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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-lavery/companionship/
I'd like you to turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20, and we'll read a few verses starting at verse number one. Acts 20 and verse number one. And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced them and departed for to go into Macedonia.
And when he had gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation, he came unto Greece. And there about three months, and when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia.
And there accompanied him into Asia. So Peter of Berea and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus and Gaius of Derbe and Timotheus and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus, those going before tarried for us at Troas.
And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and came unto them to Troas in five days, where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight.
Verse nine says, there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus being fallen into a deep sleep. And as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead.
Now, farther down the chapter, verse 13, and we went before to ship and sailed unto Essos, there intending to take in Paul. For so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot. Now, maybe that's all we need to read.
And we know that God will bless the reading of his precious word. Now, what I'd like to speak about, a little change maybe in subject, I want to speak about companionship. It's very important to have companionship.
And Paul was a perfect example for us in this. That's why we read that there was an uproar had ceased and Paul called the disciples unto him, and he embraced them. Paul loved all the Lord's people, and so do we.
Doesn't matter whether you're part of a local assembly or not. If you belong to him, we're still all in the same family, and we have a joy in meeting believers wherever we go, and we can embrace them all.
I wonder, can you embrace all the believers? Everyone. I often tell about a place I went to preach the gospel, and I tried to give a little word to try and unify the Lord's people or make sure that we're all unifying.
And the man that made the announcements got up afterwards, and he says, well, he said, I'm sure our brother doesn't know anything. I wasn't sure just if he meant absolutely nothing, but he meant what was going on, because there were some brethren there that wouldn't even shake hands with one another.
So it's good to embrace all of God's people. And then it said he gave them much exhortation. That simply means he encouraged them. We love the Lord's people. Doesn't matter who you are, and we're here at these conference meetings so that we might encourage you.
Now, Paul then tells us that he had certain companions, special men that went with him. He didn't pick up all these companions all at once. We should be very careful, really, about our companionship. And he picked these men up on three different missionary journeys at different times, but he had these men as his special companions.
Now you say, what could we get from that verse that gives all these names? Well, I'll tell you, names are important in the word of God. Now I know you don't always, usually you look up your dictionary and you find the meaning of the name that suits your message, but sometimes I think they're not really sure what a name means.
But in these names here, one is called Sopater. Pater would mean father. So his name means savior of a father, and he's from the regions beyond. And I thought, well, maybe here's somebody like that in the meeting today.
Someone that has a father, you're not what we call, uh, weren't brought up in a Christian home. You were brought up in a home where your folks weren't Christian, but still here's a man that's savior of his father.
Now I know it's the Lord that saves, but I think if you're like that in the meeting this afternoon and you have parents that aren't saved, well, here's a little bit of encouragement for you. Here's this man, savior of his father.
We read in, isn't it first, uh, Peter chapter three about a woman with an unsaved husband and how is she going to reach out to someone like that? Well, it says that you can reach them without the word.
And really the definite article could be taken right out there. Uh, she's, he said without word saved by the life of the person, the person lives a life before, uh, unsaved, uh, family. And if you're like that in this meeting tonight, uh, today, uh, this is an encouragement for you live before them.
We don't need to preach to them without word. We can live before the unsaved, no matter who they are and our own people that we live with. They know exactly what we stand for. How do they know it by the way we live?
What I say is not my testimony. My testimony is what I am. And then this next man, his name is Aristarchus and his name means excellent ruler. Uh, and you know, some people are leaders. There may be born leaders, leaders.
Uh, I don't know if I'm a leader or a follower, but, uh, if you are a leader, be very careful with your companions that you don't lead them in the wrong way. Peter said, I go fishing and they faced all night and they caught nothing.
And the other said, I go with thee. So it's very important to realize that as far as your companions are concerned, you can lead them astray or you can let them lead you astray. My mother always thought my companions led me astray.
And I used to say, mom, you know, their mothers are saying that livery leads us all astray. She did not like that. I'll tell you, she was furious, but anyhow, uh, she didn't maybe know all that was going on anyhow.
Uh, but it's good to be an excellent ruler saved by the grace of God. You want to lead people in the right way. Uh, and, uh, it's good to do that because the next name is Secundus. And you likely know that that's a mean second.
Probably this person was a slave that didn't even have a name, just had a number. If you go, isn't it Romans chapter 16, you find another person called Tertius and one called Quartus. And that would just put them together two, three, and four.
There's no primus. That's number one. The Lord Jesus Christ was a number one bond slave, not of men. We benefited from his bond service, but it was a bond service of God. So now here, if you're, uh, someone that follows, if you're in the second place, so Mr. McBean used to always say it takes, uh, what is how to play the second fiddle?
Uh, well, it takes more grace than I can tell to play the second fiddle well. So some of us are second fiddlers, but we need to be careful who we follow. Be fussy about your relationships. Of course, I think it's understandable that if you're a Christian, you need to have Christian companionship.
None of us can go it alone. And I'm not saying you isolate yourself or we isolate ourselves from the world. We're in the world and we try to reach out to others. And you may have those, uh, come near you, your neighbors and so on, uh, that, uh, well, anyhow, play the second fiddle well.
Now let's note next one called, his name is Gaius. And that's simply means I rejoice. He's from Derby. They tell us that means sting or prickly. And here's a, a young man. And it seems that he can rejoice even in adverse circumstances.
Isn't that wonderful to be able to rejoice? I used to, well, I knew a man, uh, I shouldn't tell, but tell you about it. He was a Scotsman, but he wasn't like Duncan. Duncan's waving his finger at me. Uh, but, uh, I used to like to ask him how he felt.
How are you? And he started from when he got off the boat from Scotland about 50 years ago. And they give you an organ recital, touched all his organs and all what was wrong with them. And, uh, what I did was when he got started, I just walked off and left some poor soul that wasn't very spiritual thing to do, but it was a lot of fun anyhow.
So we don't, uh, here's a man could rejoice. How are you? How, how are you really? How somebody said to me one time, how are you spiritually? Well, I said, I couldn't really be the judge of that. I can't judge that.
But how, how are you? Well, it's good to have somebody that's, that can rejoice, not running around with a long face. What do they say here? Face like a donkey. We always had a face like a Lurgan spade.
That's a posthole digging spade. We have every cause to rejoice and this contagious, you know, so that we're in a, in a company, a wonderful thing to be happy and to be happy in the Lord. That's what we rejoice.
That's where our joy comes from. It comes from the Lord. And then of course, there's Timothy and his name means honoring God. And I tell you great to have companions that honor God. And it's great to honor God in our lives day by day.
Do you ever think of what we do? Are we doing this? Will it really honor God? Or is it something I just want to do for myself? Or I think, well, God will go along with it. Anyhow, the Lord won't mind if I do this, but why don't we just ask him?
Is it, is this what would please you? Is this what we would do to bring pleasure and bring, uh, to, to the God and to the Lord Jesus. Here's a man that honors God. Do you honor God in your life? Do I honor God in my life?
I think there's times you just forget and we go on our own little way and we think, well, God will put a stamp of approval on it anyhow. And then there's Tychicus. They tell me his name means happy or fortunate.
And I tell you, every one of us here see by the grace of God, we should be happy because we're fortunate. Where else would you rather be, uh, today? Maybe it took an effort. And last night when we were coming here, I thought, well, it'd be nice to be sitting in front of a fire somewhere, reading a book, wouldn't it?
But you know, you're coming to meet God's people. We need that companionship, but I'm speaking first of all, of, of special companions that we have and those that will encourage us and that we can encourage.
And they realize we're very fortunate. There were many a time when I wished I never had been born into a Christian home, but I'll tell you, I know now I was very fortunate and I maybe should have told my father and mother far more when they were alive.
I was saved in this country, so I didn't see them a lot afterwards. But when I get home to heaven, I'll tell you, I'll thank them. And I'll thank some of the Sunday school teachers that I never was able to meet after God saved me back in the old country and all there in heaven.
And I'll be glad to go and say, I appreciate it. What you taught me in the Sunday school and the example that you set for the boys in the class. Trophimus, his name means well-educated. It's not why we're here today.
We want to be educated in the things of God. Have you learned anything today? I have. There's always lots to learn. None of us have graduated yet. It's amazing. I thought when I came to the United States, children graduated out of kindergarten.
Well, maybe that's about where we all are. Really? How much do we really know? But do we have an appetite for it and a hunger for it? That's the thing. That's why we should be here. We want to be educated in the things of God.
And I'm sure these young men were, all these things we're trying to bring out from here, they would see them in the apostle himself. He would know how to lead. He would know how to encourage others to lead.
And they're a great example. And after all, we're all examples. Every one of us is an example. Some of us maybe are good examples. Some of us maybe are otherwise. What kind of an example am I to these younger people that are learning the things of God?
Well, hopefully this will stir up our hearts. So, we need companionship in day-to-day life. But I'll tell you, we need the companionship of God's people in the assembly. That's why Paul waited for almost a week, so he could break bread with the Lord's people.
We need the companionship of the assembly, and that's where we learn the things of God. It's great to be part of an assembly, and I thank God for people that encouraged me when I was first saved and came into assembly fellowship.
And I'll give another little plug for the books. Good thing to read books. When you went to school, you didn't think you could figure everything out. You got the textbooks. Well, of course, our textbook is the Bible.
I know that. But there's none of us can do without the helps. Mr. Fred Cundick, who was a mighty man in the scriptures, he said, a person that teaches and doesn't read books is a proud man. Think they can get it all themselves.
I've heard people say, I never got this out of the Bible, and I thought it was quite obvious. Didn't say it out loud. Quite obvious. There's no such nonsense. Nobody would even write about it. Didn't get it out of a book.
Got it from myself. Oh, tremendous. Well, my father, he said a teacher that doesn't read books is a dangerous man. You know, first of all, we read our Bible. We've been exhorted to get a good Bible. Read the Bible.
And then when you figure some things out and you, what I do, I write things down as I go through and then try to sort them out later on. Maybe I don't do it very well, but I try anyhow. I try to sort these things out.
And then I'll get done. William Kelly. Maybe you don't know William Kelly. Well, he's a friend of mine. He's been gone a long time. And you know, I said, I wonder what Mr. Kelly said. Likely he didn't know as much as I know when I look at this.
So what do you think? No. I say, maybe I have overlooked something. And quite often you'll find out you have, and then you'll get someone else. There are lots of good books out there. And you check yourself out and do this studying for the Bible reading.
You can tell some people, I think someone said this already, don't really study. They think they can get it all on the surface. I'm glad for people that got into the book, people that knew the Greek and Hebrew and can explain it to you and help you in these things.
That's what we need. And Paul taught in the assembly. He not only broke bread with them, he went to fellowship with them all on the same level. And then he said, I'm going to give you word now. He did what I'm not going to do.
He preached until midnight. And I'm not going to say an awful lot about what happened there. A little boy fell out of a window. And some people, they allegorize this and the much lights in the upper window and the lights to bring in the reformation and all kinds of things.
Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to bring into this passage. Bring your children to all the meetings, but don't let them sit in the window. We don't mind it. Actually, it's been very quiet in the conference, hasn't it?
I mean, no children. Amazing. Bring the children, try to control them. We try to have to teach them, you know, four children too. We had to do that too. But anyhow, bring the children. And maybe they'll pick up more under the word than you really imagine.
So, you need companionship. We need companionship in everyday life. And some people are very dear to me. I don't see them too often, but in my travels. And you know, there's an affinity with them. It's just something you enjoy so much.
Then there's other people I've never met. You go to another country and you're just glad when somebody holds up a piece of cardboard that says Lavery on it. And you say, oh, finally got here the right day.
I didn't get mixed up. And you meet them two or three minutes later while they're like old friends. It's tremendous, isn't it? But is that enough? Is it enough to have the right companions? Is it enough to have a, be part of a local assembly and enjoy the fellowship of God's people?
I hope you enjoy it. Wasn't it, did you get what I read there further down the chapter? And we, that shows that Luke was with them. We've been told about that. They went before to ship and sailed on the Asos.
They're intending to take in Paul. Paul sold, sent some by ship. Do you know how far he walked? 20 miles, they say. Why would he walk 20 miles? Why would he not go with these people in the ship? They were his companions because he wanted to be alone with the Lord.
That's what we need, companionship with the Lord and all the ministry and everything else. That's to bring us to this point in our lives, to spend time with him. Why did he want to spend time with him?
Well, you know, if you read on down the chapter, he meets the elders from Ephesus. As far as he was concerned, he wasn't going to see them again. I tell you, maybe if we thought we weren't going to see you again, maybe our ministry would be a little bit more warm.
We don't know. This could be the last time I'd be in La Crosse. Last time you could be there. But Paul says, I have an important message and I'm going to get it from the Lord. And he walked alone with the Lord.
How about it? Enoch walked with the Lord, didn't he? And he was no more for God took him. Wouldn't it be wonderful for each one of us if we spent more time now as we leave the conference and go to our homes with that desire in our heart.
It's not that I'm going to do it and to be so definite, I'm going to do it. But there should be a desire. You shouldn't have to be saying that what I do is a flesh. But just to have that real desire for getting our appetite wedded for the things of God and to spend time in his presence.
So may the Lord help us that we may value intimate friendship, special friends, but that we value the friendship of God's people in the assembly. That's where we get encouraged, where we get encouragement.
But then where do we get strength to live? I'm spending time in the Lord's presence alone. That's where strength comes from. It's not from much activity, from doing all these things we've already been reminded.
Brother Eric was telling us that that's not where the power comes from. It's quality God's looking for, not quantity. Am I a quantity Christian trying to do all these things or am I a quality Christian?
God's looking for quality Christians and for quality assembly. So may the Lord help us all to have that desire, spend time in his presence, and that's when we'll become more like him. So may the Lord bless his word with what has gone before for his name's sake.