Session 2 – Lesser Known Women of the Bible, Part 2; Joanna: Dr. David Fleming, 09/08/24

audio
===

[00:00:00] Well, I hope you don't mind a, a second Sunday on lesser-known women of the Bible. And the way I did last week is just to go ahead and preface this with the acknowledgement that I'm a guy. Uh, I, I did... I... It's been years since I've worn heels, too. Uh, I mean, just saying, Vicky. Uh, so... Except this kind of heel.

But, uh, so I get it. I'm on thin ice, and you were asked last week if you happened to bring an ice or an ice pick to just keep that to yourself and let me sort of just skate across here as gently as I can. And, uh, we'll get through this series together. But I've enjoyed the study. I tell you, it's been very, very profitable.

And by the way, after last week, I had at least one person say, "You didn't show us any pictures of the family." [00:01:00] So we have a new puppy in the Fleming family. This is Cooper or, as Fletcher likes to say, Tuper- ... 'cause he hadn't quite got his Cs yet. But Fletcher's doing great, a- and he's off to school as of last week, so we're very proud and happy for him.

And Grandma and Grandpa couldn't be happier, uh, to, uh, have this time with him. Anybody relate to the joy of grandchildren? Indeed, and great... But our kids are pretty great, too, I always need to say. You know, don't underestimate the goodness of your kids. But let's jump back in our study today. Uh, I thought you might...

Should I? Nah. Your oohs and aahs were good. Thank you for, for appreciating the good grandkid. I wanted to ask you if you know Joanna. How many of you know who Joanna is? In the Bible Joanna. Anyone? One. Two. That's it, three. I got three. Uh, do you know who she is, if three of you do? Do you know... D- Where, where would you identify her, any of the three of you?

Shout it out. She was the wife of... Oh, my goodness. S- She was the wife of somebody. [00:02:00] She was the wife of the, um, the second in commander or the second- You're doing great. She was the wife of the second commander of something. Excellent. Herod. Stand up, take a bow. Give that lady a hand. You are exactly right.

You are exactly right, and we're gonna meet her today. Last week we were in the book of Judges, so we got a perspective of an Old Testament lesser-known woman of the Bible. And this week we're gonna take a look into the New Testament and to the life and ministry of Jesus. Mark will be back next week. Uh, he's probably gonna hit Revelation one more time to put a bow on that, tell you how it's all gonna end with an exclamation point and a shout of joy and victory, and then he'll jump right back into this series again, and he'll have the whole Bible to choose from.

I want us to go all the way into Joanna. Her name means, in the Hebrew, from the Hebrew, Yahweh has been gracious. Yahweh has been gracious. And we meet her, as you heard, in Luke chapter 8. Do you have a Bible? Tablet, phone, whatever you like to use or read on the screens, we'll go to Luke 8:1 and [00:03:00] catch the story there and meet Joanna.

"Soon afterward He," being Jesus, "went on through the cities and villages." He's in Galilee. What was He doing? Proclaiming and bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God. "And the Twelve were with Him." They were there. They were traveling with Him. They were following Him, walking with Him, doing life in community with Him.

"The Twelve were with Him, and also some women." And also some women. They were there, also following Him, walking with Him, doing life in community with Him. Uh, also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, and then we get a few names. Mary, called Magdalene. Now, that's not Mary, the mother of Jesus.

That's Mary Magdalene, different. Much more well-known than Joanna. "From whom," Mary, "seven demons had gone out." And verse 3 says, what's her name? Joanna. Joanna or Joanna, the wife of [00:04:00] Chuza. You can say Chuza if you choose to. But it's probably a Chi Rho, Chi, meaning Chuza. Who was Chuza? Herod's household manager.

Others of your translations might say steward of the house. He was the administrator, the manager of the household property, but not just the specific or physical house of Herod Antipas, but of the larger picture from that perspective. So he's the household manager, and Susanna was there, and many others who provided for them.

Them who? Jesus and the Twelve, and the others who were following along, journeying across Galilee. Who provided for them out of their means. So we meet Joanna, and let's reverse this so we can get this sort of understanding of who she is. Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, is king over Galilee. He's [00:05:00] actually a tetrarch, which means he now rules a quarter of the kingdom that his father, Herod the Great, divided among his sons.

His particular fourth is the Galilee area and Perea. He's the king. He's the ruler. He's the tetrarch. He's in charge. And he has a great household, and he has a great kingdom, and he has a great palace. All of that, by the way, is in Tiberias. Many of you have been to, uh, Israel. You've been up into the Galilee region, to the Sea of Galilee.

You probably stayed in Tiberias, which was the capital city. So that's where Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, would have lived as the king of Galilee. Now, his servant, not really in the slave sense, but in the managerial, accounting, oversight, stewardship role, would be Chuza, who would be the manager or the steward of the king's properties, and his wife is Joanna.

But we know who she is, and we know where she lives, and we know a lot about her by virtue of that [00:06:00] context and those associations, which we'll develop further in just a moment. But here's what I want you to think about that you might have just went right past those little explanations. First of all, Chuza, to have a position of authority and responsibility like he had, would have come from some stock himself.

He would have probably come from an upper middle or upper wealthy class family. He would have been privileged to education. He'd have been very well-educated. He would have been refined because he finds himself in authority and with responsibility for the king's business. So he, he's not a cupbearer. Uh, he's, he's, he's not cleaning the house in the sense.

He's running the house. So he brings some skills and some abilities and some knowledge and some intelligence and some leadership and some managerial responsibility. He brings all of this to task to take care of what is Herod's properties, household. [00:07:00] Because you marry in your class in this context, it would in all likelihood indicate that Joanna also comes from a family of some means, possibly if not probably some measure of wealth, and that she, unlike others in the Galilee, would have had access to education.

She would have had exposure and experiences in all sorts of different walks and ways of life. She would have mixed and mingled with society's highest class. She would have been comfortable with political leaders, military leaders, community and village leaders as she worked in and mixed among this upper crust crowd of people, which makes her, at least at first blush, an unlikely convert to Christianity.

She's not what we expect. A- and by the way, should I tell you one more thing? Remember Herod the Great, Herod Antipas' father, is the [00:08:00] author or the, uh, initiator of what we call the Massacre of the Innocents, an attempt to destroy Jesus as a baby. Remember? That's his dad. So the Herodians have no love lost for Jesus or anything that even sounds like or anyone that even thinks like Messiah because they're a threat to the kingdom and to the throne.

Herod the Great's son, Herod Antipas, is responsible for John the Baptist's execution through that conniving, manipulative, immoral process that you might remember in the Gospels. So we're not talking here about people that just by nature or naturally are gonna cheer on this guy named Jesus, not in Herod's house, not in Herod's household, not in Herod's employment, because they would have hated this guy.

And yet the wife of Herod Antipas' chief steward is now a disciple, and she's following Jesus. Interesting, isn't it? Not expected. Unlikely. [00:09:00] All that is true. But let's go a little bit deeper, and let's get inside the story. First, the context, then the conduct, what did she do, and finally, we'll look at her contribution and how that speaks to us by way of points for home.

First, the context. Women in Jo- uh, Joanna's and Jesus's, because they were contemporaries, context. What was their religious and social context? Well, you can hear some real, what I would think might be extreme explanations a- a- about the value and the role that women played in that society. I, I think some of that, to be honest, is overdone because we have examples of women who played prominent roles in this society, who had influence, who served in roles of leadership and mixed and mingled among society.

We, we know that Joanna might be an example. That it, that it wasn't quite as bad as it might have been made out to be, that women meant nothing, offered no value, couldn't speak in [00:10:00] public, and all those kinds of things. But I thought just to be sort of clear, I'd give you a couple of examples that I think are historically accurate so that you can find Joanna in her particular religious and social context.

And I want to read you a paragraph that I pulled from Evelyn and Frank Stagg's Women in the World of Jesus, and I'm going to highlight some keywords in this simple little paragraph so that you sort of get some idea of Joanna's context and the context of women in the days of Jesus. Here we go. First, women were excluded from participation in synagogue worship, restricted to a spectator role, and forbidden to enter the temple beyond the court of the women.

There's a special place for women. A woman was not to touch the scriptures, lest she defile them. A man was not to talk with a woman, not much, even his wife, and even less in public. [00:11:00] So this is sort of a broad kind of an overview of what it might have been like, likely was like, but we can get a little more specific if we get into the Jewishness of the context.

So we'll go to the rabbinical writings in the Mishnah and the Talmud, which admittedly are written some years after the period of Jesus, but are reflective of the cultural norms and social expectations during the time of Jesus. And here's what we find. Four, in fact, cultural norms. Women were to be shunned in public social contact.

You don't interact with women in public. They are not to be taught the Torah. Not to be taught the Torah. In fact, here's a passage from the tractate Sotah, as it's called. May the words of Torah be burned than they, they should be handed over to women. By the way, this is nowhere in the Old Testament. Th- this is not the Old Testament [00:12:00] Israel Jewish understanding of women and the role of women in religion and in society.

It's, it's not. This is rabbinical. This is later. These are the writings after the Old Testament that govern sort of the way the Old Testament is handled and who gets to handle it. And in the rabbinical writings, women ought not to touch or handle the Torah for fear that she might defile them. So she's not to be publicly taught the Torah.

She certainly cannot teach the Torah. She's restricted from orally communicating the Torah in the Mishnah and in the Talmud. And finally, she did not have the right to testify in judicial cases. We know this. We've said this before. We discovered that even last week as we talked about the significance of women being the first witnesses to the empty tomb, to the resurrection.

Here's Joseph, Josephus, pardon me, who you may remember wrote Antiquities, and he said this, quote, "Let not the testimony of women be admitted because of the [00:13:00] levity and boldness of their gender," I'll say. So this is the religious and social context of women in Joanna's day and of Jesus' day. Again, remember, they're contemporaries.

Now, ladies, I know how you feel. This is not good to hear. Nobody wants to hear this. I know. It's... And, and this sadly fuels a lot of the thinking about the church today and fuels a lot of the thinking about the scripture and the biblical writers and even of Jesus. But can I, can I just offer you by way of reminder, what I've just read to you is not Jesus.

And what I've just read to you and quoted to you and highlighted to you from that time and period were not written by the biblical writers. That is not the source of whatever it is that comes to mind when we think about these things. In fact, let me just make a few quick points. We're still building a context here.

In the context of those cultural norms and [00:14:00] expectations, Jesus met a woman at the well and had a rather long and in-depth conversation with her in public, at a well, in full daylight. Keep in mind that Jesus met a woman who was sitting at His feet, whose sister said, "Hey, get her out of there and get her to work in the kitchen."

Mary and Martha. But what did Jesus say? "Yeah, Mary, you don't belong here. Get up. Get out of here. This is just for the men folk." Do you know what He did? He affirmed her sitting and listening to His teaching. In the context of cultural and social norms where no woman would ever sit at the feet of a rabbi, He affirms her position among the disciples.

And her opportunity to hear Torah and to learn about the Kingdom of God. In that day and time, with those cultural norms and expectations, we find Jesus allowing a woman to anoint his head and feet with precious oil and ointment, foreshadowing of his death. But [00:15:00] she, a sinful woman, who by very touch could cause him to be ceremonially unclean and defiled.

It's why the Pharisees who sat and watched it were aghast. It was scandalous that Jesus allowed this woman not only to inter- to interrupt this event, but then to touch him and to anoint his head and feet. Jesus not only allowed it, he affirmed it. He championed this person who touched him in these ways.

In the same cultural norms and expectations, we find Jesus being touched by a woman in public who was publicly ceremonially unclean. She had an issue of blood. But instead of turning to her and condemning her, he asked who it was that touched him and then made a big deal about the depth of her faith in him.

In this day and time, with these cultural norms [00:16:00] and expectations, we find Jesus engaging a woman caught in adultery. Admittedly was a trap, but how did he navigate it? Did he bend to the pressure all around him to have her stoned to death? No. In fact, he wrote something in the sand. Can't wait to ask him what it was, or I'll ask her in fact.

But whatever it was he wrote in the sand, the crowd with the stones in their hand began to drop their stones and walk away until there was no one there, and he said, "Woman, who is it that accuses you? Who condemns you?" And she said, "No one, Lord." And he said what? "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."

Now, do you think Jesus was affirming those cultural norms and expectations? Was he conforming to them, or was he confronting them? I mean, we have no doubt or question that Jesus was counter-cultural.

Counter-culture. He wasn't conforming, he was countering. [00:17:00] So I hope that makes you feel a little better, ladies, because I know at fi- first face value, it's really disturbing to see how women were treated in that day and time, and how any of those traditions and cultural norms might have survived two millennia to today.

It's disturbing. But I hope hearing how Jesus himself treated women with dignity and respect and with love and with honor, that it might make you smile a little bit, at least in the heart. And, and by the way, on behalf of all the guys, let me just be sure to say we're for it. Right, guys? Amen, guys. Hello?

Hey, you wanna have lunch today, guys? Here, amen. Right? Amen. Or I should say a happy lunch. Yeah, I mean, we're for it. We're for it. So that's our context. Now you understand how unlikely it is that Joanna, in her role and circumstances already, now makes this life-changing, life-altering [00:18:00] decision to follow Jesus.

Let's look at her conduct. And what do we know? Well, we know what she did. She had a personal encounter with Jesus. She met Jesus. That's what we l- we read in Luke 8. Uh, some women who had, had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. We don't know which of those applies to her or both or if that description is more general and neither applies to her, but she's in a group of women who have been described as having tough times, difficult circumstances.

Mary, by the way, called Magdalene, we know from whom seven demons had gone out. So she'd been delivered of demonic oppression or possession. That, that may be true also of Joanna or it could just be some other spiritual or emotional or social or, I don't... infirmity of some kind. We don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us.

We'll just speculate beyond there. It, it could just simply be that she was a [00:19:00] person who had lived her own life and done her own thing with no regard for the God of the universe, His creating her in His image, or the sin that separated from her and would have for eternity. That's an infirmity, right? I mean, if you think about it, that's the one infirmity that lasts the longest if it's not dealt with.

So we don't know her circumstances, but we know that she had a life-changing experience because we know who and what she was before, and now we see who and what she's becoming now. Something happened to her. She met Jesus. She had a personal encounter, a personal experience. This is not an example of some highfalutin person in the courts of Herod who hears about Jesus and gives a nod.

"That's nice." This is not a person who even goes out to investigate, hears some cool teachings and says, "I like that guy. He's kind of cool," and then heads back to the palace. She is no fan of Jesus, [00:20:00] mind you. She is not a fan of Jesus. She's a follower of Jesus, and that life-changing experience was in fact the result of her personal encounter with Him.

It's an event that we see then the fruit of and the result of. So let me put the second thing here. She not only had a personal encounter or exchange with Jesus, she became a disciple of Jesus. That's the evidence of her life-changing experience with Jesus. It's not just an event. It's an event that introduces a process.

If you want to think about it in churchy terms, salvation then sanctification. That's the process of becoming. Because there's a sense in which the moment we meet Jesus, turn from our sin, and put our faith and trust in Him as Savior, we have a life-changing experience that alters our eternity, but it's not the end of the experience, it's the beginning.

Are you with me? In fact, what comes next is a daily decision to die [00:21:00] to self and to follow after Jesus as His disciple. That's what process is. That's the process of sanctification. It's, it's to become a Christian in an event that then is followed by the process of becoming a Christian by following after and imitating and learning from and emulating or modeling Jesus' life and behavior.

That's what she did. She had the experience which sh- allowed her then to become a disciple, and we see her traveling around Galilee with Jesus, following Him, learning His lessons, and she followed Him not only around in Galilee, but then she followed Him away from Galilee into Jerusalem. She's there at the end.

Luke 8, "He," Jesus, "went on through the cities and villages," so He's moving, "proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God," that was His message, the gospel, "and the twelve were with Him and also some women." So there... And that's where she's identified. So Jesus isn't [00:22:00] staying where Jesus was when she met Him.

He's moving, and she's following Him. Are you tracking? So I'll get ahead of myself, but it is a fair question at this point to just acknowledge the fact that you cannot stay where you are and go with Jesus.

You cannot stay the way you are and follow after Jesus, because Jesus is moving and change is happening. The word mathētēs in the Greek, disciple, a follower, a learner, an apprentice, is the right word to use when talking about event that then leads to process as evidence of or the fruit of the event.

Next, Luke 9:23, "He said to all, 'If anyone would come after me,'" Jesus, "'let him deny himself, take up his cross [00:23:00] daily, and follow me.'" You cannot stay where you... You ever heard the expression, "You can't steal second with your foot on first"? Well, you're not a disciple... Listen to me carefully. I want to be careful.

You're not a disciple if you are still standing where you were the day you met Jesus, because Jesus is no longer standing where you were when you met Jesus. Does Jesus love us as we are? 100%. But as Max Lucado said, you might recall this famous phrase, "He loves us the way we are, but He refuses to leave us the way we were."

He wants us to be Here's the title of the book, Just Like Jesus. Number three, what did she do? She had a personal encounter. She became a disciple, a follower, a learner. She supported... And I love this. Ladies, you're gonna love this, maybe. She supported Jesus' work and ministry and the ministry of the 12. Luke 8 again, "Joanna and Susanna and many [00:24:00] others provided for them," who?

The disciples and Jesus, "out of their means." Out of their means. I think this is fascinating. She did more than follow Jesus' ministry, she funded it. Isn't that cool? You say, where'd they get the means? Whose wife was she? Chuza or Cuza, depending on how you choosa to use it. Her husband either is currently, at this stage, or perhaps was recently, Herod's money man.

He comes from good stock. He's well-educated. He's had a prize job in the kingdom of Galilee. She came into this marriage with some of her own. In this day and time, she'd retain her dowry. He'd get the interest off of it, but it's hers. So if she brought any wealth into the marriage, add that to the wealth that he produced in the marriage and through his role and [00:25:00] relationship, she's a woman of means.

She's got money. And what is she doing with it? She's giving it to Jesus and to his disciples to advance the Kingdom of God, to further the message on mission, to h- to help them keep going so that more and more people hear the good news of the gospel. I, I just think this is phenomenal, ladies, don't you?

She not only followed His ministry, she funded His ministry. And, and once you get past that, I, I think, man, ha- have you ever... D- do you ever stop and think about that there was a group of women, see... I, I mean, we think about Jesus and the 12 roaming about Galilee to Jerusalem, back to Jerusalem. We're f- we are primarily focused on the men and, and the ministry.

How are they eating? How are they trading? What are they using to survive?[00:26:00]

Thanks, Joanna. Thank you, Susanna. Thank you, Mary. Who are among a group of women who are walking with them, following after them, and paying the bills for them. I don't know how you feel about that. I'll just do a poll right now. How do you feel about that? I think it's so cool. And I think I'm glad to have finally, after all these years of thinking about the disciples- In terms of what they were doing, to have a moment of pause to appreciate those who were promoting and providing for and making possible what they were doing.

You think Luke's just slipping this in here? Like just some insignificant little random fact and, "Oh, by the way, the women were paying the bills." Or does Luke also have an appreciation for the fact that there was somebody behind the scenes making all of this possible? I think that's so powerful. [00:27:00] Fourth, we'll move through these quickly.

She was there for Him at His crucifixion. Tiny bit of speculation here, but not really. It's sort of fill in the blanks. Luke 23:49, "And all of His acquaintances and the women who had followed Him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things," straight out of the chapter on His crucifixion. So if she was with the women who followed Him from Galilee, she was there.

And then verse 55, "The women who had come with Him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath day they rested according to the commandment." So she was there. I, I like to think about this in terms of her ministry to Jesus through Galilee and into Jerusalem.

And finally now, just the ministry of presence. Just the ministry of presence that she's providing. She's just there. She's watching. She's among the group of people who stuck it out and stayed with Him.[00:28:00]

And then of course you know she became His forever faithful witness. You likely remember the story. We finished with it last week. It's from Luke 24, "On the first day of the week, at early dawn," early in the morning, "they went to the tomb." Who? They, the women, "taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead? He's not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you while He was still with you in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and on the third day rise.'"

Where'd they hear that? Where had they heard? He's bringing to m- remembrance what they heard where? In Galilee. [00:29:00] Who are they? The women were there in Galilee following Him, listening to His teachings. They weren't just paying the bills. They were fully present and listening. And now the reminder. "And they remembered His words.

And returning from the tomb, they told all these things to the 11 and to all the rest," as they were instructed to do. Who was it? Mary Magdalene and Joanna. There she is. And Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. What things? Things that they had been taught and learned in Galilee.

Things that followed them, though vaguely and hard to comprehend, difficult to get their minds around, but they'd seen those events unfold as he said they would, and now they're being reminded on this first day of the new world, Resurrection Sunday, of what they'd heard back in Galilee, sitting at his feet, listening to his words, and receiving his instructions as disciples.

And what do they do? [00:30:00] They go and tell. They told these things to the apostles. These words seemed to them an idle tale. Sound anything like Josephus might have said about cultural norms and expectations? That if you wanted to concoct a story, if you wanted to tell a lie, if you wanted to conspire to deceive the world, you would never start with a group of women as your first batch of witnesses.

You just wouldn't have done it. Because it sound to the disciples, who also heard all these things in Galilee when the women were there. Wonder who was listening better. I'm just saying. And they hear it as idle talk, and it's a tale, and they didn't believe them. But I'm gonna give us guys a little credit there.

The, they'd never seen anything like this before. They really didn't have much as... Well, that's not true, is it? Jesus did raise a few people from the dead, including Lazarus. But anyway, they didn't believe it, so they [00:31:00] run, verse 12, "Peter rose and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves.

He went home marveling," marveling at what had happened. I mean, to give us all some credit, that was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I mean, even if Jesus had raised Lazarus from death to life, Jesus was dead himself, or so it seemed. Now he's alive. So she becomes, having seen him on this day and hearing this good news for the first time now post-event, she, one of the ones who were the last to see him alive and to watch him die, are the first to see him alive again.

And that's a really important thing to think about, because from this moment on in history, she's among those who are able to agree with and to affirm and to testify about the truth of every other thing he ever said, because this is that validating moment in history, that if he can do that, [00:32:00] then he really is who he said he was when he said he was God.

So there they are. That's what happened, and that's what she did. Let's look at that contribution now, and let's first look at it in terms of the there and then. And of course, the first is obvious. She's a witness to the resurrection, to declare, to testify, to give witness That it's all true. Everything he ever said, it's all true.

And yes, there are women, and you can't ignore that, so there is in this, even if an unintended, I don't know, or perhaps specifically intended use of women whose roles and value in society were diminished in that expectational time, now elevated because the first to see and hear the good news are, in fact, ladies.

And the men? Well, at first they don't believe them. So there she is, and I don't think we can ig- ignore the fact that she is among those ladies who are the first to see and the primary witnesses to the resurrection. [00:33:00] That had to have some impact on the church and other disciples. For example, a great many scholars believe that Joanna is a key source for Luke's gospels, especially as it relates to details on the life of Jesus in Galilee.

She was there. She was watching. She was listening. She understood. She saw. She experienced. So she becomes, in all likelihood, a primary source for the writing of Luke's gospel. And of course, her impact is measured even beyond that contribution. Now, some scholars like Richard Bauckham, for example, many of you may know who he is, a, a British scholar, Anglican theologian, makes a strong argument, and I found that argument through reading Lynn Koek's book, who is a professor at Houston Christian University, formerly HBU, who wrote a really good book on women in the days and times of Jesus, and she referenced Bauckham, so I went back and [00:34:00] read Bauckham's, and here's what he says.

In reading Romans chapter 16, he finds the name Junia, which can be read in a couple of different ways, and that's a bit of a thorny, tricky passage as it relates to the apostles. But one thing is clear, Joanna seems to be Junia. And Paul's writing in Romans chapter 16 to thank and to affirm his appreciation for prominent members of the church, and she's among them.

So what we see is her impact and her influence, not just in Galilee or Jerusalem, not just on the first Sunday morning of the new world and the new week. We see her influence beyond that in and through the life of the church. And no doubt, because of her influence, we have more well-known or better-known examples like Priscilla and Phoebe and Lydia, more prominent roles by women in the New Testament church and in its growth and expansion, which was absolutely explosive.

So that's there and then. She [00:35:00] was tremendously influential, even if she was lesser known. And so for us, what we'll call our points for home, the here and now, here's something I think we should ask ourselves. What is, and am I, a disciple of Jesus? What is a disciple? I mean, how many of us, if I asked for a raising of hands, and I want to not embarrass anybody who doesn't yet consider themselves a disciple, but most of us in this room, in this environment, would probably say, "I'm a disciple of Jesus."

But are we? What does that mean? What does that look like? I mean, it's easy to say, and most of us have an understanding of, of what it means when we say, "I'm a disciple of Jesus." But am I a disciple of Jesus? We've defined it oftentimes as this: as a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. But that word fully and that word devoted, while great words, leave a lot left to be said, don't they?[00:36:00]

We're not talking about fans of Jesus, appre- people that appreciate His teaching, or people who look Him as a, looked Him as a, perhaps a moral example of what life lived well should look like, or, or how to get along with people or how to care for the poor. There are lots of fans of Jesus. There aren't so many followers of Jesus.

If we really unpack fully devoted, what does that mean? Well, a few examples. Jesus said, "Follow me, I'll make you become fishers of men.

If you follow me, you'll do what I did." What did Jesus do? Jesus said, "I've come to seek and to save that which was lost." That's His mission. He's preaching the kingdom. He's sharing the gospel. He's inviting people to faith. He's laying it all on the line to make the provision for people to have heaven and eternal life as God's free gift of God through Jesus Christ.

So forgiveness of sins, heaven, and eternal life is [00:37:00] God's gift. That's His mission. So if we say we're a disciple of Jesus, that means we're following Jesus to learn what He has to teach and then do what He tells us to do. "Follow me, I'll make you fishers of men." So as the old question goes, are we really following Jesus if we aren't fishing for men?

I mean, if we aren't on His mission, if we aren't fulfilling His purposes, His specific command in Matthew 28, we call it the Great Commission, "Go and make disciples." Who'd He say that to? People who had been made disciples. So this is that ministry of multiplication, not just managing the Christian lifestyle.

We're not just managing a list of morality, uh, principles or, or moral things to do and not do, or say and not say, or be and don't be. It's, it's, it's not moralism. It's a life-changing experience wherein we join Jesus on His mission in this world. [00:38:00] So we'd have to ask ourselves the question, am I really following the Master if I'm not fishing for men?

And what you see in Joanna, if I can go back to her one more time, is a disciple come full circle. A disciple come full circle. 'Cause she was the one in Galilee who met Jesus and had a life-changing experience that put her on the road to following Jesus, to learning, to becoming an apprentice. And now she's engaged, she's commissioned, she's sent as a witness to the resurrection, which is a life-changing event in the history of the world.

She's come full circle. I mean, if you really wanna think about it, what is evangelism and discipleship? What is it? It's when the evangelized becomes an evangelist. So can I do two things very quickly before we move on to the, to the second point for home? One is to [00:39:00] affirm the fact that you are a part of a church led by a pastor who has souls of men and women and boys and girls on his heart and mind.

And a church and a pastor and a staff who think missionally, that we are not here to make ourselves comfortable, but to conform to the very image and person of Jesus Christ, and to fulfill the mission that He's given to the church, and therefore, to all of us, 'cause you know the church is not this building, it's these people.

So I wanna affirm the fact that you are in a healthy environment to fulfill the ministry and mission of Jesus as His follower and disciple and apprentice. But the second thing I would add in here is this: What's your role? Where's your handle? What is your unique contribution to the mission and the life of the church, which is the mission and life of the Savior?

We're not all [00:40:00] knock-on-door evangelists. We're not all preachers and teachers of the Word in public settings, but we all have a part we can play, a piece that is our piece of the puzzle so that the mission of the church is fulfilled, which is the mandate of Christ. So good on you for being a part of a gospel-centered, Bible-preaching, mission-sharing, soul-saving work called the church.

Have you found your part? 'Cause let me just say to you, that's what a disciple is. Am I one? Secondly, I'll ask this question, which Joanna cau- causes me to think about: Am I living, am I working with or for Jesus? Because as important as it is for us to serve the Lord and work for the Lord and share the gospel for the Lord and to advance the [00:41:00] kingdom for the Lord, I, I don't want you to miss the meat of the sandwich.

It's the with the Lord. It's the with. She was with Him. They were with Him. W- with is a big word, isn't it? For is a great word. It's a powerful word, and, and definitely we wanna do things for the Lord. We do. But what we have to be careful of is that there's a danger in the word for, F-O-R. There's a danger that I am a Christian, and I'm saved, and I'm a disciple, and I'm gonna go do great things for the Lord, and when I see Him in heaven, He's gonna say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Well, there'll be one exception or one caveat or one particular exception I wanna just point out, and that is this, is if everything that we did was for the Lord in the absence of with the Lord, it's not gonna mean much. Because the danger of for is the absence of with, [00:42:00] 'cause without that abiding presence, without that intimacy and relationship, without that knowledge of who He is, without the process daily of Him transforming us more and more into His image by the power of the Holy Spirit through our willingness and submission to change, we find ourselves need to be reminded of John 15:5.

"I'm the vine," Jesus said, "You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do..." How much? Great things on your own. 'Cause you're wonderfully and uniquely made. My soul knows full well. You are created in the image of God. You got all that and a bag of potato chips on the side.

You're amazing. You're incredible. You can do anything.

"But apart from me," Jesus said, "you can do [00:43:00] nothing." So while I made the point in this first Points for Home that we really should be doing a lot for the Lord, we don't wanna do anything for the Lord at the expense of or in the absence of His abiding presence in us and our abiding presence in Him. 'Cause it's not discipleship to do a lot of busy, workful things.

I just made up a word. It starts with the presence. It starts with abiding. It starts in that relationship that everything else flows from. So think about the difference between the dangers of for and the dynamic of doing life with, to be with Jesus, to minister to Jesus. Have you ever thought about your ministry to Jesus?

Think about that. What is your m- Joanna's ministry to Jesus was not [00:44:00] just listening, although that's wonderful, and learning. That's great. That's expected. That's r- that's required. That's a part of being a disciple. But I love the fact that she's ministering to Jesus, and in her particular case- It's the ministry of presence, and it's the min- ministry of giving.

See, her provision, her generosity, her giving is an act of worship. Her giving, her generosity is an act of encouragement to provide the means for the ministry and the mission to be fulfilled. That's her ministry to Jesus. I just thought if it's anything else from Joanna we see is that she didn't just spend time with Jesus and do things for Jesus.

In that with moment, she did things for and to Jesus in the sense of her ministry to Him. And don't think too little of that thought that she was with Him at the last. Maybe standing back, probably not at the foot of the [00:45:00] cross as it's been portrayed. Luke tells us they were at a bit of a distance. But the ministry of presence is so powerful.

Have you ever been in a place in life where no matter what someone said, it just wouldn't matter 'cause words could never be enough, but it was just their presence, just being there that made the difference? So what is your ministry to Jesus? And by the way, this may be the last chance I get on this.

Probably will be. Mark will come back. He'll finish this series. We'll move on. But I, I, I wanna make this last point as a point for home, and that is this: There's no such thing as lesser-known women or men to God. Now, I'm not ditching the series. I've spent two weeks in the series. I'm all for it. I think it's a great thing to do.

And to us, there are [00:46:00] some who are more well-known and some who are lesser-known, to be sure. And so we are studying and learning more about the lesser-known, and in the next few weeks we'll learn more about what's lesser-known about even the ones that are well-known. That's important. That's good. I love it.

I've enjoyed this. But I do wanna make a point, this is from our perspective. This is from our point of view. This is using our limited knowledge and brain, so it's important. Whether your name is well-known like Sarah or Deborah or Mary, Lydia, or lesser-known like Oxa or Joanna,

it's important to keep these verses in mind. Jesus said, "The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father." [00:47:00] 1 Corinthians 15: "Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor..."

No matter who knows or how much labor you do that's unknown, your labor in the Lord is not in vain. And finally, Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work heartily," give it your best, "and do it as for the Lord, not for men." 'Cause if you do it for men, you'll be better known. But don't do it for that. Do it for the Lord, not for men.

"Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." So whether you're well-known or lesser-known, remember that your name is known to God.

Men or [00:48:00] women, young or old, God knows your name.

And Father, as we pray, we thank You that we can't conceive of, but we understand and by faith accept the truth of, we are known by You.

And to know that while we have met these women who are lesser-known, they aren't lesser-known to You. I sort of think that You're smiling and thinking, "Sorta glad y'all got around to getting to know these ladies. They're pretty great." And so we have confidence and faith and encouragement that You haven't missed a thing, not a teardrop, not an act of service, not the ministry of giving or the ministry of presence or the ministry of service or the ministry of going.

You're in the know, and You know our name. [00:49:00] Encourage us with that truth, and thank You for it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.