With a Little Help from My Friends

Colossians 4:7-18

Colossians chapter 4 verses 7 through 18, and this is the part of the epistle to the Colossians that nobody bothers to read. They read, basically, through verse 6 and then it's all sort of personal data thrown in at the end and it's easy to assume that this is the dull part of the book. That this is just the ending and a few little amenities that don't really have anything to do with us because we haven't got the faintest idea who that 'first guy is and we're not too sure it even matters. But it does matter.

What you have here at the close of Colossians is a group photograph, frankly. Paul signs his letter and it includes a group photograph. He has grouped together in one portrait at the end of this epistle, all of the people who helped him in his ministry while he was a prisoner in Rome.

And so we've called this section "With a little help from my friends." Because it expresses the very deep‑down satisfaction in the life of the Apostle Paul that he is able to accomplish his ministry only because of the faithfulness of many dear friends who have stuck by him and who have been helpful to him in his ministry. And in order to use them as an encouragement to the Colossians and to all the churches that would read this letter, including Grace Community, he tells us a little bit about them. And it adds a very warm, personal touch to what is a very doctrinal letter. It also indicates to me something of the magnetism of his personality and the deep rich love of which he was capable because of the fact that he had so many of these people with him for so many years and they had such a deep loyalty for the man.

So to Paul these are indispensable folks. These are the folks who have been making his ministry possible. He couldn't do it by himself, nobody ever can. Not even the finest ... not even the Apostle Paul could do it alone, he had to have help from his friends. And they supported him. But it's always been that way.

Look with me for a moment at some of the greatest in the history of God's working. In Exodus chapter 17 and verse 8 we find Moses and it says in verse 8; "Came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us out men and go out, fight with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses said to him, fought with Amalek and Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed; when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy and they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on the one side, the other on the other side and his hands were steady till the going down of the sun. And Joshua vanquished Amalek and his people with the edge of his sword."

Here you have the holding up of Moses' hands; with a little help from his friends Israel was able to win a great victory under his leadership.

Numbers chapter 11 indicates to us another similar incident. In Numbers 11 verse 14 Moses says to God; "I am not able to bear all this people alone because it is too heavy for me." I can't handle the responsibility of leadership, God, it's too much. "If Thou deal with us thus, kill me I pray Thee out of hand, if I have found favor in Thy sight let me not see my wretchedness." God, You have to do something or I'm going to die. "The Lord said to Moses gather unto Ale seventy men of the elders of Israel whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people and officers over them and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation that they may stand there with thee.'! And so again, with a little help from his friends God's leader was able to accomplish what he never ever could have accomplished by himself.

In Proverbs there are many, many statements about how important it is for a man to have companions. One significant one is Proverbs 27:17 which says; "Iron sharpens iron and so does a man sharpen the countenance of his friend." Men help men. They increase their effectiveness and as the case is indicated in Proverbs they increase even their satisfaction as it shows up on their countenance.

These kinds of thoughts are traced throughout all the Old and New Testament and you're familiar with them. But let me draw you to one other one, Jack mentioned this to us in our study on Wednesday night and it's a very appropriate text. Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 9, it says this; "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor." In other words, two can work harder and earn more than one. "If they fall the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falls for he has not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together then they have heat, but how can one be warm alone." And, of course, in those days you got heated because of somebody's body lying next to you. Even when David was old and infirmed and was just a decrepit old man they had to find a young virgin to crawl in bed to keep him warm so he didn't die, just to make sure nobody thought there was anything going on it says ‑ "And David knew her not." All he wanted at that point in life was a heater, frankly.

So Ecclesiastes 4:9...Ecclesiastes 4:9, 10 and 11 tell us two are better than one. If one prevail against him, two shall withstand him. And threefold chord is not quickly broken.

Now when you get into the New Testament you find this principle of two better than one, and three better than two illustrated in the life of the early church. For example, if you were to read in the 13th chapter of Acts about the first church outside the city of Jerusalem, the church in Antioch, you would find that they had five leaders. Five; Barnabas, Simeon, Niger, Lucius, Manaen and even Saul was brought into the situation. They ministered for the Lord. And when the Lord called out Saul to be a missionary, he didn't call him alone, he said; "Separate me Barnabas and Saul," and from the very beginning of Saul's ministry, at that point, he never spent any other part of his ministry alone. He always had companions. In fact, the only time you'll ever see him alone in the entire book of Acts is a brief period of time in Athens while he was waiting for his friends to arrive.

So the Apostle Paul has always been the kind of person who needed help from his friends. As great as he was he could never do it alone. And it's still true. We can't do it alone. We have to have each other. And that's the message of this text to us tonight.

Paul, as we look at Colossians 4, is a prisoner in the city of Rome. It is the first of two imprisonments. The second one will issue in his death. During this imprisonment he has some friends with him. And he gives us a portrait of each one of them in a composite photograph. These are the friends who helped. Sometime during this two year imprisonment he wrote the letter to the Colossians, around 60 AD or so. And during that time these are the people who were very special people in his life. They are heroes of a sort because there was a price to pay to be associated with a prisoner. There was a certain social association that maybe didn't put you in the classiest group when you were attendant upon a prisoner. There was a certain element of looking down the nose of somebody like that and there was always the possibility that you could find yourself in the same fate as that prisoner, should the tide turn against him. So they were kind of heroes. They paid a price to associate themselves with Paul who was a prisoner in Rome. But they counted the cost, they made the commitment, they hung in there and Paul tells us about them in this tremendous passage.

Let's meet them. The first one is a man name Tychicus, ch is pronounced like a k, Tychicus. I call him the man with a servant's heart. And each one of them has something unique about them and we'll just go through and look at them. It isn't really going to be like a sermon, too much, more like just a character study or two. Tychicus, the man with a servant's heart, verse 7 ‑‑ let's meet him. "All my state," or "All my condition," the situation I'm in at the present, "Shall Tychicus declare unto you who is a beloved brother and a faithful servant and a fellow slave in the Lord whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that he might know your state and comfort your hearts." The name Tychicus means fortuitous or fortunate. And indeed he was fortunate. We don't know much about him. There isn't much said in the Bible, he's mentioned five times and every time it's very, very brief. But we know one thing; he lived up to his name because he was a fortunate man to be able to spend as much time, in fact, as many years as he did in the ministry with the Apostle Paul.

The first time we meet him is in the 20th chapter of Acts and the fourth verse. And in that chapter the Apostle Paul is at Ephesus. You don't need to turn to it, we'll just talk about it a minute. The Apostle Paul is at Ephesus. He's kind of winding down his third missionary journey. And he has a plan. His plan is to go to Macedonia. And over in Macedonia he wants to collect some money, you remember that? And he has in mind collecting from the Thessalonian church, the Philippian church and the Corinthian church which were the major churches of the area of Macedonia. He has the idea of collecting from those congregations money as a love gift to the saints in Jerusalem. He is going to return to Jerusalem because he wants to get there to conciliate with them the Gentile church. He realizes the Jews have one thing going, even the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians have their own thing going and he's fearful that they'll never be that unity that he really was really supposed to preach. After all he was the Apostle of the mystery of the unity of the Jew and the Gentile. So his great burden was to collect some money from the saints in the Gentile lands and to take that money to Jerusalem and give it to the saints there as a show of love from the Gentile to the Jew in hopes that it would kind of unite them together.

And not only did he want to take money, but he had in mind taking certain Gentile Christians. Some from each of those congregations. And if you were to read the 20th chapter of Acts and the fourth verse you would simply be reading the names of the people who accompanied him back to Jerusalem. The names of the Gentiles from the churches in Galatia, from the churches in Asia Minor and from the churches in Macedonia, there were certain Gentiles who went along with him on the journey to confirm their love to the Jerusalem Christians. One of those was Tychicus. And so he appears, first of all, as he joins the Apostle to go to Jerusalem.

Now this gives something of the indication of his spirit. He is a man with a servant's heart. He realizes this is a long journey. He's leaving his home, his job, his friends, the fellow­ship of his church; he's going on a definite adventure. One step out of town with Paul was an adventure. One step into town was equally an adventure. Now he knew that this was going to be an adventure. He didn't know how long it was going to take. A journey in those days wasn't hopping on a jet, landing, turning around and hopping back. It was very arduous, very difficult and very long range. And yet he was willing to do it. And all along the way, you remember in the book of Acts as Paul goes, at every city somebody warns him what's going to happen when he gets to Jerusalem. And yet nobody, at least not recorded in the book of Acts, nobody bailed out. They stuck with him. So that when you get to Jerusalem it's obvious that Tychicus is still there. And already we begin to see his servant's heart. A lot of people gave money but a few people gave themselves, he was one of those.

And so now when we see him as Paul writes Colossians, he's still with Paul. He's still around. He's stuck by him for a long time now. He went to Jerusalem with him. It may be that he returned with him. He for sure is with him now in the imprisonment in Rome. And what is even more exciting is that later on Paul has another imprisonment, a second imprisonment in which his life was finally taken. And at the end of Titus, chapter 3 verse 12, he says; "When I shall send Artemas unto thee or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me to Nicopolis for I have determined to spend the winter there." In the second imprisonment of Paul, Tychicus is still there. Here's a loyal man. And you know what? He says ‑ I'm going to send him, Titus, to take your place, either he or Artemas. We don't know which one he sent but it may well have been Tychicus.

Now what Paul wanted was ‑‑ Paul loved Titus. Titus was the pastor of the congregations in the island of Crete. And Paul wanted Titus to come and spend the winter with him. Paul knew it wasn't only the winter of the year but it was the winter of his life. And Paul wanted the fellowship and the love of Titus. And so he said to Titus ‑ Look, if you'll come and meet me in Nicopolis and spend the winter with me, I will send this man Artemas ‑or this man Tychicus, to take care of your church.

Now it's kind of an interesting thing. Here is a man who started out as a messenger and wound up substituting for a very great man, the man by the name of Titus. The man with a servant's heart made himself available and God used him in ways, I'm sure, he never dreamed possible.

Now later on, I want you to notice something, Paul wrote the last letter that we believe he wrote II Timothy chapter 4 verse 12. And he says this, writing to Timothy; "And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. The cloak that I left at Troas." I'm glad he has that same problem that all of us have. He left his coat somewhere. "The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpos, when you come would you please bring it and my books and especially the parchments?" Good to know he's human, isn't it? He left almost everything there. So he says ‑ When you come will you bring all that stuff I left over there? Now you see what he's saying here is Timothy, I want you to come and be with me. I need you.

And in order that you can come and be with me I know you'll have to leave your congregation in Ephesus so I'm going to send somebody to take your place. And who is it? Tychicus again. He's making a career out of being an interim pastor. And he's filling in for some pretty ... pretty high class men; Titus and Timothy. He would reflect to both of those congre­gations the character of Paul, the life of Paul, the ministry of Paul. And they would love him because he would bring Paul to them.

     Now that's the kind of man he was. He was a messenger. He was a pastor. In fact, he was anything Paul wanted him to be. We never find any bit of argument. We never find any bit of anxiety. We only find Tychicus doing what Paul told him to do.

Now let's back track a little bit and find him in Rome, in Colossians chapter 4. This is during the first imprisonment. We aren't as far as the Titus event or the Timothy event. That's yet in his future. And by the time Colossians is written, four years have passed since Tychicus joined Paul in the trip to Jerusalem. He's proven his loyalty. He's still available. He's still open to Paul. And this is a great thing, folks. You know, it isn't everybody who can keep somebody for four years. You know that. It isn't every great man who can keep people for four years, five years, six years, ten years like Paul did. But this is a faithful servant. He loves Paul. He's loyal. He'll be a messenger. He'll be a pastor. He'll be anything. And Paul here has in mind sending him with the letter to the Colossians. He isn't going to pastor; he's just going to be a delivery boy.