Colossians 4:7-18: A Fully Devoted Life

Colossians 4:7-18: A Fully Devoted Life

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through Paul’s letter to the Colossians, and today the next and final passage we come to is Colossians 4:7-18. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:

7 Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, 9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. 10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. 14 Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. 16 And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. 17 And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” 18 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, we’re told that there are different kinds of soils on which the seed of your Word falls—thorny soil, rocky soil, soil on a path, and good fertile soil. And it’s only when the seed falls on that last kind of soil that it actually produces fruit. So, please, help us to be that fertile soil this morning, so that the seed of your Word can take root and bear fruit in our lives. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

In an essay entitled, “Three Kinds of Men,” C. S. Lewis asserts that there are not two but three kinds of people in this world. According to Lewis, the first kind consists of those who live entirely for themselves and pursue whatever gratifies their own desires. Their life is one big pursuit of pleasure in the things of this world. We might refer to these as “irreligious” people. 

After that, the second kind of person consists of those who acknowledge that there are moral rules they should follow, and they seek to follow those rules to the best of their ability. Although they still seek to gratify their own desires in the things of this world, they try to do so without crossing the moral boundaries God’s established. Lewis says they relate to God’s instructions for how to live in a way that’s similar to the way we all relate to paying taxes. We pay our taxes but hope we still have enough money left over afterwards to spend on ourselves. That’s the way this second kind of person approaches God’s instructions. Even though they try to observe the moral boundaries God’s established, they seek to gratify their own desires to whatever extent those boundaries will allow. We might refer these as “religious” people—and they’re often mistaken for true Christians. They might even attend church and think of themselves as Christians. 

Yet it’s important to recognize that neither of these first two groups of people are living out New Testament Christianity. Neither “irreligious” people who discard the rules nor “religious” people who dutifully try to keep the rules are Christians in the biblical sense of that word. 

But according to Lewis, there’s a third kind of person—and that is the person who can say with the Apostle Paul, “to live is Christ.” Such people have surrendered their will entirely to God. God’s will is no longer a rival to their own will or something that limits their own will—it is their will. They desire only what God desires and view their entire self as belonging to God. And that’s the posture of a genuine New Testament Christian. 

A true Christian doesn’t merely do what God says but actually delights in God. Instead of viewing God’s instructions for life the way we view paying taxes, they take great pleasure in following God’s ways because they genuinely love God and have a heartfelt desire to glorify him in every aspect of their lives. God isn’t just their first priority but is the priority that encompasses all others. 

So, those are the three categories of people—irreligious people, religious people, and Christians. And in the main passage of Scripture before us today of Colossians 4:7-18, we find a wonderful portrait of that third kind of person in the way Paul describes his companions in ministry. The main idea of this passage is that Paul’s ministry companions were fully devoted to serving God. Again, Paul’s ministry companions were fully devoted to serving God. 

So, let’s begin by looking at verses 7-9. Paul writes, 7 Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, 9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. 

These verses reveal that Tychicus and Onesimus were the believers responsible for carrying Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Back then, there wasn’t a mail service available to the general public like there is today. So, if you wanted a letter delivered, you had to find someone to deliver it. And that’s what Tychicus and Onesimus did with the letter we now refer to as “Colossians.” 

And the main thing I’d like us to notice from these verses is the way Paul describes these two men. He refers to Tychicus first as “a beloved brother.” Tychicus had been with Paul for quite a while and had endured much of Paul’s suffering alongside Paul and had therefore become very dear to him. It’s also notable that Paul refers to him not just as a “beloved friend” but as a “beloved brother”—a member of the same spiritual family. 

Paul also calls him a “faithful minister”—that is, someone who has served faithfully. And Paul then takes it a step further and refers to Tychicus as a “fellow servant in the Lord.” The Greek word translated “servant” there is actually δοῦλος, which literally means “slave.” Paul calls Tychicus a “fellow slave in the Lord.” And we’ll talk a lot more about that in a few moments. Paul then refers to Onesimus as “our faithful and beloved brother,” again emphasizing the bond of love and the spiritual connection that the two men shared. 

Then, moving on to verses 10-11, Paul writes, 10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 

So, still looking at the way Paul describes his companions, he refers to Aristarchus as “my fellow prisoner,” either because Aristarchus was literally imprisoned with Paul or—more likely—because Aristarchus had so identified himself with the cause of Christ and was so faithful in ministering to Paul’s needs in prison that it was as if he was a prisoner himself. 

Paul then mentions Mark, who had proven unreliable at one point in time but had since become one of Paul’s most trusted ministry associates. By the way, this is the same Mark who wrote the Gospel of Mark. Lastly, Paul mentions a third man, Justus, and refers to these three men collectively as “fellow workers for the kingdom of God.” They weren’t merely pew-warmers in the church but were actually laboring in very meaningful ways for the sake of God’s kingdom. 

After that, Paul writes in verses 12-13, 12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. You may recall from earlier in Paul’s letter that Epaphras was the one who had started the Colossian church. And Paul refers to him here as “a servant of Christ Jesus.” And again, the word translated “servant” is the Greek word δοῦλος, which literally meant slave. So, throughout this passage, Paul’s been describing in various ways how his ministry companions are fully devoted to the Lord. Yet I believe this idea of being fully devoted is most fully expressed in Paul’s designation first of Tychicus and now of Epaphras as “slaves” of Christ. 

It's also worth mentioning that this is the way Paul refers to himself in numerous places throughout his letters. It actually seems to be one of his favorite ways of introducing himself—as we see in Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1, and Titus 1:1. And not only does Paul refer to himself and his companions as “slaves” of Christ, he actually refers to all Christians as “slaves” of Christ in places like Romans 6:22. 

So, since this seems to be such a big point of emphasis in Paul’s writings in general and in our main passage in particular, let me briefly give you four ways Christians are similar to first-century slaves. The first is absolute ownership. Slaves had no personal rights or personal autonomy at all. Instead, they were considered to be the property of their masters. The masters had paid for their slaves and therefore had all ownership rights over their slaves. Similarly, Paul says to the Christians of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” 

Unfortunately, we often have tendency to keep certain parts of our life back from God. Yet in doing so, we fail to recognize the rightful claim of absolute ownership Jesus has over us. He purchased us with his own blood—shed on the cross—with the result that we now belong entirely to him. We no longer have any legitimate claim to autonomy or ownership rights over ourselves but are to live entirely under the Lordship of Christ. 

Then, growing out of that, a second way we’re similar to first-century slaves is related to exclusive service. Slaves were owned by one master and one master alone. No other master had any claim over that slave. And it’s the same for us. Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:24 that “No one can serve two masters.” There’s no place for divided loyalty in the Christian life, in which we’re partially devoted to God but also partially devoted to money or personal comfort or career achievements or whatever else. Jesus expects our exclusive devotion. 

Then, a third similarity is total obedience. Slaves were obligated to obey their master’s commands whether they felt like it or not. Slaves didn’t have the privilege of negotiating with their masters or trying to work out some sort of compromise. Instead, whatever the master said was what the slave was expected to do—without question or delay. And that’s the same level of obedience we’re expected to render to Jesus. If Jesus says to live in a certain way, that settles it. We’re called to render him total obedience. 

And finally, a fourth similarity is identification with the Master. In ancient society, a slave was known by who he served. Slaves would often even bear marks or wear clothing which identified them with their master. Likewise, our identity is defined by Jesus. We’re Christians before we’re anything else. 

And let me remind you that our service to Jesus as his slaves is supposed to be a very joyful thing. We’re called to be slaves not begrudgingly but joyfully. And the reason for that is because of way Jesus has already served us. We serve Jesus and give ourselves to him because of the way he’s already served us and given himself for us. 

In Philippians 2:7, Paul describes Jesus as one who “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” I’ll give you one guess about what the Greek word translated here as “servant” is. It is indeed δοῦλος. The most literal translation of this phrase would therefore be that Jesus took “the form of a slave.” And as Paul goes on to explain in verse 8, this eventually led to Jesus dying on the cross in order to pay for our sins. 

You see, the Bible teaches that we deserve to suffer God’s eternal punishment in hell because of our sins. But Jesus suffered the penalty for our sins as our substitute in his death on the cross. He endured the punishment we deserved. And because he was then raised from the dead three days later, he now stands ready to rescue everyone who puts their trust in him. By the way, if you haven’t yet done that, let me implore you even today to put your trust in Jesus. Renounce your trust in your own moral efforts or religious accomplishments as if those things could ever make you right with God, and put your trust instead in Jesus. Let your confidence for eternity be in him alone. 

And for those of us who have already done that, this is why it’s our delight to live as slaves of Christ. We delight in being slaves of Christ because of the way he’s made himself a “slave” for us by entering this world and dying on the cross to atone for our sins. 

I’d also like to point out that we who are Christians seek to live as slaves of Jesus not because we’re trying to earn a right standing with God or earn a place in heaven. If that’s the way you’re thinking, you’re misunderstanding Christianity on the most fundamental level. Instead, we live as slaves of Jesus not because we’re trying to earn anything but rather simply because we love him and are so grateful to him for saving us. 

So, if you claim to be a Christian, is this the way you’re living? Have you given yourself to Jesus without holding anything back? Have you relinquished all ownership claims over yourself and instead embraced Jesus as your Master? That’s not an optional “extra” for the Christian life but a fundamental component of being a Christian. 

I once heard it compared to the difference between giving someone a gift card and giving them access to all of your bank accounts and investment portfolios. Let’s say you give someone a prepaid Visa gift card for $50. That means they’re allowed to spend up to $50 on whatever they want. They have a lot of freedom in what they purchase, but the limit is $50. And that’s what many people try to do with Jesus. They give him permission to have control of certain areas of their life, but there’s a limit. Jesus is allowed to call the shots in their life to a certain point but no more than that. By contrast, though, we’re called to give Jesus not just a gift card with a spending limit but, as it were, total access to all of our bank accounts and investment portfolios so he can do whatever he desires with every last dollar we have. By its very nature, lordship has no limits. 

Also, to use another analogy I’ve heard, think back to when you took your road test for driver’s license. I don’t know if they still do this or not, but I remember when I was in the car with the woman who was grading my driving skills and determining whether I’d get my license, I wasn’t the only one the car who had a brake pedal. The car had been specially modified so that she had a brake pedal on her side of the car as well. So, if she wanted to, she had the ability to override any unsafe driving maneuvers I might do and bring the car to stop. 

And that’s the way a lot of people act with Jesus as well. They want a brake pedal. Although they like the general idea of following Jesus, they also want veto power over anything he might want to do in their lives. Yet that’s simply not an option for a New Testament Christian. As slaves, we’re expected to obey Jesus unconditionally and surrender our lives entirely to him. When it comes to our lives, Jesus demands everything. As Hudson Taylor so famously said, “Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.”

So, in light of that, let me encourage you to consider, first of all, whether there’s anything in your life Jesus would have you give up. Is there any sin you need to repent of? Is there any habit you’ve been quietly tolerating that you need to put to death? Is there anything you’ve been doing that might not be overtly sinful but is nevertheless something the Holy Spirit has prompted you to stop doing? Surrendering to Christ’s Lordship and living as a slave of Christ means giving up anything and everything he wants you to give up. 

Secondly, going from negative to positive, it also means doing anything he wants you to do. So, has God put it on your heart to minister to someone around you in some way? Has he been prompting you to have a gospel conversation with someone who isn’t yet a Christian, or maybe even do a Word One to One study—like we talked about last week—through the Gospel of John? Or maybe there’s a ministry here at the church God would have you engage in. What has God been calling you to do that maybe you’ve been dragging your feet on recently but that you now realize you need to do if you’re truly a slave of Christ? 

And lastly, one final point of application I’d like to make is what being a slave of Christ means for a particularly sensitive area of our lives—and that is our finances. The reason I’d like to highlight this specifically is because the way we handle money is such a revealing indicator of our heart. As you can probably imagine, slaves don’t own anything. Instead, everything they possess is the property of their master. 

Likewise, all the money we possess actually belongs to God. It’s God’s money that he’s temporarily entrusted to us with the expectation that we’ll use it for his glory and according to his instructions. Kind of like when you entrust money to a financial advisor, that advisor isn’t free to do whatever they want with it. If they decide to use your money to take their family on a cruise in the Caribbean, that’s not cool, right? That’s generally frowned upon. There’s a good chance the financial advisor would end up doing some jail time for pulling a stunt like that. Because, humanly speaking, that money was yours, not theirs, and therefore needed to be managed according to your instructions.

And that’s the mentality we should have when we think about the money in our bank accounts. We should have a stewardship mentality rather than an ownership mentality. This means that—as John Wesley once said—the question we should be asking ourselves isn’t, “How much of my money will I give to God?” but rather “How much of God’s money will I keep for myself?” Of course, the biblical model for our giving is what’s called a “tithe”—or 10%—of our income. Yet the New Testament frequently invites Christians to go beyond the biblical standard of tithing and to actually give extravagantly. 

I’ve heard it said that we have two options for the way we approach wealth. We can either give sufficiently and live extravagantly, or we can live sufficiently and give extravagantly. What mentality do you have toward the wealth God’s entrusted to you? If you haven’t surrendered control of your money to God, then the simple reality isn’t that you haven’t surrendered control of your life to God. 

And again, all of this relates to living as a slave of Christ and being fully devoted to him. This is the theme that occurs again and again in our main passage in Colossians 4 in the way Paul describes his ministry companions and is likewise the way God calls us to live as well. So, to bring it all together, what part of your life have you been holding back from God? Where have you not been fully surrendered to him? 

And before we move on from this topic, let me just insert a personal note here and say that God’s been teaching me so much about surrender these past few months. I’ve come to realize that most of my anxiety about various circumstances is because, quite often, I have an agenda for my life that’s different from God’s agenda for my life. And the anxiety I sometimes experience is essentially a measure of the difference between my agenda and God’s agenda. So, if you struggle with anxiety at times as well, let me encourage you to simply surrender your agenda to God and embrace whatever he wants to do in your life. 

And remember that the God we serve is a good God and a loving God. We see that demonstrated throughout the Bible—from creation to redemption and everywhere in between. So, it’s not just that we should trust God with our lives but that we can trust God with our lives. We can rest in his sovereign goodness with the confidence that his plans are always better than our plans—and not just better overall but better even for us. So, if you want relief from anxiety, surrender every aspect of your life to God so that the only thing you want for your life is what he wants for your life. 

Yet, turning our attention back to our main passage, we see that living as those who are fully devoted to God isn’t something we do on our own but something we do in community with other Christians. You may recall in verse 7 that Paul refers to Tychicus as “a beloved brother” and in verse 9 that he refers to Onesimus also as a “beloved brother.” Paul understands that all believers are members of the same spiritual family. And that’s how the people he describes in this passage lived. Throughout this passage we see not only that the people described here were fully devoted to God but also that a key way they lived out their devotion to God was in their ministry to one another. 

For example, in verse 8, Paul says that Tychicus is traveling to the Colossian Christians in order to “encourage [their] hearts.” So, we see first a ministry of encouragement. Paul also says in verse 11 that Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus have been a tremendous “comfort” to him. So, we see also a ministry of comfort. 

Paul then states in verse 12 that Epaphras is “always struggling on your behalf in his prayers.” By the way, the Greek work translated as “struggling” there is also translated as “wrestling.” The NIV says, “He is always wrestling in prayer for you.” The Greek word is ἀγωνίζομαι, from which we get our English word “agonize.” So, Epaphras wasn’t just casually mentioning the Colossians in his prayer but was praying for them with everything he had. So, the third ministry we see in this passage is the ministry of prayer. 

I also appreciate the greetings Paul extends in verse 15 to “Nympha and the church in her house.” For the first few centuries of Christianity, Christians met primarily in homes. So, that’s a fourth ministry—the ministry of hospitality. And lastly, moving down to verse 17, Paul says to tell Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” This is an example of the ministry of exhortation, in which Christians exhort and challenge one another to remain faithful and continue walking in God’s ways. 

So, this is how the early Christians expressed their devotion to God. They ministered to one another through encouragement, comfort, prayer, hospitality, and exhortation. And these are likewise ways in which we’re supposed to express our devotion to God as well. 

And if you’ve been attending our church for almost any length of time, you know that the key mechanism we have set up to facilitate this kind of ministry to one another is Community Groups. But let me encourage you not just to join a group and make being there a priority but to really strive to minister to others in your group the way the Christians mentioned in our main passage ministered to each other. 

This begins with the ministry of encouragement. Look for ways you can build others up in the faith by reminding them of the biblical truths we hold so dear and by pointing out evidences of God’s grace that you see in them. Also, if you notice someone hasn’t been attending Community Group lately, shoot them a text to see how they’ve been and let them know that they’ve been missed. 

In addition, ministry to one another also includes the ministry of comfort. If someone in your Community Group is going through a difficult time, check in on them and perhaps even bring them a meal. If they’re grieving the loss of a loved one, give them a shoulder to cry on. If you know they’re in the hospital, take it upon yourself to visit them and pray with them. Whatever the circumstance, do whatever you can do to be there for them in their time of need. One thing I learned from being a hospice chaplain full-time for three years is that comforting people is often less about the specific things you say to them and more about simply being there for them. So, if you’re not sure of the exact right things to say, don’t worry about it. You simply being there with them in their time of need is the most important way you can offer comfort. 

Another ministry we see in our main passage that I certainly hope is taking place consistently in our Community Groups is the ministry of prayer. Obviously, we do this when we pray for each other’s prayer requests in our group meetings. But let me also encourage you to pray for those requests throughout the week. Hopefully your group leader has a way of publishing the group’s prayer requests to the group members. You can also find a list of the people in your group on the Church Center app and pray systematically through those names.

In addition, the ministry of hospitality is also quite important for our Community Groups. Maybe God’s leading you to open up your home for Community Group meetings in the future. Also, make it a practice to invite others in your Community Group over for dinner. That also is an important part of us living together as a true community of Christians. 

And finally, let’s not forget about the ministry of exhortation we see in our main passage. From time to time, fellow group members might benefit from being exhorted and even challenged toward greater faithfulness in a certain area of their life. Maybe you’ve noticed a concerning pattern in their life or that they just seem to be losing sight of what’s most important. Whenever that’s the case, it might be beneficial to lovingly exhort them to be faithful in that area. 

So, as you can see, the ways that the Christians Paul describes in our main passage ministered to one another are a wonderful model for how we should minister to one another in Community Groups. Our vision for Community Groups is that they wouldn’t just be Bible studies but rather that they’d places where real inter-personal ministry happens—and the five ministries described here in Colossians 4 are a great place to start. We’ve seen in this passage that Christians are members of the same spiritual family, right? Well, this is how we can live in our Community Groups as the spiritual family that we are.