045. When the Roll is Called Down Here

Please open your Bibles to page 1309.  Romans 16:1-16 and 21-24.

Paul writes this letter to the Christian church in Rome.

Read around or say pass.

There’s an old negro spiritual that’s called, “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.”   Well after that big list of people’s names we’ve just read in Romans 16:1-16 and 21-24, I think we’ll call our message today …

pp       When the Roll is Called Down Here

I hope you won’t feel guilty if your heart was not all aflutter during the reading of the text. It's not very interesting. It's a list of strange names. There’s a saying amongst preachers, "When you're preaching from the Bible, avoid the lists. They're deadly." ---- Here it seems that Paul is calling the roll, which is a strange thing in itself. I’ve never worshipped in a church where someone got up and publicly called the  roll.  

Sometimes, calling the roll is not all that bad.  Fred Craddock, from whom I got some ideas for this message today, said that he was summoned to a Court to serve on the jury. On Monday morning at nine o'clock, 240 people formed a pool out of which the jurors for the court cases would be chosen.

The deputy clerk of the court stood and called all 240 names. She didn’t have them in alphabetical order, so you had to really listen. -----

There were two Bill Johnsons. One was black, and one was white, but they were both Bill Johnson.

There was a man named Brown who answered when the clerk read, "Mrs. Brown." 

He said, "Here."

The clerk looked up and said, “Mrs Brown.”

“Here.”

"Mrs. Brown."

Then the man stood up and said, "Well, I thought the letter was for me, and I opened it." The clerk said, "We summoned Mrs. Brown."

"Well," he said, "I'm here. Can I do it? She doesn't have any interest in this sort of thing."

The clerk said, "Mr. Brown, how do you know? She doesn't even know she's been summoned."

This roll call was pretty good.   There was a man whose name Fred wrote down phonetically because he couldn't spell it. His name was Zurfell Lichenstein.  Fred remembered it because they went over it five or six times, mispronouncing it each time. He insisted it be pronounced correctly and finally stood in a huff and said, "I see no reason why I should serve on a jury in a court that can't pronounce my name. 

The woman next to Fred said, "Lichenstein. I wonder if he's a Jew." Fred said, "Well, I don't know. Could be. Does it matter?"

"I am German. My name is Zeller."

"Well, it doesn't matter. That was years ago." ---- 

"He and I could be seated next to each other in a jury.” 

"Well, you were probably just a child when all of that happened years ago."

(say this next bit very carefully as some people may think it’s a bit inappropriate as it’s a sensitive issue)

"I was ten years old. I visited Grandmother, who lived about four miles from (Bookenvild). Buchenwald . I smelled the odor."  --------------

--------Well, a person could get interested in Paul's roll call, if only to say, I wonder how Paul knew all those people since he had never been to the church in Rome.---- I wonder if you could buy a mailing list back then?

We could get interested in the roll call because it gives a sociological profile of the membership of the church. I don't expect you to remember this, but in the list there is a husband and wife, Aquila and Priscilla. There's a man named Rufus and his mother. There is a brother, Nereus, and his sister. There are brothers, Andronicus and Junias. There are sisters, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. There is an old man, Epeanetus. ----Isn't that an interesting profile of the church? There's a single woman, Mary. There's a single man, Herodion. Not a lot of nuclear family there at all except that Christ has called them all together to be a part of His church.  It's an interesting list—sort of.  --  No, not very. -------

But you know, I think …

pp        Our memories  are wrapped up in names.

So for Paul, it's not just a list. ----He's packing up his things in the home of Gaius, where he’s staying.  Paul is getting ready to go west to Italy and Spain. He's about to move to a new parish far away. He’s now about fifty-nine or sixty years old.  

I imagine he doesn't have much to pack—his coat, his books, and a few other things. While he is throwing things away to trim down the load for packing and moving, Paul comes across some notes and correspondence. He sits down among the boxes and begins to remember the people in the notes.  

He was remembering people who were special to him:    Aquila and Priscilla, they risked their necks for me. Andronicus and Junias, we were in jail together. They're great Christians. There's Mary. Mary worked hard. She was there when everybody else quit. She's the one who always said, "Paul, you go on home. I'll put the things away. I'll put the hymn books away, pick up all the papers, and straighten the chairs. You go on home. You're tired."

"Well, Mary, you're tired too."

"Yes, Paul, but you've got to ride a donkey across Asia tomorrow. You go on. I'll clean up here." Mary worked hard.

Epaenetus was the first person converted under my preaching, and I didn't sleep a wink that night. I spent the whole night saying, "Thank You God, finally somebody heard." What a marvelous day that was.

Tryphaena and Tryphosa – I think they were twins. You hear it, don't you, in the names? They always sat on the right, and they both wore blue every Sabbath. I never knew them apart, really. One of them had a mole on her cheek, but I didn't know if it was Tryphaena or Tryphosa. I never did get them straight.

Tell Rufus "hello." Tell his mother "hello" because she's really my mother, too.  ----  This woman earned from the apostle Paul the title "mother." He probably stayed in her home. In my imagination I see her as a rather large woman who always wore an apron with a lot of things stuffed inside the pocket. She was the kind of woman who could say to Paul, "Sit down and eat your breakfast. I don't care if you are an apostle. You've got to eat."  ----

----   After the Vietnam War they set up a list in a public place.  It was a long list of the names of the people who’d served in the war.

Some people looked at it like it was just a list of names. Others walked slowly along looking at name after name.  There was the woman who went up and put her finger on a name, and she held a child up and put the child's hand on the name. There was a woman there who kissed the wall at a name. There were flowers lying beneath the wall.  Some of the people were crying. -----

Don't call that a list. It's not just a list.

To Paul, these names in Romans 16 are extremely special.    Because even though he says "hello" to them, what he's really saying is "goodbye”. He's planning on going to Rome to meet these people he’s writing to. But before he goes to Rome he has to go to Jerusalem. He's going with the money the church folk have given to help the poor people in Jerusalem.   He’s also going into a nest of hostility.   Will the unbelievers in Jerusalem accept him? --- -- So at the end of chapter fifteen, he says to these friends of his: “Pray with me. Agonize with me that I won't be killed in Jerusalem, that the church folk will accept the money in Jerusalem, and that I'll get to come back and be with you.”

Friends, these are not just names. ---- Just the same as it was for Paul, …

pp    Our church fellowship is a fellowship of names.

------   It was the custom in a church at Easter to have a baptismal service, and it was held at sundown.  After they were immersed in the water, the new people who were baptized moved out of the water, changed clothes in little booths constructed of hanging blankets, and then went to the fire in the centre, where the little congregation was gathered, singing and cooking the meal.

Once the people were all around the fire, someone introduced the new people. He gave their names and where they lived and worked. Then the rest of the church people formed a circle around them while they stayed warm at the fire.

The next part of the ritual was that each person around the circle gave her or his name and said,

"My name is , --- and if you ever need somebody to do washing and ironing, call on me." 

"My name is , --- and if you ever need anybody to chop wood, call on me."

"My name is , --- and if you ever need anybody to baby-sit, give me a call.” 

"My name is , --- and if you ever need anybody to repair your house, just call on me." 

"My name is , --- and if you ever need anybody to sit with the sick, just give me a call.” 

"My name is , --- and if you ever need a car to go to town, call on me."

And around the circle they went. -----  Then they ate the meal.  -----     Our church is like that!  ------------  

----- As we conclude, I’d like to hand out some paper and biros.  When you get it, could you write these words at the top? …  They come from Philippians 1:3 …

pp     “I thank my God for all my remembrance of you.”

Now write the name of someone you have been a blessing to by helping them, or someone who has been a blessing to you by helping you. ----

Write another name, and another name, and another. Keep the list, because to you, it's not just a list. In fact, the next time you move, hold on to that list. ---- Even if you have to leave your car, and your books, and your furniture, and your computer, and everything else, take that list with you.  Keep in contact with the people on your list.  Thank them for being your friend.  Tell them you’re praying for them.  Encourage them.  In fact, when your ministry on this earth has ended and you go down to your grave, take the list with you.

I know, I know.  ---- When Jesus comes and we all get to go home to glory  --   when you get to the Pearly Gates, I imagine Jesus is going to say:  “Now, look:  you went into the world naked, with nothing. You’ve come out of it with nothing. What do you have there in your hand?”

“Well, it’s just some names.”

"Well, let Me see it.” 

“It’s just a list of names of people I befriended and prayed for and people who helped me too.”

"Well, let Me see it."

"It's just a group of people that, if it weren't for them, I'd have never made it." 

"I want to see it."

  Finally, you give your list to Him, and He smiles. He says, "I know all of them. They’ll be here to meet you.   'Welcome home!”  -------

Let’s stand and pray  ----   Take the paper home and write more names on our lists and keep in contact with them --- encourage them, bless them, thank them, pray for them, etc

Next week at ‘Sharing Time’, tell of our experiences during this week about our lists.

(make this last thought ‘more faith based than works based’ ie allow for the Holy Spirit to work through us to bless others as we watch and pray for opportunities to bless others)

(give out some of the new church leaflets)

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