Final Greetings

Good morning, turn in your Bibles with me to Colossians chapter 4. Last week I told you we had most likely 2 weeks left in Colossians but that was in fact, incorrect, and we will be finishing the letter together here this morning.

So you can know where we are going next, we will be doing a short series on the means of grace beginning next week and then most likely in the middle of June we will take the summer to explore our way through the psalms. The tenative plan after that is to grab the Johns gospel starting in October and begin to work through that together.

But today we focus our attention back on Pauls letter to the Colossians. I want to make sure that we don’t check out here this morning. If we’re honest, sometimes as we get to the close of a specific book, we can tend to gloss over things like the final greetings. Now of course we wouldn’t say it, but we can functionally treat some of these things as if they aren’t inspired scripture. Let me encourage you to not do that in your own devotions and study, and rather see what God would have for you in his word, including salutations.

One of the reasons why we aren’t looking at this text in multiple parts is because I don’t want us to miss the main thrust of this passage. We can be tempted to hone in on ancillary principles and in doing so can miss the forest for the trees. While it’s certainly appropriate to see subordinate realities that apply to our lives, I want us this morning to “keep our eye on the ball” as it were.

and the main point is this:

“God uses faithful men and women to carry out the mission of Christ and strengthen his bride”

“The gospel creates a family of faithful men and women in Christ who strengthen his church and carry out his mission”

So with that, let’s look at these brothers and sister and how God has used them.

The first person we see is Tychicus.

Paul shows us here that Tychicus is primarily responsible for delivering this letter to this young Colossian church. Unlike our day and age, communication between groups of people was not as simple as an email thread or a phone call or even dropping a physical letter in the mail. Rather, someone had to make a significant journey in order to reach people and communicate with them. Paul has entrusted Tychicus to the task of delivering this important document to the church.

This isn’t the only place we see Tychicus show up in the new testament. In addition to Colossians, we see him show up in Acts, Ephesians, Titus, 2 Timothy. He has accompanied Paul on his trip to Jerusalem to deliver the collection, Paul has sent him to Titus on Crete as well as sent him to Ephesus. It is most probable that Tychicus is carrying with him the letter to the Colossians, the letter to the Ephesians, and the letter to Philemon.

Based on Paul’s use of him we can see clearly that Paul trusts and values Tychicus but we don’t have to speculate because Paul goes on to edify him.

Beloved brother, faithful minister, fellow servant

While Paul commends these other men and women, there is a particular affection that Paul has here for this brother. They have traveled together, done ministry together, seen the highs and the lows, been separated at times and through all of those things, a unique love has developed.

Accompanying him is Onesimus

Although far less mentioned than Tychicus, Onesimus may be more familiar to us because of who he is. Onesimus is the runaway slave in Philemon. It appears from that letter that Onesimus had stolen money from his owner, Philemon, and run away from him. He eventually crossed paths with Paul where he came to believe the gospel and was saved. Paul sends Onesimus back with a the letter to Philemon and tells Philemon to take him back, no longer as a simply a slave, but a brother.

Like Tychicus, Paul describes him as faithful and beloved brother. When Paul says “who is one of you”, he is not saying “he’s a christian” rather, he is telling this church that Onesimus is a Colossian. He is from your town. He is a local.

Why Paul says this is a bit of a mystery. We do know that Paul intends to encourage the hearts of this young church and perhaps by his telling them, they can be encourage to see the gospel work being done in their own city that they aren’t directly tied to.

When we had our mens conference this year, we had nearly 300 men from various local churches all gathered together in Kingsford Michigan for a day of worship. I have heard repeatedly from men how encouraged they were to see that many local men give up a Saturday to come praise the king together. It was clear that God has been at work drawing his people to himself.

Sometimes we can miss the great work God is doing even in our own communities.

So here are these men, one, who has been serving the Lord in various capacities. Who has traveled and ministered with the great apostle himself. And one who is being sent back to his master. Both with a mission of delivering these letters to these churches. and when they deliver the letter, tell them about Paul and his fellow workers. Tell them about the work God is doing. Tell them about the spread of the Gospel and the fruit it is bearing.

And in telling them, they will be encouraged. vs 8

I wonder if these men had any idea the gravity of the task they were assigned?

I wonder if they recognized the significance of those letters?

I wonder if they pondered what impact those letters would have?

Because without someone to deliver those letters, they don’t do any good for those people. Yes Paul wrote them and Paul get’s credit for them, but it was the simple, faithful obedience of these two men in the background so to speak, that God used to get these letters into the hands of those churches.

And yet here we are today, reading and preaching and studying and meditating on those very letters.

Paul moves in verse 10 from commending these men and their encouragement to the church to now personally encouraging them by passing on the greetings of his friends to them. We see six men who send their greetings, 3 who are jewish (nationality) and 3 who are gentile (non jewish).

We know that the first 3 are Jewish because of verse 11. Look at it with me. “These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God”.

Paul goes on to say in verse 11 that these men have been a comfort (or source of encouragement) to him.

So who are these Jewish believers sending greetings that have been comforting to Paul?

The first friend who sends his greetings is Aristarchus.

Another “minor” figure in the new testament with a not-so-minor life of gospel service. You can read more about Aristarchus in Acts 19,20, and 27, but we know this man is from Thessalonica. It’s possible that he was a part of the initial church plant with Paul, Silas, and Timothy in Thessalonica.

This man was no fair weather friend. He was with Paul when the riot broke out in Ephesus in Acts 20 and he was dragged by the angry mob.

When Paul was sent as a prisoner to Rome, Aristarchus chose to go with him. He wasn’t a prisoner and was free to do as he wished but chose to accompany his friend at his own expense to stay by his side. That voyage resulted in one of the shipwrecks that Paul mentions. In addition to that, we see he is a fellow prisoner with Paul. Either because he was arrested when they got to Rome or chose to share confinement with Paul, he is by his side in prison. And while Paul pens this letter he asks him, to tell the church he says hi

The next man is more well known, at least to us, than the previous men; Mark

This is John Mark who is the author of the Gospel of Mark.

Paul mentions how he’s the cousin of Barnabas, which is important to know because I’m sure you’ll recall how Paul and Barnabas had a “sharp disagreement” in Acts 15 about bringing Mark with them on their next missionary Journey. The reason they had that little tiff is because two chapters earlier, Mark had abandoned them on their mission early in Acts 13. But it appears, from this text and others, that Mark had been restored because Paul instructs the church to welcome him if he comes.

Let us not miss the testimony here of the reconciling power of Christ. Do you remember chapter 1 (20&22) where we are told that have have been reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. Yes that is primarily a vertical reconciliation with God but don’t think it stops there. The outworking of this vertical reconciliation is a horizontal reconciliation to one another in Christ.

Let me ask you, are there brothers and sisters in christ who you are alienated with? Are there people who have hurt you or wronged you or maybe people you have hurt or wronged and there has not been reconciliation?

Colossians 3:15 “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”

The gospel has the power to reconcile fractured relationships. Christ did not come and die for his bride to be divided

The final jewish character in this list is Justus, who’s name is Jesus.

Paul is not referring to the big dog here when he says Jesus. Jesus was a common jewish name in the first century. It was also common for jews to have a greek or roman name that was similar sounding to their real name. Like Paul, who’s actual name is Saul, this Jesus takes the name Justus.

We know very little about him. This is the only place he shows up in the Bible.

While we don’t know much about his ministry, we do know that he was follower of Jesus, a fellow worker in the gospel, a faithful friend to Paul, and a source of comfort and encouragement.

You’re life doesn’t need to be lived so that your name be remembered but lived in a such a way that Jesus name is remembered

The next 3 men Paul lists are gentile believers.

The 1st is a man who we have already talked about in this letter; Epaphras.

Epaphras is likely the man who planted this church. He was likely converted under Pauls ministry in Ephesus and as we know from chapter one, that he was the individual who brought the gospel to Colossae. As we see, like Onesimus, he is a Colossae native.

Notice this next line Paul says about Epaphras…

“always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God”

some translations: laboring, wrestling, struggling, striving

For what??

That they may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

Remember the false teaching? Epaphras is fighting spiritually for his people. He is wresting, striving, struggling, in his prayers.

Struggling that may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. These two things are opposite sides of the same coin. This fully assured in the will of God is not like God’s will of what coffee shop you should go to but rather God’s revealed will for his church. We have that will right here in his word. You want to know God’s will for your life? Read your Bible.

And as you bathe in God’s word you will become more and more assured of his will and you will become more and more mature, which is to say more Christlike. That’s ultimately what Epaphras is praying for his people.

His desire for his people is not primarily for their health, for their jobs, for their events, for their passions, for their projects, their travels. His prayer for his people is a pleading for Christlikeness. That they would stand mature in Christ.

And not only is he working for this Colossian church but Epaphras is working for other local churches. He has worked hard for those in Laodicea. He has worked hard for those in Heirapolis.

We need to be careful that we don’t ever think of our church as the church. If were not careful we can start to view our churches like businesses and our people like customers. We can view other local faithful churches as competition.

Faithful, bible preaching, christ exalting churches are not competition to the kingdom, they are ammunition for the kingdom.

Whens the last time we prayed for other local churches?

You know a prayer that you can pray over every church you ever see, good or bad?

That they would preach christ and him crucified and that those people would stand mature and fully assured in the will of God

The next man is Luke.

This is the Luke who wrote the gospel of Luke and almost certainly wrote the book of Acts. If that is the case, Luke has written more of the Bible by volume than Paul at nearly 1/4 of the entire New Testament. For someone who has such a significant role there is little we know about him. We know he is a gentile and we know he is a doctor. We see in other areas that he is a close traveling companion of Paul’s and like some of the others, has been with him through some of the most difficult times in ministry.

Pauls mention of Luke being a physician reminds me of the late great Martyn Lloyd Jones. Affectionately known as “The Doctor” Jones was the pastor of the infamous Westminster Chapel in London. Before he was called to preach, Jones was a young accomplished physician who quickly rose up the ranks to become the chief clinical assistant to the man who was the physician to the King.

But Jone’s felt a call to preach and felt an emptiness to physically healing people only for them to be spiritually dead.

Like Jones, Luke’s aim is not simply improving or extending physical life but seeing men and women brought to spiritual life through the work of the great physician.

Finally, in our list of sent greetings, we see Demas.

We see Demas mentioned 3 times in the new testament. Here and in Philemon, he is mentioned positively as a fellow worker with Paul. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the 3rd time. In 2 Timothy 4, Paul tells us that Demas has deserted him for love of the world. Whether Demas is saved, eventually repented, or totally apostatized we don’t know, but it ought to stand as a warning for us. Paul writes 2 Timothy likely only a few years after this letter and in just that time, Demas has gone from gospel worker to world lover. He has taken his eyes of Jesus and abandoned his friends.

Don’t think yourself too sturdy to fall. The church over the last few years has seen a resurgence of prominent men who were leaders in the church take their eyes off of Jesus and fall hard. Men who perhaps thought their decades of service left them invincible. I’m not telling you you can lose your salvation but I am telling you that you can fall and bring reproach on the name of Christ and hurt the body in doing so. Keep a watch on yourself and the teaching.

It’s ironic how these two men are listed next to each other. We see them next to each other again in 2 Timothy

2 Timothy 4:10–11 “For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.”

While there is one friend who is gone there is another who has stayed. Paul writes 2 Timothy as he is awaiting execution, and while one of the men has deserted him for the world, there is one alone who won’t leave him for the world. Perhaps this friend was there with Paul up until the very end.

Paul moves from giving these greetings to a few final instructions and a parting prayer for them.

Paul instructs them to send his greetings to two churches. One we have already seen, the church at Laodicea, but now introduces a new church. This church is one that meets at Nymphas house. Nympha is a wealthy woman, perhaps a widow, who is using her home for the gathering location of a nearby local church.

Paul wants the Colossians to read this letter to the Laodiceans and for them to read their letter. When Paul says the letter from Laodicea he doesn’t mean the letter that they wrote, he means a letter that was wrote to them, likely from Paul himself.

What that letter is, is unknown. There has been speculation as to what letter this is. John Knox has contended that it is Philemon that is actually the letter to the Laodicean’s. Some suggest Ephesians is the letter. Both of those theories have issues and I will leave it to your own study to ponder, but I would accept what the majority of scholars agree with that the letter to the laodiceans is a lost letter to us.

What this does show us however, is Pauls expectations that the letters he writes to individual groups of people are to be used for the strengthening and edification of other believers, even if they aren’t the “original” recipients.

Paul instructs the church to tell Archippus to fulfill the ministry you have received in the Lord.

Archippus, largely unknown to us, is only mentioned here and in Philemon where Paul recognizes him as “a fellow soldier”. Although largely unknown, his instruction is quite poignant to our own lives.

You and I have a ministry that we have received in the Lord. You may not have a “professional” ministry as a pastor or teacher, but God has entrusted all of us to ministry. You are in ministry.

Ephesians 4:11–12 “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,”

You and I are called to preach Christ, to serve, to pray, to give, to rejoice, to weep, to show hospitality, to sharpen, to teach, to rebuke, to encourage, to build up the body of Christ.

Church see to it that we don’t waste our lives doing everything other than the ministry that we have been given

[It’s christ ministry, entrusted to you]

Dont miss the man for the ministry

Finally, we’ll close out this morning, and this book, by looking at Paul’s signature.

The normative practice of writing a letter like this is to have the letter dictated to professional scribe who would do the work of writing the letter. You would do this so that the writing was neat and legible, as well as being able to fit as many words as you can on the valuable papyrus. Most certainly, that is what Paul has done with his letters. What Paul does at the end is grab the pen and write out this sentence as a sort of signature to the church. There’s a personal touch we see in the author writing these words himself.

And then he drops this short, but powerful sentence…. “Remember my chains”

What could Paul mean by this?

Is this to brag? “look what I’ve done”

Is this a cry for help “don’t forget me… help me”

Paul says in chapter 1 verse 24 that he rejoices in his sufferings for their sake

Paul says in verse 8 that his desire here is that their hearts are encouraged and it appears at surface level that this is a pretty discouraging comment.

But see what I believe Paul is doing with this comment is just that. Encourage them. Encourage them to count the cost. Encourage them to stay faithful. Encourage them to know that even when your world is falling down around you and you feel all alone, God has not left you. When it seems as though the kingdom of darkness is winning, know that it is the kingdom of light that is pushing back the darkness.

Encourage them to know that no matter their circumstances, Jesus Christ is risen from the grave. We serve a king who sits on his throne and he is not surprised by what has happened. He is not taken off guard. He is not wishing he could do something about your situation. No we we serve the king of kings and the lord of lords, the one at whos name every knee will bow and tongue confess. The one who will put all enemies under his feet. The one who will wipe every tear.

So remember my chains. And in doing so, may your hearts not be dismayed but rather be encouraged

The final line in this entire letter and in nearly every letter of Pauls, is a prayer for grace. The same opening line that Paul had at the beginning of the letter.

Do you know why that is? Because that is the entire christian life. One word to separate Christianity from all other religions is grace.

It is grace that the you heard the gospel and believed it chapter 1

It is grace that through christ you were reconciled to God

It is by grace by grace that you were buried with him in baptism and raised with him through faith

It is by grace that you were made alive together with him

It is by grace that all of your trespasses have been forgiven

It is by grace that your unplayable record of debt was nailed to cross

It is by grace, that you can seek the things that are above

It is by grace that you can put to death what is early in you

It is by grace that you can put on righteousness

It is by grace, that you can continue steadfastly in prayer

It is by grace that you can stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God

It is by grace that you can fulfill the ministry that you have received

It is by grace, that you are saved, christian.

Grace of the lord Jesus Christ, who lived and died and rose to purchase you for himself.

Communion

Now as we transition to the table, it is fitting to remember that we do not come alone but we come together as one body in Christ

Fencing

Words of Institution

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

This bread - christs body, given for us

This cup - the new covenant, shed for the forgiveness of our sins

This is an act of participating in his grace

Prayer (Men come forward)

Unite us Lord, as one people, purchased by one savior to fulfil the work of the ministry of one gospel

Distribute

Bread

“Take, eat; this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Cup

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Closing

“For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”