I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter 4. We finish our work through this book this evening. If you're using the Pew Bible, that can be found on page 1170. Colossians chapter 4, we'll begin our study at verse 7. Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I've 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. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you. And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions, if he comes to you, welcome him. And Jesus, who is called Justice, these are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Heropolis. Luke, the beloved physician, greets you, as does Demas. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. As you know, at various times I have the opportunity to preach at different churches, being a second pastor here among you. And every time I go and preach at another church, another congregation, I make sure to bring to those churches greetings on your behalf. And so whether that be the Christ URC in Santee or Christ URC in Anaheim or Ripon Reform Fellowship, I bring greetings from our church here, Escondido URC. And I love to do that. I love to bring greetings to our brothers and sisters in other churches and in other places in our state. And why? Well, because it reminds those brothers and sisters that they are not alone, but they're part of a larger body of believers. They have fellow believers in the faith who think about them and consider them and pray for them and support them and their work and ministry and you see that's how the church of christ ought to function isn't it that's exactly what we see in the text here before us this evening now when reading a text like this i think it's easy to be tempted to kind of just gloss over these words here you see we've read the the main sections of this epistle haven't we the the meaty sections of this epistle and so when we get to these greetings and these various names that we might not even know how to pronounce. It's easy to just gloss over or maybe even just skip it altogether. But let me remind you, brothers and sisters, all scripture is God-breathed. All scripture is useful for teaching and rebuking and correcting and training up in righteousness. And this text is no exception to that truth and reality and so what we have here in this text is really an encouraging record of how believers are to be a blessing to each other and in addition to that what we see here is God's faithfulness to his people as he works through other people and works in them see Paul begins this section with mentioning the name of a fellow believer in Christ doesn't he the name Tychicus or Tychicus but that's not the only name that he lists here there along with Tychicus Paul lists fellow believers in Christ Onesimus Aristarchus Mark the cousin of Barnabas Jesus who is called Justice Epaphras Luke Demas then Paul sends greetings to the brothers at Laodicea to Nympha the church in her home and finally a personal message to a man named Archippus and what does all of this point out to the church at Colossae well again it points out that they are not alone they're not alone they're not the only church out in the world they're not the only Christians who are struggling and fighting for the faith they're not the only ones who are fighting false doctrines and struggling and battling against sin this world and the devil this section communicates to these brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossae, that they are part of a larger body of believers. Communicates to them that they have fellow believers in Christ in other places, in other parts of the world. Fellow brothers and sisters who have their own stories of faith and struggles and yes, even failures. They have fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are united to them via Christ and that they too share the mission of the kingdom of Christ. And so I titled this sermon this evening, Fellow Believers in Christ. Fellow believers in Christ who are united in Christ, fellow believers in Christ who are growing in Christ, and fellow believers in Christ who are all working together for christ and so those will serve as our points this evening fellow believers united in christ fellow believers growing in christ and fellow believers working for christ and when you put this all together these points what this drives home to the hearts of the colossian christians as well as our own is the encouraging message that we are not alone we are not alone but the lord is working in and through various peoples and churches all for great as a great encouragement to all of us collectively now as i mentioned paul lists a number of different names here right number of different people with different backgrounds different ethnic backgrounds different economic backgrounds even different religious backgrounds right Jews and Gentiles are listed here but what's the one single common denominator among these names and these people here they're all Christians they're all in Christ they may be at different stages in their walk with Christ they may have had different experiences of faith but they're all in christ this is a list of fellow brothers and sisters united in christ and the beautiful thing about being in christ is all those other differences when we compare them to what we have in christ fade don't they they fade it doesn't matter where you're from it doesn't matter what kind of background you have your your age your race your sex your economic status or any other difference that man makes out to be something when people are in christ there's there's almost an immediate connection understanding appreciation and love for each other i don't know if you've ever had the wonderful experience of traveling somewhere and running into some christians i had that opportunity with the or i had that experience with the youth group this past summer when we went to convention on the way back there was this couple sitting in the airport reading their bible i had to go over and talk to them they're reading their bibles right these are brothers and sisters in christ now sure we had some serious differences different theological perspectives but we were all in christ and being in christ is the single greatest possession and treasure in our lives is it not that's who we are that's what we identify with right being in christ now in addition being in christ means that collectively together we are exiles and sojourners in this life right we share in that as well as those in christ see the covenant community today are scattered people we're much more like the exiles of israel than the people who lived in the nation of israel and that's why the apostle peter and first peter calls christians exiles and sojourners because that's indeed what we are in this life. Now that shouldn't surprise us really when you think about it. If you recall our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was a man who himself was familiar with rejection. A man who was familiar with being alone. A man who said he had no place to lay his head. Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Jesus was despised and rejected by men. Rejected by his own people, wasn't he? People he came to save rejected him. For Christ, the truth that a prophet is not accepted in his hometown wasn't just true in Nazareth. It was true everywhere Christ went. It was true throughout his life. And that's why John tells us early in the ministry of Christ that he did not entrust himself to anyone for he knew what was in man. And then of course Isaiah 53 tells us that he was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrow acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not this was true all throughout the life of christ but this was especially true at his death wasn't it of course the perfect example of this is the denial of peter not only did all of his disciples abandon him but here was a very close friend who swore to never deny him and so you can imagine the loneliness the rejection the abandonment that christ felt when he was being betrayed and unjustly tried and condemned and then one of his best friends denies him. All of that and Christ still had to die. All of that and he still had to endure the cross. He had to suffer and die a man rejected and alone. And why? Why did Christ have to die such a miserable death for us right for us and for our sins he was cursed and judged so that we would never be and so really then what we have in this passage here in colossians really captures for us what jesus told his disciples in matthew 18 after they professed to have abandoned everything for him and have left family and homes and land to which jesus says everyone who has left houses or brother or sister or father or mother or wife or children or field for my sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life you see we live in a world that not only rejected christ but it rejects the followers of christ because it rejects christ and so then it is the fellowship of believers that believers find comfort and companionship in it's the the unity that exists among those who are united in christ that we find joy love friendship it's as uh diedrich bonhoeffer said in his book life together he says it's not simply to be taken for granted that christians have the privilege of living among other christians between the death of christ and the last day it's only by gracious anticipation of last things that christians are privileged to live in visible fellowship with other christians it's by the grace of god that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share god's word and sacrament not all christians receive this blessing the imprisoned the sick the scattered lonely the proclaimers of the gospel and heathen lands they stand alone and so here in our text this evening is the apostle paul imprisoned and yet not alone in prison and yet surrounded by other brothers in christ who he finds to be a source of comfort for him paul expresses the reality of this when he mentions and uses the word beloved three times when describing some of the men who are there with him he says of tychicus he is our beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant he says of onasimus he is our faithful and beloved brother who is one of you and then when describing luke he describes him as the beloved physician although he uses the term beloved here to refer to these three men i think it's obvious when we read the text that the other men are a great comfort to paul as well these were his fellow prisoners his fellow workers his fellow servants these are his fellow believers in christ and as he says in verse 11 they are a source of comfort for him and it should be clear that Paul wanted these fellow believers to be a comfort for the church at Colossae as well see here is the church at Colossae surrounded by a culture that rejects them and a culture that actively impresses itself upon them and then within this church they're battling false teaching and false teachers and yet this passage reminds them they're not alone they're not alone they're part of a larger fellowship of believers in christ fellow believers who are wrestling and struggling just like them they're not alone they're part of a body of believers who are united just like them to christ and therefore united to them as well you see it's just like what bonhoeffer said god's faithfulness is expressed to believers when he brings other believers alongside of his people it's a beautiful thing as we sang this evening right in psalm 133 a beautiful thing when brothers dwell in unity the love that is expressed there now the truth is it's easy in this life to feel alone isn't it when we are battling in this life sin the world the devil it's easy to get bogged down and to feel alone to think that we are all alone in such things it's easy to feel like the prophet elijah right in kings and first kings 19 if you remember his story there's elijah sitting under a tree and the lord comes to elijah and says what are you doing here elijah and elijah says essentially it's over Lord your covenant people have broken your covenant they've thrown down your altars they've killed all your prophets and only I am the one left and Elijah wants to die he feels all alone and yet he wasn't first of course the Lord was with him the lord was there with him always jesus christ upon a cross reminds us that the lord will never leave us nor forsake us if he did not leave us in our sins why would he ever leave us in any situation he's bound himself to us in christ but secondly the lord tells elijah that he has preserved 7,000 in Israel who had not yet bent the knee to Baal. Again, maybe you're here tonight and you feel alone. I want to remind you that you are not. Your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is always with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is with you now just as he has always been and always will be and furthermore he has preserved a people for you you have brothers and sisters just like you who also are struggling in their faith struggling with temptation struggling in life we're here together as those united to each other as we are united in christ that's the beauty of the fellowship and the encouragement that we have as the church of god well second we see in this text fellow believers who are growing in christ when we consider some of the people that paul mentions here what we see is really a beautiful tapestry of men and women who are real people growing in christ just to point out a few paul mentions onesimus now i've shared with you previously who onesimus is onesimus is a runaway slave he was a runaway slave who belonged to the man philemon and he was the reason that paul wrote the book or the letter philemon to the man philemon you see onesimus wasn't always a christian prior to running away he wasn't just a slave to philemon but he was also a slave to his sin onesimus wasn't a christian but through the ministry of paul at some point onesimus comes to profess faith in christ and so paul in the book of philemon in verse 10 calls himself onesimus his father his father in the faith and he calls onesimus my son this is what he says listen hear this i appeal to you he's writing to philemon i appeal to you my child for my child onesimus whose father i became in my imprisonment formerly he was useless to you but now he is indeed useful to you and to me i am sending him back to you sending my very heart paul had become very fond of onesimus He would go on to say that he would keep Onesimus so that he could continue to serve him in his imprisonment, but he doesn't want to do that without Philemon's consent. And so Paul writes Philemon. But more than that, Onesimus had become a trustworthy brother in christ to paul you see that's how the lord works in our lives isn't it he takes people just like onesimus like runaway slaves which was a criminal thing to do there in the roman empire he takes people like onesimus and he changes their hearts and he begins to work faith and trust in their hearts and he begins to give them a heart of flesh and replacing their heart of stone begins to mature them grow them see Paul says to the church at Colossae of Onesimus in verse 9 that he is one of you the church at Colossae would have known Onesimus Philemon was among them as well. So they would have been familiar with the situation of Onesimus being a runaway slave. But now when Paul speaks of Onesimus, he doesn't say he is just a fellow countryman of yours, a runaway slave, but he says he is a fellow brother and brother in Christ, a fellow member in the household of God and then Paul uses this word faithful in regards to Onesimus he is our faithful and beloved brother imagine that imagine being in a congregation and knowing this this scandalous character Onesimus who was a runaway criminal slave and then you receive a letter from Paul saying that he is a faithful and beloved brother in Christ. I'm sure that must have puzzled the Christians at Colossae. But should it have really puzzled them? Again, isn't that what the Lord does with us? Isn't that his work by the Spirit to change us and transform us and to grow us and mature us in christ that's what the lord does that's what he always does that's what he has done with each of us because let's not kid ourselves apart from the grace of god we would all be like onesimus before god's grace was given to him apart from the grace of god who knows where we would be right who knows well in addition to Onesimus Paul also mentions Mark the cousin of Barnabas now who is this Mark the cousin of Barnabas well Mark was also known by the name John Mark Mark was mentioned in Acts 12 as one who accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their journey to Jerusalem but he also accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey But then when they set sail from Patphos, John Mark decides to leave them. He leaves them. Now Luke provides us with a little more detail about John Mark's departure from Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15. And what we see there is that a big dispute arises between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark having left them prior. You see, Paul wants to go back through the churches to encourage those churches that they once visited on their first missionary journey but Barnabas wants to take his cousin John Mark and Paul says no way no way are we taking that guy he abandoned us before and essentially this becomes a heated dispute between Paul and Barnabas so much so that they part ways they separate paul goes with silas and barnabas takes john mark but now here in the book of colossians chapter 4 what do we see john mark is back with the apostle paul they're back together interesting right i maybe interesting doesn't capture that this is wonderful this is encouraging we see where brothers have come together and have been reconciled after being separated. It's beautiful when brothers come together. If you've ever had the experience of disagreeing sharply with a fellow brother in Christ, but then being reconciled to them, you know how wonderful that is. How great that is. Paul goes on to tell us in 2 Timothy 4, 11 how much he appreciates John Mark. At that point, Paul has been abandoned by all but Luke. He's there by himself. And he tells Timothy, bring John Mark, bring Mark to me because he is very youthful to me for ministry. How beautiful when brothers are reconciled. Now, this reminds us, doesn't it, of who our God is. Our God is the God who reconciles not only people to Himself, but He's the God who reconciles His people to themselves. If we take an example like this, we read and we see an example like this, it should remind us that we too should be reconciled to those that we may be disagreeing with. We may have some kind of strife, some kind of conflict with. In light of the wonderful news of the gospel, in light of the fact that God has reconciled us to himself, shouldn't we be a people who pursue reconciliation? Absolutely. Absolutely. Now the sad reality is sometimes reconciliation isn't possible before between Christians. That's a sad reality. Paul mentions Demas in verse 14. Demas we learn in 2nd Timothy 4 he was one who eventually Paul says because of love for this world he has deserted me demas deserted paul again sadly at times it's not possible to be reconciled and yet that doesn't mean that we are not to pursue reconciliation as far as we can should strive to be reconciled to each other in light of what christ has done for us well the third thing we see in this text is the coordination of believers these are fellow believers who are all working together for christ with all the the real and potential differences that these people had the unifying factor is christ and what christ does is he gives to these people a single focus the kingdom of Christ and they're united in their work for that kingdom and so what we see here in this text is a a coordinated effort of various people all working together for the glory of Christ Paul says of Tychicus in verse 7 I've sent him to you to tell you all about my activities that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts that time that Paul is writing this Paul is under house arrest in Rome and so imagine Tychicus making a trip from Colossae or from Rome to Colossae a long trip a distant trip but the trip wasn't an issue was it Tychicus and Onesimus had the church at Colossae and the ministry of the gospel on their hearts and minds and that was the purpose that they set out for and so imagine the the kind of encouragement that these colossians felt at the arrival of these two men bringing greetings and reports to encourage them but then more than that these two men are bringing inspired scripture to this church at colossi they're bringing the word of the lord of the church to bear upon the lives of these christians and all christians over all time fantastic right wonderful to see this coordination now i think we maybe think of the kind of work that we do in the church of christ and sure maybe it's not the bearers of the word of god in this respect but you see all the work and ministry of the people of God is significant and matters within his kingdom you see it wasn't just Tychicus and Onesimus who were involved in work here right Paul speaks of Aristarchus John Mark Jesus called justice who were assistants to Paul great encouragements to him these men were willing to suffer alongside Paul they were his companions fellow workers then there was also Epaphras Epaphras, who we've mentioned before, probably the church planter of this church. And what does Paul tell us about Epaphras here? Well, Epaphras is a man of prayer. He's always struggling in prayer for this church. He's constantly on his knees praying for these Christians at Colossae, praying that they would stand mature, praying that they would fully be assured in all the will of God, Paul tells us. that's a major work isn't it when you think about it now i think when we think of prayer i don't think we really appreciate the impact of the work of prayer enough as i mentioned to you i i'm sick i've been sick all of this week and i know many of you guys are sick i can hear you right now right we've been sniffling and sneezing and coughing and many of you didn't just sympathize with me this past week but you prayed for me you mentioned that you would pray for me and what an encouragement that was for me as i struggled through writing a sermon through this text while being sick i was encouraged by the prayers of the saints here at escondido urc i know many of you guys are prayer warriors that's a crucial task within the church don't ever think that it's not don't ever think all i can do is just pray please continue to pray pray for me pray for pastor gordon pray for the elders pray for the deacons pray for the needs of each of us within this congregation we all need the prayers of each other don't we as a body we need to regularly be praying for each other one commentator put it this way he said it's often what a person does and invests away from the public eye that says most about their devotion to god's people and the work of ministry pray brothers and sisters well the prayer is not the only behind the scenes kind of work that's mentioned here there's also the work of encouragement that paul speaks of he mentions luke the physician now of course this is luke who wrote the gospel of luke and acts but i think luke is mentioned here really for the sake of saying Luke is an encouragement to Paul, a source of encouragement. We hear again at the end of 2nd Timothy in chapter 4 that everybody but Luke had abandoned Paul. There's Paul, the end of his life, and only his companion, Luke, is there. What an encouragement that must have been now much more can be said in this text in regards to the various works and participants in this work right there's the church at laodicea there's nympha who volunteered her home for that church now they they aren't with paul right paul sends greetings to them but they're playing a part in the ministry and the work of the church and then there's this man uh archibus a minister who Paul holds to account and says, fulfill the calling that has been placed upon you. I think we get the point, right? A concerted effort here by these Christians all working together for the kingdom of Christ. Again, brothers and sisters, these Christians were not alone. They weren't alone in the world. They weren't alone in their maturing and growing in their faith they weren't alone in their struggles they weren't alone they had fellow brothers and sisters in christ and what's true for them is true for us tonight as well whatever work we're involved in here in the church we're not alone in doing that work there are others who are serving alongside of us even if we don't see them when we work even if we feel like we're doing all the work the lord has called us together collectively he's given each of us gifts talents to serve within his body and and just if you're not using a gift and talent then i encourage you to do that very thing be a part of the ministry and work you're not alone you're not alone in your maturing and your growth in the faith your brothers and sisters also are struggling alongside side of you praying for you lifting you up are here for you for your encouragement for your companionship for your fellowship we're all united to christ and therefore as we are united to christ we're united together and so let's continue to be the church of christ here in escondido an expression of the faith at Escondido URC. May we be encouraged to continue to walk in Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for a passage like this. A passage that, again, we can so easily just gloss over, Lord, but what an encouraging passage. I pray that your spirit would encourage us tonight by it Lord we thank you for the work of these men Lord that we have recorded here we thank you for the faith of these men we thank you for the growth that you have produced in the lives of these men as well as in our lives Lord and we pray that you would continue to be about that work directing the eyes of our hearts to Jesus Christ our Lord as we continue to profess faith together here bless us Lord, in that endeavor. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.