Colossians chapter 4, verses 7 through 15. Again, this is God's holy word. Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. I am sending him to you for this very purpose. He may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you. They will make known to you all things which are happening here. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received instructions if he comes to you, welcome him. And Jesus, who was called Eustace, These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, who are of the circumcision. They have proved to be a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea and those in Heriopolis. Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and Nymphos and the church that is in his house. Let's follow the reading of God's holy word. A few days ago, I had the privilege of speaking on video conference over the internet, speaking to a minister of the gospel in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland. I have, it looks like in God's providence, the privilege of performing a marriage in California near here involving one of the members of his church. And so that's why we were talking and he was sharing to me some of the circumstances of the marriage and just the couple. And over the course of this conversation, which was 30, 45 minutes, I began to feel affection for this man. He was a very wise man. I could tell he was wise. The circumstances of this situation, I had a thought or two about it, but I really was leaning on his wisdom. He demonstrated to me the ability to decipher Scripture's principles and applying them to things that are difficult. And that's important, especially when you're a minister and you might be involved in the situation. You need help. encouraged by that, and I was attracted to the man, if you will. I noticed how much he loved this particular member and how he loved his congregation. It was something that was evident. And as we were coming to the end of what I thought was gonna be the end of the conversation, and it was just a delight to talk to him, and you can possibly identify with it. I'm a minister, so we have very similar things going on. And he said to me, Sam, how can I pray for you? I'm thinking to myself, this man has a whole church. He doesn't know who I am. I've never heard of this man, never had talked to him before. And he says, listen, Sam, send me the name of your wife, send me the name of your children, and I'm gonna pray for you. I'm gonna pray for you. I was so encouraged. I was so blessed. And I can say, I trust you understand I'm not trying to flatter myself. I don't always love like I should. I loved him. And I want you to think about love. I want you to think about affection this morning. And I want you to think about the natural affection that you may have for your spouse, for your children, or for perhaps a friend. Believer or not a believer who's someone you know, when you have mutual activity with. I want you to think about affection toward Christians. Brotherly affection, Christian affection, black or white, young or old. OK, male, female, rich or poor. This phenomena, this work of grace in the heart of God's people for one another. It's a special thing. And by God's grace, that's really what I was describing to you. This man and I, we by God's grace have something in common. The church, the gospel. Never met this man. Yet I love this man. And he loved me. What do you Love. Perhaps, who do you love? And more than that, do you identify experimentally in your own experience? Can you identify with my brief story I shared with you? Do you have an affection for those in this room and for other people who call upon the name of the Lord? Is there a special place in your heart for them? What we have in our passage of scripture this morning is a display of Christian affection. Not just love. Unbelievers love unbelievers. There's a sense in which we can say that. What we have this morning in this passage is brotherly affection, Christian affection. We've come to the end of this book. We have, it seems as if, in God's providence, one more passage to look at. And it's important for us to note that we've been looking in this letter. We've noticed that Paul has been speaking about the supremacy of Christ. And he's been talking about how Christ is sufficient for our salvation and for our life. He's a pastor. He's also a pastor. And at the end of this letter, we come to some more miscellaneous things, some concluding thoughts. And one of those concluding thoughts, which more or less stands by itself, certainly flows out of a man and these people here who set Christ supremely in their life, but it's more or less its own isolated thought. What I want you to see in this passage of scripture is this lesson. Christians demonstrate their affection for one another by giving sincere commendation and by showing unselfish concern. There's two ways specifically. which brotherly Christian affection comes out. The lesson this morning again is Christians demonstrate their affection specifically for one another by giving sincere commendation and showing unselfish concern. I want to bring this under two points. First I want you to see the aspect of brotherly affection which we can call sincere commendation. Sincere commendation. We see that more or less throughout this passage. I'm referring to how Paul says that Tychicus is not just a brother, but he's a beloved brother. I'm referring to that idea. He's not just a minister, he's a faithful minister. What Paul is doing, before I really go into it, it's a sincere commendation. He's not doing what we would call flattery. Flattery is sinful. It's not sincere. There's selfish motives going on. It may be even true, but for a wrong intent. That's not what's going on here. Flattery is excessive, insincere praise given especially to further one's own interests. We should realize that that's not what Paul's doing here. He's not a man who's concerned about his own interests. He's in jail for the interests of Christ. Proverbs 12, 2. A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but a man of wicked intentions Wicked intentions he will condemn us. That's not what Paul's doing. Paul's also not promoting himself. He's not he's not giving him his own commendation, he's commending someone else. And that's appropriate to do. And I'm going to talk more about that in a moment. Perhaps we don't do that enough. Proverbs 27, 2 says, Let another man praise you, not your own mouth. a stranger and not your own lips." Paul's not saying I'm faithful. He's saying someone else is faithful. Let's look at this, Tychicus. Let's look at Onesimus, Aristarchus, Mark, Jesus who's called Eustace. Let's look at Epaphras. Let's look at Luke and even Demas. Tychicus is called a beloved brother. He's a faithful minister, a fellow servant. He's not just a brother. Because of who he is, because of what he's done, Paul loves him. He's beloved. Tychicus is an evangelist. It's like the office of an apostle. It's now ceased. It's an office that accompanied the apostles. They were ministers of the gospel, but not to a particular flock. They would go to a place to evangelize the place, initially, or perhaps further it. And we see it through the book of Acts, I believe it's Acts chapter 20. Eutychicus is with Paul. He's mentioned in other epistles. And Paul loves him for his faithfulness to him and also to Christ. He's a faithful minister. He's enduring trials. He's commending him. He's a fellow servant in the Lord. Paul is an apostle. Paul's not afraid. He's not saying Tychicus is an apostle. It's not in that sense a fellow servant. But Paul's not the only one serving. For that matter, ordained officers are not the only ones serving the Lord. But he lifts Tychicus up to himself, if you will. He says he's a fellow servant in the Lord. Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother. Very important for us to realize who Onesimus is. Who is Onesimus? He's an unfaithful servant to another man, wasn't he? He ran away. He was a fugitive, a slave. And yet Paul says Onesimus is a faithful and beloved brother. We don't know if Onesimus holds to any office. It seems that he could have for other reasons. But regardless of that, he who was unfaithful repented. And now he's faithful to a new master. Jesus Christ. He's also beloved. Notice Aristarchus, how in verses 10-11 Paul is sincerely commending publicly to the Colossians, these men. Aristarchus, a fellow prisoner. Aristarchus accompanied Paul, whether he held the office of evangelist, it seems that he might not have. He was Paul's companion. He specifically said in the book of Acts to be one of Paul's traveling companions. He was A fellow prisoner. He was with Paul through the thick of it. Even when Paul was chained and sent to Rome, he was loyal. And so in that sense, Paul calls him a fellow prisoner. Mark. Paul commends him. Now, before I go into these following verses here, these following words. At this point in time, Paul and Mark's relationship had been reconciled. They were actually, for reasons we're not really exactly sure, they split ways. This book was written about the middle, nearer the end of Paul's ministry. This is his first Roman imprisonment. And Mark left Paul, and I believe it was Barnabas. And they parted ways, and yet now here Mark is saying, it's almost as if he's Defending his reputation. About whom he received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him. He is also faithful. He's serving me. I have a good relationship with him. He's the cousin of Barnabas. He's related to that encourager of me who took me, Saul of Tarsus, and brought me to the church and said, listen, this is now Paul. He commends this man named Jesus. Interesting. He's called Eustace. We need to realize that Jesus, that name, it appears we have reasons, which I'll mention, that that was a fairly common name among the Jews. It comes from Joshua. So we can imagine, just like Joshua is a fairly common name with us, it comes from Joshua. In fact, in Hebrews chapter 4, Joshua's reference, and the word there is Jesus. The Greek word is Jesus. It's the same word. Perhaps protection from the honor of Christ. He's called something else, no doubt referring to his righteousness or his justice, his sense of equity, which is what justice means. And these men, Paul commends, he sincerely commends them to the Colossians. He says, these are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God. That is the church, the visible church on earth. They're my only fellow workers. They too are also striving for the gospel in their life, whether they be ordained or not ordained. They are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision. Hey Jews, Think about it. Paul is being persecuted by the Jews. These men endured that. This is a commendation. They're faithful. They're loyal. They're to be respected. They're to be loved. They're to be regarded highly. Now, one thing to think about here that's useful for us to stop and think critically. Paul is saying, okay, he's in Rome. This is his first imprisonment. Later on in his life, when he writes 2 Timothy, it'll be his second imprisonment. Paul is saying that these are the only fellow workers of those who are in the circumcision in Rome. Now this is insightful to us for correcting false doctrine. The Roman Catholic Church is very important for them to establish the papacy. And of course, if they're gonna have any claim to being biblical, they're gonna try to see that in the Bible. And they would say Peter was in Rome, and that Peter was the first bishop, and of course, the first pope. They say that he was there for 25 years. Is that true? Does the Bible speak to that? It does, and it says it's not true. For Paul to not know that Peter was in Rome, That's silly. Of course you would know. Of course they would know that. It's an error. One of the ways the Bible directly contradicts the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church may have proved to be a comfort to me. Paul, I'll get to this in a moment. Paul, even though he was an apostle and a great leader, he needed comfort too. OK, pastors, they need comfort to elders. They need comfort, too. And these men did that. Perhaps they prayed together. Perhaps they were there in the in the prison cell, if you will, saying, listen, endure the reproach. You're doing the right thing. Endure the persecution and endure it. They were comforting him. Epaphras is called a bondservant of Christ. What a beautiful commendation. He's one of you. He's from Colossae. He's a bondservant of Christ that sits here. He's not a bondservant of men. One of the temptations of pastors and ministers and elders and Christians is to serve and to seek to please men. He is a bondservant of Christ. He's serving Christ. Luke, the beloved physician. This is, of course, the author of the Gospel of Luke, who also wrote Acts. He, under the authority of Peter and Paul, wrote these books. He, who was a physician of the body, became a physician through his writings of the soul, and for that Paul loves him. He's dear. He's dear to Paul. And Demas. Demas gets no adjective. Demas gets... He's mentioned We should understand Demas to be, at this point, an evangelist, so he's with Paul. Who's Demas? You know, it's interesting, Demas doesn't get any adjectives. I think there's a reason for that. 2 Timothy 4.10, this is later on in his life. Again, 2 Timothy, Paul's again in prison in Rome and he writes in 2 Timothy 4.10, Be diligent to come to me quickly. For Demas has forsaken me. Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world and has departed for Thessalonica. Demas apostatized at some point in his life. Apostasy is a reality, isn't it? It's a very sad reality. How do we understand it? Just briefly, apostasy is is when God's people who visibly are God's people, they profess to be God's people, depart from the faith openly. And we should understand this to be, it's not as God's unfaithful, it's not as if Satan can take his people. These people have never actually known Christ. 1 John 2.19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us. Christ is the great shepherd of the sheep. No one can snatch them from his hand. And yet apostasy happens. The visible church is not pure. We don't know exactly who is converted. I do not know. It should bring great comfort to elders. And pastors who take people into membership, who admit people to sacraments. We can't determine exactly who's converted. Paul didn't. Paul didn't. Something to think about. And it may be that Paul was aware of some problems. He doesn't give an adjective to demons. We don't know that, of course, but I want you to take all this in this sense. You know, why am I going on about all these people? I'm talking about sincere commendation. There's a lesson here for us. And part of the lesson would be there's a place for commendation. There's a quick little application for it. There's a place for it. I was talking to this RP minister and he said that They just, their presbytery had just given a dinner to Edward Donnelly. Some of you know who Edward Donnelly is. 50 years of faithful service. They gave it in his honor. Of course, it was ultimately to honor Christ. There's a place for that, for giving sincere commendation. But here's the greater lesson. Again, we're talking about affection. Who does Paul love? To give a sincere commendation involves a public praise. But it involves something before that. It involves someone who has a regard for certain people. Paul has a regard for faithful people. Think about Onesimus, repentance. Aristarchus, loyalty. This is what he values. This is what Paul loves. This is what he has a high regard for. What do you have a high regard for? this morning. What do you have a high regard for? When I was young, I had a high regard for Auburn football players. I valued and I esteemed their speed, their strength, okay, the ability a quarterback perhaps might have to perform in the clutch, right, in a critical moment, oh wow, look at him, you know. And there's of course nothing absolutely wrong with that. There's something innocent and even appropriate to that. But I know for myself, I can say this for myself, that it was to the exclusion of really having anything like that toward my pastor. or to my even other men that I knew to be faithful and women to be faithful in Christ, to missionaries, to even famous people like Martin Luther or something. I did not esteem at that time in my life, did not regard those things. All of you, all of you have an appreciation for certain people. You're attracted to them in that sense. Is there a place for you, for Christians who have faithfully served God? Do you regard them? There are people in this congregation that have served the Lord faithfully for many years. Young people. Do you respect them? Not just because you ought to, but because you love Christ and these people have been serving Christ for many years. Do you have a regard for these type of things. Faithfulness, repentance, loyalty to Christ. A sincere commendation. Secondly, I want you to see something else. This love, this affection for God's people is internal. It's something somewhat abstract. It's an emotion, but it carries itself out into action. It carries itself out into other things like concern and care. Paul is doing certain things for the Colossian Church here, just to mention him as one example. Secondly, I want you to see unselfish concern. Throughout this passage there's another way in which we see brotherly affection. Unselfish concern. Everyone's concerned Right now, all of you, to some degree, are concerned about your comfort. Should I take my jacket off? Am I hot? It's very natural. Do I need to move around my seat? You're concerned for your own well-being. I'm not talking about that. Of course, that's not wrong either. Entirely. But what we have here is specifically an unselfish concern. It's a concern for the well-being of another, specifically God's people. Unselfish concern. We see that in a couple of ways. We see that from the Colossians perspective, the church in Colossae for Paul. We see that in the life of Paul for them and for others. And especially in the life of Epaphras, who appears to be the founding pastor of this church. Look with me at the beginning of verse, at the end of verse 7. At the end of verse 9 we see a concern that the congregation has for Paul, this eminent man, this godly man, this Apostle. Notice it says, "...Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me." I'm going to come back to that. "...will tell you all the news about me." End of verse 9. He says, "...with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, They will make known to you all things which are happening here. What does that tell us? What does that tell us? They want to know how Paul is doing. They probably have heard that he was imprisoned. How's he doing? Is Paul alive? Is Paul doing well? Is he serving the church? How's he doing? See, they care about him. They're concerned about him. I'm reminded of this type of thing. I'm sure you can identify. Perhaps you've lost some contact with a friend and you come across a mutual acquaintance. How's Frank doing? That kind of thing. this concern. We see it in the life of Paul with the Philippians as well. Verse 8, I'm sending him to you for this very purpose. Of course that's him and also Onesimus. For this very purpose that they may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts. What's Paul doing? He's actually taking action. He's sending two men to them to help with this situation. It appears Paphras brought the news to Paul and then Tychicus and Onesimus carried this letter to them. Paul is aware, Paphos makes him aware of this Gnostic heresy. These concerns, these questions that they have. And he's concerned about them and he sends two men who would otherwise be a comfort to him. Because he cares about the church. And these men are going to know your circumstances and comfort your hearts. There's a little lesson here for shepherds. Shepherds need to know the circumstances of their sheep. They're going to go, they're going to see things that pachycephalic anastomosis are going to be in their homes. They're going to talk to these folks and they're going to comfort them. We need to be comforting. We face trials just like, just like, um, They do. You need to come to church. You need to be ministered to because you need comfort. We face these same type of things. But to go back to the circumstances, you know, we've been visiting. It's not the only way that the elders can know your circumstances, but we've been visiting you in your homes. We're going to continue to visit you in your homes because we're trying to, you know, find out, you know, if you're in sin, because we love you. And we need to know your circumstances. We need to know those things, and that's why we're doing it. And this is the lesson here. Paul loves the Colossian church. He loves others as well. Verse 15, greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and Nymphos and the church that is in his house. Keep in mind that Paul has never met the Colossian church. He's never met the Laodiceans. He's never met Nymphos. And He loves them and He's concerned for them. It's very appropriate for us because of the work of the Spirit. Perhaps you've heard a missionary speak and talking about these people in this foreign land. You've never seen them. It's appropriate for us to have an affection and concern for those type of people and take action for them. Memphis, the church that is in his house. We understand this to mean an actual congregation that met in his house, not his own family. We also need to realize that this is not saying that we have to meet in houses. The church can't meet in another building. Keep in mind that the church at this time was persecuted. So they were doing that because it was useful for them. In fact, scholars tell us they usually met at night. The church in the Old Testament met publicly, didn't they? In the synagogues and temples, in the temple. Paul's concern for them. Look at Epaphras. Unselfish concern. Epaphras, who was one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers. One commentary, one commentator makes a very bold statement. How can you show concern for one another and act on it? Care for people. Prayer is the best office, if you like, activity. It's old English. Prayer is the best activity that we can perform toward those we love. I find this statement provocative, whether you agree with it exactly or not. Prayer is certainly something that you can do to care for people, to pray for them, especially ministers and elders, always laboring fervently for you in prayers. Prayer is labor. It's work. It's the work of the presbytery. It's the work of the session. It's not a waste of time. And you have to labor at it. It's difficult to pray. The Puritans talk about Pray until you pray. You kind of have to just labor in it. It's not a waste of time. It's not in vain. It's hard work. And that's how Epaphras, who's physically distant from them, is showing concern. What is he praying for? That you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. I take perfect and complete, generally speaking, to refer to the same thing. It's the idea of maturity. We ought not to be confused. This is to be taken in its context. He's speaking about people who are on this side of heaven. And no one on this side of heaven, Scripture clearly teaches, is perfect in the sense of without sin. But the mature, that they would be mature. Are you mature in Christ? Do you have room for growth? Okay, this is the idea. And it's in all the will of God. The will of God being a reference to his, not his, a decreative will. Perhaps you're familiar with that theological term, decreative and revealed will. Ephesians chapter one talks about how God has worked all things according to the counsel of his will. There's some things we don't know. We don't know what the will of God is. He hasn't revealed it to us. But this is referring to his precepts, his commandments. And it's not just that you would know what God requires of you to be forgiven. Which I know that many of you do know that. God commands all people everywhere to repent and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's perhaps the most important thing to understand and to follow in regard to the will of God. This is in all the will of God. For God's people to grow in all of His commandments and their knowledge of all of His commandments. I find it useful to, we've talked about this before and I want to emphasize this because it's here. Paphras is not praying primarily for earthly temporal things. And of course it's not wrong to pray for those things. And I'm sure a Paphras did. For health, okay, things like that. But his focus is on spiritual things. That's really the need. We're all dying. We're not promised to have a nice home and a nice job. God does promise us our salvation. Are you praying for God to save you and to continue to save you? This is how we can love others, praying in this way. And I want to speak to you on verse 13 for a moment. Verse 13 is very important for us to realize. an unselfish concern for those people sitting next to you. Epaphras is an example to us. I want you to know that he is an evangelist, right? He's a minister, if you will, and there's a sense in which it's even more proper for him to be demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit, to demonstrate these things, and he's under a stricter judgment, if you will, to do these things. This is an example for all of God's people. Philippians 2.4, let each of you look out not only for his own interest, speaking to the church. Okay, speaking to you. Philippians 2.4, let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others. So this is something that's applicable to all of you. Now I want to look at verse 13. What does it mean to have a concern? Well, part of that is a zeal. A zeal. For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea and those in Heriopolis. Again, a quick word. I'll come back to zeal in a moment. This verse tells us something about the inward call to an office. All office bearers, deacons, elders, they need to have a desire for the office. And Epaphras has a desire, that's part of where this comes from. Now to go back to the congregation, a great zeal for you. One of the things I want to mention to you as a pastor, I want you to think about, I speak to you at this point very honestly and sincerely. This church is in need of zealous Christians. Let me unpack that a moment. I do not, I am not saying that there are not any epaphrases here. I think there are epaphrases here. I'm speaking to you as your pastor. I've been here for a little bit, and I think there's a general culture, kind of an undertone of just complacency. You know, just going about things. You know, people have been leaving our church. It saddens you, doesn't it? You know, well, things are just gonna keep on going the way they are. I'm not telling you that you don't love the church, that you don't love one another. But there's a need for zeal. Have great zeal. Paphos has great zeal for people. For people. For the congregations. This is something that God wants you to think about. I want you to think about it. Are you someone who has great zeal for Christ and his people and for this congregation? We need to ask God for this if we don't have it. You know, one of the great stories in church history is John Knox and how God used John Knox to bring the gospel to Scotland. And John Knox, amongst love and faith, had great zeal. He said to God, give me Scotland or I die. Give me Scotland, oh God, or I die. 1560 the nation more or less became a reformed Presbyterian nation through his leadership. Zeal. Do you have zeal for God's people here? Does it bother you that there's people who do not regularly attend worship? Have you called them? Have you called them? Maybe they're not doing well. Do you have a concern for your people, for your brothers and sisters in Christ? Perhaps someone here is a babe in Christ. They're a babe in Christ. Do you have a concern that they need to be discipled? They need to grow? Don't depend on me. Don't depend on Danny. Don't depend on bus. Don't depend on Paul, the elders of this church, to do all that. Do you have a concern? Do you have a zeal? Does it bother you that people are not either doing well or could be doing more? You know, I think about the fact that we're studying the diaconate in the morning. And we're learning about that. And the elders and myself, we want you to think about the diaconate and mercy ministry because we need to do these things. And I want you to consider, I want you to consider, especially not just participating in the diaconate work, but I want you to consider the diaconate. Here's the thing, you may be qualified to be a deacon, Are you willing to serve in that capacity? Do you have a zeal? It takes zeal. It takes a concern for the church. Psalm 102, God's people will look upon the stones. I don't think this congregation's falling apart. I'm not trying to, I'm not saying that. But we can grow. We can grow vertically in our relationship to God. We can grow horizontally. And it takes zeal. It takes concern. That's where zeal comes from. Christians demonstrate their affection for one another by giving sincere commendation. by showing unselfish concern. I began this sermon with an illustration, didn't I? An illustration of affection. Do you have that in your life? Can you identify with my conversation I had with this minister? All of you love something. All of you love people. Do you have that special affection for God's people? Do you regard faithfulness? Do you regard loyalty? And are you thinking about the well-being of others? You can do this because you are in Christ and you have his Holy Spirit. You can ask him for this. you can call upon his name and he'll help you. I want you, this passage of scripture tells us that you ought to. God's calling you to this affection. Let us pray. Heavenly Father we lift up our hearts to you as a congregation. We thank you for how you, through the elders of this congregation and through the many faithful servants here, have sustained this congregation for many years. And you have grown us. We have gone down. We have gone back up. And we confess that you are faithful to us, that you are good to us. And Father, we ask that you would again show your grace to us that you would work your spirit in us to grow in our love for one another, specifically our love for this congregation. We ask that you would work this grace in our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit. We desire to continue to obey you and to obey you more. Pray this in Jesus's name. Amen.