Partners In Christ

Partners in Christ

Reading: Colossians chapter 4 verses 7-18.

• The apostle Paul was a great friend-maker,

• There are more than 100 different Christians (named and un-named);

• Associated with Paul in the Book of Acts and in his letters.

• Ill Romans chapter 16 he names 26 different friends alone!

Paul enjoyed Team Ministry (working with others):

• Obviously you can achieve far more as a team,

• Than you can as an individual.

ill:

Cartoon - It was a picture of two rowing boats:

• One had a man wearing a dog collar, in his hands was a punting pole,

• Also in the boat were rows and rows of people cheering him on.

• In the other boat, the man wearing the dog collar had in his hands a megaphone,

• He was urging on all the others, who were there as rowers and not passengers.

• This boat was obviously flying past the other one.

• The cartoon punch line said: “Which church is yours?”

If you are a Christian:

• Then you are expected to be part of the crew, an active member of your local Church,

• And not just a passenger.

ill:

There are 560 members in our church

But 100 are frail and elderly

That leaves 460 to do all the work

But 74 are young people at college

That leaves 386 to do all the work

But 150 are tired businessmen

So that leaves 236 to do all the work

And 150 are housewives with children

That leaves 86

A further 46 have other important interests

That leaves 40 to do all the work

But 15 live too far away to come regularly

So that leaves 25 to do all the work

And 23 say they have done their bit.

So that leaves you and me

And I’m exhausted - Good luck to you!

ill:

• Once upon a time there were four men named;

• Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

• There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it.

• But Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

• Anybody could have done it. But Nobody did it.

• Somebody got angry about it, because it was Everybody’s job.

• Everybody thought that Anybody could do it,

• And Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.

• It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody;

• And Nobody did the job that Anybody could have done in the first place.

• At last report, these four men were still arguing;

• And the job they were supposed to do still wasn’t done.

In a local church:

• Or in a para-church ministry (.i.e Counties, YFC, City Mission etc)

• I would suggest to you that team work is the Biblical way of doing things.

• This morning we are going to look at people in a team.

• 9 individuals are mentioned in this passage.

We can categorize these people into three groups.

(A). The Men Who are coming (verses 7-9)

“Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. 9He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here”.

• Two men are mentioned; Tychicus and Onesimus

• Paul is sending these men to the Church at Clossae

• They will be postmen, Paul chose them to deliver two important letters,

• The letter to the Ephesian (Eph. 6:21) and also the Colossian letter (Col. 4:7-9).

• And they also took Paul’s personal letter to Philemon.

• Later on, Paul was able to send Tychicus to Crete (Titus 3:12),

(1). Tychicus (Verses 9):

• In Acts chapter 20 verse 4:

• When Paul left Ephesus, he was accompanied a team of helpers, among them Tychicus.

Tychicus was a man you could trust:

• As well as delivering Paul’s letters;

• He also helped Paul deliver a collection of money from the Gentile churches;

• To give to the poor believers in Judea;

• (1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 1; 2 Corinthians chapters 8-9.

Verse 8: Tychicus was Paul’s envoy (representative):

• He was trusted to share with the Colossian Christians;

• The details of Paul’s difficult situation there in Rome.

• Paul wanted his friends in Colossae;

• To know the facts and to support him in prayer.

• Tychicus had also experienced those hardships first hand,

• And had stuck them out, called a “Faithful minister”.

• Instead of choosing the easy option and leaving,

• He stayed with Paul and ministered to him.