Who are You? Part 2, The Benefactors (Reading Romans 16)

Paul mentions four groups in Romans 16. He mentions those whom the church should greet (1-16), those of whom the church should beware (17-20), those whom bring greetings to the church (21-24), and he finally acknowledges the glory of God in His Son at work in the church (25-27). Who are you?

From verses 21-24 Paul mentions a series of men who bring greetings to the church. Some of these names you may quickly recognize like pastor Timothy to whom two epistles are written and Jason whose story is told in Acts 17. The other names may be more obscure. At the very least we can discern that these are men with Paul as they are not greeted by the church, but instead they send their greetings to the church.

The church needs men and women who work inside the church, servants, workers, teachers, etc. But the church also needs men and women of means who are able to use their time and talents to move the church. These are people who use their frequent flier miles to transport a missionary. It is the retiree who volunteers his time to drive an evangelist late at night so that he may return to his family. It is the man who has five weeks of vacation and he uses three or maybe even all of them to dig water wells in the desert. I have always been blessed by the stories of men and women who volunteer vast amounts of time and resources to the church that the gospel may be spread around the earth.

God calls some people to teach, he calls others to drive. Paul had a group of men from many walks of life that were with him.

Who are you? to be continued . . .

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