Let us turn to this portion that
we've just read in Colossians chapter 4, the final chapter of the epistle and in the main of course, certainly
from verse 7 right through to the end it contains a list of
names and various greetings to be conveyed by these individuals. It's not uncommon in the epistles
of Paul, we find something very similar in the closing chapter
of the epistle to the Romans. And here in the passage from
verse 7 through 9, We have mention of those who were to be the bearers
of the letter, those who were to carry the letter from the
apostle who was there, confined at Rome, a prisoner in many ways,
although it seems not actually imprisoned, but certainly it
appealed to the Caesar, and he is waiting now for his opportunity
to present his plea. but he sends epistles to the
various churches where he administered and established a Christian witness
and amongst them here to the church at Colossae and we read
of these men who are to be the bearers of the letter Verse seven,
all my estate shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved
brother and a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord,
whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might
know your estate and comfort your hearts. With Onesimus, a
faithful and beloved brother who is one of you, they shall
make known unto you all things which are done here. Very straightforward,
practical words then. But in all of this we discover
something more of the sort of man that this character Paul
was. He is one who has a true pastor's
heart, how he is concerned for these believers in these various
churches. We see it very much, for example,
when he writes to the Church of the Galatians. And there in
chapter 4 and verse 19, he speaks of travailing. Travailing in
birth again for them. He had taken the gospel to them.
Troublemakers had come in. Legalists had entered and were
stealing them away. And they were departing from
the gospel and becoming legalists themselves. And now he's travailing
for them, as he says there in Galatians 4.19. Again, when he
writes of the church at Corinth, where there were those who were
his enemies and enemies of the gospel who had crept into that
church, while writing in 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 4, he says he's writing
with many tears, how he would weep over these various believers. And I think when one reads through
the Pauline epistles it's those two epistles to the Thessalonians
in which we see so much of his tenderness towards those Christian
believers writing there in 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 at verse
7 he says we were gentle among you even as a nurse cherishes
her children So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing
to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also
our own souls, because you were dear unto us." He's like a nurse
to them, caring for them, like a nursing father. He says again
at verse 11, As you know, have we exhorted and comforted and
charged every one of you as a father doth his children. All the tenderness
of this man then as he as he ministers to these various people. He had been amongst them, he
preached the gospel amongst them, he'd moved on to other places
and now of course he's in Rome and in many ways he's cut off
from them but still he writes to them and all this of course
under the sovereign hand of God but for his imprisonment in Rome
we would have none of these prison epistles he would probably have
been able to visit them again but instead of that he must write
and so he writes and as he writes here to the Colossians we see
something of his concern in the way he will pray for them in
the opening chapter he speaks of his prayers there at verse
3 we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ
Jesus and of the love which he had to all the saints and his
concern to instruct them. You know the pattern in Paul's
epistles. He'll set forth great doctrinal
truths, profound doctrines concerning the person and the work of our
Lord Jesus Christ. But then there's always the practical
implication of that teaching. He wants them to walk in a manner
that is becoming for those who profess the gospel. And so, here in this chapter
that we read, he tells them how to walk in verse 5. Walk in wisdom,
he says, toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speed be always with
grace, seasoned with salt. that she may know how ye ought
to answer every man." He's not just a man concerned with the
truth of the gospel and the great doctrines of the faith, but he
knows that all this truth should have a sanctifying effect. It
must be seen in their lives by their fruits. Ye shall know them,
says the Lord Jesus. Well, turning to what we read
here in verses 7, 8 and 9. We see here how he wants to know
something of what the needs are at Colossae and he also is concerned
that they should know something of him and his needs and his
situation. And so he sends the epistle by
the hands of these two people. All my state shall Tychicus declare
unto you, who is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and fellow
servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose,
that he might know your estate and comfort your hearts, 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
so I simply want tonight to consider something of Tychicus that's
the theme that I want to address to consider this person who's
called Tychicus and the Lord willing we'll look next week
at the man who is associated with him called Onesimus first
of all with regards to the character of Tychicus He is concerned to send to them
a man of some real worth, a man who will be useful to them. And
who was he? He's mentioned on a number of
occasions here in the New Testament. We see him there in Acts chapter
20 at Ephesus, and then not surprisingly his name crops up in the epistle
to the Ephesians And he's also mentioned in the pastoral letters
to Timothy and to Titus. There are several references
to him there. As I say, he was there at Ephesus
in Acts 20. That's the first time we have
mentioned of him in association with others. We're
told how they had accompanied him, that is Paul, into Asia
Sir Peter of Berea, and of the Thessalonians Aristarchus and
Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe, Antimotheus, and of Asia, Tychicus,
and Trophimus. That's the first mention that
we have of him there then. He's accompanied others and they're
all together there associated with Paul and his ministry and
it's apparent then that he He continues with the Apostle and
obviously after the third missionary journey he has gone to Rome also
with Paul in Ephesians 6.21. As I said
he is mentioned there in Ephesians also in association with what
we read just then in Acts chapter 20 in Ephesians chapter 6 and
verse 21 he says that she also may know my affairs and how I
do Tychicus a beloved brother and faithful ministering the
Lord shall make known to you all things so he's not only been
a messenger to the Colossians but he's also a messenger to
the Ephesians and he is principally it would seem associated with
with Ephesus he's one of those of Asia that's Asia Minor Turkey,
as we would now call it, where Ephesus, of course, is located. In fact, when he writes to Timothy,
2 Timothy 4.12, Paul says, Antiochus have I sent to Ephesus. And are these two men then, Antiochus
and Onesimus, are to make known to the Colossians what has been
happening with the Apostle whilst he's been in Rome. At the beginning
of verse 7, All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you. And
then again at the end of verse 9, They shall make known unto
you all things which I've done here. He's a messenger. He's a messenger and he's a man who's trustworthy.
He's certainly a man who is trustworthy. Paul has a very high regard for
him. How does he speak of him? Here
at the end of verse 7. He calls him a beloved brother,
a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord's. And it's much the same as what
he says in that verse that we read just now in Ephesians 6.21.
He's a beloved brother and a faithful minister. So, on two occasions
in the New Testament we have this testimony from the apostle
concerning this particular individual. And that's no vain repetition.
He is a man of some worth in the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we find a thing stated once
in Holy Scripture, it carries weight. If we find it repeated,
surely we recognize it carries even more weight because the
Lord God does not repeat himself in vain. The beloved brother,
here is a man then who is clearly most dear to the Apostle Paul. He loves him as a brother. And he's not only that, he's
also a minister. He's a faithful minister. He's
not one who has started himself as a minister, but he's a God-sense
minister. He's one that Paul will associate
with himself. And now Paul repeatedly in these
epistles, of course, makes it plain from whence he received
his ministry. Even here in the opening verse
of this epistle to the Colossians, he's Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, by the will of God. It's by the will of God that
Paul is exercising his ministry. He has authority from on high,
and surely those who are associated with him would be of the same
caliber. They're not men who set themselves
up, they're men who have been properly recognized. So here
we have a man, he's a dear beloved brother to the Apostle, the brother
in the faith. He's also with Paul, a faithful
minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then he uses his expression
that he's a fallow servant. And I'm sure you're aware that
the word that we have here for servant is more literally a slave. He's a slave, he's a willing
labourer. in the cause of the Lord Jesus
Christ it's the same sort of thing that we read concerning
Timothy there in Philippians chapter 2 verse 19 to the Philippians Paul can say
I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you
that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state for I
have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state
like-minded we're told in the margin literally means so dear
unto me I have no man so dear unto me who will naturally care
for your state. Well, Tychicus is a similar character
to Timothy. These are the men who are associated
with Paul in all of his ministry. Tychicus. And what is his task
here? What is the ministry? He's to
exercise, well, he's simply to tell them something of the situation. Their in Rome where Paul is confined. This is so clearly a prison epistle. He speaks of that, doesn't he,
in verse 3. He's asking for prayer. He wants their prayers. That
God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ for which I am also in bonds and then when we come
to the end he says to them in the final words remember my bonds he wants their their prayers
he desires that they be remembering him before the throne of grace
so he wants someone to convey to them something of what his
real needs are I like what he says there in
that third verse when he wants the daughter of utterance to
speak the mystery of Christ the mystery of Christ the mystery
of the gospel without controversy great is the mystery of godliness
in looking at that verse there in first timothy 3 16 And it
all centers, of course, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And here is
a man who is a true servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. But as
we see, again, so much of the pastoral heart of Paul is not
so much preoccupied with himself, he's concerned principally for
the believers there at Colossae. it's their welfare that he really
wants to know about as he says in verse 8 whom I have sent unto
you for the same purpose that he might know your estate and
comfort your hearts he wants him to minister to them and then
He says in verse 9, They shall make known unto you all things
which are done here. But the primary thing is concern
for those there at Colossae. And Paul, the author of the epistle,
is that man who is a pattern. We're told to them which shall
hereafter believe. Those words that we have in 1
Timothy 1.16, he's the pattern believer. He's a type of what
it is to be a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he's not only that, he's
also a pattern, surely, of what it is to be a true pastor, seeking
to be an under-shepherd in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we see it all the time. He exhorts the people. He exhorts
the Galatians. Bear ye one another's burdens,
he says, and so fulfill the law of Christ. He bears them upon
his heart. He prays for them. He wants them
to pray for him. And in all of this, of course,
we see him as that one who is really a follower of the Lord
Jesus. When we think of the Lord Jesus
and those seven saints from the cross, And remember what we find
amongst those seven sayings, the Lord's dying care for his
mother, the Virgin Mary, as we have it there in John 19. Verse 25, Now there stood by
the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister Mary,
the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore
saw his mother and the disciples standing by, whom he loved, he
saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he
to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple
took her unto his own home. Even in dying, the Lord Jesus
Christ is ministering to his beloved mother. She was his mother. he derived his human nature from
that woman that holy thing that was conceived in her virgin womb
by the Holy Ghost he was the seed of the woman that was his
mother and how the Lord loved her even to the end and there
in dying he commits her to the charge of the beloved Apostle
John Well, these men, you see, they're followers of the Lord
Jesus Christ Paul, Tychicus, and all these others who are
mentioned. I was just thinking, the reason
I came to this, I was thinking about how we maybe love to read
biographies. Biographies are easy to read,
I suppose. Sometimes it's more of an effort
to read some sort of theological or doctrinal book. But it's always
interesting to read the lives of other people. When I look
at a newspaper I often turn to the obituaries. You know how in the newspapers
often you get some account of those who the world would consider
worthy, so you get some account of their lives. interesting things
to read when we come to consider other people and so too with
regards to believers I'm sure we all like to read on occasions
different accounts of those great men from the past and also most
gracious women also but then I think of the multitudes the
multitudes of whom probably next to nothing probably even nothing
at all is so little known and yet yet they are the Lord's people
they're the Lord's people and it struck me how when we come
to the end of Paul's epistles he does make mention of these
people so little is known of them it's very difficult to find
much at all in the scriptures one has to scratch about to find
any detail as I found when it came to the consideration of
this man Tychicus. But the important thing, the
vital thing of course, is that their names are written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. And surely that is the great
thing, that is the thing that we are to be principally concerned
about. We're going to sing just now the hymn number 4, and we
have that line at the end concerning the Book of Life. in thy fair
book of life and grace, O may I find my name recorded in some
humble place beneath my Lord the Lamb." Some humble place. I'm sure even those who we know
so little of, there is probably much in their lives that we could
consider with some very real profit. I remember when trying to prepare
some account of the history of the cause here at Salem back
in 2013 when we were marking the 200th anniversary and when
I look back now I think it's rather a poor effort because
there's so much more that should have gone in that was omitted
but there were some striking things I remember being much
struck reading about the beginning of the work and of course the
work was started by those who were members at the Baptist Church
that met in Meeting House Alley it was called, Meeting House
Alley, it was in Kent Street and One of the early ministers
there was a man called Daniel Muell, and I did find out something
about him, and I was so struck by what I read. It was only a
little piece. It was in a gospel magazine back
in the 19th century. The gospel magazine for many
years was edited by Dr. David Doudna, who himself was
a Portsmouth man. As a youngster, he lived here
in Portsmouth. his formative years. He wasn't
a Baptist, in fact he finished up of course as an ordained minister
in the Church of England, but he spoke of how as a young man
he would on occasions go into the Baptist church there in Meeting
House Lane and he spoke of the minister a man called Daniel
Meal, and I don't know, I've not tried, I don't think there's
very much information, but I was so struck what he said about
that man's ministry, and he mentioned that on one occasion he heard
him preaching, and as he came to the conclusion of his sermon,
he remarked that, if when he was on the very borders of another
world, and that last step, would land him in heaven. If he was
left to take that step all alone, he would step into hell. And
it made such an impression on Dr. Doudna, because he remembered
it all those years afterwards, when he made reference to it
there in the Gospel magazine, and said, you see, that was the
religion of those people. They knew what it was to be complete
and utter dependence on the grace of God. not a very well-known
minister, but a man called Daniel Meor. And it's not just ministers,
isn't it? I think of so many ministers
who've doubtless preached many sermons and been faithful men
in their day and generation, and yet nothing is recorded of
them. Nothing is recorded of them. The men who ministered
here at Salem Chapel through the centuries, through the two
centuries that the workers has been preserved here. Not all
of them had obituaries in the gospel standard. Some did, some
didn't. But there weren't just ministers,
pastors, there were also deacons of course. And Salem has been
favoured really with quite a succession of pastors. But there was a long
period from 1940 right through to 1966 when there was no pastor, the
ministry was one dependent upon supply ministers. All through
the war years after the first chapel was bombed, destroyed
by enemy action, all through those early years of the 1940s
right through to the war, the period after the war and the
rebuilding of of a chaplain, the erection of this chapel.
The work was completely dependent upon beacons. Then from the Hitchens
family, there were many of the Hitchens, there was a James Hitchens,
there was Will Hitchens, there was another man called Will Bradshaw,
and these men, so little known of them, and yet how they kept
the work going. And of course, even in more recent
years when Mr. Matronola was struck down with
his brain tumor sadly and you know it was within a year that
he'd gone and then the responsibility of course fell very much upon
the deacons, Martin and Cliff and Eric Whitecross were the
deacons and they had to carry the work through and it's not
just church officers but there are those people who are faithful
in the church, members in the church even adherents sometimes
so faithful over many years although they might never come forward
yet always in their place how these people you see can be so
easily overlooked and it just struck me how Paul is so careful
when he writes his epistles and he comes to the concluding part
I said not only here in the Colossian epistle but also in that to the
church at Rome he'll make mention of certain individuals sometimes
maybe it's the only time their name appears but it's there it's
there and so here we read of this man Tychicus and his ministry and the value
that Paul set upon that man and his faithful support of the Apostle
in all his labours in the Gospel. We are to recognise then that
the Lord does have a people, many of them unknown, and yet
they are those who seek faithfully to serve their generation by
the will of God, to fulfil their own particular position, their
role in the life of the local church well god willing as i
said next week we'll look at onesimus of course we find him
there in that epistle to the to philemon so the lord willing
we'll look at him next time but the lord be pleased to own what
we sought to say tonight concerning this man Tychicus. But before
we come to prayer, let us turn to that hymn that I refer to,
number four in the book. And the tune is Violet Cottage,
256. I'll read the first two verses,
and then we'll sing from verse three. Keep silence, all created things,
and wait your Maker's nod. My soul stands trembling while
she sings the honors of her God. Life, death, and hell, and worlds
unknown hang on His firm decree. He sits on no precarious throne,
nor burrows leave to be. Number four, singing from verse
three, the tune 2-5-6.