Who’s Who in the Bible?
By Pastor Josh Wamble
I was so excited when I went to the mailbox one day during my sophomore or junior year of high school. There was an official looking letter addressed to me from Who’s Who Among American High School Students. I’m sure I thought I had really “made it.” I was being recognized as one of the top high school students in the country—or so I assumed. Later, I came to understand that this recognition was not very prestigious at all. Most high school students receive these letters, and it was sort of a scam. What this company was really interested in was getting me (or my parents) to pay to purchase a book with my name in it.
In the US, many are almost obsessed with making a name for themselves, receiving notoriety, and being recognized by those around them. The bible gives us a more eternal perspective on our lives and our reputations and legacies. James tells us that life is like a vapor. It is here for a moment and then vanishes. From the perspective of history, our lives only last a brief moment. Hopefully we make an impact on those around us, and those who care about us will remember us when we are gone. However, for most people, after a generation or two, we will be forgotten along with almost every other person who has ever existed.
I thought about this recently while reading some of Paul’s letters. He mentions several individuals as he writes to the churches. In Romans, he mentions Phoebe, Prisca and Aquila, Epaenetus, Mary, Andronicus, Junias, Ampliatus, Urbanus, Apelles, and many others. In his letters to Corinth, he talks about Apollos, Stephanas, Fortunatus, Achaicus, and others. He refences Epaphroditus in Philippians; Aristarchus, Epaphras, Luke, Nympha, Archippus, and Demas in Colossians; Artemas, Tychicus, Zenas the lawyer, and Apollos in Titus; Mark and others in Philemon; and Crescans, Alexander the coppersmith, Onesiphorus, Erastus, Trophimus, Eubulus, Pudens, Claudia, and others in 2 Timothy. Some of these people are mentioned multiple times in multiple letters and some only once. Some are called fellow workers. One is said to have risked his neck to save Paul’s life. Some are listed as people to be avoided and watched out for. Demas is called a “fellow worker” in Colossians and Philemon but is said to have fallen in love with the world toward the end of Paul’s life in 2 Timothy. Peter, John, and Jude mention people by name in their letters as well, and Acts is full of names of people we only read about once.
What got my attention when reading some of these names is that these are all people who were important to so many believers in the early church. They were used in mighty ways by God during their lifetimes, but their memory has been almost entirely lost to the world. Our lives are full of people like this. I wish that you all could have known Walter Lockhart or Judge Homes, or Bob Barton or James and Marietta Watt or Bart Etheredge. I wish that you all could meet Ray Van Neste or Marilyn Etheredge or Ray Van Neste or Susan Fisher or so many others—people who are gone now but the Lord used in major ways in my life. There are former members and pastors that have left a mark on our church. There are people who were here just a few years ago when I moved to Louisville and joined FBCF in 2005 but not now. Many of you know them, but many of you have come to our church since they have passed away, and they are just names that you may or may not have even heard of. In 50 or 60 short years there may not be anyone left who remembers them.
There is a specific passage at the end of Philippians that started me thinking this way. In Phil 4:3, Paul says, “help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” Paul names these women earlier. They are Euodia and Syntyche. He names Clement as well. But then he references the rest of his fellow workers. We have no idea who he means. He doesn’t even tell us their names, but he tells us that God knows their names. And we can trust that God knows the work that they did for the kingdom as well!
Right now, all over the world there are pastors and missionaries and church members who are faithfully following the Lord and pouring out their lives for the sake of the Kingdom of Christ. Most of them will never be famous. They will serve for a short few years, and they will die their lives and even their names almost entirely lost to history, but God knows their names and their faithful labors. Their preaching and teaching and leading and gospel conversations will not have been in vain. The Lord is using their efforts and the Kingdom is expanding because of it.
God has used people like this in your life as well. Take some time to remember them and how the Lord has used them to make you who you are and the impact they have had on your life as a believer. Seek to live your life with this type of legacy in mind. The world may not value or even remember your effort, but God sees, and He knows!
