The Companions Of The Apostle Paul - Acts 20:4-6

After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the

disciples, and when he had exhorted them and

taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia.

When he had gone through those districts and

had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece,

and there he spent three months. And when a thought

was formed against him by the Jews, as he was

about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return

through Macedonia. And he was accompanied by

Sopater of Berea, the son of Purus, and by Aristarchus

and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius

of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus

of Asia. But these had gone on ahead and were

waiting for us at Troas. We sailed from Philippi

after the days of unleavened bread and came to

them at Troas within five days, and there we

stayed seven days. In Acts chapter 2, after many,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

many people are converted and brought to Christ,

we read this. Peter says this to the crowds that

were... Crying out to be saved. And he says this

to them starting in Acts chapter 2 verse 40.

Acts 2:40

And with many other words. He solemnly testified

and kept on exhorting them. Saying be saved from

this perverse generation. So then those who had

received his word were baptized. And that day

there were added about 3 ,000 souls. They were

continually. devoting themselves to the apostles'

teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of

bread, and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a

sense of awe, and many wonders and signs were

taking place through the apostles. All of those

who had believed were together and had all things

in common. We'll stop there. In this text we

see sinners being saved. And what's happening?

They're leaving the world behind them. And Christ

is gathering in his people and he's building

his church. We see people being brought out of

the world and we see people being brought in

and added to. the church of Jesus Christ. And

as they are added to the church, we read that

they were continually devoting themselves to

the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and

to the breaking of bread and to prayer. God saves

sinners from the consequence and the penalty

of their sins. He forgives them, He pardons them,

He justifies them, He makes them new, He makes

them new creatures, and they live unto His glory,

and they are brought into these assemblies, these

congregations, these groups. And those groups

are churches. And they live in those churches

throughout their days in this world as trophies

of God's grace. As trophies of God's mercy. Knowing

that they are pardoned, that they are forgiven

in Christ. And living in that grace towards those

they have covenanted together with. And towards

other members of the Christian church as well.

And toward unbelieving sinners outside of the

church. Last week we saw. And we considered really

Paul's relationship to the churches. We considered

his ministry, his missionary endeavor, this third

missionary journey in particular, and what his

missionary endeavors were characterized by, exhortation

in the word. We saw that he had this unique relationship

with local churches and the church universal

because he is an apostle of Christ. which means

that Paul had universal authority in every single

local church because he was an apostle. He related

and he interacted with every single local church.

He would correspond with local churches. We really

considered Paul's relationship with these local

churches. But we didn't touch so much on the

companions of the Apostle Paul here in verses

4 -6. In verses 4 -6 of Acts chapter 20, we're

Acts 20 · chapter mention

introduced to this group of men who are accompanying

the Apostle. And today I want to consider their

relationship to local churches. and their relationship

to the Apostle Paul. So today we're going to

consider briefly who these men are. We're going

to consider the reality that they are cooperating

together. And we're going to consider the basis

for their cooperation together. So the first

thing we must do is consider who these men were.

Their names are given and locations of their

churches or their region they're from, their

accompanying geographical correlation, we could

say, is given. We're told about Aristarchus.

Aristarchus, in this text, is referenced throughout

Scripture by the Apostle. as a brother in Christ,

a fellow prisoner. We see this a little earlier

whenever the riot in Ephesus took place. Do you

remember who they first went to and dragged off?

It was Aristarchus. We're told a little bit later

in the book of Colossians, and he is referenced

as a dear brother in Christ, a faithful servant,

a fellow prisoner of the apostle Paul. We're

told of Tychicus. He is referred to throughout

the New Testament epistles on various occasions.

He is referred to as a fellow servant, but also

as a messenger or an ambassador that is trusted

and utilized by the Apostle Paul and local churches

to interact between them. He's referenced. In

Ephesians chapter 6 verse 21 and at the end of

Ephesians 6:21

Colossians as well. We're told of Trophimus.

Now we don't know too much about Trophimus. But

he is referenced a little bit later in the book

of Acts. And there the crowds used Trophimus

as an excuse of laying hold and securing Paul.

Saying that he had brought an Ephesian Gentile

into the temple. So we know that Trophimus is

a Gentile believer, most likely from Ephesus

where Paul had planted the church, he had preached

the gospel, and he had been saved. He's referenced

in 21 -29, a little bit later in the book of

Acts. Then we're told of Timothy, who also accompanies

Paul on this journey. We know a great deal about...

don't we, brothers and sisters? He was like a

son in the faith to the apostle. And the apostle

Paul was like a father to Timothy. We read 1

and 2 Timothy, the pastoral epistles, where the

apostle is giving him practical wisdom and theological

wisdom with regards to pastoral ministry and

what that looks like for him. So we know a great

deal about the faithfulness and the character

and the labors of young Timothy. But then we're

told of Sophater, Gaius, and Secundus. We don't

know too much about these brothers. Sophater

is not mentioned elsewhere. There's another name

that someone thinks may refer to him, but most

likely not. There's another Gaius that is mentioned

in Acts chapter 19 during the uproar in Ephesus.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

It's most likely not the same Gaius that is mentioned

here. And what we know about Secundus is that

most likely he is a slave who has been saved

and converted because Secundus was a name or

a title that was given to slaves, meaning secondary,

second. subservient to the master, essentially.

So he's probably a slave that was saved in Paul's

preaching labors. Now, also in this group is

Luke. We can't forget that. He includes himself,

though he doesn't mention his name. And then,

of course, there's the apostle Paul. Now, these

men... If they're with Paul, obviously that says

something about their character. It says something

about their integrity, about who they are. But

we're also told in this text about their affiliation

or their association with local churches. They

are not simply there for their own purposes.

They're not simply traveling with the apostle

for their own cause and agenda. Sophater of Berea

is associated with the church at Berea or in

Macedonia. Aristarchus and Secundus are associated

with Thessalonica. What church would that be,

brothers and sisters? The Thessalonians. Gaius

of Derbe. Timothy is associated with Lystra in

the book of Acts or the areas of Galatia. Tychicus

and Trophimus are associated with the province

of Asia, most likely Ephesus and the church at

Ephesus and churches in that area. We don't know

exactly which church Luke is affiliated or associated

with. Commonly, It is thought that he is a member

of the church at Philippi. So we have these men

who are present, but they're present in a representative

capacity. Most certainly, brothers and sisters,

we find these men, these companions of the apostle,

being referenced in 2 Corinthians 8, verses 23

2 Corinthians 8:23–24

-24. And we'll go ahead and turn there and read

that. This is the Apostle Paul writing. And he

says this in chapter 8, verses 23 and 24. And

this is within that section where he is expounding

on the Jerusalem fund, the Jerusalem collection

for the saints at Jerusalem, the poor needy saints.

And here's what he says, starting in verse 23.

As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker

among you. As for our brethren, they are messengers

of the churches, a glory to Christ. Therefore,

openly before the churches, show them the proof

of your love and of our reason for boasting about

you. Who are these messengers? They are men.

They are representatives of local churches in

a variety of regions that are accompanying the

Apostle Paul to deliver the funds to Jerusalem,

brothers and sisters. This whole section in 2

Corinthians 8 -9, Paul is wanting accountability

with regards to delivering the funds to Jerusalem.

And he wants the churches to provide men, and

many of them have provided men to go with him,

representatives from their local assembly, to

deliver the funds that he has raised. So here

we have these brothers, these seven men that

are listed. Here we have Sophater, Aristarchus,

Segundus. Gaius and Timothy and Tychicus and

Trophimus. And we have Luke and Paul. And what

are they doing? They are working together on

behalf of their local churches accompanying the

Apostle Paul to deliver funds. Now, if their

churches chose them to accompany the Apostle,

as a means of accountability to deliver the funds.

Again, this says something about their character

and who they were. So knowing a little bit about

who they were and a little bit about what they

were doing, we have to secondly recognize the

fact that These brothers were cooperating or

working together for the gospel. And it wasn't

just these brothers. Remember, they are representing

what? Their local churches. So we don't just

find seven men. We find many churches cooperating

together for the purpose of the gospel. Now,

in order to understand this cooperation and the

nature of it, I think it's helpful to get a little

bit of the background for the Jerusalem Collection

and the nature of this work that they were all

involved in. Now, when we think about the Jerusalem

Collection, I'm sure that we've all heard of

it, we've all heard it mentioned, and we've seen

it in our Bible reading. It's referenced where

Paul's talking about funds or gifts or donations.

So why was the apostle spearheading this endeavor

to raise money for the church at Jerusalem? Well,

if we think about the nature of the church in

Jerusalem, that church is in a highly, a densely

populated Jewish area in Jerusalem. Which means

that there's also a highly... dense population

of Christians because if we remember early on

in the book of Acts, lots of sinners were saved

in Jerusalem, which meant there was a great deal

of social ostracization of those believers. There

was real need because these Christians, these

saints in Jerusalem that were a part of that

church, most likely being made up and composed

of Jewish They didn't have access to the jobs

that everybody else did. They didn't have access

to the food and the opportunities that everybody

else did because they were a part of the way.

They were a part of the church. They associated

with Christ. So they had real, substantial, meaningful

needs in their life that needed to be met. But

we also know from Acts chapter 11 that there

Acts 11 · chapter mention

was a famine that was severe. In Jerusalem. So

why does Paul. Do this? Why is he gathering funds

to bring money. To the Jewish saints. Who are

in need. At the Jerusalem church. Now this is

mentioned throughout. The New Testament. We see

it mentioned in several places. We see that it's

mentioned in. Romans 15, 25 -27. The end of Romans,

Paul is talking and making an appeal about this

Jerusalem fund. 1 Corinthians 16, 1 -4, where

Paul gives them instructions on giving. He's

talking largely about the Jerusalem collection

for the saints in Jerusalem. He references this.

Also in 2 Corinthians 8 -9 where he's appealing

to them to give from the heart out of generosity

because Christ has been gracious to us. We see

that it's referenced here in Acts with the messengers.

But we also find that it's referenced a little

later on in the book of Acts where Paul is giving

an explanation. He says, after many long years

I've come to bring gifts and alms. my people

here in Jerusalem. The purpose of this was to

meet real needs in the life of the Jewish saints,

but Paul had a much bigger scheme in mind as

he was doing this. Why was he a fundraiser, brothers

and sisters? Why did he want the Gentile churches

around the Mediterranean world To show their

love and to prove their love to the Jewish church

in Jerusalem. What would that do to bridge the

gap between the Jewish believers and the Gentile

believers? Paul was working for the unification

of the church as a whole. Paul was working to

bring cohesiveness. to the body of Christ and

the known world at that time. This is a big project

that Paul has going on, brothers and sisters.

And we have these brothers, these companions,

who are caught up in this. And all the local

churches, not all of them, but the churches we

know of that are participating, they're involved

in it. What would this require of them to be

involved in this? Well, they'd have to orchestrate

travel plans with the apostle. Very literally

and very practically, it meant giving money to

this shared cause. It meant sacrificing as a

church for the greater good of the whole church,

the church universal. It would require time.

We can think about these seven brothers who are

the companions of Paul on this trip. they would

have been gone for an extended period away from

their local churches, so the local churches would

have been lacking those leading men in their

congregation for extended periods. Most likely

this meant sharing pulpits with other men. It

would have cost these churches and these individuals

to cooperate in very real, very practical ways.

There were practical implications. But it's important

for us to understand there was a very real, a

very vital relationship and cooperation between

these early churches and the New Testament. When

we think about the New Testament, we don't just

think about one church, do we, brothers and sisters?

There's not just one church, that's it. No, the

New Testament presents to us a vast network of

various and diverse local churches that are interacting

and sharing and working together that is supporting

and strengthening and cooperating for one cause,

the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this in spite

of great differences. There were great differences

in these churches. Think about the church at

Jerusalem and Antioch. One is a Gentile church

that has diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

And then there's the Jewish church in Jerusalem.

Brothers and sisters, this... Working together,

this cooperation required them to place the gospel

above and over some of their preferences, some

of the secondary things, some of the cultural

aspects or the situational or circumstantial

aspects in the life of their church. in order

to encourage and strengthen and benefit and bless,

and to be benefited and to be blessed by other

local churches. We might think that this is the

only example of local churches working together

in the New Testament. But there's actually a

plethora of examples in the Bible. Think about

all the times that... People are greeting one

another at the end of epistles. Greet so -and

-so. Give them my love. Blessings upon them.

So -and -so greet so -and -so. Why is that, brothers

and sisters? Because there's a very real relationship

between the two. They shared support in the life

of missionaries. We find that maybe two or three

churches would give and support one missionary

or two missionaries. Or maybe when a missionary

is traveling through this area, this church will

provide housing in this part of the trip, and

this church will provide housing in that part

of the trip. There's very real interaction. They

gave letters of commendation to other local churches.

Why did they do this? Do you remember in Acts?

Where Apollos comes and there's Priscilla and

there's Aquila. There's Priscilla and Aquila

working with Apollos. They don't know. But they

believe that he has a genuine profession. Though

he is negligent in a few things with regards

to John's baptism. They work with him. They interact

with him. And then they send a letter. to the

churches of Achaia, to command Apollos. The book

of Philemon is one big letter that Paul and his

co -workers are sending to a church to command

Onesimus, a slave to that body. There's interaction

among the... There's no question about it. Maybe

the best example... Of this cooperation. Apart

from the Jerusalem collection. Is the Jerusalem

conference. In Acts chapter 15. Now what's going

Acts 15 · chapter mention

on in Acts chapter 15. We have lots of churches.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Coming together for one multi -day. Conference

essentially. To hash out doctrine and truth.

They're working together. to gain doctrinal clarity

with regards to the gospel of Jesus Christ and

what is required of Christians in the world at

that time, brothers and sisters. There's example

after example after example. This was a real

relationship between churches and churches. And

this was the norm. In the apostolic age. What

does this teach us? About Christ's design. And

Christ's will for local churches. We believe

wholeheartedly. And we believe that the scripture

teaches. That churches are independent. And self

-governed. Brothers and sisters. That is what

we believe as a local church. That is what our

foundational documents teach. That is what our

confession of faith states. That churches are

independent, but hear me well, brothers and sisters,

independent church does not mean isolated. There's

a difference between being autonomous and being

insular. There's a difference between being independent

and being isolated. Christ's will for his church

is that they be independent and self -governed,

but not isolated and insular from other like

-minded local churches. Do you believe that a

Christian can survive? holy and completely and

be a healthy, God -fearing, godly, holy believer,

all by themselves, never rubbing elbows with

other believers, never seeing the light of day,

never coming to church, never worshiping. You

cannot be a healthy, vibrant, holy believer if

that is you or another person that professes

the name of Christ. Now, take that same principle.

and apply it to a local body, brothers and sisters.

It is Christ's will that local bodies have fellowship

and cooperate with other local bodies who are

like -minded. Not exactly the same, but not too

terribly different either. So we see a clear

doctrine. and precedent in the New Testament

church. That there is a visible and outward and

practical cooperation and fellowship among like

-minded New Testament churches. Now, we have

to also, and most importantly, most significantly,

Consider the basis of this cooperation. Because

this leads us into all kinds of questions, doesn't

it? Well, who do I cooperate with? Who does a

church work with? What is the basis that churches

have to come together on? What are the grounds?

That local churches establish this cooperation

and this fellowship upon. Do we just fellowship

with anybody and everybody? Do we go to the nearest

and closest local churches God provides opportunity

and just say, hey, we're going to fellowship

with you? We want to work with you? No, brothers

and sisters. We have to remember in this text.

These companions that the apostle is working

with, they're with who? Who are they fellowshipping

with? Who are they cooperating with? Who are

they working alongside of? They're working alongside

of the apostle Paul. Do you remember what Paul

says at the beginning of the book of Galatians?

Even if I or an angel from heaven should preach

to you another gospel, let him be anathema, cursed,

condemned eternally. Let a curse be upon him

if he preaches another gospel other than the

one I preached. Do you think Paul took apostolic

doctrine seriously? He did. So if these men are

working, fellowshipping, and cooperating with

the Apostle Paul, then brothers and sisters,

what does that necessarily assume and require

of these companions? That there is agreement

in apostolic doctrine and truth. Do you remember

in Acts chapter 2, verse 42? We'll go ahead and

Acts 2:42

turn there. Acts 2 .42, it says this. They were

continually devoting themselves to the apostles'

teaching or doctrine and to fellowship. Devotion

to doctrine, teaching, truth precedes the fellowship.

There would be no fellowship among the early

believers if there was not first agreement in

apostolic doctrine and truth. Unity in truth

must precede any meaningful or effective cooperation

or fellowship or relationship among believers

and among local bodies and churches, brothers

and sisters? This is a very relevant question,

isn't it? This is a very relevant topic for us

to consider. Listen, we live in the day of tolerance,

empathy, relativism, and acceptance. Don't we,

brothers and sisters? Have you heard those words

lately? Have you heard the culture and the world

pressing in with those terms and pressing in

with those concepts and pressing in with those

ideas? Tolerance? And what does that mean? It

doesn't mean just allowing. It means accepting.

Accepting a person's... Differences in views

and perspectives as your own. And saying, great,

that's wonderful, that's perfect. What about

this idea of being relative? I've heard so many

times in the last year, my truth is my truth

and your truth is your truth. What's the purpose

of that? The fact that we can have a relationship

and fellowship. despite differences in truth.

What does the Bible say about true unity, brothers

and sisters? The Bible and the Word of God in

this text teaches us that there is no unity whatsoever

apart from apostolic doctrine and truth. Unity...

precedes any cooperation or any fellowship in

the Christian sense, and especially as a corporate

body. So what is apostolic doctrine, brothers

and sisters? What's the authoritative proclamation

and explanation of the person and the work of

Jesus Christ? His life? His death? his resurrection,

his ascension, and his return, and how one receives

this, which is by faith. That's apostolic doctrine

and truth. It is the faith, once for all, handed

down to the saints that is passed down through

the ages. It is the standard of sound words that

is spoken of throughout the New Testament. And

the Bible. Brothers and sisters, this is the

basis for fellowship and cooperation. The gospel

of Jesus Christ. Now, because we don't live in

the first century, and we have progressed 2 ,000

years, a wide variety, and a wide variety of...

Christianity and versions of Christianity have

come about. So anymore, it's not just simply

adequate to say, are you a Christian? Any number

of people might say, yes, I'm a Christian, even

though they've never gone to church, or even

though they don't go to a Christian church, but

a Mormon church, or a Jehovah's Witness church.

It's not enough just to say and receive and accept,

yes, I'm a Christian, I believe in Jesus. Because

of all the complexities that have blossomed over

time, we need a little bit more information about

what people believe and what they mean by these

terms. A good way of thinking about this, I believe,

is like -minded bodies. So like -minded, but

not twins. Not clones. Because there can be distinctions.

There can be differences. But brothers and sisters,

on the big things, and preeminently theological

and doctrinal things, there needs to be agreement

in the truth before. There is cooperation and

fellowship among the bodies. So we find that

this really is the basis for any true and meaningful

cooperation among two local churches. Now there

are implications to this. And believing this

and holding to this. One. is that when this is

present and providence permits, it is good and

right for local churches to cooperate and to

fellowship together. But these things need to

be openly confessed, openly made known, so that

there's understanding and trust among the two

bodies. It's when you don't know. what people

believe. It's when you don't know what they think

about who Christ is. It's when you don't know

what their church as a whole believes. That's

what tears down trust and unity, brothers and

sisters. But when you know what people believe,

and there's clarity, and there's transparency

about what they believe, there's an openness

about it, that breeds cooperation and fellowship.

An effective inner working between two groups

and two peoples. So when this is providentially

an opportunity, churches should, and it's good

and right, to take part in this. Now, there's

also something else that's very important. When

this is absent, or when people reject apostolic

doctrine, When people deny that salvation is

by faith alone, grace alone, brothers and sisters,

when there is not agreement in apostolic doctrine

or there is outright rejection, a church must

not associate with them. A church must not. fellowship

and cooperate with them because that would not

be unity, brothers and sisters. There's only

unity in truth, in the gospel of who Christ is

and what He has done. Now, if a church holds

that there's only unity in the gospel, And they

actually implement this. And they make distinctions

about who they will work with and who they won't

work with. Yes, I will fellowship with you. No,

I won't fellowship with you. Brothers and sisters,

you have got to be prepared and ready for the

fact that cultural Christians will call you prideful,

pompous, and arrogant. Who are you to say that

they are wrong? Unbelievers will mark you as

divisive. But brothers and sisters, hear me well.

We cling to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if

you cling to the gospel of Jesus Christ that

He gave to His apostles, and the apostles preserved,

and the apostles propagated, and has been inscripturated

in the Bible, if we preserve this, if we hold

to this, then we will hear, Well done, good and

faithful servant, by our Lord and our Savior,

Jesus Christ. What's more important, the applause

of men or the smile of your Savior? We must cling

to the gospel until our knuckles are white. And

we must refuse to let go of, and that must be

the basis and the grounds for cooperation. And

fellowship among like -minded churches. We want

to honor and glorify and please the Savior that

died for us. The one that lived perfectly. The

one that died in our place. The one that rose

again. The one that ascended. The one that's

ruling and reigning. And the one that will return.

And the way we do that is by walking in His truth.

We do that individually and corporately as a

body. So we've seen, brothers and sisters, who

these men are, the companions. But we also see

very clearly that they are cooperating for the

purpose of the gospel. And we see the basis of

that cooperation is in apostolic doctrine and

truth.