Series: Romans
Title: They Laid Down their Live
Text: Rom 16: 3-5
Date: August
Place: SGBC,NJ
Romans 16: 3: Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers
in Christ Jesus: 4: Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom
not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. 5: Likewise greet
the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the
firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.
We find Priscilla and Aquila several times in scripture. Priscilla is a Gentile name used by Roman
aristocrats. She likely was a Gentile of
wealthy Italian descent who grew up in Rome.
Aquila was no doubt a Jew, born in Pontus, Asia. The two had originally lived in Rome—probably
where they met.
Paul
says “Greet” them—give them a big hug and a kiss for me. He gives them a great commendation—“my
helpers in Christ Jesus.” Truly they helped Paul
in the ministry of Christ. They helped at
Corinth, Ephesus, Rome and they ended up back at Ephesus helping Timothy. Wherever they
lived we find they had a church in their house
Proposition: Paul says of Aquilla and Pricilla that they “have for my life laid down their own necks” meaning, by God’s
grace, Aquilla and Priscilla were willing to lay down their lives for Paul and
the rest of their brethren that Paul might be saved from danger.
Titled: They
Laid Down their Lives
Divisions: 1) The sovereignty of God 2) The constraining love
of Christ 3) The fruit of that love
THE
SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
Acts
18: 1: After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; 2: And
found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with
his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart
from Rome:) and came unto them. 3: And because he was
of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation
they were tentmakers. 4: And he reasoned in the synagogue
every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. 5: And when Silas and Timotheus
were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the
Jews that Jesus was Christ. 6: And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed,
he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I
am clean, from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.
7: And he departed thence, and entered
into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house
joined hard to the synagogue. 8: And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue,
believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing
believed, and were baptized. 9: Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a
vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: 10: For I am with
thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this
city. 11: And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of
God among them.
12: And when Gallio was the deputy of
Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought
him to the judgment seat, 13: Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God
contrary to the law. 14: And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio
said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews,
reason would that I should bear with you: 15: But if it be a question of words
and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such
matters. 16: And he drave them from the judgment seat. 17: Then all the Greeks
took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the
judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.
18: And Paul after this tarried there yet
a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into
Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila;…19: And he came to Ephesus, and left
them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the
Jews. 20: When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented
not; 21: But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast
that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he
sailed from Ephesus…. 24: And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria,
an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25: This man
was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he
spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of
John. 26: And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and
Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of
God more perfectly. 27: And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the
brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come,
helped them much which had believed through grace: 28: For he mightily
convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus
was Christ.
We see the sovereignty of God in
the lives of these three. Aquilla and Priscilla originally lived at Rome. But in God’s providence, he moved Emperor Claudius
to expel the Jews from Rome. So Aquilla
and Priscilla had to leave all: their home, their business, her family. That was a big inconvenience. But nothing happens in our life by chance. God moved them to Corinth on
purpose. At the same time our Lord moved
Paul from Athens to Corinth and crossed their paths.
In God’s providence they were all
tent makers. Therefore, they became quick
friends and Paul lived with them and worked with them. It could be Aquila and Priscilla were not
believers yet. It could be because
rather than “faith in Christ” being the common bond between them, it says it
was because they were all tent makers.
But them being tentmakers was also
God’s providence at work to give them that bond.
The place Christ led them all to at Corinth had a synagogue
where Paul preached to Jews and Greeks.
So both Aquilla, being a Jew, and Priscilla, who was likely a Greek, were
able to hear Paul preach Christ and him crucified. That very well may be where the Spirit of God
regenerated them and called them to faith in Christ.
But right after that is when Paul shook his raiment
and turned to preaching to the Gentiles at Achaia. Achaia is where God called out his elect
child “Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.” Paul mentions him along with Aquilla and Priscilla. So having first met in Achaia he ended up at
Rome with Aquilla and Priscilla by the sovereign, ruling, directing hand of God
in all of their lives. It was
also here that God made them meet Timothy who they end up helping at Ephesus in
the end.
Then they travel with Paul to Ephesus. There God crossed their path with a preacher
named, Apollos. They were used of God to
inform Apollos that Christ had come and the Holy Spirit had been poured out so
he began preaching the gospel of Christ.
They were among the brethren that sent commendation of Apollos to Achaia.
By the time of our text, Paul was writing from
Corinth but God had brought Aquilla and Priscilla back to Rome. Then later, when Nero burned Rome, they left their
home and business again and ended up at Ephesus with Timothy, who they first met
through Paul.
God’s providential hand in
bringing his people together under the gospel is amazing grace. It was a big inconvenience to their flesh, no
doubt, to have to move that first time. But
what grace for God to use that to cross their path with the apostle Paul and
the gospel of Christ crucified. It is especially
amazing if Paul was the one God used to call them out of darkness into his
light. And God used them to help
brethren as well as provide a building for a church to assemble in several places
where they went. By God’s sovereign hand,
by God’s grace, to the praise of God’s glory, they truly were Paul’s “helpers
in Christ Jesus”. All of that was by
the sovereign hand and sovereign grace of our God.
Proverbs
16: 33: The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the
LORD.
1 Corinthians 3: 5: Who then is Paul, and who is
Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even AS THE LORD GAVE to every man?
6: I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7: So then
neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that
giveth the increase.
THE CONSTRAINING LOVE OF CHRIST
Romans
16:4: Who have for my life laid down their own necks:
We do not know where or what they
did for Paul but it involved great danger to themselves. Possibly it was in Achaia where they accused
Paul of preaching against the law and beat the chief ruler. Or possibly it was in Asia when Paul said
they feared they were about to die.
Wherever it was the fact is it
was a great sacrifice which involved great danger. They laid down their necks for Paul. The picture is of Paul’s head on the chopping
block. He was charged and apprehended by
religious leaders who were convinced Paul was guilty. He was not but when men have in their minds
someone is guilty they do what they do, they think, for the glory of God even
if it means harming one of the ambassador’s Christ himself has sent. The law of the land apprehended Paul many
times. But when Paul’s head was on the
chopping block, Aquilla and Priscilla stepped in, putting their lives in
danger, so Paul could go free.
Do you see the constraining love
of Christ that made them do that for Paul?
That is what Christ did for his people.
You and I, believer, were guilty of the whole law of God. Think of yourself apprehended by the law of
God like Paul was apprehended. Your head
was on the chopping block the same as mine.
Paul was innocent most of the time.
BUT WE WERE GUILTY OF ALL CHARGES.
The ax of God’s justice was justly about to fall on our necks and take off
our heads. But our innocent Lord Jesus
stepped in. He took our sins and laid down
his neck in your room and stead, believer.
Romans 5: 6: For when we were yet without
strength, in due time CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY. 7: For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8:
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS,
CHRIST DIED FOR US. 9: Much more then, being now JUSTIFIED BY HIS BLOOD, we
shall be saved from wrath through him. 10: For if, when we were enemies, we
were reconciled to God BY THE DEATH OF HIS SON, much more, being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life. 11: And not only so, but we also joy in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
It is this love of Christ that moves a believer when you
see how awful your sin is, how guilty you are, then you behold that Christ
said, ‘Wait, don’t charge him!” Christ
knew he would have to be made the shameful sin of his people. He knew he would have to bear the unimaginable
suffering of God’s wrath and justice in being separated from God. But for you,
dear child of God, Christ said, “That’s one I love, I will lay down my neck for
him.”
If I truly know what a sinner I am, if I truly know that
Christ stepped in and took my place, that makes a believer do the same for his
brother when his brother is guilty. He
takes the burden off his brother. He
stands between those throwing stones and their brethren like Christ stood between
the woman caught in the very act of adultery and God-hating Pharisee’s that accused
her. Then Christ turned and said, “Does
no man condemn thee? Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” That is laying down our life for a brother. Fulfilling the law of Christ is walking in
the law of love, constrained in heart by Christ’s love for us. That brother restores his guilty brother in
the spirit of meekness. That is the love
that covers a multitude of sins. He does
it for his guilty brother because he considers himself and his guilt and how
Christ did the same for him—and he considers how Christ continues daily, even
hourly, showing us mercy and forgiveness in all our guilty transgressions.
Paul dealt with this at Galatia. The devil and false prophets were deceiving the
Galatian church. So those that only knew
Christ intellectually did not have love in their hearts. Though they were as great a sinners as their
brethren, they saw themselves as better and their brethren worse in light of
whatever sin they saw in their brethren.
So they were taking each other to law.
They were charging one another with sin.
That is so wicked for a professing believer. It is so ungodly to refuse mercy when a
brother has confessed his guilt and asked for forgiveness. It is Pharisee-ism to go on charging with the
law and shaming another when God has granted them repentance and broken their heart
and turned them from their sin. If I go
beyond that then I do not want grace or mercy, I want vengeance. God promises that is exactly what I will
receive from God. So Paul told the
Galatians if you bite and devour one another then you will consume one another.
Paul said instead fulfill the law of Christ. Brothers and sisters think of this personally. Christ saw you guilty as charged, with no
defense, and guilty! Before as yet you
repented, before as yet you were made to mourn your sin. Christ is all-knowing God. He knew the utter
hatred of your sin-nature for him. Yet, Christ
stepped in and took your shameful sin itself.
It was so shameful to him that he prayed to God not to let his brethren be
ashamed for his sake. Christ became
guilty in your place believer. Christ
laid his neck on the chopping block and said take off my head instead of yours. If I know the love of Christ in my heart then
I will do a similar thing for my brother.
I will stand between him and his accuser and say pour out his punishment
on me. “Forgiving one another, even
as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
That is the law of Christ—“bear ye one another’s burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Priscilla
and Aquila saw Paul about to be slain. They
stuck out their necks, risked their reputations, lost their jobs, risked their
lives, to take his burden off him onto themselves and save him.
That is
what the effectual, constraining love of Christ causes a sinner saved by grace to
do for brethren who are vile sinners. If
after Christ forgave me so great a debt, I go out and choke my brother over a debt
that is far smaller in comparison, not matter what it might be, then I prove I
do not know the grace and love of God.
But what if
he is guilty? What if you are? Is that even a question? Aren’t you guilty? Aren’t I as guilty of my brethren everyday of sins
of thought, word and deed that are an abomination to God but for the blood of
Christ? Yet, Christ took the guillotine
for you, believer, so you go free. And
for Christ’s sake God continues to forgive you every day. That will make us merciful and forgiving. God says it is what his children do when we
are born of the Spirit and the love of Christ abides in us.
1 John 3: 14: We know that we have passed from
death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his
brother abideth in death. 15: Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and
ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 16: Hereby perceive
we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17: But whoso hath this world’s
good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18: My little
children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
19: And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts
before him.
THE FRUIT OF LOVE
Romans 16: 4…unto whom not only I give thanks, but
also all the churches of the Gentiles.
Aquilla and Priscilla could have stood by and let Paul be
slain. But by what they did God
continued to use Paul to call out many more his lost sheep.
Oh, when God gives me opportunity to lay down my life for a
brother let me remember that by Christ laying down his life for his people, he
redeemed us and sent the gospel to us and the fruit is that he gave us life and
faith in him. He robed us in his righteousness. He did through giving us his gospel.
Aquilla and Priscilla had great love for Paul because of
how God used him to minister to them and give them the unsearchable riches of
Christ. Therefore, nothing could make
them leave Paul to his accusers. So by
God giving Aquilla and Priscilla the love to lay down their necks for Paul, Paul
was spared and used of God to preach Christ and call out his elect Gentiles throughout
that land.
The love of Christ made Aquilla and Priscilla see that this
was not about themselves. It made Paul
see it was not about Paul. They saw it
was about the glory of Christ and his gospel continuing to go forth for the
calling out of God’s elect throughout the Gentile world. They believed Christ when he said, “No man
shall hurt thee. Fear not! Preach the gospel! I have much people in this city.” So God made them true helpers in Christ. He made them see what Christ did for them so
that they laid down their necks for Paul.
Then Christ used it to produce much fruit through Paul’s preaching among
the Gentiles—and all those sheep that Christ called out glorified and thanked
God for using Paul, Aquila and Priscilla in such a profound way. Do we want Christ to receive all the
glory? What a motive to be kind,
tenderhearted, and forgive one another even as God for Christ’s sake has
forgiven us!
Amen!