heart, is it? That's love in action. Four times
in these verses, Paul calls someone beloved. In verse 5, he talked
about my well-beloved Eponavis. Verse 8, greet Ampelus, my beloved
in the Lord. Verse 9, salute Urbain, our helper
in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved. Now, I don't know anything about
those people. I only hear their name right here in this chapter.
I don't know anything about them. I don't know what they did that
caused Paul to say, they're my beloved. But I just bet you this. They were loving people. They
showed their love by doing whatever they could to help folks. Now,
that can be done in big ways, in big events. And by all means,
look for the opportunity. Do those things when they arise. But I tell you where this is
done more frequently is in small ways, things that don't seem
all that significant. It can be as simple. is just
greeting people in love, making them know, I'm glad to see you,
making them feel some affection from you. Paul tells us that,
verse 16, this is what we're to do. Salute one another with
an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute
you. And that's done, and I'm thankful
that's done in this place. And this is just the truth. I
told a pastor this one time, he said, wow, that's a big compliment.
But this is the truth. This is a nicer, warmer place
when Ron Meadows is greeting y'all at the door. I mean, I
stand out there, Liz, he's got a personalized greeting for everybody
that comes in that door. And it just warms everybody up.
And he might be real soft and kind to you. He might give you
grief. But y'all like it. You look for it. That's what
we're to do for each other. Greet one another with a holy
kiss. Make sure people know. I care about you. I care about
you. We can only serve the Lord in
love. And the great example of that in this chapter is verse
13. Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord and his mother and mine. Now Paul says greet Rufus and
his mother. And he says, she's my mother too. Now this dear
lady did not give birth to the apostle Paul, but he calls her
his mother. And you know why he does that?
because she gave him sweet mama loving. And it mattered. It mattered. Rufus and his mother
were elect of the Lord, chosen of the Lord. God chose to save
them through the obedience and through the blood of his son.
Nothing is more loving than that God would elect sinners to save. Nothing is more loving than that.
Then God's people should be a loving people. We ought to be a loving
people. And if we're not loving, could
be it's because we're strangers to God's grace. Anybody that
knows anything about God's grace ought to be a loving person.
And it's important to show our love for the Lord by showing
our love to each other. Now you think about the Apostle
Paul. This was a courageous, bold man. He was set for the
defense of the gospel. He wouldn't back down from anybody
anywhere. He'd been beaten how many times?
Didn't back down. He was threatened with death.
Didn't back down. He was eventually put to death
for preaching the gospel. He wouldn't back down. He exhausted
himself traveling to preach. Eric and I were talking about
this the other day. As I get older, traveling is
hard. It takes me a while to recover. You drive all day and
you think, well, I didn't do nothing. I just sat there all
day. It's really hard. The Apostle Paul would laugh
at us. You'd think how hard it was for him to travel. And he
just exhausted himself doing it. And many times he supported
himself. He wouldn't take anything from
the churches. He supported himself with his own work. And you cannot
imagine how hard that is. to work a job to support your
family and yourself and preach the gospel at the same time.
I mean, I can't tell you how hard. I just did it for three
months and I thought I was exhausted. Paul exhausted himself preaching. This was a hardened man. He was
a hardened soldier of Christ and he told Timothy, you make
yourself the same way. A hardened soldier of Christ. Don't you think for a moment
But old Paul did not just melt. When this dear woman came and
hugged him, and she kissed him, and she said, you're my son.
She said, you come home with me. And she found out what his
favorite food was, and she's fixing it. She saw he needed
some new clothes. I don't know what kind of clothes.
He wore robes or sandals or whatever else he needed. She got it for
him. She got it for him. She made sure he had a comfortable
place to sleep. And you women, can do that better
than men. Let's just be honest. Jan tells
me all the time, men are not nurturers, but women tend to
be. Y'all can do that. Don't you
think it doesn't matter? Don't you think it? I've used
this illustration before, but I thought about it as I was preparing
this message. When I was in Mexico at Jobain,
I preached there. And after the service, a lady
named Melba came up and talked to me. And she dresses in that,
in all the Mayan, just a beautiful woman. She's just very proud
of her Mayan heritage. You know, I think that's probably
looked down on in some places in Mexico. But she wears all
that. And she came up and started talking
to me. And she didn't wait until I had,
nobody was there to translate. So I was just like, you know,
I was looking at her. And I knew what she was saying. She reached
her hand up. She's a short little woman. She
reached her hand up behind my neck. and pulled my head down.
She gave me a kiss on the cheek. And about that time, Betty came
up and she started to translate. She said, oh, you know what she's
saying. I said, oh, I think I do. I just melted. I mean, I just melted. It's a
blessing to know that the Lord has blessed his word so much
to someone's heart that it makes them want to show that kind of
love. That's the only way we can serve the Lord, in love for
him, in love for his people. Alright, here's the fourth thing.
We serve the Lord by being approved in Christ. Verse 10. Salute appellees
approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus'
household. Now that word approved, Paul
uses, there means to be a sage, like money. You know, at that
time they would take the gold or silver, whatever they were
using for money, and the Roman government would weigh it and
stamp it. And it was guaranteed to be the right way. Something
wasn't, you know, shaved off of it or they're not, you know,
got gold filled with lead or something. It was proven, approved
to be the right way. Well, people have been proven,
their faith has been proven to be genuine so they can be helpful
to others. Let me show you a couple of scriptures. First Corinthians chapter 11. First Corinthians 11. Verse 19. For there must be also
heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made
manifest among you. That word approved is the same
word that Paul uses. It means those who are proven
to have genuine faith and not a heretic. They're the only people
that can serve the Lord. Because you can't serve the Lord
by preaching a lie. You can't serve the Lord by believing a
lie, can you? No, it's got to be proven to be genuine faith.
That person who has genuine faith That person can point sinners
to Christ because that person knows who Christ is and they
believe in Him. Look here, we looked at this
first in our lesson this morning, James chapter 1. Someone who has been proven to
have genuine faith, they can also lead by example. They can
be a help and comfort to others. They've been proven in these
trials already. James 1 verse 12. Blessed is
the man that endureth temptation. For when he is tried, he shall
receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them
that love him. That word tried there is the exact same Greek
word translated approved in our text. His faith has been tried
and has been proven to be genuine faith in Christ. Now that man,
that woman can comfort others when they're in a time of trouble
and trial. They can tell him, I know, I know this hurts. I know it does. But they can
also tell him, I know this, the Lord can keep his promise. He
always keeps his promise. He'll not let you go. He will
be with you when you go through the waters. He will be. They're
not going to overflow you, because he'll be with you. No one can
really sympathize with someone else until they've been through
it. Sometimes, all you've got to do is be a help, In that time,
it's just say I know. And I'm sorry. A lot of times
you wouldn't believe how far that goes to somebody who's hurting.
We serve the Lord by helping people in those ways. Improving
genuine faith and love. Now one more verse that's on
this point, verse 7 in our text, Romans 16. Salute Andrew Canicus
and Juna, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners who are of note
among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me." That
phrase, of note, caught my eye. What is it to be of note among
God's people? Is it that I've done so much,
made such a show of myself, people always remember my name, maybe
for the wrong reason? That's not what he's talking about.
To be of note. How is it to be of note among
God's people? Let me give you three or four
ways. Number one is to be faithful.
If you want to be of note among God's people, be faithful. Be in the worship service. Just
be faithful to be in the service. Prove yourself faithful to others,
to help them, to be kind to them, be faithful to talk of the Lord
to your brethren. You'll be of note among the brethren. Second, to be of note. I know
that this was of note to the apostles. Be teachable. Be teachable. Be easy to preach
to. We have visiting preachers here,
and they often tell me, this is an easy place to preach. When
I was at Danville a few weeks ago, I was talking to Brother
Fortner afterwards. He was thanking me for coming.
I said, well, thank you for having me. I said, it's such an easy
place to preach. And he said, that's the best
compliment you can give a congregation. If you want to be of note, be
teachable. Don't be a know-it-all. And don't
look at the gospel as, eh, I've heard that before. Be excited. Be excited to hear more of Christ
every service. I don't know I've met anybody
more excited every single service than Roy Dennison was. Roy was
so excited to come to the house of the Lord every Sunday, every
Wednesday, to learn more of Christ. Tell me about him again. That's
to be teachable. That's to be of note. Thirdly,
if you would be of note among God's people, make Christ the
focus of what you do, of what you believe, what you hold to,
and make His glory, the good of His gospel, the focus of what
you do, and don't have your own agenda. If your agenda is to
be of note among the apostles, among the disciples, you might
be of note for the wrong thing. Make Christ your focus. and you'll
end up being of note to the brethren. And then this, if you would be
of note among the brethren, be kind to others. Be kind. Without
making a show of yourself. Not to draw attention to yourself.
If you would be of note, again, this is one of those things that
are contrary to logic. If you would be of note, serve
quietly so that you're not noticed. Try to be not noticed. And that
would be appreciated more than if you Do these things, but yet
then try to let everybody know what you're doing. Serve the
Lord. Just do it quietly so that nobody will notice. And you'll
be of note among the brethren because that goes back to their
point I made. It's in the Lord. That's serving in the Lord. Every one of us can do that.
That's how you serve the Lord. If you want to serve the Lord,
that's how you do it. And all of us, every one of us can do
that. My prayers, Lord, be pleased
to make us desire it and then do it. Let's bow together in
prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
this instruction that you've given us from your word. How
we thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ. We think of him, his
person, the perfection of his person, the love that he has
for his people, that he would humiliate himself to come in
the likeness of our flesh. that He would submit Himself
to be under the law, to be made under the law and to obey it
perfectly. To be faithful, to do everything that was necessary
to make His people righteous through His obedience. When we
think how He loves His people so much that with joy, despising
the shame, but with joy He went to the cross to suffer and die
to put away the sin of His people. To think how He and patience
and long suffering puts up with us. After he's called us and
given us life, he's still so long suffering. Father, how we
thank you. Oh, how we desire to be able
to worship and praise Christ our Savior. And we desire to
serve him, to serve in his kingdom. Father, we pray that you not
just give us the opportunity, but you give us a heart to serve
you by serving others. through the preaching of the
gospel. It's in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ
for his glory we pray.