Our culture is obsessed with celebrity. And like most societal obsessions, the church follows suit. Many Christians are enamored with accomplishing something great for God. While the idea sounds honorable, often the impetus behind the effort is a desire for personal gain. The close of Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome serves as a tremendous reminder that the gospel has been carried through the centuries on the shoulders of ordinary people.

Christian history has its share of prominent men and women. Even the most cursory glance at the past, however, reveals that for every notable person thousands of men and women labored in obscurity.

Paul mentions a few of these men and women.

⁹Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. ¹⁰Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. ¹¹Greet my kinsman Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. ¹²Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. ¹³Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. ¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. ¹⁵Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.

Romans 16:9-15 (ESV)

Recognize any of those names?

Most of us will not be remembered in two generations. These men and women appear in the best-selling book of all time and they are hardly household names. Yet Paul’s extraordinary missionary ministry owed a debt to these people for their ‘hard work.’

Where are the men and women in our churches who labor for the sake of His Name and not for the sake of their own? And if you are one of these ordinary men or women laboring in obscurity, please know that while your name might be forgotten by people it will not be forgotten by God.

From C.S. Lewis…

“It is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began . . . Pride always means enmity – it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that – and therefore know yourself as nothing in comparison – you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

That raises a terrible question. How is it that a people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves so religious? I am afraid it means they are worshipping an imaginary God.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York: Collier Books, 1986), 96.

That last description hits close to home as it sounds like the masses that flock to 21^st century churches.

Do you know anyone who seems religious and yet is eaten up with pride? They unashamedly pursue personal gain. They have contrived of a god who will accept and even glory in their pursuit of themselves. Ouch.

Do these statements describe you?