Blood-Bought List

Romans sixteen, verses one through sixteen. Why don't you read

along as I read aloud. I commend to you our

sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cancrea, 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 risked their necks

for my life, to whom not only I give thanks,

but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.

Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epenitus,

who is the first convert to Christ in Asia. Greet Mary,

who has worked hard for you. Greet Andronichus and Junia,

my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known

to the Apostles, and they were in Christ before me.

Greet Ampladus, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our

fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stacus. Greet Apelles,

who's approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the

family of Aristobulus. Greet my kinsmen Herodium. Greet those in

the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. Greet

those workers in the Lord, Triphana and Triphosa. Greet the

beloved perss 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 Epyncritus, fell

on Hermes, patrobas Hermas 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.

This is the word of the Lord. I hope you

won't feel guilty if during the reading of our sermon

text your heart was not a flutter. That is the

first line of a sermon by doctor Fred Krattick when

he preached this message from Romans sixteen one through sixteen.

Or preach this text rather, and this morning, I'm going

to preach a message much like Fred Kratick preached from

this text, kind of an homage to doctor Kratik. But

what that means for us is that it's gonna be

rather unconventional. This is a message not like most of

the sermons that I preach. I'm taking a little bit

of Crati's direction. This also is because this is not

our normal kind of text. This is what we're used

to from Romans, is it. We're used to some kind

of other things. But nevertheless, the intent and the content

of God's word here needs to be applied to our hearts,

I promise you. Nevertheless, I'm just gonna go ahead and

agree with you that a list of people can seem

pretty boring. You're just as pious as the first service

who did not nod even a little bit when I

said that. It's true, a list of people is kind

of hard to appreciate. I mean they're not your people.

I mean a list of people is hard enough to

appreciate when you go to a graduation ceremony. Okay, so

you admit it. Yeah, it's tough. It's just a list

of people in alphabetical order. No less, Amy Adams. We

all applaud politely. Up comes Amy. She's wearing something very original.

It's the same as everybody else with the most oddly

designed hat that has ever been worn. And she comes

up on the platform and she takes a rolled up

piece of paper, shakes a hand, walks off the platform.

Beatrice Adams, and I'm thinking, just kill me now. It's

hard to appreciate. It is definitely a challenge to appreciate.

And I think really the only way that you can

have the presence of mind and rise to that challenge

is maybe when your kid's name is called so and

so daconing and one of them comes up and they're

wearing the same thing that Beatrice was wearing, and they

come up and they grabbed that rolled up piece of paper. Butt.

But you can recognize that this is a representation of

the past four years of essays and speeches and debates

and book reports that rolled up into that piece of

paper are the tears over algebra, and not just the

last four years. It goes all the way back. It

goes back to kindergarten in the first grade, as we

sat at the kitchen table and taught them how to read,

and the celebration it was when they realized, oh, the

silent e makes a say a.

Yeah, we're gonna make it. And if if you have.

That recognition, then really, even though we're just all for

each one of them, politely clapping when you recognize what

is all rolled up in that piece of paper, what's

rolled up in that name. What you really want to

do with your little clump of people there in that

assembly in the auditorium is really just pump your fists

and go, yeah, you made it, You made it, and

I am so glad I was with you along the way.

Some lists are of enormous significance. Kratick pointed that out

when he referred to the Vietnam Memorial just a list

of names. Now, granted, it's a list of names on

giant walls of black granite, wall after wall after wall,

and you look at that and you go, well, that

is one heck of away to display a list of names.

But still, I mean, for an increasing number of US,

Vietnam is just something that takes place in a chapter

in a history book. And that's pretty well evidenced by

the way people pass by those walls of names there

in Washington, d C. That's an impressive list. That's a

lot of names. That's but if you can recognize what's

rolled up, as some people do, some who served, some

who served with some of those names, will approach those

walls and they will find those names, and they will

touch those names and weep over those names and salute

those names. Some lists are of enormous significance, as is

this one. Maybe not to you. These aren't your people.

I get it, They're Paul's people. But nevertheless, the intent

that Paul has with this list for that church, the encouragement,

the unity, and the push to see these people regarded

and esteemed, is an intent that we must learn. Some

lists are of enormous significance. What makes a list have

this kind of significance are? There are a couple of

things that come to mind. One of them is cost cost.

What does it cost to have a list of gospel

work that is of significance? A list of fellow workers?

What does it cost to have a list like this

and to be on a list like this? Well, one

of the things that costs is work, work, service. Do

you see how often throughout this passage Paul refers to

this list, this enormously significant list of fellow gospel workers

as just that they are workers with me, They are

fellow workers, they are hard workers. If you are going

to have a list like this of deep significance and

be on a list like this, of deep significance. It

costs working together. I immediately think of so many different ways

in which as a body we work together for the Gospel.

But the first one that comes to mind is student

ministry workers, because they are laying it out there, man.

They are showing up Sunday afternoons, prime nap time, and

they are together, They're banding together, and they're praying over

your teenagers, and they are considering how they might help

you make disciples of your teenagers. And they're reading the

Bible with your teenagers, and they are collaborating together on

how some would say, conspiring together on how to help

open the eyes of your teenagers to the glories of

Jesus Christ. And then and once the kids go and

you've picked them up, they circle back up and they

work together in prayer over them. I think of small group.

I think of those situations where small group guys will

get together to work for the good of just one

guy in that group because he is stuck in a

sin and he wants out and he just can't seem

to find out find his way out, and these guys

are praying over him, holding him accountable and helping to

disciple him and lift his eyes up beyond his sin,

even when he snaps back sometimes and says I don't

want your help. I don't need this, and then repentance

says I really do. And that's evidence of it. And

it's their glory and it's their privilege to help this

brother grow in Christ. But don't think for a second

it's not work. Makes me think of the older men

who would take time out of their mornings to get

together and read with younger men and see them grow.

Older women who would take time out of their days

to get together with younger women and invite them into

their homes and speak to them about Jesus and watch

them grow. And it's their privilege to do so. It's

a pleasure to do so. But don't think for a

minute it's not work. Who have you worked with in

the Gospel? Go ahead, jot down a name. You got

your bullets in there, Just a name who has worked

for you in the Lord. Who have you worked with

in the Lord? That's what it takes. It's another cost

that comes to mind. We see it in this text,

and that's risk, risk and sacrifice, Risk and sacrifice. Paul

specifically speaks of Prisca and Aquila, how they risked their

own next for his life. He speaks of others who

have been fellow prisoners with him, and this is that's

the case, not only with work, but also with risk

and sacrifices. We risk and sacrifice together for the Gospel.

The Lord knits us together and we end up on

each other's lists of enormous significance. I think of my

brother Nate and his wife Amanda, when Karen and I

sold everything in Austin and packed it all up and

we moved to San Antonio to plant a church and

there was nothing here. There was no employer here. We

did We didn't know how the soil of San Antonio

was going to respond. And yet Nate and Amanda said,

if you are going to go do that gospel work

in San Antonio, then we're going to go too. There

was no employer for him either, And they weren't the

only ones who risked. Also, all of those who when

we when we cast a vision to plan to church

in San Antonio, to see disciples made in the Gospel

proclaimed and the Bible taught, there were others who said,

you know what, I might not be risking employment, but

I'm risking the comfort and the familiarity of a church

setting that I've already been in. But I need to

get to work with you guys, and I'm willing to

take the risk to be for everything to be uncomfortable.

And they did, and we became way more than a list.

Seamous and Dana Lynne. They're about to go take that

risk in West San Antonio. They've already moved. They've already moved.

They're in West San Antonio now. His commute is three

times as long as it used to be, and it's soon.

They're just gonna be in West San Antonio. They're gonna

be raising up a core group to plant a church there,

and some of you are gonna go with them, and

you're gonna take that same risk that I was just describing.

And when you get there, you're gonna go, Okay, well,

oh wow, there is nothing who's going to take care

of such and such. I'll give you one guess because

you thought of it. And Tony and Ali are gonna

be making that same risk in the same way with

planting the Spanish speaking congregation next year. But the cost

is worth it. Here's something else it costs love, love, affection, hospitality,

this whole compound of things we can just we can

call affection and warmth. It costs. It's a real cost.

They say, a smile costs you nothing. They're lying to

show this kind of affection. It's amazing to me how

often the New Testament makes it big deal out of

greeting one another. I mean, Paul says, here, greet one

another with a holy kiss. I'm just gonna go ahead

and say, I think that that specific command is for

the Romans and their context, and that we need not

take too literally. Now you know who to dodge. That

doesn't let us off the hook, though. That does not

let us off the hook of exuberance with one another

and warmth and affection and love with the beloved. It's

a cost. I don't know how we get away with

the sub nod. I don't know. I don't know how

we get away. I don't know how I get away

with that. Like I'm on a mission. Sub that's the mission.

I just walked away from the mission. In the end,

the cost is your life. In the end, the cost

is your life. As Paul said to the Thessalonians, we shared

with you not only the gospel of God, but we

shared with you our very lives. Like nursing mothers. We

invest our lives with one another in this gospel work.

That's what it costs. Jot down another name. Who have

you worked for, risked for, and sacrificed with? Who have

you loved? Or who has loved you and risked for you?

You're kind of getting started on your own list, aren't you.

You're kind of taking the intention of this passage seriously

and in many ways, that is your own list, much

like this is Paul's list, that's your list. That's true,

it is being built. And if you would say, like

I don't think I have much of a list, You're

not done. You're just not done, and God's not done

with you. As you continue to take scripture more and

more to heart, We're not done. List of yours is

in fact built by the work and the risk and

the sacrifice and the love that you have shared with

those that are scribbled in the corner of your bulletin.

So it is your list. But but have you noticed

how much Paul sets all of these relationships in the

context and the setting of Jesus Christ worked hard in

the Lord greet that sister greet that brother in the

Lord chosen in Christ, beloved in Jesus Christ. This list

of yours that's not done yet is yours, But more deeply,

it's Christ's list. This is a blood bought list. As

Paul reminds us in chapter fifteen, these are those for

whom Christ died and that demands everything about how we

will treat one another and how we will regard one another.

These are those for whom Christ died. And not only that,

these are those whom Christ has, in his own sovereign

wisdom placed in your life. In him, Christ himself has

been at work before the foundation of the world, ordaining

grace for those people for those, and Christ has entered

humanity to die for those. And Christ reigns in heaven,

moving these these folks right here in your list. He's

moving these into place to share your work and to

share your risk, and to share your love. This is

way more than your list. This is His blood bought

list for you. So if Christ himself has been at

work and is at work for these, let us be

at work for these. If Christ himself gave his life

for these to redeem them, let us give our lives

for these, to love them and work with them, and

work for them and risk with them. It's costly, it's

worth it. This costly work is what shows us that

this list, your list, is of enormous significance. I said

there were a couple of things that make a list

enormously significant, and cost is one of them. But another

one is longevity. Longevity. I mean, your list is scribbled

on the corner of a bulletin, and that's not gonna

last long. I mean, my bulletins don't last a week.

Some of you have little notebooks did you put them in?

And they but still not gonna last very long. Your list,

I mean, Paul's list is etched in the pages of

holy scripture. The Vietnam Memorial is etched in black granite.

It's got some longevity to it. Yours is on a

corner of a bulletin. Except for that it's not. It's

actually etched in eternal souls. This is an eternal list.

I mean, I've heard that there was a pastor who

suggested this, and I think it's a good idea. If

you want to know what eternity looks like, Let's just

do this for a second, all right, humor me, just

look into the faces of the people sitting to your

right and to your left. Look into them. Don't just

think about looking into their faces, catch their eyes, Smile.

That's what eternity looks like. That's the only treasure you

get to take with you. This list is worth more

than all of your earthly possessions. Your jewelry, at best

is going to end up in other people's jwelry boxes.

At best, your job. There will come a day either

you will select it or they will select it. But

there will come a day when you're going to have

a conversation and it's just, you know, it's been great,

but we have a parting gift for you, and you

just you're not going to get to make a contribution

around here anymore. And that'll be that all of your

retirement money that's going to go to somebody else. You

will have no need of it anymore, and it will

it'll help your relatives, maybe buy a new car, Maybe

pay for a few semesters of college. That's awesome. Maybe

put a down payment on a house. But it's not

going with you, not like these. Speaking of house, is

the house you live in, someone else will be living

in it. They'll change the paint they'll redo the floors.

They're surely going to remodel your bathroom. These, these will

be the treasures you take with you, this list when

you have your name called, when the angels call the

names of those who, in this particular day have graduated,

and you walk into eternity with Jesus, it's these who

will be in the assembly. It's these who will be

your group, who will pump their fists and say, you

made it, and I'm so glad I was with you

along the way. That's what you could stake. That list

is of enormous significance. And you're not done. We're not done.

Let's get after it.