As a follower of Jesus, called to my own ministry,
it's my role to uphold the value of every person
that I interact with and to glorify
and honor God at the same time.
To be honest, chapters like Colossians 4
used to be my least favorite kinds of passages.
If you know what Colossians 4 is about,
it's basically a whole chapter
where Paul is addressing specific people in the church
and encouraging them, giving final remarks.
And I used to really dislike chapters like these,
but now I have a special appreciation for them.
The reason I appreciate a chapter like this
so much more than I used to
is because it gives us a more personal window
into what ministry actually looked like
for Paul the Apostle.
When I read a chapter like Colossians 4,
I'm convicted by the way I see Paul speak
about those God put in his life.
I think that conviction comes in
when I think about how I ought to work
at my own relationships in the church
to hold the same love, the same dignity,
and respect that Paul had for his people.
And I believe that I'm not the only person
that this chapter should convict in this way
because every single one of us
have a personal ministry
that God has envisioned for our lives.
And my hope is that when we look closer at Colossians 4,
we can get a clearer picture
into how God might use us in the same way he used Paul.
So one of the things that I like to do
when I write messages
is I like to have a target statement written out.
And the way that I go about this
is whenever you're leaving church
or in my context, a youth group,
one of the questions that I used to hate getting
from my mom was, what did you learn at youth group?
I write the target statement with that question in mind.
So what you're gonna tell your mom
after she asks what you learned at this Empower You video
is one of the ways that God changes lives
on a consistent basis is through the appointments,
connections, and relationships
that he establishes in his sovereignty.
And if I understand the way God moves
in and through relationships,
it can help me to be more effective
in the ministry that God has called me to.
So let's get into Colossians 4.
Starts in verse two by saying,
"'Continue steadfastly in prayer,
"'being watchful in it with thanksgiving,
"'and at the same time, pray also for us
"'that God may open to us a door for the word,
"'to declare the mystery of Christ
"'on account of which I am in prison,
"'that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak.
"'Walk in wisdom toward outsiders
"'making the best use of the time.
"'Let your speech always be gracious,
"'seasoned with salt so that you may know
"'how you ought to answer each person.'"
So Paul lays out his final instructions to the church
before he gives his address
to the specific individuals within it.
So just a couple of quick points.
We see that Paul encourages the church
and he asks for encouragement and prayer in return.
And already the conviction is coming
because if the apostle Paul wasn't afraid
to ask for prayer, why am I?
The next point is he encourages the Colossians
in how they should act towards outsiders.
He tells them to be considerate in their speech
towards those outside the church
for the sake of them being able to receive the gospel.
And we need to have a grace in how we speak
to those who don't see the truth like we do.
And as we read the rest of this chapter,
we are going to start to get a sense
for the fact that Paul knew and loved
the individuals that he walked alongside and ministered to.
So continuing on in Colossians four,
it says, "'Tychicus will tell you about all my activities.
"'He is a beloved and faithful minister
"'and fellow servant in the Lord.
"'I have sent him to you for this very purpose,
"'that you may know how we are
"'and that he may encourage your hearts.
"'And with him, Onesimus, faithful and beloved brother
"'who is one of you.
"'They will tell you everything that has taken place here.
"'Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you
"'and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas,
"'concerning whom you have received instruction.
"'If he comes to you, welcome him.
"'And Jesus, who is called Justice.
"'These are the only men of the circumcision
"'among my fellow workers in the kingdom of God,
"'and they have been a great comfort.'"
to me. 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. For I bear him witness that he has worked
hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved
physician, greets you, as does Demas. Give my greetings to the brothers at
Laodicea and to Nympha and to the church in her house. And when this letter has
read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans, and see that
you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, see that you
fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord. I, Paul, write this
greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains and grace be with you. So there
are a lot of unique individuals that Paul addresses specifically at the end
of the book of Colossians, and I could go on and on about the specific things he
has to say about each person, like how he recognizes Epaphras always struggling in
prayer for the Colossians, meaning that he was laboring in his prayer that they
would all mature and grow in the Lord, or how he encourages Archippus in the end
calling out his ministry and referring to the calling that's been placed on his
life. And there's one name specifically that's mentioned in Colossians 4 that
gets me the most excited, and it might be overlooked by most, but it's the name
Onesimus. He says, Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you.
And the reason why Onesimus is such a significant name to me is because he's
mentioned one other place in the Bible, and he's actually the topic of this
entire book, and it's the book of Philemon. The book of Philemon is a
letter from Paul to his friend Philemon about a certain man named Onesimus.
Onesimus was the servant of Philemon who either ran away and then was
imprisoned, or was imprisoned while he was in service to Philemon. And God's
hand in the life of Onesimus was so clear when he led him to be imprisoned
with the Apostle Paul. It led to a life-changing encounter. So I'm going to
read part of the book of Philemon, and what I want you to notice is Paul's
speech towards Philemon and the way that he was so intentional to hold grace and
dignity for Philemon as he was pleading for the freedom of Onesimus. He says,
I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers because I hear of the
love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the
saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the
full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I
have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts
of the saints have been refreshed through you. So already we get this idea
and picture that Paul loves Philemon greatly and that he's encouraged and
encouraging to the ministry that Philemon is doing. He continues on saying,
accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is
required, yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and
now a prisoner for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose
father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now
he is indeed useful to you and to me. I'm sending him back to you, sending my
very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might
serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel. But I
preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness
might not be by compulsion, but would be of your own accord. For this, perhaps, is
why he was parted from you for a little while, that you might have him back
forever, no longer as a bondservant, but more than a bondservant, as a beloved
brother, especially to me. But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the
Lord. So if you consider me your partner, receive him just as you would receive me.
And if he has wronged you in any way at all, or owes you anything,
and charge that to my account.
I, Paul, write this with my own hand.
I will repay it to say nothing of your owing me,
even of your own self.
Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord.
Refresh my heart in Christ,
confident of your obedience, I write to you,
knowing that you will do even more than I say.
At the same time, prepare a guest room for me,
for I am hoping that through your prayers,
I will be graciously given to you.
So through this letter, we get one of the best examples
of the kind of grace and love that we should walk in
as believers and of followers of Christ.
Paul is setting the example in how we ought to interact
with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
And a couple of the things that stand out
about this letter specifically are first,
the way that Paul speaks to encourage dignity.
The first thing that we can notice when we read this letter
is the way that Paul speaks to Philemon with dignity.
He makes an intentional effort to let every word he speaks
in some way encourage or build up the good in Philemon.
He says something like, though I am bold enough in Christ
to command you to do what is required,
yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you.
And what he means by this is as an apostle,
I have the authority to tell you what to do,
but for love's sake, for your sake, I would rather ask.
I would rather get your consent so that you can do the good
and I'm not compelling you.
So he maintains the dignity of Philemon
by giving him the choice rather than compelling him.
The next thing that Paul does in this letter
is he speaks to encourage goodness.
One of the things that is clear in every correction
or instruction that Paul gives to his fellow Christians
is that he calls them up rather than he calling them out.
He says, I preferred to do nothing without your consent
in order that your goodness might not be done by compulsion,
but of your own accord.
Paul makes it a point to,
though he could by his authority command Philemon
to do what was right, for the sake of his friend,
he preferred to give him the benefit
of doing the good himself and of his own accord.
He wasn't robbing Philemon of the good that he could do.
He would rather Philemon have the chance to do good
and take credit for honoring God.
Another thing that Paul does is he acts selflessly
towards both Philemon and Onesimus.
He prefers others' well-being before his own.
And you see the way that he takes the place of Jesus
in the life of Onesimus when he says,
if he has wronged you at all or owes you anything,
you can charge that to my account.
The idea is that because Onesimus was a bond servant,
there was a debt to be paid off by labor.
And Paul, desiring not to have any discord in the church,
says whatever Onesimus owes you,
whatever wrong he might have done to you,
you can charge to my account.
I'll take the cost so that he can be free.
The last thing that we see Paul doing in this letter
is he speaks to uphold honor.
When we talk about honor,
it means that I'm speaking or acting in a way
that upholds or maintains the value
of something that deserves respect.
As a follower of Jesus called to my own ministry,
it's my role to uphold the value of every person
that I interact with and to glorify
and honor God at the same time.
He says, confident of your obedience, I write to you,
knowing that you will do even more than I say.
And you see another example of Paul calling Philemon up
rather than calling him out.
Now, I feel conviction when I read passages
like Colossians 4 or Philemon,
because it reminds me what the outcome
of my ministry should look like.
The cool thing about the book of Philemon
is that it's one of the few instances
where we get to see in the Bible
the outcome of one of the letters that Paul writes.
In Colossians 4, he refers to Onesimus
not as a lost bondservant
or somebody who's imprisoned with him,
but as a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you.
Onesimus was a bondservant headed to prison
in debt and lacking purpose,
but because of how God worked, his story didn't end there,
but he met someone who was committed
to living his calling in God.
And Onesimus went from being lost to being faithful.
and beloved. And one of my greatest hopes, and I hope this for you as well, is that out of our
relationships in the church, out of the way that we interact and uphold honor and speak to maintain
dignity, we would be able to see outcomes like the outcome of Onesimus. We would be able to see
those that we speak to and honor and minister to experience the kind of transformation that
Onesimus did, going from lost to beloved and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.
So now, instead of skipping Colossians 4, I read it and I imagine how I might speak in the same way
to those that God places in my life, and I would encourage you to do the same. How can you look at
those people that God has placed in front of you that you know you're meant to impact and say,
this is a beloved brother and sister in Christ. I'm encouraged by the way that they are laboring
in prayer. I'm encouraged by the way that they're serving in the church. My encouragement is that
you would take stock of what it looks like to be a wholehearted minister for Christ.