Amen. Well, may the Lord be gracious
to us tonight as we continue our meditation in the Epistle
of Paul to the Colossians, chapter 4. And this evening we'll read
from verses 9 to 11. The Epistle of Paul to the Colossians,
chapter 4, and reading verses 9 to 11. With Onesimus, a faithful and
beloved brother, who is one of you, they shall make known unto
you all things which are done here. Aristarchus, my fellow
prisoners, saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas,
touching whom ye received commandments. If he come unto you, receive
him. And Jesus, which is called Justice,
who are of the circumcision. They only are my fellow workers
unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. So it's very interesting and
instructive really how when the Apostle comes to the end of his
letter to the Church at Colossae that he writes to them so they
would not forget certain people that he was familiar with, those
who had been a help to him, those that were with him when he wrote
this. And therefore he addresses them
in this way. And he starts by saying with,
Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you, they
shall make known unto you all things which are done here. Now we read that chapter in Philemon
for the reason that of course it does speak a lot about Onesimus. And it is instructed to us because
we see there a man, Onesimus, at one time was not profitable,
but now there'd been a change. He was now a different person
and he was now profitable to them. And we should remember
that because we do come in contact sometimes with people that come
into churches and are not profitable. Some people have been in churches
a long time and are not profitable. But then there's a change. The Lord works in their hearts. And whereas they were aliens
and strangers, now they're fellow pilgrims. And there is those
then that we can have communion with and therefore we shouldn't
Just say, well, I remember what he or she was like, because there
may have been a great change. Very careful. That's why we have
such a testimony, such an example, as we do when Paul wrote to Philemon. And we'll just read those verses
because they are significant to us. He says, I beseech thee
for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds. it would
seem that he was a born-again believer while Paul was bound
perhaps in Rome and therefore he has reason to speak about
him and he says which in time past was to thee unprofitable
but now profitable to thee and to me and it's a wonderful thing
to see a change in someone, to see the grace of God shining
forth in someone. Whereas at one time they were
careless and cared nothing really for the truth of God or communion
of the saints, but to know that there's been a change. And we're
thankful that we do see people still today who are called by
grace, who at one time were unprofitable, but are now profitable to thee
and to me, whom I have sent again, thou therefore receive him. He instructs him, you see, to
receive him, not to turn him away, because he might remember
how he was. That is, mine own bowels, whom
I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have
ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. Without thy mind
will I do nothing, that thy benefit should not be, as it were, of
necessity, but willingly. And again, that's an important
consideration. We don't do things out of, perhaps,
a mere duty, just necessity, but willingly, as we observe
the grace of God in such characters. And so the Apostle says, but
willingly, for perhaps he therefore departed for a season that thou
shouldest receive him forever. Again you see sometimes the Lord
removes people and then perhaps sometimes he brings them back. And we see God's work in these
things and moving in these things. And we should never think, well,
that's just some chance situation, to realize it's ordained by the
blessed Lord himself. For perhaps he therefore departed
for a season that thou shouldest receive him forever. And then
he tells us this, not now as a servant, obviously he had been
a servant, anissimus, but now, he says, not as a servant, but
above a servant, a brother beloved. What a change. It's good, isn't
it, if you and I, in situations and circumstances, can observe
this. And here we have, therefore,
gracious instruction and gracious warning, really, especially to
me, the Apostle speaking about himself. but how much more unto
thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So we can see he was
useful naturally and also useful spiritually. And then the apostle
says, if thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. Consider he's like me. Consider
him like me. And then he says, If he hath
wrongly, or oath he ought, put that on mine account. Again,
that's a lovely illustration, isn't it, of the life of the
Christian being willing to pay, supply the need, perhaps of such
who weren't able to supply their own needs. So we can understand,
can we not, what the Apostle says when he wrote to the Colossians
with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of
you. They shall make known unto you
all things which are done here. And then he goes on and says,
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, salutes you. So what do we read
about Aristarchus? Well, not very much in the Word
of God, but in the Acts of the Apostles, We do read this in
the 19th chapter and the 29th verse. And the whole city was
filled with confusion. This was in Ephesus when they
cried out about Diana of the Ephesians. The whole city was
filled with confusion. and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus,
men of Macedonia, Paul's companions, in trouble, they rushed with
one accord into the theatre. So we see that Aristarchus was
a fellow traveller with the Apostle Paul, and also now he is a fellow
prisoner with the Apostle Paul. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner,
saluteth you. And we read about him again in
the 20th chapter of Acts. And there accompanied him into
Asia, Sopitha, Berea, and of the Thessalonians Aristarchus
and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus, and of Asia, Tychicus,
and Trophimus. So it's interesting, isn't it,
how the Apostle includes these people so that people in Colossae
might be aware of how these people had been a benefit to the Apostle. And therefore he names them.
And then he comes on to the further comment where he says, and Marcus,
sister son to Barnabas. And also he comes on to say, touching whom ye received commandments,
If he come unto you, receive him. Well, we read about him
in the first of Peter. The church is at Babylon, elected
together with you, saluted you, and so doth Marcus my son. I don't read very much, but there's
just a link there to a directus to Marcus. And then the apostle
goes on finally and says, and Jesus, which is called justice,
who are of the circumcision, these only are my fellow workers
unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. And in Acts 18, we read about
justice. And he departed thence and entered
into a certain man's house named Justice. one that worshipped
God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. So the temptation
is to say, well, of course, this is just mere names and it has
no relevance really to the gospel. And why do you spend your time
going through this? Well, we do go through, we have
gone through these epistles, and I'm sure with the example
we have of Onesimus, It's not something to just pass over,
but to realise how the Apostle dealt with these people, and
how these people were with him, how they were prisoners with
him, and how they were there when there was a tumult, they
were with him. So they were really, without
any doubt, those comrades and brethren in Christ who he was
thankful to know and to be able to testify that they've been
a help and a blessing to him. So we'll leave the comments there
and may we ponder some