Serving Behind the Scenes!

 

            Have you ever read a book and wanted to know more about the life of some of the lesser characters? My curiosity is often awakened when I read the Scriptures.  There are so many people who played key parts in God’s story, but we know so little about them. 

            One such lady was Priscilla.  We know that she was married to a man named Aquila and that they were tentmakers by trade.  We also know that she welcomed people, including Paul, into her home and that a church in Ephesus met in their home.  She and Aquila were active in Paul’s ministry, and he considered them to be faithful co-workers. 

            When we first encounter this couple, the Roman emperor had expelled them and all the other Jews from Rome.  They fled to the city of Corinth, where they first met Paul.  Aquila was a Jew, but we don’t know the heritage of Priscilla.  She may have been a Jew, but she could have been a Roman citizen.  When Paul left Corinth for Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila went with him.  Why? We don’t know.  We also don’t know why he left them there when he moved on to other places.

            When the preacher, Apollos showed up in Ephesus, it was Priscilla and Aquila who took him aside to explain the entirety of the Gospel message to him.  Had they learned that from Paul or other early Christians?  We don’t know.

            At one point it appears that they returned to Rome.  When? Why? Those are unanswered questions.  As Paul neared the end of his life and wrote his second letter to Timothy, it appears that they were back in Ephesus.  How did they get there and when? Again, we don’t know.  Paul indicated that they risked their lives to save him.  How?  We don’t know.

I look forward to meeting Priscilla and Aquila in heaven someday to learn the rest of their story.  Even with so many questions, we know enough to recognize their contributions to the spread of the Gospel.  They went where they were needed to advance the Kingdom.  They welcomed individuals and groups into their home to provide housing, education, and times of worship.  Paul told us that all the Gentile churches were grateful to them. They weren’t apostles or missionaries like Paul, but they played a vital part in the spread of the Gospel during those early years. 

            My point is that those of us who work behind the scenes, encouraging and assisting those who preach and teach, may never know, this side of heaven, how valuable we are to the work of God’s Kingdom.  Paul said it like this, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men” (I Corinthians 12: 4 – 6 NIV84). 

He also said that “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2: 10 NIV84). 

There is some part that each of us can play in the spread of the Gospel.  Our story, like that of Priscilla and Aquila, may be unknown to most people.  However, God has prepared each of us for particular tasks.  The question is, “Will we be willing to answer when He calls?”  Serving God requires us to be available and willing.  God will fill in all the blanks just as He did with Priscilla and Aquila.

Acts 18: 1 – 3, 18 – 19, & 24 – 26

I Corinthians 16: 19

Romans 16: 3, 4

II Timothy 4: 19

I Corinthians 12: 4 – 6

Ephesians 2: 10

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