Colossians 4:7-9 | Beloved Brothers, Faithful Servants

One of the things that has delighted my heart the most over recent weeks is that we are praying together.

In our community groups on Wednesday and Thursday nights, we are praying together at length.

Uncomfortably long prayers for those of us who are not accustomed to praying at length or to hearing people pray at length.

And it is good.

It is good.

It's good that we are praying, and good that you are praying, and good that we are praying together for missionaries and for the work that God has given us to do.

And for the folks in our church who are who are out, who are recovering from surgery, and folks in our church who are dealing with ongoing chronic health conditions.

It is good that we we pray for these things.

It's good that we lift up the name of God and adore him and ascribe to him greatness.

That we tell him that we know who he is and we are glad in who he is.

These are all good and wonderful things.

And that's been a particular joy of mine in doing these groups on Wednesday and Thursday United is giving us time to pray.

Now, don't get me wrong, we do other things too, and we're unpacking the scripture, the sermon for the week, and talking about it and what it means in our lives.

And we're we're eating together, we eat plenty, we seem to eat every time we get together.

That just seems to be a characteristic of God's people in general and our church specifically.

And we eat very well, actually.

The ladies ate very well this morning, uh, yesterday, and you ate their leftovers this morning, I think, some of you at the coffee time there, uh, some of those goodies that were made.

Um, but it is wonderful to be able to pray together.

And I hope that's something that God will God will imbue in us, will teach us to do even more in the days ahead.

Well, this morning we're in Colossians chapter 4, verses 7 through 9.

Colossians 4:7–9

This is our second to last sermon in the book of Colossians.

For those of you who thought we would never finish the book of Colossians, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope it's been a good tunnel, though.

I hope you've enjoyed this time together in this great little book, and um, we certainly have taken our time because there's so much here to unpack, so much to look at, so much theology, rich doctrine that we want to discover together, and it has been my joy to preach uh this uh book to you.

Um we're not done yet.

We have two sermons left.

This one today in verses 7 through 9, and then the last, Paul's last greetings to the church in Colossae, uh, we'll cover uh next week.

Let me tell you where we're going from there.

Um my family and I are gonna go out of town for a couple weeks on vacation.

Yay! Who else is excited about that?

I'm excited about it.

Um and um hopefully you do that.

Hopefully you take some time away to rest.

We're taking a little time away to rest, uh, the three of us, and I'm looking forward to more time with Caroline and with Isaiah on that.

We have two wonderful gentlemen coming to preach for you on October 4th and 11th, and I hope you will be here uh both to make them welcome and also to glean from them, from their wisdom and experience and their contagious excitement about the work that they've been called to do.

One is Perry Cook, and Perry is the director of Mark 12 Ministries in Shepherdsville.

How many of you know that ministry?

Let me just see a show of hands.

Okay, Mark 12 is a ministry that works with homeless people.

They have a wonderful thrift store.

They are making a difference, the only ministry of that kind in Bullock County as I understand it.

Uh, and Perry loves what he does.

He is an elder, one of the pastors over at Mercy Hill Church in Shepherdsville.

Their pastor Nathan Young has become a good friend of mine, and he introduced me to Perry.

And we're thrilled to have Perry coming on the fourth.

He's not only preaching that day, but he's also going to be our guest teacher in Youth Sunday School that day.

And um, so they'll they'll get all the goods, they'll get all the inside scoop on Mark 12 Ministries from Perry and his wife, Linda.

And um, Linda?

Laura.

I knew I was very close.

Um, his wife, Laura.

They're both going to be with us today, and we're looking forward to that.

The following week, on October 11th, uh, my friend Luke Manring is going to share with us.

Luke is a young man, he and his wife Janessa, he just graduated from Southern Seminary.

He has been preparing since he is 18 years old to be a bivocational church planter, and he is planting.

God called him when he was 18 to plant a church in the state of Maine.

Now, I I know that some of you are going, there's a connection there.

Yes, that's where we've served a lot of our ministry in the state of Maine and still involved with that work.

And I met Luke in the bookstore at Southern Seminary.

He overheard me talking to another student about Maine, and he approached, uh, or over here to Caroline, I think, talking to another student about Maine, and he approached us and said, uh, you worked in Maine?

He said, he said, this is a couple of years ago.

He said, um, he said, God called me to plant a church in Maine.

And I said, No way.

And he said, yeah, way.

And uh we started talking and became friends, and uh, so I've been involved in helping to mentor Luke a little bit and uh and shape his formation for ministry.

He's now graduated, he spent the summer in Maine figuring out which town he's going to be starting a church in.

It's gonna be Freiburg, Maine, is where he's gonna be planting on the New Hampshire border.

And so Luke is gonna come and share with you.

He's also gonna be teaching youth Sunday school that day.

And uh, they are a lot of fun.

His wife, Janessa, is a missionary kid.

She grew up overseas, and uh so God has put this calling on their life to go to one of the most unchurched places in North America and to start a new church.

They have a little baby named Irene, who's almost a year old.

And um, so if nothing else, I'll bring you cute babies that you get to look at and you'll enjoy her as well.

So um so they're gonna be here, and um, I'm looking forward to you getting to hear from them.

I will listen to the sermons uh later on, and uh then I'll be back with you.

But but looking forward to that.

After that, uh, we're gonna do a two-week study in the book of Philemon.

So if you have one of those scripture journals that you've been using, don't throw it away, don't put it away.

Um we'll be getting it back out after two weeks of guest preachers and doing a two-week study in Philemon, and that scripture journal covers Colossians and Philemon.

And uh those sermons will be on the subject of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Something that, quite frankly, we need here at Calvary.

It's a subject that I think is important for us right now.

After we finish in Philemon, we're gonna do a nine-week study this fall on what is called ecclesiology, the study of the church.

What did God design the church to be?

Who are we to be to one another and to the world around us?

I'm looking forward to that study with you.

It's gonna be wonderful to kind of look at what the Bible has to say about the people of God, uh, the hope of the world, which is what we are.

The people of God, the hope of the world, uh, as we convey the message of Jesus Christ uh to all of those around us and around the world.

And uh I'm looking forward to that study with you.

That will take us to Christmas.

Uh, Christmas this year is scheduled on December 25th.

I don't know if you're planning for that, but that's the date.

And uh we're looking forward to that as well.

So a lot to look forward to.

But this morning, uh finishing up in Colossians chapter 4 with a look at two faithful servants of the Lord.

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

Will you read this with me?

Colossians 4, 7 through 9.

Apostle Paul writes, Titicus will tell you all about my activities.

He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts, 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.

Well, I'm interested to learn as we gather together on Wednesday and Thursday nights in our groups who your heroes are.

I'm gonna ask you that question.

If you're part of those groups, you can prepare ahead.

Here's your homework.

Who are your heroes?

I'm curious to know who your heroes are, even if you have any.

We have a lot of heroes in this world.

We don't hear about them very often.

We don't hear a lot of good news in the newspaper or on the TV.

But every once in a while we'll hear some good news story about a hero who did something particularly fine, and our hearts are warmed, and we are greatly encouraged by that, whether it happens uh on the football field or whether it happens uh through some local hero who does something to help someone else or save someone who was hiking or lost in the woods or something like that.

We love those kinds of stories.

We love to read biographies and books about heroes or watch movies about heroes.

And as we as we end the study in Colossians the next couple weeks, we're looking at some men who were a big help to the Apostle Paul, and I think we'll find they're a big help to us too.

And the reason why is because we need heroes to imitate.

No matter how old you are, you need some heroes to imitate.

Not just superheroes.

There's been a lot of superhero movies in the last 15, 20 years, and I love those.

I love watching those with my kids.

Um but with superheroes, it's too easy to make the excuse that they have powers and abilities and origin stories that we don't have.

You know, I wasn't born on the planet Krypton, and I wasn't bit by a radioactive spider, and so I can't relate quite as much to those guys.

We need ordinary heroes, people who are just like us, people who live extraordinary lives because of their faith in God.

Now, most of the people who are heroes don't live that way all the time.

They don't move from adventure to adventure.

Most of our movie and book heroes don't do this either.

I'm a big fan of Lord of the Rings, uh J.R.

Tolkien's epic story.

And the whole journey in the Lord of the Rings was six months long.

Six months is all it took, that whole journey.

It took him three books to write it all out, but um, but it only took six months, the story that happens there.

The rest of the time, before and after the events of the book, uh occurred over a three-year period, but the adventure, the journey itself, uh, took six months.

And the rest of the time, um, the main characters are living quietly in a place called the Shire.

Their lives were changed by their adventure, and their strength of character remained, but their lives were a lot quieter when they were done with this heroic adventure that they were on.

Well, you don't have to read Tolkien, though I would recommend that you read Tolkien.

Um I'm a big fan for a reason, and it's uh there are wonderful books, wonderful stories.

But I would encourage you to read missionary biographies, even to read some fiction now and then, because we all need heroes.

We need heroic narratives so we can see how good character works in different situations, and um so we can see how having godly character makes visible the glory of God.

And so read Frodo and Bilbo and Superman, perhaps, maybe books like Last of the Mohicans, some of that wonderful, those wonderful books.

Uh Captains Courageous, uh, Lewis and Clark, George Washington, read about uh Dunkirk, right?

Some real heroes, Teddy Roosevelt, read the Chronicles of Narnia.

Some of the kids I think are reading Chronicles of Narnia in school this year.

Um, but also read about people like Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd, who was a missionary to Native Americans, and Martin Luther and John Calvin and Gladys Aylward and Corey Tin Boom and Brother Andrew, missionaries and leaders who stood up for what they believed.

Watch the videos about indigenous pastors and missionaries around the world and the dispatches from the front series.

We love that series, and it's free now.

You can watch it online for free.

I've got some of those in my office if you want to see those.

Because not only the action, but the stakes matter.

You know, you can be a hero on the football field, and the stakes are not that great.

I mean, you win the game, you lose the game, there's gonna be other games, there's gonna be another season, right?

I don't mean to be a heretic here, and some of you are going, blasphemy, blasphemy, this is the only season.

This is the only game that matters till the next one, right?

But we got to admit, when it comes to sports, the stakes are just not that high.

But some of these people, they do things when the stakes matter, the cause matters, and there's no greater reason for heroic activity than to follow Christ in obedience for the glory of God.

That's what we're all called to when we're called to Christ, to follow in his steps.

And so I'm glad to make recommendations to you of books and fiction, non-fiction, Christian books, some of those that are not explicitly Christian in nature, but contain a great deal of truth and heroes worth following.

But most important in your reading of heroes, read the Bible.

Read the Bible.

Because here we find heroes of plenty.

We find them flawed and human but heroic nonetheless.

Moses and Joshua and David and Josiah and Ruth and Esther and Mordecai and Paul and Aquila and Priscilla and Peter.

The list just goes on and on and on and on.

And as you read about these heroes, and as you find your own modern-day heroes and you meet them maybe and imitate them, don't just collect heroes, but set out to be one.

There's been a lot of books written for the church in the last few years that are basically books saying you don't need to be heroic, just live an ordinary life.

But it takes a certain degree of heroism to live an ordinary godly life, doesn't it?

I mean, to be a heroic husband takes some work, right?

To be a heroic wife takes some work.

To be a heroic mom takes some work.

I got to watch a baby for about 15 minutes yesterday.

I thought I did a pretty good job.

The goal was to get him to sleep.

I got him to sleep.

He's okay, right?

None the worse for where?

Okay, good.

Yeah.

But to do that all the time, it takes a certain degree of heroism.

And if you're gonna be one, if you're gonna be heroic, you need some heroes to imitate.

And you have to make sure they're the right kind of heroes fighting for the right kind of cause.

And I gotta tell you, if you're a young person, John Wick ain't it.

You know?

I mean, if you're an old person, John Wick ain't it.

You know?

Defeating all your enemies and killing as many people as possible is just not what we're created to be.

But there are some right kind of heroes.

Hebrews 13 tells us, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

And this in 3 John, beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good.

And this one from Paul and Philippians, brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

God is telling us, find some worthy heroes and act like them.

Well, as he wrote those words, he may have been considering the men that we are reading about this week, the heroes we find in these few verses in verses 7 through 9 of chapter 4.

Paul has turned from practical teaching to personal comments as he winds down his letters, and two men are mentioned here.

One is Titicus.

Nobody's using that as a name for kids today.

It'd be interesting, wouldn't it, if somebody said, We're naming our little boy Titicus.

Every teacher in the world for the rest of his career would say, How do you spell that?

Titicus?

He was Paul's traveling companion, and on several occasions was the guy that Paul trusted to take messages to some of the churches.

Paul sent him out as an emissary, a representative.

And his words about Titicus are very similar to Paul's comments at the end of his letter to Ephesians.

Ephesus, remember, is about a hundred miles west of Colossae, the large capital city on the west coast of Asia Minor, and it is likely that Titicus is carrying letters to both Ephesus and Colossae at the same time to represent Paul personally in both churches.

And notice Paul's description of this man, this trusted friend.

First, he calls him a dear brother.

Second of all, he calls him a faithful minister.

And third, he calls him a fellow servant in the Lord.

Now, Titicus is not commended as a great speaker or a fiery evangelist.

He's not kind of an upfront guy, but he is one who is faithful and reliable.

Some of you that don't like to be up front, can you be faithful and reliable like Titicus?

He's a good solid coworker upon whom Paul could rely, who's very committed to the mission.

We'll see how committed in just a moment.

And we would do well to imitate that quality of faithfulness.

Now, his mission, should he choose to accept it, and he did, is twofold.

One, first, is to relay information.

Paul says that you might know about our circumstances, thus building prayer for Paul and financial support for Paul's mission.

And second of all, the purpose of encouragement.

He says, that he may encourage your hearts.

So these are his two goals of his mission.

And this sounds like the purpose of many missionary presentations in our day.

And in fact, it's why we're having Perry Cook and Luke Manring come and preach to you while I'm away.

Sometimes we can become isolated from the front lines, and there are people all over the world doing amazing things or small things with amazing love for the cause of Christ.

And we don't want to lose sight of that.

We don't want to think this is all there is.

We don't want to think that the church around the world just looks like the church in Mount Washington or the situations that we face is what it's like for everybody around the world.

We want to hear about churches and people that press on in great hardship and are incredibly faithful because they inspire us.

They inspire us to say, well, you know what?

My life is relatively easy.

I don't have to travel from the country that I'm serving in, which is not my home country, by the way, to a whole nother country in order to get medical care because adequate medical care doesn't exist in Cambodia.

Which is what the Madalangawas have had to do.

And they're living away from their home for months on end here in a foreign country in order to get her medical treatment so that they can go back and serve in the place that God has called them.

We need to hear stuff like that.

We need to hear those kinds of stories when we complain about the fact that the hospital is too far away, right?

Because we've got to drive 15 miles or something.

We need to hear about those kinds of things.

It's inspiring to us, it's encouraging to us, it's humbling to us.

And God knows we need to be humbled in America.

The second man is Onesimus.

Nobody's naming their kid that much these days either.

Again, pretty hard to spell and pronounce, right?

But we learn that Onesimus, as we study the letter to Philemon, which we'll do in a couple of weeks, is a runaway slave who has met Paul in Rome, become a Christian.

Big surprise there that he met Paul and became a Christian, right?

Lots of people, I think, met Paul and became followers of Christ.

And is now returning to his master Philemon in hopes of being free.

That's the story that we see in the letter to Philemon.

Paul writing a letter to this man talking about this runaway slave, Onesimus.

Well, Paul's in prison in Rome, remember, and he's informed by Epaphras about the situation that was developing in Colossae.

The reason why he wrote this letter, he wants to respond to the dangers that were rising and help them by giving them instruction, encouragement, and warnings.

And he's also aware that they'll want to know about him and what is happening in Rome, but Paul can't pick up a phone and call them.

He can't text them, he can't email them, he can't even send a telegram, he can't even write a letter and have it put into the Roman mail system.

None of those things existed in that day.

If he wants to communicate to them, the whole reason why the letter of Colossians exists is that Paul composed a letter and found someone who will hand carry it to the church in Colossae.

And that someone who's Titicus.

So now you know.

This is why we have the letter to the Colossians.

That's exactly what Paul does, and this is why he's recommending these men, these faithful, faithful men.

Well, in these three little verses, there are three statements concerning these two men telling the Colossians the news from Paul and Rome.

Paul didn't write these matters down about his news or what was going on in Rome.

We don't see that contained in the book of Colossians.

Maybe because it wasn't as critical as his instructions, maybe because when you're just saying Paul's okay, he's in prison, da da da, people don't misinterpret that, but this doctrinal stuff needed to be written.

Written down for the church to be shared.

For whatever reason, he just entrusted that verbally to Titicus and Anesimus just to tell the church, give them an update on how he was doing.

The major responsibility for this fell on Titicus because he is specifically mentioned here as the one that would tell them about Paul and what he's doing.

Both men together, it seems, would inform that church about the situation in Rome.

Well, there's several aspects to what these men would be telling the Colossians.

First, verse 7 tells us that Titicus would make known to them Paul's news.

This is personal information about Paul, his situation.

You know how it is?

People say, how's he doing?

How does he look?

How does Paul look?

And Titicus says, Well, you know, he looks pretty good.

I think he's encouraged, you know, I think he's doing okay.

Is he eating all right?

Yeah, I think he's eating pretty good.

You know, we're trying to get him some food, and you know, he's doing okay.

It's house arrest, you know, so it's not like the worst prison imaginable, and I think he's doing okay.

So that kind of stuff, you've you've been in those conversations with people.

Paul emphasizes this in verse 8 by stating that part of the reason he sends Titicus, I need a nickname for him, don't I?

It's just saying it over and over, Tichi, Tichi?

No, that's that's a little rough, right?

T.

The reason he sent T to them was so that they might know his circumstances.

That says something about Paul's sensitivity to others.

He wanted them to know how he was.

Very sweet.

Not uncommon in this day and age to find men who want to remain reclusive and hidden even from those who care about them.

That wasn't the Apostle Paul.

He didn't mind people knowing his health situation.

He didn't mind people knowing that he was in prison.

He didn't mind people knowing how he was doing mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

Paul wasn't a braggart.

He wasn't fixed on himself like so many celebrities today, but neither did he hide himself away.

And we can learn from that.

Remember from last week's sermon that Paul desired for them to pray for him.

He asked specifically for prayer and for a certain kind of prayer.

Paul asked God to open a door for him to proclaim the gospel and be clear in the way that he ought to speak in his preaching.

He wanted the Colossians to pray that for him, to be part of that.

Making sure they knew about his situation and circumstances would make those prayers possible and more effective since they could pray more specifically for him.

And this is a balance that all Christians need to maintain in our ministries, that we need to be vulnerable and open enough so that others can join into that ministry through effective and specific prayers, and then join in praise with us to God when He answers those prayers.

At the same time, we have to be careful not to say so much that we become self-centered and self-serving, as if our life, our ministry was the only thing going on in the world.

If you were in a conversation with someone and later on you reflect on that conversation and you never ask them how they were, you may be in danger of that.

If it was all about you and your situation, you may be in danger of letting that become a little one-sided.

Paul maintained that balance.

He wasn't afraid to share, but he didn't make it all about him.

Paul's emphasis was actually on the people he was writing to, on the Colossians, since that's the second but most important reason that he had sent Titicus to them.

Paul wanted them to be encouraged by this letter and by the ministry that he would have among them.

Certainly they'd be encouraged when he would tell them personally about how God was using Paul, like among the Praetorian guard we read about, and among Caesar's household, that members of Caesar's household even were coming to Christ because of Paul's influence.

And that would encourage the church.

They would love hearing that stuff.

Titicus would say, Well, let me tell you a story.

Let me tell you a story about George.

I don't know that that would be a Roman name, probably not.

But he said, Let me tell you about George.

George was a guard, right?

And he's one of he's one of Paul's guards.

And Paul began just talking with him.

You know how he is, and he just started sharing with him about the good news, about Jesus, and he shared his own story about how he came to know Christ on the road to Damascus.

And man, George's eyes lit up, and he just started asking questions.

And pretty soon, you know, Paul was praying with him.

And now George is a follower of Christ.

He's joined the church in Rome.

And the people in Colossae would say, Way to go, Paul.

Good job.

All right, God, praise God.

You know?

Love those kinds of stories.

I don't know that there was a George, but we do know that that's the kind of ministry that Paul was doing there, even as he was in prison.

And so Titicus would be able to personally minister to them in regards to all the things that were written in the letter, but also about Paul's life and stories of what was going on.

He would be able to interpret the things in the letter they didn't understand if they said, Well, I see this in chapter two, Paul wrote this.

It wouldn't be chapters then, but on page two, Paul wrote this.

What did he mean by that?

Jesus said, Oh, yeah, we talked about that.

What he meant by that was this.

When he said you're chosen and holy and beloved, he means that God set you apart to be different and that he loves you so very much.

He would explain the letter to them.

They could ask him questions.

In verse 9, we find that both Titicus and Onesimus, Tino, would be able to make known to them everything that was taking place in the ministry that was incurring in Rome.

This would include a lot more than just matters concerning Paul or his health.

And we know this because five more different people are mentioned in the last verses of Colossians, that Paul's sending them personal greetings, or they're sending personal greetings to the church in Colossae.

So there's other people around them in Rome that are also sending greetings.

You can imagine that they were saying, as we get some of those names, I mean Epaphras, of course, and Justice, Aristarchus, Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, we know Mark, right?

And those guys were all chiming in.

Paul's finishing up his letter.

Titishus is getting ready to put, he's tying his shoes, he's getting ready to go on this long walk to deliver it.

And Aristarchus says, Hey, tell everybody I said hey, right?

And Paul's like, yeah, let me get that in there.

Aristarchus also sends his greetings, right?

And Mark's like, yeah, me too.

Tell him I said hello.

And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, you know the Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, you know him, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Concerning you, you've received instructions, it becomes welcome him, you know, that guy.

And he just goes through the list there, and as we would do when writing a letter.

Well, it's important that believers keep each other informed, not just for the purpose of curiosity and gossip.

We need to avoid bragging and self-centeredness or speaking of our hard work and trials as if we were some kind of martyr, and yet reveal enough about ourselves so that other believers can pray for us properly, specifically, and effectively.

We need to do this before we become frustrated in ministry.

Before you get frustrated at how hard your ministry is or something that isn't going right, talk to other people about it.

Share with them about it, allow them to pray for you right there on the spot.

And in that way, they can enter into your life and what God is doing through you and in you and increase the praise to God as He performs that work.

This also makes us vulnerable so we can be encouraged when we're weak or struggling or corrected where we're wrong.

And the goal is for all of us to be conformed to the image of Christ, and so we keep one another informed in order that we might be conformed.

Now, I don't have time this morning to tell you of the details of Titicus and Anesimus' journey.

But let me just give you the brief version of it.

Paul was in prison in Rome.

Colossae is in what is now Western Turkey, the country of Turkey.

They couldn't get on a plane and fly there, they couldn't get in a car and drive there, they would have to walk and take ships.

It was a major undertaking.

Paul was also concerned about the other churches with whom he's had contact.

We know that Titicus also carried the letter to the Ephesians.

Either he or Onesimus carried the letter to Philemon.

It's also possible, if not probable, that the letter to the Philippians was sent at the same time.

So very important stuff.

Can you imagine if Titicus lost these letters?

We'd lose a good chunk of the New Testament, wouldn't we?

There may have even been additional letters that we haven't seen.

In Colossians 4.16, Paul refers to a letter of Laodicea that he wanted read among the Colossians, and then they in turn were to have their letter read to the church of the Laodiceans.

And some of these circular letters, of course, became part of the New Testament.

But anyway, there's three major ways for someone to travel from Rome to Colossae.

And if you got, does anybody have a Bible with a map in the front?

Some of your maps in the front of the back of your Bible?

Those are kind of neat.

They're not putting them in Bibles as much, but I think they're pretty neat to look at.

So there's three ways to travel from Rome to Colossae.

The most probable route for this journey, get this.

I love to walk, but come on.

The most probable way to do this was to walk via Appia, what we call the Appian way, via Appia to Brundesium.

That's 348 miles.

348 mile walk.

We're not done yet.

That's just beginning.

Then take a ship across the Adriatic Sea to a place called Dirachium.

That's a 100-mile sea journey.

And then walk the via the road Ignatia to Philippi.

That's a 410-mile walk.

And deliver the letter there to Philippi, and then to Neapolis, which is another 36 miles, and there you can take a ship to Ephesus, which is a 260-mile sea journey, deliver the letter there, and then walk overland, just a brief other little walk to get to Colossae of 120 miles.

Okay?

So if you're adding all this up, it's a total of over a thousand miles by foot and 360 miles by sea.

Now, that word faithful starts to take on new meaning when you realize what Paul was asking Titicus and Onesimus to do.

Titicus, would you mind delivering these letters to the churches from me?

And Titicus apparently said, no problem.

I'll walk a thousand miles and travel 360 miles by sea to let the churches know what's going on with you and for them to get instruction on how they ought to live in Christ?

Sure.

You know anybody like that?

You know anybody who would go to that kind of effort?

Do you have any idea how long it takes to walk a thousand miles?

A thousand miles.

I haven't even done the math on that because it just seems like an insurmountable number.

And no matter which route he took, that one or another one, that's the most likely one.

But no matter which way he went, it would have been a really arduous journey, lots of dangers, bad weather, lack of supplies, injury, illness, robbers along the way.

Those ships could have crashed into the shore.

Paul felt like it was that important that he would ask somebody to make that kind of sacrifice, that important that he communicate to the churches.

And so it's hard to imagine that we as the people of God wouldn't communicate to one another in the same church with all of the tools that we have, phones and computers.

That we wouldn't let other people in our own church know what's going on with us.

Or know what's going on with the ministry that God has called us specifically to do.

I gotta say that easy and instant messaging and posting has driven down careful thought and communication so that most of the words that we see on our screens, even in the news media, is a waste of time.

It's thoughtless and inaccurate, it's incongruent, it doesn't flow, it doesn't make sense together, sometimes just plain incomprehensible.

And we need to not only communicate with one another often and honestly, but well.

We need to communicate well with one another.

We need to take heart the warning in Proverbs 10.19, which says, When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little worth.

And so whoever you're communicating with, take the time to think through it before you speak or post.

And don't be like the wicked.

Words matter.

And the way that we communicate with one another and the fact that we communicate with one another is important.

It grieves me when I talk to a church member and they say, honestly, I've had a really hard month, and I haven't said anything about it, but it's just been building up in my life, and I'm overwhelmed, and I can't do it all, and I've not been reading my Bible, and I haven't been praying, and it's just really hard, and my relationships are struggling, and it's been like this for a long time.

And I think, why am I just now hearing about this?

Why am I just now hearing this a month later?

That grieves me.

We should talk with one another.

It's one of the reasons why we do these groups now on Wednesday and Thursday nights so we can talk with one another.

Beyond just, you know, the usual conversation, which is, hey, how are you doing?

Hey, how are you doing?

We never even answer.

We would freak out if someone did answer and said, I'm not doing very well.

Thank you for asking.

Can I just tell you all about it?

You know, as we're passing each other quickly in the hallway.

We need to communicate.

Tichicus name actually means, just to just to give you a little more on him here, Titicus' name means to hit the mark or to happen or obtain by chance or fortunate.

And he is a fortunate find as a coworker with Paul, to have someone who's willing to do that kind of journey, take that kind of risk, that kind of sacrifice in order to convey the message of Paul, in order to convey these words to the churches, that they might be built up and edified.

I wonder, I guess he does, if Titicus knows that we just spent almost five months studying this letter that Paul wrote, that Titicus carried to the church in Colossae.

I'm sure he does.

I'm sure that he gets to know now the impact that just carrying that letter, not even writing that letter, but just being willing to keep that letter safe in his bag for a thousand miles has meant to the church over 2,000 years.

Isn't that something?

Can you imagine what joy Titicus has that he decided to say yes to Paul?

Seeing the impact of this letter and the other letters that they've made on all of us.

Well, I won't have time this morning to tell you more about Titicus, but you can read about him more.

You can read about him in Acts chapter 20.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

You can read about him in the book of Ephesians.

We don't know where he came from exactly.

We know that Paul could have met him in any number of places, but that at some point he came to Christ.

I guess his origin isn't that important in our scheme of things.

What we know about is this brief journey that he went on, this brief adventure that he had, and that's the way it is for a lot of us.

When we read a book or we watch a movie, we just see the adventure part.

And we're not even seeing the adventure.

We don't even get a story from the road.

We just get the fact that he was asked to go right here at the end.

But we know that he went because we have the book in front of us, the letter in front of us.

And praise God for his faithfulness.

Well, let me just finish by saying this.

Paul called Titicus beloved.

And beloved says a lot, that word has come up quite a bit in the text of Colossians.

To be beloved means you have to know somebody pretty well for them to be beloved of you.

Has to be somebody that you work well together, that you trust.

Paul kept choosing him as a companion, sent him on this important mission as a messenger.

I think if someone is beloved in your life, you probably ought to tell them.

You probably ought to say so.

When someone is a faithful servant, you probably ought to let them know that.

You probably ought to let them know that you appreciate their faithfulness.

If there's someone that you see serving around here day in and day out, it would be good for you to let them know that.

If you seal a special kinship with them because you're serving together, it might be good for you to let them know that you're grateful for them as a fellow bond servant.

As Paul spoke of this man, these men.

And as we finish up this morning, I didn't get to tell you about Nesimus.

We'll talk about him as we study the book of Philemon together.

But let me just say this.

The commendations that Paul makes of these two men are characteristics that I want to be known by as well.

We always hear about the people that are up front.

We hear about the great evangelists, or we hear about the great leaders.

But I want to be known by these characteristics.

I want to be, I want to have these characteristics in my life, to be a beloved brother, a faithful servant, a fellow slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The great majority of us toil in obscurity, but God honors that faithfulness.

Paul honors it here.

And I hope that you desire the same.

I hope that together as we minister to one another with the gifts that God has given to each of us that will help one another become the mature people in Christ that God wants us to be, the kind of people that can be trusted, can be called upon to do the hard things.

Oftentimes with little fanfare, with little accolades, few accolades.

And that regardless of your age or your situation or your health or your gifting or your gender or your financial situation, that God may give you a deep desire to be faithful in your service to Christ and to the church.

And I will tell you that if you pray for that in your own life, it will change you.

It will change those around you.

And it might just, as in the case of Titicus and Onesimus, it might just in fact change the whole world.

The whole world.

The church down through the centuries, who has read these letters delivered by these faithful men.

Christ's faithful sacrifice of the cross has changed our lives.

May we imitate his ultimate example and spend our lives in sacrifice to him.

And so I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies, your lives, as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God.

This is our true and proper worship, that we may give our very lives for his glory and the good of his church.

It has been the great joy of my life and so many of my heroes and examples and yours.

And I pray it is the great joy of your life as well as it was for these men and the Apostle Paul and countless others.

Let's pray to that end.

Father God, would you put people in our path that inspire us for the right reasons?

Would you put people in our path that need inspiration that we might in some way inspire them with our faithfulness?

Would you remove the burdens of vanity and self-centeredness from our service?

And allow us to serve simply for the sheer zeal for your glory and joy and obediently following Jesus who for the joy set before you endured the cross.

God, we thank you for the Madalangawas.

We thank you for these younger men that are committed to a cause.

In Luke's case, haven't even done it yet, but are on their way, preparing to go to the field.

God, we thank you for the faithfulness of saints in this church who toil week in and week out.

And for those that we don't even know about their sacrifice, that endure a difficult marriage, that endure a difficult home situation or taking care of a loved one day after day after day.

But God help us to open our eyes and to look beyond our own situation that we might see and be inspired by the sacrifice of others, by the faithfulness of others who may not walk a thousand mile journey, but may have been living for years, toiling quietly, faithfully for your glory.

Help us to do the same.

By the power of your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.