After the Message

Priscilla and Aquila – Acts 18

- Rome to Corinth to Ephesus

- sent out of Rome by Emperor Claudius when he expelled the Jews

- met Paul in Corinth and helped start the Corinthian church (all tentmakers, lived together for about a year and a half)

- went on and ended up in Ephesus where they helped lead that church, hosting the church often in their home

Taught Apollos who was an important preacher and evangelist in Ephesus

- could have shunned him as a false teacher, but they saw that he was earnest and genuine and instead found opportunity to guide him in the right direction

Risked their lives – may have cost them their business to host the church (Romans 16)

Obscure: not discovered or known about, not important or well known

Romans 16, roll call of the obscure

We live in a culture of rock stars, fighting obscurity – with youtube, 24/7 news channels (the airline guy who became a folk hero), blogs (there are blogs about becoming a better blogger and getting your blog noticed), twitter (game of how many followers, or minions I can collect), facebook

*everyone has become their own agent

Problem: we can get so caught up and spend so much time trying to look like something and never be anything

People who tweet all day about loving their spouse and loving Jesus – only problem is that love is a verb and if they had spent half the time they spent tweeting actually doing those things they might have some credibility

Not everyone could be Paul – in fact, Paul’s letters are often a testament to the fact that the hard work came when Paul left and people like Aquila and Priscilla were left to be faithful in a world that encouraged fulfillment

Kevin DeYoung:

“What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That’s my dream for the church — a multitude of faithful, risktaking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God’s glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency. Until we are content with being one of the million nameless, faceless church members and not the next globe-trotting rock star, we aren’t ready to be a part of the church.”

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he didn’t leave one – he left many, he left the church to continue his work, he asked us to be faithful – are we being faithful or are we trying to look faithful?