This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotion. We are in Romans chapter
16 this week, day two of our look at that chapter. Today we're going to be looking
at verses six to 16, continuing our look at this list of names through which God
changed the world.

Yesterday we began our look at this list of greetings and commendations from
Paul to 27 people, two households, 18 men, nine women. Today we're going to
continue our look at this list. Beginning in verse six where Paul says, "Greet
Mary, who worked very hard for you.

" The Bible holds up the value of hard work for the good news of Christ. In
verse seven he says, "Greet Andronicus and Junius, "my relatives who've been in
prison with me. "They are outstanding among the apostles, "and they were in
Christ before I was.

" They became believers in Christ before Paul. As Paul says, "My relatives," by
the way, in this verse, it could mean that they were of his family, but it more
likely means that they were fellow Jews with him. There are obviously, as you
read through this list, both Jew and Gentile, both men and women, both former
slave and free, all throughout this list, showing that the good news of Christ
reaches out to everyone.

And Paul talks about these two who had been in prison with him, and it supported
him there. And then he says, in the middle of this verse, a phrase that throws a
lot of people. He says, "They are outstanding among the apostles.

" Many people think, well, wait, wait, wait, apostles, Junius, I thought the
apostles were Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John, and all those other guys. I
thought the apostles were the first 12 that followed Jesus. Well, first of all,
Mark was not an apostle, although he was a writer of the New Testament.

But Matthew was, and John was, Luke was also a writer of the New Testament. And
of those first 12, there are also some others in the New Testament who are
mentioned to be apostles. What does this mean?

Well, you sort of solve the ministry when you realize that the word apostle is
used in two ways in the New Testament. Sometimes it's used in a more narrow
sense to mean the original 12 that followed Jesus, but then it's also used in a
broader sense. The word apostle can also mean messenger, someone who brings
forth the good news of Christ, especially into new places.

And that's the sense of it here, outstanding among the apostles. It's
outstanding among the messengers who are bringing the good news of Christ to
places where it needs to be heard. In verse eight, he says, "I greet Ampliatus,
"whom I love in the Lord.

" Interesting name, Ampliatus. It's interesting in the fact that in the
catacombs in Rome, there's a grave that bears this name. And that grave is
ornately decorated.

This was obviously a person that was highly honored among the believers in Rome.
And it's possibly this very person that Paul is talking about here. It was an
honored name in the church.

In verse nine, he says, "Greet Urbanus, "our fellow worker in Christ, "and my
good friend, my dear friend, Statius. "Urbanus, Hermes, Philologus, Julia. " As
we read through this list, these are names that were common in slaves in that
day.

We're going to talk about that a little bit more towards the end of this week. But
again, throughout this list, you see people from all strata of society. In verse
10, he says, "Greet Apollos, "tested and approved in Christ.

"Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. " It's interesting the
phrase tested and approved. He passed the test.

And the idea in the New Testament, often of being tested and approved, was that
he faced some kind of suffering for his faith in Christ. And all could see that
he'd been tested for his faith. And all could see that he had been approved.

Why was he approved? He was approved because he had been faithful throughout the
test, through the difficulties of life. In verse 11, Paul says, "Greet Herodian,
my relative.

" Again, relative could mean somebody from his household, but it could also mean
a fellow Jew. And he says, "Greet those in the household of Narcissus "who are
in the Lord. " Now, Narcissus is a strange name today, 'cause it reminds us of
narcissism.

We would never name anybody that. But in that day, it was not such a strange
name. And this was somebody who was not focused on himself, obviously, but was
focused on the Lord, Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

Not self-focused, but Jesus focused life. In verse 12, he has this interesting
note. "Greet Trifina and Trifosa, "those women who work hard in the Lord.

"And greet my dear friend, Pursus, "another woman who has worked very hard in
the Lord. " Trifina and Trifosa, these were likely twins, the way the names read
here. And their names literally mean dainty and delicate.

And yet, Paul says, "Greet these dainty and delicate women "because they worked
hard. " And that idea of working hard there has the idea of working hard to the
point of exhaustion. Trifina and Trifosa, not a bad name for twin daughters.

If you're having twin daughters, you might consider Trifina and Trifosa. Dainty
and delicate, these are the names that you would give to aristocracy, to people
who would be waited on all of their lives. But instead, these women, these women
chose to work hard in the Lord, to give their hearts to serving other people.

They didn't take their name and see it as some kind of a right. But instead,
they gave themselves to others to the point even of exhaustion. In verse 13,
another very interesting name in this list, "Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord and
his mother, "who's been a mother to me too.

" Rufus is an interesting name here. In that Mark, whose gospel was written
primarily to the Romans, mentions also a Rufus. And he mentions Rufus in a way
in which it seems that that man were familiar to the Romans, were well known to
the Romans.

So it is not so much of a stretch to see this Rufus as mentioned here as the
same Rufus that Mark mentions in his gospel. It's in Mark chapter 15, 21. And in
Mark 15, 21, Mark talks about Simon, who was the father of Alexander and Rufus.

The saying that the Romans and Rome knew who Alexander and Rufus were. This
Simon, who was the father of Alexander and Rufus, is the same Simon that, as
Jesus was carrying his cross, was entrapped by the Roman guards and asked to put
the cross on his shoulder because Jesus was so exhausted, and to carry the cross
the rest of the way to the hill of Golgotha where Jesus was going to give his
life. Now if this is true, Rufus and his mother are still both a part of this
church in Rome years later.

And if this is true, then this means that for Simon, what had become in his life
a cruel interruption by this Roman soldier, and had become an almost impossible
sounding demand to carry somebody else's cross, became the best thing that ever
happened to him, and the best thing that ever happened to his family. God works
even in the difficulties of life. As you read on in the book of Romans, chapter
16, in verses 14 and 15, Paul has a long list of names.

He says, "Greet Asyncretus, and Philegon, and Hermes, "and Petrobalus, and
Hermes, and the brothers with them. "Greet Philologus, and Julia, and Nerius,
and his sister, "and Olympus, and the saints with them. " Now let me just, a
quick by the way here, because there's so many names there.

If you ever asked to read the Bible, and there's a long list of names, my
encouragement to people is always read them confidently, like you know what the
pronunciation is, 'cause no one else really knows the pronunciation anyway, so
if you read it very confidently, they're going to think, oh, that's how you
pronounce that, and they're going to think you're a great student of the Bible.
That's what I just did, at least as I read through these. As you read that long
list, you know that Paul knew a lot of people in Rome, and that he had seen
God's work in many people's lives.

And we get a little insight into some of these names as we read through this,
but for most of them, the actions in their heart, the faith that they had
expressed, we're never going to know the story until we get to heaven, but we know
by the fact that Paul mentioned them that God used these people and their faith
to change history. In verse 16, he says, "Greet one another. "Greet one another
with a holy kiss.

"All the churches of Christ send you greetings. "Greet one another with a holy
kiss. " That was just an expression of affection, and what that means is you
give to another believer an expression of affection that fits your culture.

In Philip's translation, Philip, who was an Englishman, translate this, "Give a
hearty handshake all around. " Well, that's very English, that makes sense. Here
in Southern California, we might say, "Greet one another with a holy hug.

" The idea is give a physical expression of affection that we're family, that we
belong together. This long list of people in Romans chapter 16, one to 16, Paul
says, "Greet so-and-so because they did this. "Greet this person who did this.

"Greet this person who did this. " What if your name were there? What if your
name were there?

What if it said, "Greet," and then you put in your name? Let me ask you, how
would you like the end of the verse to read? What if your name were written down
for eternity in God's word?

What would you like to be beside it? Now, for me, it would say, "Greet Tom who,"
and how would I like it to end? Right now, as you're driving or as you're
sitting and thinking, think of something in your mind or even jot something
down.

How would you like it to end? What would you write? I know the first idea I have
is, I don't know what I would write.

But this is not something that we should let go of. If I asked you to write down
a salary that you'd like to make, I think it'd be pretty easy to jot something
down. If I asked you to write down even a car that you might like to own, it
would be, oh, I could think of something, an age at which you'd like to retire
or a place even that you'd like to go on vacation.

We could come up with those ideas. But what about what you want your life to
stand for? Sometimes it seems so big that we cannot come up with an idea, but
there needs to be a starting place.

What about the totality of your life? If you can't write something down in your
heart or on paper, then you end up not knowing what you stand for. And if you
don't know what you stand for, you won't change anything.

Romans is a book that changed history. Romans is a book that has changed
millions. It would be a tragedy to read through this book without it changing
me.

Now, if God's brought a thought to mind, greet and you put in your name, who,
who what? Who had a great faith, who infected others with hope, who changed the
world because of the love for Jesus Christ. As a thought comes to mind, the next
feeling that often hits is doubt.

How could that be me? How could that identify me? We feel not at first
faith-filled, but we feel inadequate, we feel afraid, we feel unsure.

We feel, I've tried that before and I failed. We're going to deal with those
feelings the next few days. But before doing that, let's pray in faith.

Let's pray in faith that God would give us the strength to stand for what he has
made us to stand for. And just say to God in prayer, God, here's what I would
like my life to stand for. When people think of me, I'd like them to think,
greet, here's my name, who shared his faith with others.

Or who helped others when they were in need. Or who didn't know how to give up.
Or who showed her family what Jesus is like.

Or maybe who had a great love for God's word. Maybe God brings another phrase to
mind, whatever it is. Pray right now, God, help my life to stand for what you
made me to stand for.

Help me to live in such a way that the world sees that Jesus has made a
difference in my life. I pray this in your name, Jesus, amen. Well, join us
tomorrow.

We're going to be looking at verses 17 to 20 of Romans 16.