Paul may have been the one to write the letters, but when it came to boots on the ground, he was not alone. This daily devotional looks at the team Paul put together to carry out God’s mission.
Nuggets
- God will be victorious over Satan.
- God calls a team to do His work.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Transformed to Perfection series
Devotions in the On Being a Minister series
We’ve been focusing on Paul’s letter to the Romans. He wrote it while he was ministering to the church in Corinth.
While the letter is his, Paul had a team working with him. Let’s meet the team after some words of final encouragement.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
The Final Encouragement
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (Rom. 16: 20 CSB)
God will be victorious over Satan.
We have one verse to look at before we get to the final goodbyes. In a way, it is a good transition from the discussion of conflict to the goodbyes.
Paul states with utmost confidence that God will be victorious over Satan. Haldane wrote, “There were two victories to be obtained over Satan. By the first, his head was to be bruised under the feet of Christ; and by the second, the rest of his body will be bruised under the feet of believers.”
Resource
God is the One Who will crush Satan, not us. His victory is assured.
But isn’t it a comfort to know that, when Satan tempts us, God only allows that to go on for only a little while. Then God shuts that down, too.
What does this tell us? God is going to deliver His church. We can take that to the bank.
Oh, yeah. That is going to be one epic struggle. Right now, it is a moral struggle. One day, it will be more.
Thomas made an observation that really spoke to me. (Remember, I’m writing for myself first.) He wrote, “There can be no peace of mind to one who has the faintest suspicion of his own insufficiency. Anxious doubt would fill the spirit with agitation.”
Resource
I know. We know that.
We aren’t doubting God. We are doubting ourselves.
But that means we are doubting God, because that means we don’t think He is powerful enough to do what He says He can do.
Any place we let Satan get a toehold, he latches on and runs with the opportunity. The best way he can do that is to get us to think we are unworthy.
Introducing the Team
“Timothy, my coworker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow countrymen, greet you. I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you” (Rom. 16: 21-23 CSB)
God calls a team to do His work.
Paul gave a list of co-workers to end the letter. It began with Timothy, who we know he considered his adopted son.
The Lucius is probably Luke. We know he joined Paul. “These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas” (Ac. 20: 5 ESV).
It could also have been Lucius of Cyrene. “Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul” (Ac. 13: 1 ESV).
We were introduced to Jason in Acts 17: 5-7. This was when there was the riot in Thessalonica. The mob attacked Jason’s house, looking for Paul. He apparently stuck with Paul.
Sosipater of Berea was also listed by Luke as a traveling companion of Paul’s. “He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia” (Ac. 20: 4 NIV). (We know different translations have different spellings, but they are the same people.)
It is interesting to note that Robinson said that both Jason and Sosipater were kinsmen of Paul. In the devotion before last, we met Andronicus as Paul’s nephew.
Resource
Paul especially needed Tertius as a scribe. Brown wrote, “It has been supposed that he laboured under a chronic defect of sight, arising from the effect of ‘the light from heaven above the brightness of the sun’ which fell on his astonished eyes on the way to Damascus, and to which it has been supposed that there are various references in his writings, especially Galatians 4: 13-15. It is not unlikely that, like many literary men, he did not write a very legible hand.”
Resource
Tertius had to introduce himself because he was an unknown. Maclaren described Tertius. He wrote, “We never hear of him before or after; just one little gleam of a light falls upon him, as sometimes you may see a star peep out for a moment, with a great bank of blackness on either side of it — but one gleam of light and one word makes this man immortal.”
Resource
Gaius also sent his greetings. He hosted Paul and his party.
Burn noted that was the only virtue attributed to Gaius. That doesn’t necessarily mean it was the only one he possessed. It was the one most evident in this instance.
Resource
How many people would be kicking themselves because they had the house and weren’t bringing the house down with their preaching? Gaius played to his strength. He allowed God to use him.
Burn pointed out that, maybe Gaius didn’t get the designation of being beloved or having labored for the Lord.
But remember when we talked about Jason? Let’s go back and actually read those verses.
“But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly. When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, ‘These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king — Jesus’” (Ac. 17: 5-7 CSB).
Yikes! And this is who Gaius is inviting into his house?!? It was dangerous to have Paul as a houseguest.
Gaius didn’t flinch. He said, “Come on. I have room for all of you. Stay as long as you like.”
Erastus was thought to be Paul’s helper in Ephesus. “And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while” (Ac. 19: 22 ESV).
Robinson noted that we do not have to relinquish positions we hold within society when we become believers. We are to be in the world but not of the world.
Resource
The last team member is Quartus. Maclaren described him as a little brother, unknown to the Roman church members.
Think about this. Maclaren said that the Corinthian church was known for as a church of dissension. The Roman church was in the city that was the capital of the big, bad empire.
And we’re talking love, peace, and Christian unity between the two?
And even young Quartus wants to get into that?
Making the Connections
What we see here is a team. We see the camaraderie. We see the love.
I bet they all had their tasks to do. We might think that Tertius is putting on airs saying he wrote the letter, but he did the actual writing. If he hadn’t, it might not have gotten written.
We tend to think of Paul as a loner. He really wasn’t. He traveled with Barnabas or Silas as his main partner. According to Luke, there was usually several others in the group. Here, we learn some of those were family.
I think Lyth got it right when he gave us a list of what all this shows.
- “One faith.
- “One spirit.
- “One aim.
- “One effort.”
Resource
See the unity. Paul may have been the spokesman. Yeah, he had the take-charge personality. He also had the training and the knowledge.
But they had to have banded together in love to face all of the hate that was thrown at them. Anyone less would have crumpled.
My Team
I am the only one who write these devotions. I am the only one who gets them onto the website and posts onto social media. Oh, yeah. I do have a YouTube channel that I haven’t done anything with lately.
I don’t have a scribe. Instead, I have an Adam who is my encourager. He is always ready to tell me to take my writer’s block — or any other problem — to God in prayer.
I have a sister that texts me just about every morning because she proofreads what is posted. She tells me when I’m talking Klingon or have come up with an interesting spelling of a word.
I have an Insonnia Buddy who every night asks me if I have my post done. Then she comes back and asks me if it is broadcasted.
I’ve bounced some things off my BFF and my Work Sister, too. I like getting input from a variety of sources sometimes.
I know my Springfield Mom ad my Ladies are praying for me and my ministry. I know others are, too.
It does take a team. And I appreciate my team.
How Do We Apply This?
- We need to use the gifts that God has given us to do His work — and combine them with those of others to propel His work even further.
- Stick your hand out when you are in need — and grab onto someone else’s when they are.
- Love each other for Christ’s sake
- Greetings and salutations should be accompanied by prayer.
Resource
Father God. Thank You for Paul and his willingness to follow Your call. Thank You for his team who worked to spread Your Word to others. Thank You that that Word cane down to us. Help us to spread that Word to those You would have us tell it to. Thank You for my team. May these words be Your Words to do Your work to bring the lost to You. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.