Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good morning church!

I wanted to take a few moments to say thank you for your prayers and kind gestures toward the mission and myself.

I now have a new respect for Covid that I did not have before.

This virus is real church and was very brutal toward me.

But because God heard the cry’s of you all and many others, mercy and grace was given and I am still here.

I use the term brutal, because that is exactly what it was.

This was the sickest I was in my entire life church and I am grateful that God brought me through it.

So thank you for everything.

The suffering that was endured drew me closer to the Lord and I feel like their was and is a revival happening!

Hallelujah Jesus!

So when you are sick, when you are suffering, do not waste it!

Draw near to the Lord, and He will draw near unto you!

Let us open our Bible’s to Colossians 4, we have come as far as verse 7 church and the end of this power packed epistle is near.

Read Colossians 4:7-11

Review

We have journeyed through the book of Colossians over the last several months here at FCC.

And we know that this letter was probably penned somewhere around 60-62 AD

We have learned that the first tow chapters are doctrinal and Paul established the Pre-eminence of Jesus Christ.

WHY?

Paul did not start this church, but Epaphras and it was here that Epaphras left the church to go to Rome to find Paul who was in prison because false teachers were attacking the supremacy of Jesus Christ and he did not know what to do.

I think it is important to realize that Epaphras was led to the Lord by Paul and that he had to travel about 1311 miles to Rome to seek counsel>>>LOOK AT MAP!!!

When he left to seek the help of the Apostle Paul, he left Archippus in charge who is Philemons son as the church met in his home and we will learn more about him next week or the week after as we close out this letter.

After Paul establishes the Pre-eminence in a believers life and basically teaches his readers that it is not Jesus plus this or that, But Jesus only, he then moves from doctrine to duty or from belief to behavior.

Why? it is because one cannot know how to behave, until he understands what he believes!

Paul taught us to take off our grave clothes and put on our grace clothes church!

Personally, if a disciple of Jesus Christ desires to walk as Jesus walked, it is right here in chapter 3.

So here we are chapter 4:7

Church, it is easy to come to the close of aa letter or the benediction and say, “This is just a list of names, why should I read it?

But a better question would be, what can I learn from this section and these names?

Or, Lord what are you trying to speak to my heart?

Do I have faithful friends that are willing to walk with me through thick and thin like the Apostle Paul?

Who are these people Paul is talking about?

What are there character traits?

Why are these names listed?

What was there impact in his life and in the furtherance of the gospel?

Besides church, look what Deuteronomy says:

Look how Jesus responded to Satan or the Devil when he tempted him to turn rocks into stone:

He responded with Deut 8:3

Did you see that the biblical text says every word that proceeds from the mouth of God?

So let’s not skip over the closing of letters, but rather let’s allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us.

How does that sound?

My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me." -Henry Ford

Isn’t that true?

Those who truly love us, understand us, have walked with us through trials and tribulations, have seen us suffer, and even know our sinful past, often bring out the best in us.

I think it is important for us to lay the ground work for this section of scripture by looking back into the OT, but before I do that, I wanted to share that the Apostle Paul always had a little or a lot of help from his friends.

Some helped more than others, but this teaches us church that the Apostle Paul was not a Lone Ranger Christian.

Even the Loner Ranger had Tonto!

A major source of frustration for pastors is what is called the 80–20 rule: Twenty percent of people in the church do 80 percent of the work, while the 80 percent attend church, enjoy the service, and leave without ever getting involved.

Can you imagine what it would be like if 80 percent of your body were paralyzed?

Quadriplegics can function and have productive and meaningful lives, but they’re limited in what they can do.

Churches can limp along with only 20 percent of the body functioning, but they could do much more if every member was fully engaged in serving the Lord in line with his or her spiritual gifts.

Our text is one that you tend to skim over in your Bible reading.

It’s a bunch of names of people who don’t mean much to us.

You may wonder why God inspired these verses to be in His Word.

But, actually, there is so much here that I couldn’t fit it all into a single message!

The main idea is:

Christians are on a team devoted to serve Christ.

Tychicus- was a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant of the Lord church.

Can you say that about yourself?

Ask yourself: Am I a beloved brother or sister, am I a faithful minister and a servant of the Lord?

Paul’s companion could, therefore if we are disciples of the Most High God church, this should be our theme song or our mantra.

Paul did not do ministry alone, but rather had the help of amazing men and women to help spread that Gospel and turn the world upside down

Tychicus’- name means fateful or fortunate.

He was indeed fortunate church to serve with the Apostle Paul for for so many years.

He is mentioned 5 times in the NT.

And he actually is the one that carried the letter of Colossians back to Colossae, Ephesians back to Ephesus, and some scholars believe her also carried the personal letter back to Philemon.

Remember church that Ephesians was written about the same time as Colossians and there are many great parallels.

Church, I think it is important to Notice that Paul did not spell out the details of his personal situation in this letter, although he was in chains for the Gospel and did not know what his future held.

But rather he shared it in private with two brothers Tychicus and Onesimus who would carry his burdens to the church in Colossae.

I think it is important for us to see Pauls humility here in that he shared his burdens with his brothers.

He did not keep them to himself, but rather fulfilled the Scripture:

What are these burdens?

Burden- ba’ros- denotes "a weight, anything pressing on one physically," , or "that makes a demand on one's resources," whether material, or spiritual, hardship or difficulty.

It could be mental or it could be the weight of sin, trial or temptation.

What is interesting here is one Lexicon says that this burden could be transfered or relieved.

Church, a Lexicon is simply a Greek or Hebrew dictionary.

Let’s look back at our verses:

Paul shared his heart with Tychicus and Onesimus both the good and the bad I am sure.

He shared the burdens that he carried and the struggles that he had and asked them to share it with the church.

But Note: They were faithful and beloved brothers in Christ, faithful minister, and fellow servant of the Lord.

Paul had a relationship with them and he trusted them church, with his stuff.

Paul had boundaries church and a filter.

He did not share whaat was going on in his heart with just anyone.

He had a filter and was led by the Spirit on who to trust and not trust.

The bottom line is the proof is in the pudding.

Paul had gotten to know these men and through their relationships he entrusted them not only the letter to the Colossians, Ephesians, and Philemon.

But his own life!

When is the last time that your shared your burdens with aa faithful brother or sister in the Lord?

When is the last time your shared them with the Father?

There is a time and place that we can cast or cares and burdens on the Lord for sure, but there will be other times that the Lord will lead us to share our burdens with others.

WHY?

We are commanded to.

Both to the Lord and to others.

Prayer

Sometimes a burden shared, is a burden lifted.

Accountability

Trust

We all carry burdens.

We carry them to work, to the grocery store, to school, and to bed at night.