Thank you for joining listeners all around the world for a very special edition of Leading the Way Audio. Today, a challenging message from doctor Jonathan Youssef. doctor Michael Yousseff's youngest son, and content provider for Leading the Way's popular podcast, Candid Conversations with doctor Jonathan Youssef. Recently, while traveling, Dr Michael Youssef asked his son Jonathan to lead his church in teaching while he was away, and he did not disappoint. The message that Doctor Jonathan Youssef shared was one that impacted all in attendance, and it's sure to impact you as you listen to this episode of Leading the Way.
Jonathan takes you into the pages of Colossians chapter 4, introducing you to Paul's friends. each with a different impact on and in Paul's gospel ministry. each with a different skill set. each impacting many for eternity.
So let's listen as Jonathan begins this challenging message he's called I get by with a lot of help from my friends. Colossians chapter 4. Beginning in verse 7. How many of you have read through some of the epistles and you kind of get to this part where it's a lot of greetings and salutations and. I'm done.
I'm done. I don't know these people. This is just Paul's kind of little formal part. I don't know anything about this. I don't need to read this.
It's not important.
Well All Scripture is God-breathed, is it not? And so. You know, you could say, I don't know this first man on the list. I can't even pronounce his name. What's the point in me going on here?
Well, there's good news for us. We're going to do a character study on all eight of these individuals. You laugh. Yes. Ha ha ha ha.
I'll try and go quick, but these are eight. Friends who helped Paul in his ministry while he's in prison in Rome. And so you can call this section, as we've titled it, I get by with a lot of help from my friends.
So let's introduce ourselves to them. First we meet Tychicus. Tychicus will tell you All about my activities. He's a beloved brother and a faithful minister and a 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. Titicus is, as you could say, The friend With a servant's home. Yeah.
Now we don't know A great deal about him. There isn't a lot in Scripture about him. He is mentioned five times, but every time it's just very brief. In Acts, he's one of the Gentiles who travels with Paul to Jerusalem to bring some of the tithe to the Christians there.
Now that would not have been a trip. that you would have wanted to sign up to go on. Right? No one just joins that lightly. You've got to remember, this is not getting in the airport and going through security checks.
I mean, this is extremely dangerous. Shipwrecks. Pirates, robbers on the roads, the spiritual warfare that's always around. Right? Many in the Gentile church gave money.
For the tithe, but only a few gave themselves. to the work of ministry, meaning to go and travel with Paul. Cool. We see Tychicus two more times towards the end of Paul's life. He stuck around even after Paul's second imprisonment.
In the letter to Titus, we read about how Paul wanted Titus. to visit him. But the question would be, and you got to think in a first-century context: who's going to fill? Titus's pulpit. Who's going to fill that leadership role in Crete?
for the church while he's away. It has to be someone that Paul trusts. And this shows us that Titicus was a trustworthy man. Paul does it again in 2 Timothy, sending Tychicus To fill in for Timothy in Ephesus, right? It's good to have trustworthy people to fill your pulpit, to carry on the leadership while you're away, right?
It had to be someone. That Paul Trust it, he wouldn't just leave it. In a non-capable hands for leadership.
So here is a man, Titicus, who started out as a messenger. He was just a messenger, he would just deliver letters to churches. And now he ends up becoming a trustworthy, capable preacher and pastor. The man with a servant's heart, he made himself available. To God, and God used him in ways that I am sure he would never have dreamed of.
in his life.
Now, as it relates to the Colossians, we know that Tichicus is the mailman, right? He's holding this letter to the church in Colossi, he's holding it with him. Paul obviously trusted him enough to send him with this letter, but he's more than just a mailman. I've sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are. and that He may encourage your hearts.
He's going to tell you about me. He's going to find out about how you're going. And he's going to add a personal word of comfort to this letter. He is an encourager. And Paul has three things to say about him.
He was a brother. He's one of the family. He's one of us. He's a faithful minister.
Now, he likely never attained great prominence, but he was. Faithful. He just did it. Whatever was needed. If it was delivering a letter, he would do it.
If it was getting up into the pulpit, he would do it. He was a fellow servant in the Lord. And he served Christ alongside Paul. With Christ as his head, Colossians chapter 1, verse 18. There is no other way to get the work done, and Paul knew it.
You've got to have people with a servant's heart. There's another letter with Titicus, and it is the letter to Philemon. And we read about this in verse 9. and with him Onesimus, are faithful. And beloved brother, Who is one of you?
Onesimus, A friend with a sketchy past. Let me give you a picture here. Colossians is written to the church at Colossi, and Philemon is written to a family in the church. Philemon was one of the pillars of the Colossian church. He loved the Lord.
His family was very involved. It's most likely that the Colossian Church actually meets in Philemon's house. He was a convert of the Apostle Paul. He's a wealthy man. And as was usually the case with wealth in those days, He owned slaves.
And one of the slaves that Philemon owned was a man named Onesimus. He's the one that's traveling with Tychicus. and the Colossian letter and the letter to Philemon to Colossi. But Onesimus didn't like living in Philemon's house, and so one day he decided, I'm going to run away.
Now, in those days, the penalty for a runaway slave was. Deaf. But he was willing to Take a chance, to make a gamble, and run all the way to Rome. And Onesimus either Happens to run into Paul, or he's heard about Paul from Philemon, and he goes to find him, or Onesimus is arrested and shares a jail cell. Near Paul, and they make this connection.
We don't know what the original connection between Onesimus and Paul is, but that they were connected, whatever the case. The amazing thing is that just as the Apostle Paul led Philemon and his family to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
So Paul has led Philemons slave Onesimus to Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul writes the letter of Philemon, and he sends Onesimus back with the letter saying, Philemon, I know that he ran away from you. But please do not use the state system for. Punishment. He's gone away a slave.
He's coming back to you a brother. And he's willing to serve you as a slave and as a brother in Christ.
So open your arms in love. In fact, Paul says, I'm pleading with you, and I'm not going to force you. But there was almost like a, but I will force you if you don't do it, right? He wants him to do the right thing, he wants him to show restoration, reconciliation. He wants that to be a testament to the power of the gospel in the church in Colossians.
Could you imagine what that would have looked like to that little church?
So here's Tichikis. with Philemon and the letters in his pocket and Onesimus, his former slave, is walking beside Tychicus. You see, Onesimus had been, as Colossians 1, verse 13 says, rescued by God from the dominion of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of his beloved Son. Verse 21: Once you were alienated and hostile in your mind, doing evil deeds. But you see, Christ.
Transformed Onesimus from a runaway slave to a brother in Christ, as Paul says to the Corinthians, and such were some of you. As he says to the Ephesian church, and you were once dead in your trespasses and sins, but Christ has made you alive. I'm telling you, it's exciting to know that in Christ, people with a past can leave it there. in the past and move forward in forgiveness and in love and in reconciliation. In Galatians 3, verse 28, Paul says, There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, you are one in Christ.
You see, Christianity ultimately destroys slavery because it breaks the caste system. It puts equality between men before the cross. He calls himself A brother? Then notice he calls him Beloved, Brother. He calls him Faithful.
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. I'm so glad that The Lord uses people with a past, aren't you? We see a friend with a servant's heart. We see a friend.
With a sketchy past. Our third friend is Aristarchus, verse 10. Aristarchus This is the friend. With the sympathetic card. Everyone needs A friend.
with a sympathetic heart, especially in Church ministry. You need someone. Who's just around to Feel your burdens with you. You need some burden bearers. They aren't necessarily superstars at anything.
They may not put on great programs. They may not do anything astounding or prominent from up front. They just care. I just care and they invest and you have to have them. And Aristarchus is one of those people with a sympathetic heart.
Verse 10: Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you. In Acts chapter 19, At Ephesus. Paul has ministered there for three years, and during those three years, Aristarchus is with him. Throughout the book of Acts, you see. Paul has Aristarchus with him.
He goes with him to Jerusalem, where Paul is arrested. Aristarchus stays with him. He's on the ship that wrecks in Malta. While Paul was still being held as a prisoner, it seems that every time that Paul is in prison, there is Aristarchus. We don't know what Aristarchus did.
It doesn't tell us. It doesn't tell us that he delivered anything. He's not even a mailman. Or that he did anything great that we know of? But what we do know is that whatever he did, He gave up his freedom to do it.
to be a prisoner. with Paul. He could have just left, he could have run away and I don't know him. I can't even imagine what that must have meant to Paul. To have a faithful friend and companion who sticks by you through danger and disaster and.
He's a sympathetic friend. Fourth, Mark Verse 10. A friend with a surprising future. In the book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas are sent by the Holy Spirit to take the gospel to Cyprus. And with them, they take Barnabas' cousin John, also known as Mark.
Paul's always taking someone with him and discipling them along the way. And they get to the city of Paphos in Cyprus, and Paul blinds a false. prophet named Bar Jesus. This is obviously dangerous work. As we said, there's a lot of spiritual warfare that's taking place.
There's a lot of death threats. There's a lot of danger whenever you're with Paul. And the next verse of this account says: Paul and his companions sailed to Perga while John and Mark left for Jerusalem. He ran back. to his mom Either because He was afraid of what he had just seen in Paphos, or he's terrified of what's to come in Perga.
But whatever the case, Paul's not particularly thrilled with this idea. He's abandoning them. Two chapters later, Paul and Barnabas want to check in on the churches that they've preached in, that they visited. And Barnabas wants to bring his cousin Mark with him. And Paul says, absolutely not.
No way, that little punk. He abandoned us, he left us high and dry. I don't want to see him. And Paul and Barnabas' disagreement was so sharp that they had to separate paths. And so Barnabas takes Mark with him on a mission journey, and Paul goes with Silas.
I'm glad God uses people with a sketchy past. I'm glad God uses people who have failed and blown it. Notice it says You have received my instructions about him. If he comes to you, welcome him. Do you know why they wouldn't normally receive Mark?
Because he had a reputation as a failure.
Okay, this is the first century church. It's very fragile, and you couldn't just hand something off to someone who was unstable and untrustworthy. They're going to panic and drop it, and then who knows? People's lives are at stake. And so the churches know that Mark is kind of known as weak, and he'll just back out and run out on you.
So they're not really super into welcoming him. And so Paul has to give them instruction to welcome him. Because He's been restored. And so Paul's friends. A friend with a servant's heart, a friend with a sketchy past, a friend with a sympathetic heart, a friend with a surprising future.
future, they're all over the map. Right. Then we meet a man A friend with a strong commitment, Jesus, justice. Paul says there are only three Jewish men among his fellow workers. Only three: Aristarchus, Mark.
And Jesus justice. Aristarchus had been around for a long time. Mark had been around for a long time. This guy's new. And so we have to consider what it would look like to be a Jewish man in the first century.
to turn your back on everything you know. to turn your back On every one you know, and say, I am placing my trust In this man Jesus. He had to give up all of his family, all of his friends, all of his Jewish compatriots, because he knew that to follow Christ, he had to give those things up, as hard as they may be. I think there's probably a few Jesus justices. with us in this room.
I certainly hear a lot about it. From friends in the Middle East. When they turn their back on Islam, they turn their back on their families, they put their own lives at risk. People see that and they think, what is wrong with you? Why would you do that?
Why would you walk away from all that you know and all that you love?
So here we meet. Paul's friends, the next man we meet is Epaphras, the man with. a single passion. Epaphras, who is one of you, Meaning he's from Colossi. And a servant of Jesus Christ sends his greetings.
Epaphras is the pastor of the church in Colossi. He is the one who has brought the gospel to them. He was actually visiting Paul at the time when this letter is being written, and he's telling Paul how things are going in Colossi. And Paul writes, He is one of you, a servant of Jesus Christ. He greets you, always struggling on your behalf in His prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
He wants you complete. He wants you mature. He wants you filled out. He wants you fully developed. And he wants you fully convinced.
He wants you mature and confident that the truth is the truth, and not having your minds twisted and warped by the false teachers who are so prevalent around this area. He wants your doctrine to be mature. He wants your behavior to be mature. He wants your hearts to be mature. And only when they are mature.
Will they be assured? Because Paul says in Ephesians 4: it's the spiritual infants and the children that are tossed back and forth by the wind and the waves of deceitful teaching. And so Epaphras has this one desire. I want to make sure that they are mature in Christ. That is Paul's goal.
That he tells the church In Colossians chapter 1, verse 28. That should be the goal of every pastor, of every congregation. Our goal as a church here and as pastors is to present you mature on that day so that when you stand before Christ, you will have been recipients of the Word of God. You will have feasted on the Word of God. You will have had rich fellowship with each other.
You will have stood through all the obstacles and all the things that have come against you by the power of the Holy Spirit and under the teaching, the right teaching of the Word of God from a church. That's why the responsibility of the pastor and the preacher is so great. Our last two. Luke, the doctor, and Demas greet you. Luke has a a specialized talent.
A medical doctor, it's interesting to note that Paul, on his first missionary journey, he gets sick a lot and then. After that, he doesn't seem to get as sick. Because he's taking a doctor with him. He felt the need to have a doctor with him. Here's Luke.
Who has said, okay, the Lord has equipped me with this specialty of medicine, and I want to use that to serve the Lord. I'm going to go with Paul, I'm going to travel with Paul, I'm going to treat Paul, I'm going to help with whatever situations I can be used for. And in him handing over that, To the Lord, the Lord hands him something back in return. Do you know what Luke gets? He gets to write a big chunk of the New Testament.
He writes the Gospel according to Luke and he writes the book of Acts. That's a large portion of the New Testament. He's handed what he has to the Lord, and the Lord has blessed him in return. And Demas. Send greetings.
And here we come to our sad part. Demas, a friend with a sad future Not in Colossians. Not in Philemon. He was still a faithful worker at this point, but we read about Demas in 2 Timothy. Where Paul tells Timothy, Do your best to come to me quickly for Demas, because he loved the This was World has deserted me.
and gone to Thessalonica. Demas who hung in with me during my imprisonment, Demas who stood by me even through my second imprisonment, he loved the world more. He's traveled with us. He's witnessed miracles. He's seen the preaching.
It's all come flooding into him, and he just rejected him. He rejected it all.
So that's our picture of our Eight friends.
Well, let me conclude. As we look at verse 17, tell... Archipus or Archipus? See to it. That you complete the work you have received in the Lord.
Isn't that great? We have just heard About a bunch of people who were faithful. It's like Paul was taking a bucket of illustrations and. dumped it on Archibus. Do you see these men who have been faithful with their tasks Do you see these men whose lives have been transformed by the gospel?
Tychicus has, Anesimus has, Aristarchus has, Mark has, Jesus Justice has, Epaphras has, Luke has. I would like for you. to do the same. What ministry Has the Lord called you into? If you've put your faith and your trust in Him, He has called you to something.
And like we said, it may not be great. It may not be standing up here, it may not be standing in front of a large group, but he's called you to something. He has given you a particular gifting. towards something. And he's given you these people.
To serve alongside you, to encourage you, to equip you, to challenge you. If you're not sure what it is, make that your prayer. Lord, show me what you're calling me to. Lord, where are you sending me? What have you equipped me with?
And consider those people around you. It's not by accident that we're here together. And there's an element of human responsibility in this, right? We have to make that move. Forward.
The invitation is to walk into it, and we can do it with confidence because we know that He's already set our steps before us. And he is trustworthy. The Lord Jesus walked to his death, trusting in his Father. Surely we can walk into a field, a ministry, a something, knowing that He is with us. But he is trustworthy.
Thank you for listening to the passionate teaching of Dr. Jonathan Youssef. on this episode of Leading the Way. Dr. Michael Youssef's youngest son and host of Leading the Ways podcast.
Candid Conversations with Doctor Jonathan Youssef. Maybe hearing the various skill sets of people surrounding Paul brought some questions to your mind about your place and your impact in the kingdom. Consider a conversation with a leading-the-way pastor or counselor that'll bring clarity. You can begin that conversation simply by filling out a short contact form at ltw.org slash jesus. Dr.
Michael Youssef passionately proclaims uncompromising truth around the world. through leading the way.
So learn more at ltw.org. or call us. 866 626-4356. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Usat.
