Laboring for Christ - Colossians 4:7-18

Well, good morning. Good morning. Well, welcome, everybody, and welcome to Faith Bible Church. I see some returned visitors, and thank you. Once you've come, you're not a visitor anymore, so we're just glad you're here to fellowship and to worship with us.

And so, welcome, and blessings to you all, and those that are tuning in, greetings to you. Who was it that prayed for rain? I think the Lord answered our prayers and was merciful on this state of California and brought, is bringing lots of rain, isn't he not?

So praise God for that. Sometimes it's nothing, and sometimes it's everything. So we will gladly take it. Morning Bible studies at 9 .30, we had a blessed time going through Psalm 12 this morning, and I would encourage you to maybe to take some time, if you weren't here, to read through that.

What a reflection and a parallel of our times today, the same as it was 3 ,000 years ago. People say that scriptures aren't relevant today. They are absolutely relevant every day, every moment. And they were going through the same, similar things of difficulty and trials and wickedness all around them, but they kept, stayed on the Lord, and that's, and the Lord will preserve His people through any circumstance, any situation that our country might go through.

So take heart and have rest in that. I'd like to just pause for a moment, too, to talk about evangelism. We're going to have our evangelism class November 7th, this first, November 7th in Pastor Elgin during the Bible study hour.

We're going to do that, and I encourage you to come out to that, please. This is an important time. I mean, we're, it's always important, but we're trying to reach out to our community and to be as effective at that as we can.

We're going to, you know, come out of our comfort zones, a lot of us, in doing that, reaching out. But once you do it and do it once and you do it again, you just kind of, you remove the veil. It's not as mysterious.

It's not as scary as you think it can be. I think we build up these barriers to evangelizing in our own mind, but God can see right through that, can take us through that, and so I encourage you to come out to that.

And remember, if you're saved, if you're a believer, someone somewhere sometime opened their mouth and told you the word of God. You have heard, you heard the word, and we can be those people that say those words to the people that haven't heard those words before, or maybe now it's the Lord's timing that they would be saved.

So, let's keep that in mind, and I want to read from Romans 10, 10 through 15, and listen along. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says everyone who believes him will not be put to shame.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sinned? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.

That can be all of us, I know it talks about preachers here, and there's some more doctrine behind that, but we can all be that preacher in a way to send the gospel out, and it's the words, it's the hearing, the hearing, so, anyway, let's keep that in mind, okay?

And I also want to make a comment, too, that to just have Pastor Ilgen and his family in prayer, his grandfather passed away this week back in Korea, and so his parents, I believe, were able to make it out there prior to his passing, so just pray for grace and comfort for them and for the family, okay?

All right. All right, well, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord God, we thank you, Father, that you have been gracious to each one of us, that, Father, you have shown yourself abundantly through your word.

Thank you that we have your word to hold on to, to meditate on, to go through, to ruminate, just to learn and to grow, to be sanctified in the process of walking and loving and knowing you, Father. Thank you, Father.

God, we ask that you would watch over this service today, that the Holy Spirit would be present with us, that we would allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us as we open our mouths to sing these wonderful songs and hymns and truths about you, Father, as we hear the word being preached by Pastor Ilgen, Father, that you would give him liberty to present what's been laid upon his heart, and, Father, that we know it does not go forth void, that lives will be changed and can be changed, Father.

So God, may we be obedient to that calling today. God, be a comfort to those that have lost loved ones, Pastor Ilgen's family. God, you would bless them and just care for them, and that those that are able, that have contact with the family, to just be a witness and a testimony, Father, to your grace.

So God, we thank you for this gathering. We pray that you keep folks safe out there as the weather continues to persist, but we thank you for the rain. We thank you for all that comes from heaven above.

We give you praise in Christ's name, amen.

Good morning, and we know that the Lord is forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call on him, and let's stand and sing a scripture reading by Jim.

Ephesians chapter six, verses 21 through 24. Ephesians chapter six, verses 21 through 24. For that ye also may know my affairs and how I do take this, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall make known to you all things, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that ye may know our affairs, and that ye might comfort your hearts.

Peace be to the brethren in love, with faith for God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all of them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, amen. May the Lord bless him to read his word.

And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord, and let's stand and sing leaning on the everlasting arms.

Please turn with me to Colossians chapter four, verses seven through 18. Please turn with me to Colossians chapter four, verses seven through 18. Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord will tell you all the news about me.

I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts. With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, they will make known to you all things which are happening here.

Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him. And Jesus, who is called Justice, these are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, who are of the circumcision.

They have proved to be a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greets you. Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and Nymphos and the church that is in his house.

Now, when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfil it.

This salutation by my own hand, Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we are so thankful that we can learn from the letter to the Colossians, and we were able to go through each verse from chapter one, and now we are ending this series in Colossians.

And Father, we pray that we would take the lessons to heart of Christ being supreme over all, and that he does not need any other rituals or any other deities to be worshiped alongside him, but that Christ is enough.

And Father, we pray that the letter to the Colossians would always be nourishing in our hearts. In Jesus' name. Amen. For any New Testament epistles, any New Testament letters, there may be a temptation to zoom through the end of the letter.

After all, you don't know who Aristarchus or Tychicus is, right? We don't know who they are, and you probably will not know more about them because there's not much written about them in the Bible. However, it is important to remember that the Holy Spirit gave us Colossians 4, 7 -18 as much as he gave us the first three chapters.

Colossians 4, 7 -18 is relevant to us because it's scripture. God not only gave us, but also preserved this portion for us for a reason. After all, God does not waste words. He has something to tell us this morning through the farewell section from Colossians.

And what is God telling us through this text? This portion of Colossians shows us what it means to be a Christian ministry. This is a crucial question because you will hear the phrase Christian ministry everywhere you go.

You turn on the Christian radio, they ask you to donate because it's wintertime or springtime because it is a Christian ministry. You may receive emails from various Christian organizations who would like your support in prayer or financial support.

You may be part of a Christian ministry connected to your job or your school. Is a school simply Christian because the logo has a cross on it, right? Is a radio channel a Christian ministry because it mentions Jesus here and there?

So what does it mean to be a Christian ministry? So the text today tells us that Christian ministry is committed to the local church for proclamation of the gospel. It is committed to the local church and it is for the proclamation of the gospel.

Christian Ministry as Loving Brotherhood in Christ

First, Christian ministry is a loving community committed to one another, a loving community committed to each other. As Paul ends his letter, he shows what his ministry looks like. Who is involved in his ministry?

First, a Christian ministry is committed to one another. Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord will tell you all the news about me. The reason why Tychicus is sent to Colossae, a city near the modern-day Turkey, is to relay the about Paul.

Not only that, Tychicus is sent to see how the church in Colossae is doing, right? I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts. With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you, they will make known to you all things which are happening here.

Both Tychicus and Onesimus are sent to share how Paul is doing and learn how the church is doing. It's both ways. And the purpose, the news about Paul, is to comfort their hearts. The purpose of the messengers traveling thousands of miles was to comfort the church, comfort the people of the church in Colossae.

The church genuinely cares about and wonders how Paul is doing and Paul is sending his ministry partners to tell them, to relay the information, how he's actually doing. This journey would have taken days and it would have covered thousands of miles.

However, for the messengers, it was worth it, right? Their relationship was more than just a little text message saying, I'm praying for you, right? You're in my prayer list. But they sacrificially were committed to each other and the church was comforted in their hearts.

And let's go over who are the messengers. We do not know much about Tychicus, but Paul tells us that he is a beloved brother, faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord. Beloved brother means that Tychicus is a Christian.

They share the same faith in Christ. Because of their faith in Christ's death and resurrection, Paul and Tychicus are brothers and is characterized by their love for one another. In Christ, they have entered into a brotherhood that is stronger than blood.

Not only that, Tychicus is a faithful minister. This means he is trustworthy. He is reliable. He's dependable. Paul is entrusting Tychicus for a safe delivery of the letters and honest report of the church because he trusts him as a faithful minister.

In ancient days, a letter was an expensive enterprise. There were no printers. There were no cheap papers, right? There weren't paper factories. Depending on what Paul wrote on, it could have been sheepskin.

It could have been very expensive. Imagine writing on leather. It would have cost Paul a couple thousand dollars in our currency to write and send out a letter. Nevertheless, Paul trusted Tychicus to serve as his messenger to comfort the church.

After all, Paul told us in Colossians 2 -2 that our hearts are encouraged because they're knit together in Christ. In the end, it is Christ who connects us all together. It is not our hobbies. It is not our political stance.

It is not the diet we are on, but it's Christ. It's faith in Christ that Christ died for us and he's risen. We're under that king. It's allegiance to Christ the king that connects our hearts together, and Tychicus is serving that crucial role because he's connected to Paul in Christ.

Lastly, Tychicus is a fellow servant in the Lord. Ministry is about service for the Lord Jesus. Not only that, both Tychicus and the apostle Paul are both fellow servants in the Lord because they have the same purpose and the same master, Jesus.

The focus is Jesus, not their various roles in ministry. Yes, Paul was the apostle, right? He was probably one of the more famous ones because he's written so much, but under Christ, they were both fellow servants serving the same king, different roles, fellow servants, brothers in Christ.

Tychicus is accompanied by Onesimus. We know a little bit about Onesimus because he is mentioned in Paul's letter to Philemon. Onesimus was a slave belonging to Philemon, a man from Colossae, right? But Onesimus ran away from Colossae to run away.

He was a runaway slave. By God's providence, Onesimus met Paul, who was imprisoned. And after meeting Paul, hearing the gospel, he converted to Christianity. Onesimus ran away as a slave, is now returning to Colossae as a beloved brother.

This is not just sentimentality, right? But the biblical truth. Paul says in Philemon, verses 15 through 16, for perhaps Onesimus departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me.

But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. When Onesimus ran away and he placed his trust in Jesus, Philemon did not lose a slave, but instead gained a brother. This is a beautiful picture of Christian ministry.

It's a loving community committed to one another, despite the social differences that existed back then. Onesimus, because he's under Christ, his first and foremost identity was a beloved brother in Christ.

No other institution, no other clubs, hobbies do that, right? Christianity, under Christ, unites everyone together, despite the differences in socioeconomic background, ethnicities, different hobbies.

It's that Christ unites us together and that comes with loving commitment to one another. Beloved is used multiple times in just these two verses, three verses, because it's the love that Christ provides for us that we share amongst each other.

That's what makes Christian ministry. Now, the second question is, who are the Christian ministers? What makes them ministers, right? Christian ministers are hardworking laborers for the kingdom of God.

Christian ministers are hardworking laborers for the kingdom of God. After Paul introduces his messengers, Paul sends greetings from other ministers to the church of Colossae. This section is divided into two parts.

Verses 10 through 11 shares the greetings from ministers of the Jewish background, right? It says the circumcision. And verses 12 through 14 share the greetings from the Gentile ministers, the Greeks.

First, the three ministers of Jewish background greet the church. Verse 10, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him.

And Jesus, who is called justice. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision. Now, not much is known about Aristarchus other than he seems to be with Paul in dangerous situations.

In Acts 19 .29, when the city of Ephesus rioted against Paul, because Paul was speaking against idolatry, right? Idolizing the Greek goddess. Aristarchus was with him. They're rioting against Christians and Aristarchus is with Paul.

Here also Aristarchus is Paul's fellow prisoner. It is most likely when Paul was imprisoned in Rome, Aristarchus voluntarily offered himself to be imprisoned with Paul to serve as a servant, to serve the apostle Paul.

And voluntary sacrifice characterizes Christian ministry. It may not be comfortable. It may even be costly. But it is worth it. Right? That's one thing we can capture from knowing about Aristarchus, that little bit.

He shows up just here and there, but he's willing to voluntarily suffer for the gospel. He's willing to voluntarily suffer with his gospel ministry partners, his brothers in Christ. Second, Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, greets the church.

Mark is the author of the gospel, according to Mark, the second book of the New Testament. It seems that Mark may even visit the church in the future, in which the church is supposed to welcome him. Right?

Although Mark and Paul had a rough patch in Acts 15, there has been a reconciliation between the two men. Mark is involved in delivering the apostle's instructions to the churches. As the messenger from the apostle, the church needs to welcome him.

It shows that even though there are rough patches in ministry, right? Mark and Paul, because of Mark, they split paths in Acts 15. But here, years later, you see they're still striving for the same goal and they're brothers.

And Paul wants the church to welcome Mark. There's no grudge against Mark here. There's reconciliation. Christian ministry is characterized by the reconciliation. We're able to reconcile because we're reconciled, first and foremost, to God.

From that flows out reconciliation, forgiveness, and that one heart for Christian ministry. Third, Jesus called justice greets them. This is the only occurrence of Jesus called justice in the New Testament.

So it is hard to say what he was like, what he was doing. But in this passage, Paul speaks of them this way. These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, who are of the circumcision. They have proved to be a comfort to me.

While Paul is suffering, they have comforted him. While Paul has been imprisoned, these ministers helped out Paul's ministry for the kingdom of God. What does it mean to be workers for the kingdom of God?

Earlier in Colossians 1 .13, Paul told us what it means to be in the kingdom of God. For he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. The kingdom of God is first and foremost focused on the king who transferred us from the domain of darkness to his kingdom, the kingdom of his beloved son.

How did he do it? Jesus died on the cross to free his people from sin, Satan, and death. While earthly kings, they willingly kill their own whenever it's convenient. This heavenly king died for his own.

While earthly kings send their own people to battles and wars and stay in the comfort of their palace, this heavenly king laid down his life for his people, defeating the enemies once and for all. This means the work of the kingdom of God is primarily about proclaiming the good news of what this heavenly king did.

It is not about what we do or what we need to do, but first and foremost, it's proclaiming what King Jesus has done. We proclaim the gospel. We are under a king who died for the sins of his people so that his people would be freed from sin and death.

This is the work of the kingdom of God. And this is so important today because a lot of Christian organizations like to call what they do Christian ministry, but absent is the gospel. Right? I'm not saying don't feed the hungry, right?

I'm not saying don't clothe the naked. I'm not saying don't visit the prisoners. Do all of those things. But if Jesus is missing, this is not a Christian ministry, right? Secular people can do just as well to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoners.

What makes Christian ministry Christian is that Christ is in the center. We care not just about the physical needs, but the spiritual needs, which is that we all need Christ to be saved. Nothing less than the blood of Christ the king could save us.

And those people that we are serving through Christian ministry need to hear that. That's what makes Christian ministry Christian ministry. Next, Paul lists the three Gentile ministers. First, Paul highlights one of the ministers in particular, Epaphras.

Epaphras gets two verses while the other two gets one verse shared. Epaphras, who is one of you, a bond servant of Christ, greets you always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis. Epaphras is a native evangelist in Colossae. Here it shows that Paul is aware of Epaphras' demanding ministry work.

He is laboring fervently for the church in prayers. He intercedes for them. He makes prayer requests for them. His prayer list is filled with the requests for the Colossian church. Despite the distance, right?

He's with Paul right now. Epaphras constantly has his home church in mind. What is he praying for? That the church may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Some translations have it as perfect and fully assured of the will of God.

He is asking that God would mature the church to walk according to God's will for them, right? He wants the churches around the region, not just the Colossian church, but Laodicea too, that those churches would represent Christ well.

That they would live as in their new identity in Christ. They would live as united with Christ, right? And honor God in all that they do, not just on Sundays, but every day. That their daily walk would show their daily faithfulness to King Jesus.

The next two Gentile ministers, Paul mentions only briefly. Luke, the beloved physician, and Deimos greets you. Luke is the author of the gospel according to Luke, and also the sequel, Acts of the Apostles.

And Deimos will actually end up abandoning the church, will abandon Paul. And we will learn that in 2 Timothy 4 .10, when Paul is in the last stretch of his ministry, he's imprisoned again a different time.

And he's dying and he's writing his last letter to Timothy. And he says, Deimos has abandoned me. And that's the reality of Christian ministry. There's pain. There is betrayal. Not everyone who calls on Lord Jesus Lord will stay that way because their faith wasn't there in the first place, right?

When things get hard, when their faith gets tried with fire and trials, it shows whether that faith was genuine or not, right? We were talking about silver that's purified in Psalm 12. The fire can either purify the silver that's already there, or it can show that it was not there.

Now, what does this mean for us to know about all these ministers? Most of them, we have no idea what they were like, right? Well, first, Christian ministry requires a lot of laborers for the kingdom of God, right?

Many of these men, we do not know about. We don't know how they came to faith, how they got involved with the apostle Paul, right? How well they preached or taught, how they were gifts to the church, right?

What giftings, what gifts did they provide the church? However, the most important detail is that God viewed them important enough to include them in his Holy Scripture. In the end, we do not have sermons written by apophrists.

We do not know how Dr. Luke evangelized, but we do know one thing. They were all workers for the kingdom of God, and for that alone, God included them in his Scripture, which is eternal. What a privilege.

Even if the world did not feel their individual impact, right? Not everyone got to be like Paul and write 13 to 14 letters. God was aware of their ministry work, right? Christians, this means you don't have to become the next John MacArthur or Billy Graham to work for God's kingdom.

God is aware of your work for his kingdom now. Every conversation you have about Jesus at work, every gospel tract or church flyer you passed out praying that these people would get to hear the Word of God and be saved, God is aware.

And every family member or friend or co-worker you shared the gospel with, God is aware. Every tear-filled intercessory prayer for the souls lost, God is aware. Countless hours you practice worship music for the church, God is aware.

The worship music still points to the kingdom of God. There are gospel truths in there. I may never know it, but there is someone up there who never misses a single thing. Your work for the kingdom is always noticed by the one whose opinion matters the most.

There's an unsleeping eye who will catch every thought and prayer that's mumbled. Second, Christian ministry is not about a single person. Notice how many ministers are named here. And it is not even here, but in many of Paul's letters, Paul shares the work and greetings of many ministers who are involved in the ministry.

Paul, who wrote the greatest number of books in the New Testament, knows that his ministry would not be possible without the men and women around him. This means the culture, there's the culture of celebrity pastors, is not a healthy way of viewing Christian ministry.

The only man the church needs to focus on is Jesus Christ, and He is God. A famous pastor or teacher does not make the church church. But everyone who is working for the kingdom of God, people you will not even know the names of if I mention, right?

Those people make up the whole ministry. The famous celebrity pastor is just one of many. He doesn't get a specific spotlight just because he's speaking up here, right? It is not about who is under the spotlight.

It is not about who speaks the most. But it is about everyone involved that God has raised up for His kingdom, right? This means Faith Bible Church will continue to be God's church with or without me, no matter who the pastor is.

And it has been. It is not about me, but about God's kingdom and every believer that God has chosen to serve in music, in introduction, in serving, helping the church members with fixing things, right?

Going out there to share the gospel, handing out tracts, choosing worship songs, things like that. All these little things that people might not know, God knows. And that is the ministry for the kingdom, right?

It doesn't have to be obvious. It doesn't have to be recognized for by everyone. The only one who recognizes and He does not miss a thing is God, and that's all that matters. And now, who are the main participants in Christian ministry?

The local church participates in Christian ministry, grasping onto Christ. It's the local church. As Paul is closing his letter, he gives final instructions to the church, what must occur. Now, when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.

He writes that the letter to the Colossians needs to be passed to the other local churches around Colossae. Laodicea was a wealthy city about 10 miles away from Colossae. It is believed that Laodicea was probably struggling through the same false teaching of the Colossian heresy, that Christ is not enough.

You have to add something else. Rituals, what you eat, what you drink, they matter. But Paul is saying, no, that gets passed around to the Laodiceans too. They need that as well. The teaching that Christ is not sufficient, but extra things have to be added, that has to be removed.

And Paul wanted this letter, Colossians, to be passed around to them. And the reason why Paul took such an expensive enterprise of writing a letter to a church that he's never visited, right? Colossians, he didn't actually visit the church in Colossae up to this point.

We don't know if he ever got to. Well, because Christian ministry is always centered around the body of Christ, the church. He is willing to spend thousands of dollars, modern day dollars, right? A lot of money and send precious co-laborers, right?

Wherever Paul is, he would have benefited having more laborers with him. It's to encourage a local church that he did not plant because Christian ministry is always centered around the church. Paul knows that Jesus' main vehicle for gospel ministry is the church.

Paul devotes his time, money, and life to the church because his master, Jesus, died for the church. There's a reason why the church is called the body of Christ. There's a reason when Paul, when he was Saul, was persecuting the church, Jesus says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting?

Not the church. He says, me. Jesus is intimately connected to the church. It's his body. When you persecute the church, you're hurting Jesus. You're persecuting Jesus. And those who are doing that, they're going to have a rude awakening.

You're personally attacking Christ. And guess who's the judge? Then Paul encourages a church minister and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it.

According to Philemon verse two, a house church, a small group of people met at Archippus' house. He was a house church minister. Whether he taught there, I don't know, but he offered his house for the house church and he was having difficulty.

So Paul encourages him to continue with what he has received in Christ. Do not go with what is trendy. Do not go with what the world wants to hear. Do not go with what's practical. For a ministry, we sometimes have to choose things that are not as practical, right?

Because we're dealing with people's souls here and practicality can often hurt souls, right? But Paul says, do not go with what makes sense, but go with what you have received in Christ. Do not give up.

Go with what you have received in Christ. In order to fulfill a Christian ministry, in order to build complete, we have to firmly hold on to what we have received in Christ, right? We have to grasp onto Christ.

A lot of churches have given up or compromised in order to stay relevant, right? With a lot of the social programs, you see Methodist churches with rainbow flags, right? They're giving that up. They're giving up what they have received in Christ because they want to attract the world.

But Paul says, no, take heed. Continue to what you've received, what you have received. It is hard. Ministry is hard. People will disagree with you. People will insult you. But take heed, right? Continue with this.

And to confirm that this is indeed written by Paul, right? Paul has to confirm. This is the apostle who's writing. This salutation by my own hand, Paul, remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen. In ancient days, it was common for the letter to be written by a scribe and the writer.

So Paul would dictate what he wants it written. And the scribe would write, as Paul's saying, what he needs to write. However, to make sure the churches knew that it was truly the apostle Paul writing it, the apostle would often write a line at the end to confirm that everything that's written is from me, even though I didn't handwrite it, it's from me.

So he would sign it, right? Even in chains for the sake of the church, Paul writes the last line of the letter to verify. This is from me, right? This is from the apostle Paul. And just as he introduced the letter, Paul ends the letter in the same way.

Grace be with you. In the end, this letter begins with grace and ends with grace. It's enveloped by grace. And in Christian ministry, the grace of God is how we begin and how we end. It is purely by God's abounding grace that we are in ministry.

It is purely by God's abounding grace that we continue and end well in ministry. Christian ministry is hard. And this letter even shows that there's difficulty, even in the times of the apostle Paul, right?

Yet, Paul says, grace be with you. We have to be running on grace. Now, what is striking about this part of the letter is that Paul's focus and care for the local body of Christ. His letters are written to local churches.

His letters address local pastors and evangelists. Paul is devoted to the church, the body of Christ. His ministry was not separate from the local body of Christ, but rather his ministry was through it, for it.

Paul did not make a name for himself, right? He could have, but he appointed elders in various cities to establish local churches there. Paul knew it was precisely through the body of Christ that the gospel is to be preached.

It is precisely through the body of Christ that people encounter the living God through His Word. That's why we gather this morning, to hear the Word of God, right? This means Christian ministry in our days must be focused on the church.

This is not to say Christian schools, campus ministries, seminaries are useless, right? But this is to say that Christian schools, campus ministries, and seminaries better be focused on edifying the church, building up the church, right?

Christian schools must raise up and disciple the next generation of Christians who belong to the local body of Christ, right? Back in those days, there weren't Christians who didn't belong to the local body of Christ.

That would have been an oxymoron. They belong to the body because they were part of the body. That's what it meant to be a Christian. So in the same way, Christian schools need to respect that. They need to prioritize that, that the students are plugged in to a local body.

Campus ministries need to lead and prepare college students to be faithful parts of the body of Christ before they graduate. Oftentimes, the temptations there for campus ministries to have all these programs and and, you know, minister to the college students, unknowing that these college students might not even be plugged into the local church, right?

They might not even be, yeah, they might not have set their foot on the church, right? But rather, they consider the college ministry as the church. But what happens when they graduate? They're separated from the body, right?