Outstanding for Jesus

Romans 16:7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Our encouragement today to live to love with Jesus comes from Andronicus and generally assumed, his wife, Junias. We know four things about this couple. 1. They were Jews. 2. They were fellow prisoners which could mean they were captured and at some time incarcerated with Paul or it could mean their hearts were captured by Jesus as was Paul’s. By the way, Paul referred to himself as a prisoner of the Lord (Eph. 3:1; 4:1). Aristarchus (Col. 4:10) and Epaphras (Philemon 1:9) were also fellow prisoners in Christ. 3. Their conversions preceded Paul’s conversion (they were in Christ before Paul). 4. They were outstanding among the apostles. The encouragement I draw from this verse and Andronicus’ and Junias’ example is that they were outstanding, but relatively obscure. If I asked you to name the outstanding apostles, you probably wouldn’t have mentioned them. You might have mentioned Peter, James, or John. Paul considered Andronicus and Junias to be outstanding apostles. Eastern Orthodox tradition places Andronicus as a Bishop of the church in Panonnia, which is in the region of present day Hungary and eastern Austria. They possibly were Jews from Rome who were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit swept through the crowd and captured their hearts. They were converted, and thus they were in Christ before Saul/Paul. For Paul to call them apostles means that they were sent out to proclaim the gospel and start a new work. Could they have played fundamental roles in the establishment of the church in Rome? Fourth century theologian, Ambrosiaster wrote, “It is established that there were Jews living in Rome in the times of the apostles, and that those Jews who had believed [in Christ] passed on to the Romans the tradition that they ought to profess Christ but keep the law … One ought not to condemn the Romans, but to praise their faith; because without seeing any signs or miracles and without seeing any apostles, they nevertheless accepted faith in Christ.” Perhaps they were in the first wave of believers in Christ sent out by the original apostles in Jerusalem. Here’s my point. The work and ministry of Christ in the world advances through millions of men and women like Adronicus and Junias through the millennia. They are outstanding believers whose hearts have been captured by Jesus and who have embraced His call to make disciples as they go on their way through life living to love with Jesus. They mostly go unnoticed because they aren’t trying to do anything big for Jesus. They are faithfully walking with Jesus in their everyday setting, trusting Jesus to love and build His church through them. May we be like Andronicus and Junias—faithfully carrying the gospel wherever Jesus takes us, making disciples who live to love with Jesus, for the glory of God. That’s what it means to be outstanding in God’s kingdom.