Delivered By
Pastor Jordan Hines

Delivered On
July 21, 2024 at 9:30 AM

Description

Tychicus
Colossians 4:7-9
Pastor Jordan Hines

Good morning, everybody. Let's stand for the reading of God's word. Today we will be reading from colossians four, seven, nine.

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, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts.

And with him Onesimus our faithful and beloved brother who was one of you, they will make known to you all the things which are happening here. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for this day.

We thank you for the beautiful weather outside right now. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity this Northside market brings to us. Lord, help us continue to be a light for you in this neighborhood.

And I also want to pray for Pastor Jordan as he brings the word to us. Help us to take your word to our heart and meditate it on. Meditate on it day and night.

Amen. Excellent singing this morning. I love that song in Christ alone, and I can tell that you mean it.

It is indeed in Christ that we stand confidently knowing that he is our salvation, he is our hope, he is the reason we're here. I know that we have a few visitors here with us today, so for their sake and for your sake, I just want to update us on where we are. We have been going through the series what is a pastor? And we're going to take a little bit of a detour, a little bit of a break from that series the next few weeks for the following reasons.

Number one, today we have ministries going on immediately following this service. So normally I have around six ish pages of notes. I have three and a half today, almost four.

The intent is to go short. I'm not sure how that's going to work, but we'll see. The idea also is that we have a little bit of a break from the series for us to catch our breath and sort of get a fresh mindset on where we're going.

Next week we're going to be at church in the park, which is an evangelistic outreach. So we're going to have a gospel message next week. Then the following week we have a guest speaker.

So we're going to take a little three week break and then we'll get into the series. What is a deacon? But as we look at this passage today, we're looking at, really a character profile. And you're familiar with what a character profile is.

It seems like if you go to buy a stick of gum, you have to fill out a character profile at a store that you buy it from. If you look at online things, you can think of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, you can think of X, you can think of all of the social media, website and platforms and all the profiles you fill out. You fill out who you are, where you're from, where you work.

And the profile we have today is a spiritual profile of a man named Tychicus. And really, it's as if you're talking about someone from your past and you're thinking, oh, man, that person was a good, good guy, a guy who followed the Lord, a guy who walked with God. Or the opposite example of.

Of that would be maybe that person left a sour taste in your mouth of someone who just didn't quite get you or didn't quite really work with you that well, someone who didn't really love you that much. We're looking at a man named Tychicus in Colossians chapter four, verse seven to nine. At the end of the book of Colossians, Paul is wrapping up his book and he's saying about Tychicus that he is a beloved brother, a faithful minister in the gospel.

Allow me to read Colossians four, seven nine again to you. Took a kiss. A beloved brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord will tell you all the news about me.

I am sending him to you for this purpose, that 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. Let's ask the Lord for help as we dig into his word.

God, we come before you as sinful, marred people who are in need of your grace. We come to you in need of work done in our life because, God, we have rough edges and we have pride and we have desires that are sinful. But as we come to your word, we look into the mirror of perfection of who you are, and we ask that you change our hearts.

We ask that you make us more like your son. I pray that as a church, that we would be humble enough to admit that we need you today, that we would be sincere enough to change what we see that is needed to be changed. Help us today to do that.

In your son's name we pray. Amen. If someone were to study your life and write a biography about your life, what would they write? It's a good question to ask yourself every once in a while of what is your life characterized by? What do you pursue? What do you live your life by? What are you going to be remembered by Tychicus.

Here was a man of godly character, and he humbly submitted himself to a life of service. We're going to see very simply today in verses seven to nine, his character and his ministry. His character first in verse seven is what we'll see.

But first, let's look at some context for where we find this man historically. Here we find his first encounter with Paul is in Macedonia, in Greece, during Paul's return trip on his third missionary journey through Asia Minor. Acts chapter 20 records this passage, acts 22 five.

Now, when he had gone over that region, encouraged them, it's going to come up over and over again. Encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece and stayed three months when the Jews plotted against him. As he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia, and Sopetar of Berea accompanied him to Asia.

Also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy Anticicus and Trophimus of Asia. These men, going ahead, waited for us at Troas. He's mentioned here as one of Paul's company, so he has an established history with Paul, meaning that he knows Paul very well, and Paul is sending him back.

And as we mentioned earlier, way earlier in the year when we were talking about Philemon, Paul notably sends people who he trusts to deliver messages. And as we look at this man, Tychicus, we see that he is first a godly companion in the gospel. He's not the main guy, he's not up front, but his character is one that is worthy of a man who is up front.

The text in verse seven says, Tychicus, a beloved brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. What do those terms mean? I think it's pretty simple to understand that he's beloved, he's precious, he's cherished. Normally, when we think of the idea of partiality in scripture, we think of the book of James, we think of how we're not supposed to show partiality.

In this sense, a beloved brother is someone who you treat in a special way. You're partial to him. He is a brother.

He is a beloved brother, a believer. And this is really the context of a family, a godly family. This is a sibling that you love and care for.

This relationship takes work on both people, people's behalf. Tychicus here is a highly valued brother, but he's also shown his value in his ministry to Paul and Paul. In return, he's held genuine faith in common with Paul.

It's hard to hold someone close and hold someone beloved to yourself if you don't have a lot in common with them. It's possible, but it's very difficult. He's a beloved brother.

He is cared for. And we have these people in our lives. We have these people that even though the building may be burning, you're going to protect that one person or your family or your close friends first, and you're going to see maybe women and children first.

And those priorities, those people are beloved. They're highly valued. Tychicus here is a brother.

He's also a faithful minister. He is worthy of or requiring responsibility or trust. He's someone that you can count on.

He is faithful. He's there. Doesn't say he always said everything perfectly.

Doesn't say he was always perfect in his conduct. It says he was faithful and that he was a servant. He worked in service of another.

This kind of character is proven over a long period of time. This kind of faithful ministry is something you don't get overnight. You don't just graduate from college and become a seasoned 2030 year pastor.

You don't graduate from kindergarten and become a seasoned adulthood. There's growth in your life. There was a big time gap in your life where you could look back and think, I was so childish.

But you grew and you proved yourself over that period of time to be faithful, and you are beloved. He also says here that he is a fellow servant. It's a slave, really, a person who serves another, another similar idea to what Paul considers himself to be, a bondservant.

He is a slave. Perhaps the next piece is the most distinguishable feature of his life. He is an encourager.

You can turn to Ephesians chapter six, verse 21 and 22 just to see a little bit of what Tychicus is like here. He is an encourager. Ephesians 621 22.

But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing. Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you, whom I have sent to you for this very purpose. End of verse 22.

That you may know our affairs and that he may comfort your hearts. He's comforting. He's an encourager.

He's one who comes alongside and lifts you up. We need these people in our lives. We need these people who can see us in our troubles, see us in our trials, and bring us to a place where we remember our trust in God, remember our faith in God, remember that we're still loved and cared for.

This requires compassion and a compulsion to help. This is genuine because it's easy to just fulfill requirements, to check off things off a list. But to see someone in need and to go help them because you believe it's the right thing to do means that there's a heart behind it, a heart attitude of love, of comfort.

Think of this section of the passage as a recommendation letter to the church. As was echoed in Ephesians, Paul here is expounding on the character of this man so that they accept Tychicus with open arms. Tychicus here is recommended and sent by Paul because of who he is.

And again, if this sermon were about your life or about my life and I were to talk to four or five of your closest friends, what would they say about you? What would they say about me? Are you a brother or a sister to your church family? Are you a faithful minister or disciple maker in your home and workplace or in school? Are you a servant of the Lord with your actions and your thoughts? And the last part is challenging. Are you an encourager to the weak and the needy? I think there's somewhat of a disconnect because we can understand as Christians that we're to be disciple makers, we're to love other people. But to really encourage someone means we first have to see someone in need, and that means we have to take our eyes off of ourselves.

And we are so easily distracted by ourselves. There are too many mirrors in our life and not enough windows. We need to see other people.

This man's character is very evident. And as we look up to the apostle Paul, this recommendation means even more of a man named Tychicus, who, though he has a funny sounding name, admittingly is a man of God, a man of character who loves other people. Look at verse eight and nine and look at his ministry.

The text again says, I am sending him to you for this very purpose that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts. That's verse eight. So I want to start here just with a little bit of background on Paul, because it's hard to talk about the ministry of Tychicus without talking about the ministry of Paul.

And that honestly speaks to Tychicus. And the fact that he was in the background. He was not the main presenter of the mission, but Paul here, Saul was born Saul of Tarsus, so it's a southern coast of the modern day Turkey.

The exact date of his birth is unknown, but we do know that he was educated as a Pharisee under the Jerusalem religion, religious leader Gamaliel. Gamaliel, a man respected in the community. And the one who, if you were taught by him, you would have thought, that person is well trained, that person should be revered, a Pharisee of Pharisees, as he writes in other passages.

But once he was converted in the book of acts, he became a traveling missionary. He went from persecuting the church to preaching for the church. He traveled and preached and planted churches for the early church.

He was a tent maker. He was imprisoned and beaten and shipwrecked multiple times. And he was often agitating the social arena around him.

He wrote many of the books in the New Testament. He is a key figure in the New Testament. And yet this is not who we're talking about.

There's so much more in the Bible about the apostle Paul. And yet I believe that when we go to heaven, if we are indeed believers, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ for your sins, that when we are in heaven, we will see people like Tychicus, who we know almost nothing about until we get to heaven. Because he was quiet.

He was in the background. He was someone who was not written about in scripture substantially. We're going to see people whose impact for the gospel was quiet on this earth and loud in heaven.

Think of all the prayer warriors that pray every single day for you and for other people. Think of all the people who are just faithful to tell their neighbors that they love them. People like this are extremely valuable in ministry because they believe and practice that prayer works and that quiet ministry works.

I want us to see that Tychicus had a submission in ministry. He was an assistant in ministry. It's possible that he was sent to Crete to help Titus.

Allow me to read Titus, chapter three, verse twelve. When I send Artemis to you or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I decided to spend the winter there. Another example of Paul sending potentially Tychicus was not confirmed here, that he was someone worthy of being sent to bear the message that Paul was giving to the churches.

He's also mentioned in Paul's company in Macedonia and Greece and acts, chapter 20, as I read previously. And now he's being sent to the Colossian believers. He sent to people in this church.

And as I mentioned, the opening of the service. We often go out to the community, but today the community is coming to us. So we have the opportunity to evangelize in this way with the Northside market, and we are so thankful for that.

He will eventually be sent to Ephesus to help Timothy. Ephesians, chapter six, verse 21. And 22.

We read that passage already as well. And one passage we haven't read is two Timothy 412. And Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.

Bring the cloak that I left with carpus at Troas. When you come, you see, Tychicus was a faithful messenger of the gospel, a faithful messenger for Paul. He was trustworthy.

He was someone of good character, someone reliable in ministry, a faithful brother. And he had two very simple ministry objectives, first of which was to inform, just tell them what's going on. Tell the churches how the apostle Paul is doing, what his message is, what they ought to be doing, all of Paul's activities, his church planning activities, the blessings and hardships of ministry, the practices of faith in the context, oppressive governments, everything they ought to be doing in the Lord.

And the distinguishing factor here is that he was an encourager, to comfort, to console. This is a powerful tool. This is soul care.

This is providing someone with something that the world cannot. Because when the world looks at tragedy, the world looks at loss. They see nothing but devastation.

But a true believer, a true encourager in the faith, can look at a terrible circumstance and come alongside them and say, I may not know everything that's going on in your life, but I know the God who loves you. I know the God who's here, the God who walks beside you. We all know men and women who have encouraged our hearts, who have walked alongside us in times of trouble.

And often those people use the ministry of presence. They may not even say anything. They may just be sitting next to you in the midst of that tragedy.

And really what they're doing in that moment is they are mimicking, they're echoing the presence of God. Because just as God is always with us, he has provided us a church family to walk alongside us, to be there with us, to show us the truth, to show us that as children of God, we have hope in all circumstances. So the question for us today is, are we like Tychicus? Are we like this man? Do we go out of our way to encourage other people? Or are we so focused on ourselves? This is a hard message because it goes against everything that our bodies tell us to do.

Also, in the context of a church, not everyone can be upfront. Not everyone can be a Sunday school teacher, a pastor, a deacon. That's not to say that those positions are lofty or powerful, because they are servant positions.

But that is to say that ministry looks different for every single person, and that even a pastor or deacon or a Sunday school teacher will not succeed if they are not willing to have this kind of attitude of service. There is nothing above you. There is nothing beneath you in service.

You can do anything for service of others. You can clean a toilet, you can mop a floor, you can dust a wall. You can take care of someone who's slowly deteriorating.

You can serve. Anyone can serve. We all serve each other in many different ways.

We serve this community. My prayer for us today is that we would be people of godly character, who, because of our godly character, because we are so firmly rooted in our love for these people, in this community, that we would serve them. Let's be like Tychicus.

Let's not look for our own benefit. Let's not look for our own name to be magnified. Notice that the context of this passage, the purpose that Tychicus is fulfilling is not his.

It's Paul's. And the people that he is serving is not himself or Paula. It is the people, the church in Colossae.

He is just the instrument. And that's really who we are. And by God's grace, he chooses to use us.

He chooses to be faithful to us by working in us. And just the fact that God is using us is a miracle. Allow me to conclude by reading the text again.

Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister and fellow servant of the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that 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.

If you would like some homework, just start looking at the names that are listed below that verses ten on. And just see how Paul describes each and every one of those people. Paul used the ministries of other people.

Paul utilized the talents and gifts of other people to help his ministry succeed. And ultimately, we ought to have these kinds of mindsets of service, of love, of devotion, because Tychicus here was a godly mandehead who humbly submitted himself to a life of service. Let's thank the Lord for this ticket.

God. You have blessed us with a host of witnesses, a cloud of witnesses that show us how we ought to live, that show us what godly character lived out looks like. I pray that the mindset of tchakis would be ours, that we are faithful, that we are servants, that our name does not matter.

It is your name. Pray that as a church, that we would live. That today in what we say and do in your name.