This picture can have two meanings, depending upon how you read it:
1. You don’t matter – give up.
2. You matter – Don’t give up.
As I consider this, I think about our country and the rights of the individual in the United States of America. Over the course of several decades, our country has slowly been changing from a Democratic Republic into a Socialistic Dictatorship. Within the past two decades this change has accelerated into a violent one that has the whole-hearted support of the Democratic party and our foreign adversaries.. Individual rights are being eroded at an ever increasing rate and our country is being divided into the “haves” and the “have nots”.
At the time the Bible was written, Rome was in fact divided into “haves” and the “have nots” but, the names were different: Slave and Free or Roman and non-Roman.
Consider this passage from the book of Romans…
Romans 16 ( World English Bible )
1 I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the assembly that is at Cenchreae,
2 that you receive her in the Lord, in a way worthy of the saints, and that you assist her in whatever matter she may need from you, for she herself also has been a helper of many, and of my own self.
3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
4 who for my life, laid down their own necks; to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the assemblies of the Gentiles.
5 Greet the assembly that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ.
6 Greet Mary, who labored much for us.
7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners, who are notable among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
8 Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.
9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved.
10 Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.
11 Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.
12 Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet Persis, the beloved, who labored much in the Lord.
13 Greet Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.
15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. The assemblies of Christ greet you.
17 Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them.
18 For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.
19 For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil.
20 And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives.
22 I, Tertius, Who Write The Letter, Greet You In The Lord.
The Apostle Paul was a very unique individual. He was both an introverted person with a bookish nature and yet a very outgoing one who fervently loved his fellow Christians. As his letter to the Romans indicates, he could both present lofty concepts of intense insight into the Scriptures and yet have wonderful inter-personal relationships as well.
Paul is very important, but when I think of that sign, my thoughts turn to the last ( and perhaps the most unimportant person ) of this last chapter of Romans. Tertius, who was a slave and whose name was only a number, is very important because he actually wrote Paul’s letter to the Romans. He was a nobody who was a somebody because God loved him and put him into a very special work of assisting in the spread of the word of God.
Jesus Christ died for all human beings, rich and poor, slave, free and everything in between. He died for me and also the one who reads this blog post. We all matter because God thinks we do; read the above sign at the top in the correct way: You don’t matter – give up. Why? Because you are beloved of God and that is the only thing that really, really matters!
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