THREE CHEERS FOR: STEPHANAS, FORTUNATUS & ACHAICUS

F.W. Boreham is best known as a writer. Increasingly, people are coming to realise that he was a world-class preacher as well. Yet, the pathway to such eminence was forged through his pastoral ministry in his three pastorates. It’s worth remembering that nearly all of his essays came from the heart of a pastor.  It was as a pastor that FWB worked to grow his congregation. In one such essay, Makeweights, FWB clearly makes the case that a local church needs everybody to play their part – including and especially, those who are behind the scenes’ people. He opens this essay with-

  My dictionary defines a makeweight as ‘that which is thrown in to make up weight: what contributes to something not sufficient in itself’. That being so, Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus belong to the Royal Order of Makeweights. I am glad, writes Paul to the Corinthians, I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied.

   That strikes me as singularly beautiful. We all owe more than we can express to the people who, noticing our shortcomings, make no fuss but simply supply the defect. I know a lady – wild horses shall not drag from me her name – who, every day of her life, sees little things that I have forgotten or overlooked or neglected, and, without criticizing my failure or exposing my omission, shoulders the responsibility herself. I probably get any credit that attaches to the deed; but that is nothing to her: the deficiency has been made up and that is all she cares.

  In one of my churches I was for some years puzzled by a peculiarity in our financial economy. Whenever I saw something that needed doing, I suggested it to the officers, and, if they approved, made an appeal, stating the probable cost. ‘We need,’ I would say, ‘a new hall for our kindergarten; it will cost three hundred pounds: a special offering will be made on Sunday week to meet this expense!’ Now the thing that excited my curiosity was the fact that, whatever the amount, it always came. But it came exactly: there was never a surplus. If I wanted one hundred pounds, the special offering amounted to one hundred pounds. If I wanted five hundred pounds, the special offering totalled five hundred. The thing seemed uncanny. After a while, however, I discovered the secret. Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus were among the officers of the church. They held their hands until they discovered the amount of the offering, and then, between them, they made up the balance.
F.W. Boreham, “MAKEWEIGHTS”, ‘Cliffs of Opal’, 1948, p. 63-64

Inspired by how FWB championed the quiet-achievers within any congregation, I recently incorporated elements of this “Makeweights” essay into one of my weekly pastoral emails to the members of my congregation whom I pastor…

  I’m not sure why car wheels need balancing after their tyres are fitted, but without those little balancing weights strategically placed around the rim of the wheel, a car’s steering would vibrate and the car would veer one way or the other. These little counter-weights serve an invaluable role and deserve some credit. But counter-weights or “make-weights” don’t just occur on car wheels – they can be found in churches! In fact, every pastor whom God has used to lead a church to growth has never been able to do so with without those in their congregation who were counter-weights! 

PERSONALITIES, PORNOGRAPHY & PRIDE

The Corinthian Church was plagued with problems. It had suffered several church splits. There were people openly committing sexual immorality. Their church services had become known for occasions of debauchery and gluttony. And, worst of all, arrogance had set in – especially among those claiming to be the most spiritual. Yet the church was graced with three noble counter-weights: 

I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.
First Corinthians 16:17-18

Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus were counter (or, as they used to be called, “make”) weights. Despite all the ungraciousness happening in their church, they were gracious and made up for its lack. The Apostle said that such people should be given due recognition. But they rarely are. They the hardy souls who make churches sweet and positive. They always lend a hand where they can. Nothing is too hard. F.W. Boreham says of them-

It still happens that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus make up that which is lacking in our churches. But how do they do it? Never by negative methods. It is always done by something positive in their behaviour. They do not criticize or find fault or stress the weaknesses of the church to which they have attached themselves. They do not shout from the housetops that the church is cold and inhospitable; that nobody ever speaks to them; that the prayer-meeting is poorly attended and that few of the congregation read their Bibles. No, no; Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus adopt a more excellent way.
F.W. Boreham, “MAKEWEIGHTS”, ‘Cliffs of Opal’, 1948, p. 66

Just like the little counter-weights on a car’s wheels, there are always some people in every church who seem to add joy and grace to that congregation. No pastor can succeed without such people! The challenge for such blessing-founts is that they rarely receive what the Apostle exhorted the rest of the church to give them: recognition. But the beauty of such people is that rarely look for it, and actually seem to shun it. 

If a car is rendered almost undriveable without these little balancing weights strategically placed around each wheel’s rim, it could be that many other facets of life are also unworkable without the “little” contributions that so many unrecognised people gladly make. I know that this is true of churches. In fact, I have come to believe that this is one of the greatest indicators of a church’s depth and maturity. While people may look at a church’s facilities, or judge it by the popularity of its preacher, or rate it by the breadth of its programs for youth and children, or even its music, I think most people evaluate a church by its tone and temperature. This is where our modern day Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus play their part. Without such grace-drenched souls in a church its tone is harsh and unforgiving and its temperature is always too cold.

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. ¶ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty
First Corinthians 12:18-23

Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus just keep serving, encouraging, listening and caring, mostly without any attention or recognition at all. They are always making up for that which is lacking. Dr. Boreham goes on to say about these noble servants of Christ that although Christ’s redemptive work was finished on the Cross, it wasn’t completed. 

‘It is finished!’ the Saviour exclaimed. It was the triumphant cry of the workman who had brought His masterpiece to absolute perfection with that finishing touch.
But think again! If Jesus, the Son of God, had died His bitter death on Calvary’s tree, and left it at that, would that have saved the world? Of course not. The world at large would never have heard of it. The tragic incident would have passed into oblivion within a year or two. Just another political execution in a Roman province! In order that the redeeming sacrifice might be made effective, and the world saved by means of it, it was necessary for the Apostles to suffer and to die in proclaiming it, for the martyrs to lay down their lives in defending it, and for missionaries like Xavier and Livingstone and Petteson and Williams and Chalmers to seal with their blood their testimony to its virtue.
F.W. Boreham, “MAKEWEIGHTS”, ‘Cliffs of Opal’, 1948, p. 68

Thus, I would like to propose three cheers. One for our Stephanases. One for our Fortunatuses. And one for our Achaicuses! May God bless each one of them, for they are greatly needed by the Lord in every church as any pastor can tell you.

Andrew Corbett.