Bringing Home the Good News

*Once upon a time in another life I use to be a runner. I had a friend talk me into running a half marathon and then a full marathan. And, then when I moved to Dothan, some friends talked me into running the Huntsville marathon with them. If you don’t know what a marathon its a run or a walk run of 26.2 miles. I remember training for my first marathon. I was training with a friend running it with me who had ran many marathon. I told him, I guess that I’m just going to run from can to can’t. He said, “No you are not. You are going to run from can to can’t and then you are going to run 6 more miles.”

If you have ever run a marathon you know what he means. About 20 miles in there is a runners wall. That last 6 miles was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It’s suppose to be. It goes back to the history of the marathon.

The traditional story comes from the battle of marathon in 490 BC. The story goes that Pheidippides (530–490 BC), an Athenian herald or "day-long runner", was sent to Sparta to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon, Greece. He ran 150 mi in two days, and then ran back. He then ran the 25 mi to the battlefield near Marathon where he witnessed the Greek victory. To which he ran back to Athens to announce their victory over Persia in the Battle of Marathon (490 BC). As he arrived he announced “We win!” and then collapsed and died.

So I thought that we would go outside and take a run today. Just kidding. You can just look at me and know that I’m not going to suggest that!

What’s the point of me telling this story? News matters when you believe in the cause.

In that day, there were no forms of modern communication. The only way to get the word out was for someone to bring it to someone else.

If I’m Pheidippides and I had just run 325 miles in 3 days, when I saw the victory, my first thought would not be to run. It would be to rest. Those people in Athens can find out about the victory whenever they find out. My attitude would be, “We won. That’s what matters. I don’t care if they know about it.

But for Pheidippides, it is not enough just to win. The victory is not complete until it is celebrated.

That is also a principle that you see in Scripture. And you see it embodied in a man named Tychicus. You may of never heard of Tychicus. You almost didn’t today because when I first read this concluding passage by Paul in Ephesians, I had no idea how I was going to preach it. Most preachers give very little emphasis to to closing remarks when they preach through a book. But, the more I thought about it, I didn’t think it was right to give attention to this great man of God when we had the chance. A man who believed dearly that a victory is not complete until it is celebrated.

So, let me tell about who Tychicus was. Tychicus was believer from Asia Minor who traveled with the Apostle Paul on his 3rd missionary journey. We first are introduced to Tychicus in . In , you might be familiar with the ruckus that Paul caused by preaching the gospel. He and his group was fortunate to make it out with their lives. After this we are given an account of those who went with him to Greece and Macedonia.

Acts 20:4 ESV

4 Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.

We learn about the roles that several of these men play in other places in Scripture. Today I want you to be encouraged and motivated by the role Tychicus played in the advancement of the gospel.

One of the problems that the Paul faced was getting communication to the churches that he established. Yes he wrote all of these wonderful letters that we call epistles. But, I suppose that some of you have never even thought about how the messages arrived safely to the churches. Didn’t he just drop them in the mail? No, this was a time where there was no modern communication. The only mail service was created and reserved for high ranking government use. Any personal mail had to be hand delivered. That is where Tychicus comes in.

Tychicus, whose name meant “fortunate.” Was a fortunate companion for Paul to have. God was doing unbelievable work around the NT lands. People were coming to Christ, even in the midst of severe persecution and suffering. The church needed to know and Tychicus was willing to pay the cost to bring them the news. He is believed to have carried the letters of Ephesians, Colossians, and possibly even 1 Timothy from Paul to the churches and Timothy while he was pastoring in Ephesus. Tychicus is a likely candidate since he was from Asia Minor, where Ephesus is located.

Tychicus also lived in a time where there was no modern communication. The only mail

Look at a couple of verses with me.

Colossians 4:7–9 ESV

7 Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, 9 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.

Col. 4:

Notice the similarity to

Ephesians 6:21–22 ESV

21 So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. 22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.

Paul possibly sent Tychicus to Crete on one occasion with a message for Titus and the church on Crete.

Titus 3:12 ESV

12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.

Titus

Titus 4:

And Paul toward the end of his life certainly sent Tychicus back to Ephesus with a message for the church.

2 Timothy 4:12 ESV

12 Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.

Now, you know everything that I know about Tychicus. So, what are we suppose to take from the life of Tychicus.

The first obvious point is if Tychicus has not been willing to take the letters of Ephesians and Colossians and maybe 1 Timothy. The churches then wouldn’t have receive the important message from Paul and we wouldn’t have it to. Thank you Tychicus for being faithful.

Now I want to bring 3 Practical Points from the Life of Tychicus.

1. Believers needs to be encouraged in what God is doing.

We get excited about what we value. When you get news that your ball team won, you get excited. Or, those of you with grandchildren involved in different activities, you get excited when you hear news they are excelling. “Little Billy got his first hit today. Little Sally finished her first dance recital and got an award. That type of news encourages our soul.

As followers of Christ, we need to be encouraged that God is doing great and wonderful things. What is God doing? The whole of Scripture says that God placed man here to glorify God by living in relationship with him as we manage his creation. That involves loving God and others. But when sin entered the world, it separated us from a holy God. It also separated us from each other as we are divided among different nations and different religions. But God has shown in Ephesians that his purpose in Christ is to unify us back to God and in the process unify us to each other. In Christ, both Jew and Gentile are brought back as one family of God in Christ.

When we see God working, it should cause us to rejoice! We need to rejoice when we hear how God has brought salvation to someone. We need to rejoice when God overcomes addiction and restores someone’s life. We should celebrate as God’s meets promises of provision for is children. We should celebrate answered prayer.

I’m convinced that as believers we don’t celebrate enough the work that God has and is accomplishing.

Philippians 4:4 ESV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

When can even rejoice when things don’t go our way, even in our suffering. Listen to Paul:

Luke 15:10 ESV

10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

When can even rejoice when things don’t go our way, even in our suffering. Listen to Paul:

Romans 5:2–4 ESV

2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

Romans 5:2-

Even our suffering ends in hope.

Tychicus knew that the church needed encouragement with what God was doing. We should know it to.

2. Believers need to be intentional in sharing what we’ve seen God doing.

News shares bad news. Christians should share good news: the good news of what the gospel ultimately accomplishes. And the good news of what it is actually accomplishing daily.

Testimonies of God’s grace should overflow in the church. A joyous part of your Sunday School should be testimonies of you seeing God work around you. We need to have people share testimonies more in worship. I know we like to talk about what our ball team did this week. Let’s not act like they accomplished more than God did this week.

A lot of times attendance is down when missionaries come to the church to share about how God is working in their ministries, or when one of our mission teams from the church return on mission. Why is that? Unfortunately, it doesn’t interest us. This is a problem. What God is doing around the world should be of great interest to us no matter where it is.

It was of great interest to Tychicus. It should be of great interest to us.

3. Believers need to be involved in what God is doing.

Tychicus knew about what God was doing and had new to share about it because he was actually travelling with Paul on his missionary journey. If we want to have great news about what God is doing, we’ve got to put ourselves in positions where we can be used by God.

What does that look like? Sometimes it means being there for a friend who needs to feel the love of God. Sometimes it means sharing the gospel with someone that you just met. Sometimes it means being involved in benevolence ministries like Harbor House or Love in Action. Sometimes it means volunteering in the family ministry of Wiregrass Hope.

Sometimes it means teaching Sunday School, or being the prayer leader in your class, or fellowship leader in your class.

There is not limit to how God can use us to restore a lost and hopeless world back to himself.

We need to be encouraged with good news.

We need to be intentional about sharing good news.

So, we need to be involved in being good news to someone in someway.

Tychicus knew that a church that doesn’t celebrate what God has done is not likely to be involved in the future of what God is doing. I want us to be involved in God’s great work. As we are, let’s bring it back to each other and let’s celebrate it every chance we get!