Phlegons Among Us 2

The last time I played Bible Trivial Pursuit no question was asked about Phlegon.

Throughout three years of M.Div. studies and three years of Ph.D. work, I was never confronted with Phlegon.

To me, he was a nobody.  A no name.  Nonexistent.

To Paul, Phlegon was someone worthy of his greeting and of great value to the Church in Rome (Rom 16:14).  In fact, in many of Paul’s writings, there are a bunch of Phlegons–saints of significance, but nobodies to us.

We don’t read of them doing any cool stuff:  raising the dead, doing miracles, planting churches, preaching sermons, withstanding persecution.  Nothing spectacular.  No names.

We don’t want to read about them, consider them, or even deal with them today.

We want the extraordinary.  We want Superman, not the Greatest American Hero. We forget–often within the Kingdom economy–the ordinary does the extraordinary.  But that is so uncool.

Your church or organization is filled with Phlegons. Do you see them?  Do you see their Kingdom potential in reaching the four billion? Are you only looking for the Pauls?

When we begin to think of how uncool it is to serve and equip the Phlegons, we need to be reminded: our names are not listed in the inerrant, infallible, inspired, Word of God.  Phlegon’s is.

And for a “nobody” to be listed in God’s Word…that’s pretty cool.

(Thanks to Matt Mason for drawing my attention to Phlegon sometime ago.)