Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.
My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.) Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.
After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.
Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”
I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
We weren’t going to read those verses today. When I planned out how to preach through Colossians, my plan was to skip the last twelve verses. Can you guess why? All the names! People we don’t recognize. Places we don’t recognize. When we see lists like this in the Bible, we skip over them, right? All these names… Who cares! Let’s move on to something important.
Except, when you write a letter, what usually comes at the end? What’s most important. Maybe we need to think about these verses today. They expose a problem in our minds. When we think about Christianity, we think, “What do I need to know?” Or maybe we take it one step further, “What do I need to believe?” As if Christianity is all about knowing. About believing. But that’s not true. Do you know what Christianity’s about? People. The Word of God is never meant to be separated from the people Jesus came to save. Do we need to grow in treasuring that?
Even Paul wasn’t a Christian all on his own. His faith wasn’t just between him and God, like we too often say today. Paul had seen Jesus face to face. But do you know what he still needed? Brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul treasured all the Christians God had put into his life. Colossians only has 95 verses. But Paul used 12 of them to talk about people. He even mentions 11 people by name. This isn’t fluff at the end of a letter. This is God’s Word for us to learn from.
So let’s dive into all the names, starting with Tychicus. Recognize that name? Me neither. Tychicus was a companion of Paul on some of his mission trips. Look at how Paul describes him: “Dear brother…faithful minister…fellow servant…” What compliments! Tychicus was traveling with Onesimus. Heard of him? Onesimus was a slave who ran away from his master named Philemon. Onesimus met Paul and became a Christian. A “dear and faithful brother.” Paul wrote the book of Philemon to Philemon to welcome Onesimus back, not as a slave but as a brother in Christ. Every one of these names has a story. Every person is valuable in God’s eyes.
Like Aristarchus. I didn’t recognize that name either. These are some great choices for future baby names, right? Aristarchus was another traveling companion of Paul. Now he was in prison with him. When you go through troubles, what a blessing to have another Christian at your side! Next is Mark. Remember where you’ve heard of him? Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark. Then there’s Jesus. You’ve heard of him too. But not this Jesus, also called Justus. This is the only place he’s mentioned in the Bible. Justus and Mark comforted Paul while he was in chains.
I know it’s a lot of names, but look how personal the Bible’s message is. Every brother or sister matters. Like Epaphras. I couldn’t have told you a thing about Epaphras a few weeks ago. But after studying Colossians, I’ve learned that Epaphras was the pastor who founded the church in Colossae. He was a mission planter. Luke also sent his greetings. That name sounds familiar too, doesn’t it? Luke is the doctor who wrote the Gospel of Luke in the Bible. With all that Paul suffered, it must have been handy to have a doctor travel along with him! Demas said “Hi!” too.
Then Paul passed along his greetings. He told the Colossians to greet the Christians in Laodicea, a neighboring city. “Brothers and sisters” in Christ doesn’t just refer to people in your one church. Just in our Wisconsin Synod, there are over 1,000 churches and over 300,000 brothers and sisters in Christ. We’re all in this together! And Paul pointed out one Christian lady who was making a big difference: Nympha. Know what she did? One of the churches meet in her own house. Do you sense this fellowship? Those brothers and sisters in Christ shared their lives.
And God’s Word. Paul gave this instruction: “After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.” Was this letter to the Colossians meant only for the Colossians? No! It was God’s Word, meant to be shared with Christians everywhere. Just like there were other letters that the Colossians needed to hear too. We don’t know what the letter from Laodicea was. Some think it’s the book of Ephesians. Churches shared God’s Word with each other to encourage each other.
Aren’t these beautiful verses? And I was going to skip over them! Just listen to how Paul talks about his brothers and sisters in Christ: “Dear brother… Faithful minister… Fellow servant… Fellow prisoner… Servant of Christ Jesus… Dear friend…” Such love and concern! And Paul says that his brothers and sisters in Christ were a comfort for him. They were wrestling in prayer for each other. This is what the Christian Church is meant to be: Brothers and sisters in Christ. Caring for each other. Praying for each other. I need to see this. We need to hear about this.
Because is that how we talk about each other? Sometimes. And sometimes we complain about each other. We talk behind other people’s backs. Or we flat out don’t like each other. At a different church, I asked a member to talk to another member about something. He said, “No, he and I don’t talk to each other.” I said, “Really?” “Yep. Don’t worry about it. We just can’t stand each other.” That’s too common, isn’t it? I’ve talked to people who have left our church here not because of doctrine but because of conflict with other Christians. We tear down the people God has put in place to help us up. We look down on the people God has put in place to build us up.
COVID just made it worse. It separated all of us. It taught us that other people are bad and dangerous. It made us think that it’s better to stay away from other people. That might be necessary at times when someone is sick, but those ideas have taken over our minds. Instead of seeing how we can be a blessing to others, we’ve become consumers of what we want for us. “I’m going to do church on my time when it works for me, and it better serve my needs.” There’s a word for that: Selfish. Self-centered. Sinful. Church isn’t all about you. It’s about us.
Individualism is an American thing, not a Christian thing. The idea that you can do it on your own, that you don’t need anybody else… That idea doesn’t come from God. Remember what God compares the Christian Church to? A body. Christ is the head. We are the body. Together. Can a hand say to a foot, “I don’t need you?” How foolish! Can an ear say, “I’m all right all on my own!” No way. But it’s even worse than that. If you and I despise the body of Christ, we reject our Head too. Who’s our Head? Jesus. You can’t love the Head and ignore his body.
I need you. You need me. We need you. You need us. A couple weeks ago, we heard this: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15-16). Those are powerful words about us. “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another…”
We need other Christians to admonish us. To point out our sins. We’re so often blind to them on our own. Our sinful natures make excuses. We need brothers and sisters in Christ to lovingly tell us the truth about ourselves. To show us our faults. To call us to repentance. Last week, I gave you the example of the friend who called me an idiot. We all need that! Like ketchup on your face, you’re not going to know the truth about yourself without brothers and sisters in Christ willing to tell you. You can’t see it on your own! We need other Christians to point out our sins.
But then we need other Christians to point us to Jesus. We don’t see Jesus well on our own either. We need brothers and sisters in Christ to point us to the cross. You aren’t worthless. You are worth it. Worth Jesus’ life. Worth Jesus’ death. You aren’t hopeless. You’re forgiven. You are loved. It means so much to not just read that, but to hear that. God’s Word through another Christian. Even the apostle Paul needed that. He needed to hear the gospel spoken to his heart.
Do you have that? There was a time when I didn’t. I’m not the best at making friends. In one of my first years as a pastor, a presenter at a pastors conference asked us to name who our close friends were. I couldn’t name anybody. I didn’t have a close friend that I ever talked to. So I went home and thought. I called some pastors and said, “Do you want to be my friend?” Now, over time, I have four friends I talk to at least once a month. I need that. I need brothers and sisters in Christ. Whom can you reach out to? I bet they need a friend just as much as you do!
What if it doesn’t work? Don’t let sin make you jaded. Every one of your brothers and sisters in Christ is a sinner. So what should you expect from them? They will sin. Don’t be surprised! Just like you sin. What do we do with sin? We take it to the foot of the cross. Like Paul with Mark. We mentioned Mark earlier. Do you know what Mark did? He deserted Paul on his first mission trip. It was such a big deal that Paul refused to take Mark along on his second trip. But now, years later, Mark is with Paul in chains. It was forgiven. Broken relationships can be mended at the cross. Jesus calls on us to “forgive just as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 2:13).
But that still doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Take another name on this list: Demas. In 2 Timothy, the last letter that Paul wrote just before he died, Paul wrote this: “Demas, because he loved the world, has deserted me” (2 Timothy 4:10). Demas supported Paul as he wrote Colossians, but he later deserted him “because he loved the world.” That must have hurt Paul. Christian relationships aren’t perfect, because we aren’t perfect. But Jesus is! It’s only Jesus’ grace and Jesus’ forgiveness and Jesus’ cross that make Christian relationships work.
So this little book of Colossians ends with this thought: Treasure your brothers and sisters in Christ. What might that look like for you? When someone’s in the hospital, go and visit them. I can’t keep up right now! So many of our members have been hospitalized. Call people on the phone, just out of the blue. I have never heard someone say, “So-and-so called me on the phone to say they care about me, and I hated it!” Invite people over to your house. Share life together. Each Sunday, talk to one person you don’t usually talk to. You could start by saying this: “Hi.” Or, “Good morning!” Care about every person, every brother or sister in Christ.
I once heard of an important meeting in our national church body. The big question was: What is gospel ministry all about? Pastors gave big papers. There were long discussions. Finally, one professor said: “We’re making it too complicated. Here it is: Know God’s Word. Know people. Know how to get God’s Word to people.” Isn’t that what it’s all about? Let’s focus on this together. Knowing God’s Word. Knowing and caring about people. And looking for every way to connect God’s Word with people. Let’s treasure our brothers and sisters in Christ.
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