Colossians 4:7-18 - People Matter and Bryon Is Limiting Pastor

Welcome back to Strength for the Day. And here is always with Pastor Dennis Fountain, not a doctor. And we've already concluded somewhere between estimable and inestimable.

We discussed that in a previous episode. And if you want to hear any of those discussions, you can look back at either our episode labeled Pastor Fountain is Inestimable or Dr. Dennis Fountain.

It's in there in the titles. We put a couple of attention-grabby things in there. I started off doing just all serious ones.

So like one of the first ones was all about Jesus. And then I think last week's was something about whatever the spiritual topic was. So let's say...

I just want to apologize to whoever the watchers, viewers are as well as the listeners.

Sure. Because they probably like log on to get a lot of depth and content.

I don't know that anyone that knows us would have ever done that.

Comedy and some Bible.

It is. Yeah. So last week's was something like, you know, praying for outsiders and the hosts are unhinged is the title.

So well, last week was unhinged.

It was unhinged.

And this week, like we said, probably be the same serious, somber, not going to make any jokes. I doubt that I doubt it as well.

All right. Well, we are jumping back in. And today I'm actually kind of bummed about our episode today.

And the reason I'm bummed about our episode is to our viewers and our listeners. I have fought for you. I have fought for you that this series would go longer.

I come to Colossians chapter 4. I preached a series in this passage in 2018. And I did, I think, five messages in chapter 4.

And it's awesome. It is filled with so much content. But our revered, what are you, co-hosts?

Co-hosts, the revered co-hosts has overruled my battling for you as a listener. Like, I'm on your side. I am on your side.

I learned the Bible to find depth, to know names.

I bear Pastor Dennis record that he has a great zeal, but not according to knowledge.

Wait, what?

Oh, nevermind, nevermind, nevermind. I mixed up Colossians 4 and Romans.

I think I was just called dumb by our culture.

Listen, I said you were zealous.

All right. Anyway, Colossians chapter 4, we are going to finish out the Book of Colossians. It's been a great study, and I hope that it's been a help to you.

We will maybe drop a teaser in our discussion as to where we're going next, because there's some wording here that could lead us down that road, as well as a lot of connection. So we'll see that.

But right now, Bryon, why don't you tell us what we're doing and then read our passage for us?

Yes. And Lord willing, if I find those files of his sermons, they will all be uploaded as bonus episodes. So you can get every ounce of Pastor Dennis' immense knowledge on Colossians 4 through hours of study.

And yeah, you can hear all of that. But here we've reached the end of the book, and it has been an incredible ride all the way through. We've seen prayers said for the Colossians.

We've seen prayer requests that Paul tells the Colossians they should have for themselves and that he's praying for them. We've seen Jesus exalted. We've seen the centrality of Jesus just over everything, over every idol, over every ism.

We've seen how then that affects our life, things that we put off and things that we put on. We've seen how it affects kind of the social order and all of our relationships. We've seen how it affects our relationship with outsiders.

When I love how Paul has given them ammunition to stand against all of the false teaching.

That's a huge thrust in the entire book is like know what you have in Jesus, because that will give you the ability to stand your ground. And before you read that, I just have a quick thought.

You know, that's one of the reasons for Strength for the Day and our growth groups. And all that we do here at our church is so we as Christians can be equipped to stand in our culture for Christ and to be effective for him.

And so it's studies like this and books like this that yes, it very much applied to the believers at Colossi, but it still applies to today, right? The Gospel, the Word of God was written from their example for our admonition and our learning.

And so anyway, let's jump into today and I want you to read and we'll finish out Colossians.

Yep. So Paul then sends greetings. He says, Take a kiss.

Our dearly loved brother, faithful servant and fellow slave in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. I have sent him to you for this very purpose so that you may know how we are and so that he may encourage your hearts.

He is with Onesimus, a faithful and dearly loved brother who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, as does Mark, Barnabas' cousin, concerning whom you have received instructions.

If he comes to you, welcome him. And so does Jesus, who is called Justice. These alone of the circumcision are my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always contending for you in his prayers so that you can stand mature and fully assured in everything God wills. For I testify about him, that he works hard.

He has a great zeal for you, for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis. Luke, the dearly loved physician, and Demas, greet you. Give my greetings to the brothers in Laodicea and to Nimphah in the church in our home.

When this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.

Until Archippus, pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord, so that you can accomplish it. This greeting is in my own hand, Paul. Remember my imprisonment.

Grace be with you. Amen.

It's a great passage. There's so much there, and I honestly, like, I'm sitting here thinking, how could I make Bryon extend this and do multiple episodes?

Listen, listen, you're going to get four bonus episodes. All you.

Okay.

You got this.

I won't do it. So what we find here, of course, as Paul's custom was, yeah, it's, you know, our greeting, like we start a letter, like, hey, how are you doing? You know, so and so my family reaches out to you, says hi, you know, how's Tommy?

How's Fred? How, whatever. They close their letters with their greetings.

And so this is that typical closing. And Paul highlights just a bunch of people and a bunch of believers that have helped him and encouraged him.

And so before I jump into it, Bryon, why don't you give us some people that stand out to you, some thoughts from that passage?

Yeah. So first off, the first on the list in verse seven is Tychicus. And they would often mention the person bringing the letter.

This would be the person that would first kind of read it out to people. He would be kind of the first herald that would preach the book of Colossians and would tell them all of that.

And so Tychicus, we can also read about him in Ephesians, as well as some other places that you may or may not mention in this episode. But I see him every time I see his name pop up. It's kind of that familiar face.

He's one that was with Paul. And I love how he's described. He's our dearly loved brother.

Just that familial love that comes from walking with the Lord together, that he is dearly loved. He is a faithful servant. He was a person that was with Paul in a lot of different circumstances.

And there were a lot of people that at different points, you know, left Paul, some for bad reasons, some for good reasons. But Ticacus is described as being faithful. And then it says that he is a fellow slave in the Lord.

And man, as we think about our heavenly master, that is truly all that we are. We are slaves, we are heirs, but we are called to do whatever the master calls us to do. And it's a very high and holy calling.

And then I think next up, and I won't take too much of this, because we might need to mention this guy later. Hint, hint. Is Onesimus, who was an actual slave and is not listed as a slave.

So I think it's kind of funny that he lists, hey, the messenger Ticacus is a slave, but Onesimus, he is a faithful and dearly loved brother, and he's one of you. And we'll read more about that later.

And then I see Mark in verse 10, Barnabas' cousin, and Mark was one that had initially gone on the journey, on one of the missionary journeys with Paul and Barnabas.

And because of his kind of fear and trepidation, he turned back and eventually caused a giant rift between Paul and Barnabas, so that Barnabas and Mark went one way and preached the gospel, and Paul took Silas and they went another way and preached

the gospel. But I think it's incredible that now there has been some reconciliation that has occurred, and now Paul gives this thing, concerning whom you have received instructions, if he comes to you, welcome him. And there's that love that's there.

And then Luke obviously wrote much of our New Testament, and the dearly beloved Physician. Luke's great. Love Luke.

Love his writings. Big fan. I am too.

I just see these names, and as you read through the New Testament, you'll see many of these people pop up, and it's really cool to see many of them in one place here. Why don't you give us some of that deep knowledge?

Yeah. Some of zeal.

Some of that Gnostic knowledge.

I will say this. So with all of these people, and this is a frustration of mine from when I was young in ministry, that I never really dug into people.

You read verses and Colossians, continue in prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving, or be rude and you'd grab these nuggets that are great. But behind every single one of these people is a story. Like it's a life represented.

And I just love what Paul writes about these people. So you already mentioned Titicus, and he calls him a beloved brother.

And if you dig into, and I know I don't expect all of our listeners and even me or you to just jump in, but if you dig into like the Greek wording that's used, and I know that a lot of people, well, don't refer to the Greek.

No, like there's so much emotion in a Greek language that when he says like a beloved brother, like Paul is saying like, hey, listen, this guy is one of the closest people in my life.

Like he is somebody that I would consider closer than a physical brother. Like that's heavy. That's some deep, that's a deep friendship.

Well, and I think he entrusted him both in this letter and then in Ephesians like to bring literally God's words to these churches, speaks to how dear and how much he loved him.

Yeah.

Yeah. So you have people like him. You have who you mentioned, Onesimus, you have Aristarchus.

Aristarchus would be actually arrested with Paul in Ephesus, probably would be with him in prison for all of his tenure in prison in Acts that you read about. So Shipwreck and all of that stuff, Aristarchus was probably there as well as Luke.

You read about Mark and the reconciliation there, and you can go and discover the dissension between Paul and Barnabas over Mark. And yet now here's Mark, or here's Paul writing years later like, Hey, Mark is a blessing to me and he salutes you.

You have Justice, we don't know much about him except for, I love what it says about him in verse number 11 when he says he's been a comfort to me.

Like, this is Paul from a prison cell writing, saying here's all of these people and this guy, he's comforted me. You have Epaphras. Epaphras, I believe Epaphras probably was at some point in leadership in the Church of Colossus.

If not the pastor and his son is also on this list that a lot of people, well, would believe to be his son and it would be Archipas. And Archipas probably became the pastor of the church at Colossus.

And again, like some of these things, there's kind of some church history guessing on. But like with all of these people, there are incredible things.

Luke, the beloved physician, Demas, who Paul would write at one point later, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. And I remember I preached a message on that verse and the message title was The Story of Two Tales.

And have Luke, who stuck it out, and Demas, who loved this present world. And there's a ton of challenge there. Then you get into the last part of it, Nympha opening their home for a church.

And then Archipas, who I believe pastored that church there in Colossi. But here's just kind of the thought I want to give. With all of these people come an incredible testimony of effective ministry.

Even Demas, right? Demas was used for a season. And I think there's some really good challenge in that.

But I'm just always, well, I'll, man, I have, again, like my brain is just going so many different directions. I have two thoughts that I'll give. Number one, you never know, when I read these names, the challenge I get.

You never know who God could use you to encourage. Like Tichikas probably was never like, oh man, I'm carrying, I'm carrying something that in 2,000 years is gonna be read and have my name, and I'm gonna make sure to encourage Paul.

Like he just was a believer that loved the Lord and encouraged Paul. Like you look at Aristarchus, you look at Justice, you look at Epaphras, you look at Archbos, all these people, like they just, like they just lived out Christianity.

They didn't know who they were encouraging. They were just encouraging and loving and giving and comforting and speaking and challenging and convicting and preaching.

And, you know, Luke, the beloved physician, like he was just a doctor that cared for Paul as Paul got injured a lot. His job security, right? Traveling with Paul.

So you never know who you're going to minister to. And then the second thought, and I'd maybe ask you to even to speak into this. But, you know, we, everybody knows Paul, right?

Everybody knows Paul. We all know.

I mean, for all the listeners, like, if I were to ask you, name three books Paul wrote, like you, you know, even people who like, honestly, even a lot of people who don't know church have heard about the Apostle Paul.

They don't know who he is, but they know the name. But if you ask somebody like, hey, who's Aristarchus? Like, hey, who's Tichicus?

Hey, do you know about Demus? Anybody know Luke? Who's Mark?

Who's Barnabas? Like, you would have to, I mean, Bible students know those names. But even then, we don't know necessarily a lot about them.

Yeah. But the thought is this, like, God knew them. And even though we may not have a record of all of the incredible feats for the Lord that they did, like God knew them, God used them, and their names are recorded in history.

And in his book that is going to last for eternity, their names are recorded. And that just shows me that every single person has value to God. And I love reading names.

I always am reminded of that, that there's value. So I don't know, speak into that thought. What do you think about that?

Yeah.

100%.

One of those lists in scripture that always speaks out to me is whenever I read through Jesus' genealogy, either in Matthew or in Luke, because having grown up kind of in church, having heard a lot of the stories, I know these people and I know to an

extent, I know how messed up they are. I know their struggles.

And so it brings such comfort that like, if God can use Abraham, if he can use Abraham to bring people to the line, not believing God, and so taking a concubine, and everything that happened with Ishmael, everything that happened with Abimelek, and

the king of Egypt, like just all of these things that these different people have done, and yet God was still able to bring Christ through them, and it brings comfort that no matter who you are, no matter what your situation is, God can still use you

and your testimony. Like Mark, it didn't matter that he failed the Lord and failed Paul and Barnabas through some of what Barnabas had done, and not totally outcasting him off, but he had brought him in, and through the reconciliation that happened

with Paul, that Paul had him in his good graces as well, that then there is hope. There is, you know, we look back on Mark's life, and we don't say, oh, what could have been? Like, the Lord literally used him to write one of the Gospels. Yeah.

That there's hope for our future, that broken testimonies and failures on our part don't mean that God no longer wants to use us, and he'll only use the perfect.

Like, he almost exclusively works through people that have flaws, and that doesn't mean we need to try and seek out flaws.

Right, right.

But just as we are flawed, God says, well, it's not about you. It's not about your righteousness. It's about Jesus shining through.

And then for whatever reason, I just feel like mentioning these names that are written in Colossians that are written because they believed in Christ, they followed, many of them giving their lives in service to the King of Kings.

I think for our listeners, one question that maybe all of us should ask ourselves is the question that John poses in Revelation of, is your name written in the Book of Life?

Right here, we have these people that are written in the Book of Colossians, those that have turned to Christ, they have followed in with their life. And as we reach kind of the end of Colossians, I think it would be a good thought.

The whole book's been about Jesus. It's been about following him. It's been not about following all of the isms.

It's been about everything that we've gone over for the past 13 episodes. But you can not follow isms. You can do moral things.

You can not do the sins that are talked about in the one portion of the chapter.

But if you don't know Christ, the firstborn of all creation, the one who was and is and is to come, if you don't know Jesus, then we would challenge you, like that is the most important decision you could ever make.

And that is what these men and women gave their lives to.

Yeah, and that's the common ground.

It is whether or not you are the great apostle who wrote however many books in the New Testament, or if you are the great physician that, or I say the great physician, the under great physician, Luke, dearly beloved physician, if you are him and you

write a bunch of the New Testament, or if you are someone that just opens your home so that a church meets there, if you are a slave, if you are a prisoner, if you have Christ, everything is worth it. You matter.

And so would challenge each of you listening or watching. If you do not know Christ, turn to him today. We've mentioned kind of the Gospel story several times throughout our series on Colossians, but it's basically this.

God created the world. He created it very good.

He placed man and woman into the world and gave them one rule and one rule only that they were not supposed to break and they could enjoy all the good of the world that he created, free of disease and sin and death, and they chose to rebel against

him. And ever since then, we have all been rebelling with that man and that woman, Adam and Eve. But our sin, our rebellion comes at a cost. There are the consequences.

It would be what Paul describes in Colossians 2 as the handwriting of ordinances that is against us, that is contrary to us, because we are under condemnation because we've rebelled against our Creator and our God.

And scripture says that because of that condemnation, when we die, first, the condemnation means that we're separated from God. We don't have a relationship with Him. And even more than that, when we die, scripture says that we would go to hell.

It is a place of eternal separation from God. But God loves us too much to ever send us to hell without a recourse.

And so he sent Christ Jesus, his son, God in the flesh, so that Christ would come, live a perfect, sinless life, that he would die on our behalf, that the condemnation and sin that we, the condemnation that we deserved, all was placed on Christ at

the cross. And so because of that, that's where Paul says in Colossians 2 that Jesus took that handwriting of ordinances out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

And because of that, then, he conquered death, he conquered sin, he made a way for us to know God personally. He gave us his Holy Spirit that would live in our lives when we accept him as Savior.

And then now that's the call to each and every person, to turn from our way, to turn from relying on our own righteousness, to following our own path in life, to instead turning to the Lord and saying, God, I am in desperate need of your salvation.

I am under condemnation, but I accept the payment that Christ made for sin on my behalf. As we close out Colossians, that is the most preeminent thought, is Jesus, what he has done.

And the promise is that everyone who turns to him in faith and believes in him will not perish, will not fall under condemnation, but will have everlasting life.

So because of that, because of the promise that we have in Jesus, then it means that our life has purpose, that we can live out everything that God told us in the book of Colossians.

It means that people matter and we can pray for and reach those that are outsiders, that aren't in the church like we heard about in chapter four.

And it means that every single person in your church, from the pastor all the way down to, you know, a person that is cleaning a bathroom or the littlest kid in the nursery, every single person matters and is important to the Lord.

Yeah, so I was just going to say, yeah, that was great. If you haven't received Christ, make that decision. Make the decision.

It's a personal decision. If I or Pastor Bryon could make that decision for you, we would, but we can't. So you need to make that decision.

If you have made that decision, if you've received the Lord as your Savior, I would challenge you, kind of just based upon the testimony of these written about today, just go out and recognize you matter to the Lord. Yes.

He desires, even though your pen, the old song says, even though my name may never be on a marquee or a billboard, and even though people may never applaud any accolades or things that I do or have in my life, like God knows you, God has purpose with

you. And the second challenge that I would give you, as we totally wrap up this looking at names, you never know, you never know whose life you will impact by just being a faithful Christian, just loving the Lord and loving people.

So we hope that this series has been a huge help to you.

There's other material and things that I know Bryon will attach to all of this, but we would love if you have any questions about Colossians or something that stood out to you, that you're like, hey, I have a question about this verse or this

passage, or here's a great point that I haven't heard mentioned, send it our way, we would love that. And again, thanks for joining us on this journey, going through the Book of Colossians. Next week, we're going to start a brand new study.

Do we tell them where?

If they've watched this far, they deserve it.

All right, if you've watched this far, then you deserve it. Yeah, that's a good idea. It is in the Book of Philemon, and it's going to be a great study.

Actually, using this, I'm going to preach through the Book of Philemon next year in 2024. And so we're going to do, what, three or four episodes in Philemon. Yeah, that'd be a good quick study for us.

And so anyway, I want to encourage you, be a help to those around you. You ever know who you'll impact? Know that you matter to God.

And in conclusion for the whole series, just recognize that what we have in Jesus, it is perfection. Jesus is perfect. He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and he is the only name that every knee will bow to and every tongue will confess.

And so as this world and as devil attack, the devil attacks you and our culture may say, well, where is the promise of his coming?

Like Peter wrote about, you and I, we can with Paul and the believers at Colossi, we can stand strong on what we have in Christ. We can be rooted, built up, established in him, and continue to reach people with Jesus.

So hope this series will be of help to you, and we look forward to joining you next week in the Book of Philemon.