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And one announcement for you parents that have young people in Patch Club. Kyle Snyder will be selling those patch books if you have not yet gotten the next book. That'll start soon here. Those are available. He'll have them in there where we assume parents will be going and picking up their young people once this session in here is done. Patchbooks available for purchase in the Fellowship Hall after Stanley Heights Academy is complete tonight. The cost is $6. You can get that taken care of tonight or next Sunday if that is your preference. Well, those that are here, that remain, we're going to finish out Colossians Chapter 4. Colossians Chapter 4, finishing out this second half, of the book of Colossians. By my count, 16 messages in. This is the most I've ever done in my life, preaching through consecutively 16 messages. Some people say it's never going to end. Well, this part is coming to an end, at least these four weeks and this part of the book of Colossians. And some may be sitting there and saying, why do we have to do this? After all, these aren't these exciting verses. I had a member joke with me earlier saying, I don't know what in the world you're going to get out of verse 14. And well, we got a whole message out of verse 14, right? You look at it and it just says a couple of words. Why do we do this? Is this the pursuit of proving a point to say, look at me, look at all the things I can say about one verse? No. It comes from an approach to scripture. And I hope this is your approach to scripture, that when you look at the Bible, you don't just look at it and say, well, what can I get really quick here? That's our tendency, right? That's our temptation to say, all right, let me flip open the Bible. Let me find a good verse, right? Let me find one of those good ones. Those that are immediately evident that I can just get something out of, grab it and run, right? Fast food, Bible reading, I'm good to go. That's our human temptation, right? Our human nature is to find the answer quick and let's get out of there. But truly, when we have a high view of God's Word, we believe that the very words... are given by God. That the Bible is inspired completely, it's inerrant, it's preserved for us. In fact, it's not exactly the same thing it's talking about, but in John, John tells us that if all the things that Jesus had said had been preserved, That we couldn't even contain them all. We couldn't even write them all down. But these are written for a specific purpose. And we believe that that applies not just to the book of John, but to all the words of scripture. That when we come to the Bible, all of the words have value. Sometimes we deem some as being more valuable than others, right? There's those really good verses, those psalms, that those really have value, and then there's those other things that aren't quite as exciting. And reality is that's true. For many of us, sometimes words do speak to us more. Certain passages, God is really, His Holy Spirit illumines at certain times of need in our life. But we believe that all scripture is given by God and is profitable. All of it is profitable for us so that we can be complete, so that we can be mature. So that, I just want you to understand that's why if we seem to go slowly through, well that's teaching a value on God's Word, that every part of God's Word is important for us. So, that's your free explanation tonight. As I was studying for this message, I read a gentleman, Rich Cathers is his name, he wrote this down as he was looking at the end of the verses, here's what he said. He said, is this just a list of names? When you are reading through your Bible and you get to the ending section of a letter like Colossians, don't just skip it because it just looks like a bunch of names. If you play detective, you will find clues in these verses. Just like in the end of all of Paul's letters. The clues help you to uncover the backstory of what is going on in Paul's life when he is writing these letters. And God has given us these little verses. There's people that aren't talked about in situations that aren't addressed, but God has given us these to learn from. That's what we want to do tonight. So we come to Colossians chapter four. verses 15 through 18. We'll finish out chapter 4 here tonight. I'll read you follow along as I read aloud. Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphis, and the church which is in his house. And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it. The salutation by the hand of me, Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen. Tonight, as we look at the risen Christians' companions, as we finish out this section, we want to look at committed Christianity. Last week we looked at faithful Christianity, a very similar, very parallel idea, but committed Christianity. What is involved? in the life of a committed Christian, that one who has decided, like chapter three in verse one, to seek those things which are above. What are some characteristics that we see here tonight? Let's pray, we'll ask for God's help, and we'll jump into studying these verses tonight. Heavenly Father, we thank you that your word, Lord, that it is trustworthy, that it is inspired, breathed out by you. Lord, we need the help of your Holy Spirit to illumine Our hearts, Lord, you show us your truth. so that we can think your thoughts after you. Lord, we want to value that which has been preserved for us. We know that it is like a double-edged sword that cuts. And Lord, we need to be cut. We need to be shown where we are lacking, where we need to grow, where we need to become more like Jesus. Lord, I pray that tonight through your word, by your spirit, you would speak to our hearts that these would not just be words on a page. Lord, that this would be your truth. that ministers, that speaks, that works. I yield to you as the preacher, we yield to you as hearers, asking you to do that. And it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Examples of commitment. We see real live people who really lived, who went through challenges, who experienced difficulty, especially in this first century of Christianity, knowing what it was like to stand for Christ and to pay the price. We come first of all to the Laodiceans. So look there in verse 15. Salute the brethren, which are Now, if you remember, this is a sister church. The church that's being talked to is, of course, the church at Colossae. They had a sister church. In fact, if you back up a few verses, if you remember Tychicus, a few verses ago, and Epaphras, these men... We're familiar with these churches, these churches are familiar with them. Look at Epaphras, verse 12 talks about Epaphras, and then verse 13 says he has a great zeal for you, that's the church at Colossae, and them that are in Laodicea, and them that are in Hierapolis. So here is a man who has a burden for this church at Colossae. We believe he planted the church there at Colossae, and in all likelihood, he also planted a church in a neighboring city a few miles away, this church of Laodicea. Now, we don't know a whole lot about them. We know there was a church there. We know that there were believers there. And when we study history, we find an interesting and eclectic history. I won't go into all of that. You can look that up. Later on, a few hundred years later, it becomes an important church. It was the seat of a bishop there in the city of Laodicea. So eventually, Christianity really made an influence in this city. But at this time, not that much is known other than what is recorded here in scripture. But there were believers there. We know that Epaphras had a key role in getting that off the ground. We know that he was passionate. He was burdened for them to look like Jesus Christ. And here again, we find this church being addressed. The brethren in Laodicea, you look down in verse 16, when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. And we'll deal with that in a moment, what epistles are being talked about. But Paul was addressing a neighboring church. And says, pass on news to them, make sure they know how things are. This sister church, this neighboring church, they would have some affinity with, some community, some things in common. And we're thankful that even today God has given us like-minded churches. Chattanooga is not a place that lacks churches. In fact, if you drove here tonight, if you didn't walk like Brother Kyle did, if you didn't walk from the parking lot over there, chances are you passed a church on your way here that was not this one, right? You drove by a number of churches. Now, some of those churches are not what we would consider sister churches. Bible-believing, gospel-preaching churches that would be of like faith and practice. There's some that would not be. But then, of course, there are some that would be. There are ones that we can have fellowship with, that we can have accord with, communion with. Some we may differ slightly, but there's other churches that we can have that fellowship with in the Lord. And these churches here in Colossae, and then also in Laodicea, we hear about the church in Hierapolis, apparently, they were able to have this kind of communion, sharing back and forth, keeping up with each other, realizing that This church and this congregation is not the only one in the world, but God has placed other churches out there for us to fellowship with. And so Paul has some words to them. When do they show up next? Let's turn to the book of Revelation. We're gonna see the next time we hear about this church of Laodicea. So if you would briefly hold your spot there in Colossians, flip over to the book of Revelation. We're gonna see what Jesus says to the church at Laodicea. Jesus has some admonitions. Through the Apostle John, through Revelation, he receives a charge and records it for this church at Laodicea, the one that Paul sent greetings to there in Colossians. He's given charges to other churches And this is the final, this is the seventh church that receives charge from Jesus Christ. And really, it's not a great and encouraging charge. We're gonna read it together briefly. We won't address all of it, because that's a message in and of itself, but I want you to see some of the charges that are made to this church in Laodicea. Starting in chapter three, verse 14. I'll read it, and we'll look at a few of these verses tonight. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed. and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my father in his throne. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now there's an entire message there and I won't preach that whole message. That's a complete message. We're just going to glean a few things from this. I think as you read through here you can tell this church at Laodicea has gone from a certain height to another height. They're no longer at the place where they were. Jesus has some stern words to this church. Apparently there had been a time when the Laodiceans had been more in love with Jesus Christ, when they had been more hot, when they had been passionate about serving their God. And now certain things have gotten in the way. You look there, it talks about how they're rich, they're increased with goods, they don't need anything. and they don't realize their true spiritual condition. They don't think that they need anything. Jesus in verse 18 counsels them to put their value in things that are eternal. Sounds kind of like Colossians chapter 3 and verse 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, what? Seek those things which are above. Those things that last, those things that are eternal. They've been challenged about this by Paul and apparently he knew something that was going on in that church. That there were people who were wavering and waffling in their commitment. Maybe the flesh was creeping in, maybe materialism. Maybe idolatry, we don't know what all the things were, but Jesus has some stern words for them. And yet look at verse 20, what an encouragement. Look down at verse 20 of Revelation 3. It says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me. Jesus has a lot. of strong things to say to this church, and yet he does not just write them off. Isn't that an encouragement? The truth of the matter is, if we're honest with ourselves, we know that we have these times of waffling, of wavering, of walking away from that which we know to be what God desires for us. We know that there is that potential in our own heart to be like Demas, right? To walk away, to value the things of this world. We know that we could be like John Mark and say, it's too hard, I'm gonna walk out, I can't do it anymore. And yet Jesus says, I'm here at the door. And I stand here and I knock. And it's interesting to note, he says, I stand here, I stay here, I knock. And I'm waiting to see if anyone will hear my voice and open the door. I will come in. Now, is this speaking of salvation? Many take it to be so. Is this speaking to even conviction of a Christian who needs to listen to Jesus Christ to allow the fellowship to be restored? That's a possibility. Whatever the case, Jesus had not written off this church at Laodicea. Those who were not saved, who maybe were playing the game... Jesus is giving them another opportunity. To those who did know Christ, he's calling them back, saying, come back to me. So we find here an example of a church that wavered in its commitment. If we are to be committed believer, We need to focus, we need to be aware of where we stand. Where am I in my standing with Jesus Christ? Where is my heart? Have the things of this world crept in? Are they taking away my attention? Are they taking my focus? Would Jesus say of me, you know, you used to be hot, but now you've grown cold? It's interesting, some scholars believe, and this isn't for sure, some scholars believe there were hot springs there, and there was cold water that was taken via an aqueduct, and they would mix right about where this city was, and so it caused the water to be lukewarm. And the people, even of that day, they didn't like their water lukewarm. They wanted it to either be cold or hot. And so some scholars believe that's why this imagery was used. I can't say for certain. It's interesting to note. But Jesus had a way of pointing out things that were unique to those cities. Also, Isav is mentioned. They were a city that was known for their remedies for people with eye problems. And Jesus points out and says, you know, you can be blind, you can think you have all the answers, and yet you may be missing it. You may think of yourself as a church that has arrived, a church that has it all. And yet you may be missing it. You need to come to me. I am the one that has what you lack. God wanted them to get serious one way or the other. And we have to ask ourselves, am I a committed Christian? Am I a Christian who's serious about my walk with Jesus Christ? Is it something that has just become low on the priority list? We remember the account of Elijah when he's on Mount Carmel and he challenges the children of Israel. They had wavering commitment. If you remember that, they've been the people of God and yet for years they're going back and forth. And Ahab comes and becomes their king and his wife, she sets up what? You remember what kind of God they're worshiping? They're worshiping Baal. She sets up Baal worship. In fact, there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of prophets of Baal. And it comes down to a showdown. There's one man who's willing to stand for God. And then there's whatever it was, hundreds, 450, I think, if I'm remembering off the top of my head, those prophets of Baal. And they have a showdown on the top of Mount Carmel, or Carmel, if you prefer. And then they say, all right, what are we going to do? We're going to call down fire, see whose God answers first. And the prophets of Baal, they go out and they cut themselves. And they're dancing and they're carrying on. They're shouting for Baal, and he doesn't answer them. And then 1 Kings, chapter 18 and verse 21. Listen to what Elijah says to the people. We have to decide who we're going to follow. The picture is this, that they were heading one direction, then they would stop, and they'd say, oh, maybe I better go over here. Then they would stop, and they would try to go over. Maybe you've seen this with a dog. People who own a dog, they're like, OK, I'm going to call him, and you're going to call him, and we're going to see who he goes to, who he loves more. Come here, Fido. Come here, Fido. And the other one's over there saying, come here, Fido. Come here, Fido. That's the idea, that they're going back and forth saying, I think I should go over. No, maybe I should go over here. And that seems silly, right? But in our Christian life, aren't we that way? Don't we feel the pool of the flesh, the world, the flesh, and the devil? The promise of ease and of rest and the good life. The promise that if I could just get this thing, or if I could just get past this hurdle, everything in my life would be set. If I just didn't have to try so hard to follow the Lord. And we become of two opinions. Sometimes we halt. We go back and forth and we say, ah, Which one should I do? Elijah here is calling God's people to say, make up your mind. Who is the God that is worth serving? And the church at Laodicea had the same challenge. Who are you going to be committed to? Are you committed to living life your own way? Following your own God of materialism, of self-indulgence, of prosperity, maybe of knowledge, maybe of status in life, whatever it is, are you going to follow the true God? They were challenged here in the book of Colossians. Jesus challenges the Laodiceans, accept my correction, repent, and come back to me. Revelation 3.19, it said, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. If you find yourself there tonight, if you find yourself Lukewarm, if you find yourself things of this world have wrapped around your heart and you feel that pull, good news for you tonight. The next verse goes on to say that Jesus stands at the door and he knocks. He says, as many as I love, I rebuke, I tell you where you're wrong and I chasten. There may be some correction, some disciplinary punishment there to bring us back to him and be zealous. Be, get serious about it and repent. Come back to me. I'm waiting. I want to come in and to have fellowship with you. Epaphras had prayed fervently for this church. He wanted them to be mature. Quite possibly he knew the struggles of some of the church members. And when he prayed for them zealously, fervently all the time, maybe certain names came to his mind, brother so-and-so and sister so-and-so in this family. And I know they're struggling in this way. And he prayed for them. Has God put people in your heart that you know are struggling, that God wants you to uphold before the throne of grace, to say, God, help them so that they would get serious about following Jesus Christ, that they would decide who is Lord in their life. We see another man mentioned. We've seen quite a few men mentioned in this chapter. We come down, look at verse 15. We've looked at the church at Laodicea, and now we see Nymphos. Nymphus and the church which is in his house. This is the only time in scripture this brother is addressed. And in fact, there's even a little bit of controversy. Some manuscripts, they read it in such a way to think this was Nympha and that it was a lady and the church in her house. Some people think, well, no, this was a man, Nymphus. I don't know that it really matters. My Bible here says Nymphus, whether it was a man and he hosted the church in his house or whether it was a lady and she hosted the church in her house, Either way, there's probably a lady involved in getting this house ready. If I had to guess, if they were hosting the church there, there was probably a lady somewhere behind the scenes that was making this happen, right? Putting all the things the way they ought to be. There was probably some food involved, right? So if I have in my creative spiritual imagination, I'm imagining this was probably a family in all likelihood. Quite likely, this is a person who has some means, quite possibly. We don't know. Maybe it was a poor man, a poor family. Maybe it was a family of certain conditions. In these days, this was before the church had really started doing what we do nowadays, which is we get a building, right? We come together, and by faith, we commit to invest to support a local congregation. And with those funds, we get a building. But here's a question for you. The building, the church. Is this building the church? No. That's what we call it, right? We say, I'm going to church. We understand we're going to a building. But what or who is the church? We are. See, the Holy Spirit lives in the church. Doesn't live in this building right here. It's only in this building because he's inside of us as believers. That's how the Holy Spirit He is where the believers are. And so in these days, before church buildings, they had to meet wherever they could. And this became their custom to meet in houses. In the first century, for the most part, it was exclusively in houses. They might meet out in public. They might meet in the steps of the temple. There was other places. But generally, these churches, especially spread out throughout the Gentile world, they met in houses. Now, here's something to think about. This required some Sacrifice, okay, you had to be willing to take on this responsibility. This was also not only an inconvenience, because think about that. You know what it's like to have church people over to your house? That's a big deal, right? Think about having all the church people over to your house. That's an even bigger deal. Honey, I invited all of the church over. You did what? Yeah, we're gonna have all the church in our house. Are you serious? Think about all the cleaning that had to happen. Okay, you take all that stuff and put it away, right? And then you gotta take it out. Then next week the church is coming back, you gotta put it away again. That was a commitment. That was a possibly a big strain on that family to have the church in their house. But not only that, not only was it a strain, it could also be a dangerous thing. Because see, by having the church in your house, You are putting yourself out as one who is a leader in this movement, one who is trusted, one who is carrying a certain amount of responsibility and sponsorship. You are aiding and abetting these crazy Christians. We find several times in the New Testament where people who had the church in their house ended up in trouble. They're dragged before the magistrates, right? They're the ones that are in trouble because They were seen as, hey, you're hosting, you are encouraging these people, you're taking responsibility, so now you're in trouble. So this family that was hosting the church in their home, it was more than just this is inconvenient, it could be now we have a target on our backs. And we know that we're gonna be the first ones they come after. But for Nymphus, church was not just a matter of custom and convenience. It was important enough to him that he made it work. Is gathering together with God's people a matter of custom and convenience to you? We got to experience a taste of this in 2020, right? Up till 2020, we had our easy routine. It's church day, the doors are open, I feel okay, I guess I'll go. 2020 changed that a little bit, right? Changed the calculus, the equation. For numbers of months, we couldn't meet. And then even when we can, there's that question of, should I even go? Some of you are watching tonight. Maybe you don't feel comfortable. Maybe you can't come. And I'm not speaking to all of those decisions necessarily. Those are ones that you have to know. But is church a matter just of custom and convenience to us? Do we just do it because that's what I've always done? I mean, I was raised going to church every time the doors were open, right? It's the only thing I know. I don't really know what it feels like to just hang out at home when it's time to go to church. That's just not my custom. But is it worth more than that to me? Do I just go because I like it? I like to see people. It's kind of nice. You know, it makes me feel good about myself. To Nymphis and his family, it was about more than that. It had to be a matter of serious commitment. Believers in the early church knew what it was like to have to count the cost to decide, is gathering together worth it? And here's a man, he said, me and my house, We're gonna serve the Lord. We're gonna do whatever it takes to provide a place for God's people to meet. No matter what it means. If it's inconvenient, if it's dangerous, that's what we're going to do. Then we come to this matter in verse 16. And this epistle is read among you, when it is read among you, cause that it be read in the church of Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. Now, I won't say a lot here. If you want, you can go read commentators, argue back and forth what all this means and what the epistle of Laodiceans was. Here's what I can tell you. We don't have the epistles of Laodiceans that we know of in our New Testament. Some would say, oh, maybe it was here, maybe it was lost, maybe this happened, maybe it was this epistle, maybe it was that epistle. Some people think it was the book of Ephesians, that Ephesians was actually what they would call a circular letter that was intended to more than one church. That's quite possible. I don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us, so I'm not going to tell you. You can decide what you think it is. But scholars are pretty clear on the fact we don't have this preserved for us in God's word today that we know. So what does that say? What do we take from that? First of all, things we can note. They read these epistles and they gave great importance to them. When they got these letters from Paul, they took them as instruction from God. They read them and they took heed to them. And when they didn't, he wrote them another letter and said, hey, you were supposed to pay attention to what I said. This is as coming from God. They gave great importance and value to these letters. They had a great respect for them. Secondly, God has given us all the scripture he wants us to have. God has given us all the scripture he wants us to have. Now I don't have time to launch an extensive study. Pastor Boffman would be much better at that at talking of canonicity and when the canon is closed and how we know for sure we have all scripture. But what we do know is that God has preserved for us what he wants us to have. These are written for us. All that we have is to give us what God's mind is. It is to be for our profit, for our benefit, so that we can be like Jesus Christ. So all the scripture that we do have is what God wants us to have. Now, did the apostles ever write letters that we don't have? Yes, they probably wrote quite a few that we don't have. But these that we do have are the ones that God has said these are significant enough, which makes them important enough for us to study carefully that God has preserved for us. And so we can have confidence that we have all the scripture that God intends for us to have. And that means that we should study what we do have. that none of the Bible is just to be written off, to be ignored. Say even the book of Ezekiel, yes. Even those other minor prophets, yes. Even the genealogies, yes. If I come to God's word and I can't get much out of it, here's where I'm at with that. I conclude the fault is with me, okay? The fault is not with God's word. The problem is that I haven't studied enough, that I haven't sought God's face enough, that I haven't maybe asked in places. We have wonderful resources today. We are drowning in information. Today is the greatest era ever to be alive as a Bible student, other than maybe when Jesus walked on the earth and he could have told you, right? Other than that time, we have the greatest opportunity to study, to learn about God's word. We also have to fight against all the other information that's out there, right? We have to wean it and carefully we have to choose. But we have no excuse. If we can't understand God's word, we need to seek the Holy Spirit? We need to study, we need to pray, and there's tools. God has given us resources, people resources and written resources, digital resources. On your phone, you can access so many Bible helps. You have to do so carefully. But God has given us the ability, and let's take that seriously as these New Testament believers did, as they listened, as they carefully read these letters. Let that be an example to us. Let's look secondly here. Let's keep on going. Let's look at Archippus. This is an admonition to weary saints. I don't know if I gave you the first point, appreciation for the committed saints, an appreciation. Secondly, we see an admonition to weary saints. We find a weary saint in chapter 4 and verse 17. Maybe you can sympathize with our brother Archippus here tonight. Listen to 17. It says, In St. Archippus take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfill it. Pay attention. Focus on. Archippus, he's mentioned also in Philemon, the second verse. I wanna say chapter one, but there's really only one section, so you could say Philemon chapter one and verse two. But Philemon is mentioned there in the second verse. Excuse me, Archippus is mentioned there in the second verse of the letter to Philemon. And here's what he is called. He is called a fellow soldier of Paul. One who has entered into battle together with the Apostle Paul. We don't know a lot about him, but apparently he was one who had served right alongside of Paul. Think back over your life, people that you've stood shoulder to shoulder with in serving the Lord. maybe in teaching a Sunday school class, maybe in outreach, maybe in a children's ministry, maybe on a bus route, maybe there's been some opportunity. You've stood side by side in the trenches fighting together to serve the Lord with someone. And Paul lists Archippus as one of his fellow soldiers. There was a bond there. He had observed in Archippus a willingness to fight for Jesus Christ, and he commends him in the book of Philemon. We don't know much else about this man. What we know is really found here. And he's being challenged. Look at it again. Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it. Some people speculate maybe Archippus was the interim pastor, that maybe he was leading the Church of Colossae, since we believe that Epaphras had been the pastor and he's with Paul there in Rome. Some people think, well, maybe Archippus was the interim. That he was there filling the pulpit while their pastor was gone. That's possible. We don't know. Some people think, based on where it's mentioned, saluting the brethren in Laodicea, that maybe he was the pastor of the church at Laodicea. Again, we don't know. Speculation. It's a possibility. But whatever the case, Archippus, God had called him to some ministry. And Paul doesn't specify what it is. And so we don't know, other than knowing that there was a ministry he'd been called to. God the Spirit had separated him out, called him to serve him, and said, Archippus, here is your job. Apparently, Archippus knew whatever that ministry was. It could have been being a pastor. It could have been that he was an influential evangelist, that he had people within his sphere of influence that he was able to give the gospel to. It could have been serving within his family, we don't know. But there was some ministry that God had given to Archippus. And it's interesting, note how Paul challenges him. He doesn't just say, Archippus, with a direct address. He doesn't just say, listen up, Archippus. No, what does he say? Look at the first word there, or the first few words there in verse 17. What does it say? And say to Archippus. Who is that addressed to? Is that addressed to Archippus? Who's it addressed to? Other believers, right? The church. He says, hey, church, I've got a job for you. You know what your job is, church? Your job is to say some things to Archippus. And here's what you're supposed to say. You're supposed to say, take heed to the ministry that you've received, that you fulfill it. Interesting. This is one of the few places in the scripture where we find a church being challenged to do this to a spiritual leader. We don't know his calling. He might've been a deacon, he might've been a pastor, he could've been a Sunday school teacher, could've been a missionary that he supported. We don't know, but he says, church, I want you to do something for me. I want you to talk to Archippus, and when you talk to Archippus, here's what I want you to tell him. Don't stop focusing on the ministry God has given you. Make sure that you finish it well. Some people have speculated that maybe Archippus was a young man. Maybe he was just getting started. Maybe he got discouraged and he needed people to come along and encourage him to keep going. That's a possibility. Many times when we start out serving the Lord, we have that fervor, we have that excitement, then something comes along and discourages us. Could have been that. Other people think, well, maybe since it says finish well, maybe he was an older man and maybe he was kind of wearing down. and he needed to be encouraged to keep going, to not quit. That's possible as well, we don't know. But we know that all of us in our lives, we have times when we need somebody to come alongside and say, hey, you know what? I wanna encourage you. I've seen that you're doing your best to serve God, and I know it's hard for you. I know you're getting tired, but let me just encourage you, don't quit. Keep going, keep serving Jesus Christ. If you've ever had that happen to you, you know how encouraging that can be. Somebody just comes up to you for no reason, and just says, hey, I just want you to know, I'm thankful for you, and I'm praying for you. And maybe you could give a testimony to that tonight, how encouraging that has been. Paul says, Church, I want you to do that for Archippus, because he needs the encouragement. He needs somebody to come along and challenge him and say, hey, keep going. Don't quit. Maybe there were some things in Archippus' life. Maybe he, like the Laodiceans, has gotten his eyes off of Jesus Christ. Maybe other things were tripping him up. Paul says, Church, you have a responsibility. I'm giving you a charge, a job. There is body life here. Archippus had been given a ministry, but he'd been given a ministry responsibility, and Paul says, church, encourage him that he fulfill it, that he see it through. Archippus was not above being challenged and needing encouragement. A pastor certainly has obligations toward the church, but the church has an obligation towards their leaders. See here, based on what the Bible says, we don't believe in two classes. We don't believe that there's the class of clergy and the class of laity, right? That there's those that are way up here and they wear the robes and they're way up high and you can't talk to them because they're different. No, we don't believe that. We believe that all of us are sinners saved by grace, and every one of us needs somebody in our life to whom we're accountable. We need someone who's watching, who's encouraging, who's praying. And even at times, you know what we need? We need to be challenged. Because none of us are perfect. There's nobody who is born of flesh and of blood that doesn't need to be challenged from God's word. And Archippus, here he is, a spiritual leader, and he needs to be reminded Paul wanted the people there to be encouragers. Are you an encourager? I find in Paul's life an example. Here's a man who loved to have people around him who would encourage him. Wherever you find Paul, he's either got a bunch of people around him or he's looking to have more. You read Paul's epistles and he's got that traveling crew with him we've been reading about and whenever they're away from him, he wants them back because he knows he needs encouragement. He knew what it was like to have those around him who would pray for him, pray with him, uphold him before the throne of grace, who would challenge him when he was straying, maybe when he was getting discouraged. And all of us need those kind of people around us. Are you an encourager? Is there someone that you've made it your job to say, you know what? God's placed that person on my heart and I want to encourage them. I can think of people in my life, at different points in my ministry, places where God has brought me, who've made it their job to be an encourager. You know, there are those hard days, all of us have them, right? When you just need somebody to give you a kind word, an encouraging word. But it seems like your whole world is crashing down. Those of you that are married, hopefully your spouse is one of those people for you. And spouses, we have that obligation. Parents, we have that obligation, that responsibility towards our children. But all of us, there should be somebody that we look and we say, who can I encourage? Who is there that I can be that person to lift them up? When they say, you know what, I'm about done, I've just about had it, I'm ready to throw in the towel, that God touches our heart, and we come along and we say, hey, I just want you to know, I wanna pray for you this week. I want you to know God is gonna help you. God is with you, and I'm right here. I'm going to continue to stick with you. Archivists needed those people. We need those people. We need to be those people. that are willing to come along, be a godly friend, who comes alongside of others when they're thinking of quitting, when they think it might not be worth it, and we tell them, keep going. Maybe you need to be encouraged today. Maybe you want to quit. Maybe you say 2020 has just been too much. I can't take another, whatever it is, 30-something, 40-something days of this. I just want to be done now. Well, God wants us to keep going. Philippians 1.6 tells us, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Don't quit. God is not finished with you. Paul challenges Archippus, show yourself faithful, focus on the ministry you've received, don't quit. We often feel like quitting. I found a quote from a cyclist, a disgraced cyclist by the name of Lance Armstrong, but he had a good quote about not quitting. He said this, pain is temporary. but quitting lasts forever. Pain is temporary, but quitting lasts forever. Many times in the moment of struggle. We feel that pain and we say, I wanna get out of this. I wanna be done. But pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever. Actually, the full quote says, pain is temporary. It may last a minute, an hour, a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. And see here, as believers, We want to finish well our course. We want to be not ones that count the cost and find it to not be worth it. Listen to 1 Corinthians 15, 58, probably familiar verses to you as they are to me. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. heard the story of a boy who was trying to learn how to ice skate. And he went out and bought his ice skates, and he goes out onto the frozen pond there, and he's trying to learn, and he keeps falling. And he'd fallen so many times that he was bruised, his face was cut, and the blood and the tears are running together. And a man feels bad for him and comes over to him and says, son, why don't you quit before you kill yourself? Right? Really encouraging guy, right? The boy wipes away the tears and he says to the man, mister, I didn't buy these skates to learn how to quit. I bought them to learn how to skate. I thought what an admirable example. So sometimes we just feel like it's not worth it. You know, I just keep getting beat up. Is it ever going to get any better? Is it going to be 2020 forever? Right? Isaiah 40 verse 31 tells us, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Archivists don't quit. Hey, Colossian Church, would you encourage him? Would you help him not to quit? Would you be the hands of Aaron and Hur holding up the arms of Moses and saying, hey, we're right here with you. We support you in this. We're gonna keep praying. We're gonna keep encouraging. We're going to be here. We're not going to leave you. Many quit too soon because they take their eyes off of where they should be, focused on Jesus Christ. And then we have to close with the example of the Apostle Paul. Look at verse 18. Here's an example for those who are thinking of quitting. The salutation, by the hand of me, Paul, remember my bonds, grace be with you, amen. You say, Pastor Ed, how is that an encouragement to anybody who's thinking of quitting? That's just one verse, it doesn't say that much. Well, think about what's being said here. The salutation by the hand of me, Paul. Why was Paul making it a big deal that he was signing this letter by hand? Why do you think? Well, it's quite likely he didn't write the rest of the epistle. Why didn't he write the rest of the epistle? Well, we don't know, but it seems that Paul had what we would call an amanuensis, a letter taker, a person who would write down his letters for him. Why? Could have been that all those beatings that he'd suffered, stonings, imprisonments, whipping, all of that. It could have been that left him in a state where he couldn't write. You think you have bad handwriting. You think I have bad handwriting. His handwriting may have been so bad it couldn't even be read. That's a possibility. Others think his eyesight was so bad. Many people think that he struggled with his eyesight to the point where he couldn't even see well enough to write. Elsewhere, he talks about how large of letters he's written with his hand, which indicates that maybe he could barely see. And so he's writing them really large where he could even see what he was writing. We don't know. Whatever the case, Paul couldn't even really write his own epistles. So think about how dependent he is on other people. It's quite possible that through the physical suffering he'd experienced for following Jesus Christ, he could no longer even do some of the things we take for granted. I mean, that'd make me want to quit. If I'd experienced stonings, beatings, shipwrecks, being whipped all the times he was beaten within an inch of his life, And yet he keeps going. He says, look at here, here's the salutation. I want you to know, I wrote this part. I want you to know that this is genuine, this is authentic. It came from me. I'm even signing it at the end. So he had to be committed in the face of physical suffering. Then he had to be committed in bonds. Look at the next expression. Remember my bonds. He's not talking about stocks and bonds here. He was in stocks and bonds, but not the kind you're thinking of. He was chained, okay? It's quite likely that when he went to go write and sign his name, the chain was clanking on the desk or on the floor, reminding him, hey, Paul, you're tied up here. You can't go anywhere. Why are you in prison? Because you're such a rotten guy? No, because you were preaching the gospel. And Paul wasn't writing letters, hey, first century churches, bail me out, all right, would you guys please do a, would you please do a petition, right, petition.org, fill out this petition, let Paul out of prison, he's a good guy. No, that's not what he's doing. He's thinking about the needs of others. He's concerned about God's work. And just at the very end, he says, you know what, would you please remember to pray for me and my bonds? And he's letting them know, hey, following Jesus Christ has a cost. This isn't something that I just do casually. This is something that I've given up my freedom in order to do. What kind of cost do you and I have for following Jesus Christ? It has not yet meant chains, going to prison, but as we move the direction we're moving as a country and in our world, that day is probably coming. You can see it. You can see it coming with speech, with hate speech and things. You can see that it's not unlikely that in the future there will come a time where once again we may get to pay by giving up our freedom in order to follow Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul was committed. He said, I'm willing to even experience these chains. but he's not throwing himself a pity party. Instead, he's concerned for people in all places of all different types. The last person he's concerned about is himself. His reference to his bonds are not a call for sympathy, but instead, they're a bit of a claim that he knows what he's talking about when he writes to believers and urges them to stay faithful in the face of potential consequences. He says, I know it's going to cost, but let me tell you, it's worth it. I tell you as this as someone who knows what it may mean. He was an example of commitment of faithfulness to them. What do you do with a guy like Paul? Paul, if you don't quit preaching, we're going to stone you. Well, that's been done before. Look, Paul, if you don't quit preaching, we're going to throw you in jail. Hey, guys, could you send me back to Rome? They let me out of jail last time before I could get the jailer saved. If you could just send me back there, please, I'd appreciate it. Paul, if you don't quit preaching, we're gonna kill you. Oh, good. I've been in this dilemma for a long time. I've been trying to decide, should I be here, or is it better to depart and be with Jesus? You know what? Finally, you'll settle that for me. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. If you could just go ahead and make the decision easy for me, I'd appreciate it. What do you do with him? You can't kill him. He's already dead to self. He's already decided that to die is gain. Paul said in Galatians 2.20, for I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And he closes saying, grace be with you. You can have the grace of Jesus with you. Are you saved? Do you know this grace personally? As pastor preached about this morning, Have you come to Jesus Christ by faith and had his grace? And do you have his grace every day so that you can face those challenges? Colossians 3.1 once again challenges us, and I leave you with this thought. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Have you found in Jesus? a worthwhile goal, one who's worth setting your sights on and following after Him. Do you know His grace every day to help you in that direction? Let's pray. We'll be done tonight. Heavenly Father, thank You for the opportunity to look into Your Word, to see the lives of these committed believers, those who have taken up their cross and followed after You, some at great cost. Lord, help us to examine our own hearts and see how serious we are about following after you. Lord, that we would desire to know your grace, to know the help of your spirit, to enable us to follow after you every single day. Lord, to know the delight and the joy it is to walk with you. I pray that if you're standing outside of any heart tonight and knocking, that those would hear your voice and open the door and let you come in and know the wonderful fellowship. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
It Takes All Kinds of People Pt. 4- Committed Christianity
Series Risen Christianity- Colossians
Sermon ID | 1123201346422469 |
Duration | 32:03 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday - PM |
Bible Text | Colossians 4:15-18 |
Language | English |
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