Latest / Arise Women of God / Phoebe's Legacy: Lessons in Leadership for Today’s Women
Transcript
- 0:01Were women leaders in the New Testament church, And how can we follow their example today?
- 0:09Stay tuned because this is what we're going to dive into today as we talk about one of these amazing New Testament women.
- 0:18Are you a woman who knows God is calling you to something more, but you're unsure where to start or how to grow it into something impactful?
- 0:27You are not alone, and you're in the right place.
- 0:31Welcome to the Arise Women of God podcast, a show for Christian women who feel called to shine his light and step into their divine purpose.
- 0:41Each week you'll hear stories of faithful women, both from the Bible and today, who heard God's voice and chose to say yes even when it felt uncomfortable or uncertain, to step with faith into the unknown.
- 0:55You'll walk away with encouragement, spiritual insight, and practical steps to follow those holy promptings in your own life.
- 1:04So let's Arise together as women warriors of light.
- 1:08Let's do it God's way.
- 1:10God strong.
- 1:15Hello and welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God podcast.
- 1:20I'm your host, Tamara K.
- 1:21Andersen.
- 1:22And joining me today are Wendy Christianson.She'smy cofounderofWomenwarriorsofLight.We welcomeWendy.\o oie eWi!
- 1:30Thanks, Tamara.
- 1:31I'm so happy to be here and.
- 1:33We'Re glad to have you.
- 1:35And Kari Anjewierden.
- 1:37And Kari, thanks for being with us today as well.
- 1:40Thank you for allowing me to be on.
- 1:42I'm excited.
- 1:44All right, guys, we're going to take a quick break from the Women Modern women warrior spotlights we've been doing and shine a spotlight on one of our New Testament sisters today and kind of dive into how she was
- 1:58able to arise and fulfill her divine calling back in a time when women didn't stand out as much.
- 2:08But Jesus kind of helped elevate women.
- 2:11I believe in his ministry and we see so many women following him and shining their lights.
- 2:20And so today we're going to talk about one of those women who is probably a little bit lesser known.
- 2:27And there's only a few little verses said about her, but we can glean a lot from these two verses.
- 2:33And so the woman we're going to talk about today is Phoebe.
- 2:37And we can find her mentioned in Romans chapter 16, and it's verses one and two.
- 2:44That's all we have, folks.
- 2:45That's all we have on Phoebe.
- 2:46But we're gonna.
- 2:47We're gonna do an entire episode on her.
- 2:49So just watch.
- 2:51It's gonna be good.
- 2:53So I'm gonna back up really quick here and say that one of the things that we find with Phoebe here is.
- 3:01She is actually carrying this, chapter 16, this letter that Paul is writing to the Romans with her.
- 3:10So she has been entrusted with this document that he's written, and she's taking it to the church in Rome.
- 3:19And so we'll talk a little bit more about the trust that must have existed between Paul and Phoebe, but in a little bit.
- 3:28But we'll read these verses, and then we'll dive into some of the words that describe Phoebe.
- 3:33And we're reading this from the King James Version, and there are several others, but it says in verse one, I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church, which is at Cenchrea, that ye
- 3:51receive her in the Lord as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you.
- 4:01For she hath been a succourer of many and of myself also.
- 4:08And so that is what we have about Phoebe.
- 4:11And I thought I would just pause right there and say, all right, ladies, you've had a chance to kind of look at some of these words and pray about Phoebe.
- 4:21What were some of the impressions that you had as you dove into understanding who she was and what she did in the New Testament church?
- 4:32Wendi, let's start with you.
- 4:34Well, the first thing that I noticed is he calls her your.
- 4:38Our sister.
- 4:40And you can tell that he.
- 4:44Excuse me.
- 4:44That Paul has a very loving relationship.
- 4:48And almost like he thinks of her like a dear sister to him, and he can see the benefit that she brings.
- 4:56And it's almost like this respect that just oozes from just those two verses.
- 5:02I think that he has for her sister a servant.
- 5:08She has been a sucker of many, including him.
- 5:13So you know that she loves others, she serves others.
- 5:18She has nurtured and is a nurturer, and that she loves the gospel just in those two verses.
- 5:26I think it's amazing.
- 5:28And you can also tell that he respects her because he's like, you know, whatever she needs, give it to her.
- 5:34I want you guys to treat her well and treat her like she has treated us.
- 5:40So you can tell she's been a good woman because she has treated him well and she's treated the church well.
- 5:45And he says a lot there, I think, in those two verses.
- 5:49And she's been a servant of the church, which means she has done a lot for him and for the church where he's at, and the fact that he's willing to trust her.
- 5:59When you were saying that.
- 6:01I love World War II novels.
- 6:04They're some of my favorite and the first thought I had was, you know, back In World War II, I read a lot of books where women were used as spies a lot because, number one, they were trustworthy, but
- 6:15also, number two, they didn't.
- 6:18They weren't always picked up that easily.
- 6:20Right.
- 6:21Because they had a lot of different roles that women fulfilled.
- 6:24So it was.
- 6:25It was kind of their underground tactic to often use women in like, for example, secretarial positions, but to be spies for the Allies in World War II.
- 6:39And kind of, I thought, I.
- 6:41As we were reading, I thought, I wonder if that's why he sent it with her.
- 6:45Because, you know, they were under attack back then and they were not friendly towards Christians.
- 6:51They did not like people who believed in Christ.
- 6:54And I thought he must have really trusted her if she was kind of like, in a way, a spy.
- 7:00Right.
- 7:00Like where she had to deliver this letter from one.
- 7:03From one part of the church to the next part of the Church.
- 7:06He really trusted her to be able to go and deliver this letter.
- 7:11And.
- 7:11And I think had great respect for her.
- 7:14So that's where my mind went.
- 7:16Carrie, I'm curious to hear where yours went.
- 7:19I know, I know.
- 7:20I am, too.
- 7:21And it's interesting, as you were saying, kind of whatever she needs do reminded me of that passage in the New Testament where Mary, the mother of Christ, before his first miracle of turning water into wine, she says to
- 7:38the servants, whatever he says to you, do it.
- 7:41It's that same level of, I trust this person implicitly, you know, and.
- 7:47And she's not going to lead you astray.
- 7:50So, yeah, love that.
- 7:51All right, Kari, what were your thoughts as you were diving in?
- 7:54Were there any words that stood out to you or things that you loved looking at?
- 8:00One of the things that I was thinking of was the role of women in that day specifically.
- 8:07And it wasn't generally, they weren't high status people, but it feels to me like Phoebe is one of high status, number one.
- 8:19You know, you think of Paul before, as he was Saul, before he became Paul.
- 8:24And.
- 8:24And what would his thoughts have been about women at that time?
- 8:29And then as he moves into this possible role, if you will, to have someone that he considers a sister, somebody that he knows has his back, that he knows he can ask anything of.
- 8:45You know, that ask is probably a very difficult ask.
- 8:49Go to Rome, Take us to Rome.
- 8:51And she's willing to do it, which tells me that she must have had some status in society.
- 8:58She must have had something that allowed her to move in different circles.
- 9:05And I don't Think every woman of that day would have had that ability.
- 9:10So she must have been a woman of consequence, but she was also a woman of God.
- 9:17She was a woman of God.
- 9:18She wanted to be with Paul.
- 9:20She wanted to be with the saints.
- 9:22She wanted to be serving them and helping them, Sister.
- 9:26You know, she loved the people.
- 9:29She served the people.
- 9:31And the fact that she is, like Wendi said, willing to risk her life to take this message to the saints in Rome, when life there was so uncertain.
- 9:44If you were, you know, a part of the church, it just.
- 9:50Wow.
- 9:51I have so much respect for her myself in.
- 9:53In just studying that, because it tells you who she was at the core.
- 10:01She was not afraid to do what God asked her to do.
- 10:06She was not afraid to put herself out there and to love the people and to be a part of this movement that was so dicey, if you will.
- 10:19I don't know what word I'm looking for, but just in those days, it might have been pretty difficult, you know, because they were persecuted so much.
- 10:30So those were some of the things that I, as I was reading that I was pondering.
- 10:36The other thing that struck me was, as he calls her sister, a servant of the Church.
- 10:42She was a church leader.
- 10:44She was a woman in those days and was a church leader.
- 10:49That, to me, is so significant.
- 10:51And I love that you started, Tamara talking about Christ and his love of women and how he brought women into his circle, which was not something that was done in those days.
- 11:05Women were inferior.
- 11:07Right.
- 11:08And.
- 11:10And I love that Paul has carried on this tradition that the Savior started that women can be effective leaders, too.
- 11:22I love it.
- 11:23There were two thoughts I had as you were speaking.
- 11:25One was the word confidence.
- 11:28And the more that I've learned about Christ and dove into the Scriptures and served him throughout my life, I think there comes a certain level of confidence, and it comes in Christ.
- 11:43Right.
- 11:44I guess there's no other way to say it but a confidence in Christ.
- 11:47And I can see that she has that confidence enough to go on a crazy, scary mission, confident enough to settle into her role as a woman.
- 11:58And I love the word succor, you know, to succor those in need.
- 12:03We see it several times in the Scriptures, but it means to provide help, aid, relief to someone in near distress.
- 12:13And as I was looking at it, one of the descriptors was with an urgency, like a mother to her child.
- 12:21And I just thought, since women are all mothers, in one degree or another, we all mother, whether they are children born by us or those around us.
- 12:33We have that tendency to mother.
- 12:36I love the image of a mother running to the aid of a child.
- 12:40And here she was going to people she did not know.
- 12:43And yet in a mothering role.
- 12:46I'm going to come here and I'm going to love and serve you as well.
- 12:50Right.
- 12:52So.
- 12:52So beautiful.
- 12:54The other thing you mentioned that is she was a leader in the church.
- 12:57It was interesting as I was diving into this, that this was the.
- 13:00The word servant was translated from the word diakonos, which means deacon or a deaconess.
- 13:09And so that's where the speculation comes that she held some kind of leadership role and this New Testament church in this area in Cenchrea.
- 13:22And.
- 13:23And so there she is.
- 13:24She's going to Rome.
- 13:25And what is she going to do there?
- 13:26We have no idea.
- 13:27You know, is she going to help set up a woman there to.
- 13:31To fulfill the nurturing role in the church?
- 13:34You know, I don't know.
- 13:36We don't know.
- 13:36But we know that whatever it is that she did, she was confident in Christ, she was inspired, and she wasn't afraid to go and do what God wanted her to do.
- 13:50So just beautiful.
- 13:52Wendi, any thoughts?
- 13:54Just as we've been talking, I looked up a map to find out because it says that she was from.
- 14:02She was leaving, which is at synchria, not seeing.
- 14:05That's in Greece, and that she was traveling to Rome.
- 14:10Right.
- 14:11So I looked up on my map, my little map here to go.
- 14:15Okay, how far away is that?
- 14:17You know, there.
- 14:18It's kind of across a waterway to get to Rome.
- 14:21It was in here.
- 14:23It says 18 hours and 45 minutes.
- 14:25Well, that's probably by airplane or like, not airplane, but if you could drive there.
- 14:29And obviously you can't just drive there, but it says it.
- 14:32She would have had to have traveled close to 750 miles to reach Rome.
- 14:38And I just thought, well, that's a long ways.
- 14:41And that would have been a whole different culture.
- 14:45Right.
- 14:46It would have been a different language for these people.
- 14:49And that takes a lot of bravery to.
- 14:53To just travel that far.
- 14:55And she didn't have the modern, you know, conveniences that we have today.
- 14:59A train or.
- 15:01I'm sure there could have been, you know, some.
- 15:04A ship, because it looked like she would have had to cross.
- 15:06Maybe some water.
- 15:06I can't.
- 15:07100.
- 15:09That's a long ways for her to travel.
- 15:11That would have been a long journey back then.
- 15:13You know, she would have probably walked a lot or had to get, what, carriage rides or something.
- 15:19I don't even know how they would Travel back then.
- 15:22I know they did a lot of walking, so it would have taken her a long time, I think, to get to those saints.
- 15:30And no wonder Paul was like, you treat her well when she gets there, where he's like that, ye receive her in the Lord as become of saints.
- 15:42And he's almost teaching them, okay, Saints will receive her well.
- 15:47So if you're truly saints in the gospel, you will receive her well, and you will show her the amount of love that she has shown to us.
- 15:57You will do the same.
- 15:59It's amazing how much you can pack into these two little verses of the character.
- 16:05Right?
- 16:05The character of her and who she must have been in order to make this.
- 16:12This journey.
- 16:13That wouldn't have been easy.
- 16:14I.
- 16:15I don't love.
- 16:16I love traveling, but I don't love traveling.
- 16:18I have kind of a lovehate relationship with it.
- 16:21Right.
- 16:21I traveled a pretty far distance in April.
- 16:25I went to another country.
- 16:26And even though it was fun and it was wonderful to go there, I couldn't wait to get back home because it was a lot.
- 16:33And we trav on a lot of different.
- 16:34We were on the Metro and on the train and on the airplane, and it's a lot to travel, and it would have been so much more in those days.
- 16:42So she was very dedicated in order to take this on and take this information for Paul.
- 16:52Wow.
- 16:52Wow.
- 16:53Thank you so much.
- 16:54That's a beautiful insight.
- 16:55I didn't even think about the distance, but you're absolutely right.
- 16:59Courageous.
- 17:01Kari, any additional thoughts you'd like to tack on there?
- 17:06Well, considering the distance, then that brings up a couple more things.
- 17:11Thoughts for me.
- 17:13Safety as a woman, as you're traveling, if she didn't have any companions traveling with her, it wouldn't have been safe.
- 17:22It's not safe now.
- 17:23It wouldn't have been safe then either.
- 17:25And that's quite a distance.
- 17:28And.
- 17:29And then money.
- 17:31It would have taken money to get where she was going because she would have had to lodge and eat on her way.
- 17:39Right.
- 17:40And so what was her status financially?
- 17:45And that was one of the things that.
- 17:47As I was looking at those two verses, and I'm like, there's not very much here, but maybe there's something that scholars have discovered.
- 17:53So I.
- 17:54I had to plug it into AI just because, you know, that's what we do these days.
- 17:58And it talked about her as financial support to the church as well.
- 18:05And I thought that significant, right.
- 18:07As a woman in those days, that she could financially support.
- 18:12So she must have had the funds to do what she was doing, again, that idea of maybe she was a woman of status, which again, in those days, even more incredible that then she has turned to God and
- 18:27she is willing to put everything on the line for God to, to further his work, to.
- 18:35To show the people how important he is.
- 18:39I love that Paul says, receive her in the Lord.
- 18:44Like, if you love God, then you love her.
- 18:49She's one with God.
- 18:50Right?
- 18:51Isn't that somewhat what he's saying in that, in that phrase?
- 18:56And then assist her in whatever business she has need of you.
- 19:01So not only is she coming to serve you, but she has some business that she needs to take care of too.
- 19:09And you're supposed to assist her in this business of the church that she's taking care of, probably on Paul's behalf.
- 19:17Right.
- 19:18But.
- 19:18But the fact that he is an apostle has to tell the saints, hey, receive her, help her.
- 19:26I think that's significant too.
- 19:29Right?
- 19:29Because in those days, as a woman, she would have been looked down on.
- 19:33So for him to say, hey, no, this woman, she's one to, to take notice of.
- 19:39She's.
- 19:39She's a woman of God anyway.
- 19:42Those were some of the thoughts that struck me as you were talking, Wendy, about the distance and about just her standing with God.
- 19:54I was just thinking a couple of.
- 19:57Another word that popped into my mind as you were talking was humble to be a woman of status and yet be humble.
- 20:07And I think those are qualifications that God wants to see in leaders of his church now as well as then.
- 20:15He looks for people who, even if they are in a position of authority, that they will be humble.
- 20:23And it sounds like she was.
- 20:25She was humble and she was a servant leader.
- 20:29I guess that's another word that comes to mind as Jesus was.
- 20:33He was a servant leader.
- 20:35Right.
- 20:36And those are beautiful words that we can seek to emulate today.
- 20:43To be humble, whether you're in a position of leadership or not, when you're a follower of Christ.
- 20:50We strive to take on us the attributes of Jesus Christ and.
- 20:55And we can see those attributes coming out here in Phoebe.
- 20:59Right?
- 21:00That she was humble, she was Christ like she was confident, and that she could be a woman of means and yet still remain a servant leader.
- 21:11She truly had taken Jesus into her soul and was acting as he would act and succoring those in need and helping them and ministering to them as women naturally can do.
- 21:27Right.
- 21:28That is one of our roles is to run to those in need as a mother runs to her children.
- 21:34So.
- 21:35All right, ladies, I'd love to start wrapping it up here and also kind of throw a question at you as we're wrapping it up.
- 21:44So what do you think we can glean here from Phoebe as women of faith today so that we can better arise and do things God's way, God's strong.
- 21:58Any thoughts?
- 22:00Kari, let's start with you and then we'll pop over to Wendy.
- 22:04And if you have any final thoughts you'd like to tack on, go ahead.
- 22:09You know, there's so much talk these days about women versus men or some of those things, and I, I love that they are unified.
- 22:25I think for me, this shows that as women and men, we can come together and we can work together.
- 22:33I think it's the turning to God that allows that unification to be more meaningful rather than the comparison thing.
- 22:44Right.
- 22:45That often as women we compare with each other, but I also think we compare ourselves to men.
- 22:51And I don't see any of that happening in these verses.
- 22:56There's no comparison.
- 22:58They both are standing solidly, confidently in their roles in who they are.
- 23:04And I think we can do that too in our day.
- 23:07That we can love God, we can serve God, and we can stand confidently in our position as a woman, as a man with the gifts that he's given us and use those to unify each other and to strengthen
- 23:24each other instead of using those to tear each other down or to say, I'm better than you in some way.
- 23:31Right.
- 23:32To realize, no, we can be equal in this and just stand strong together.
- 23:40And I think for me, those are the things that stuck out to me.
- 23:44Love it.
- 23:45So, so good.
- 23:47Thank you for sharing that.
- 23:48Wendi, what would you like to tack on?
- 23:52Just kind of going along with what Kari was saying.
- 23:54I was just reading an article called Phoebe Through the Eyes of Paul.
- 23:59But he, it says Paul taught that women were second class citizens in God's kingdom.
- 24:04Or did he?
- 24:06And then it goes into how Paul spoke of one specific woman.
- 24:10Phoebe is telling.
- 24:13We know about her only through Paul's eyes.
- 24:15And what did he see?
- 24:17That's how the article.
- 24:18So I was just kind of glancing through it and what's interesting is it talks about considering the patriarchal culture of the time, it's amazing that he affirmed there were 28 CO workers in his ministry and Phoebe was like
- 24:32the top of his list.
- 24:34Right?
- 24:35Because he, the way that he talked about her.
- 24:38Scholars agree that Paul wrote Romans.
- 24:41Yet it's hard to believe that the man who authored Romans thought that women shouldn't speak in the church or that women were easily deceived or shouldn't teach.
- 24:51They say, no, he did.
- 24:53He did believe that.
- 24:54And it's interesting because something that they do highlight is when somebody delivered a letter, which this was fascinating, not only did they just deliver the letter, but it talks about how they would have probably rehearsed it because you're
- 25:11delivering the words of that letter to the Romans.
- 25:15It would have been the Roman saints.
- 25:17And that she would have known Paul's character enough that she would have used the same facial expressions, the same tone of Paul to deliver that letter.
- 25:27He would have entrusted her with the message she delivered.
- 25:31So she probably would have rehearsed it with Paul.
- 25:35Is this how you want me to deliver the message?
- 25:37Is this how you want me to say it?
- 25:39And it would have been exactly as Paul would have delivered it.
- 25:42So that, like, to me goes, wow, he really had a lot of faith and trust in this woman, that she would deliver this beautiful message.
- 25:53And I look at, you know, as I think about today, we face the challenges that we do.
- 25:59I think we can compare that even to our Savior, Jesus Christ, in reading the words of him through these trusted prophets, right?
- 26:07Am I reading the words of the Scriptures as Christ delivering those to me?
- 26:14Am I taking them to heart?
- 26:15Am I living by them?
- 26:18To be called one of those.
- 26:20I want to be.
- 26:21It makes me want to be one of the women like Phoebe, where I'm trusted and that.
- 26:27That the Lord can trust me to represent him, to be a disciple of him, that he can trust me to be a nurturer of the people around me as well, that I sucker those around me like Phoebe suckered
- 26:41the people around her.
- 26:42I would want him to talk about me like Paul talks about Phoebe.
- 26:45I want.
- 26:45I want her to be received.
- 26:47I want me to be received as a trustworthy, loving individual.
- 26:52And how those same words about me spoken.
- 26:55And so I think she's a beautiful example, as you look at this, how Paul was telling the Romans that he knew Phoebe well and he endorsed her without reservation.
- 27:04I want to be that same one for the Lord.
- 27:07I want to be that way where the Lord could endorse me and say, I trust her.
- 27:11You can listen to her.
- 27:13I trust what she says.
- 27:14I trust the message that she gives you because she knows me well.
- 27:18And I know that her message that she delivers will be a message that I would endorse and treat her well as because of who she is.
- 27:27Like, wow, I want to be that way, too.
- 27:30I don't know.
- 27:31It's just a beautiful way to look at God loves us so much.
- 27:35And.
- 27:35And he holds us in high regard.
- 27:37And we need to remember that we are seen as equals, I think, to the men around us as well, because the Lord really loves his and appreciates women.
- 27:46Just like Paul appreciated Phoebe.
- 27:48Thank you for sharing that.
- 27:49That was beautiful.
- 27:51As I've been thinking of our sweet sister Phoebe, a couple of things have kind of gelled in my mind.
- 27:58And one of them is that she knew who she was in God's eyes.
- 28:04And it goes back to that confidence.
- 28:06Confidence in Christ knowing who you are, not trying to replace anybody else or trying to do things their way, but doing things God's way through you.
- 28:21That he doesn't expect Phoebe to be a Paul.
- 28:25He expects Phoebe to be Phoebe.
- 28:27And he's given Phoebe the gifts that she needs to be the best Phoebe she can be.
- 28:33And so we can take that same confidence in ourselves.
- 28:38Know who you are as a daughter of God.
- 28:41Know that you have the gifts and talents God needs you to use to minister to people all around you right now.
- 28:51Are those gifts and talents fully developed?
- 28:53Probably not.
- 28:54But that's part of the process, right?
- 28:56Is is gaining confidence in those gifts letting God stretch you a little bit to develop the gifts that you need a little more.
- 29:04Because he will use you for good, just as he used Phoebe for good.
- 29:10And so I commend unto you Phoebe, just as it says in the scriptures, find strength in her courageous actions and step forward a little more in your confidence that God has called you to fulfill your mission your way
- 29:28and do it God strong.
- 29:31Thanks for tuning in to the Arise Women of God podcast brought to you by Women Warriors of Light.
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- 29:52Sometimes the calling feels bigger than you.
- 29:56That's when you need steady reminders of the powerful God who called you.
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- 30:22May you arise, walk God's way and stand God strong.