Christ Preeminent (Part Twenty-Nine): The Concluding Call-Out

Transcript

JRNT 51
March 24, 2024
Christ Preeminent (Part Twenty-Nine): The Concluding Call-Out
Colossians 4:7-18
Jesse Randolph

Proverbs 18:24 teaches us that “a man of too many friends comes to ruin but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” It's a good word for us today when though we’re more connected with more people than we've ever been, paradoxically reports of abject loneliness are higher than they've ever been before. We live in a span of time where in 15-minute increments a person can purchase something from a seller who lives across the globe and then go on to zoom in on somebody's backyard who is three states away and then go on to place a grocery order for the week and then schedule tonight's dinner reservation and then accept a “friend” request. One way or another we engage with people all the time, which might lead a person to think I have all sorts of contacts, I have all sorts of leads, in fact I have all sorts of people I call friends. Maybe that is so, but do you have, as Proverbs 18:24 states, the “friend who sticks closer than a brother,” the friend who encourages you and prays for you, the friend who actually knows you and could speak with credibility as to the type of person you actually are and say something more than he is a great guy or she is a great gal? Do you have a friend who is there to experience life's various highs and lows alongside you? The one who is willing to say hard things to you? The one who is willing to go to battle for you? Charles Bridges in his commentary on the Proverbs once said that “a true friend is no common acquisition. The jewel itself is as rare as it is precious,” and he was right.

Well, one man who knew the value of friendship, true Christian friendship, abiding and lasting friendship, battle-tested spiritual friendship, God-glorifying friendship was the Apostle Paul. In the book of Acts we see through Luke's pen that among Paul's friends were Barnabas, Titus, Silas, Priscilla, Aquila, Epaphroditus and many others. In the book of Romans, Paul's magnum opus, he lists over thirty friends in the final chapter of that book, Romans 16. In the last of his inspired writings, II Timothy, Paul provides another lengthy list of various friends and acquaintances, some who remained faithful in their commitment to Christ and their relationship with Paul and others who departed and deserted him. Now in a former life we know that Paul, formerly Saul, was combative and nasty as he ran down and persecuted Christians at will. But with new eyes of faith and with a new heart given to him through faith in Christ, Paul was relational. He valued friendship, true Christian friendship. In the text we'll be in this morning, Colossians 4:7-18, we're going to encounter a menagerie of the various types of individuals not only with whom Paul convened and associated but whom he referred to as friends or thought of as friends. Hebrews 11 we know is the revered Hall of Faith, I would call this section of Colossians 4 Paul's Hall of Friends because we see in this concluding section of Colossians Paul not only giving us a glimpse into the boiler room of his ministry, but he sets this example for what true Christian friendships ought to look like for the entirety of the church age.

Now we've been chipping away at Colossians as you know for one, two, sometimes three verses at a time when we are super ambitious, today we're going to cover the final twelve verses in one fell swoop. The title of the message this morning is The Concluding Call-Out and I've given it that title because here we see Paul giving us this Spirit-directed roll call of the types of friends he surrounded himself with. As we go through this, see if you can grasp not only the historical significance of the types of friends that Paul surrounded himself with, but how this measures up against the types of friends that you have in your life. Now since we are dealing with such a large block of text today I'm not going to read it in full on the front end as I typically do, instead we'll get right into it and frame our study of this final section of Colossians through this list of Paul's friends, God's fellow workers with Paul, as he would call them in I Corinthians 3:9. See if we can draw out here some timeless, eternal principles along the way.

We're going to start with this one, we're going to have a list of eleven friends, so I hope you have room on your note sheets in your margins. Eleven friends called out here. First is the exemplary friend. This refers to Tychicus in Colossians 4:7-8. He says, “As to all my affairs Tychicus our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bondservant in the Lord will bring you information. For I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.” Now what do we know about this man Tychicus? Well, we know from Acts 20:4 that he came from the province of Asia. We know that his name, Tychicus, means fortuitous or fortunate. But what he really showed himself to be and what he proved himself to be, Tychicus that is, was trustworthy, exemplary. For instance, we know from Acts 20 that Tychicus traveled with Paul to Troas at the end of the so-called third missionary journey. We know from II Timothy 4:12 that Paul sent Tychicus to Ephesus. We know from Titus 3:12 that Paul sent Tychicus to Crete. Now we see here in Colossians 4:7 that Tychicus was going to be sent to Colossae. Tychicus, in other words, was a reliable and trusted colleague and Paul evidently was comfortable enough to send him on various missions and to various destinations, entrusting him with very important tasks. This includes, as we see in our text, sending Tychicus 1300 miles east to Colossae to share with the Colossians information, Paul says, about “all my affairs.” Meaning information about his state, his condition as a prisoner here in Rome. But note Tychicus was not simply tasked with delivering the mail here, he wasn't like one of those checked out Amazon delivery drivers with two Air Pods in who punts your package to the porch. He was serving, rather, as Paul's messenger and he was tasked with giving this fledgling little church an update on how Paul was doing in his imprisonment. He was doing so for the purpose of encouraging the Colossian believers to press on. Indeed, we see Paul's purpose in sending Tychicus to Colossae more fully fleshed out in verse 8 where he says, “For I have sent him to you for this very purpose.” Which is what? “That you may know about our circumstances,” meaning the imprisonment of Paul and Epaphras, “and that he may encourage your hearts,” it says, meaning that he might strengthen your hearts and comfort your hearts. This little church was undoubtedly anxious about the imprisonments of Paul and Epaphras, their pastor. That's why he comes in here to encourage them by letting them know that Paul and Epaphras are doing well as they continue to work hard toward the advancement of the gospel.

Now note what really stood out about Tychicus, though, as Paul was describing him to them and relating information about him, we already skipped over this in verse 7, was that he was exemplary in his character. Look at the three descriptive terms Paul uses to describe Tychicus in verse 7. First, he is a beloved brother, next he is a faithful servant and then he is called a fellow bondservant in the Lord. Note that he is not referred to here as his highness or the very reverend Tychicus. Paul doesn't even call him here, this is my guy, Tychicus. No, Paul's emphasis here when he ascribes these titles to Tychicus is on who this man was in the Lord. Paul gave a very similar description of this man over in Ephesians 6:21 when he says, “But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will make everything known to you.” What a remarkable way to be remembered for all time—to be a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord.

Well, back to Colossians 4:7, Paul describes Tychicus first with this term beloved brother, he was a beloved brother in the Lord. Those words beloved brother automatically relate Tychicus to each of the other Christians there in Colossae. He is already now known to them as a fellow member of the family of God, a much beloved fellow follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was a foreigner to them, he was always partnered with them on the most intimate level possible. He was a beloved brother. Now those words beloved brother are also remarkable when we consider the fact that Paul was a Jew and Tychicus was most likely a Gentile. Yet Paul loved him as a beloved brother in the Lord. Such is the wonder of the mystery of the gospel of grace, that slaves and freemen, that men and women, as Galatians 3:28 says, “Jews and Greeks can lock arms and march forward under one sovereignly stitched together banner.”

Next, verse 7, Tychicus is called a faithful servant, again a faithful servant of the Lord, meaning he executed his responsibilities well. Paul could count on him to be reliable. Now note nothing here is said about Tychicus being brilliant or eloquent. What is simply stated about him here is that he was faithful, which is really the purest aspiration a Christian can have, which is really the grandest compliment a Christian can be paid, that he is found, I Corinthians 4:2, trustworthy, pistos, faithful. Now think about who was paying Tychicus this compliment—the Apostle Paul who proved himself over and over, once converted, to be a faithful servant of Christ at a great cost. I mean, what did Paul's life look like after he was converted, as we see it recorded on the pages of Scripture? He was threatened with persecution, he was actually persecuted in the various places he went, he was driven out of towns, he was threatened, he was stoned and yet he remained faithful. Now that Paul is commending this Tychicus for being faithful in his own right. This would be like Michael Jordan complimenting you on your jump shot or George Mueller complimenting you on your prayer life or Elizabeth Elliott complimenting you on your sacrificial spirit. Tychicus was faithful.

Last, verse 7 still, we see that Tychicus was a fellow bondservant, sundoulos, in the Lord. Like Paul, who referred repeatedly to himself in this way as a sundoulos, a doulos, a slave, Tychicus was an unworthy slave, and he knew it. But he was a forgiven slave, but a slave no less, a slave no longer to sin, Romans 6, but now a slave to Christ and a slave of righteousness. This last thing I'm going to mention about Tychicus can easily be overlooked, so let's drill down on it for just a few seconds here, which is that Paul refers to Tychicus here as his fellow bondservant. Fellow bondservant. When measured against their mutual master the Lord Jesus Christ there was no rank or order between Paul and Tychicus. Though Paul was an apostle, he didn't present or think of himself here in this context as being superior to Tychicus. Instead, he considered Tychicus to be his fellow bondservant. Yes, Paul was the sent one, Paul was the apostle, and Tychicus was in his shadow, so to speak. But as Paul wrote the Colossians here in this letter, he was very intentionally pulling his subordinate out of the shadows, putting his lieutenant in the limelight so that he got the credit that was due. So that was Tychicus, a trustworthy friend, a “beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bondservant in the Lord,” an exemplary friend.

Next, we're going to see a humbled friend. That's referring to Onesimus. Look at Colossians 4:9, and it says, “And with him,” speaking of Tychicus, “Onesimus our faithful and beloved brother who is one of your number, they will inform you about the whole situation here.” Now we looked at this a few weeks ago in our study of Colossians 3:22-25 as we studied the whole topic of masters and slaves. But the book of Philemon tells us that Onesimus was a converted runaway slave. Philemon was his master, Onesimus had escaped and run away to Rome, and while in Rome he had somehow ended up with Paul who was in prison there, and apparently through Paul's ministry to him Onesimus got saved. Paul then writes this letter to Philemon the Christian slave owner, making this appeal to him to receive back Onesimus this runaway but now converted slaved. His letter to Philemon, Paul makes clear that he viewed Onesimus as a new creature in Christ and now a brother in the Lord. He says that in Philemon 16, he says that Onesimus was much “more than a slave, a beloved brother.” Now Paul says something similar about Onesimus in our text, Colossians 4:9, where we see Paul identifying him not as a slave, not as a runaway, not as a fugitive, not as someone who was once in bondage or noted for his crimes of the past. Instead, he notes him as a faithful and beloved brother. He was a brother in Christ, like Philemon, like Tychicus, like Paul himself, not to mention all the other believers there in Colossae. Onesimus like everyone else there, all the other Christians there, had been birthed into the family of God through his faith in Jesus Christ; and in light of that new birth he had experienced, the church at Colossae was to receive this runaway slave as a brother. He was a brother in the Lord, a brother beloved by Paul.

He is also mentioned here as being faithful, he is a faithful and beloved brother, meaning in his new life in Christ he was now known for a life of faithfulness. The old had truly passed and behold the new truly had come. Not only that Onesimus was a native to Colossae, Paul there says he “is one of your number,” middle of verse 9, and that's why he'll be able to inform you about the whole situation here. So, he is one of your numbers; he is one of you, as other translations have it. He was actually one of their numbers in two ways. First in the fact that he was from Colossae. They shared a similar cultural background, but now he was one of their number as a Christian brother, a true Christian brother. Now put yourself in Onesimus' shoes just for a moment. He must have been experiencing some butterflies and some nerves as he thought about going back from Rome to his hometown of Colossae. It was an especially brave thing to do when we remember that Colossae was a relatively small city. It was one of those places where, on account of its size, everybody would have known everybody, and everybody remembered Onesimus being the runaway slave, the one who had wronged Philemon. When he first left Colossae, Onesimus as a runaway was marked by his unfaithfulness. He was the epitome of unfaithfulness. But now the Christians there at Colossae are being told by Paul that they need to welcome this now faithful and beloved brother. There are some of those conversions to Christ that cause us to scratch our head and make us wonder, but as we move forward in faith, we remember “that the gospel truly is the power of God unto salvation,” Romans 1:16.

Next up we encounter the loyal friend, Aristarchus. Look at the first part of verse 10, it says, “Aristarchus my fellow prisoner sends you, his greetings.” Now Aristarchus was the Greek name of a Jewish native of the city of Thessalonica which was in the region of Macedonia, and we know that he is Jewish from what we see down in verse 11 where it talks about him being, along with two other men, from the circumcision. Now Aristarchus is mentioned four other times outside of this reference in Colossians in the New Testament. Three of those references are in the book of Acts. For instance, in Acts 19:29 there is that scene where Aristarchus and others are dragged out of this theater by an angry mob of Ephesian silversmiths and in that scene, Luke refers to Aristarchus as one of Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia. In Acts 20:4 he is referred to as Aristarchus of the Thessalonians. In Acts 27:2 Luke refers to him as Aristarchus of Macedonia. Then in Philemon 24 Paul calls Aristarchus his fellow worker. In Colossians 4:10, we're given this additional detail about Aristarchus which is that he was Paul's fellow prisoner, meaning Aristarchus was physically incarcerated along with Paul, he was physically chained alongside Paul, he was wearing chains like Paul for the same reason that Paul was imprisoned; for unabashedly preaching the gospel of grace and refusing to back down from it. What we really see highlighted here in verse 10, as we consider the other references to Aristarchus in his ministry, is the cost of discipleship. This man Aristarchus went from being a traveling companion of Paul to being dragged out of a theater along with Paul to enduring a long voyage which included a shipwreck with Paul to now being chained to a Roman guard alongside Paul. Again, the words of Proverbs 18:24 come to mind, there is that “friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Aristarchus was a loyal friend.

Next, we see the restored friend, the second half of verse 10, Mark. It says, “and also Barnabas' cousin, Mark, about whom you received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him.” That's a reference to John Mark. His given name was John, his Latin surname was Mark, Marcus. He was from Jerusalem, and he is considered to be the author of the second gospel, the Gospel of Mark. He was greatly influenced, we know, by Peter, which is why Peter calls Mark my son in I Peter 5:13. His active ministry began, you might remember, when he accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Cyprus in the earliest stages of that first missionary journey of Paul. You also may remember that midway through that journey, Acts 12-13, Mark jumps ship. He actually abandons that first missionary journey, he abandons Paul and Barnabas, and he returns to Jerusalem without completing the trip. That leads to, in the second missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas, this sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas as to whether Mark should now be allowed to accompany them on this second journey. Barnabas, undoubtedly swayed by the fact that he was the cousin of Mark, wanted Mark to be on that second missionary journey. Paul disagreed, and now this rift forms between Paul and Barnabas as to whether Mark could join them, and then Paul and Barnabas go their own separate ways with Mark going with Barnabas and Silas going with Paul. Then the record goes completely silent on Mark for about a dozen years. But then we get to Colossians and Philemon, written around the same time as Colossians, twelve or so years later and we now see that Paul has this renewed sense of confidence in Mark. In Philemon 24 Paul calls Mark his fellow worker. Here in our text, Colossians 4:10, he is saying to the Colossians, if Mark were to come visit them there in Colossae, apparently it wasn't settled that Mark was going to visit them, they were to welcome him. So even though Mark deserted Paul on that first missionary journey, Paul is now commending him to the Colossians. He would do the same thing, by the way, at the end of his life, Paul would. In II Timothy 4:11 where he instructs Timothy as follows, he says, “Pick up Mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for service.” So, while others, like Demas who we are going to encounter later, started passionate and zealous in their advancement of the gospel alongside Paul only to flame out later and desert him, Mark actually had the opposite trajectory. He had his share of opportunities as a younger man and he experienced his share of failures as a younger man, but now with some age and experience under his belt he is being used effectively of the Lord. He is not only a fellow worker with Paul; he is considered useful to Paul, and he is a continual source of encouragement, we see at the end of verse 11, to Paul. In other words, it wasn't only Onesimus who had turned a corner. So did Mark. No longer a source of heartache and disappointment to Paul, he was now this source of comfort and encouragement. Even though he had fallen out of favor with Paul for some time, he was now one of Paul's key helpers. He was that restored friend. Now if Mark were to visit Colossae, the saints here are told they need to welcome him and they are to do so according to the instructions, verse 10, they had received. What instructions are those? We actually don't know. That could be a reference to something previously written to the Colossians about Mark's restored status, or it could be a reference to instructions that were accompanying this letter that Tychicus was going to deliver them. Either one fits. The real point of what is being said here is that Paul had a restored friend in Mark and the Colossians were to receive him as such. That's a bit on Mark, the restored friend.

Next as we turn to verse 11, we encounter “Jesus who is called Justus,” it says, who we call the like-minded friend. Now all we know about this man is what we read here in verse 11. We know nothing more about this man other than what is seen here in Colossians 4:11. We know that his given name was Jesus, which in those days was a common Jewish name, the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua, meaning Yahweh is salvation. But we also see in verse 11 that this companion of Paul's was also called Justus, a name which means righteous. So why the name change from Jesus to Justus? The most compelling reason I've seen offered is that this man was a godly Jewish convert. In fact, that was true of both, not only this man, but Aristarchus and Mark. Verse 11, you'll see there that “these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision.” That's referring to all three of those men—Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus now Justus. They were converted Jews. Back here to Jesus or Justus. Once he was saved apparently what happened is he felt the incongruity of anyone having the same name as the Son of God. When people saw him on the street and said, hey Jesus, hey Joshua, you can picture him having this twinge of discomfort. He felt burdened to change his name and to change it to something like Justus, actually it is Justus. I am righteous now, I've been justified, I've been saved.

Now I've called Justus here Paul's like-minded friend for two reasons. First, Paul was a man who like Justus, we know, had gone through a sanctified name change. Paul, we know, was once Saul the Pharisee, later became Paul the apostle. In a similar manner this man, Jesus, had gone from Jesus the Messiah-seeking Jew to now Justus the follower of Christ. So, these two men were like-minded in that respect. Not only that, though, they were like-minded in that more broadly speaking they had these shared Jewish backgrounds. Paul, we know from Philippians 3:4-6, was of “the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law a Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is found in the Law found blameless.” Jesus called Justus was also, it says in verse 11, “from the circumcision.” Paul would say in Philippians 3:7-8, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.” Similarly of Jesus Justus, he was now known simply as a worker “for the kingdom of God.” Not only that, but he was also an encouragement,” it says to Paul. In other words, Saul, now Paul, and Jesus, now Justus, were like-minded in that they had each gone through these radical conversions out of Judaism. They were like-minded in that they were both fellow workers for the kingdom of God, meaning they were laboring for Christ's sake in the present with the reality of Christ's future and coming kingdom in view. The fact that they were so like-minded naturally led to Jesus Justus along with Mark and Aristarchus being an encouragement to Paul. I mean really what an encouragement it would be for a man like Paul, a former converted Jew, to see a man like Jesus, now Justus, who had also been born into a Jewish family being willing to throw away any sense of religious entitlement as he came alongside Paul for the sake of the gospel in which there is no Jew or Greek and no distinction between circumcised and uncircumcised. Jesus Justus was Paul's like-minded friend.

Next, we come to Paul's praying friend, that would be Epaphras in verses 12-13. It says, “Epaphras who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are at Laodicea and Hierapolis.” These two verses dedicated to Epaphras tell us a lot about this friend of Paul's. First, he is described as one of your numbers, “Epaphras who is one of your number,” meaning Epaphras was a Colossian. As we've already seen in our study of Colossians, we have good reason to believe that Epaphras was not just any Colossian, but he was the pastor of this little gathering of believers there in Colossae. In fact, turn with me back to Colossians 1 where we're going to see Paul's prayer for the Colossians. Colossians 1, we'll pick it up in verse 3. He says, “We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow bond-servant who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf. He also informed us of your love in the Spirit.” Did you catch that? It was through Epaphras that the Colossians had heard the gospel in the first place. They understood the grace of God in truth through whom? Epaphras. Now Epaphras has made this 1300 mile trek from Colossae to Rome to visit with Paul in his Roman jail cell to give Paul this boots-on-the-ground assessment of what was happening there at Colossae, including the false teaching that was starting to creep into this church and to inform them, as we saw in Colossians 1:8 there, of the Colossians' love in the Spirit. All this to say Epaphras was a Colossian, he was one of their number, as it says in Colossians 4:12. By this point we also know from Philemon 23, which again written right around the same time, that Epaphras was a fellow prisoner alongside Paul and through Paul's pen he, Epaphras, was greeting them. That's why it says here he “sends you, his greetings.”

Now going back just a bit to verse 12 we also see that both Epaphras and Paul had a correct perspective on Epaphras' role as a shepherd of these people. See first and foremost there was this recognition that though Epaphras was there to serve the people of Colossae by shepherding them, the one whom he ultimately served was Jesus Christ, which is why Paul describes him there in verse 12 as a bondslave, a doulos of Jesus Christ. Just as Paul himself was a slave of Christ, so too was Epaphras, meaning Epaphras didn't serve Christ only as his time and schedule permitted, rather he was completely owned by Christ and Christ had absolute reign and authority over his life. Nor was Epaphras' slavery to Christ, by the way, some abstract concept that had no impact on him. He wasn't a slave in name only. No, as a slave of Christ he had a deep and a profound love for Christ's other slaves, for Christ's other sheep, meaning he had a great and deep concern for the church and specifically the church at Colossae. We see this care and concern expressed more generally in Colossians 4:13 where it says, “For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you.” In other words, Epaphras had this zealous burden for the Colossians, he had this holy jealousy over them. He didn't want to see them grow spiritually flabby or wobbly in their faith. Now that he was in prison alongside Paul 1300 miles away, now that he had been taken away from face-to-face pastoral responsibilities there in Colossae; it filled him with painful anxiety and agony. Worrying that the dear people under his care might be taken out to sea by the false teachings that were being pushed by the purveyors of the Colossian heresy. Note that Epaphras' deep concern for the Colossians here didn't stifle him spiritually. He wasn't just concerned and that was the end of it. No, it motivated him to pray which we see in verse 12 where Paul says that Epaphras was laboring always, “always laboring earnestly for you in his prayer.” He was an intense and committed man of prayer. That word, laboring earnestly, in the Greek, the Greek verb there is agonizomai. You hear the word in it, the English word agony. It's an athletic metaphor, it pictures the runner stretching forward to break the plane as he seeks to cross the finish line, grimacing and wincing and breathing heavily, agonizing as he pushes through. It's in fact a related word to the word used for Jesus' own prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22:44 where it says, “And being in agony,” agonia, “He was praying very fervently, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground.” The idea here in Epaphras' example is that this was a man who was willing to work hard at prayer for the sake of the Colossians. He was praying for them day in and day out, he was expending physical and emotional and mental energy in praying for the Colossians. He wasn't throwing up a handful of trite platitudes in his prayers. No, he was laboring intensely in prayer for these dear people.

In verse 12 to sort of flesh this out, look at the nature of the prayers that Epaphras was praying for the Colossians. His prayers first were laced with request that they may stand perfect. That's what we see toward the end of verse 12, “that you may stand perfect.” In other words, Epaphras, as he prayed for the Colossians, like Paul, he wanted to see the Colossian church turning into mighty oaks, built up and matured and complete in their faith. In fact, this description of how Epaphras prayed for the Colossians, the burden he had in prayer for the Colossians sounds a lot like what Paul said of them. Look over at Colossians 1 again, Colossians 1:28-29, where we see Paul's own prayer for them. Colossians 1:28, he says, “We proclaim Him,” meaning Christ, “admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete,” it's the same idea there, perfect, teleios, “in Christ. For this purpose, also I labor, striving according to His power which mightily works within me.” Epaphras' prayer, back to Colossians 4:12, for the Colossians in other words was not that the Colossians would have bigger barns or bigger houses or more toys. No, his prayer was that they would stand perfect, that they would maintain their integrity in their doctrine and their Christian behavior, that they would grow in their maturity, that they would grow in their sanctification, that they would have an increasingly steady and productive walk in Christ.

Look at the next aspect of Epaphras’ prayer for them. It was not only that they would stand perfect, but that they would be “fully assured in all the will of God.” Now that’s referring to at least a couple of things. The first would be God's will in carrying out His plan of salvation as the gospel went out to both Jews and Greeks. God has a will, a salvific will in terms of how the gospel goes out, it's the mystery of the gospel, the mystery of the cross. That's Colossians 1:26-27 where Paul speaks of “the mystery which has been hidden from past ages and generations but has now been manifested to His saints to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” But this prayer for them being fully assured in all the will of God also includes how God wanted the Colossians to function and behave as followers of Christ, as ambassadors of Christ. In fact we saw that back in Paul's prayer for the Colossians in Colossians 1:9-10 where he says, “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” The Colossians, we saw back in Colossians 2:23 were being assailed with a variety of teachings, false teachings which gave off the appearance of wisdom, it says. Through his prayers like any good pastor, Epaphras was asking the Lord to brace these precious believers so that they could withstand the winds of error. That they would be able to do so by remembering who they were in light of the truth of the gospel that they had embraced and believed. That they would do so by committing to walking worthy for the One who had saved them. Those were at the heart of Epaphras' prayers for the Colossians.

Such a prayer warrior was Epaphras that his concerns and his prayers were attached not only to his church, the church at Colossae, but as you see in verse 13 his deep concern for them extended out to those who were in Laodicea and Hierapolis. Laodicea, we know, was this important city about twelve miles west of Colossae and Hierapolis was about fifteen miles to the northwest of Colossae so these three cities formed a triangle, a little tri-city area and they were all close enough in proximity and spirituality that whatever affected one would inevitably affect one of the others. So, if one of these churches were hit with false teaching, it would only be a matter of time between one or the other of the churches, Laodicea or Hierapolis, would also be introduced to that same false teaching. Epaphras here was praying not only for his church at Colossae but for the churches at Laodicea and Hierapolis as well. Sort of a protective wall of prayer. By the way, that's a useful and a timeless principle for the church today, that in addition to our church, Indian Hills Community Church, it is a noble and a godly thing to pray for the ministry that is being conducted by faithful churches in the area and to pray for their strength to not buckle or bend to the ways of the world. It is a good and a noble and a godly thing to pray for Heartland Bible Church and Anchor Bible Church here in Lincoln, and it's a good and a noble thing to pray for Countryside Bible Church in Hampton and Firth Bible Church and Cornerstone Bible Church in Crete and Southview Bible Church up in Council Bluffs. It's a good and a noble thing to protect all of us from the wiles and the arrows of the enemy. Wrapping up our discussion of this friend of Paul, the praying friend, Epaphras, Epaphras was really a first-century role model for any twenty-first century pastors who are called to be spiritual shepherds of their congregations. Epaphras knew his congregation intimately. He knew their burdens, he knew their weaknesses, he knew their temptations, he knew their sins, he knew their vulnerabilities, he knew his people. He carried himself with a very deep concern for his people, and he longed to be with his people when he couldn't be with them. When he couldn't be with them, he prayed intensely for his people. In other words, Epaphras wasn't just a preacher with a message, he was a pastor with a flock. He labored for them in thought, in concern and in prayer. He was Paul's praying friend.

As we read on, we learn of Luke who we'll call the consistent friend. Look at verse 14, the consistent friend. It says, “Luke, the beloved physician, sends you, his greetings.” Now of course we're going to be spending a lot of time looking at Luke and his background and his ministry in just a couple weeks when we launch our study through the Gospel of Luke, so for the purpose of working through our text today we're just going to hit some of the highlights, including the fact that Luke was a Gentile not a Jew. We know this by the process of elimination. Up in verses 10-11 Paul says that Aristarchus and Mark and Jesus Justus were “the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision.” Luke by contrast here is not mentioned as being from the circumcision. What we can infer from that is that Luke was not Jewish, rather he was a Gentile. We also know that verse 14 here clearly indicates that he was a physician, a medical doctor. Just like today it is good to know a good medical doctor, so it was in Paul's day, especially as he was on these various missionary journeys where he was facing stonings and shipwrecks and snake bites. But note that what Luke is being singled out for here in verse 14 is not that he was a physician. Paul's major point of emphasis in mentioning Luke here is not that he was Dr. Luke, M.D. The emphasis instead is on the fact that he was beloved. Beloved of God, to be sure, having been chosen from before the foundation of the world just like any follower of Christ, but beloved by Paul himself because he continually proved, Luke did, to be such a consistent ally and faithful friend. Luke had traveled with Paul considerably and during those travels he had likely ministered to Paul both physically and spiritually through his times of sickness and persecution and imprisonment. But we also know that Luke was just generally a very steady hand. Not only was he there for Paul during the period of Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, which is what we see pictured here in Colossians, Luke was also there for Paul's second imprisonment in Rome, the imprisonment which would eventually culminate in Paul's death. In fact, why don't you turn over with me to II Timothy 4. II Timothy 4 is written about three years after the letter to the Colossians and this is now Paul's second period of Roman imprisonment, and II Timothy 4 is really the last chapter of inspired Scripture that Paul would ever write. These are his last words, you could say. Look what he says, Paul does, to Timothy in II Timothy 4:9. He says, “Make every effort to come to me soon, for Demas,” we'll get to him in a second, “having loved this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia” and then what? “Only Luke is with me.” In other words, many of Paul's compatriots and colleagues had dropped off the map. When the screws tightened and the threats from the government came, they scattered. Not Luke. Luke stood by Paul's side, and he did the honorable thing as they sought to follow Christ together. He didn't leave or forsake Paul, he stuck with him, he was consistent. As I just mentioned we'll talk a lot more about Luke in the weeks ahead as we start the study of the Gospel that bears his name, so we'll leave it there.

Next, we're going to turn to another of Paul's friends, back to Colossians 4:14, Demas. Here we come upon a clear study in contrast because while Luke was the consistent friend, Demas was a disappointing friend. So, if you are a note taker, Demas the disappointment. Now a mere three words are devoted to Demas in verse 14 where it just says at the end of the sentence there, “and also Demas.” Demas was, at the time that Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians, in good standing. At this point he was still substantially committed to doing the Lord's work and to doing the Lord's work faithfully. In fact, in Philemon 24, which again is written at the same time as Colossians, we see Demas commended as being one of Paul's fellow workers. Again, look at what happens in II Timothy just about three or so years later. We see these sad words once again in II Timothy 4:9, he says, “Make every effort to come to me soon,” talking to Timothy here, “for Demas having loved this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” Those are words of heartbreak from Paul because what they do is highlight the fact that Demas did not merely move on to a different ministry, rather he showed himself to be a lover of this world, and a lover of this world cannot be what? A lover of God, a true child of God. I John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world.” Demas' departure, Demas' desertion in other words, proved that he was still dead in his sin. He was a fake, he was a phony, he was a mere professor of Christ, he did not actually possess Christ. But going back to Colossians, written three years earlier, as of the time that Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians, Demas' departure and Demas' desertion hadn't yet occurred so there was no indication of trouble on the horizon or any scent of trouble brewing. So, what is a key takeaway that we can take from this passage, knowing Demas' trajectory, I think a key takeaway is this, that this side of glory in this fallen and sinful world that we live in and presently call home we inevitably will have friends like Demas who disappoint us. They will show themselves to be one thing but later prove to be another. They'll make ostentatious claims of love and loyalty in the beginning only to stab us in the back months or minutes later. Does that mean, then, that we ought to retreat from sound biblical friendships since we're only going to get hurt later? Absolutely not. Knowing that we will have Demases in our lives one day, we are still called to pursue Christ-honoring, biblically minded friendships with others, and let the chips fall where God has sovereignly ordained them to land. In some cases, we will be disappointed and hurt by someone only to be able to experience the sweetness of reconciliation and restoration later, like Paul did with Mark. But other times we will be hurt and disappointed by someone and that's going to be the end of it, like it was with Paul and Demas. Whichever way a disappointing friendship ends, we are called, I Peter 4:19, to entrust our “souls to a faithful Creator while consistently doing what is right.”

As we move our eyes now to verses 15-16, we're back to Laodicea, that neighboring town we saw up in verse 13. Here we encounter the common ground friend. Look at verses 15-16, it says, “Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house. When this letter is read among you have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans and you for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea.” Now let's start with the easy part because the language of these two verses gets progressively more difficult as we work our way through it. First Paul gives the command at the beginning of verse 15 to “greet the brethren who are in Laodicea.” That is simple enough, he is saying that to the Colossians as he sits 1300 miles away, say hello to the Christians in the neighboring town of Laodicea. That would be like us receiving a letter here at Indian Hills from a pastor in Florida or a pastor in California who extends his greetings not only to us here, but says, while you're at it say hello to the saints at Hampton or Crete or Firth or you name it. Those at Laodicea like those at Colossae were common friends, common friends of Paul, friends who shared in common the most important things that two friends can share in common—spiritual kinship in Jesus Christ.

But things start to get a little trickier at the end of verse 15 where Paul says to the Colossians, “and also Nympha and the church that is in her house.” House? Yes, house. We do know that it was a regular practice before there were church buildings like we're in today that people met in houses really before the third century A.D. We don't see many examples of church buildings or dedicated properties until around the third century A.D. They regularly met in homes. Romans 16:3-5 tells us of the church in the house of Priscilla and Aquila. Philemon 2 speaks of the house that Philemon had, the house church that he ran. It really wasn't until government-ordered persecution of Christians started to subside and people gradually started to feel freer to worship outside their homes that dedicated church buildings began to appear. That's a really good reminder to each of us as we sit inside this climate-controlled, 100,000+ square foot facility here this morning, that the physical building that we call the church is not the most important part of who we are as a church. Rather, the church is a gathering, a living organism of God's redeemed people. It's not going to church, as in a building, that's the most important thing for a believer to do. It is being a part of the church, which is of central importance. That does include gathering and fellowshipping and encouraging and exhorting and rebuking and loving and serving and giving.

Now the difficulty ratchets up a bit more in interpreting this passage when we see that the church mentioned in verse 15 was meeting in the house of a woman named Nympha, a house that was likely in Laodicea, given the context of verses 15-16 here all being about Laodicea and the Laodiceans. Now this is where people start to lose their mind. They see this woman named Nympha, they see a church in her house and there are really two camps that highlight how much they lose their minds when they come across this verse. On the one hand you have the liberal egalitarian side of the discussion. They'll see that reference to Nympha there and the church in her house and they'll make this illogical leap to the conclusion that in view of this reference Paul must have been fine with female pastors and females leading mixed groups in churches and females teaching men in churches and females exercising general oversight of churches. They lose their minds on that side. But then on the other side, the conservative complementarians, people like me, people like us, people like our church, they'll freak out the other way and they'll try to do some back-breaking, exegetical limbo to get out from under this passage since it sure does read at first glance that Nympha has a church in her house and that would, if we're really insecure about our position, seem to poke a hole in our conservative complementarian positions. But we always, friends, have to be careful to build our theology from the study of Scripture from the bottom up, not read the Scripture through the lens of our own built-in, baked-in theological presuppositions. Though there is some competing manuscript evidence that would suggest that Nympha here was actually Nymphas, put an “s” at the end, and Nymphas would make this a male, meaning this would not be a she but a he; that’s quite the 21st century statement, is that not. The reality is most manuscript evidence, and we just have to be comfortable with this, does indicate that this really was a woman named Nympha who really did open up the doors of her house to host a church. Who she was, we don't know for sure, but based on how the laws of this day read concerning how women owned property or what property they couldn't own, the likelihood is that this was a wealthy widow who with resources and without a husband making decisions on her behalf opened up her home for fellow believers in Laodicea to have a place to fellowship and pray and hear instruction from a male pastor. She was very similar to another woman we encounter in Acts 16 named Lydia who was recorded as opening up her house for Christian gathering and fellowship. So, Paul wanted the Colossians to greet the brethren who were in Laodicea and also Nympha in the church that is in her house.

Now we take this little detour in verse 16 getting us off the topic of friendship just for a moment and Paul's circle of friends just for a moment and into the practice now of sharing Scripture between churches. Look at verse 16, it says, “When this letter is read among you have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans.” Again, the churches at Colossae and Laodicea were close in geographical proximity but also in spiritual kinship. Paul here is simply saying, this letter has importance for Laodicea as well, read it to the Laodiceans also. He was praying for both churches, we know that from Colossians 2:1, he wanted both churches to heed the letter to the Colossians. But then there is this language at the end of verse 16 where he says, “and you for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea.” So not only were Colossians to be read in Laodicea, but there was also this other letter that has to be read to the Colossians. The question people ask is what letter is he referring to? Some have said this is Ephesians because if you look at some of the oldest manuscripts of the book of Ephesians the first words that we see there in Ephesians 1:1, “to the church that is in Ephesus,” you don't see the words “in Ephesus” in some old manuscripts. So, the idea is Ephesians was not just to Ephesus but a more broadly circulated letter that maybe went to Laodicea and now Paul is saying read Ephesians to the church at Colossae. That's a plausible take based on a study of the early manuscript evidence, but I don't think it is a conclusive take especially when we consider the fact that Paul did write other letters to other churches in other cities which have since been lost. Like we think of the lost letter to Corinth. Paul wrote at least one more letter to the church of the Corinthians that we do not have in the canon. Well, in a similar vein, taking the language here of Colossians 4:16 at face value, when Paul says, “for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea,” I would take this to mean not the letter to the Ephesians but a letter he wrote to the Laodiceans, a letter that like his lost letter to Corinth is now dust. But it did at that point make its way to Colossae to be read. All that's being suggested here is a letter swap. The church at Laodicea reads the Colossian letter and the church at Colossae reads the Laodicean letter. They mutually encourage each other; they are mutually exhorted through the two letters.

Back to friendships, verse 17, here in Paul's concluding call-out. In verse 17 we see an example of a faithful friend. That's our next one, Archippus, the faithful friend. He says, “Say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.” Who was Archippus? Many think that he was the son of Philemon, based on what we see in Philemon 1-2 where it says to Philemon, “Our beloved brother and fellow worker and to Apphia our sister and to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church in your house.” The thought would be that Apphia was Philemon's wife and Archippus was his son, and they were naturally then part of the church that was in Philemon's house. What we're told here in Colossians 4:17, though, is that he had received a ministry in the Lord and that ministry we know was in Colossae, which is why he is being addressed in a letter to the Colossians. It very well could be, I think it's a really reasonable hypothesis, that Archippus had stepped up in Epaphras' absence, while Epaphras was in Rome with Paul, to lead and minister and shepherd this flock as an interim, the interim pastor you could say. Which would fit well with these words of encouragement that we see here in verse 17 where he says, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it.” That sounds a lot like the words that Paul gives Timothy in II Timothy 4:5 where he says, “But you, be sober in all things. Do the work of an evangelist, endure hardship, fulfill your ministry.” Was Archippus in danger of drifting? From the text it doesn't say, we can't indicate either way, but we do know that he had serious ministry responsibilities there in Colossae in this area that was being threatened with false teaching. So, he needed encouragement to persevere. He needed to be reminded that his ministry was one that was to be actively watched over and managed. Hence the words there, “Take heed to the ministry.” He needed to be reminded that the ministry he had received, just like any ministry any of us has received, was ultimately from the Lord, for the Lord and to be done unto the Lord. In other words, Paul's words, here were words of support and encouragement, urging Archippus to press on in his faithful work at Colossae. In the same way that Paul expressed his own desire to finish his own race well, we think of II Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith,” he wanted Archippus to do the same.

Now we turn to verse 18 and we close the loop now on Paul's circle of friends with the last friend on this list being Paul himself. It's very typical of Paul, isn't it? Praying for others, encouraging others, commending others, consistently putting others before himself and putting himself last. Taking his own words in Philippians 2:4 to heart, “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests but for the interest of others,” Paul was to each of his friends invested in them and their spiritual growth and their spiritual development. We'll call this last one the invested friend. Look at verse 18, he says, “I Paul write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my imprisonment. Grace be with you.” Paul first showed his investment in his friends at Colossae by demonstrating intentionality toward them. Here it says he is writing this greeting with his own hand. He had a secretary, he had what was called an emanuensis who would have dictated each one of Paul's letters but to demonstrate his own personal care and love for the Colossians with shackles on his wrists he takes the pen with his own hand and signs this closing salutation, Paul. He did this to other churches we know, but he does it here to the Colossians to show the love he had for them.

Then he makes this last prayer request, middle of verse 18. He says, “Remember my imprisonment.” Other translations have it “Remember my chains.” So as Paul prayed for them, he also solicited prayer from them, prayers that we've seen before that were not that his chains would suddenly be broken loose. He's not praying for liberation; he's not disheartened or dejected about the state of his condition. Rather, we know from Colossians 1:24 that he was glad to suffer for Christ. He said, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake.” No, when he asked for prayer, when he said, “Remember my imprisonment,” he is asking for opportunities once again to share Christ in prison, the very One on whose account he was imprisoned. Then he closes with this benediction, a prayer of his own for the Colossians that God's grace would be with them. He says, “Grace be with you.” That's it, that's Paul's parting words to the Colossians, his final farewell—grace be with you. How powerful those final words were and are. No other than A. T. Robertson, the famed Greek grammarian, once said this. He said, “There is no richer word than grace, for it carries in it all of God's love as seen in the gift of His Son for us.” Indeed. As we draw our time together this morning to a close and as we wrap up our study of Colossians, what a helpful reminder that is from Robertson that through the gift of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ preeminent, we have received grace, salvation, forgiveness. No longer God's enemies, no longer His foes, no longer His enemies, His opponents. We are now in God's family, we who have believed in Christ. We are God's friends.

We've seen it all, have we not, in our study of this little book known as Colossians? Paul has taken us from these soaring mountaintops of exalted Christology to something as basic as we've seen today, this roll call of the company of the friends he kept. This has been an enriching time of study for me as I've worked through this book over the past many months. I pray it has been a helpful study for you as well, as you've gotten to know Christ better, as you proclaim His name here in Lincoln and wherever the Lord may direct your steps.

Let's pray. God, thank You for the time that we have had together these past many months in this incredibly rich and powerful little book known as Colossians. Thank You for what it reveals about who Christ our Savior is, the majestic exalted One, who we are now in Christ positionally as having been saved and redeemed and reconciled and how we are now to live as His ambassadors. May we be found faithful as ambassadors of Christ the preeminent One. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.