Colossians 4:7-13 - Wade Branch 1/29/20

Good evening. Good evening everybody.

It's great to be here to worship with you together and I'm

excited to be with you on our midweek to refocus to

re-energize around what matters. It's been a great night so far

of worship to sing about things that we can truly hopen and

truly look forward to the rest of this week, to ground

ourselves in tonight. We're going to be continuing our

chapter study through Colossians chapter 4.

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

And tonight we have verses 7 through 13, so if you'll please

turn with me. There will walk through those

verses beginning in verse 7 of Colossians chapter 4, he's going

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

to get into the the closing right here.

And it, it's a closing, but it has a little bit of meat to it

has some things that we're going to try to unpack a little bit.

They're reads tickets. You kiss a beloved brother

faithful Minister and fellow servant in the Lord will tell

you all the news about me. I'm sending him to you for this

very purpose that he may know your circumstances and comfort

your hearts with onesimus. A faithful and beloved brother,

who is one of you they will make known to you all things which

are happening here. Aristarchus my fellow prisoner

greets you with Mark the cousin of Burma's Mark, the cousin of

An abyss about whom you were seat instructions.

If he comes to you, welcome him and Jesus, who is called

Justice. These are my only fellow workers

for the kingdom of God, who are of the circumcision.

They have proved to be a comfort.

To me, epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ

greets, you all always laboring fervently for you and prayers

that you may stand perfect, and complete and all the will of God

for. I bear him witness that he has a

great Zeal for you. And those who are in laodicea

and those in hieropolis. So these are verses.

These are verses for consideration tonight and we're

going to go in to start off, talking about ticha kiss, there

is mentioned in the verse 7. The question that we have here

is who was ticha kiss and what does this word Minister Min?

So I was so thankful that Frank put together these questions

because I've gone through these closings before and had a little

bit of trouble pulling something out of them and not read.

Just reading over them I've tried before to, you know, okay.

What does this mean? But some of the questions he

asked for simple but they helped me to think about it a little

bit and so, ticha kiss. Did you kiss?

His word literally means casual, or by chance.

My studies didn't get me anywhere to where I found that

to be somewhat symbolic but I'm, maybe you will, or maybe we will

in the future, find some something of interest there.

So, ticha kiss is a man who accompanied Paul on his trip

from Macedonia to Jerusalem. Right here.

He's being used as a as a letter Bearer.

He and onesimus are the ones. Carrying this letter to the

Colossians. And it says he was, we learned

that he was likely a native of Ephesus.

And so, being a native to this area Ephesus colossi, this area

is kind of close together. He was very useful to them as

being a mailman and delivering the message for them.

And it says that he was so involved with Paul that he could

relay the message of what is going on.

So he go, he is Paul here says that that onesimus and tickets

are able to tell them all the things that are going on.

And so, if a man is that involved with Paul to to our

politics says, hey, I'll let him cover.

This, this man is obviously, in there with, in the thick of it,

with Paul, he's in there putting the work in with him.

And it's interesting what we're going to learn, because he's not

probably as famous as Paul, but he's right there.

Only side and through all of his work.

It says there in the second half of verse 7.

So in verse 8, it says I'm sending him to you for this very

purpose that he may know your circumstances and comfort your

hearts. So here this man ticha kisses,

is recorded in the Bible will be remembered forever and one of

the few things that says about him is that he's going to be

there to know their circumstances and comfort.

Their hearts, that is so simple. Just to listen to them, to talk

to them and to comfort them. How many of you here can do

that? How many of us have the ability

to just do something simple like that to listen and to comfort?

And this man is recorded in the Bible.

We'll go on down through history for the simple act, he performed

and this is I think one of the greatest lessons I learned from

touches here is that he is may be contrasted to Paul and his

Fame but he is valued strongly by Paul.

It's, you know, a lot of people think of a man's role is being

preaching, someone who's going to lead song and someone who's

got to be a public leader. And that's fair, that is man's

role but he is listed here is a man who is tender enough to do

something that is just sitting and talking.

So it's never think that a man's role is limited to just things

that are are quantifiable and visible.

Like in the worship service let's remember these other roles

are very important as well. He is described as a faithful

Minister. This word faithful as someone

who can be relied on. So as we start to see a picture

of this man, ticha kiss, I spend more time on him than anybody

else, so don't worry. But this man ticha kiss, is kind

of just a reliable get down. And does the work kind of guy to

stand beside Pole? Now this word Minister, this

we're asked what this word Minister means in the questions.

And this word Minister means he is he is a servant this word

means one who executes the commands of another especially

of a master. He carried the most prestigious

title the church has to offer because we're told by Jesus,

those who serve and those who are lowly are those who are the

greatest and in this title of ministry holds is because he is

one who's willing to sacrifice. Are in Luke 19 verse 46 to 48.

Luke 19:46–48

It says an argument arose among them as to, which of them was

the greatest, but Jesus knowing the reasoning of their hearts

took a child and put it, put him by his side and said to them.

Whoever receives this child in my name, receives me and whoever

receives me receives him who sent me for, he who, is least

among you all. Is the one who is great.

This man ticha kiss embodied that he took his job, whatever

his job. Was and he did it well and he

was recognized for it. So maybe we start to speculate

about this man's personality. You know, maybe he was a

common-sense man willing to be trouble with small secular

details with a hearty love for God.

You know, he wasn't one who is above any details?

That were simple like I'm not going to carry the letter.

I want the one, you know, you get to you get to be the one who

wrote and gets all the glory for that Paul.

No, he's just willing to get down and do the delivery.

Do what needs to be done. Maybe he was there for to do the

rough work to do the dirty work for Paul and there is a there's

an old saying I ran across that. I think I feel like the scribes

the worth of a man like tissue kiss.

It says that a horse went about for want of a nail.

He lost his nail. And so he didn't have his shoe,

a man went without a horse because that because that horse

didn't have his horseshoe nail. The battle went, the battle is

lost because the man was not involved and the king and the

Kingdom lost. Because that man was not

involved. Just kind of illustrates simply

the value of a small piece, in a puzzle.

It doesn't important job not to this man.

Did you kiss was and business school?

We're taught that you need the whole supply chain to take care

of customers. You don't just need the the

salesman out front, making the sales.

You need the, the ones in operations management, the ones

behind the scenes getting the product out in time, the ones

behind the scenes, getting things out.

So that the quality is assured, there's so many pieces to a

puzzle and we can see that touch kiss is one of those.

How astonished you think he would have been if anybody had

told him that, these two precious letters that he helped

deliver would allow without last this city without last

everything about this city. And that he would be known

toward to the end of the world for the simple things that he

did. So he is someone who shows us

the simple things we do are Eternal moving on to onesimus.

Goes on to say, in verse 9 with onesimus, a faithful and beloved

brother, who is one of you, they will make known to all the all

things which are happening here. So who is onesimus onesimus, his

name, actually, means profitable and Paul tells Philemon in the

letter that he was unprofitable to Philemon, but he has now

become profitable to Paul because what happened is

onesimus was the runaway slave he got away and he ran into Paul

on the way and he was converted became a Christian Oh, and when

Paul learned of all these things, he sent him back to

Philemon to make all this right. And so onesimus hasn't made in

character in that he gave up his physical Freedom.

He gave in and submitted to, to what needed to happen for the

true Freedom. That was in Christ and so it's

cool to see him worked into this closing as he's developed, a

relationship with Paul and he's developed a name in the church

and he is described as faithful or trustworthy.

And that's great for a man to see that the change in somebody

like that to to do whatever it takes and Come a reliable person

when maybe in the past. He wasn't like that.

And I like that. Paul does not involve the

personal issues of him being a runaway slave in this letter,

this letters to colossi and those issues don't pertain to

all them. He leaves that out the letter to

Philemon was to handle the business with Philemon, but the

personal matters were personal and he didn't kind of call him

out in front of everyone for that.

Going on to question 3. What do we know about the

following men and were introduced to First aristarchus

in verse 10? It says aristarchus my fellow

prisoner greets, you, and Mark the cousin of and with Mark the

cousin of Barnabas. Okay, so aristarchus.

His name means best master, like literally.

And I guess some think that he was a bishop of app Amia, but he

is from thessalonica and It acts 19, verse 29, he's involved in

Acts 19:29

some other situations and acts. He was the one who was grabbed

with Gaius. When there was the silversmiths,

had the riot over the issues that that, you know, the god,

the Temple of the Goddess. Diana wasn't getting the sales

from the silver anymore and so, the silversmiths would mad.

They lost their business because they were, they were rejecting

the gods of the area. And so there's a rebel.

There was a riot and among the silversmiths.

And, and aristarchus was the man with Gaius.

He was grabbed Paul got out of there, but these two men were

grabbed and I think one of the things we can learn is how

aristarchus was kind of was established by these, this

thing, he went through, he was in danger for Christ.

He was grabbed by a mob and that would have been a scary thing.

Put yourself in that position a bunch of mad businessmen ready

to ready for heads to roll because they're losing business.

And he seems to be established by that event, because we go on

to find out that he's here with Paul.

And then he's goes on to be a prisoner with Paul.

And eventually tradition says that he was martyred by Nero, so

he was killed for Christ and let us always have that mentality.

That will be grounded in remain firm in Christ through our

trials and through the things that try us like aristarchus

because it seems to have made him only stronger.

Going on to Mark. And from what do we know about

Mark? Mark is a relative of Barnabas,

and he worked with Paul and Barnabas and previous missionary

travels, Mark has an interesting story because he was on a good

track, he was traveling with them.

And then, he decided to abandon Paul at pamphylia, when they're

going to more difficult work, he wanted to stay back with

Barnabas and said, hey, I'm not going any further from here and

that caused some serious tension between Paul and Mark.

So Mark has a little bit of some rough history with Paul but it's

great. It's awesome to see that he here

is mentioned in Paul's letter, in the closing specifically.

So this was the situation where Paul took Silas and Barnabas

took Mark and they went their separate ways and this is

actually the first mention of Mark since then, so it's kind of

a big deal for him to be spoken of here but then the second

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 3 Mark is re recommended by Paul.

Paul said he is he's kind of restored to him in a way that

he's seen that he's useful for the cause of Christ and he

appreciates that in him. Going on to Barnabas Barnabas is

name is actually Joseph from birth, but they gave him the

name Barnabas, which means son of encouragement.

And that's a pretty cool name that you could be known for your

encouraging attributes. Another character in this, in

this little ending, who we can see, simple things that define

him. He was an encourager.

Let's not forget these, these examples.

And as I studied these, these people started to become real to

me, I guess it's kind of hard to describe in a quick 15-minute

order, but I can encourage you to sit and think about these

people and it helps you connect to them, instead just being

someone on a map. What if this is, you know, not

just aristarchus if that's something like oh, what if it

was, you know, aristarchus of Bakersfield or Fresno.

And all these people were local to us.

They're just people and they really did live.

He was a levite from Cyprus. And Barnabas has a strong role

in the early church. It says that he put his kingdom

first with all, put the kingdom first first with all of his

possessions, he has his first recorded action and in the book

of Acts was that he sold a field that belong to him and brought

the money and laid it at the feet of the Apostles.

He took what he owned and invest in the church wholeheartedly.

He got rid of the things he had and was willing to sacrifice for

Christ Paul acknowledges him and First Corinthians chapter 9, for

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

being for supporting himself financially, instead of relying,

on the churches, to give him money, Barnabas went out put to

work in. Made the money he needed to to

survive and did the work of the church on his own cost and

didn't require money from the church.

So, Paul welcome engine. For that.

Barnabas was the one who when Paul was early to the just

getting started with the church, there was a lot of doubt about

him, like who is this guy? He was the one persecuting us.

Mr. Was the one who stood up for him when it didn't it didn't

look good for Saul or for Paul, in Acts 15 verse 35.

Acts 15:35

It says that he was when he came and saw the grace of God when he

was sent to Antioch. He was glad and exhorted them

all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose for

he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and a

great. Many people were added to the

Lord. So someone's spirit whose Filled

with the Lord and filled with an encouraging Spirit helped.

Add many to the Lord. Don't forget that your attitude

matters. Kevin encouraging Spirit, he

fasted and prayed with Paul in Acts chapter 13 when they're

Acts 13 · chapter mention

trying to decide where they were where they were going to go on

their missionary journey, that was him.

He was the one their fasting with Paul and pray.

He did have a couple bad spots in Galatians chapter 2 verse 13,

Galatians 2:13

Paul called him out for being led astray by the Jewish

circumcision party and and that's presumably before the

Jerusalem Council. So he didn't he wasn't all

perfect. He had his mess-ups to.

But overall, he is a great man in the church.

The next person is Jesus, who is called Justice?

And the only thing I could find on him, was that his Justice may

have been his Roman name and his Jewish name maybe Jesus, so

obviously not Jesus the Christ but that's all I found on him.

But I love what Paul said there is that they have proved to be a

comfort. To me, he's saying that they're

my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, who were of the

circumcision. So, Paul is looking at these

guys who came from, where he came from, and is saying, you

know, these guys have comforted me and I can see this being

especially comforting to Paul because you know what, if you

had left, everything you ever knew known.

What if you left? Your family, all your people.

You left everyone to raise you and train you and you went

against them. How awesome would it be to have

people who came from now same system to come up behind you and

say, hey man, you're doing the right thing.

We can validate you in that. We also are studying God's word

and we found that you're right, and Jesus is the Christ.

And these men need need to change their ways, who we left,

how encouraging that must have been for pull.

And also it was encouraging, I'm sure because of what he says in

Romans 9, Paul was extremely sorrowful for his room for his

Jewish Brethren. He says that he wished, he could

give up his own salvation so that they could be saved.

And so it must have been very encouraging for him to at least

have a few rather than like this who came over from Judaism with

him came over from the circumcision.

And we're willing to to adopt Christ principles.

Going on to the fourth question. What is meant by the phrase?

A bondservant of Christ. It means to be devoted to

another to the disregard of One's Own interests, one

extending an advancing Christ cause among men by selfishly

sacrificing And he goes on to say that he was laboring for for

them in prayers. He regarded this, this work of

praying for them diligently, as a laborer as a work.

That's a powerful work and it's acknowledged here by Paul.

And finally, we're was hieropolis, it was an ancient

Greek city, just north of laodicea about six miles and it

wasn't too far from colossi. So it's a little Inland from the

coast and in Asia Minor there. We thank you for listening to

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