God's Work Is A Team Effort
Notes
Transcript
Blue Jays
Blue Jays
Hands up if you watched the final game last night.
If there’s one thing to be said about the Jays it’s that they work together well as a team. They had some great players. Some great pitchers, some were better up at bat.
The job of the coach is to look at the skills and gifts that each player has and put them in the right place at the right time to achieve the goal that the team is looking for.
The whole team is striving together towards a certain goal. For the Jays this year it was to win the World Series.
God wants us to work together. The Christian walk is not one we walk alone. God’s work is a team effort.
There are no superstars except God. Jesus is the MVP.
That’s what we can see in our passage this morning.
Lets pray...
The People
The People
In Paul’s final greetings we eleven names: doctor, a slave, Jews & Gentiles, male, female, fellow prisoners.
Let’s pause and look at each briefly
Tychicus
Tychicus
First introduced in Acts 20:4
Well traveled letter carrier: Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians
News deliverer: brings news of what’s happening in the other churches
Beloved brother / faithful minister / fellow servant
Mentioned again in 2 Tim 4:12 & Titus 3:12 were he’s sent to them as a faithful servant in Christ
Onesimus
Onesimus
Travelling companion to Tychicus
Also a faithful and beloved brother
A converted slave / ran away from Philemon (converted slave owner)
Aristarchus
Aristarchus
Jewish Christian from Thessalonica in Macedonia
Act 19:29 Got caught up in the riot in Ephesus along with Gaius
Silversmith Demetrius: made silver shrines of Artemis
Christians: only one God
Now a fellow prisoner v.10
Mark: John Mark
Mark: John Mark
Cousin of Barnabas
prominent role in the early church - small “a” apostle
“Joseph”, who was a Levite from Cyprus
Introduced Paul to the other Apostles
Mark: Author of The Gospel According To Mark - arguably the first of the four accounts
“Sharp disagreement” between Paul and Barnabas Act 15:36-41
Mark somehow deserted Paul and Barnabas in Pamphylia
Paul didn’t think Mark was a suitable companion in ministry at that time
Paul later reconciles with Mark
Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
Jesus who is called Justus: only mentioned here
Jesus who is called Justus: only mentioned here
Epaphras:
Epaphras:
From Colossae
Heard the gospel from Paul in Ephesus and took it home
Founder of the church there - church planter
7 yrs later returns to Paul to tell of some “strange teachings”
Results in this letter to the Colossians
Luke
Luke
“Beloved physician” - intelligent, well spoken
Author of Luke and Acts
Companion traveling with Paul
Ends up tending to Paul in prison at the end of his life
Demas
Demas
Little is said here, but
For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica…
Perhaps he was like the rock ground that the seed fell on
yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
Nympha
Nympha
Hosted a house church in Laodicea
The norm at that time for churches to meet in private homes
The gift of hospitality
Church buildings became more prominent by the 3rd century
Archippus
Archippus
A “fellow soldier” Phile 2
Perhaps a spiritual leader in Philemon’s house church
God’s work is a team effort
God’s work is a team effort
All these men and women were part of the network that got stuff done
Within the local churches
Within the wider church network
1st century Christians saw it grow across the known world
We see it as global - the fruit of the gospel transforming the world
How do we work together as a team?
What do we see here in this passage that points us to how we might work together as a team?
1. Encourage each other by sharing how things are going: Sharing our lives
1. Encourage each other by sharing how things are going: Sharing our lives
Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.
I love to hear from others how God is moving in their church and in their lives
When I tell others we had three baptisms recently, people get excited, God is moving among His people
I get to hear from long-time friends how their family is doing
Other pastors how their church is doing - conference - is strengthens us (Stronger Together)
Why we love to hear from missionaries
Rescue Columbia
Jonathon & Cara Holden
It fuels the fire of our hearts - fights away discouragement
Reminds us that God is always at work - He is bigger than my little life - but He is always close and keenly aware
How do we work together as a team? We encourage each other by sharing, and
2. We pray for one another.
2. We pray for one another.
We can support each other with prayer
Prayer matters to God - that is how He ordains that things will come to pass
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you - always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
What does it mean to “struggle on your behalf in prayer?”
Not just a brief mention in our prayers
Earnest, heartfelt prayer
Do you really want it to happen? Do you really believe that God answers prayer?
We pray for you on Wednesdays
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
There’s a condition there… “if”
The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
How do we work together as a team? We encourage each other by sharing; we pray for one another; and
3. We suffer together and comfort one another
3. We suffer together and comfort one another
Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas … and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.
Paul had been in prison a number of times - life ends in prison
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you,
There may come a day when the Bible is banned - it’s been done before - it exists in other countries now
Will you be like Demas who was more in love with the world?
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
If you remember last week I said that the gospel was offensive to the world - the good news of Jesus is contrary to the way the world thinks
How do we work together as a team? We encourage each other by sharing; we pray for one another; we suffer together and comfort one another; and
4. Support each other financially
4. Support each other financially
As much as we might not like it, that’s how the world works
Buildings aren’t maintained without money
Pastors are paid for their time to study God’s word
Bibles aren’t made without funds to print them
Missionaries need funds to travel
Nympha offered up her house to be a place where Christians in Laodicea could worship
Barnabas: sold land - proceeds to Apostles in Jerusalem
Paul and Barnabas travelled and collected money to help the needy in Jerusalem, particularly during a famine
We have the benevolent fund - money is set aside for when one of us is in need
Whenever a church decides to spend money, it should ask one basic question: How does this decision advance the mission of the church? How does it advance to gospel?
How do we work together as a team? We encourage each other by sharing; we pray for one another; we suffer together and comfort one another; we support each other financially;
5. Study God’s word together
5. Study God’s word together
And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”
Read the Scriptures - not just once
Be like the Bereans
they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so…
Find those in the church who have a gift for preaching and teaching - keep your eyes open
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, (that’s all believers) for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
The work of ministry is done by all believers - not just pastors and missionaries - we all work together to strengthen one another.
When we study God’s word together, we learn how to work together as a team.
how we encourage one another
how we should pray for one another
how we might suffer together and comfort one another
how to support each other financially
how we might study the word of God together
Yes, we learn how to study God’s word by studying God’s word together
The Church’s Purpose
The Church’s Purpose
To glorify God - to worship Him to be a reflection of who He is.
God’s work is a team effort - and that team effort is focused around one thing: The gospel of Jesus Christ
Remember from last week:
At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
Paul’s sole focus is the gospel message - everything else flows out of that. The church is a people who are soaked in the gospel. It permeates every aspect of our lives. It influences how we live as a family - at home - and here as a family at church. It influences how we work. It influences how we talk to our neighbour or the cashier at the store, or the nurse in the ER.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that you might continue to be content in your sin. So that you can be comfortable knowing that whatever you do, Jesus has you covered. The gospel is not a free pass into heaven. It’s not a free ride to do whatever “makes you happy”.
The gospel transforms the heart so that you hate your sin and want nothing better than to be more like Jesus.
God has ordained it that the Christian walk is not one taken alone. God has blessed us that we don’t need to walk this walk alone! Your church is a gift to you.
It’s incompatible. It’s arrogant to think that it’s just me and Jesus and forget about everyone else. That’s not what the Bible teaches. It’s not what Christ died for. If you’re born again, you are members of the body of Christ.
God’s work is a team effort.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
