Junia - Great Women of the Bible '25

Great Women of the Bible

Junia

Romans 16:6-7

Series Slide

Good morning and welcome! I am so glad you have chosen to worship together today.  What a special day.  We have baptized little Baby Ifechidere Victory.

Our Youth have returned from camp with stories of life changing encounters with Christ and calls into ministry.

We as a church have collected over $3,500 for flood relief to go with the nearly $750,000 raised as a Conference.  We have packed about 50 buckets for this and future disasters and have become a drop point for churches across the district  As a Conference, we have delivered more than 1,200 flood buckets.  And Corsicana has been designated as a storage area for Flood Buckets to be ready for the next disaster!

 It’s a great day to be the church, and I am so proud to be a part of this church!

Today, we are wrapping up our series on the great women of the Bible.  Not that we ran out of great women… I mean we never talked about Mary the mother of Jesus… We didn’t cover Mary and Martha… We haven’t gotten to Priscilla… We’ve skipped Dorkus… and those are just a few from the New Testament.

But, today, we are going to wrap up with one that will actually bridge the gap to our next sermon series when we start looking at the Apostles in Acts.   This is a Great Woman of the Bible that my dad once told me about.  Growing up Baptist, we didn’t have females in ministry, but I remember my dad talking about the fact that women were leaders of the churches in the Bible.  He told me how Paul addressed his letters to the leaders in the different communities and often they were women.  I guess that’s why it wasn’t a problem for me to join the Methodist Church in Beaumont, waiting for Rev. Elizabeth to be preaching the day we joined.

So, the lady we are talking about today is one who stands at the forefront of the fight for women in ministry.  Her name is Junia.  This passage in Romans 16 is the only place and time she is mentioned in Scripture by name, but some believe she was a part of a lot more than what Paul references here.  I love the simple translation of the New Century Version of the Bible…

Romans 16:6-7  (New Century Version)

Greetings to Mary, who worked very hard for you. Greetings to Andronicus and Junia, my relatives, who were in prison with me. They are very important apostles. They were believers in Christ before I was.

[Prayer]

Sermon slide

Who remembers the Guinness Book of World Records?  I remember the TV show that came on – I believe it came on after That’s Incredible.  People walking across gorges and valleys on a cable.  People allowed their nails to grow a little longer so they could be the Guinness World Record holder. 

Jumping a motorcycle across more school buses than anyone else.

Looking back – and it still is happening today – It amazes me how hard people work to have their name mentioned in the book.  If you watch America’s Got Talent, you will often see someone on the show with a Guinness Book of World Records representative to verify if they break the record or not.  They work so hard to smash the most grapefruits, or hoola hoop the longest, or whatever…

But it’s the ones that don’t work at it that truly amaze me.  The tallest man on earth… the shortest… the strongest… the oldest…

These people are amazing, not because of what they do, but because of who they are.

And that is the case with Junia.

Who was Junia?  Junia is the first woman mentioned by name as an Apostle.  Yes, SHE was a woman. It’s interesting that some later copies of the Bible added an “S” to the name to make it masculine. It seems they couldn’t believe that Paul would list a female “apostle.”  Women didn’t garner the same respect they do today.  They were second class citizens.  Rabbi’s would at times pray and thank God that they were not born a Gentile or a Woman.  But there was one Rabbi who was different.  He accepted women, women were a part of his band.  Women were his disciples and supporters.  Women funded his work and ministry… Who was that Rabbi? None other than our Lord Jesus.  Jesus respected women and put them in equal roles with men.  That’s why it isn’t surprising to find Junia mentioned in Scripture as an Apostle.

Apostle Vs Disciple

I keep using that word.  What is the difference between an Apostle and a Disciple?  Well, all Apostles are disciples, but not all disciples are apostles.  A Discipleis a student. Any of us who consider ourselves followers of Jesus, students of Jesus… any of us that call ourselves Christian (which means little Christs) are a Disciple.  And, some disciples are Apostles. 

An apostle is one sent to do the work of another.

An apostle is one who goes out and shares the good news. 

One definition from the Oxford Dictionary is one who is “a vigorous and pioneering advocate or supporter of a particular… cause.”    

 Junia was one who took the message of Jesus out into the masses. She was a missionary, a traveling preacher, and evangelist.

Sermon Slide

Some even believe that she was one of the 72 missionaries that Jesus sent out.  We can read their story in Luke 10.  This is the passage where Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Jesus sent his followers – male and female – out to share his story, to tell his good news.  He had equipped them all, regardless of gender, regardless of background, regardless of where they came from… all were equal in the eyes of Jesus.

And you know what, Junia was pretty effective in her ministry.  She was effective enough in ministry to be a threat to the adversaries of God – those who would want to stop the story of Jesus.

Junia was so effective that she was imprisoned along with Paul. 

Let me ask you,

When were you last a threat to the adversaries of God?  In other words, if being a follower of Jesus was a crime, is there enough evidence to convict you? 

Can someone spend an afternoon with you and still question whether you are a disciple, a student, a follower of Jesus Christ?

I want to tell you… If there is any doubt, then you need to take a moment and look at your life as a follower of Jesus. 

One final thing about Junia.  Junia was “in Christ” before Paul was a believer.  The way Paul mentions this, it is as though Paul is telling us that she was one of his mentors. Her ministry impacted Paul’s life and ministry.  I know, we don’t hear from her again, and there aren’t any writings that I found that talk about her ministry in the early church.  Her ministry may have only impacted a few for a short time, but look at what God did through those few! Especially since one of them was Paul.

Sermon Slide

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to preach at a church I had previously served.  After the message, the music leader came up to me and told me about an illustration I had used… it was that after I had tubes put in my ears, I went camping with my dad and we laid in the tent with me asking about all the sounds of the woods I had never heard.

Bill, told me how that sermon impacted him and how he related to the story because, for him, it was his vision.  When he got glasses his entire world opened up.  He could see.  It wasn’t only a memorable story, the sermon itself impacted him.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really remember the sermon, and I often wondered if my sermons really had any impact… but every now and then, I get to hear someone tell me how God used me to impact their life.  It’s usually the small things that make a difference.  A call, a visit at the hospital, an open door and a short visit.

It is the same for you.  You are making a difference… When you, like Junia, allow God to use you, then you too are great among the followers of Jesus.

This week, go and live for Jesus, and as you go about your daily life, make a difference in the lives of others for Jesus Christ.

Amen!