Sermon Tone Analysis
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*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.
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.
Col. 4:
Notice the similarity to
Paul possibly sent Tychicus to Crete on one occasion with a message for Titus and the church on Crete.
Titus
Titus 4:
And Paul toward the end of his life certainly sent Tychicus back to Ephesus with a message for the church.
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.
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