In 1921, Myra Brooks Welch told a story of an old violin that was put up for auction, in a poem called, “The Touch of the Masters Hand.”
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his while to waste much time on the old violin, but held it up with a smile; “What am I bidden, good folks,” he cried, “Who’ll start the bidding for me?” “A dollar, a dollar”; “then two!” “Only two? Two dollars, and who’ll make it three? Three dollars, once; three
dollars twice; going for three. . . ” But no, from the room, far back, a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow; Then, wiping the dust from the old violin, and tightening the loose strings, he played a melody pure and sweet as a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low, said; “What am I bid for the old violin?” And he held it up with the bow. A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two? Two thousand! And who’ll make it three? Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice, and going and gone,” said he. The people cheered, but some of them cried, ‘We do not quite understand what changed its worth.” Swift came the reply: “The touch of a master’s hand.”
And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin, Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin, A “mess of pottage,” a glass of wine; a game - and he travels on. “He is going” once, and “going twice, He’s going and almost gone.” But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought by the touch of the Master’s hand.
As Paul concludes his letter to the Colossians, he mentions two persons who had experienced the touch of the Master’s hand in their lives, and whose experience with Christ illustrate the difference that Christ makes in every life that is surrendered to Him.
1. Tychicus - from nobody to somebody - vs. 7-8
The Bible mention Tychicus five times: here, Acts 20:4, Ephesians 6:21, 2 Timothy 4:12, and Titus 3:12. He likely was born and raised in Ephesus and found Christ under Paul’s ministry there.
He became one of Paul’s traveling companions. When Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, where he would be arrested, Tychicus was one of the seven who accompanied him (Acts 20:4). When Paul was arrested, Tychicus stayed with Paul through his arrest and imprisonment in Caesarea, his appearances before kings and governors, his voyage and shipwreck on the way to Rome, and his time in Rome awaiting trial.
Paul chose him to travel as his messenger back to the churches of Asia. Tychicus was charged with two duties. First. to deliver Paul’s letters: one to the Colossians, another to Philemon, a slave owner in Colossae, another to the Ephesians (Ephesians 6:21), and a letter that has been lost to us to the Laodiceans (Colossians 4:16). His second duty was to update the churches in Asia about Paul’s situation.
Titus 3:12 and 2 Timothy 4:12 confirm that Tychicus performed this humble function of delivering Paul’s messages throughout the apostle’s life and ministry. He left no writings that survived. He did no feats that were thought worth preserving by Luke in Acts. We learn three things about him here.
First, he was a dear brother. He was greatly loved by Paul and others who knew him. This is no small thing. Many kings and presidents and senators never accomplish this in life.
Second, he was a faithful minister. There is no hint of his being a great thinker or orator, but only a servant. But that is a title assumed by the Lord himself, which put Tychicus in pretty good company. It’s been said that “one of the greatest abilities for a person to possess is dependability.” Tychicus was a dependable man.
Third, he was a fellow servant in the Lord. This term expressed an equality between Paul and Tychicus. It is almost as if Paul said. “Don't think because I wrote the letter and Tychicus is delivering it that I am better than he. We are both servants of the same Lord, and as such, our contributions to the kingdom are of equal worth.
We learn three lessons from the example of Tychicus.
1. There is no insignificant thing done in service to Christ.
What would be the use of Paul writing a letter if it never was delivered? What would be the use of Paul’s powerful truths shared in the opening chapters of this book or its compelling applications if no one ever read it? As the old proverb expresses it:
“For the loss of a nail, a horseshoe was lost;
for the loss of a horseshoe, a horse was lost;
for the loss of a horse, a soldier was lost;
for the loss of a soldier, a battle was lost;
and for the loss of a battle, a kingdom was lost.”
It’s the same with God’s kingdom. There is no insignificant thing done in service to Christ.
2. There is no unsacred thing done in service to Christ.
When Tychicus was caring for Paul, his work was “in the Lord.” Everything done in service to Christ is an act of worship.
3. There is no fleeting thing done in service to Christ.
Everything done in service to Christ is of eternal significance. No doubt, how astonished Tychicus might have been if somebody had told him that the letter he was taking to the Colossians would outlast the existence of that city and that his name, because it was written in the letter, would be known to the end of time all over the world.
Likewise, many Christians on the day of judgment, will be amazed at what things God made note of that they did in service to Him, that they will be commended for in that day. Furthermore, we will be astonished at the impact our seemingly small and fleeting things we did in service to Christ had on eternity.
By all accounts, Edward Kimball was really an ordinary man. He worked a normal job, attended an average church, and taught a Bible study class. One day a young man named Dwight visited his class. It was clear Dwight didn’t know the Bible. One Saturday as Ed was preparing his lesson, the Lord put a burden on his heart to visit the shoe store where Dwight worked and share the gospel with him. That day that Boston shoe clerk surrendered his life to Jesus. That clerk, Dwight L. Moody, eventually became an evangelist.
In England in 1879, DL Moody awakened an evangelistic zeal in the heart of Fredrick B. Meyer, pastor of a small church. F. B. Meyer, preaching to an American college campus, brought to Christ a student named J. Wilbur Chapman. Chapman, engaged in YMCA work and employed a former baseball player, Billy Sunday, to do evangelistic work. Billy Sunday held a revival in Charlotte, N.C. A group of local men there were so enthusiastic afterward that they planned another evangelistic campaign, bringing a preacher named Mordecai Hamm to town to preach. During that revival, a young man named Billy Graham, along with his friend, Grady Wilson, heard the gospel and yielded their lives to Christ.
In fact, Graham and Wilson actually were saved on the second night of the revival. When they returned the second night, finding the tent full, they started to leave. But an usher stopped them and said, “Wait boys, I think I can find two seats for you in the choir area.” And that’s where Jesus found and saved them, right where a faithful usher had seated them.
We hear often about the Dwight L. Moody’s, the Billy Sunday’s, the Billy Grahams . . . but Edward Kimballs? How about the nameless usher? Yet it is through their service to Christ that God’s kingdom is built. It is built by unsung heroes who are diaper changers, prayer warriors, chair stackers, meal preparers, etc.
Every person who knows Christ is now in a position to be a somebody just like Tychicus.
2. Onesimus - from useless to useful - v. 9
Onesimus was a slave to a man in the church in Colossae named Philemon. One of the letters that Tychicus was carrying was a letter to Philemon, in which Paul revealed that his former servant, who had stolen from him and fled to Rome, had somehow met Paul and had been led by Paul to Christ. Paul was asking that Philemon release Onesimus so that he might help Paul in his ministry.
Paul wrote to Philemon and said, “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful to both you and me” (Philemon 11). Why? Because in Christ we are transformed from useless to useful.
But before he met Christ, he was not only a slave, but a useless slave. Commenting on the idea of Onesimus being considered useless, Pastor Eric von Atzigen writes: “Onesimus was like a young man I once met at a gas station. As I visited with him about his life, I learned he was in the local high school marching band. When I ask him what he played, he looked down, grinned and said, ‘The air tuba.’ The what? Apparently he couldn’t play the tuba, but they needed more people to march in the band. So, they handed him this bulky instrument and told him to march around on the field, but not, under any circumstances, was he to blow into that thing. Do you know what it’s like to play the air tuba? Hands full. Lots of activity. No purpose. No music in your life. All dressed up - with no horn to blow.” That was Onesimus’ life.
But when he came to Christ, suddenly, his life went from useless to useful, because, just like Tychicus, he had gone from being a nobody to being a somebody. That’s the difference Christ makes!
Every person who knows Christ is now in a position to be useful just like Onesimus.
Conclusion: When we consider the change brought about in the lives of Tychicus and Onesimus, we realize why the Gospel is called Good News. You see, there is no one too dirty or too broken, or too shameful to be transformed by the grace and power of God through faith in Christ. There is no body to inconsequential or too useless to be touched and transformed by the touch of the Master’s hand. Including you and me.
